To Lands Unknown

Chapter 4. In the Dark of Morning

(Alex's pov)

It was dark, and I was running through what looked to be a labyrinth of rooms. An office building? Crash. Something was following me. The vents? No, it sounded too big. Shattered glass crumbled beneath my shoes as I ran, feeling like adrenaline was controlling every movement and thought I had.

I heard a door slam open down the hall behind me, sending fear and dread throughout me as I could only think of getting to the door ahead of me. I grasped the knob. Locked, dammit. I turned to face my pursuer, only to see a dark being suddenly lash straight at me.

   I felt myself sit up with a start, not knowing exactly why until I heard a shrill scream from outside, just about making me jump out of my skin with surprise. Cold sweat making my shirt cling to me uncomfortably.

My eyes darted to the window to perhaps see what was going on but I couldn't see anything as it was much to dark. Curiosity and concern getting the best of me as I slipped out of bed, still wearing my day clothes due to the fact we were leaving first thing in the morning.

Not turning on a light for the sake of Jake being asleep in the other bed, I carefully crept out of our room, cautious not to trip on anything or cause any sound, managing to slip into the hardwood hallway. From there I made my way downstairs and to the front door, another scream piercing my ears. That time, it most definitely had come from the barn.

I treaded over, dread filling me as I entered the building. Although, I felt a sense of relief when I saw it was only a sheep, screaming, unnervingly human, and looked rather sickly. The dread faded and now was replaced by concern for the poor creature.

Running over to Grace's house, I knocked on the door hastily but light enough to be somewhat polite, despite it being the dark of morning. The sun wouldn't rise for a good 5 hours at least.

She soon answered the door, quite groggy. "The hell are you doing knocking on the door at this hour?" Leaning on the doorway, her patience waning fast. "I woke up to one of the sheep screaming, I went to check it out.. it's not looking too good." I said honestly, trying to gain her sympathy for interrupting her sleep. Success. She blinked nodded, her sleepiness dismissed as she abandoned the doorway and headed to the barn with me. The sheep now just sitting on the ground weakly, wheezing as it breathed, sounding rather raspy.

"Was it from screaming?" I inquired as I sat beside it, "No, they scream pretty often as the coyotes here spook'em a bit.. I think this one is definitely sick. Care to help me bring up to the condo? There's a room there on the ground floor where I keep my equipment for things like this, there aren't any vets out here so we gotta do it ourselves." She explained as I picked up the sheep. It was heavy but the soft fleece made it comfortable to carry and it didn't struggle, just leaning against me as I carried it back to the condo.

 We entered the veterinary room she had put together and I laid the poor thing down onto the central counter with as much gentleness that I could muster. She began carefully feeling certain spots on it's body, the gut, sides, and chest. Afterwards, taking out a stethoscope and checked over the heartbeat, looking displeased as what she heard. "It's heart beat is rapid.. It's too calm right now to be panicked. It almost seems like it's bleeding but I can't find any wounds, and there's nothing in the barn that could have caused internal bleeding..." She said inquired to herself. "Could you go wake up Arthur for me? I need the other sheep checked out. He should be in a guest house outside behind mine." Sighing to myself at all of the action, I left to go get Arthur.

-Timeskip-

I came back to the veterinary room with Arthur to see Jake was up and helping Grace with the sheep, and it looked surprisingly healthier than it had five to ten minutes ago.

"What did it need?" I asked, surprised and shocked by the dramatic change, as Grace was now feeding it some hay with a soft smile. "I have no idea what happened, but it seems to be back to normal now. But just to be sure, we should still have the other sheep checked ou-" She was cut off by it suddenly letting out a pained scream of complete and utter agony as it began convulsing violently.

Jake immediately rushed over, unsure of the difference between helping a convulsing human and a convulsing animal, he leapt at it and began trying to hold it down. It continued screaming and Grace began trying to find some tranquilizers when a sickening crack was heard throughout the room, causing everyone to freeze.

The sheep let out one final, ear-piercing scream of agony and horror before blood suddenly sprayed out from its chest. Jake, being the closest thing to the spray, was covered, and my eyes widened as I witnessed a long snake like, flesh colored abomination emerging from the chest cavity.

The sheep was most definitely dead as the abomination crawled out from it and hurriedly scurried out of the half cracked window. I looked to Jake, who was just staring down, still trying to comprehend what had happened.

Being the first to move, I slowly stepped over to Jake and lightly put my hand on his shoulder, "L-lets have you.. wash up..." I said, the only sort of comfort I could imagine helping him was being casual.

He slowly nodded and I helped him down from on top of the sheep and table. Arthur, who I had completely forgotten about, was lurched over the nearest trash can.

I led Jake up to our room and when we arrived, and collected his clean change of clothes and placed them on the sink before lightly pushing him into bathroom and closing the door behind him. I sighed and sat down when I heard the shower turn on. Worried for Jake.

My thoughts turned back to the events that took place. That creature. My stomach turned at the thought of it, but I couldn't be sick. I soon heard the shower shut off and Jake came out from the bathroom in the clean set of clothes.

"What time is it...?" He asked me quietly. I looked over to the clock, "Three in the morning." I answered. "We're leaving at six. Enough time to pack and drop by the store." Jake said firmly, I could only nod. I understood why. I wanted to leave too. As soon as we were able to.