Teddy Hitchcock

The light from town barely reached the street he was wobbling on - limping - while Ted tried extremely hard not to trip or crash into anything. A huge cut slid vertically towards his heel, through his ankle which stopped at the rubber of his shoe. Blood poured from the wound, squelching in his sole. The world span in front of his eyes. It didn't help that it was almost pitch black and his eyes blurred the black shapes into one swirling mesh of darkness.

Teddy Hitchcock was alone. Or at least that's what he wished he was. Ear aching white noise pierced his head, making every inch of him uncomfortably vibrate. And there was something else. Something faint, behind him, far away.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

It was exactly in time with his own footsteps, yet inched ever so closer. When Ted would stop to see what was behind him, the thing halted too and disappeared. Or was it even there to begin with?

Teddy had come to this town to visit his in-laws with his wife and two children - aged 13 and 8 - for the Christmas holidays. He was extremely reluctant to go, because he knew that his wife's parents didn't like him at all. He was a wide man of 40 who worked as a teacher in West Devon secondary, which made him barely enough money to scrape by for his wife and kids. His wife would constantly lecture him on his inability to find a better, more high paying job, while she sat around barely doing anything at home. And when he would come home from an exhausting day at work it was always take-away for dinner or scraps in the fridge. His weekends usually consisted of alcohol and arguments.

'Susan!'

'What?'

'Where is my beer?'

'In the fridge you pig bastard!'

'Oh shut up woman." Ted grumbled as he opened the fridge, took a can of lager and chugged it, letting out a loud belch.

'Keep it down, you fat twat!' Susan hushed him as she flipped through different channels. 'Boring. Boring. Boring. Shit. Boring. Boring. Ugh, nothing good.'

Ted watched on in amusement as his wife became increasingly more frustrated trying to find the right station. 'Just give up, Love. Nothing good is on TV nowadays.' Ted grimaced.

'Hold your tongue, they're getting better.'

'Basic. Boring. Basic. Basic. Alright. Alright. There!' She stopped on a news report of a man being brutally dismembered in a cold case. 'Now this is television.'

Women and their fascination with crime, Ted thought miserably.

He walked back into the kitchen ready to pull out another lager.

'Bliming 'eck! That's near me mum's and dad's!'

Ted peeped around the fridge to see his wife fretting with worry.

'It'll be fine, Love. We're goin' there this Christmas, both us and them will be fine. The boys will be with us too. They can fight whatever murderer is out there off.' Ted joked, downing another can.

'But what if-'

'Don't start, I already don't like your in-laws, don't give me another reason to hate this trip.' Ted finished. End of.

His last conversation flashed through his mind as he limped weakly, inching closer to the vibrant light of the shopping area. He could see the many types of shops, local businesses and brand names occupying the largest of areas or the dingiest of alleyways.

It took his mind off the ever growing noise of footsteps, drawing nearer and nearer.

Squelch. Squelch. Squelch. SQUELCH.

The thing behind him killed his wife and his two sons. It had mercilessly stuck its large sharp fingernails into their faces ripping them off completely. Ted could still hear the shrill shrieks and cries from his bow deceased family.

It had emerged from the dark during their Christmas dinner, instantly ripping into his in-laws, tearing them apart in the same bloody fashion as the cold case he saw on the television. The monster stood at 7 feet tall its overarching back was riddled with tiny pinprick spikes barely visible. It's body was a muscular milky white, its skin streching across its torso. The skin ended at its thighs showing red bloody muscles with veins popping and coiling around his calves. On his hands were razor sharp claws that easily tore through a human body, brutally ripping the unfortunate bastard apart. Ted tried to look into its eye but the face was obscured with a black veil, reminiscent of a hangman's mask. Without missing a beat, Ted jumped to his feet knocking the table into the thing which merely brushed it off like you would a mosquito. Ted grabbed his children's hands and dashed towards the door leading out into the hallway.

'Susan!' Ted yelled at his wife just before the alien creature cleanly ripped her face flesh and tore into her sides, lifting her convulsing, screaming body a metre into the air. The creature looked almost proud before tossing her limp, lifeless body aside in order of pursuit.

Unable to mourn the loss of his wife, Ted tightened his grasp around his children's hands and ran quickly out the door into the streets. It was only 9:35pm but the street lights were off and the darkness closed in around them. But they couldn't stop running.

Moments later, Ted felt one of the tiny hands jerk from his grip. He grapsed the air, felt the cold skin of his son's arm and yanked it back, with a tearing sound ripping through his ears. Holding back tears, Teddy let go of the hand, grabbing the other son by his side and pulling him into his arms.

He could hear the wet slaps of bloody feet coming into contact with the pavement drawing closer with every wheezing breath he took.

Then, he tripped.

