(A/N: Well, I hope this one goes better than "Stalker". You guys didn't like that at all! Can't you just enjoy a little suspense? Maybe this one will give you more chills (I hope).
P.S. You can thank the Indoraptor from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom for the more monstrous-and-vicious-than-usual Night Fury.)
April 2, 2009 was a day I would never forget.
For on that day, I made a discovery.
A discovery that would change human opinions on a certain lifeform.
I was acting as a security guard at a manufacturing facility in Massachusetts. Something strange had gone down at the building and some guys asked me to go check it out. I was off-duty at the time, but I volunteered.
They said most of the workers weren't showing any signs of activity and camera feeds were showing nothing but static. I thought the problem was the electrical systems and thus someone needed to get the auxiliary power up.
But I would soon realize that was just the icing on the cake.
When I arrived at the facility, something seemed really out of place. Some of the hallway lights were flickering on and off. Portions of the wall had chunks blown out.
And blood. The red liquid stained just about everything. My flashlight beam caught smears on the walls, splotches on the floor… and a red handprint on a door window.
Neither of this scared me, but I decided to stay cautious. I headed to the main control room first to see what electricity remained. When I reached the door, the handle was bloody. This made more questions flow into my mind. I began to think this was much more than a technical problem.
When I opened the door, something collapsed in front of me. The sight send a huge wave of shivers over me.
It was one of the factory workers… and he was dead. Something had tried to tear him open. There were red claw marks on his chest, a burn mark on his side, and his eyes were widened with fear.
And that same fear was now within me. Putting all thoughts of the dead body aside, I accessed one of the computers and brought up an audio feed. What I heard was pure terrifying.
It was the voice of a man, weakened and scared, pleading for help. He was trying to reach the police and, most importantly, animal control. As he uttered the words "God help us all.", there was a loud crash and a gasp. The man on the feed gave out a series of whimpers and begs for mercy… and then he screamed. He screamed as the sounds of flesh ripping and bone-crunching echoed through the audio feed. And the last thing I heard before the feed stopped… was the sound of an animal breathing.
It turns out the auxiliary power generator was still active, it just needed a manual activation. As I walked down another hallway, I couldn't stop thinking about what I heard on that feed. Those were unmistakable sounds of death. But what kind of animal was here? A stray dog with rabies? A bear? Maybe an escaped carnivore from the zoo?
It turns out it was neither of those things.
As I neared the auxiliary power generator, I heard something else. Another voice. A survivor. And he sounded panicked. "No. No, no, no, please! Please don't-AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" I rounded another corner to see the worker knocked to the ground by something. The overhead lights were flickering like mad, so I couldn't see much of what was going on. I could only hear the man's dying screams and the sight of blood beginning to pool on the floor.
Darkness covered the area as that same breathing from the audio feed filled my ears once again. The lights fought to stay on, and as they did, I caught glimpses of the animal feasting on the man. Slowly, almost as if in a horror movie, the animal stopped and raised its head. The lights flickered on and off again, making any clear view of the creature impossible.
And then, in a sudden, single movement, the animal turned its head to me… and the ceiling lights came on again, displaying the beast. My eyes widened with fear and terror as I examined the black creature.
The creature was big and scaly, its entire body black as the darkest alley in the city. Its teeth were red from its latest kill, its yellow eyes glaring at me with inhuman emotion. Two bat-like wings rested on its midsection, its four taloned feet scraped against the tiled floor, and a sleek tail with two fins snaked behind it. It gave out a low growl as it slowly stepped towards me.
I couldn't move. My body was completely petrified. I had never seen an animal like this before. No, it was not an animal…
…it was a monster.
The beast roared, the sound almost like a fighter jet in the air and a banshee all at once. The force was so great, it blew my hat off. I screamed at the same time it did, never so afraid in my entire life.
The monster drew itself back and launched itself at me, teeth bared. I dropped to the ground, making it slam into the wall behind me. As the creature screeched in pain, I ran.
I ran faster than I ever had before. I didn't need to see the beast to know it was chasing me. I ended up dropping my flashlight, which the creature smashed by stomping on it with its front foot. It roared again, the sound echoing throughout the entire near-dark corridor.
This animal had murdered everyone in the building… and I was its next prey.
I couldn't outrun this thing for long. It seemed faster than the average human being. Seeing a door for a storage room, I threw it open, shoved myself inside, slammed it shut and locked it just as the creature dove, snapped its jaws and crashed onto the floor.
