Young Writers Society

2___

2:34 AM

Sam groaned. He sat up looking at the injury on his leg. It was leg was cut and bleeding, there was a small needle was stuck in the limb, a long, sharp one. Sam attempted to get up but fell down every time, he sat there breathing slowly and heavily.

For some reason, his leg, which had just been mutilated by the creature, felt numb, instead of stinging with pain, like he imagined it should be. He turned and crawled towards his friend, who was lying still, up against the dumpster against which the creature had thrown him.

He noticed his friend had several puncture wounds, probably from when the creature had grabbed his arm. He checked his pulse: it was beating, but… slower. He checked his own pulse. It was also slower. He began to feel uneasy and drowsy. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his upper leg, just a bit farther up than the place that the creature had viciously mutilated.

He screamed as he felt his bone expanding, and started crawling away out of the alley in hope of finding help. He didn’t make it halfway there before his leg was covered in bony thorns, jutting out all over. He yelled loudly, scaring a few birds away.

His arm began to bleed, he notice his arm was slowly fading with feeling. Next, his left leg begined to grow long sharp spines, he to cryd out in pain. “Help me!” Sam shouted at the man outside the house. “What in the-?” The man hurried back inside and slammed the door, leaving Sam alone outside.

Sam’s teeth begin to grow long and sharp cutting the inside of his mouth. He tried to scream, but could only produce an awkward screech, and he puked out blood. His throat welled up and he felt more and more tired.

His skin began toughening into a thick sheet of stiff cartilage. His eyes began to get smaller until they were just dots on his face, his pupils turned a sinister black, his back started to sprout long porcupine-like spines. His entire body turned white like bone, and his nails grew long and thick, sharper than knives.

3___

2:59 AM

A patrol car pulled up at Mr. Derrick’s house, who had called about seeing a strange creature. “Probably just a stray cat or dog.” said Jim, the younger officer.

“Even if it is, it’s our job to respond.” Said Carter. The two officers stepped out into the cold night, they walk to the door of the house. They knocked and waited. A man cautiously peeked out. He was dressed in a bathrobe, had a short, grey beard, and was holding a baseball bat.

“Finally, your here, it was over there when I saw it. It was ugly and white, it looked like a human.” Said Mr. Derrick, the house holder. The two officers turned their heads to see where the man pointed. Suddenly, they heard a screeching sound coming out from behind the alley, just a half a block over.

“Does that sound like a cat or dog to you?” Jim asked in a frightened tone. Mr. Derrick’s face displayed a look of terror before closing and locking his door. The officers took their guns out of theirs holsters and walked slowly towards the screeching noises. A cardboard box flew into the air. “Uh, are you sure about this Carter?” Jim asked nervously.

Jim fell to the ground

“Carter!” Yelled Jim. He kicked the creature off, hearing a screech from the creature. “Holy crap!” Yelled Jim. The creature jumped back toward Jim slashing at his forehead with its long sharp nails, narrowly missing him. “Shoot ‘em!” he shouted frantically as the creature prepared to attack again. Carter pulled back the hammer and aimed, the creature was moving so fast Carter couldn’t get a clear shot.

“Please, don’t let me miss.” Carter whispered to himself. He pulled the trigger. The creature screeched as the bullet dug itself into the creature’s shoulder, between two plates of bony spiky, armor.

Jim got up and both of them held their guns towards the creature. The creature got up and bounded into the alley. Carter unloaded the last few shots from his magazine toward the creature, in hopes of getting a few more shots off into it as it ran towards the alley.

As he rounded the corner, the first thing he saw was the mutilated body of a middle aged man. “Hey, Jim!” Yelled Carter, bending down to get a better look at the body. Jim ran over. “Oh God.” Said Jim, placing his gun in his holster. Jim clenched his hand over his mouth. Jim had seen a body before, once, at a funeral, but he had never seen one as gruesome as this. There was a cut across the man’s chest, the man’s eyes were shrunken and black, and he was bleeding out of his mouth. “Get a team over here. We’re obviously not alone, and we’ve got no backup so far.” Said Carter as he moved his head towards the body’s chest trying to hear a pulse. Jim dry heaved in the corner.

As Carter’s head got close to the body’s chest the arm of the body suddenly lashed out at the officer. The nails of the arm slit his forehead, just above the officer’s eye and he fell back, holding his forehead with his hand.

Jim pulled his gun back out, pulled back the hammer and aimed. He didn’t hesitate this time. He shot the body three times, directly in the head. The arm fell limp, “You okay Carter?” Asked Jim, his gun pointed towards the alley.

“My forehead is cut real bad.” Said Carter. “The patrol car should be on its way.” Jim said, pulling out a crumpled up napkin and placed it on Carter’s bleeding forehead . “You’ll be okay.” Said Jim. “You’ll be okay.”