Renee panicked as she looked about the hall. The walls were made of chipped stone soaked in blood and pieces of flesh stuck to the metal grating floor. Renee's blue eyes darted among the numerous doors trying to figure out which one would lead her to safety, if that was possible in this town.
"Cmon Renee," She thought to herself, "Just pick one."
She sprinted down the dark hall, her sneakers smacking the grating echoed throughout the hall. She suddenly stopped and threw herself into one of the doors. The door flew opened and made a loud banging sound as it smacked into the wall. The room was completely dark, not even moonlight was coming into the room. Not there was a moon to be seen anyway.
"I don't like this." Renee muttered to herself, she could see her breathe as she spoke.
She slowly crept into the room, trying to muffle the sounds of her footsteps on the grating. As she moved toward the center of the room the door slammed shut behind her. She spun around to see what had done it… nothing. As she faced the front of the room again she barely made out a dark shape ahead of her.
"What's this?" She stepped up the object and caressed the top of it. "A desk? Something's carved into it… can't make it out though."
She stepped away from the desk and started toward a barred window. She grabbed the bars and stared at the outside. It was quiet out, not a sound. Not even a cricket chirping. Renee began to sob quietly to herself.
"Why? Why won't it end? I just want it to end!" Her tears poured down her soft face and onto her sneakers.
She let go of the bars and felt along the side of the wall, a doorknob. She could tell it was rusted by the coarse, grainy feel too it, but it still worked at least. The next room wasn't any better, in fact, it was worse. Renee could make out small dark figures in front of her, just barely. And low growls filled the air.
"Oh no… not again."
Renee tried to go back into the room she just entered from, but when she went to grab the knob it was gone. In its place was a stone wall. Whatever had done this didn't want her to leave so easily. The shuffling of feet caught her attention as she faced the shadows yet again. She didn't know what she was going to do, she couldn't run; that was obvious enough. Suddenly a stabbing pain ran through her body.
"AAAAAH!!" Renee shrieked at the top of her lungs as she grabbed her thigh. As she removed her hands she could feel a sticky warmth. "Blood…"
Renee turned toward the right where the attack had come from, a small shadow was only a few feet from her, and she could make out a small metal object in its hand. A knife she assumed.
"You… you bastard!" Renee lunged toward the figure with arms outstretched. They both hit the floor hard, then darkness swept across Renees' vision.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Renees' head spun and stung with pain all at once. She couldn't tell if her eyes were open or closed, but she knew she was awake. Her thigh burned with pain and the rest of her body felt like it was on fire. Slowly, she opened her eyes and light came into view.
"Guess my eyes were closed." She thought to herself.
She tried to sit up but another sharp pain ran through her body, so she grew limp once more. Renee rolled her head to the side, it was the café in the middle of town. Her and her friends used to come here often after a long day of whatever it was they where doing that day. She was lying on one of the window seats near the entrance. It was fairly clean inside and cozy too. Except for a small draft that was coming through a broken window on one end of the café. Her attention was drawn toward the counter where she heard some banging of metal.
"Piece of junk," a voice said, then a low hum, "Alright! That'll teach you too mess with me!"
Renee raised her left eyebrow and stared at the person. It was obviously a guy, yet she didn't seem to recognize him. He had short, black hair that was spiked up; seemed tall too maybe around 5'11". Renee tried to sit up again to get a better look at him.
"Oh…" Renee moaned with pain.
"Huh? Oh hey! You're awake finally!" The guy said, "But you look like something just puked you up."
"Feel like I was just puked up," Renee said grinning slightly and rubbing her forehead, "Can you help me up?"
"Sure thing!" The guy placed two large mugs of what seemed to be coffee on the counter top and hoped over it. Picking up the mugs he walked toward the table Renee was at and placed the mugs down on the table, he then helped Renee sit up in the spongy seat.
"Thanks a lot…umm… I don't know name." Renee blushed slightly in embarrassment.
He smiled at her as he handed her the coffee he just made, "It's Leonard, but everyone calls me Leon. Sounds better." He sipped at his coffee.
"Nice to meet you Leon, my names…" Leon cut her off.
"Renee… I know." He sipped at his coffee again.
"How did you? I mean… I didn't tell you." Renee was obviously stunned.
Leon pointed too her neck. "Your necklace has your name on it."
Renee looked down at her silver necklace that hung around her neck. It was given too her on her sixteenth birthday by her parents, and it was in the shape of the name "Renee".
"Heehee… forgot about that." Renee blushed as she laughed at herself.
A silence fell between the two of them, Leon sipped at his coffee and stared out the window as he leaned back in the chair; while Renee sat with her hands folded on her lap staring at her coffee. She finally decided to take a sip of the black liquid.
"Eww! What… what is this?!" Renee coughed out.
