Skin Like Silk

She froze, and a chill raced up her spine. That couldn't have been her imagination. Hesitantly she went to the bedroom door and peeked out down the hall. For a moment all was still, then another loud slam made the front door shudder and the windows rattle. She heard a crackling, and saw the door frame start to give way. Fear crawled up her throat like a swarm of spiders, choking her, turning her voice to a faint, dry whisper. Her instincts screamed at her to run, but she stood frozen as a third heavy blow landed, ripping the door hinges from the frame. The door fell inward and landed on the carpet with a muffled *thud*, and behind it, back-lit by the reflected glow of the porch lamp, was a tall creature with pointed ears, and murky pits for eyes that were blacker than the night behind and were watching her intently.

It took a step forward. Its limbs were long and slender, but rippled with ropey muscle that clearly gave it strength beyond its seeming. Its face was dominated by a short snout, and sharp tusk-like fangs protruded from its lower jaw. Its stomach was sunken, and its ribs made visible lines in its short black fur, only partly obscured by more wiry muscle. The creature looked malnourished, half-starved, and its non-gaze somehow expressed ravenous hunger, but it showed strength as it raked two large chunks of the broken door frame away with its clawed and spider-like hands.

Alicia found her voice as it stepped calmly across the threshold into her home, and she let out a scream of terror and slammed her bedroom door and began shoving her bed across the room to form a barricade. She slammed it into place just as a slow tearing sound began to emanate from the door. It grew louder, and a moment later three dark claws pierced the surface of the cheap veneer and slowly tore a hole in the door. Alicia backed towards the window, her heart thundering in her ears like a trip hammer as the claws withdrew and one of the beast's black-hole eyes peered through and fixed on her. She screamed again and turned to the window while behind her a smooth tenor growl shot through with a high-pitched white echoed through the door. Numb with terror, she clawed the window open and tumbled through into the back yard.

Scrambling to her feet, she raced around the corner of the house and headed for the driveway. She cleared the side wall of the house and nearly ran into the waiting claws of the monster as it came bounding of the front porch to head her off. She screamed again and skidded to a stop, nearly fell over as she reversed direction and fled the other way towards the woods. It growled behind her as it gave chase, but no sharp claws tore into her shoulder, no hot carrion breath warmed her shoulders.

After a while, she realized she couldn't hear it behind her any more, and she slowed a little so she could listen more carefully. There in the forest behind her, in the distance, she thought she could hear long loping strides rustling the leaves. She considered trying to climb a tree and hide, but she quickly gave it up as a bad plan. She wasn't a good climber, and the thing would probably smell her, and then she'd be trapped. She swallowed hard and kept running, now venturing a long slow curve back towards her house, hoping it wasn't smart enough to catch on and head her off. She had to get back to civilization if she had a chance of surviving, she jogged every weekend but she couldn't run like this forever and besides the night air was chilling her to the bone. She paused a few times for just a moment, listening for the sounds of pursuit, but heard nothing until a rustle of leaves up ahead gave a moment's warning before the creature stepped out from behind a tree. It was ahead and slightly to the side, directly between her and home. She let out a breathless sob and darted left, but it moved to block her, tracking slightly forward, and she had no choice but to turn again and bolt deeper into the forest. Before long her breath was coming in ragged gasps, but every time she stopped for air she heard distant footfalls behind her. Once more she tried to circle back to the road, but again the creature headed her off.

Somehow it never seemed to catch her, though she knew she was tiring, and the thought entered her mind that she was being deliberately herded towards something. Unbidden, dream images came back to her of fleeing through a straight, dark forest row pursued by something unknown. The resemblance was uncanny and she felt despair begin to rise within, but she kept running, determined not to give up until she couldn't lift a finger to defend herself. She ran to exhaustion and beyond, until her lungs were fire and her legs were water. Pausing once more, she gulped for air desperately and wipe sweat from her brow. Her robe was tattered and smeared with dirt, and the intact parts were plastered to her sweat-soaked skin, and she was numb with cold. She held her breath for a moment, listening for footsteps in the distance, and didn't believe it when she heard nothing. She panted again for a few moments then stopped to listen again. Silence. Slowly a smile spread across her face, small and desperate as if she was afraid to hope. Maybe it had gotten tired of chasing her, and gone in search of easier prey.

