Danny watched in horror as something came down the street.
It wasn’t a human…its movements were too unnatural for that. Its arms swung up and down exaggeratedly, and its legs threw themselves upwards like missiles. It was running now, a puppet off of its strings. Its eerily human faceplate shined in the daylight. “TARGET ACQUIRED,” it said cheerfully.
“Run,” Allison stated matter-of-factly.
Danny complied accordingly.
The two of them rushed into the grocery store. Allison began screaming, and Danny realized that stealth really wasn’t a variable here. “Get out of here! Quickly! Something dangerous is coming!” Danny began to do the same. Only a few people flocked to their cars, however. Danny realized they must have seemed crazy- drug-addled teens having a bad trip and hallucinating a monster. Danny turned back around, and realized in horror that it was gaining on them. It crashed through a display of pumpkins. The pumpkins did not faze it in the slightest.
A woman suddenly exited the grocery store. She stood directly in the creature’s path, and looked at it in a confused manner.
“Get out of the way,” Danny screamed- or rather, tried to scream, for nothing came out. Danny realized that he was about to see someone die. His feet propelled him forwards, but he couldn’t for the life of him get his head to turn around. “Please,” he whimpered.
But it was too late.
The creature smashed into the woman and knocked her over. She began screaming. The creature raised up, joints popping. Someone threw a shoe at it from behind, and it turned its head around 360 degrees quizzically. The woman tried to get away, howling in fear. The creature snapped its head back into the proper position, raised its arm up, and slammed its fist into the woman’s face.
Viscera and brain matter coated Danny. The creature stood up slowly. Danny looked around- finally– and realized that Allison was nowhere to be seen. He began screaming for her, but realized she was already inside. A tendril shot out of an opening in the creature’s arm, wisping around elegantly, and shot through the air. Seconds later, it speared the shoe-throwing man through the chest. The tendril detached from the man’s stomach and began to twirl around behind the creature. It was now walking slowly towards Danny.
Allison’s voice pierced through the now-panicked crowd. “Danny! Get back here! Please!”
Danny realized he was sobbing…in fear, he supposed…but…he put a hand to his face and pulled it away in horror as he realized his eyes were bleeding. Not tears, he thought cheerfully. This thing won’t make me cry. I’m alive. By god, I’m alive. I’ve never been happier. Please don’t let me die. I love life. Please, please kill me.
Suddenly, Danny felt a hand on his arm. He was being pulled away by Allison. The creature was almost upon him. “GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER,” Allison yelled. “It’s got these transmitters…gives you a neurovirus in seconds! You’ll be insane and gargling on the floor while it kills you. Keep going.”
Allison pulled Danny through the door into the store. Danny ran. He was terrified, but he knew he could make it. He would, right? Allison told him he would…
The creature kept coming, killing anybody in its path. The store was crowded with people, some of whom were still blissfully unawares. A woman buying bananas some twenty metres from Allison and Danny suddenly began screaming as a corpse flew past her head.
Danny and Allison pushed through the crowd. Bodies were flying. Danny turned back once again and saw that the creature had produced twenty-something tendrils from its body, all of which were slaughtering anybody in its path. The crowd was now all but gone, and the floor was littered with corpses. Suddenly, Danny’s head was forcibly turned back into position by Allison.
“Look. Forward.” Allison pulled out her pistol and shot the creature in the chest, causing it to stumble slightly. They weaved around aisles, but the creature kept coming. Allison took a deep breath, and shot the creature in the head. Her aim was perfect.
The creature’s head tilted backwards, and it began stumbling around, the top half of its body flipped over. It fell to the ground, completely limp. “AWAITING INSTRUCTION. UNEXPECTED SCENARIO. AWAITING INSTRUCTION. UNEXPECTED SCENARIO.” The words came out of its gold faceplate, tinny and rasping. Allison and Danny kept running. “Did we kill it?” “No. Keep going.”
Allison and Danny ran through the aisles, and Danny realized in terror he was running out of breath. “It’ll be out for about two minutes,” Allison yelled from in front of him. “Then it’ll activate…well…it’ll become more dangerous than before, alright?” Danny nodded like a good little soldier.
They ran down a set of stairs into the basement, and a maze of dim, poorly tiled hallways awaited them. “The principal post has gotta be here. I downloaded the floor plan for the store before I left today…there’s just a whole mess of hallways down here, alright? It’s…the principal post is in one of these rooms.” Danny was frightened by the increasingly noticeable doubt in Allison’s voice. Suddenly, he heard clanking footsteps above them. “Is that…” he began to say, but stopped. He already knew the answer.
“It’s coming,” Allison whispered. “Hide! Quick! I haven’t actually been down here yet, but you’ve gotta trust me!”
Allison jumped into one of the rooms on the right side of the hallway, and Danny quickly followed her. They were in a cramped broom closet, and Allison was struggling to breath with fear and exhaustion.
The footsteps came down the stairs.
The footsteps stopped.
The creature was right outside the door.
