The Squeak

    Jason gripped his camera tightly in his hand, his knuckles turning white from the force. If his eyes had not deceived him, he was certain that he had finally located the elusive Bigfoot. Taking a deep breath, he listened to the rustling of dead leaves, the muffled thud of the creature's footsteps. It was too noisy to be a predator, and too loud to be any of the small, common critters in the woods.

    “This is it…” he murmured softly, turning the camera on. He whipped around, past the foliage to reveal the beast. He grinned madly, eager for the certain fame that would undoubtedly accompany the release of his discovery. Only...it was not Bigfoot. The creature before him was no sasquatch, nor did it resemble any sort of primate he was familiar with---and he studied them for a living, so that was saying something. 

    It stood on all fours, body crouched to the ground as it eyed him with suspicion and malice. Its pristine, white fur seemed to sparkle under the few sun’s rays the managed to seep through the dense canopy above, with a fluffy bobtail standing up like a beacon. It was about the size of an adult chimpanzee, probably larger, for even under the thick coat of fuzz, its muscular build was evident.

    Jason gulped. Looking straight into its threatening, crimson irises, he could practically feel his soul leaving his body. This thing---he truly had no name for it---was very much an upscaled version of the endearing bunny-rabbit people back at home would fawn over...except that it was not. It was massive, and so much more terrifying, leaving him rooted to the ground, even as it began to stalk ever closer. Its teeth glinted like murderer’s knife, a promise of doom.

    The rabbit-monkey---was it even an animal?---bared its ivory canines at him, unleashing a sound so feral, so blood-curdling, that Jason could have sworn his heart had stopped. Consumed by fear, Jason sounded a primitive cry of his own. Only then did his legs finally respond, as if awoken by his banshee-like screeching, bolting away from the rabbit-monkey faster than he had ever sprinted in his life.

    The creature only snarled at his escaping figure before retreating to the undisturbed sanctuary in the unexplored depths of the woods.

    Jason kept on running far beyond the outskirts of the forest. It had been noon when he encountered the beast; yet, stepping once again onto the familiar streets, the sun was prepared to bid them goodnight. Dusk, a time most would relate to serenity, but not in Jason’s mind. What was serenity? The word had been wiped from his vocabulary as soon as he laid eyes on the strange creature in the woods. He had forgotten what it was to be calm and relaxed. All he had on his mind was to get as far away from that forest as possible. Perhaps it was finally time to leave the life of adventure behind and pursue something grounded. A job at the local zoo, maybe? It did not really matter to him, as long as he never had to face that creature ever again.

    People along the streets stared at him questioningly, the one madman running like the devil was on his tail, interrupting their peaceful evening. Jason gazed at them all in envy; they had not been there to look that fiendish hellspawn in the eye, they could live in their blissfully ignorant lives.

    Jason was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he failed to realise he was about to walk straight into his friend.

    “Jason, my dude, you look like you’ve seen the Ghost of Christmas Past.”

    Jason looked at his friend dead in the eye, the dread swirling within his own seemingly strong enough to convey the horrific nature of the creature he had discovered.

    "Benson, the woods, a monster!"

    Both males' eyes widened considerably at the sound of Jason's voice for it was so strikingly high pitched as opposed to his usual one. In his panic, Jason clutched to the front of Benson's shirt, eyes pleading for a saviour the same way an abandoned kitten would stare into the eyes of a human who fed it, desperately clinging to hope.

    It happened in an instant, from the second Benson had shoved him off and onto the cold, concrete street. Jason shuddered violently as his eyes drained of their initial chestnut brown, replaced by an eerie maroon. A round, puffy tail had sprouted out of his rear end while he shrunk to the size of a hunched gorilla. Jason could feel his teeth sharpening, cutting into his lower lip as it grew in length.

    Benson instinctively recoiled from his friend's grasp, attempting to evade him now that he had entered some stage of metamorphosis. In his frenzied state of mind, Benson had called for help, failing to notice the heightened pitch of his own voice.

    As for everyone else who witnessed the scene, they had all fled indoors, hiding away from the fearsome unknown. They had locked their doors and shuttered their windows in futile hopes of getting out unscathed, refusing to even acknowledge the existence of such madness; and who could blame them? It was a scene straight out of some horror movie, no one in their right minds would accept it as a fact so quickly. A simple case of Schrödinger's cat, they could not be certain of its truth without checking, yet it was also the lack of knowledge that allowed them to deny its existence.

    Jason was growing desperate. Even Benson had deserted him, he knew he had not much time left. He could feel it, his mind receding to whatever primitive brain the beast had had. He had to get help before he was reduced to no more than a mindless monster, but was there any hope of salvation? He pounded on every other door, praying for someone to at least try, to pity him enough to bless him with a miracle. He knew it was foolish, but he had not the faintest inkling of any other option available to him. 

    Residents peered out their windows, curiosity ensnaring them in its vice grip, luring them out. They drew the curtains by just a sliver, barely enough to see out of, but sufficient. Those who did saw the last moments of Jason Marlowe; for mere seconds later, sandy ears protruded from his skull, his face seeming to sink into itself as it was warped into the very creature he had attempted to escape from.

    It was only moments later that everyone in the vicinity had suffered the same, tragic fate. An entire city built from centuries of mankind's labour crumbled from the ease at which the cursed plague spread. It was a living nightmare, a town of vicious mutants that had sprung up from virtually nowhere. It was horrible as it was; more than enough to haunt the sleep of children for years to come, but it was far from over.

    Some tried to fight it, fighting for their own humanity. Unfortunately, there was only so far they could stave off the inevitable. Certainly, they had resisted for a decent period of time, granting them the chance to flee elsewhere.

    What they had failed to take into account, the poor fools, was that in their selfish desperation, they had unleashed their dreadful plight upon others. There was hardly anywhere left to hide, the world was overrun by the demon-spawn. It was only a matter of time before they were done for. And so it was, the end of humanity, catalysed by greed.