The Worst Kind of Monsters

by Elias Witherow

Finally, around nine o’clock, everything was ready. With great anticipation, I poured two large glasses of wine and we took our seats at the table.

  “This is going to be glorious,” I said, raising my glass.

  “Amen to that,” Jenny said, raising her own. We let the crystal touch and then we drank, the warmth of the alcohol spreading in my chest.

  Jenny stabbed a piece of meat from her plate and as she raised it to her mouth, she paused, her eyes glazing over.

  “Shimmer…shine…,” she whispered.

  I froze. I looked up at her and she was staring at me. No. She was staring behind me toward the windows.

  Her eyes expanded, clear again, and her face twisted in terror.

  Her voice trembled as she spoke, “They’re all watching us.”

  All the lights went out.

  Before I could even cry out in surprise, the front door behind me exploded inward with brutal violence. Splinters of wood hit the back of my neck and I heard the rush of heavy footsteps rush us. Jenny screamed as we were both knocked to the floor, the table upended as something slammed into it. I heard dishes shatter on the floor and the clatter of our chairs as they were kicked out from beneath us.

  In the darkness, I reeled, trying to focus, my head erupting in pain as it bounced off the hard floor. Behind the sound of screaming, I heard the quick shuffle of feet. I shook my head against the stars dancing around my vision and tried to focus, looking for Jenny in the chaos.

  I felt a hand grip my ankle, then loosen and release.

  “They’re taking me! HELP ME, THEY’RE TAKING ME!” Jenny howled, her voice piercing through the fog.

  My eyes cleared and my breath seized in my throat. Something was dragging Jenny out the front door, her legs held by some invisible force. She was reaching toward me, her nails digging into the floor. Terror burned in her eyes.

  “Jenny!” I yelled, attempting to stand. Something hard slammed into the side of my head and I crashed to the ground again, feeling blood fill my mouth. For a few seconds the world was a slideshow of still images as I shook the dizziness away.

  Get up, I thought. Help. Her.

  Breathing heavily, I spit a wad of blood and saliva and raised myself up on shaking arms. I couldn’t see Jenny anymore, but I could hear her screams outside.

  Right as I was about to get to my feet, I felt something hot in my ear and then,

  “Shimmer with us…shine…with us.”

  Screaming, I spun onto my back, fist soaring toward where the sound had come from. I felt my knuckles connect with something meaty and wet, and a screeching howl shook the walls of the house. Panicking, I backed myself up to the couch and listened as footsteps hastily retreated out the front door.

  Sucking in air, I stood. Jenny’s screams were more distant, but her voice reached me and filled me with blood-curling horror.

  “They’re taking me into the woods! They’re taking me into the woods! HELP MEEEEE!”

  I sprang into action. I dashed out the door and onto the lawn, the dark clouds overhead giving me no indication of where she was. I scanned the tree line, trying to decipher where her voice was coming from. My heart thundered in my chest, my mouth dry, the blood in my mouth cracking around my lips. Jesus Christ, this wasn’t happening. This was a nightmare. This wasn’t real.

  Wake up, I thought, please let me wake up.

  I ran toward the woods. I crashed through the trees, each breath a labored effort, each noise I made a distraction from Jenny’s screams.

  I didn’t stop, the thick foliage reaching out with dark fingers, tripping, scratching, grabbing, trying to pull me to the earth. My shoeless feet bled and scraped against stone and wood, branches rising up out of the black to claw at my face. I bounced off trees, stumbled over roots, battered my toes, bloodied my arms as I ran, every breath of air pulled out of the claustrophobia and rammed down my throat.

  Gasping, I stopped finally, leaning over, drinking in oxygen, listening again for Jenny. To my right, screaming, close now. As I was about to start again, I heard something behind me.

  “Jenny, I’m coming!”

  It was my voice.

  And then, seconds after, a deep rumbling laugh, long and echoing through the trees around me.

