CoLD BLooD

Chapter I A Nightly nibble for Jayla Fenix

The sun was a sickly blood red as it crept slowly down... down... down the darkening sky till it was but a semicircle. The stars remained unseen and hidden from it’s light, awaiting their turn to shine, but they would go unnoticed against the city night lights. The fading red afternoon light hung behind the shadow-cast standing rectangles of the central district of Montenous City, far off in the distance. Jayla Fenix, a young woman with a broad, lightly freckled face, straight naturally dark dyed black hair, and a slim not-too-appealing figure, taste in fashion, or care of such things, hurriedly journied down the empty streets to her one room apartment. Her features showed no emotion, neither excitement nor manic depression, and yet a small glint in her eyes and a twitch at the end of her lipless mouth revealed a glow of self disappointment.

Jayla had always wanted to live in the city, and perhaps succeed in clothing and retailship or something . She drifted through school a quiet loner, a few drifter friends here and there, one or two childish love flings, an unadventurous unsocial teen life mingled with daydreaming of ‘getting outta here and being someone', and as her High School days closed to a finish and her aspirations of adventuring into the populous promising prosperousness of the city drew ever nearer, she began formulating little plans of her life ahead. But after graduation and upon arriving in Montenous she was met with a welcome mat of harsh realities. Her first step was to get a job at the very popular and contemporary clothes store ‘Blitz’ and although her resume and credentials weren’t all the best: no previous job experience with the Blitz Chain or anywhere else; the manager gave her a chance. Jayla failed badly and embarrassingly. She then tried Beautician School but thanks to years of daydreaming her way through high school her marks weren’t at all excellent so she was not privileged for a scholarship. Her parents offered to pay for whatever college she found herself at but she was arrogantly determined to make it on her own. She couldn’t get into a university or find a well paying job, she had to admit to herself, the past 6 months hadn’t been the thrill ride she had anticipated. She was lucky now to have that shabby apartment and that shabby job washing dishes at that shabby Thai restaurant which had left her hands soapy and pruney this night. But the chef there was a nice guy who sometimes let her cook a little bit cause they were a bit understaffed there lately, and she had never really realised that she was okay at cooking, ‘Perhaps things may still turn around’ she thought to herself. While she fondled distastefully at her layered fingertips and pondered in her thoughts she didn’t notice the streetlights pop on signalling nights arrival nor her sudden change in direction as her feet decided this alleyway would make a great shortcut, and upon entering its shadows as suddenly dark as the night sky she didn’t even notice the prying hiding eyes peering with malicious satisfaction at the choice of tonight’s appetiser.

Jayla skirmishly waddled through this sudden change of light with her arms wrapped around her torso to unsuccessfully sheild herself from the cold. Although there was no wind to be felt a piercing icy touch lingered in the air. With each step Jayla's vision began to blur and darken until eventually the starless night sky, the alley walls, and the lines seperating them could not be differentiated by niether colour nor depth. Jayla turned and decided to leave the dark abyss wondering why the hell she came into the alley in the first place, and as she was about to act out this decision she noticed at the end of the dark passage, a figure. Silhouetted by the distant streetlights.

The silence was then torn apart in the general direction of the figure by a voice, a voice calm and evil toned. Said it "Mmm..... young fresh female. Such a rarity to our usual menu around this sqaular. And yet....... Such a delicacy. I say Red, What Fortunes bestow unto us this treat? Why, What deeds could we have done to deserve it?"

"Indeed." Came a second voice unbearably close behind her. Jayla spun around shocked to come face to face with, Nothing. Jayla was frozen with fear. She knew of these situations, always on the news. The news on the radio that is Jayla couldn't afford a TV. Young women alone in an alleyway suddenly cornered by some sicko perves and their strangled, raped corpses found decomposing in a sewer weeks later. She didn't know what to do, it was too dark to see so running off into the shadows may implant her into a brick wall. Hmmm.... although did she really want to be awake for the torment that she may be facing. Jayla was always a macabre thinker.

Suddenly a deep breathing struck the back of her neck. It was scarily freezing and lifeless but unmistakably it was not a gust of wind for it was too rhythmic. Jayla nearly crapped herself but could not, her body was too tensed up with fright. She slowly rotated her head to hopefully see nothing. Instead her gaze, but a glimpse in the dim darkness that her eyes had slightly adjusted to, met what she feared, a dark, gangly, stalky man right in her face. "Bit chilly out love, is it not? Best way to warm yourself up is with a snack," he practically spat the words at her, Jayla gasped at the odour of his breath and nervously backed away only to be caught from behind and grappled in the long strong arms of the second assailant.

