THE heavy metal door slammed behind her and the locks slid into place as Rahel stepped gingerly out into the laneway.
The security guard was nice enough to wait for her to finish her closing duties but that was where the courtesy ended and the line was drawn. He did not really care what happened and that was the truth. Being paid by the hour as a temp meant that he bothered little and had even less regard for the place. He was really only there to stop drunk patrons from killing each other over who won that evening’s game, and to throw out any riff-raff who attempted to nonchalantly grope the staff.
She wrapped the jacket tighter around her chest, her bag tucked away from prying eyes within the folds, and set off at a brisk pace along the wet bitumen. Her shoes squelched and the hem of her jeans became wet as she attempted to avoid pools of water that had collected in the dimples of the road. Exhibiting cat-like prowess, she darted around the grates as giant clouds of steam spewed from the maze of tunnels down below.
Whilst she loved the rather elusive and intimate nature of the night, there was one thing which she kept at the forefront of her thoughts as she stalked down the laneway like a creature of the dark.
The night was good at covering secrets.
It could hide the things that did not want to be seen; it could offer solitude to the heinous atrocities of life.
If a murdered was to dispose of a body, darkness would offer a welcome hindrance to most prying eyes. Likewise, if a nocturnal beast wanted to hunt prey, it would be advantaged against those that had lesser affinities to lack of light.
And it was that thought alone which sent chills through Rahel’s veins.
Shaking the thought from the throes of her mind, Rahel hugged the jacket even tighter around her chest and kept her eyes peeled for even the faintest sign of unwelcome movement.
Her ears were caressed with the music of the night which she found oddly soothing.
The buzzing of motor vehicles in the distance, the dripping of water in the gutters, and the rustle and squeals of rats as they foraged for scraps of food behind dumpsters.
She had come to find peace and solitude in the sounds of the urban heartbeat.
Rahel paused in her tracks as she was torn from her trance.
There was something different, something out of place to the ambient sounds she had become familiar with.
It was faint but heavy, and it was some way off behind her.
She took a moment to survey her surroundings.
Most of the lights in the windows were out with curtains drawn; headlights splashed along the road at the mouth of the laneway, and there was not another human soul in sight. A small, dark shadow scurried along the foot of the wall but it disappeared behind a trashcan as quickly as it had come.
Doing another fleeting sweep behind her, Rahel drew a lungful of air into her lungs and set off once more. Even with her best attempts, her shoes had become soaked to the core and her toes shivered from the wet. A light breeze channelled through the laneway and her body quivered like a leaf underneath the layers. The cold was unrelentless, and pierced like blades straight through to the bone.
She heard something thud against the pavement once more and she spun on her heel to take another look.
Between the lazy drifts of the steam clouds, she could see nothing which seemed out of place.
Rahel lingered for a moment longer and turned towards the mouth of the laneway.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
She swallowed hard and the small, fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. A lump started to form in the back of her throat and no matter how hard she tried, her legs had formed into lead and her muscles refused to move.
Her heartbeats echoed in her ears; the laneway began to warp. With her body paralysed and her senses screaming in panic, she slowly pivoted on the tips of her toes.
A black outline emerged from the plumes of steam as if it was a galleon emerging from the fog. Her newfound company inched closer towards her.
“Come back. We just want to play. You have something that we want.”
Much to her horror, a second figure apparated from the cloud, followed by a third.
The hideous monsters were multiplying, much to her anguished chagrin. They remained at the sides of the first figure, flanking him from behind as they enclosed on their prey. Though her nostrils had not yet been assaulted by the acrid stenches she was subjected to for hours each night, their staggers and fumbles told all.
Spirits, hard liquor and powder coursed through their veins and there was no hope of rationalising with the bastards. They could barely walk a straight line let alone see any sense. They were too far gone – too far wasted and otherwise trashed to oblivion – to be talked down.
The first, presumably the leader and most tainted, continued to shift towards her and she watched as pinpricks of lights reflected in his eyes. They were round and dark, haunting and betraying of a hunger for lust which needed to be fed.
He sauntered towards her as a smile broke across his lips, exposing crooked and stained yellowed teeth. With a maniacal grin, he reached out with a wavering arm and her nostrils flared from the rotting odour. His fingers stretched towards her, inching even closer.
Just as filth-riddled nails were about to scrape against the hairs of her fringe, Rahel mustered all the might she had and forced her legs to step back. But a stumble, it was enough to put a small and welcomed distance between them.
With the paralysis bind now broken, she started to madly sprint towards the mouth of the laneway as fast as her legs could go. Her shoes pounded heavily along the hard surface and her lungs started to ache and scream in agony from the sudden assault of cold air.
As she made her desperate bid to escape, something whistled past her ear but she was afraid to look away from the promise of safety.
CRACK!
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