  “This is a nightmare,” I sobbed. “Please, God, let it stop…”

  I ran. She was getting closer, the woods beginning to thin. I engaged the last burst of energy I had and charged, half-falling, half-sprinting, hearing the loud snap of branches not far in front of me.

  I went sprawling, a rock catching my ankle hard, and I went down, bursting through the trees into a clearing and landing on soft grass.

  “HELP ME!” Jenny screamed.

  I looked up, my eyes adjusting, and saw we were in a circular clearing about twenty yards from side to side. Jenny was kneeling at the far end across from me, struggling viciously against something. I could tell in the darkness she was sobbing, her voice ragged.

  And then, as I looked toward the middle of the clearing, I saw something.

  At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but at that moment the clouds parted and the moon shone down, illuminating the world.

  The air…shimmered and a shape began to take form. It was a sphere about five feet in diameter, floating in the air. I could see through it, but it was like looking through a glass of water. My eyes strained as I tried to make sense of it.

  And then something whispered behind me, a voice so soft I almost didn’t hear it.

  “See with ussssss…”

  The shimmering sphere suddenly exploded in light, blinding me, my eyes slamming shut against the glare. I felt my head rumbling and behind the darkness of my eyes, my world shook and reformed.

  Gasping, I opened my eyes again, the light from the sphere going out just as quickly as it had come.

  And then I screamed. I screamed until I couldn’t anymore.

  Filling the clearing were dozens of twisted, human-shaped monsters. They stood on two legs, their arms long and dragging on the ground, their joints contorted at horrifying angles. Their bodies were slender and human-like, pink skin stretching over naked torsos. Their necks were stretched to an impossible length, twisting and coiling like snakes.

  And each of them had a human face. Their mouths were pulled up into grotesque smiles and their hair hanged down in wild disarray. Their eyes glowed like jack-o’-lanterns, beams of light visibly shooting out from their sockets, all of them staring at me.

  But that wasn’t what I was screaming at.

  The sphere had returned to its original shimmering state, but something was sitting on the ground behind it, holding it in giant black hands.

  My neck strained as I looked up, my eyes taking in the towering creature, its body a pulsing mass of black oozing horror. It had no skin. Its exposed muscle was wrapped tightly with thin rope, acting as a skeletal structure holding its organs in. It crisscrossed up its body, the threads biting into its mass, the rope tied so tightly that its muscles rose around it like a pieces of bound meat.

  Its legs were splayed out before it, its huge hands gently cupping the shimmering sphere. My eyes reached its face and I felt fear devour me like never before.

  Its skull was exposed, white bone contrasting the darkness of its body. A long snout protruded from its face, long teeth shining in the moonlight. A thick, greasy tangle of black hair formed at the base of its neck and ran to the top of its head, spilling down and covering most of its face.

  Except for one eye. It was huge and unblinking, rolling in its socket, yellow with a bright red iris. It was bloodshot and agitated, giving it a wild, crazed look that haunted me.

  This reality peeled itself back in the blink of an eye and came crashing down onto my senses with the force of a tsunami.

  Suddenly, slimy hands pinned my shoulder down and something heavy pressed into my back. I craned my neck and saw one of the elongated monsters holding me down, its crooked smile and shining eyes glowing down at me.

 
I struggled, grunting in cold fear, but it was immensely strong, its hands gripping me tighter. I looked back toward Jenny and saw her being dragged in front of the colossal beast, kicking and screaming. Two of the creatures held her tight as she was forced to kneel in front of the shimmering sphere.

  The monsters suddenly started whispering in unison, their voices high and excited, chattering with an inhuman rhythm.

  “Feed her…feed…her…feedherfeedher…feed…”

  They began to draw closer, their shining yellow eyes trained on the sphere.

  “Jenny!” I screamed, redoubling my efforts to get away. A strong hand grabbed a handful of my hair and my head was jerked around, viciously slamming it into the ground. Then it was yanked up again.

  My vision swam and my head pounded as I watched the giant beast holding the sphere slowly lift its hand and dip a long clawed finger into the top of the shimmering orb.

