WnW 1.2 Say Nothing

I felt dizzy. My vision of the alleyway seemed to bend around the monstrosity in front of me. The arms moved perpetually, but never with a unified goal. One arm dragged its nails across the man’s torn jeans. Another caressed his face, like it loved him.

The man chuckled. “Not a pretty sight, I know.” He said this as if I’d caught him in a compromising act. “If you could help, I just need- Ah!” A barely audible crack punctuated his words. The man threw his head back. The arms holding him jerked a fraction tighter, as if something in him had just given out under the pressure.

My legs gave out as I heard the noise. I fell back, landing in a puddle of cold water. This can’t be real.

The man got his breathing under control, taking small efficient breaths. “I just need you to pry him off me,” he said. “F- Ah! Find something sharp.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. I- What the fuck is that?” My heart beat loudly in my ears.

The man tsked impatiently. “Not important right now. Need help-” He grimaced in pain, then he chuckled like he’d just stubbed his toe. His eyes were wild, darting between the monster and me.

The monster held him so only his toes could brush the pavement. The arms undulated like a writhing mass of snakes. I spotted one that had bright green nail polish on its fingernails, contrasting sharply with the yellowed skin. None of the hands looked like they belonged with the others.

Fear drove every thought from my mind, but one remained. He needs help. I have to help him. I tore my eyes from the monster to look for anything that could help. The wet pavement reflected the moonlight, but something shone near the wall more brightly. Go get that. An easy objective I could focus on. I kept my eyes down and crawled on my hands and knees. It was a broken bottle, with the neck still intact, it served as a handle to a knife.

I pushed myself to my feet, legs still shaking. Keeping my eyes downward, I gave myself my next objective. Stab the scary thing. I took a few shaky steps closer. I could see the arms waving above me in the reflections of puddles underfoot. I could hear the man’s breathing, short and fast. Matching his breaths, I got closer, until an arm almost brushed my leg. I could see its feet now. Huge and flat, with webbed toes. Do it. I raised my head. The monster towered over me, its bulbous eyes gleaming. I didn’t know where it was looking. An arm came near me, fingers stretched towards my face. I panicked and shut my eyes, swinging the makeshift blade. When I opened them a second later, I saw that the arm had withdrawn. The other hands were clutching at the wounded one, unified in pain. The monster didn’t cry out, didn’t make a sound.

Emboldened, I stepped closer and brought the bottle down on the mass of arms that held the man. It cut deep into an arm.

A gentle hand touched my shoulder as if to comfort me. Numbing coldness spread from the point of contact. I gasped at the sensation and shied away. Only to have my arm gripped by the wrist. A cold tingling washed down my arm in a wave and I watched in horror as the bottle slipped unwilling out of my grasp.

I’m going to die, I thought for a brief moment before all my fears washed away. Another hand crept its fingers around my ankle. I stomped on it with my other foot to break free. My numbed leg gave way underneath me.

I should be panicking, I thought, but all was calm. The yellowed arm that held me up had lowered as I made it hold my full body weight. The arms are not that strong individually. I could move my numb leg still, so I jumped up, then pulled down as hard as I could. The monster’s grip slipped, and I fell free. I crawled backwards with three working limbs until I was outside of its reach.

Some of the fear returned, making my breathing shaky, but it wasn’t so paralyzing as before. I stood up, testing my leg, then I examined the monster. It still hadn’t released the man. He watched me, mouth slightly open. He looked fascinated by the entire exchange. Blood trickled from the monster’s wounds, mixing into the puddles of water. My mind was working now. I could challenge the fear.

“This is fucking ridiculous,” I stated. How could the monster be so top heavy, with all those arms, and still stand upright? The legs were muscular for sure, but still, it must be difficult to balance. The monster had barely shifted its legs from the beginning of the encounter, only turning about 90 degrees. It stood straight-backed, giving me a side angle.

“Great posture,” I said.

The man started laughing. “He must play piano,” he said. His laugh was restricted by the anaconda-like embrace of the monster, making very short ha’s. He gasped for air and that only seemed to make it worse.

All the scrambling around in the alleyway had made my knees and the palms of my hands sting. It didn’t help that the ground was fairly slippery, being slick from the rain.

“Maybe we could knock it off balance, make it slip,” I mused out loud.

“Do it,” the man huffed.

