Dark Dreams: The Hunted

It's night and I'm standing next to the ruins of what used to be a castle somewhere in the English countryside. In the moonlight I can see gray rock walls crumbled, doors still standing in walls that no longer hold anything in, or anything out. I move slowly and carefully, knowing the attackers are everywhere now. The night is dark, and the few clouds in the sky move slowly, light in a deep blue sky, except in the far distance.

In the distance the clouds glow orange where London burns.

I creep along the walls, listening for sounds of life, hoping to find another survivor amongst the ruins. I hear movement, and slowly edge my way to an area where the remaining wall only comes up about four feet. On the other side I hear voices, and quietly I peer over the edge of the wall to see who's there.

They're short, maybe three feet tall. They're not wearing any clothes, and in the moonlight their skin looks brown and tough, like leather. One reaches it's clawed hand into what was once a man, pulling at something until it comes loose, bat's wings raising slightly with the effort, and then eating it. A walkie talkie on the body's belt crackles with static, and the other thing turns its horned head towards the sound. A broken voice comes whispering through:

"Can anyone hear me? Jesus, we were completely surrounded. It's just me left, and I...wait...what was that?"

There is a brief pause, and then the sound of tearing and screaming. Then the walkie talkie goes silent. One of the demons looks at the other and says, "Huh. It makes you wonder why he bothered with the radio."

The other demon shrugs and says, "Well, he didn't know."

Having seen that these are not the survivors I seek, I carefully move away from the ruins and begin to cross the countryside. I listen all the time, occasionally darting my eyes to the deep blue sky for fear of one of them dropping down from above. I move along, and as I come to the top of a hill, I see headlights moving in the distance. I want to rush down and wave for help, but something tells me not to, and instead I lay down against the ground, watching the headlights slow as the road gets closer to where I am.

The car stops in front of me, about 200 feet away from where I'm laying against the grass. A woman steps out of the car and walks to the side of the car I'm closer to, scanning the area as if looking for something. She's tall, with long black hair and a form fitting blue dress that looks like something out of the 1940s, and I think to myself that I would probably find her attractive if I believed that she was human.

Failing to find anything, she gets back into the car. I see her lean over to pick up a phone from the passenger side, somehow knowing she needs to report her progress, when she pauses. She raises her head, and she stares me right in the eyes.

And I know that I'm not going to escape after all.