"Yeah ok Dom, enough with the fucking accent," his face was close to hers and his breath stank of pungent, rancid, unfamiliar meat. Jayla's inhales and exhales became quicker and louder and her attackers responded to her terror with obvious delight.

"Oh don't worry freckles, It'll only hurt until the extremly, unimaginably, hell-could-not-match-it pain renders you unconscious," said the first one with well mannered malice, still with an english aristocratic accent to it, and followed by a low cackle. "What did i just say!? Er we'll sort this out when we're done here," Said Jayla's handler ever so casually. He then barred his enourmous rows of dark yellow, disorganized, horrifying razor teeth. Jayla uselessly screamed out her lungs while her head was jerked to the side, her smooth bare neck revealed, and her handler's mouth gaped open impossibly wide reveling the true enourmity of his fangs and a horrifying tentacled mass gurgling up at the back of his throat. Jayla could not believe what was happening and desperately struggled to escape their grasp just as the enourmous gaping, oozing jaws were to come down on her neck.

And then everything went completely white. Blinding white light bathed the world and jayla felt herself unhanded and dropped to the ground helplessly. Around her shapes and figures moved past and freakish hissing scream-like noises receding. Her eyesight adjusted and she stood up shakily, with no comprehension of the situation. She studied the source of all this light, which had powerfully lit up the entire alleyway, and discovered it to be a shabby black van obtaining several large spotlights atop its roof. She looked around to try and spot the vans owners and her saviours but there were no animate objects to be seen. The long ringing in her ears deceased and she was able to pick up the sound of gunshots. Although she had never actually seen or heard a real gun before she could just somehow tell from the loud bangs so reminiscent of action movies. The gunshots were coming from high above on the fire escapes going up the side of the building's wall to the right. Jayla didn't stop herself flying up those stairs and peering over the rooftop edge, adreniline still coursing through her from the near death encounter. There she saw a tall man dressed in stereotypically spy clothing. She watched him as he observed his surroundings gaurding himself with his pistol.

Then, without warning, and at blinding speed, a Creaturish Human flung through the air. There was practically nothing human to 'IT' at all. It's features were strange and disordered, greenishly pale, the fangs in its wide mangled jaws hung out in all directions. It was wearing old, tattered, hobo street clothes, the jacket sleeves ending in long black-taloned, wrinkled hands. It's nose was an unfamiliar bat-like appendage, and its long hair flew back from it's contorted face revealing it's Monsterish features. The ears were not human either but huge pointy Bat ears. Yet the most demonic of all, which jayla would and could never forget, were those eyes. Cold, round and bleached white like the moon. Almost transparent and with no visible pupils, they were like lidless pearls within it's face. Jayla could not believe its existence and marveled at it in horror and intensity.

She blinked. And the split second passed.

The disturbed being hurled it's mass onto the tall man who skilfully manouvred himself around it in midair, caught it by the back of the neck and, just before they both landed squarely on their feet, fired several shots from his pistol into it (Presumably, Jayla thought in awe, he had handled monstrosities before). As if these fired bullets were but mosquito bites the thing turned, striking him with the back of it's hand swiftly like a pimp slap, sending him flying to the edge of the rooftop. The man lay there feeble and still. The creature put on what could have been a grin and scrunched up it's face. The next second the five or so bullets fell out of it's neck and back and clattered on the floor. It then strode over to it's victim, but, suddenly halted in midstep.

Jayla almost fell off the firestairs from surprise as the blade of a Golden-hilted sword implanted into the concrete just before her peeking forehead. The creature's head silently seperated from its shoulders. It's body then collapsed on the rooftop floor, lifeless. Two others hidden on the building's side clambered over to join their injured comrade who stood up like nothing happened and inspected their enemy's body while one of them, a flourescently blonde woman, came near to grab her sword. As her hand grasped the hilt she stopped and stared down at Jayla who winced realising they would be aware of her now.

Just as the woman began to smile and say something Jayla's other attacker attacked out of nowhere, just as ferocious looking as it's buddy. This time the suddenness did cause Jayla to fall off the railing and black out when she hit the lower stairs.

Jayla's eyes opened sharply to see nauseatingly wavy images of the inside of a van. A blonde shape was wiping something with a dark smudged something and a taller closer shape was towering over her fiddling with objects. Jayla felt her arm get prodded with the prick of a needle. A slow, calming numbness came over her as she fell back into unconsciousness.

NeXT CHapTer: II:Decomposing Wallpaper eventually becomes as Familiar as the sun