CHAPTER ONE: SAM WILLIS ENCOUNTERS THE BEAST

I turned the corner. I couldn't be too far behind him. The alley was dark tonight. More so than usual. The only light came from the moon above. The lunar light is reflected in the small puddles in the dim alley. I couldn't be too far behind. Where is he?

Suddenly from what seemed like above me. I was pounced on. It wasn't a man on top of me. It was something else. An animal? I tossed the creature off of me with such force and landed on its back. It stood up on two legs. Still it wasn't human. It was something bigger. Something with hair and bright crimson eyes that seemed to use the light from the moon to glow.

I jumped to my feet staring at the creature that stared at me. It was snarling, growling. It was slowly coming towards me. I began to run.

I ran back where I came, I guess whoever I was chasing was going to get away, I couldn't just let this beast take me. I turned another corner and found the backdoor to the old sport shop. I opened the door without a problem. I ran inside and locked the door as fast as my trembling body would allow. I ran across the shop and bumped into something. It grabbed me.

It was just the shop owner. "What the fuck are you doing son? We're closed, I'm sorry." the elderly man waved me off. "Sir, there is something...something out there!"

The man seemed startled by my words. "Something?", he asked. "Yes, I'm being chased! It's big, it's furry, I don't know what it is!"

The mans face seemed to relax a bit. "What were you doing in that alley son?" I looked at him for a moment then tried to remember what happened. It had happened so fast I don't know if my mind had even had time for memories. Suddenly it all came back to me. "I chased a man in there that stole my wallet. Then when I came into the alley I ran into that beast."

"Son, you do realize you came from a dead end right?", asked the man. "Really, what does that have to do with...?" He shook his head at me. "Son, you don't think it's weird that the man who robbed you vanished?"

I thought about this for a minute, the shop owner was right. I hadn't seen the criminal when I turned the corner. Perhaps..."the thing might have eaten him?"

The man shook his head. "No kid, that man IS the beast."

...stay tuned for chapter two "Meeting Elizabeth"