sprint away, and the snow would slow her down. And a gun was no guarantee anyway; those back plates looked pretty thick. Maybe its underside was a vulnerability, butâ
While Kathy was considering her options, the thing on the hospital wall skittered around to the front of the building.
âShit!â she whispered, and loped over the snow drifts after it. When it came into view, she froze again, glancing slowly across the street to the couple. The man held out his key fob as they were walking, and the boop-boop of the unlocking mechanism was followed by the flashing of headlights from a car about two hundred feet away.
The creature let out an ear-piercing whine and jumped down onto the snow. Its feet, Kathy noticed, didnât sink as she would have expected with the obvious weight of the thing. Instead, it skittered across the ice and snow as easily as it had scaled the side of the hospital building. Fixated as it was on the couple, the thing paid no attention to Kathy, and so she detoured toward her car, grasping for the driver-side door handle just as the thing reached the middle of the street. The couple had reached theirs as well, and it was when the woman opened the passenger-side door that she saw the creature bearing down on them. Her scream echoed down the empty street.
Kathy dove across the driverâs seat to the glove compartment and grabbed her gun as the manâs screams joined the womanâs. She opened the passenger door, aimed as best she could at what she thought was the underside of the thing, and fired. It wailed, a bloom of white opening up where she hit it, and the feelers lashed out wildly in multiple directions.
The wound didnât slow the creature down, though. It climbed partially onto the hood of the car and shattered the windshield with a leg, spearing the man through the chest as he cowered behind the wheel. Kathy fired again, but the creature moved and the shot glanced off its back plates. Another bullet tore into its leg, and for a moment, Kathy had hope as the thing wobbled and slid along the car hood. Then it regained its balance. The woman cried out as the creatureâs tail dove straight for her. When it rose again, Kathy could see the woman dangling from the spiked end of the tail like a limp rag doll, the blood surrounding the hole in her gut soaking her top, raining down, and staining the snow beneath her.
Kathy yanked the passenger door shut and sat up, then slammed the driverâs door closed as well. She started the car just as the creature down the street managed to shake the woman free of its tail. It withdrew its leg and turned toward her.
âLetâs go, bitch,â she muttered, half to herself and half to the thing as she threw the car in drive and peeled out of the lot. She tore down the street, fishtailing at the corner as she made a left, but she barely let off the gas. Behind her, the thing screeched, and that screeching kept up with her, though she could make out no crunching of snow. It had to be practically flying over the drifts, closing the gap between them. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw it leap into the air. She slammed the gas pedal to the floor, and the car jerked just out of reach as the thing landed behind her. The tail came down, breaking the ice-crusted layer of snow along the curb behind her. Kathy fixed her gaze on the road ahead. She turned off on one of the country roads, a back way to get to Colby, along which she felt fairly certain she could keep the thing away from anyone else. The creature followed. The road, flanked by thick woods on both sides, was a strip of darker white amidst growing mounds of glistening snow. Occasionally, the thing behind her grabbed hold of trunks or branches and swung from one to another, closing the distance between them. She couldnât see the center line or even a good portion of the pavement. There were no streetlights on the road, either, so only her headlight beams, twin arms
While Kathy was considering her options, the thing on the hospital wall skittered around to the front of the building.
âShit!â she whispered, and loped over the snow drifts after it. When it came into view, she froze again, glancing slowly across the street to the couple. The man held out his key fob as they were walking, and the boop-boop of the unlocking mechanism was followed by the flashing of headlights from a car about two hundred feet away.
The creature let out an ear-piercing whine and jumped down onto the snow. Its feet, Kathy noticed, didnât sink as she would have expected with the obvious weight of the thing. Instead, it skittered across the ice and snow as easily as it had scaled the side of the hospital building. Fixated as it was on the couple, the thing paid no attention to Kathy, and so she detoured toward her car, grasping for the driver-side door handle just as the thing reached the middle of the street. The couple had reached theirs as well, and it was when the woman opened the passenger-side door that she saw the creature bearing down on them. Her scream echoed down the empty street.
Kathy dove across the driverâs seat to the glove compartment and grabbed her gun as the manâs screams joined the womanâs. She opened the passenger door, aimed as best she could at what she thought was the underside of the thing, and fired. It wailed, a bloom of white opening up where she hit it, and the feelers lashed out wildly in multiple directions.
The wound didnât slow the creature down, though. It climbed partially onto the hood of the car and shattered the windshield with a leg, spearing the man through the chest as he cowered behind the wheel. Kathy fired again, but the creature moved and the shot glanced off its back plates. Another bullet tore into its leg, and for a moment, Kathy had hope as the thing wobbled and slid along the car hood. Then it regained its balance. The woman cried out as the creatureâs tail dove straight for her. When it rose again, Kathy could see the woman dangling from the spiked end of the tail like a limp rag doll, the blood surrounding the hole in her gut soaking her top, raining down, and staining the snow beneath her.
Kathy yanked the passenger door shut and sat up, then slammed the driverâs door closed as well. She started the car just as the creature down the street managed to shake the woman free of its tail. It withdrew its leg and turned toward her.
âLetâs go, bitch,â she muttered, half to herself and half to the thing as she threw the car in drive and peeled out of the lot. She tore down the street, fishtailing at the corner as she made a left, but she barely let off the gas. Behind her, the thing screeched, and that screeching kept up with her, though she could make out no crunching of snow. It had to be practically flying over the drifts, closing the gap between them. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw it leap into the air. She slammed the gas pedal to the floor, and the car jerked just out of reach as the thing landed behind her. The tail came down, breaking the ice-crusted layer of snow along the curb behind her. Kathy fixed her gaze on the road ahead. She turned off on one of the country roads, a back way to get to Colby, along which she felt fairly certain she could keep the thing away from anyone else. The creature followed. The road, flanked by thick woods on both sides, was a strip of darker white amidst growing mounds of glistening snow. Occasionally, the thing behind her grabbed hold of trunks or branches and swung from one to another, closing the distance between them. She couldnât see the center line or even a good portion of the pavement. There were no streetlights on the road, either, so only her headlight beams, twin arms
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