Chapter Text
Jeff was minding his own business when the monster caught him. Really, he was. Honest. Maybe he hadn't been three hours ago, when he made that couple in the blue house so very beautiful—but he was now. Just walking along, enjoying the autumn nighttime and the emptiness of the town. Little towns were the best—no, correction: rural areas were best, but little towns were second best. In little towns he could do his work and then enjoy the outdoors, since there were no people crowding the edges of town to spook at his face. He was alone and it was peaceful. Until the monster caught him. Then it was not so peaceful. It happened slowly, and then all at once.
So he was walking, right, on the edge of town where no one was, and then he thought there was someone. It wasn't that he saw anything, it was just that his lizard brain raised the hairs on the back of his neck and started slicking his palms with sweat. He glanced around him, across the buildings were people could hide, and across the woods where animals could. There was nothing there except what was normal, but his lizard brain insisted there was a threat present. He paused in his stride and stood, listening to the wind shuffle dead leaves and the distant sound of a single car engine. There's something bad, said his lizard brain.
You're just paranoid, Jeff replied, although he rubbed the handle of his knife where it was cuddled inside his hoodie pocket for comfort. Even if there was something bad—we're badder than it could ever be. Anddd we talk to ourselves. Great, Jeff. I think it's time we put in for the night. So Jeff started walking again, a little quicker, thinking of his nice, quiet shed downtown. He made it maybe half a mile before the paranoia turned into a chewing fear. His lizard brain was certain the threat was in the woods, but his rational mind told him humans were the threat, not animals. Still—his lizard brain was millions of years older than him, so who was he to challenge it?
He kept a constant eye on the trees, and another mile or so later he saw something. It was dark, but there was moonlight, so the flicker of black and white that caught his eye and made his lizard brain shriek could have been dismissed—but he wouldn't dismiss it. He just knew, he knew, there had to be something there. His lizard brain was right. I'm sorry I doubted you, he told it, stepping up into a light jog and sticking close to the houses. He thought about going beyond them, to the roads, but there were people there, and people—no, he couldn't do that. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
It was a third of mile (only another half mile to his shed, dammit) when the monster showed itself. It was just there all of a sudden, standing at the edge of the road, looking towards him—well, facing him. Jeff wasn't sure if it could look, considering it had no eyes. It was, to say honestly, one of the most terrifying things Jeff had ever seen. Maybe it was the lack of face, or the imposing height, or the way it stood, calmly, while he felt his own heart claw its way into his throat as though it sought refuge in his mouth.
In compliance to his lizard brain's demands, Jeff ran. Kind of. It was an odd run, because he was both trying to look forward so he didn't trip and look backwards to watch the monster-person-thing. As it turned out, he didn't need to look backwards, because it was in front of him and his face was intimately greeting its stomach—which was neither warm nor soft. He stumbled backwards, jerking his knife from his pocket and holding it in front of him like a crucifix towards a vampire. For whatever good that did. Yeah, absolutely none. His mouth started to taste like blood and what a bitch, it couldn't have waited a little while? Jeff swallowed it, but it leaked back over his tongue—it wasn't a pleasant thing, but it was in no way as horrible as the monster in front of him. Besides, the blood-in-the-mouth-thing had been happening for, like, a month. As long as he didn't start vomiting in the middle of his escape, Jeff thought he could live with it.
Spinning on his heel, Jeff bolted in the opposite direction. He got about three steps before his left leg was jerked out from under him and his face was heading for the ground—and then it wasn't, because he was being jerked into the air. The monster drew him back towards it, clutching his leg with a cold, shadowy tentacle and hoisting him high enough that his eyes were level with where Jeff thought its eyes should have been. Jeff snarled and lashed out at its face with his knife. His hand was caught by another tentacle and his knife pried out of his hand. "Motherfucker." Jeff tried to make his voice low and vicious, as though he were speaking to a victim, but it only sounded whiny. Blood dripped from his tongue and teeth as he thrashed and shouted at the monster, splattering on the ground. At least he wasn't swallowing it, so maybe he could avoid the puking part.
The monster didn't seem to give a shit about what Jeff did, holding him back away from its face to avoid his clawing fists and keeping its blank face towards him. It was more than unnerving, and it started to make him feel sick. Or maybe he was going to throw up whether he swallowed blood or not. He stilled his frantic motions, trying to settle his stomach to no avail whatsoever. The monster lowered him some, but didn't put him down, and he barfed. There wasn't much to spill except thin blood and stringy bile, but his stomach didn't seem to get the memo. It kept him heaving for about two minutes, his head craning backwards so the contents of his stomach wouldn't drop into his nose and hair, until he was lightheaded and gasping for breath. Even after the retching stopped, black dots danced in front of his vision and then his vision was gone and he followed it.