Chapter 10: Learn to Fear the Darkness

While all these things were happening to Alanis, Zac had managed to find himself a barrel-full of trouble.

"Avery, go home." Zac said calmly to his little sister. She shook her head.

"Avery, bad things might happen if you don't go. Barbie might suddenly not have a head…Ken could be lost. A car could hit Mr. Turtle while we go, now you don't want that to happen do you?"

Avery shook her head again. "Good girl, now let go of my pants and go back home, okay?" Zac said sweetly. Avery smiled and ran home.

"Where would I be, if I were a 16 year old girl named Alanis who was attacked by the cops and cuffed for no apparent reason?" Zac asked himself as he looked at the map and walked down the street at the same time. He was in an unfamiliar part of his state now. He had hitch hiked at least 100 miles.

"You're holding it upside down," a voice behind him said. He turned around and saw a girl, about the age of fourteen, standing there. Her hair was fire engine red with orange highlights that she had in a few small braids and loose strands. Bunches of earrings shone in the dying light of the day. She wore pure black and had a skateboard with blue and silver writing on it tucked under her arm.
"You see," she said pointing at the map, "you're going this way, not this. Gateway Park is north, not south."
Zac smiled. She was nice for the way she was dressed and her age. And she was a great tour guide. She pointed at the part to every part of town; what parts had good places to eat, which were gang territory, people to look out for, friends of hers houses, and churches that weren't on the map.
"My name is Divia," she said at one point.
"Zac is mine"
They shook hands and continued looking at the map.

Every now and then she glanced at the sky. Was she looking at the birds? Or the beginnings of a beautiful orange sunset? Zac was puzzled. Then as the sun began to slowly disappear below the hills she became rigid.

'What's wrong with her? She seems afraid' Zac thought. She also seemed impatient for the story of him trying to find Alanis to end.

While he was in mid-sentence she grabbed her skateboard and stood up rather quickly. Her hands shook as she pulled on her helmet. "Where are you going?" Zac asked as he stood up himself. Divia seemed to hiss at him as she began to skate off. One thing that freaked him out was that her eyes had turned red for a moment, blood red, and then went to normal when she blinked at him.

Zac sat on a nearby bench and pulled his roller blades out of his backpack. He strapped them on and began to chase Divia. He turned around a corner into a dark street.

"Divia? Divia, where are you? Divia? Divi-"

Zac had been pulled into an alley from behind. He began to struggle and scream. "Shhh," came a whisper from behind, "don't make a sound… they can hear you"

Zac stopped moving, he barely even breathed as he heard the sounds of people coming nearer. He slowly let his brown eyes slip to the side where he could see. There was about five of them, mostly guys, one girl. They all wore black or gray, they seemed to blend with the shadows. The guys wore red caps that looked like Fred Durst's very own from the Nookie video. The girl was dressed like a demonic Britney Spears doll or something and had tattoos up and down her arms. She had blue hair also. They all had one thing in common though, their glowing red eyes.

Zac knew he had been told to be quiet. But he felt like he could scream forever at this point. They weren't like anything Zac had ever seen in his life. Zac had a thought that froze his soul.

They aren't human.


He heard what sounded like a small scraping. Then it sounded louder. It was right above him. He looked up. There was Divia. Her eyes were watering from keeping her cough in. Then it came out. It sounded like a bomb had been dropped, right on top of Zac.

Zac looked out fearfully at the creatures. They had frozen in their footsteps. Zac and Divia held their breath, hoping the things would go away.
Fear broke loose as the creatures turned around and slowly set their eyes right on the two teens.

Zac was pushed to his knees as Divia made a get-away. Pain shot up his legs. Divia stopped suddenly at the end of the alley. She looked back.

"Come on Zac! The church! Mary's Baptist Church! I'll tell you when we get there! Hurry!" she pleaded with him.

Zac raced beside Divia on his roller blades. Divia had dropped her skateboard and had begun running. Zac passed Gateway Park as they ran. He could hear them. They were gaining behind him. He could feel breathing on his neck. For the second time that night, he was pulled off his feet. He landed somewhere in the dark on his stomach. He saw the blue hair of the girl creature out of the corner of his eye. She turned him over so that he lay on his back now. She hissed at him and her eyes turned a darker red, like blood. She opened her mouth, revealing pointed teeth. She slowly dipped her head down to his neck and began to sink her fangs into him. She had hit muscle when Zac heard a scream that made his attacker jump back in alarm.

The scream reminded Zac of Xena, like on the TV show when she was ready to attack her enemy. He looked up. There stood Divia, she was waving a thing around in the air. Zac squinted. It was a torch. The creature with the blue hair screamed again and began to strike at Divia like a snake. Zac fainted.