Dead Again

Clay Schwarz opened his eyes. The bright sunlight had just forced them close when he looked the wrong way at a parked car reflecting the sun across the street. He had just started his walk to his first class. He had been accepted, finally, off of the waiting list for the his state university, the land grant one. He wanted to be an engineer, so that he wouldn't have to think too fast or too hard, he wanted a simple life where his parents could be proud of him finally.

Well, his parents were already estatic that he had even got into the state college. They happily shelled out the thousands of dollars for him to attend. They had good, well-paying jobs and weren't completely hopeless with their money. His dad was a store manager for a big retail chain, and his mom was an advertising designer for a multinational snackfood corporation.

In high school, he was a solid C student. He never managed to get a B, the closest he ever got was ruined by his abyssmal performance on his last exam, but he also never got a D, so he counted it as a good point for his consistency. He would never let people down once he felt their expectations were low enough.

He didn't have many friends. The few people he talked to everyday had long since abandoned him as they went after careers or the local community college. Only he had managed to get into a university away from his home town. His closest friend was rejected from the same school, and, as usual for his nature, took out his frustrations directly on Clay. He called him out on his lack of intelligence and decried the unfairness of the college. He never answered Clay again after that.

Clay never once minded the abusive relationship. It didn't truly matter, none of this did. He kept plopping one foot after the other in front of him, watching the empty street next to him. It was odd for a large town like this to have an empty street. It wasn't a very large town, but it wasn't a quaint rustic place either. He hadn't quite gotten over to the University's portion of the town, so it looked like a normal suburbia to him.

The rows of faded brown, cream white, and dirty red houses all just seemed to blend together, the only real notabilities was the one right next to him, darker than all the others. The lawn was entirely unkempt and truly overgrown. Weren't there supposed to be neighborhood associations to prevent this kind of property devaluation? The only reason he was truly concerned was because of the large wispy bush that was overtaking the sidewalk. He would have to step out into the road.

He did just that while inspecting the eerily silent streets. It wasn't just the streets, he couldn't hear any birds or see any people inside the homes. It was discomforting. It felt like something would rush out from behind that bush he had passed, and simply strike him down after a single moment of fear. He quickened his pace.

His mind eventually wandered away from the fear. Why would he run away from it? That was stupid. If something was going to run out and kill him it would be the height of stupidity to do something so small as run. If that could have solved the issue, he would have had nothing to fear in the first place. Is a true predator going to go easy and just let him get away like that? He was now more concerned that someone had seen him half jog away from a mere bush.

He didn't need to fear death. He told himself the same words constantly, 'the only reason to keep living, is because I'm already alive'. True words of wisdom to his ears, it was what he thought about after his parents consoled him, telling him they would still love him even if he didn't get into college. He knew they wanted him to feel better, but he couldn't shake off his own insecurities. He didn't want to be the stupid guy that honestly didn't deserve to take his friend's place at the fancy out of town college. He wanted to be someone better, and that one saying was what he convinced himself was the only thing keeping him in this world. It would be a waste of all his own effort, and the effort of a hundred billion years of the universe if he ended it on a whim.

It was at this moment that he didn't notice he was crossing unusually close to the street, and fell over in front of a speeding semi.

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'What?'

It was a strange voice in his head, over and over. The voice was clear, bell-like, sharp, and feminine. It sounded like a digital assistant speaking directly into his head. The darkness in his vision was closing in around him, he could feel it. It pushed him down, pinning down his arms and his legs, forcing its way onto his face. Clay Schwarz opened his eyes to see a forest around him. His head was throbbing. He was still in one piece, not even the long sleeved shirt he was wearing was torn as he had just seen it. He looked around to get his bearings.

There was a strange creature staring back at him. It was tall, too tall for it's figure, a bit larger than a horse, or how tall Clay imagined a horse to be, he had never seen one in real life. He preferred his life of comfort behind a computer. It's neck was as long as expected. It's muscled legs as sturdy and powerful as expected.

It's head was strange. The pointed ears flopped backwards at the tip. It's head shape was like a upside down teardrop, with a pink tendril coming out of it's snout. It was a thick, shapely tendril, with a cross-section like a 'v', as far as he could tell. It kept its tongue out, slithering it back and forth, before finally retracting it back to where it came.

The animal suddenly moved and started to... was it standing? It was trying to grab onto a tree it looked like. No, it was grabbing onto the tree, very effectively. It's front two feet had sets of gigantic talons curving together just for this purpose.

He watched half in horror, and half in awe as its tongue snaked out of it's face and laced itself around a branch, and then pulled all the leaves into the tiny opening that he could only assume was there. Then came it's chewing motion, almost down into its neck. He could only try to comprehend the bone structure and anatomy of such a thing. It's back feet were hooved, the only saving grace so that he didn't run from it on the spot.