Slowly, she slid down the tree she leaned against and sank to the ground. Still nothing. Her eyes were already starting to close, sleep rushing to claim her, but she registered the cold and with a tremendous effort she looked around. She had to find shelter, or she could freeze to death out here. Slowly she struggled to her feet, it felt like the hardest thing she'd ever done but she knew what the alternative was. The sky was starting to lighten, and she peered around in the murky twilight. There, off to the left, she thought she saw a clearing among the trees. At least it was different than the endless willowy birch and gum trees that spread off as far as she could see in all other directions. She stumbled towards the clearing, registering as she did the soft tinkling of water. Finally she broke out of the trees, and saw a small stream trickling through a hollow, barely more than a low spot in the forest floor. Her stumble broke into a run and she lurched to the stream edge and drank deeply. To hell with Giardia, they could cure that at a hospital. She had to survive through the night, and find help tomorrow, and she needed water. She stopped several times to gasp for air, then went back to sucking cold spring water from her hands as fast as she could capture it.

Finally she was satisfied, and she lifted her head and looked around warily for anything threatening. The gesture made her feel silly, like a wild deer watching for wolves, and with a snort she stood up and straightened her robe. She looked up and down the river, finally spying an outcropping of rock several hundred yards upstream. With a faint groan, she started toward it on uncooperative legs. At length she reached out, and was delighted to find a shelter of significant size between the rocks. She wasted no time crawling into it, too tired to check for sleeping bears, and in moments she was curled up asleep.

***

At home, watching TV, cup of hot chocolate in hand. Warm, comfortable, but it's growing dark too fast. And the light is a strange shade of green. Turning to look at the windows, she sees thick vines creeping over the glass, blocking the late afternoon sunlight with broad green leaves. It doesn't matter, she's safe inside with her TV and her hot chocolate. She turns back to the TV, but the vines are inside now, crawling up the inside of the TV glass, obscuring the nondescript news anchor in the ageless tweed suit. She watches disturbed as the vines curl around the news anchor's neck and slowly choke the life from him. Cracks form in the glass, and with a crash the growth bursts out of the TV and creeps into the living room. Panicked, she stands and looks around. Creepers grow and spread from the kitchen sink, the toilet bowl, the bedroom door, and spread across the walls, slowly strangling and crushing the house, tearing it apart board by board. Green all around now, snaking between her ankles and covering the carpet. One loops through the handle of her cup and carries it away as it grows, crushing the porcelain. Hot chocolate rains down, and where it lands little thorn bushes sprout. She screams in frustration and distress, and the smell of the plants fills the air, heady and savory like herbs. As if in answer to her cry, a great tearing sound echoes in her ears as the roof splits open and more vines pour in from above. She watches helplessly as her house is consumed by the spreading verdant carpet. One by one the walls melt away amid the crackling and crunching of tortured timber, and now she can see the more vines covering her car, growing through her driveway, and the smell of the vines hangs thick in the air. Somehow, over the trees, she sees great green obelisks in the distance, shifting and swelling, then crumbling, and she knows that she cold walk for miles and miles and see only this destruction, homes and roads disintegrating and fading away under the heedless might of nature.

***

She woke slowly, the vivid smell from her dream lingering and following into waking life. She opens her eyes slowly. Her vision is blurred, her muscles cramped and sore from her run and the cold of the night. Her head pounds faintly like a drum beat in the distance, and she realizes slowly that the air is hazy and smoky, thick with the smell of burning herbs, and something else that made her mouth water. Lifting her head she looks outside. The fallen leaves had been cleared away from the entrance to her cave, and a low smoky fire smoldered at the cave mouth. She coughed once, and tried to make sense of the fire. Rising stiffly with a groan, she crawled to the mouth of the cave and inspected the fire. Perhaps some hermit had found her and lit a fire to keep her warm. There was nothing else around to suggest that anyone else had passed by. Around the fire were several sharpened sticks, stuck in the ground and angled out over the coals, pieces of meat impaled on the ends and slowly blackening over the coals. Vaguely confused but unwilling to question the good fortune, she sat down and tore into the food ravenously. It wasn't cooked through, and parts were charred nearly to a crisp, but it didn't slow her down much.

