Wesley screamed and punched at the creature as it landed on top of his chest, but the creature swatted his hands away like flies. Wesley was persistent, making the creature hiss in annoyance and quickly pin Wesley's limbs.

As he struggled, he caught a glance at his friends, who still stood frozen in the doorway. "Get out of here!"

He went still when a small object shot out of the creature's mouth, aimed for his face. It stopped within inches, small teeth snapping furiously, before disappearing just as quickly back into the creature's mouth. The creature watched Wesley, but he understood the warning and forced himself to lie still. The creature hissed lowly when he calmed down and brought its face alongside Wesley's, rubbing against his cheek. Wesley shuddered at the clammy skin and whimpered, trying to turn his head away. The creature followed Wesley, keeping the touch unbroken. It seemed to be enjoying itself.

"Do something," Wesley begged in a low voice.

He could feel the creature's hot breath on his neck as it rasped in his ear. Suddenly, the creature's head whipped away and its weight was momentarily lifted. Wesley tried to move out from under it, but the creature recovered quickly and re-trapped him. There was a cry from above and Wesley caught sight of Danny wielding a fire poker, swinging it for a second attack. The creature was ready for it this time and brought its tail up to deflect the strike. Nevertheless, it still shrieked in pain as the poker struck along its barb. It glanced at the wound and growled as a single drop of blood oozed out, running down to the top of the barb where it hung precariously. Danny gave another cry and raised the poker for round three. The creature bared its teeth furiously and tightened its grip on Wesley's arms, it's claws digging in deep. Danny froze when he heard his friend crying out in pain.

Wesley knew he was bleeding and he closed his eyes, fearing the end, but the attack never came. Instead, to his surprise, he felt the creature's grip loosening. He opened his eyes to see the creature backing away. However, there was nothing around to give any reason for it to suddenly back off. The creature gave a hiss and extended its wings to their full extent. Just as it pumped them down to give itself lift off, it brushed the tip of its tail down Wesley's left leg just below the knee. A second later, it was gone. But Wesley no longer noticed; his leg was now searing in pain. Wails of agony ripped past his vocal cords as the pain seemed to intensify.

"Wesley?"

He couldn't tell who had spoken, his vision was fuzzy and he was having trouble distinguishing who the faces belonged to above him.

"It burns!" he screamed.

Three voices blurred together as they shouted frantically above him. Suddenly, his legs were being drenched in water. He heard a bucket being dropped on the deck and he felt a pair of arms encircle him. The pain was still there, but it diminished greatly and the blurry faces above him slowly came into focus. His sister was the one holding him. Danny was crouched in front of him, by his leg, but Carla was nowhere to be seen.

"Dude, are you okay?" Danny asked. There was a strange look in his eye as he looked down at the wound.

"How bad is it?" Wesley chocked out.

Danny couldn't respond so Wesley forced himself up with his elbows and he finally got a look at his leg. His pants' leg was nonexistent beyond his knee. The thin trail of blood had burned all the way through his jeans, through his skin, and through the muscles, exposing the white bone. Wesley started screaming at the sight of the white bone, glistening brightly against the darker color of the surrounding skin and muscle. The sight of his leg also signaled for it to flare up in pain again and he was washed in white-hot pain. He felt two pairs of hands on his chest that forced him to lie down and then he saw Carla coming out of the house, with a first aid kit in her hands.

"What the fuck do you think that will do?" Wesley heard himself screaming, "You just gonna cover me in fucking Band-Aids?"

"There's some gauze in there that we can use to wrap up your leg until we can get you to a doctor," Staci was saying in a calm voice.

"Oh God, it hurts so much!" Wesley wailed.

"I think there's pain medication too," Carla said, digging around in the box, and pulling out a pill bottle.

Staci seized the first-aid kit and fished out the gauze, handing it over to Danny who began wrapping it tightly around Wesley's leg. Wesley moaned and clawed at the wooden deck, leaving scratch marks. Carla moved quickly to extract the pills from the bottle. When she handed them to Wesley, he snatched them up and swallowed them dry.

"What did the police say when you got in touch with them?" Staci asked Carla while her attention remained on her brother's leg.

"Um," Carla hesitated.

"What? What is it?" Staci shouted.

"The phones are dead," Carla said.

"Dead? What the fuck do you mean dead?" Wesley shouted.

"I think it cut them, so we couldn't get help."

"Fucking great!"

"Calm down, Wesley," Staci said.

"No, this is bad! This means that we're stuck here with no way to get out, no way to call for help, with that fucking thing coming after us!"

"Why didn't it just kill us just then?" Danny asked, "It looked like it could have easily done so. Why did it spare us?"

"It's toying with us," Wesley answered.

"What was it anyway? The Creeper?"

"No," Staci said, "The Creeper is humanoid, that thing is far from human."

"Than what is it? Some kind of flying alien?"

"Maybe," Staci replied.

"Didn't you say that the Creeper smelled out its victims?" Carla asked, her mind racing.

"Yeah. So?"

"I don't know if it was just me, but it looked like that thing was smelling Wesley. Like it was trying to determine if he had the right kind of fear. Just like the Creeper."

"So what, you think it's some kind of alien version of the Creeper?" Danny asked.

Carla shrugged. "Maybe. A Creeper-alien."

Danny gave a small smile. "A Creepalien?"

Carla didn't laugh, instead she gave a shudder. "Why does it seem like that name fits it so well?"

"Why do you have to name it?" Staci asked.

"I don't know. I guess it makes me feel better that I have a name to associate with the thing that's trying to kill me."

"That's not funny, Danny."

"Not trying to be funny."

"Can we worry about this later?" Wesley asked, "I kind of want to get out of here."

"What do you suggest? There's no way we can walk; we'd be making ourselves targets."

"What about that?" Carla asked, pointing.

Everyone glanced up and saw one of the nearby houses with its lights on.

"Someone might be home," Danny exclaimed in excitement, "Their phones might be working!"

Staci looked down at her brother. "Will you be able to walk?"

Wesley shrugged. "Help me up."

Staci and Danny got on either side of him and hoisted him to his feet. He put all the weight on his right foot, keeping his left foot dangling.

"Try to ease some weight on it," Staci encouraged.

Wesley tensed and lowered his foot slowly to the ground. His toes touched first, but as he started putting more of his foot down, the front of his leg seared and he quickly lifted his foot again, shaking his head.

"I can't."

"Alright, we're going to have to act as crutches—" Staci started to swing her brother's arm over her shoulder.

"I'll get it," Danny insisted, "You two go ahead a little to alert the family."

"I think we should stick together," Carla suggested.

"Carla's right, it'll be easier pickings if we're spread out."

"Then just walk in front of us, we'll be right behind you," Danny said.

Staci nodded and took Carla by the arm, forcing her to move on ahead. Wesley put his arm around Danny's shoulders while Danny put his arm around Wesley's waist. He walked slowly, so that Wesley could keep up as he hopped along.

None of them knew the horrors that awaited them at the house.