'Run Timmy! Get outta here!' Ted shouted as the boy landed in front of him. 'Get the fuck outta here!'

A sudden searing pain coursed through his leg making him cry in pain.

'Fucking shit!'

He couldn't hear whether or not his son managed to get away but he wasn't staying to find out.

Ted scrambled, pulling himself up with his working leg and ran...

Minutes maybe hours later of straight running Ted came to a stop, panting, each breath straining his lungs. Bulbous nodes of sweat trickled down his cheeks, his heart palpitating, bulging under the pressure. He had lost it. At least he thought...

Squelch. Squelch. Squelch. Squelch.

Those were undeniably the creatures footsteps he heard, but they were far away. Ted ducked low into the front garden of a house, hiding in-between the green and black bins.

Squelch. Squelch. Squelch. Squelch.

As the the footsteps grew louder Ted stopped breathing.

Squelch. SQUELCH. SQUELCH. SQUELCH.

They stopped.

Sniff, sniff. Sniff, sniff.

He could hear a muffled snort escaping the cloth covering the thing's face. Had it smelt him?

Sniff, sniff, sniff.

Disgustingly moist breath blew on Ted's increasingly sweaty face, that was turning white like a sheet of paper, a look of perpetual horror stuck to his face.

Please go away. Don't notice me. Please... I swear to God. Please just leave me alone.

Ted let out a half snort, stifling his tears.

Suddenly, there was a sharp stinging pain in Ted's right hand as the creatures claws stabbed into his palm. Just as he did before he choked back tears and kept completely still, hoping for a misjudgement on his behalf.

It reached with its other hand, tapping on Ted's arm, apparently unsure of what it was. Accepting that his fate was sealed, Ted waited patiently for his inevitable gruesome death. Ultimately deciding that it wasn't what he was looking for, the creature let go of Ted's arm tearing its fingers out of his palm.

Ted squeaked.

Silence, once again.

The warm rancid breath continued to blow on his arm as the monster seemed sure it had just heard something.

SQUELCH. SQUELCH. SQUELCH. squelch.

It walked past like nothing happened.

Squelch. Squelch. Squelch...

Only until he could no longer hear the footsteps, did Ted emerge from his hiding space visibly shaken from that event and looked pale as a ghost from the amount of blood he was loosing.

After tying his thigh with his belt, squeezing his flesh unable to flow blood to the open wound.

Mother of God, it hurt like a bitch.

A sense of relief washed over him, his weight buckling beneath his feet, dropping him to the ground. It was damp from the recent rain that had flooded the streets.

Ted never liked the rain, it was always miserable showing up at work soaked through without any spare clothes. And the days he spent playing sudoku at home during storms, ignoring his whining children were equally annoying. He couldn't spare am inch for the rain. However, the rain was the last thing on his mind in that moment.

Timmy, Sammy, Susan.

His wife and kids had been crudely taken from his laboured hands, his worker hands, his parent hands... his abusive hands.

Better forget about it, he thought. It'll only make it worse.

Bringing himself to his feet once more, he continued down the darkness of the chilly winter night of Christmas.

Then he heard a different set of footsteps.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

It sounded like high heels walking on marble flooring, the sort of elegant sound you hear in an office as female co-workers meandered in the block.

'Hey!' Ted yelled at the noise. No reply.

'Hey! Woman!' Still no one answered as the footsteps drew closer.

'Mate, please say something.' Still nothing except the sound of heels against pavement echoed throughout the night.

Finally, it seemed as though Ted grew a brain and started running once again. The footsteps never changed pace but he could hear them louder. It was almost like a dream, one of those dreams where running away is slowed down to a crawl, almost as if you were trying to run in water. But nevertheless, it never caught him, only staying behind at arms length, stopping whenever he would, or breathing down his neck.

Suddenly the street lights flickered on and a shrill shriek pierced his eardrums, causing Ted to keel over. Blood ran down his cheeks, and his vision blurred. After a few minutes he regained his composure, rubbing his weary eyes and wiping the trickling blood. Good news was he could no longer feel the harsh cold breath on his neck anymore, bad news was the lights were out again leaving him once again in darkness. Continuing his trek, Ted could now see the sparkling lights of the town centre from the top of the hill, not long now.

He barely made it a few more steps before the lights flashed back on, revealing the tired back of a 20 year old man wearing a baggy t-shirt.

'HEY! YOU GUY IN THE BAGGY SHIRT AND JEANS!' Ted bellowed into the night hoping the young man would turn around.

But he didn't.

He kept trudging along.

'HEYYYYYY! YOU! PLEASE HELP!!' Ted yelled once more even louder this time.

Still no response.

Deciding it would be wiser to just walk up to him, Ted began to limp once more before a sound echoed in the street.

Squelch.

It was back...