(ok so the formatting was lost in translation (aka copy and pasting) so hopefully you can read it!!)“What the fuck was that!?”
“I don’t’ know…” pant pant, “…just keep, running!!”
As if sensing that we were attempting to talk about it, the thing behind us snarled and a garbage can was suddenly flying through the air, narrowly missing the right side of Jade’s head by a few inches. The can flew forward and slammed into the side of a building just ahead of us with enough force to crumple the can like it was made out of aluminum. We somehow managed to sprint even faster into the dank, darkness that was Phoenix’s industrial sector at night. How did we even get here? It didn’t seem like that long ago we were still in the outskirts of downtown, with its people, and lights, and police (ok so we didn’t actually see any police but there had to be some just cruising along didn’t there?). If we could only get back to downtown somehow, then the thing chasing might be scared off by all the people.
Or maybe we’d find some police officers and they’d shoot it.
Or maybe it’d get hit by a car.
Or maybe we’d keep running until the monster caught us with us and then it’d eat us and spit up our bones.
No! I refused to think like that, we could still pull out of this alive somehow. Ok, we just had to have an escape plan, right, good…an escape plan. So think, what’s our escape plan? Umm (think brain think!)…keep running? Panic was making it too hard to think straight and every time I started to formulate an idea, the thing chasing us would growl or make some other noise and the only thought in my brain was “AHHHHH!!” The one and only thing I could clearly figure out: if we did lose and the monster caught us, then I wasn’t going down without a fight! The sound of our sneakers pounding the dried, cracked pavement so hard and so fast echoed eerily off of the tall walls around us and sounded like an army marching to war.
Escape from the monstrous thing that was chasing us was our only goal and theoretically should have been easy enough; but unfortunately neither Jade nor I had ever toured the über lovely industrial area of Southside Phoenix, so we had no idea where we were or where we were going. We were currently sprinting down a confusing maze of dimly-lit back alleys at a speed that would have made Usain Bolt proud.
One of the streetlights at the end of the street flickered back on and we were greeted with a dead end. We didn’t slow though, just kept up our breakneck pace as if we were going to run right through the abandoned warehouse in front of us. The creature behind us screamed, most likely in triumph, but “scream” doesn’t accurately describe the sound tearing out of its throat. There is no word in the English language that would do this horrific wail justice. It sounded like wind whipping through a canyon, nails scraping down a chalkboard, an Eagle screeching, and people screaming on a rollercoaster all rolled into one evil, awful sound. It made every single hair on my body stand straight, and it made my heartbeat speed up until it felt like it was going to explode inside my chest. Oh God, oh God!!
We were almost at the dead end now, just one more building to go and then we were trapped. The street light flickered off and I was able to notice a faint pink light coming from the left side of the street…there was another street! It was just so narrow that we couldn’t see it before! I opened my mouth to tell Jade but she was already yelling, “Left or right?!” At the last second I shouted “Izquierda!” I have no idea why, I guess I was unconsciously hoping the creature didn’t speak Spanish like we did and therefore we’d be able to gain a few more precious seconds.
We both managed to take a hard left and continue down the narrow side street without losing any speed or time. The street was so narrow that only one car would be able to drive at a time; but all these buildings appeared to be abandoned and the street looked like it was barely ever used so I guess its size (or lack thereof) wouldn’t be a problem. The faint pink light we’d seen was coming from an old, neon cross attached to a warehouse four blocks ahead.
The monster must not have known Spanish and it apparently didn’t like being fooled. It screamed again, but this time it was exponentially louder…and it was closer than it had been before. Much, much closer. It had almost caught up to us, shit, shit, double-shit!! I spared a wide-eyed, sideways glance at Jade and we managed to kick it up another notch. Our purses jumped and jangled, barely staying on our arms as they pumped rapidly back and forth. I didn’t even want to consider what valuable items had flown out of them and rolled into an urine-soaked gutter behind us. I’m pretty sure I lost my wallet and phone just before the garbage-can-incident and my purse now felt like there was nothing left in it. So what the heck did I need it for anyway? I yanked it off my arm and threw it backwards over my head.
It must have hit the monster because it growled as I heard fabric tearing and felt spittle or wetness of some sort hit the back of my neck. Come on, only two blocks to go! Jade tossed her purse and then dug her lipgloss out of her pocket and dropped it just behind our feet. I assume it was to trip the creature…genius! Truly inspired! I managed to work my finger into my pocket but it was empty. Whatever had been in it must have worked its way out blocks ago. Unfortunately it didn’t work and the monster just batted Jade’s purse away and we could hear it colliding with a dumpster to our right.
Less than a block to go, and oh thank God! There were a few cars and an old truck in front of the warehouse…maybe someone was there to help us! We were almost there…just a little bit closer…something sharp swiped the back of my shirt, causing my whole body to be jerked backwards. I ran forward with all my might, the shirt ripped, and I flew forward faster than I’d anticipated and my foot twisted under until all of my weight landed on my poor ankle. I fell forward right on my face, barely missing the hood of the car next to me. Jade turned to see me on the ground and slowed down to help, but I held my hand out to her and raggedly screamed, “GO!” She reluctantly turned and kept running towards the warehouse door. I pushed up from the ground and tried to launch myself forward but something strong and unbelievably cold wrapped around my upper arm and twirled me around until I was facing something far worse than anything in my absolutely worst nightmare.
