Chapter 8: Predators and Prey
Night
The dark was better. His eyes didn't burn when the sun was gone. He sat on a bench staring into the darkness his knees clenched to his chest. He could see…everything. It was like he remembered daylight to be. He could tell where shadows fell and see the smallest details of the faces of the few people he had seen, but something was different now, something was happening. He felt it inside him but didn't understand it and then it came to him. It was just like the last time, only worse, he was thirsty. His mind settled onto thoughts of how the thirst burned in him. His breathing was getting quicker, his heart beat getting harder. He could smell something now. Something was out there that could quench the thirst that was building inside him. His mind tuned to nothing but the thirst. He got up and followed the smell.
James was just finishing up closing the store for the night. He had locked all the money up and swept all the floors. He picked up the trash bags and headed out the back door to the garbage bins. The night was dark but there was a small safety light above the back door to the hardware store so he wasn't worried. As he pushed open the door with his shoulder he almost dropped the two big garbage bags he was carrying. He put a small block of wood in the door jam with his foot to keep it open. The safety light easily lit up the door and trash bins but that was it. He threw the two garbage bags away and brushed off his hands.
Clink...Clink...Clink.
His head jerked up when heard what sounded like a soda can being kicked down the alley way. He looked around for someone.
"Is anyone there?" He said into the darkness. The light above him was like a spotlight from heaven. He could clearly see the area illuminated by the bulb but anything in the darkness was hidden. He heard it again.
Clink...Clink...Clink.
"Hello?" He said again into the dark. He was afraid now. All humans are afraid of the dark, afraid of what they can't see. They react when afraid, adrenaline is pumped into the blood stream, the heartbeat quickens, and breathing becomes faster. It's the bodies natural reaction to the fight or flight instinct. It's wired into our DNA, we know that predators lurk in the darkness.
His conscious mind was pushed away, his mind becoming feral. All normal thought was given over to instinct, to need. His body needed something, demanded it, and it knew what it needed. The smell lead him to it. The alley was clear in his mind, every piece of garbage, every box, every can; they all stood out clearly to him. He saw what he needed, he could smell the fear. He became a hunter, a predator. He became a creature of the darkness, a creature of the night.
His instincts kicked in and James turned around quickly to run back to the door. But something made him look over his shoulder. An outline, a shape in the darkness was there, two pale green eyes staring back at him. He didn't know what it was and he didn't want to, but he was afraid. He moved towards the door and the eyes followed. He started to run and it moved, faster then any human could. It came out of the darkness, flashing towards him with a speed he could not hope to escape.
He tried to scream, call for help, anything, but he was to slow. It was a flash through the outline of the light. It pulled him into the darkness. A predator claiming its prey.