“SCANNING,” it rasped. Danny threw up a little in his mouth.
“SCAN COMPLETE,” the creature announced, and before Danny knew it Allison was pulling him to the ground and the creature’s fist was smashing through the top of the door. “TARGET ACQUIRED.”
Allison shot the creature once more, but it caught the bullet precisely. Danny was now at the creature’s feet, and desperately tried to move. The creature tilted its head slightly, and Danny screamed helplessly as it craned its neck to look at him. Allison was still shooting at it, but it was more powerful now- its tendrils were whipping around, catching any bullets that threatened it.
Allison began whaling on the creature with her bare hands. She winced and stepped back in pain. The creature raised its foot. Allison began yelling like a madman. The creature’s foot came down quickly, incomprehensibly fast.
The creature’s foot connected with Danny Callahan’s head.
Danny Callahan’s head exploded in a mess of gore.
Danny Callahan died.
***
Allison Carmicheal is screaming.
The creature tries to block her attacks.
Allison Carmicheal, presently, is beating the creature with a lead pipe.
The creature pins Allison Carmicheal to the ground.
Allison Carmicheal screams.
Allison Carmicheal shoves the pipe through the creature’s faceplate.
The creature yells, a raw organic yell that sounds different from its other tinny proclamations.
The creature’s faceplate unhinges and falls.
Allison Carmicheal struggles.
Organs fall from the creature’s face.
Allison Carmicheal screams and an eye falls into her mouth.
A heart falls next to Allison Carmicheal. It appears the creature is full of organs.
Allison Carmicheal spits out the eye and shoots the creature through the head.
The creature yells.
Teeth fall out of the creature’s faceplate.
This should not be happening.
Allison Carmicheal has not yet bought the worms medication for Deborah’s cat.
Allison Carmicheal escapes from the creature’s grasp.
Allison Carmicheal scrambles to find her backpack.
Allison Carmicheal takes out the grenade.
Allison Carmicheal takes the pin off the grenade.
“Fuck you,” Allison Carmicheal screams.
The creature responds by wailing incoherently. Allison Carmicheal does not know how it produces sound.
The grenade hits the creature in the chest.
The creature stumbles backwards.
Allison Carmicheal runs upstairs.
Danny Callahan is dead.
Allison Carmicheal hears the creature behind her.
Danny Callahan is dead.
The creature keeps yelling.
Danny Callahan is dead.
The grenade explodes.
Danny Callahan is dead.
The store begins collapsing.
Danny Callahan is dead.
Allison Carmicheal runs through the aisles.
Danny Callahan is dead.
The roof begins to collapse.
Danny Callahan is dead.
Allison Carmicheal tries to avoid the debris.
Danny Callahan is dead.
A piece of the roof falls above Allison Carmicheal’s head.
Danny Callahan is dead.
Allison Carmicheal screams helplessly.
Danny Callahan is dead.
The piece of the roof collides with Allison Carmicheal.
Danny Callahan is dead.
And so is Allison Carmicheal.
***
Allison Carmicheal woke up to her mother asking her about pancakes. “Allison, sweetie, it’s time to wake up. You need to buy more pancakes because I just made you pancakes and I don’t want to leave the house because Deborah’s calling about her cat’s worms diagnosis later.”
Allison Carmicheal screamed.
“Are you alright,” her mother called passively.
“I’m…I’m fine,” said Allison.
Allison stood up and looked around. Everything seemed normal. She slowly got dressed and walked downstairs. Allison ate her pancakes. Something felt wrong. Allison stood up and walked out the door. Allison wondered why her mother didn’t ask her about the worms medication. As Allison exited her house, she looked across the street absentmindedly. A little girl was playing with a ball in front of Josh Nevcled’s house. Josh Nevcled did not have a sister. Allison Carmicheal turned the corner. A giant green sign that said GO was planted on the curb. Allison Carmicheal had never seen it before. Allison turned another corner. She saw a fire station. She had never seen this fire station before. It wasn’t supposed to be here.
Allison pressed on. She wasn’t heading in the direction of the school. She wasn’t going anywhere. She was scared. A dog walked in front of her, on a short purple leash. Allison turned around, and saw a man with tentacles instead of a face. “Hello, Allison! Lovely day out, isn’t it? Sally was just desperate for a walk, and I was happy to comply!” Allison threw up on the man’s Doc Martens. “JESUS!” the man gargled. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Allison was confused. She didn’t know what was going on. She ran away from the tentacle man, which seemed like the sensible thing to do. “I’m so sorry, Juan,” the tentacle man said to his dog, anxiously rubbing its back.
Allison turned another corner. This sidewalk seemed to go on forever. She ran across the street. For some reason, this also seemed like the sensible thing to do. Various cars honked at her. Allison kept running, and suddenly she was knocked over. She had bumped into somebody…who…? Allison looked up. The hobo stood in front of her. He extended his hand to help her up. “Let’s talk,” he said, smiling.
End of Act One