Breakdown of Reality

               Elizabeth crashed through the tree branches, feeling them scratch against her skin and crash together behind her. Her heartbeat raced as she placed one foot in front of the other and ran as fast as she could. She glanced to her sides and saw nothing in the three feet of forest that she could. The moon was in the sky but it didn’t provide any significant illumination for her run through the woods. She slipped on a small patch of mud and quickly caught her bearing, looking behind her as she did. It wasn’t there. It was out there, somewhere.

               She and Scott had come up to these woods as a Valentine’s Day getaway, a nice romantic trek through the woods. They’d made it to a small clearing just before dark, where they’d planned to set up camp and spend the night. Elizabeth had needed to pee real quick though, so she gave her boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek and dashed into the woods.

               When she got back it was there. Long, unnatural thin arms that ended in small hands with long, sharp fingers that it had deep in a screaming Scott’s stomach. It had almost no torso, just a small island that connected its arms, legs, and neck. Its legs were five feet in length, also thin. Its neck jutted out from the torso about a foot and a half and looked too small to support its long, narrow head. No hair, no ears, no mouth, no nose, just two deep pits that radiated anger, frustration, and hatred. The air around it wavered, as if heated by its hate or because its unnatural presence offended it.

               It continued to dig its claw like fingers into Scott’s stomach, the anger seeming to be mixed with pleasure as it listened to his screams. It tilted its head from side to side as it dug harder and deeper. Elizabeth stood in horror, watching. Finally it seemed to grow bored with Scott’s screams and grabbed hold of the sides of his head. It pulled slowly, slowly separating his head from the rest of his body. As Scott’s screams died it looked up, spotting Elizabeth.

               The wavering around the creature seemed to increase as it stared at her, the dark pits on its face communicating just how much it despised her and everything that she stood for. It crouched down low and a low croaking sound emanated from somewhere in its body.

               Elizabeth turned and ran. She wasn’t paying attention to where she ran, she just ran. And ran, and ran some more. As dusk turned to night she caught glimpses of it here and there. To her side, running beside her. Behind her, gaining and then disappearing. Above her, leaping from tree to tree. It was playing with her, toying with her emotions. It could take her down at any moment, if it chose to. She had no idea where she was, just knew that her only hope was to get somewhere safe, find someone who could protect her.

               She almost cried with joy when she ran into the hunter’s camp. It was just one man, six foot eight, three hundred pounds. He had a coarse beard, thick, strong arms, camo clothes and an orange vest. A shotgun was leaning up against his truck. He jumped in concern when Elizabeth crashed through the woods into his campground.

               “The hell?” he yelled.

               “Help…” Elizabeth said, out of breath, “Creature… following… killed… Scott…”

               The hunter went for his gun.

               “You know how far behind you it was?” he asked.

               Elizabeth shook her head.

               “You know what kind of creature it was?”

               Elizabeth shook her head.

               “Damn girl, was it a bear?” he asked.

               Elizabeth shook her head.

               “A wolf?” he asked.

               Elizabeth shook her head.

               The hunter was getting angry now.

               “Well,” he said, anger in the voice, “What the hell kind of creature…”

               And before he could finish it dropped from a large tree to the ground in front of them. It slow rose to its height, arms to its side and long claws curling and uncurling.

               “The hell…” the hunter said as he brought his shotgun up to fire.

               The creature started slowly walking forward, not cautious, not scared, just biding its time.

               The hunter fired, hitting the creature full in the chest. It cocked its head to the side and Elizabeth got the feeling that if it had a mouth to grin with, it would have. It continued to walk forward as the hunter swore, fired again, reload, fired, and continued swearing all the way to the point where the creature had its claws around his throat. It slashed deep gashes in his arms that began spurting bright red blood.

               Elizabeth knew the hunter was doomed; knew there was nothing she could do for him. She turned and ran. As she ran she heard the screams behind her as her hope bled and died, killed by an alien presence, not meant to be in this world.