A/N: The church hasn't burnt down, although Darry was taken ages ago. I haven't figured out how I'm going to keep the Creeper alive for more than twenty three days yet... ideas?

Part Two

They smelt different. Strange. Unlike the other human with them, sat in the middle and pretending to be unconscious to save herself. Pathetic.

No, the other two weren't different. The one with the short hair... she was brave. Too brave, when faced with him. She had continued driving when she couldn't see the road.

He had tried that little challenge on quite a few humans, and although many of them had chosen to continue driving, they swerved and screamed in an attempt to jerk him off. She simply tried to outstare him.

And the other one. Her bravery wasn't as obvious at first, but she wasn't afraid of him. At least, not as much as others. But she smelt somehow... familiar to him, like they had met before. But of course they hadn't.

Strange smelling humans. This could turn out to be more of an interesting hunt than he had previously anticipated.

'What do you mean she's gone!'

Marisa, with a sudden burst of strength, heaved Lila forward and looked toward where Louise had previously been. A spatter of dark blood was splashed across the fading leather seat and the denim jacket had been left behind, strewn on the truck floor.

'I mean s.h.e.s g.o.n.e.' Alison said, spelling it out. 'Vanished. No-longer here. Kaput. Finite... getting through yet?'

'Shit. Shit! Drive, Alison!'

Marisa hauled Lila onto the front seat and vaulted the back to sit beside her. Alison plunged the truck into gear and hit the accelerator, throwing them all backward as the vehicle lunged forward.

'He'll kill us all...' Lila whispered, scrunching up into a ball and staring at the passing landscape. 'It's what he does.'

'What is he?'

'They call him the Creeper. It's all to do with the song Jeepers Creepers-'

'Hey, Shaun did a remix of that song once, it was so cool.' Alison interrupted, grinning. 'Wicked.'

'- and he eats humans.' Lila continued as though she hadn't heard her. 'He sniffs them to find out what he wants, and then he hunts them down and eats them.'

'Ew...'

'So that's why it was sniffing us...' Marisa said slowly, biting her lip.

They drove for fifteen minutes straight before they reached the church.

'I'm telling you, someone could live there. Maybe they'll have a phone.' Marisa argued. Lila didn't know anything about the place, so she just sat back and listened to them yell at each other.

'Phone? Phone! I'd be surprised if that flipping Creeper himself doesn't live there! Rednecks, Marisa. Rednecks with shotguns and whiskey.' Alison snapped, flooring the accelerator again. 'I am not stopping here.'

'But what if there's no-one there? Then what harm would it have done to have a look?'

'Didn't you hear what Darry and Trisha were bawling about? They were talking about this church. This church, Marisa! This one right here!'

'Darry and Trisha were insane, Al. The cops came out here and couldn't find anything.'

'Did they check the basement?'

Silence fell as Alison looked pointedly at her friend.

'You can stay in the car.' Marisa offered. 'Just pull over so that I can check for a phone. It's another hour until we get to Pertwilla.'

'Hour! It was fifteen minutes before this prick ran us off the road!'

'We've been going in the wrong direction! We took the long was round while that thing was on the front of the truck. There should have been a turning but we missed it, and now it's going to take us longer.'

'Shit.'

'Exactly, now pull over.'

Looking as though she would much rather continue on to Pertwilla, Alison slowed the vehicle and came to a halt beside the old church.

It was a small, white, wooden ruin, shrouded from view by trees and scattered with crows and old rubbish. A pipe was set into the ground, presumably to throw junk into the basement, and a large wooden cross was set on top of the building. Marisa swallowed and questioned whether this was such a good idea after all.

'Coming, Lila?' She asked, opening the door and jumping out onto the road. 'Or would you rather stay here?'

'I'll wait, thanks.'

Brilliant, she was on her own. Leaving the door open, Marisa walked around the front of the truck and off the road, keeping her eyes open for any sign of activity around the church. But the only things moving were the crows and the trees in a small breeze.

'Hello? Is there anyone here?' She called, walking slowly toward the building. 'Hello? I need help.' No reply came, so she picked up her pace slightly, eager to get this over and done with. Why did they have to be driving through Poho at night?

The crows watched her pass with black, glassy eyes. Marisa tried not to look at them, instead focusing on the church door she was heading for. Once she reached it she knocked clearly and winced at how loud it sounded in the otherwise silent night. Nothing. She turned to glance at Alison, who shrugged and put her feet up on the dashboard. Rolling her eyes, Marisa turned back and pushed the door, surprised when it opened freely.

The inside of the church wasn't any better than the outside - just one large, dusty room with too many shadows and not much furniture. A door was set to the left, presumably leading to the basement, but she walked right past it and up to a cluttered wooden table at the opposite end.