Instantly, the animal quickly scrambled back to its feet, ran back and peered inside. That yellow eye and that black, almost dilated pupil stared at me for a moment. As I held my breath, the beast snarled and rammed itself into the door, rattling the hinges a bit and making the door shake. It roared in fury before nudging the door handle with its snout, trying to figure out a way to open it. Thanks to me locking it, however, it howled in fury as it found no success. It glared at me one last time, as if telling me it would be back, and fled like a black blur.
…
I stayed in that room for what seemed like hours. I was afraid to leave. I thought that the moment I opened that door, the animal would close in on me like a heat-seeking missile and tear me to shreds.
But I had to do something. I couldn't just stay here. Mustering all the courage I had, I slowly creaked open the door and looked around for any signs of the demon from Hell.
I didn't see it… but that didn't mean it was gone.
I crept out from the doorway and trudged on, keeping a watchful eye out. I wish I had one of those motion detector things from Aliens or an infrared scanner so I could know where it was and if it was coming my way. But I had nothing to rely on but my ears and eyes. They'd have to do.
Slowly, and quietly, I walked through the empty halls of the facility, trying to make it to any form of exit. Of course, I would have to tell everyone about the beast. They wouldn't believe me without any proof.
So, as much as I wanted to flee, I couldn't. I had to make it to the security room and extract a camera feed on the creature. Hopefully one that wasn't full of static. I headed toward its direction.
Partway through, I heard the animal snarl again, making me freeze in my tracks. Thinking fast, I hid in the janitor's closet and closed the door. With my heart ramming in my chest, I saw the sleek, black spine of the creature slither by while it sniffed the air for signs of more prey. It stopped right in front of my hiding spot and lifted its head.
Go away, go away, go away… I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth while silently saying those words. Ten seconds passed before the animal snorted and strolled past. As soon as I was sure it was gone, I opened the door and stepped out.
I only made it just twenty strides away from the security room… before I heard a low, deep growl.
Whipping around, I saw the monster just down the hall, its yellow eyes locked in on me. Crap! It had noticed me hiding! It was just waiting for me to come out so I would be an easier target!
How smart was this thing anyway?!
I turned and sprinted as the animal charged down the corridor with another shriek-like roar. Screaming, I ran into the security room and slammed the door before dragging a big, empty supply rack in front of it for a barricade.
That would keep me safe until I got one of the feeds out… but for how long?
The animal snarled again as it bashed the door, shaking it. I needed to act fast. With adrenaline-fueled panic rushing through me, I turned to a computer and looked through it frantically as the creature rammed against the door again, this time with more effort.
Come on, come on… no, that won't do.
I scrolled through multiple views of workers in the hallways, chatting to each other, carrying things and…
Yes!
This next one showed the obsidian monstrosity mauling a worker to death in its jaws while others screamed and ran away in panic. As soon as it finished ripping out his throat, the creature turned to another petrified worker, roared and spread open its…
Wings.
My God. I thought, horrified.
The creature has wings!
But… no animal that big has ever had wings like those! None except… except… Suddenly, a realization crashed down on top of me. The same realization I carry with me to this day.
This animal wasn't just a big, murderous lizard. It was something straight out of the pages of a book, out of the screen of a movie.
This creature wasn't even supposed to be real!
Another loud bang snapped me back into focus. The creature… no… the dragon was still trying to break in and get to me. Quickly, I downloaded the audio feed onto a flash drive I found laying around, praying my barricade would hold against the mythical-no-more animal.
Just as I yanked the flash drive out of the computer, I heard something like a faint whistle. I quickly started to run through an exit door leading outside, noticing a purple glow behind the door, getting brighter and brighter.
KABLAM! The door was blown clean off its hinges like a C4 explosive had been planted there, along with the huge supply rack. As I slammed the door, the dragon burst inside, knocking over a table and some chairs. As I raced toward my parked car, I thought to myself why the beast didn't try to blow up the door to my other hiding spot. Saving that thought for another time, I gunned the ignition and sped out of there… alive.
…
The black beast was furious that its human prey had escaped its new territory. No one had ever laid eyes on it and lived to tell the tale. But that was a different matter. He had eaten enough.
Its attention shifted to the brewing storm clouds covering the night sky and the rain beginning to fall. After exiting the building by smashing through a window, the dragon clamped its talons onto the side of the building and climbed to the top. Once there, it noticed a faint light pattern not far from here. If it knew correctly, that was a human settlement, what they called a "city". It snarled and braced itself on the rooftop, teeth bared.
As the first strike of lightning illuminated the entire landscape with a thunderous CRACK!, the dragon let out a vicious, loud roar towards the city, issuing a warning to the humans.
That warning was that an old friend of mankind had risen from the depths of the sea, and the humans were not taking that well. If they continued down this path and started harming the creatures they previously thought fake, then…
…the world would have a new dominant lifeform.