Blood Moon

If you had told Jacob a week ago and that he would be wielding a shotgun against his former coworkers, while running for his life from unearthly monstrosities, he would have told you to stop smoking crack. Now, as he sat braced against a door, shotgun in hand, bloodied and beaten, he wishes someone would have. The sad truth is no one had any idea any of this was coming, and even if they had, there is a very slim chance anyone would have been able to stop it. His introspection is broken as a clawed hand, caked in dried blood, slipped through the small space between the door and the frame, grasping and tearing at what was left of his suit jacket. He snarled in disgust and contorted to hold the door with his hip and shoulder, as he used the butt of the shotgun to bash at the  hand.  

      "Fuck off!" He growled as he smashed the bestial talon-hand, snarls, and yowls of some monstrosity on the other side of the oaken door. He reared up, putting all he had left into the next hit. With a sickening crack the hand broke, bone jutting out from the wrist. A high pitched howl pierced through the door as the creature struggled to pull back. He pushed heavily on the door in a quick burst, the clawed hand falling to the ground and the door slamming shut. Quickly he locked the deadbolt, and leaned against the door, straining to listen for any sounds in the office space. Silence hung in the air, deafeningly. He held his breath, certain that this act would help him hear better. After a minute that felt like an eternity, he let out his breath and slumped down, his eyes focused on the twitching monster's hand.

  It twitched still, as the connective tissue leaked black blood in a small pool around the base of the wrist. What the hell had happened, and what exactly was that thing that had chased them in here in the first place. He peered through the darkness of the office space to the makeshift wall of desks, where he had told his friends to wait.

  " Hey..." he called out, as quietly as he could, " Guys... I think it's gone..."

     Through the unlit room, he could make out the head of his friend Lisa, her bright green eyes, in stark contrast to the blackness. " Are you ok!?" she called back in a hushed tone, as she crawled towards him.

     Jacob hadn't even thought to check on his arm, but a quick glance told him he was fine. She stopped a few feet from him, as the deformed hand came into view, a look of disgust quickly taking over her expression. Only a moment of hesitation, and she moved quickly to sit next to him, her next move to look him over for more damage. He felt the smile creep on his face as her concern for his well-being moved him a bit, surprised that even with all the insanity over the last few hours, he still had someone with him that was not only sane but actually cared about his well being. Last week, Lisa was still a stranger, new to the advertising agency he worked for, but with recent events, they were much more than strangers.

  Lamp light from the outside poured in as the curtains began to open. Instinctively he grabbed the shotgun on his lap, leaning forward to take action if need be. A sigh of relief escaped him, as he caught sight of the reason for the curtain movement. Peter, his longtime friend, and co-worker was pulling the drawstring slowly back while staring, slack-jawed down at the city. In moments Peter had stopped pulling at the curtain, still staring, eyes wide... motionless.

     "Peter..." Jacob called out after a moment, his concern growing deeper, the longer his friend stared out into the city. "Peter!" He called once more, an anxious tension rumbling in his tone. Peter snapped out of his paralysis, looking to his wounded friend, his eyes those of a terrified man. Jacob quickly got up and went to the window, limping slightly as he went. What he saw struck fear in his heart far more than the creature that had been pursuing them.

  Fire danced across the skyline from several places around the city, it seems whatever had knocked out the power had affected the entire city as well, the bright blazes being the only source of light. Jacob leaned closer to the glass, his mind reeling in disbelief as he watched on at the chaos. He had always argued that people, given the opportunity in a situation of crisis, would choose to not destroy but preserve in the state of chaos. He had obviously been proven wrong, through the chaotic entanglement of fire, and debris, he tried to make out any moving people, and quickly did, seeing a small group of people running through an intersection, not from the base of their building. He felt a strange mix of relief and disgust.

  His train of thought was cut short as Lisa cried out, startling him, "What the hell is that!?" He followed the path indicated by her finger, trying to see what she meant. He didn't see it at first, only the people moving slowly across the court. It was one of their reactions that caught his eye. A woman who was trailing the group had been nervously looking around, until she had turned to look at her, and stopped dead in her tracks. He couldn't hear anything from where they were, on the 8th floor, but he could tell she started to scream. The people with her turned, and while some began to cry out, others turned back and fled away as a strange creature, which looked a bit like a ridiculously large dog, charged the first woman.

  In seconds the creature had tackled her, its oversized jaws snapping at her viciously, as she feebly attempted to defend herself. She held her arms out to try and keep the creature at bay, only to have the creature lock its jaws around her forearm, placing its nightmarish claws into her chest as it, rears its head back, ripping the arm straight off of her, sinew and muscle tissue still clinging to its host, as if holding onto some vestige of hope for survival. The creature pressed down, its claws pushing through her soft flesh, blood dying her floral blouse as the small spurts of blood gush out. The woman ceases to struggle as she goes limp and life leaves her. Her companions cry out and make a dash to escape, which in only seconds prompts the creature to give chase.

     Jacob and his friends are left in silence staring on at the grisly scene below, silence hangs in the air once more as the sheer savagery of the scene sinks in...