I ran.

It felt like I had been running for hours before I stopped. I found a tree to lean against as my panic subsided.

“What the fuck was that?!” I stared blankly off into the forest as I tried to figure out what I had just witnessed.

It was one thing to see a video. It was something completely different to see two monsters fighting each other. Especially since one of them had been a person five minutes beforehand.

I fumbled in my pocket and was relieved to discover I still had my phone.

Unfortunately, I realized I had abandoned my backpack in my panicked scramble to get away. Thankfully, I had enough common sense to keep my wallet and phone on my person. I just wished I had my backpack with all my favorite shirts.

“Wait… what the fuck am I thinking?”

Shirts were not the important thing right now. Chastising myself as I quickly dialed my brother’s number once more.

“C’mon… c’mon…. pick up.” I held the phone in both hands. Staring at the screen like it was the best hope for survival.

“Ava?” My brother’s breathless voice echoed from out of the speaker. I nearly sobbed in relief.

“David!” My voice sounded shrill even to me. “Where the fuck are you? What the fuck is going on?”

“I’m with mom and dad.” He answered quickly. “Listen to me… you gotta get to your apartment and I’ll try to get to you.”

“What?” This was not the response I was expecting.

“It’s not safe on the roads right now.”

“No shit. I just watched a classmate grow a second mouth.” My voice pitched higher as I spoke.

“Are you all right?” My brother asked before correcting himself. “Of course you are. You wouldn’t be talking to me. Listen. What I said. You need to get to your apartment or some other place that’s safe. If you are out, you can’t be making too much noise.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think?” His response was mildly sarcastic. “Just. Get to your apartment. Lock the door. Don’t let anyone in. Got it?”

“G-” I started, but something struck me from the right. It knocked the phone out of my hand and sent me flying to the ground.

I hit the mossy ground and felt like things crunched. My muscles practically screaming in agony as I turned to look at what it was.

Like the other creature, it was unfamiliar. It looked like a hare on steroids. A hare that was about the size of a large dog. It bared very un-herbivore looking teeth at me as it took a step before it hunched down. It reminded me of the way my old pet cat would get ready to pounce on a toy.

I tried to scurry backwards away from it while reaching for something, anything, to be used as a weapon.

My fingers fell across a rock just as the thing jumped at me.

Without thinking, I turned out of the way. I threw one arm over my face to protect my eyes. The other swung with the rock held tightly in my hand. I felt the connection of the rock into the creature. A sickening crunch that traveled all the way up to my shoulder.

The hare-creature made a screech before falling sideways away from me.

Some instinct kicked in and I continued to slam the rock into the creature’s head. I just kept hitting it. My arm had gone numb by the time I stopped.

The rock fell from my hand, and I tumbled backwards onto my ass.

My breath came in ragged gasps as I tried to sort out what had just happened. As I tried to reason what I had just done.

Never in my life had I considered myself a person suited for the wilderness. Hiking was easy. Survival and hunting animals were definitely not. The thought that I would be able to kill another living creature had never crossed my mind.

“Oh, god.” The words escaped my lips as I realized I had killed it.

I rationalized that it was me or this thing.

“I… I want to go home.” It was a whisper into the forest.

I rubbed one arm before I realized there was blood coating my hand. There were other chunks of something that my imagination quickly explained that it was brain and pieces of skull. That was about when I nearly vomited.

“Oh, god.” I said it again as I struggled with my rolling stomach.

The hare-creature’s leg twitched, and I nearly screamed in response.

Remembering what my brother had said, I clamped my clean hand over my mouth to stifle the scream. It terrified me to think that I might draw that larger creature here, but that reminded me of my phone.

Turning away from the mess I had made, I practically crawled on all fours to find my phone. Dead leaves crunched beneath my hands and knees as I scoured the forest floor.

I nearly cried when I found it. There was a humongous crack running from the middle of the screen and all the way to the top. It no longer turned on. I panicked as I stared at it. I had no way of contacting my family now.

Stifling my sobs, I slipped the phone into my pocket once more.

It was then that I realized everything around me had gone completely quiet. There were the typical sounds of wildlife when I entered it earlier. Chirping of birds in the distance. The faint noises of insects. Things I knew from hiking.

Now there was completely nothing.

A chill ran up my spine as I sat up.

The crunch of dried leaves caught my attention. Another realization came quickly.

I had been crawling over moss. The sound of crunching leaves earlier had not been from me.

I turned around with a shuddering breath.

There, crouching about three feet from me, was that creature I had seen earlier. It was low enough that its eyes were about the same level as mine. That mouth I had seen earlier was half open. If it was not for the multitude of eyes, or the rest of the freakiness of the creature, I would almost say it looked like a dog smiling.

It inched towards me while I remained completely still. The creature had fixed its big red eyes on me in much the same way a cat was puzzling over whether to attack or not. I swallowed in nervousness but said nothing.

The creature leaned closer and sniffed.

Its head was nearly half the size of me.

I waited as I expected the creature was just going to open its mouth and swallow me whole. Only for it to turn away and move towards the hare. It scuttled over, using its four arms as another set of legs.

I stared in surprise as it began to chow down on the near-dead hare-creature. It quickly devoured the creature. Those huge teeth ripping chunks off to make the hare-creature a much more manageable snack. At least, that was what I assumed.

I did not move and merely sat there as I watched it eat. The macabre sight etched itself into my mind, but I refrained from moving or making a sound. I did not want to become meal number three for this creature.

Then I heard it.

It was purring.

Like a freaking house cat. It was purring while it was eating.

My heart was in my stomach as I listened to the sounds it was making as it ate. Part of me wondered if this was not a happy sound but it was easier for me to think about that instead of the crunch and tear of the hare-creature’s body.

Finally, the creature had eaten everything and was now sitting on its haunches. It carefully groomed its front paws. That long tongue flicking between and around claws in a practiced manner. Everything about it was like a cat.

Even the way it suddenly stared off into the forest. The creature’s pupils dilated into large black circles. Every. Single. Eye.

Before I could say a thing, the creature was up on its back legs and rushing off into the forest.

Just to be safe, I remained sitting there. Five minutes passed. Then ten.

It seemed the creature had no intention of returning to eat me. I immediately said a quiet prayer to every god and spirit I could think of. I even thanked Elvis as I got to my feet.

Once I was standing, I paused and listened, but there was no sign of the creature’s return.

Sighing in relief, I glanced around to get my bearings. While I had rushed into the forest in a panic, I knew my apartment was in the city. I also knew that was to the north of the airport. Barely making a sound, I started in that direction.