After going through several she decided to wait and see if an unknown benefactor appeared, looking to share the meal. She let the fire warm her for a while, and looked around. The light was already turning yellow, the sun low in the trees and apparently heading for sunset. She debated with herself for some time, and finally decided perhaps it would be best to rest more and get a start early in the morning. She wasn't sure which way was back to town, and it was likely to be cold soon. She crouched by the smoldering fire as it burned down to coals and let the events of the past few days play through her mind without really trying to make sense of them. None of it seemed entirely real, as if the gravity of her situation had yet to fully sink in. Being chased by a nightmare creature, staying with Carrie, even the last few days at work seemed like a vision of someone else's life.

She looked around as twilight fell, and the darkening woods made her smile despite herself. It was a little bit fun, being out here alone. Even if she really was in trouble, at least it was exciting. It made a better story than dying of cancer.

As darkness gathered she withdrew into her cave and, after some consideration, made an effort to gather the dry leaves from the far corners into a pile. She curled up among them, rustling and crinkling with each slight twitch. They poked her and itched slightly, but it was warmer than sleeping on the ground. Soon enough she began to drift off, with thoughts of escape and adventure revolving slowly in her head until she finally slipped into dream.

***

BREEP BREEP BREEP BREEP

Alarm blaring. She rolls over and slaps it, groaning in protest she sits up and rubs her eyes. Now in the bathroom, toothbrush in hand, eyes gritty like they are clogged with sand. A bleary, saggy face lined from wrinkles in the pillowcase stares back at her in the mirror, gaze resentful, blaming her for its condition. Now in the kitchen, eating yogurt and cereal, drinking coffee. The same breakfast as a thousand mornings gone by, the same as it will be a thousand mornings to come. Now in the car, shivering from the crispness of the morning. The sun lances through the trees and strikes her face, blinding her, and she looks away. Off beside the road, the forest calls her, serene and open. Wisps of mist curl between the trees, fleeing from the coming dawn, beckoning her to come along, abandon her thankless labors.

Dawn-blasted tree trunks and clinging fog give way to her desk. The sun beats in the window, glowing off a stack of paperwork and stinging her eyes. Form after form, the pile never seems to shrink. Permit requests, license applications, renewal fees, all blend together, and the glare of the white paper bleaches all the words into meaningless pain. The sun shines on her relentlessly, and she peels off her sweater, feeling warm. It's not enough. The air is hot, she is sweating. She stands up and her shirt clings to her uncomfortably as she heads for the water cooler. Several coworkers are already filling paper Dixie cups and drinking greedily. She pushes through the crowd and pulls a cup off the stack, but the cooler is empty now. All around her office workers push in desperately, thirsty, sweating, angry. Someone arrives with the spare jug, but it is emptied before it ever makes it to the cooler, and Alicia is so thirsty. Desperate now, she pushes towards the front door and throws it open. As she does the sun strikes her in the face and she is momentarily blinded, reeling from the dazzling brightness. When her vision clears all she sees outside is ruin, seared earth and decaying buildings, dessicated by the desert sun. Badlands stretch out as far as the eye can see in all directions. She steps back into the shade of the only crumbling corner that remains of her office now, and her coworkers huddle together in confusion, sweating and panting through cracked lips, tattered clothing flapping in the hot wind. If only they could find some sort of shelter, they could wait out the daytime and search for water in the cool, blessed darkness, but these shattered walls and collapsed roofs are so dry they go to dust at a touch, and besides the sun never sets in this hell-scape.

