Escape

Catharine could hear the rhythmic shuffle of her feet as she paced under streetlights bathing her in an orange glow.

The houses settled with black windows and the neighborhood sat in silence within the night.

Within her, though, raged a hard noise. Her heart ramming into her chest, uncontrolled gasping, and a swirl of overbearing thoughts.

Fear and confusion in a tug of war on what to do next as she traveled with no destination.

Adrenaline shot from her core. Familiar red and blue lights flashed through silhouetted leaves.

Her eyes darted before darting to take salvation behind the nearest yard.

The lawn held nothing great to protect her, but she made her commitment and ducked behind trash bins.

The wheels of a cruiser cracked on the road in a slow descent. From over her view of the bins that concealed her, she spied over the windows with lights flashing in their reflections. Her eyes focused on the irregular white light that flashed up into her view.

It searched for her.

Her breathing stopped and her eyes laid on the ground. The white light whipped onto the lawn as she prayed to a God she was uncertain existed.

It went for its search without her and she sat for a moment. Hopelessness took over her fear. There was no longer an urge in her for escape, but to just cry and call it quits.

With a deep sigh taking its leave from her chest to steady her breathing she had found within her the strength she needed to fight for her freedom.

Newfound confidence taking over, she ran further into the back where she crossed into the next yard. With a leap of faith into the street, she could sneak into the next yard and manage herself through the woods to the main road.

Not even looking for the lights the searched for her she scrambled to the next yard. She jumped off the rock wall behind the house and gained momentum as she rolled down the hill of brown pine needles. Frozen for a moment she needed to rally herself back to continue.

As she got back up she stumbled through pain and darkness but followed the path through fallen trees.

Though had she not tripped over one the branches in her way she would've never found the light hanging from the trees and the terrible music coming from it. It was nothing more than some guys having fun.

Carrying on she arrived at her destination and looked across to the glorious sight of the gas station. It was lit and with one car parked in the lot she hoped was the employee.

Before taking another leap of faith into the road she hung in the shadows inspecting the street. Everything was so silent she heard the buzz of the street lights though on cue as she took another sprint she heard the sirens start in the distance and it was like a nightmare coming to life.

As soon as she reached across the road she gathered herself behind the building and hid in a spot she knew so well. A large bush though covered had a small entrance next to the tree that was its partner next to it.

Behind the station was another house that had a fence up, but the house lived up further onto the property with a wooded space separating the fence and house.

Alone, she sat trying to plot an idea on how to escape and what her next move would be. Her hands dug into the pockets of her hoodie and jeans. She had nothing.

Her hands massaged around her leg and now that her adrenaline was coming down the pain flared. She was uncomfortable, and it didn't just end with her leg.

The wait behind the station was becoming long, and the silence was playing with her mind. Every faint noise set paranoia that someone would find her.

The anticipation of hiding set a pain in the core of her abdomen. She needed to pee and the longer she tried to be still and silent the urge would continue to sting. Her surrounding space would not be pleasant if she had to sit next to her own urine through the truth was she didn't want to be found sitting next to a puddle of her own waste.

She eased herself up from her spot trying to keep the space around her as silent as possible.

The station's lights hung bright above the pumps and around the corner, she looked through the windows of the store. It brought a sense of normalcy like any other customer just going to the store. She looked over the aisles and counter for any sign of a cashier and where he might be. Not seeing anyone she took the moment to sneak in quick unseen and rush back out with no complication.

She swung the large windowed door open and wobbled with as much pep as she musters and pushed herself to the back.

After finishing up, she stood over the sink looking at her wrecked face in the mirror. It held red lines and blemishes with her eyes puffy and red.

As the water got hot; she let the flow send shivers down her spine. Her bliss for warmth was ripped away when before her eyes she saw red washing from her hands and swirling down the sink. Shaking her head and closing her eyes she gasped.

When she peered back down now, the water was as it should be, washing clean over her hands.

Dizzy from her own thoughts she stumbled back over to the toilet as she vomited. She sat with her face over the mess, tears stinging her eyes. After wiping her mouth and a quick clean she headed back out into the store.