  The globe turned a soft white and it seemed to vibrate in the air. The monsters holding my girlfriend grabbed her face and forced her mouth open, blood leaking down the side of her mouth from the force.

  I watched, unable to move, as fist-sized bubbles began to float out of the sphere, filled with a swirling black and red liquid. They moved in a perfect line, drifting through the air, bobbing slightly, one right after the other.

  With no strength left in her, Jenny feebly wept and tried to close her mouth, but the creatures held her firmly in place.

  In helpless agony, I watched the bubbles stuff themselves down Jenny’s throat, pumping into her like a row of marbles. She gurgled and gagged, vomiting violently around them and down her chin, her eyes rolling back in her head.

  After a few moments, the bubbles stopped and the sphere returned to its colorless shimmer, the light fading from the center.

  The monsters released Jenny and she collapsed to the ground, shaking and convulsing. They stood watching, whispering.

  “What are you doing to her? STOP IT!” I screamed.

  They all looked at me, their heads swimming through the air on slimy, twisting necks. One of them arched its head back, its neck extending to the sky, its throat puffing out.

  “Stop it!” it howled in my voice. They all let out harsh, barking laughs and turned back to Jenny who now lay motionless.

  “Jenny, baby, I’m right here, it’s going to be OK!” I yelled, tears spilling down my face.

  Then she jerked again, her limbs flailing out. She began to cough, a thick wet sound, and she tried to stand up. She fell back to the ground and grabbed her arm, howling.

  With a sickening crack, I watched as both her arms extended and popped, seeming to grow and bend on their own. Then her torso twisted and tore upward, growing and stretching, like her ribcage had grown new bones. Still screaming, her legs and neck began to follow, her face contorted in searing pain as her neck sprouted from her shoulders like a giant worm.

  She lay there, suddenly silent, sucking in air. The monsters around us went silent as well, the only sound the drum of my heart.

  Then two bright beams of light shot out of her eyes and she howled, her voice a chorus of nightmares. The creatures around me whooped and hooted, jumping up and down excitedly as Jenny stood and became one of them.

  “No,” I sobbed. “No this isn’t happening. Jenny…JENNY!” I gritted my teeth and wept, staring as her mouth grew a demented smile, her long neck twisting to look at me with eyes that shined with light not of this world.

  Then I felt myself being dragged forward. Dragged toward the shimmering sphere.

  “No, NO!” I screamed, terror consuming me.

  “Feedhimfeedhimfeedhim,” they chanted.

  I looked up at the looming beast that held the orb, its bulging eye meeting my own. I felt my bladder release as I was forced to my knees in front of it.

  No. No, no, no, I wasn’t going to let them do this to me. I wasn’t. I couldn’t be one of them. Please, God, NO!

  I suddenly threw my head back and smashed it into the creature holding me. Howling and taken by surprise, it loosened its grip for just a second.

  That was all I needed.

  Fear powered me as I stood, turned, and sprinted for the woods.

  A deafening screech filled the air and I felt the earth vibrate as they ran for me. I felt the grasp of their fingers reach for me, trying to snatch my clothes, my hair, anything they could get their hands on. My feet churned the dirt and I ran like I never had before. The wind whipped around me and filled my ears and I could feel them just inches behind me.

  I burst into the woods like I was shot from a cannon, tearing through the underbrush like a madman. The night echoed with furious howling and I put on an extra burst of speed.

  I don’t know how long I ran. I changed directions dozens of times, trying to separate myself from the screams of my pursuers. My lungs burned like a blazing inferno, my legs ached like hot fire, my vision was blurry from tears pouring from my eyes, my body ripped and cut by a thousand dark splinters.

  After what felt like an eternity, moments away from collapsing in exhaustion, I broke free of the woods. I broke free by the lake house. By some miracle, I had run back to it. Stumbling, still hearing the crash of foliage behind me, I made a dash toward the car.

  I raced across the lawn, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind me. Wheezing, I reached the car and threw open the door, diving inside. I reached down and grabbed the keys from the cup holder right where I left them the day we had arrived.

