It came from out of nowhere, and now it wants my blood...
All I know is I was in the middle of it. I don't know what my thoughts were exactly, it's strange how you forget things like this. I suppose I was shocked. I mean, who wouldn't be? I do know I stared at it for a while. Ha! Stared. If I was sensible I would run.
But everyone else did the same. They must have remembered the Spielberg movie, I know I did, but that convenient fact was wrong. You can't trust movies though. They even intentionally get things wrong. Did you know raptors are actually the size of chickens? Yeah. And it is so difficult to near impossible for a car to explode without using dynamite or C4 or whatever explosive is the order of the day.
Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. So, yeah, everyone stayed still. It was probably out of fright actually rather than some logical thought about what a movie said. But when I saw it, that's what went through my head. Well, after the screaming and yells of 'Oh, shit!'
So there it was, huge, monstrous. I'm not sure how else to describe it. You know, other facts aside, it did look like in the film.
What did it do? Well ... nothing. It stood there staring at us. I suppose it was just as surprised. Suddenly going from some empty plains to an all you can eat buffet? I assume it was from an empty plain. Perhaps that's a silly assumption to make, but wherever it came from, there was now no need to starve. It was probably picking which one of us looked the tastiest. If those things even had a concept of taste. I suppose they must have.
So after a few moments, it must have decided we're all very similar and it just dived in. And when it happened ... oh the screams. You've heard the phrase blood curdling right? I think that aptly describes how their dying shouts sounded. Oh, shit, I can still hear them. In the back of my head as if they're right behind me.
Oh, I need to calm down, you don't have any tea do you? Thanks.
So yeah, it dived in, just like a child at hallowe'en. Ha! It could even be a kid dressed up sticking her hand a bowl of sweets. And then when it came back up again, I saw a few ... a few ... people in its mouth. Oh, Christ, they were still alive and ... wriggling, screaming for help that wasn't coming.
Yes, I ran. Just like all the others. I wasn't going to be a canapé. I don't know whether you've seen a stampede before, but they're bloody dangerous. You have to keep up. If you falter for one second, if you see somebody fall down, if you look to see what you just stepped on, you'll go under as well. It's a primal thing. No one cares about anyone but themselves because showing empathy will get you killed. So it was death by jaws, death by feet, or life by an inhuman apathy.
So I ran. I kept running and I'm sure I stepped on more than a few ...
I could hear the beast behind us. Another thing the movie got wrong. It was a low growl. Almost out the range of hearing, but I felt it. It wanted me, and all the others and it's worst weapon was fear.
Some people turned corners and the stampede branched through the city, so it soon thinned out and I was able to turn around. I heard the thud of its giant feet as it ran down another street. It shook the ground like an earthquake. Or at least what I imagined an earthquake to feel like. You don't tend to get many of them in Berkshire. So I saw it go out of sight ... and another one poked its head around the corner. I swear it looked straight at me. And I remember thinking how small it's eyes were compared to the rest of its body. But it stared at me for what felt like minutes. Until it decided I had to die.
It took one foot forward and I ran again. The instinct was strong, but I managed to overcome it to think logically. I couldn't keep running. It would get me eventually. So I found a narrow alley and dived for it. I looked up after falling to the ground and saw the beast push its snout in the gap. Oh, God, I felt its teeth. They brushed my foot. I scrambled back and the thing pushed through. It was barely wide enough to fit, and it scraped itself against the brick walls leaving smears of blood in its wake. I stood up and ran for the other side of the alley, but I crashed into a dead end. Ha, what an appropriate phrase.
And what could I do besides stand with my back to the wall, watching that thing slowly squeeze its way in my direction? If I ran towards it, it would surely get me, and the wall was far too sheer to climb, and too tall to jump and grab the top.
They say your life flashes before your eyes in moments like that. People who say that obviously haven't been in a life or death situation. All I could see before my eyes were yellow teeth and long sharp claws. I smelled the stink of its breath as it was inches from me. But then something strange happened.
Well, stranger.
I calmed down. I felt my heart beat less, and my breathing slowed. In the absolute certainty of death, I acted as though I had not a care in the world. Because what's the point of panicking about something which you cannot control? I'm sure it would have been painful, and yes, I was frightened by that, but I was going to die and nothing could stop it. So I accepted it.
And so now I'm here. I honestly don't know what happened. I remember the pain of its jaws around my chest, the sliminess of its tongue, hell, I even vaguely remember being swallowed. But I don't even know where here is. You say it's been a few thousand years since that attack and none of those creatures are around any more, but if I can come back, so can they.
And I can still hear those screams.