Though, turning the corner her heart sank once again and hated her dumb luck.

Two men stood at the counter and a clerk with a panic look on his face behind it. "Anything you want, man," the cashier says as he opens the draw with shaky hands.

One waves a bat down on the counter. "Open the drawer and give us the money," he says. They laugh as he jumps and grabs a plastic bag.

The other with a gun moves over to the windows and looks out to make sure everything is still clear. As he moves back his eyes sweep over the floor and his eyes land on her. "Get on the ground," he yelled pointing the gun at her.

With her hands pressed to the cold ground, she told herself this was it. He'd either shoot her or her escape was up once the swarms of cops showed up to the fiasco.

Then the other stepped over and said, "Let's take her with us."

"Dude, no, we're not gonna have time for that," he explained as he walked back lowering his gun. He glared at his friend urging him to follow and even nudged with his neck.

"Get up," he said slamming his bat into the cooler door beside him. Catharine jumped but didn't move off the floor. Offended he stormed over to snatch his pal's gun. "Get up." He repeats pointing the gun at her.

"Dude, come on he's calling the cops," the pal urges.

She got up and followed them out the door. The cashier's face grew worried as he followed them out yelling into the phone. It didn't persuade either of them from not pushing her in the back of the car and taking off.

The man who had snatched the gun rode in the back struggling to gag her with a cloth with oil all over it and duct-tape. He hadn't even finished tying her when the car pulled up into darkness and stopped. He stopped his struggle and dropped it all back to the floor.

"Now what?" his pal demanded. "You're stupid you know that? Knew your drunk ass was going to get us arrested."

He didn't answer. "Help me with her," he mastered. His pal didn't move, his eyes peering in the back view mirror as he popped up and down in the back seat. "Hey!" He shouted. "Help me get this bitch out."

Now moving, the pal opened his door and then took his time to open the back door. They dragged her out into a dark garage where the one with the gun announced, "Let's take her to the tree house." Before closing the door he grabbed the bat and threw it to his pal who fumbled with it and bit his lip as he held its neck.

They dragged her at gunpoint through the back door where a light glowed into the backyard. It was normal, almost wholesome, and if she hadn't had a gun to her head, it would have been an enjoyable scenery. A scene that one would imagine young kids playing in the pool and running around the large wooded yard. The reality, though, was it was dark, cold, and the trees hung with dead leaves with naked barks. And she also had every reason to fear for her life.

She stayed silent; she knew people like this, whether you begged or not, they would do what satisfied them. Her captures lead her down into the woods behind the fence dropping into a path. The tree house hung under the moon, silhouetting boxed edges in the shadow engulfed branches. One of her captures' nudging with the pal's gun up to the house he said, "Get up there."

"Come on, man," debuted his pal and dropped the bat. "Let's just get it over with."

She didn't move to wait for a dispute, but instead, he picked up the bat dropping the gun and bashed it straight to her head. "Don't want to get up there? Then get down."

She groaned as she grabbed the side of her head. There was a slight ring, and she worried of the warm thick liquid on her hands rather than the pain that blasted through her skull. She laid still with her hand on the side of her head as the bat came down hitting her twice in the back.

Rolled over, she saw there was only one guy standing near her. The obvious prick that wanted to bring her here- her punisher.

'*•.¸('*•.¸ †¸.•*')¸.•*'

Desmond's leather-like skinned body and large dark wings draped over his bloody pray. His clawed hands hung onto strings of flesh and vein as he pushed it into his monstrous face. The warm thick blood ran down his throat taking in its taste, smell and color which was always different from each of his selections.

When he smelt the strong aromas coming from the house he knew that this would be lots of fun. A treat he handed had in a long time. He preferred his blood thirst for those with dark souls that tasted the best.

First, he started in the back room with a couple that was sexually enjoying themselves. There was something about blood after sex that made it sweeter and took his feast on the couple then set an infestation in both the other male roommates in the house. Once he transferred his saliva into a human's bloodstream, he would just let them go off to do all their secret desires.