  I turned the ignition, watching in frenzied terror as the monsters broke through the trees, eyes shining in rage that their prey was escaping.

  The car started and I slammed it into reverse, tires smoking. I spun it in a tight half-circle and gunned it. I reached the main road doing seventy and the world around me began to slow down.

  My breathing steadied and some form of clarity washed over me. I gripped the steering wheel with trembling bloody hands, catching a glimpse of someone I didn’t recognize in the mirror. My face was cut beyond recognition from my flight, blood and leaves stuck to my face like some kind of camouflage.

  I felt misery and deep anguish wash over me and as I sped toward town and wept, big heaving screams filling the car.

  Jenny.

  I had left Jenny.

  She was gone.

  It’s been a week since everything happened. I’m in a hospital bed writing this all out for you as a warning. My heart aches and the shame and sadness of the past few days are almost too much to bear. My dear Jenny…she’s gone. Out there somewhere, one of them. I’m so, so sorry….

  I was interrogated by the police multiple times. I gave them my story, the whole thing, and I could see the looks they shared between themselves. The FBI was called in and a search party was formed to look for Jenny, but they haven’t found anything yet.

  They found the clearing. It was empty.

  One of the officers told me that the ground had been matted down, like hundreds of feet had walked over it. I said nothing. He knew my story and I knew he didn’t believe me. The sheriff I had talked to on the phone was there. He didn’t say anything to me, keeping his distance and shooting me wary looks.

  They’ve all left for the day and I’m alone again.

  If the shimmering sphere was in that clearing, they all would have seen the nightmares that surrounded it just like Jenny did when she took that walk in the woods while I slept.

  Did she see the monsters then?

  Was she in some kind of trance after that?

  Why didn’t she say anything?

  I know I’ll never have the answers and they will continue to haunt me for as long as I live.

  There is one thing that I keep coming back to that sends a shiver down my spine.

  Where did the monsters go? Where did that beast take the sphere? Where did they all come from?

  I don’t have the answers for you. But I am afraid. I am very, very afraid.

  Let me leave you with a warning…if you wake at night and feel like s
omething is in your room watching you…well…I’m afraid that’s because something is.

  13

  Chrome Sunset

  Your entire life can change in a day. That’s a scary thought, isn’t it? And yet we never really expect change. We get up, go to work, come home, and expect the constant flow of normality to maintain its predictable pace. We feel like we are in control of our lives, navigating through its many channels, guiding our minds and bodies through the jungle gym of working society. We set our alarms, we lock our doors, we buy our food. We establish these pillars of control, these decisions that give us the illusion that we’re dominating our destiny.

  But what if the power goes out and the alarm never goes off? What if someone breaks into your house? What if your food goes bad?

  What if something else is ultimately in control of your life?

  What if we are merely pawns in a much grander plan?

  What would you do if your entire life changed for the worse?

  I don’t tell you these things to scare you, I tell you these things to prepare you. Don’t try to outsmart the cosmic forces that hover all around us. Don’t try to get ahead of the disaster. Don’t bother locking your door. Don’t worry about setting your alarm.

  Because in the end, none of that is going to matter. We’re all going to die and it’s coming sooner than you think. It may come tomorrow, it may come a year from now, but every second you’re alive, death takes another step closer.

  And there’s nothing you can do about it.

  I’ve come to realize these morbid lessons. I’ve been shown the brutal blade of unpredictability. I was like you once, going through life, expecting every day to mirror the last. I didn’t plan for…what happened…but in my defense…how could I?

  And that’s what I’m trying to tell you. There will be random events of horror that happen in your life that you cannot prepare for. There are evils creeping closer to you that you cannot stop. So instead of blinding yourself to their existence with false security, open your mind up and expect the worst. Expect a loved one to die, count on your wife leaving you, expect misery and sadness. Because if you do, when life decides to stab you in the heart, at least you’ll be wearing some armor. It will still hurt, you might still bleed, but it won’t kill you…it won’t kill you…