Hey readers, sorry for the late(-ish) chapter. I've been sick lately, and only recently recovered enough to not sleep for prolonged periods of time. I had thought to myself to get a chapter out once every two days, but already broke that...

Should be another chapter tomorrow though, and then i should be back on that whole two days per chapter thing.

Also, i'm not sure on my writing style or if i'm making the story 'engaging' enough.

Just a thought.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy!

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Alex reached for his gun, or where it should have been, but realized he had left it in his car halfway across the city. He regretted his forgetfulness, knowing he was now completely defenseless against a ‘creature’ that was capable of smashing concrete with its bare hands. Who he really wanted to curse though, was the ‘Ruby’ killer for having given him an all-nighter that currently caused his vision to blur; All of this was making the situation the worst one Alex had been in since joining the B.R.E.

The creature flicked its hand down from its face, the last bit of blood painting the concrete with drops of red. It eyed Alex’s side who was cradling it with his hand, blood dripping slowly from the wound. The creature's teeth appeared again from the shadow hovering over its face, baring them in what Alex felt was a smirk. The condescending look the red bloodshot eyes gave him caused the unruly anger to resurface again, but in a calmer way than at dinner; in a sense, it felt more like the anger of being looked at as a piece of meat, nothing but food for the creature. He didn’t like that.

The gears started to turn in Alex’s mind, the pain in his side waking him from the sleep-deprived weariness. His mind went into fight-or-flight mode, scanning the surroundings using his memories of them. Plan after plan raced through his mind as the obscured face of the creature stopped smirking, watching him closely. The creature fell to all fours like a panther, it’s pale skin bulging as it pranced slowly around where Alex stood.

The eyes never left Alex’s body, which meant there wasn’t any use in surprise attacks. Judging by the massive muscles, neither was attacking outright. He’d sooner be dead than when he fought if he tried to just up and run, so that was no good either. Calling for help in the dead of night, especially when none of the houses lit up with the commotion already, meant help would not be here soon. The knife in his back pocket was useless, and his fists wouldn’t be any better. His only hope was that the creature felt so above him that it would make a mistake.

“Now, food. Stand still and let me feast.”

The creature spoke, and then all but disappeared right before Alex’s eyes. He felt the creature's breath on his neck as he jumped forward on reflex, its claws cutting into his jacket and ripping it off his back. When Alex turned to look at the creature again, it was standing calmly as it watched him. The smirk on its face was beginning to be burned into Alex’s memories as it disappeared again, this time without any sound. Nothing happened as Alex looked around frantically, feeling helpless and alone. His right leg tensed in place, ready to fight back should it attack again.

“Boo.”

The creature appeared again in the same way, as Alex had predicted, from his back. He turned and pivoted his foot as hard as possible, bringing it into what he hoped was the creature's face. He watched its smirk slowly disappeared as his foot joined it, having made contact. His muscles bulged and ached at the sudden push, infused from strength not his own as he screamed. The creature took it, but the hit was stronger than it had expected it to be and sent it into a daze for several seconds. That was all Alex needed.

His feet reacted quickly as the creature stumbled slightly, and he was already over a fence and in a backyard right by the highway by the time the creature roared to life. He had traveled roughly over seventy feet somehow in two seconds, his muscles crying out for every bit of oxygen as he continued to run. Behind Alex, wood splintered and crack open as if it was hit by a wrecking ball as the creature pursued furiously. The loud noise caused Alex to slip on wet grass he hadn't noticed, and the creature blew past him and through the metal fence onto the highway. It’s arm had caught him by the shoulder somehow, tossing him onto the highway as well.

Alex cried out as his newly injured shoulder scraped the worn pavement of the highway; A car horn blared as it swerved away from where he lay. It gave Alex something new to worry about as he now noticed the headlights of another car headed right for him, which he barely dodged as he rolled to the median strip in the middle. He stood quickly and looked for the creature, finding it lodged into a car that had been tossed off the road by its own weight. It pulled the car apart quickly to get out, blood spraying from the unfortunate driver and passenger of the vehicle. He mourned for the unneeded deaths, but it wasn’t the time to care for other lives with his own in danger.