His bat ears twitched to the sound of the car pulling back into the garage of the house. Past the dead bodies, his view landed on the mirror propped on the floor and he watched as his body transformed from a flying bat-like beast to his more pleasant form. Almost the same as before his curse and besides his endless blood thirst there were the permanent horns stuck up from his temples through his greasy curled black hair.

Before departing out of the room, he collected jeans and a shirt from the young males draws. He stumbled into the rest of the house and found it still dark as he crept through the shadows. Greeted only with silence, he sniffed the air and only picked up the corpses from the back room. His lips pursed walking into the garage, the car was back, but he had lost his two minions.

Out through the back door, he stepped onto the leave dusted lawn. As he walked the earth under him made no noise on the darkness itself. His nose morphed as his nostrils extended up and widening as the middle of his face extended out. Through his beastly feature, he picked up the scent of the strong infestation he had released into the souls of the unexpected young men.

Into the woods, he followed the trail of his prey excitement taking over thinking of the impending bloodshed. This was where he felt alive, but humans didn't make it a habit of walking through the woods at this hour. He once killed homeless people who took mediocre shelters in the city but found the hunt unexciting.

The scent moved through the dead foliage and it was almost too easy as it approached towards his direction. He didn't feel a need to transform as he grabbed the male through the darkness. The screaming man was held to his mouth before puncturing his dagger transformed teeth into the side of his victim's neck and ripping back with a loud crunch and then snap.

The blood gushed forth and then flowed down his hand and arm.

With a thrill taking over his body he whipped around expecting to find his other prey running for his life, but there was no one else around. He took in a deep breath through his nose into his dead lungs and sensed his next victim.

As he followed the scent of imagining how he would take his last meal his face pinched. A foul odor wafted through his nostrils as he approached a scene he would have loved to enjoy. His infested minion hunched over the limp body of a young woman. With his supernatural eyes, he took the sight of the blood that matted over her hair and winced. It was her that smelt. He figured she had to be dead, but even the dead didn't emanate such a smell.

His red demonic eyes could see through the darkness as the young man took his gun and slide it down her shirt. A soft moan from the girl tweaked his ears as he smirked. She wasn't dead but her soul sure smelt like it was. He'd never encountered something like her before and fascinated him.

His beastly senses couldn't handle the odor any longer and shifted back to his humanoid disguise. "You know why I'm doing this?" the infected human says as Desmond was approaching. "Because I'm a bad guy- I'm what evil is," he boasted. At least he voiced his last words before his throat had been captured by a clawed hand and flung to the ground.

Desmond smiled jumping over to the dead body and puncturing his hand through his prey's stomach. His face started to morph as he was about to plunge into flesh to enjoy the best tasting of his whole feast. Though he was reminded of the young woman who laid on the ground as her scent lingered around him. He wouldn't be able to enjoy eating in his monstrous form if she was around.

Back to his dead human shell he turned and headed over to her. She was like any other girl he'd seen, there was nothing unique about her. Though here she was tonight with blood from her head and bruises on her face oozing the stink of a rotting soul. Despite her normal features, she was interesting.

Her fingers curled around his barefoot as he examined over her. "Please," she whispered. "Help me."

His lips pinched as he scanned over her. He wouldn't dare try to eat her, but perhaps he could just kill her and keep her quiet from trying to say a monster attacked them. No one would believe her and killing her would just be for fun. Instead, he knelt next to her and whispered backed, "What's in it for me?"

"Pl-please," she said before her face dropped into the dirt and her fingers fell flat on the tops of his toes.

When he mutated into his beast form he found it to be difficult to fly with her while her smell was making him dizzy. He morphed his human face and kept as much beast as he could to fly. He'd never taken a form such as this and liked how terrifying his human head must look on a large bat's body with arms and legs.

After picking up the girl into his black-skinned arms they took flight into the air. He flew in the dark clouds and watched below him as red and blue lights flashed everywhere within the town. It had been a while since he'd seen so much mayhem and felt excited.

The night's air brought him back to the memories of the ones he used to surround himself with; his family. It had been a long time since he had remembered them and felt guilty for moving on, but he figured why to linger on those when he couldn't even remember their faces.