I visualized running towards the monster and my heart sped up. I could hear ringing in my ears. My breathing quickened as I tensed my legs. Come on. Be brave.

My knees began to shake and I shook my head. “I should just run and get help,” I said, looking for an excuse.

“No… time,” The man gasped. 

It felt impossible. There was no way I could do this. Suddenly the noise in my head was overwhelming. The crushing thoughts weighed down my legs. I couldn’t take a step.

Strangely, my thoughts turned to dance. Perhaps because it was my usual reprieve from these dark thoughts. Footwork is everything.

“Now,” the man said.

A calmness settled over me. I ran forward, following the steps I had visualized in my mind. Just like dancing, one, two, drop. The monster grew large in my vision and I dropped low, sliding on the rain-slick pavement. The monster’s arms snatched at me and I felt them brush my hair as I dropped. Bringing both knees to my chest, I kicked out as hard as I could. My heels connected with the shin of the monster’s right leg. The monster toppled noiselessly. Its heavy weight slammed down, pressing me down onto the cold concrete. I could feel the arms moving all around me.

The fear came back all at once, crashing into me. It was dark, and the monster’s skin enveloped me. It smelled like musty wet leather. It was hard to breathe and I was drenched. I could hear with my ear pressed to the ground, the sound of hundreds of fingers scrabbling on the concrete, trying to find a way to right itself. 

Then all the vibrations suddenly stopped. The arms lay still. I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs to cry out for help. Had I been abandoned? I felt like I was close to passing out. How long had I been under here?

Fresh air crept into my nose. The absolute dark was replaced by the night sky and I strained to crawl the rest of the way free of the monster. A hand grasped my shoulder and it was warm. The man hauled me out by my armpits, huffing in pain as he dragged me over to the alley wall so I could lean up against it. It finally filtered into my awareness that he was laughing, even though it clearly hurt to do so.

“Hahahahaha- ahh,” he sighed and sat down next to me.

I examined him closely. Blood matted his blond hair and ran down his narrow face. He was skinnier than I was and around the same age, maybe a little younger. He clutched his ribs and blood stained his t-shirt around his abdomen. A small knife was clutched in his hand. Exhausted, he turned his bowed head towards me, grinning, eyes wide with excitement.

The adrenaline leaving my system made me feel giddy and I couldn’t help but match his enthusiasm. I let out a small, relieved laugh.

The man pulled a mournful face, “Alas, that’s one less pianist in the world.”

I snorted. Rubbing my shoulder, I started to feel sensation return to my numbed arm. My side hurt where I slid on the pavement. “What was that?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He placed the back of his hand on my chest. “I owe you for saving me. My name is Chase.”

I wearily shook it. “Nick.”

We sat silently for a moment and I closed my eyes, feeling every ache in my body.

“Listen, I understand the need to rest but…” I opened my eyes and saw him gesture towards the unmoving monster.

I turned to look and whatever I had planned to say died on my tongue. The corpse was barely recognizable. Chunks of flesh had been torn out and lay spread out across the alley. Red globules glistened in the moonlight. The eyes had received special attention from Chase’s knife. The globes were covered in slits where the blade had been shoved and clear liquid drained from the wounds. One of the arms had a section where Chase had skinned it. I saw red muscles exposed to the open air. I half expected the monster to start moving again.

I realized that I wasn’t soaked with water. It was blood. In the darkness, it was hard to tell that my clothes were stained dark.

“Fuuuuuck,” I let it out in a breath.

“Do you want to explain this to the police?” Chase asked me.

I shook my head.

“Then we should get out of here.” 

“I don’t understand what just happened,” I said dumbly. “What did we just do?”

Chase pulled himself to his feet with difficulty and pulled out a phone. He wiped at the screen for a moment then powered it on. “Let’s meet up later. I’ll text you. I can’t promise it will make it any clearer, but I’ll tell you what I know.”

I felt cold, like the monster’s hands were still on me, and I shivered as we exchanged numbers.

Chase walked out of the alley, straightening his shirt like he had just fallen down and nothing more. Then he disappeared around the corner. After a moment of rest, I picked myself up. I walked backwards out of the alley, keeping my eyes on the grisly scene. As shadow enveloped the corpse, it appeared to be merely human. A drunk that had passed out among litter and broken bottles.

My mind raced with questions unanswered. Aliens? Lab experiments?

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.