"Hey! You doing alright!?"
No response, he waited, and then yelled again.
"Hey!"
Whoever it was had stopped moving. The boy now just stared at it. I looked like a person; it had to have been a person. And they had something in their hand, a long pole of some sort.
What is, seriously--?
The thing was moving towards him again, now standing upright but hunched over awkwardly. The boy could tell that it was a woman, and holding a garden tool of some sort. Her dark hair hung down over her shoulders, and parted down her head.
"Are you doing alright!?"
The woman started to move faster, she'd obviously spotted the boy. He moved towards her only for a second before his eyes grew wide with alarm, and he began to back away.
Did I just--?
Another ear-splitting scrape along the pavement, as the person shifted closer. He backed off, but made sure to keep looking straight at her, he waited for it to pull its head up again. He needed to confirm what he'd seen.
Coming after me, what does she want?
"What are--?"
The thing made a noise, a strong distorted inhaling.
It can't understand me; it doesn't want to, what is wrong with this thing, what the hell is it!?
It might have been a person once. But now, now he was sure that there was something going on around him. The thing's shoulders contorted violently as it emitted a hoarse, inhuman murmur. The boy was gone, sprinting down the narrow street. His now swollen shoulder had almost brought him to tears. He stopped and bent over, gasping for air.
I have to get back to the car, right now.
He quickly examined the area, then stopped breathing to listen for a second to listen. He was sure he'd run enough, but he wasn't sure about what he'd seen.
It doesn't make sense!
Was it attacked by something?
But how can she still be alive? Her face was completely gone, ripped down to the muscle!
Images of what he'd just seen filled his head. Once again, he took off running. He knew he had to get somewhere, there had to be people out there somewhere, he had heard something else.
She might have needed my help.
That other sound, what if it was an actual person? No, no, just forget about it.
Just ahead through the now slightly less dense fog, he saw a parking lot, a large parking lot with only a few cars in it. He recognized it; it was the lot for Bridgefort Park. He knew how he could get home from here, and with the fog lessening up there wasn't a problem. The cement steps to the parking lot were straight ahead. He turned to cross the street, looking to the left and right instinctively. On the way down the stairs he suddenly turned pale, lost his balance. For the first time in a while he started thinking clearly.
What the hell did I just see? Really, why didn't I think of this before? What was that thing, seriously?
There's no way it could have been a person. God! What was I thinking just letting something like that go!?
The apprehension was beginning to eat away at him, for the first time since the accident; he felt deathly afraid. But now it was a different fear. Before he was afraid of what was going to happen to him, what the authorities would do. Now he got to thinking about everything else.
Where is everyone? All those houses before, And my car. And the park!
It's usually somewhat active during the day.
He blinked a few times, and tried to see into the pale fog overlaying the outline of the trees.
But now what's going on? There's no one here.
"I haven't seen anyone, anywhere."
Dizzy, he was now feeling very dizzy. He couldn't keep what he'd just encountered out of his head. One part of his brain was telling him to go back, to verify what he thought he'd seen, to go knock on the doors of all the houses, or to walk down the street until he found his car. The other was telling him to sit down, and wait. To sit down and fall asleep, or start to run. Run through the park and to get home before it became dark. He wasn't sure what to do, and thinking about it literally hurt. He used all his remaining strength to hoist himself up, and continue down the stairs; avoiding the disgusting gray handrail. He nearly tripped when he finally did get to the bottom step, but continued to walk rapidly along the gravel. Every step he took was like a nail being driven into his skull. The harder he tried not to make noise, the more he'd end up making. When he finally did make it to the trail, he was afraid he had already alerted the whole neighborhood of his presence.
Movement.
Nearby? Where? Behind
Something was coming down the stairs. Something was walking, like crude flesh pressing down onto wet cement.
Now! Run, now!
Air, being drawn in and out of something, generating a raucous moaning.
Breathing.
Whatever they were, they were alive. There. The boy looked out to the lot again. There were a few cars, all parked far away from him. It was too risky to run out, too loud, It didn't matter to him though. He himself knew he still wasn't thinking clearly.
Now!
He sprinted into the gravel, ignoring the pain in his chest.