It was covered in various pieces of sharp weaponry, which did nothing to help her fears, and someone seemed to be halfway through carving a design into the wooden table top. Marisa squinted and leaned closer. It looked like a crude drawing of the winged monster that was hunting them - flying and chasing several rudimentary carvings of people. Screaming people. All manner of Celtic designs had been roughly sketched around it, but it did nothing to dull how horrible the scenes were. In another, the same monster was biting off a human's leg. Whoever lived here wasn't the kind of person she wanted to run into. Inhaling shakily, Marisa turned to leave... and froze on the spot.

It was right in front of her. Grinning nastily at her petrified expression, it reached forward and one claw gripped around her throat, almost crushing her windpipe. Gasping for air, Marisa scratched weakly at his arms.

'You think that will make any difference?' It sneered. In her surprise that it could speak, Marisa even stopped her attempts to get him to release her. Its voice was inhuman - very deep and rasping.

'Let me go!' She choked, finding her own voice. 'Alison!'

'Alison... the other girl? Hmm...'

It smirked and threw her to the floor. Marisa went to get back up again but found herself pinned between the floor and his body. It sniffed her face hungrily, obviously searching for anything it could eat. Eyes, nose, mouth, neck...

'And I see you found the other one. The living one... yes, I'll be finishing her off later.' It added between sniffs. It was now down to her arms, pinning her neck to the floor with one idle claw. If she hadn't been terrified Marisa would have been embarrassed at having someone/ thing she didn't know smelling her. All of her.

'That was sick, what you did to her.' She snarled, thinking of the state Lila's eye was in.

'Tasted nice though.' It rasped, standing up and dragging her up by the hair. 'Now then...'

'Let her go!'

The Creeper turned around to face the door, pulling Marisa with him. Alison was stood in the doorway, holding a crowbar and glaring at the creature. Lila was behind her, clutching at her arm and looking absolutely horrified to be faced with the Creeper again.

'Or what, human?' It sneered. Marisa saw Alison's eyes widen as it spoke. 'You'll hit me with a flimsy piece of metal?'

'Flimsy my ass.' Alison muttered. 'I've seen flimsier cars.'

The Creeper smirked and pushed Marisa away, darting forward with surprising speed until it was facing Alison. She swung the crowbar and, by sheer luck, it connected with the creature's head and stopped it in its attack. Lila, apparently not wanting to be too close to the thing that took her eye, stumbled around it and over to Marisa, helping her to her feet.

The creature itself was standing still in front of Alison, who held the crowbar at the ready. A blink of red light caught Marisa's eye for a moment, and she looked around to see where it had come from while keeping one eye on the Creeper and Alison.

'There...' Lila whispered, pointing to the monster's arm. A small red dot was shaking on his arm - the laser sights on a rifle. Alison had noticed it too, and frowned curiously. Apparently noticing her expression, the Creeper looked down and spotted the laser, grimacing magnificently.

'Who the hell-?' Alison began, but before she could finish the air was filled with an ear-splitting bang.

The whole church started to collapse. Whatever had been fired, it was the final straw for the crumbling old building and the roof beams started snapping one by one, dropping down and bringing the rest of the structure with it. Acting on impulse, Marisa grabbed Lila and threw them both beneath the table, covering her head. She looked up in time to see one of the beams falling toward Alison. Surely it would crush her, and no matter how loud Marisa tried to yell at her to move, her voice was drowned out by the falling rubble. Then, miraculously, the Creeper appeared out of nowhere and pushed Alison out of the way.

They were both covered with falling pieces of debris and Marisa turned away, more concerned about the ominous cracks coming from the table. She wasn't sure how much more weight the thing could take before it caved in over them.

'Watch your head.' She mouthed to Lila, who nodded and wrapped her arms around her skull protectively. 'Oh shit-'

The table split in two, the heavy wood falling and colliding painfully with her head. Colourful dots appeared in front of her eyes and her vision blurred. She turned, managed to check that Lila was still alive and screaming before everything went black and she hit the floor.

Marisa opened her eyes and winced. Her head was thumping painfully and when she ran a finger over it there was a prominent bump where the table had hit.

'Oh good, you're awake... give me a hand with this, would you?'

Lila was lying beside her, using one of her hands to try and push the table and rubble off them. The other hand was clamped over her eye socket to stop dust getting in.

'Where's Alison?'

'Dunno - somewhere over there.' Lila shrugged, jerking a thumb behind them.

Marisa braced her arms and heaved the table up. It shifted, if only slightly, and allowed small pieces of rubble and wood splinters to rain down on them. Needless to say, they gave up on this approach.

'Shit - now what?'