***

Morning came slowly, creeping in and driving the darkness back an inch at a time. Alicia tossed and rolled in her pile of leaves fitfully, wishing for some of the heat she dreamed of. She was chilled and clammy and her muscles refused to work properly. Finally the sun cut its way through the trees and the fog and stabbed into her cave, and she drew a deep breath and she woke enough to register the smell of wood smoke. She opened her eyes and crawled on aching legs to the mouth of the cave, finding the smoldering coals she'd left the previous evening rekindled into a small fire. The seared meat she'd left was gone, and she scanned the surrounding woods for signs of another presence, but saw nothing. She put it out of her mind and warmed herself as best she could by the meager flame.

Before long it began to diminish as the wood burned out, and reluctant to let the blessed warmth vanish she stood and began looking for fallen wood she could gather. Seeing something pale just across the stream, she stepped forward and bent at the water's edge to reach across and pick it up. She froze with her hand a foot from the object as she identified it as a bone, moist and fresh-looking with little scraps of gristle still clinging to it. A few flies crawled on the meaty morsels, braving the cold to claim a fresh and unguarded breeding ground. Another pale shape caught the corner of her eye and she turned her head. Her blood chilled by steps as she slowly realized that far from being singular, the bone was part of a collection, carefully laid out in a line. As she turned her head, she saw the circle jump the stream and curve around, apparently encircling her and her little cave.

Stunned and frightened, she slowly backed up and crouched in the cave mouth behind the dying fire, watching the empty forest suspiciously. At length she mustered the courage to step out again and gather a double handful of fallen leaves, which she carried back and fed to the fire slowly, enjoying the brief flares of heat. All too soon they were gone, and it seemed futile to gather more. Something was going on here she didn't understand, but it seemed that someone was at least trying to help her survive. Chilled both physically and spiritually, she retreated into the cave and curled up in the pile of leaves again, and dozed.

She woke perhaps an hour later to the smell of food and smoke and herbs. Sure enough, the little fire was kindled once more, and more strips of meat were roasting on stakes. She scrambled over, dizzy and disoriented from breathing in the smoldering green leaves in the fire, and tore into one. Again they were poorly cooked, but she paid little heed. She downed half the meal, and though she was hungry she left the other half for her unknown benefactor. Manners might be all that kept her in good standing, for all she knew. After eating she stood up and stretched carefully, and walked towards the stream, trying not to look at the bones. She knelt and drank from her cupped hands. Water ran down her throat and chest, making her shiver, but it was crisp and quenching and she didn't stop.

Thirst slaked, she straightened again, groaning at the pain in her overworked legs and looked around. She determined again to find something to stoke the fire. With some real luck she might spot a sign of civilization she could use to find her way out of the forest. She mastered her squeamishness and prepared to step over the eerie perimeter of remains, but was interrupted by a bone-chilling growl, tenor with a high-pitched whine underlining it. Her heart leaped into her throat and she looked around wildly. Across the stream ahead of her perhaps thirty yards distant was a low rise, and crouched behind its crest in the shadow of a wild mulberry bush she she saw a large, black shape with pointed ears and inky black eyes. Alicia's heart pounded in her chest and everything seemed to grow still and silent as she and the beast stared at each other. She knew instinctively that this time she would not get away, her legs were stiff and weak and it was hard enough for her to walk, much less run. She swallowed, though her mouth was dry, but the creature made no move closer. She slowly stepped back, and the growl cut off abruptly as if a button had been pushed. Slowly, careful not to make any sudden moves, she backed away. Seeing no reason to stay she kept backing carefully down the shore of the stream. Disaster did not strike, she felt like she might be making some sort of progress. She put another fifteen yards between the two of them, when suddenly the growl rose again and she thought she saw the shape shift tensely. Her foot came down on something cold and hard and damp. Instinctively she jerked her foot back and looked down. She'd stepped on the far side of the circle of bones. She moved away a step, revolted, and the growl stopped again. She looked back at its source for a moment, then tentatively sidled towards the cave and the fire. After a moment, the shadowy shape turned and vanished into the bush.

She sank to a crouch and sighed, feeling miserable. She hadn't escaped at all. She'd let herself be herded right where her nightmare antagonist wanted her, and now for some reason it wanted to keep her here. She had begun to believe that the creature was a delusion born of fear and exhaustion, perhaps it had been a wolf, she told herself. Or a kid from down the road playing a mean joke. But it was real. It was watching her.