freezing point - chapter 2

I woke up with a start. Logically, the first thing that should have alarmed me was the sound of something clawing at the door. Instead, what caught my attention was the overwhelming smell of wet dog and copper.

I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep. I had waited up for Colton for a while, should he resurface from his room. But he never did. The door cracked and splintered, but not until it gave way did I finally realize something was breaking in. Something big.

I scoured the room until I saw it. It took me a while to understand what I was looking at, because the thing was black as tar and nearly indistinguishable in the dark. 

The only thing that gave it away was the moonlight. When the rays swept over it, it glistened like an oil slick. It prowled closer with predatory focus, and when it did the sheen rippled over its form.

The sight was deadening, like it had reached into my head and silenced every thought. For what felt like eternity I could only stare. When my eyes finally adjusted enough to meet the creature’s, it paused. Though the phantom seemed the embodiment of twilight, its eyes were piercing. They were blue. 

Because I assumed I was dreaming, I gambled to break the contact and let my eyes skim over the creature. It had a strong build, with broad shoulders and a prominent ribcage in between. Its hind legs were powerful, and behind them sat a bushy tail.

It was impossible to tell what covered the thing. Its soft silhouette seemed to hint at some sort of fur or fuzz, but it looked so unnaturally sleek it must have been something closer to amphibian skin.

From somewhere in the room came a low rumbling, and it took me far too long to realize the thing was growling. It crouched lower, and I only barely managed to throw myself out of bed before it pounced.



Any drowsiness, and any notion that this was just a tired delusion, was violently knocked out of me when something sharp dug its way in between my ribs. It was the corner of the nightstand I had collided with in the fall, and it left me winded on my back.

The monster turned its head toward me, and its neck was too pliable for something with a common spine. I didn’t have time to regain my breath before it bared its teeth and lunged again. Rolling out of the way I avoided the attack by the skin of my teeth, and hurried to my feet. I scrambled out of the room, but tripped over the tattered door. 

Thick wooden splinters dug into my ankles and shins, piercing my muscle and tickling my bones. The pain was paralyzing at first, but the creature was still hot on my tail. 

I grabbed my legs to wrench them off the remains of the door, but several fragments were lodged too deep and broke off instead of letting go of the flesh. Others were so jagged that it felt as though I might as well have been sawing off my feet.

While dragging myself away, I was granted some time to regain my bearings, because the creature was too thick and too wild to slip through the hole it had made.

I tried to stand, but putting weight on my legs caused the thick wooden shards to shift and dig further into my legs, and I could barely get a few steps in before falling back to the ground in agony.

I had only made it to the middle of the main area when the creature got free. As soon as I got there, I had to duck behind the couch because the creature lunged across the room. It missed me by a hair, nearly crashing into the kitchen cupboards.

It turned back to me with a furious snarl, but I hauled myself back up with the help of a chair by the dining table.

The thing raised its head to its full height, and seeing my opportunity I gritted my teeth and lifted the chair. For one terrifying moment I thought my very bones might snap, and leave me helpless on the floor.

I pushed the thought away, bit down until I felt like my teeth might crack, and jammed the chair at the creature’s exposed neck. After the endeavor I immediately collapsed to the floor again, but my efforts were not in vain. The creature fell backwards as well, and thrashed lividly on the floor while letting out choking, wheezing sounds.

Standing up, once again with the help of another chair, I dared to turn my back on it while it was stunned. I grabbed a knife off the table with a trembling hand, the handle was cold. I swallowed, and willed my lungs to take in air.

My mind was impossibly loud and incredibly quiet at the same time. Millions of thoughts were rushing through my head, but all too fast for me to grasp. Instead I could only feel them rushing by, leaving me with nothing but the vagueness of their wake.

Truly, I wanted nothing more than to run away, but I wouldn’t get lucky again. In my state I wouldn’t make it two steps out of the door before the creature caught up to me, and ripped my head off. 

Had you asked me in that moment, I might not have remembered my name. 

I gathered what courage I could, with adrenaline numbing both pain and rational thinking, and threw myself at the creature. I landed on its exposed stomach, and clung to its ribcage. It thrashed harder, trying to throw me off, but I dug my fingers into its bloody skin and held onto one of its ribs. 

The skin that had perplexed me so much just a little while ago split like paper under my fingers. Dragging myself up to the base of its neck, I raised the knife over my head. I tried to stab it in the eye, but just in time it rolled us over.

One of its hind paws landed on my left knee, and I heard it crunch and snap. I screamed, but it didn’t deter the creature. It was just about to bury its teeth in my face when I closed my eyes and slashed blindly at its throat. 

All I could think was that the neck seemed like a weak point, and that if I was lucky I might hit something vital. Its blood rained down on my face, and got into my eyes even though they were shut tight. It felt like burning acid, and the pain made me drop the knife.

My attack seemed to deal enough damage, though, because the creature leapt off of me. By its screaming I could track it to jump over the couch, either to lick its wounds or come up with a new stratagem.

No matter how much I wiped at my eyes, though, I couldn’t get the blood out of them. It was almost sticky, and my tears could only somewhat rinse it out. It stained everything a deep red and, coupled with the poor light of the cabin at night, it left me with only parts of my vision. 

I could almost make out the creature’s tail behind the couch, but everything was so clouded it might as well have been its head. My head was spinning, I never liked being blind. 

With the help of a table leg I reoriented myself and crawled backwards toward the kitchen. The creature seemed placated for now, but I knew better than to relax until it was dead. I thought I could at least find a bigger knife, and maybe have time to wash my eyes. Surely the water was back by now?

But before I could turn the tap on, the creature growled and lunged again. Relentless, like Lucas. I threw myself out of the way, trying what I could to spare my injured knee from the impact, and it crashed into the cupboards. It knocked down plates and cutlery with a loud racket, and shrieked when shards of porcelain and the teeth of forks dug into its hands. But it refused to be discouraged.

I hardly had time to crawl over to the fireplace, feeling around for the fire striker, before it had gotten over its affliction and prepared to attack again. I scraped the metal against itself and by the grace of God, or whatever other divine being was watching over me in that moment, a piece of kindling caught on immediately. 

The light from the fire was blinding at first, but I believe the blood coating my pupils might have saved me from any permanent damage. Fire spread quickly among the scorched logs and I reached into the fireplace to grab it. 

My hand charred, but I held fast, pulling the largest piece of wood out.

Just as the creature was about to descend on me, I rolled over on my back and held the log out toward it like a stake.

It recoiled immediately, so blindsided it threw itself back with no regard for exposing its stomach once again. It wailed furiously, but didn’t attempt to strike again. I continued to hold the flame out toward it, until it was squirming on the floor, hissing and screeching.

The sound was deafening, but I was so relieved at having something to shield me I was shaking. For fear of dropping the log, and lighting the whole cabin on fire, I continued to approach the creature with a determination to put an end to this.

When I finally came too close it stood again. With no other choice it screamed, then dashed out of the cabin, throwing the door open and disappearing into the snow.