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Had this one sitting around with no use, might as well put it here.

Darkness Falls


BOO!


A pale, shaking hand rises up from a manhole in the street, the rain pattering along the road and rushing down the new-found gap in the street. Following this first pioneer into the waters was another hand, this one a slightly darker color, and covered in a soaked, cracked leather glove, the finger portions cut off in a brawler fashion. One forearm, another, then 2 full arms in the typhoon, and finally a head. A head, A head with hair sprawled in all directions flat under the heavy rain. One could distinctly make out masculine features on this head when the lightning flashed across the tall, grim faces of the concrete and rusted steel pillars that once made up 'Paradise', the time before 'It' happened. It, the dark beings poised just below him in the swirling drains below.
He pulls himself out, body shaking from the frigid, wet darkness he had just left. The fat raindrops pummeled him everywhere, becoming one with the months of grime and human excrement caked on his jacket and pants... Human blood. Blood of innocents, blood of children.... He ran, ran as fast as his tired, starved muscles could from the shades of the storm that slowly followed him out, the ones that had kept him down..... down there.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME, PLEASE!SOMEONE! OH GOD...." In a hoarse voice.
He kept running, running from his past, running from what he had seen and the captors that had caused it... The very same ones now following him lazily like a cat would an obscenely fat mouse. By no means were They fast, but they never tired... One reason They are superior. They. The ones that caused this hell on Earth.
"Please....." He said to a city and people who in the past MIGHT have gone to help him, but those days were long gone. A sob escaped his mouth and tears started flowing from his eyes, unnoticeable from the rain accumulated on his face. Rain. One of the few things that has stayed constant in the past months.

~2 Months earlier~

I was at home when it first began.... sitting on my soft, brown leather recliner, after work, watching the evening comedies. Too bad it was one of those rare hysterical onesâ¦
A newscast came on suddenly,â This is News Reporter Alex Miller of BCX News Willington.We have just heard reports of mysterious kidnappings in the city, and city officials recommend staying indoors until we can find the perpetrator.â Ah not much new, enough crime in this city as it is, not very shocking for a string of murders. But nonetheless I followed their advice and stayed home.
The show continued, and after a few skits I walked across my cheap tan carpet into the kitchen to cook dinner. Since Iâm not exactly Iron Chef, I had the usual, a TV dinner and some leftovers from yesterdayâs . Halfway through cutting my Steak & Gravy, I heard a knock on the door. Not very often I have a visitor... so I put down my cheap metal knife and crept over my creaky wood floor ( the hallway had wood flooring instead of carpet, too lazy to install carpe) and looked through the peephole⦠Ah itâs that nice African lady from next door,Ms. Jonna!
â Hello Noah, nice weather isnât it?â she said, swaying slightly.
I knew something was up, because it definitely wasnât the best weather, humid and overcast, roughly 45 degrees as the night was setting inâ¦.
â Why yes it is.â I responded with an awkward smile.
â Mind if I come in, its getting chilly out here.â She says, tightening her red, velvety shower robe.
â sure, come on in!â i stepped to the side, and Aya stepped inside. We walked to the living room silently, the floor creaking slightly. I sat on the couch, and her the recliner, which embarrassingly still had dirty plates and empty pop-cans still lying around it, forgotten.
â Have you heard about those murders?â She asked, staring behind me towards the curtained window before looking at me again.
â Ah, I wouldnât think of it as much, especially not in this city.â I said passively, fumbling around for the remote.
â Well yes, but thereâs something different about this one⦠maybe Iâm just overly suspicious, but rarely do they ever tell people to stay at home until itâs dealed with.â

â well I donât know, it doesnât seem suspicious to me. But Iâll keep my eyes and ears open for news.â I said.
â Say, mind if I stay the night here? The⦠um.. water is broken and I canât call in a repairman until tomorrow.â
â Oh câmon, Aya, itâs only 7 oâclock and Iâm sure thereâs still a repairman available.â
â butâ¦.â
â but what?â
â Then why donât you?â She said defensively.
â Well I donât know how to.â I said, frowning at my lack of knowledge,â though if I did know then I definetly would.â
â Well I somewhat figured someone such as yourself would knowâ¦â Aya says, frowning.
â OK OK Iâll see what I can doâ¦â I gruntingly obliged.
So I changed out of my sleep pants and into a more presentable outfit ( Red polo shirt w/ Jeans and a black rain-coat), grabbed my small toolbox from the closet, and we stepped outside, myself locking the door behind me. We walked the all of 40 steps to next door, and I went inside first with Aya following.
âIn there.â She directed me to the bathroomâ¦
I looked in the toilet immediately, which appeared fine, then the sink, the same.
â Iâm not seeing theâ"â
â Right there.âShe pointed at a rather ominous trap-door that somehow had never come into my gazeâ¦
âOh, Iâm sorry.â I said shamefully, lifting up the trapdoor. The smell of mold and water I immediately filled my nostrils and reluctantly I hauled myself inside the dark chasmâ¦
After about 20 hands through the darkness the tunnel opened up into a small, damp room, lined with mold. The spores made me sneeze, leading led to an uncontrollable fit that made my skull hurt. Recovering with my neck hurting from the violent sneezing, I looked up and saw the water pump⦠there was a small pool around it.I lugged my toolbox to the side of the pool and unscrewed the panel to the control panel. It was⦠Broken?? There appeared to be many tiny scratch marks where the controls and instructions used to beâ¦. how did that happen? .It was then I looked to my left and saw a pair of small, bloodshot eyes⦠Eyes that stared directly at me with an eerie glare.......
I reached slowly for my wrench, and grasped on itâs cold steel handle. I fingered it to make sure it wouldnât slip, though my sweaty hand were not helping at all. Inch by inch, I raised it to a level with my head, the eyes watching my every move. I could feel my heart beating through my chest, and I tightened my grip on the wrench for reassurance. There was an ear-piercing shriek, and I swung, closing my eyes....
â¦. and I felt it leave my hand, hit the wall of the claustrophobic crawlspace with a loud BMK, and fall into the murky pool... The eyes lunged at me as I opened my eyes, sharp rat teeth attached to a black form following it through the air. To this day, I think that was the hardest punch I had ever thrown. I instinctively through a punch at it with all my power, and I hit that little mot!@#$%^&er dead center. It flew through the air in the opposite direction it had been going moments ago, hitting the wall with a satisfying CHLK , then comically slid oh so slowly down the wall and stopped on the floor, leaving a red trail all the way down.
I examined my fist, and pulled the small fragmented rat teeth pieces out of my knuckles. I reached for my wrench with my nonbleeding hand and pulled it out of the freezing water, grabbed my toolbox and crawled as fast as my sweaty self could back out of there.

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Any and all criticism, cruel or not, is appreciated, as long as it is CONSTRUCTIVE and UNDERSTANDABLE (i.e I can read it without saying 'what does that mean?', 'reword this' or 'wtf is this?'. I will finish writing (typing :P ) and post the next hunk hopefully by late tomorrow.

~DM~