The creature seemed to sniff the air as its eyes locked onto Alex where he stood behind the waist high concrete wall. They stared at each other for a moment, and he took the chance to run in the direction his side was driving when a semi suddenly obscured the creatures view. It didn’t do much though, as the creature leaped over it and embedded its hands into the pavement right in the middle of two cars. One of the cars swerved and hit the other, sending them both off the highway and into the ditch.

He continued to run as he looked back, watching the creature as it yanked its hands from the ground and began running after him slowly. It seemed to be enjoying the hunt for Alex, while he obviously hated it. His heart raced as he pushed himself further, cars slowly passing him as his speed picked up. His body began to feel not his own at how fast he was running. The loud beat of a helicopter slowly arrived above the highway in the direction he was running, it’s high beam light pointed in his direction as it blinded him. He looked back with his arms over his face, and saw the creature had lunged at him and the shadow over its face had almost faded. The lower half of its face was visible, unmistakeable vampiric canines bared at the blinding light.

Alex tried to dodge out of the way from the creature, but its body hit him full force and sent him flying. He flew up and over the concrete separation, and braced himself as he landed shoulder first into a car's windshield. His mind faded for a moment before the pain racked his body, waking him back up in agony; it was the same shoulder the creature had hit before, and it was now likely broken. He felt as if one or two of his ribs might be broken as well, but he didn’t really have the chance to check.

The car below him had actually begun speeding up, and Alex noticed that the driver had died from a glass shard that had been lodged in his eye. His stomach jumped at the thought he inadvertently killed someone, and burned the man's face into his memory to apologize later. He looked over the hood of the car and noticed the creature toss a truck toward the helicopter, that now chased them, as if they were footballs. Alex reached for the glovebox of the car, hoping to find a gun inside, as he watched the creature slowly gain on him. The light of the helicopter followed both of them relentlessly, and a man hung from the side holding what Alex thought to be a camera; one usually used to film for the news.

“Fuck.” He cursed, both from a glass shard embedding itself into his thigh and for being the new center of attention for the city. This whole situation, should he live through it, was bound to throw a whole lot of trouble his way he could do without. His parents would definitely catch wind of this, and he could see his mother immediately find an excuse to talk to him again so soon.

A car flew by as he searched for the glove box, indicating that the creature was getting close. Alex grew agitated and pulled his head and shoulder into the car and pulled the glove box open quickly, his eye catching sight of a handgun. He grabbed for it quickly as any ranged weapon was better than nothing, and pulled his upper body out of the passenger side as the creature's arm tore through the door where his head had just been. He readied the handgun and fired at the spot he hoped the creature's legs were as it tore its arm away, hoping to buy some time. The gun fired, but came up empty from the chamber.

He cursed, opening the old six shooter to check for any ammo in the chamber. Two bullets lined the chamber in different spots, which caused Alex to lecture in his mind at the dead man for his poor upkeep for a weapon used for protection. He moved one of the bullets next to the other as the creature climbed onto the hood of the car, right above where Alex was.

“Now you’ve pissed me off, you chunk of meat! It’s time to eat!”

The creature roared as it lunged at Alex, who shut the chamber to the gun and slid into the passenger side seat. He turned around quickly as the creature landed on the hood, and fired at its ankles in the hopes of causing it to slip. He succeeded, the creature howling in pain as it slipped on its own blood. It’s body fell in front of the car, which caused it to rear up and out of control as it ran the creature over. The vehicle suddenly braked hard as its tires locked, turning sideways and beginning to tumble quickly.

Alex watched as the car threw him up and out of the windshield, the ground somehow far below him. He soared through the air as he watched the world spin, and his reality slipped away as his body met the ground.