Running
Slap-slap-slap-slap. The sound
of dress shoes slamming against concrete echoed around the alleyway. It was a
man, fleeing… something. He wasn’t sure what they were. But at least one of
them was after him – he’d heard sounds following him as he bolted from the
restaurant, leaving his date behind…
Finally a pretty date, and everything
goes straight to hell. They’d managed to arrive at the same time, from opposite
directions. She wore a purple dress, and her brown hair hung to her shoulders –
it had framed her pretty face delightfully. Greetings exchanged, then
pleasantries as they awaited their meal inside. He had left his phone at home
(as suggested by the restaurant) to prevent ‘interrupting the dinner experience’;
and that had been good material to make jokes about. It had been going so well.
Then someone dressed as a
manager had loudly said, “Dinner is served!” He spoke so loudly that the light
murmur of conversation completely died. The next sound heard was a loud click
as a waiter locked the entrance, and then the screaming began. The ‘waiters’
were revealed to be monsters – and some of the guests were as well. Pale,
red-lipped, fanged… If he didn’t know any better, he would have said ‘vampire’.
The creatures had immediately
begun attacking the guests, killing within seconds. A quick thinking woman had
hurled her chair at one of the windows beside the entrance, shattering it to pieces.
The man had started to run towards the window, dragging his date along behind
him, but she had tripped on her dress and fallen. And he had let go of her.
The woman who had smashed the
window was caught by one of the waiters, but several other patrons managed to
get out in front of the man. He glanced back shortly after he got out – hoping his
date had caught up – but she was nowhere to be seen. He did see that a couple
of other patrons had escaped, and that tearing through the window right after
them were several of the creatures.
The screams had faded into the
background as he ran down the street, but just as he had turned into the alley
he heard one a lot closer. He figured it had come from one of the escaped
patrons as they ran. He hoped – quite fervently – that he would reach the main
street before any of the creatures caught up with him. It was Friday night in
quiet suburbia, but a few cars would be around. Someone would be able to help him!
Slap-slap-slap-slap-SHATTER. The
sound came through the fence to his right – he was pretty sure it was just a
random house there, someone’s home probably. Were the creatures attacking
everyone nearby? Were they on some kind of rampage? The scream that came soon
after made him assume the worst.
His
guilt at leaving his date behind made him remember that it had been his idea
that they meet (for the first time in person) at the restaurant’s special ‘half-price’
night. It hadn’t been done to drum up business at all. It was a plan made by
those things to ensure a full house when they attacked! He couldn’t have known
but why did he have to be so cheap?
He muttered ‘damn it’ under his
breath, but he kept running. The alley was long – it ran between two rows of
houses that faced normal residential streets. Usually it was solely the domain
of garbage trucks that would drive along it to pick up the rubbish and recycling.
Right now – right now it held him alone, a glance behind told him. But he didn’t
stop running.
The main street was empty when
he reached it, which worried him a little. As he walked out onto the road a car
appeared from a side street, and turned onto the main road. He was about to
wave them down when he realised that with nothing right behind him his car was
close enough to reach. He lowered his partially raised hand and scampered to
the other side of the road, settling into a jog.
“Idiot!” came a yell from the
car. The driver trundled off down the road and took a turn that would lead him
away from the restaurant.
“Lucky sod,” muttered the man, jogging
to his car. He had only heard the faintest whisper of screams for a while now –
something you could mistake for the neighbour having their television up to
loud, or even as screams of excitement.
His car was not too far away
from the main street – he had parked it in the free parking that ran alongside
a nearby park. In suburbia like this it was the least expensive choice, as
parking in front of someone’s house might have gotten him towed. He managed to
reach his car without incident, and he hopped in so fast it was almost as if he
had teleported inside.
Aaaaaaaaaah. A long sigh. He had
no idea what was going on, but he was getting out of there. He turned the
ignition and was rewarded with the engine roaring as it came to life. He
slammed down on the accelerator, and didn’t let up until he was on the nearby
freeway – the numerous other cars making him feel safe. The adrenaline didn’t
wear off until he made it home. He thought about ringing the cops but it was
far too late. He’d make a statement tomorrow. The running had, at least, made
him tired enough to sleep – even though he spent every moment expecting one of
the creatures to smash their way in through a window.
The next day he woke up just
before dawn. His mobile phone had just beeped at him – it was sitting in the
charging dock where he had left it last night. He took a look at it – a handful
of messages from people who were probably asking about how the date went, and a
new one just sent by – by his date?
“Hi! Where’d you get to last night? After the big surprise prank I
couldn’t find you anywhere!” the message read.
The man stared at the message
wide eyed, and then replied with, ”That
wasn’t a prank. Who the hell is this?”
A
minute later, he got a response: “Well,
it was worth a try. And it’s me, of course. You cowardly fuck.”
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