Predator

There are nights that seem darken than usual. They aren’t bright and starry. No, in fact these nights are nights for the watchful, the patient, the hungry. Those who wait for the ample time to strike and kill. Those who stalk their prey, and wait. We call these creatures "Predators".

On this dark and blood-lust night, a young couple walked through dim-lighted streets, hand in hand, the girl’s head on the boys shoulder.

"Hun," the girl said in a soft tone, "Where are we going? I've never been to this part of the neighbor hood before...” Her voice trailed.

"Don't be frightened. I'm just taking you to a childhood place of mine," the boy replied.

"This is... just so creepy! I heard there use to be some kind of reptile thing near hear. Uh!" The girl shuddered. She squeezed the boy's hand even tighter as they crossed over an unlit cobble bridge and into a small forest.

"It was a snake house. It carried all the species known to man," The boys paused, "and some ‘unknown’ to them...”

"Unknown?" the girl asked.

"Scientist couldn't classify them. Their bodies where very large, almost the size of a human, and all of the snakes had red, gleaming eyes that shone through the darkness of night."

"Oh..," said the girl, uninterested. "What happened to the snake house?" she continued.

The boy sighed. "Well, soon after it opened, employees started to disappear. Around the time the employees would disappear, the cadges of the ‘unknown’ snakes, as they were called, would be open. Stories formed about the snakes getting loose and eating the workers...” He stopped himself, coughed and patted his chest. "But that was quickly ruled out. The snakes’ mouths where to small to devour a large, defenseless, meaty...” Again he stopped himself, coughed, and continued on with his talk, "... employees in such a small amount of time. Plus, the snakes where still in the cadges when the employees went missing. Still, more and more began to disappear. Eventually the police were called, but they could find a trace of the missing workers, not even a single strand of hair."

The dark sky began to part, letting a little of the orange moon light to seep through onto the dirt path. Trees with bare branches, now visible by the light, seemed to stretch out, as if to grab the couple, not to hold them, but to keep them from getting out. The couple made a slow turn to the right. As the couple turned right, so did the eerie glow of the orange moon.

"The police eventually dismissed the missing employees. In the end, for the safety of the employees and visitors, they closed the snake house down. They moved the snakes into small crates and shipped them across the country, even across the world. Some of the ‘unknown’ species died because of the stressful conditions and unsuitable new habitats. Others, however..." he paused,"...escaped into the wild. Around here to be exact." The boy looked over at the girl, now tightly gripping his shoulder. She looked back up at him, both fear and interest in her eyes.

“What happened to the ‘unknown’ snakes?” asked the girl out of fear.

“They where never found again.”

As of now, the couple had taken several turns into the darkness. The trees grew tighter and tighter together along the path, but the strange glow of the orange moon seemed to grow brighter and brighter.

"Well, I'm glad they’re gone!" The girl said in disgust. "I hate snakes."

"Oh really?" said the boy.

"Yeah, they're disgusting and stupid," the girl replied.

The couple started to walk faster. The path was barely visible, and there was only enough walking space for a single person to walk at a time. The boy began pulling the girl behind him. Soon they ventured of the beaten path, now following the almost blinding glow of moon light. Faster and faster he went, weaving, dodging, almost slithering between the trees. As he passed, he kept squeezing the girl's hand tighter, tighter, and tighter as to make sure she didn’t get away.

"Slow down!" cried the girl," And ease up a little bit! I can barley feel my hand!"

They boy ignored the girls please for help, and continued his pattern into the blinding light. Dodge, weave, slide, run, dodge, weave, dodge, run! Faster! Faster! He had to go faster! Dodge, weave, run, dodge, weave, run, slither...

They stopped. They had somehow ended up in a run down room, in a small run down building. The walls, painted with a mural of what seemed to be a jungle, were only painted from ceiling to half of the wall itself. The paint was old and worn and barley visible under the splatters of, what she thought red paint. The roof had long since caved in... And the floor, now lying on the ground in pieces, looked as if it had once been elevated. It too was covered in red paint that covered the walls, but in a much deeper hue. The one window that was in the room was quiet large. It, like the mural, covered half the wall, from ceiling to about where the mural stopped. What was very strange about the room was that... there was no door....just the sliding glass window.

"Where are we?" asked the girl, as she rubbed her hand. She looked down upon it. Where his fingers had been, there laid the impressions of not human fingers, but what seemed like... tentacles? No, the fingers were all connected and wrapped around her hand, like a giant rope. Whatever left the mark was thick, smooth, and meant for constricting...

The boy, still facing with his back to her spoke softly, "I told you I was taking you to a childhood place of mine, didn't I?" He turned to face her, a small, mischievous smile on his face. "This is my room."

"Wha-what are you talking about?" the girl demanded. Her hand still throbbed with pain.

"Do you remember the 'unknown' species of snake I was telling you about? Scientists couldn't classify them, not only of the bodily structure, but because of their faces." He pause, eyes locked on the girl. "They where strange, almost... human like."

The girl began to back away, heart pounding, sweat dropping from her forehead.

"Wha-wha...” the girl stammered out, shocked.

The boy began to move towards her, arms stretched out as if to grab her. His body seemed to move in fluid motion, moving to the left, then the right, left then right.

"You humans think snakes are idiotic and disgusting, just because you don't know them...” he hissed, “You treat them with no respect, like their lesser than you.” His body seemed to grow, his arms began to pull into this body, and his legs came together. His tongue, now hanging out of his mouth, began to flicker, going in and out, in and out of his mouth.

"But we're sssmarter than you think."

The girl began gasping, breathing harder and harder with each step. Looking down at the ground for some kind of weapon, she notice that there was a ‘thing’ trailing behind him...  Long and scaly, it dragged along behind him as he came closer and close to her. Bumping into one of the standing walls, she realized what she had to do. She had to run. Glancing quickly in each direction, looking for some kind of hope, some way to get out, but only one thing came to her mind: trapped.

"And you humansss think that batsss are the only one'sss who can change ssshape..."

With no where left to go, she stared straight at the creature. It now had no appendages what so ever, and it’s body had become long and scaly as the ‘thing’ she had seen before. It slithered across the ground with it’s head perched up like a cobra. The face of the monster scared her the most: nose of a human, mouth still lined with lips, but wide with long, thick fangs that dripped of an oozing, horrid smelling liquid. It’s eyes where a bright red that cut the darkness like a knife, and the pupils were no longer round, but small black slits.
"Wha-what are you??? A...a... a vampire!?!?" she cried as she closed her eyes and scrunched into a small ball against the crumbling wall. The creature made a small hissing noise that resembled laughter.  

"No, vampiresss don't kill their prey with venom..."