"Best coffee in the world. Two parts sugar one part coffee." Leon smiled as he finished off the cup, "And anyway, you need it. You lost a lot of blood."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Renee turned her head slightly.
"I'm talking about the stab mark on your thigh and all those gashes on the rest of your body."
"Tell me Leon… how did you find me?" Renee brought her voice down to a whisper.
"Well… I was looking for a way out of town when I went past the school. I decided to go in and look around, see what I could use. When I went up to the door, there you were lying unconscious in a pool of blood with one of the desks next to you."
"A desk? Pool of blood?" Renee stared at Leon oddly.
"Yeah, looks like you threw the desk through the window and jumped out. Of course, you hit tree branches on the way down, and landing on the pavement didn't help any," Leon placed the coffee mug back onto the table. "What gets me is why you didn't just walk out of the door like a normal person."
Renee paused and stared at the table again. How could she explain what had happened? Hell… she didn't even know what had happened. She blacked out after she tackled whatever it was that had stabbed her. This was just too weird for her taste.
"I… I was trapped in that room with… with these things." Renee began to cry, "I couldn't get out of the room, and one of them sneaked up on me and stabbed my thigh. I tackled it for some reason… I don't know why I did it. But after that, I blacked out. I don't know what happened after that."
Renee cupped her hands around her face and sobbed loudly. It felt good to cry for a change, she was usually scarred and worried about just surviving another night, but it was good not to worry about that and just let it all out. Leon stared at her; he wasn't going to say anything, he was just going to let her cry. Several minutes past without a sound or word from them except for Renees' loud sobs. She finally wiped the tears from her face and stood up with some degree of difficulty.
"Where are you going?" Leon asked turning in his chair.
"To the bathroom to clean up a bit."
Renee had to climb over the counter to reach the bathroom, even though her body burned with pain she managed it. When she reached the door and grabbed the knob a pang of discomfort washed over her, she wretched forward; one hand on her stomach the other over her mouth. Just as quickly as the feeling came, it passed; beads of sweat ran down her forehead. Not dwelling on what had just happened any longer, she entered the cramped bathroom. It was surprisingly clean for such a small little thing, the walls and floor were virtually spotless and a tangy pine smell filled the room. It was nice to see something so clean in this town for a change, Renee approached the sink and turned on the faucet; she splashed cold water on her face to wash away the remaining sweat.
"What… what the hell!?" Renee paused as she looked up at the ceiling light flickering. "Did I hit the switch or something?"
The light finally gave out and Renee was blanketed in darkness. The air became cold yet heavy at the same time, like on a hot summer night. She coughed as she struggled to breathe, then the lights came blazing back on. The room she stood in wasn't the one she had been in before. The floor and walls were covered in dirt and blood, and the air was filled with a hot, heavy smell of flesh. Renee wanted to scream out in terror but couldn't find the strength too. She turned back toward the sink and turned on the faucet again in hopes of waking herself up from this nightmare. What came out of the faucet wasn't water, it was blood; blood so thick it was black. Renee stumbled back and bumped into one of the marred walls.
"This isn't right! This just isn't supposed to be happening!" Renee thought to herself.
Something caught her eye in the cracked mirror before her. Her gaze went from the blood filled sink up to the mirror. Renees' pupils shrunk in horror as she finally found her voice and screamed. What she saw was not her, not the brown hair, blue eyed person she knew. In her place was a woman with jet-black hair and blood red eyes, although she was rather beautiful in a way she still horrified Renee. When Renee moved her mouth the woman moved her mouth as well, revealing two sharp fangs; like a vampire or a wolf. Strangely intrigued now with what was before her, Renee rubbed her cheek with her hand, the woman did the same. Her hands were very pale, and her fingers were slightly longer and bonier looking than anything Renee had ever seen; like claws. Her nails were long and harsh looking, like they could easily shred flesh with minimal effort. Her knuckles were one of her most menacing features; it was like the bone had grown more than it should have, almost like a lizard scale jutting out of the skin. It was quite obvious the role that these played, they acted as barbs, so if these hands were ever thrust into something they would tear the inside when pulled out.
"Why does… this seem… so… so familiar?" Renee thought, "She's terrifying, yet… her strange beauty is compelling me to watch longer."
Renee extended a hand to touch the mirror, hoping that it would ripple like water; hoping she would be able to touch her. As her hand reached the glass, the woman shrieked a horrible note; her hand punched threw the glass and the shards flew into Renees' face. Renee fell to the ground writhing in agony, blood pouring from the wounds. She wanted to scream out to Leon to help her, but she couldn't; one of the shards had torn into her throat ripping her vocal chords to shreds. All she could do was lie there in her own blood waiting to die. Just as quickly as the light had blazed on, it flickered out and Renee was once again cloaked in darkness.