'Not a clue... ALISON!' Marisa yelled, pounding her fist on the underside of the table. 'Alison!'

'Hold your bleeding horses woman, I can hear you.'

Marisa had never been happier to hear her friend's voice. 'Can you get us out, Al?' She called.

'Nope. Oi, come here and give me a hand with this table. Don't look at me like that, you can't eat her if she's trapped, can you?' Alison shouted from somewhere above them. After a long pause the table was torn off them and Marisa opened her eyes to find the Creeper standing over them.

'Aah, glorious sunshine.' She said sarcastically, sitting up and blinking dust out of her eyes. 'You alright, Lila?'

'Fine as I can be with one eye.'

'Good.' Marisa got to her feet and looked up at the monster, confused. 'Er... thanks.'

'I didn't save you to help you.' It snapped, turning away.

'Grumpy sod, isn't he?' Alison grinned, grabbing one of Lila's arms and heaving her upright. 'So who the flaming hell did this, then?'

'Someone after him.' Lila nodded to the Creeper's retreating back. 'They had rifle sights on him.'

'He saved you.' Marisa said quietly. Alison nodded.

'I know... weird, huh?'

'Yeah... do you think the sniper is still watching us?' Lila asked, looking fearfully to the fields across the road. There were plenty of trees for someone to hide in - maybe they were still being watched.

'Well we're screwed now, we don't have a car.' Alison pointed out.

'Guess we'll have to walk back to Pertwilla.'

'Brilliant.'

'What about him?'

They turned to look at the Creeper, who was picking his way through the rubble and toward his basement.

'Maybe-'

Although what Alison was about to suggest, no-one found out, because a split-second later several black vans skidded to a halt around them and about twenty armed men jumped out, forming a circle around the fallen church. Alison raised an eyebrow.

'Where's the monster?'

The man facing them was apparently the leader; tall, slender and with spiked up grey hair. 'Where is the monster?' He repeated, looking at all three of their blank faces. No-one spoke. The man turned and nodded to the nearest van, out of which jumped another few armed men. They approached the three girls and went to take them by the arms. Alison punched the one nearest to her in the jaw and found the barrel of a gun in her face.

'Do as you're told and come on.'

'Why fucking should I?' Alison snapped, slapping the gun away. 'I didn't do shit!'

'Adrian, get them into the van now.' The leader ordered. Adrian was apparently the unfortunate receiver of Alison's punch, who straightened up and grabbed her arms, twisting them behind her back.

'Into the van. All of you!' He yelled, throwing her forward and sticking his gun in the back of her shoulder. Marisa took Lila's hand and the two hurried forward toward the nearest black van. 'Inside. Now!'

'Alright... don't wet yourself, will you.' Alison muttered, climbing inside and sitting on the bench. Marisa followed, watching through the door as the men spread out across the rubble to search for the Creeper.

'Think they'll find him?'

'I hope so.' Lila said bitterly. Alison glanced at her but didn't say anything. 'Then I can finally go home without fear of being eaten.'

'Where is your home?' Marisa asked curiously, wincing as the van door was slammed closed.

'Dakota. I was visiting my Grams in Pertwilla. She lives in this out-of-the-way house in the middle of some fields, complete with windmill and everything. Then one night these two people turn up - about my age - and bring the Creeper with them. I was watching them from my bedroom window when Grams shot it and it fell through the roof. It ate my eye and went away. Before I could get to the phone it came back - looked a right mess, I think they ran it over - and dragged me into the truck.'

Silence followed her story. Marisa knew that Alison would be thinking the same thing as she was - Trisha and Darry. They told the police that they had ran into some crazy woman in Pertwilla with a lot of cats. Apparently this 'crazy woman' was Lila's grandmother. That was the last time Marisa would laugh about it with her friends at school. If she ever saw her friends again. Or her school. Hell, it'd even be nice to just see Pertwilla again. And how in God's name was she going to explain to Louise mom what had happened to her? Jesus that was gonna be bad...

'... Follows us and suddenly goes missing.'

Two men climbed into the front of the van, chuckling to each other. The driver gunned the engine and steered the vehicle onto the road, back in the direction that the girls' had been driving.

'Hey, where are you taking us!' Marisa shouted.

'Hate to tell you this, Peaches, but you're the bait for our little rat-hunt.' The passenger grinned, talking in a strong Texan accent. 'We're gonna drive you all the way to our HQ in Los Angeles. Then that monster'll come and getcha, and we can lock his ass up.'

'What makes you think he'll come and get us?' Lila asked defiantly. The man ran his eyes over her facial injuries and grinned.

'Cos this mother fucker don't leave his work unfinished. Drive, Caleb.'