A Dark Message - 6

Without quite knowing why, Jenny chose to follow the advice of the young stranger. Her stomach felt like one giant knot. This was a new sensation; a cross between caution and fear. The girl had seemed nice enough, but something about her was dark... cryptic. But regardless of her feelings, Jenny knew she had to listen to the girl.
She found herself now standing in front of Alex's newly laid headstone. It wasn't a good night to be out here. The air was bitter cold and the wind was picking up, howling through the trees, ripping through her light jacket as if it wasn't even there. Jenny glanced around furtively, feeling a strange sense of unease. The moon cast flickering shadows through the waving tree branches, covering everything in dancing minions.
One shadow wasn't moving; it was blacker than the night and still as stone. When it finally did move, it moved slowly, toward her. Jenny backed up a step, feeling the panic flood through her body. Her limbs felt like jelly. The shadow moved faster now, coming toward her at a swift pace. Running would do her no good; there was nowhere to hide in this miserable graveyard. The only thing she could do was gape in absolute terror as the shadow grew in height, coming swiftly closer. It stopped no less than a foot from her body. The being towered above her. In the dark she could only discern that the shadow had the shape of a man, but the man was too large to be human. Before she knew what was happening, a giant hand snatched hers up, laying something cold and heavy in her palm. "When you're ready, look at what I've given you," a voice whispered. The voice didn't match the body. It was too soft, too quiet. "But don't look unless you know you can handle the truth. For if you can't, this will destroy you, as it destroyed Alex."
Jenny's hand instinctively curled around the object, but her eyes never left the huge bulk in front of her. She nodded briskly, not trusting her voice. The shadow receded, melting back into the dancing minions. Jenny stared after it, rooted to the spot by terror and uncertainty. Her mind was a jumble of a million questions, none of which she knew the answer to. The object in her hand was cold, like steel. Trembling, she finally turned and ran to her car, locking the doors and starting the engine almost simultaneously. One thought shouted in her mind. "Get the hell out of this place. Leave the secrets behind!" Another thought, much smaller but growing in gravity, whispered a different message. "Look at the object, learn the secrets."

The Dark of Night - 1

I felt the dark around me, like a thick fog. I couldn't seem to escape it. I ran blindly, afraid if I stopped running my living nightmares would catch up with me. I could hear their labored breathing all around me. Their feet pounded on the pavement and echoed of the rough stone walls.
They were behind me for now, but I knew their strategy. They would break off and follow different paths through the maze that somebody dared call a city until they had me surrounded.
Then they would take me.
I knew they would kill me as surely as I knew I was breathing now. But it wouldn't be a swift death. I knew too much. They wanted what I had, what was in my mind. They would make sure they got that first.
I raced around a corner and saw one of them cross the street in front of me. He looked straight at me. I shivered, feeling goosebumps raise on my arms. His was a look that came straight from hell.
This one had been young. He was probably new. He didn't recognize me. I shied away from him, rushing down a familiar alley, one that would take me out of the city. It would be safer for me now to face the creatures that lived outside the city than to spend another moment fighting the darker creatures that lived in the city. The creatures that had once been human, that had the minds of humans, that strategized like humans, but that I was sure were not human any longer. They couldn't be.
"Stop!" A voice cried. The voice was demanding, but it wasn't hard like the voices I was used to.
I spun around, facing the intruder. He was just a phantom in the shadows. His dark silhouette was barely visible against the stone structure.
"Who are you?" I demanded.
"You don't need to know."
"Why are you here? Everybody knows the city isn't safe." I tried to keep my voice firm, but I was panting so heavily the words came out in broken gasps.
"Why are you here?" The man said calmly.
"That's my business."
"And you are mine."
I froze. "What?"
"You are my business. That's why I'm here. I came for you."
I gaped at him. For me? Nobody came for me. Nobody even knew I existed, except the ex-humans that pursued me.
The sound of heavy footsteps broke through my thoughts and pounded in my ears.
"Come on." The stranger said. "Let's go."
I stood in indecision just long enough to hear the shouts of recognition, then sprinted after the stranger. I would take my chances with him.
He waited for me at the end of the alley. As soon as he saw me again he took off. I followed closely. He raced down the back alleys, toward the north entrance. I knew this city like the back of my hand. We could not get out that way.
"Where are you going?" I panted, "We'll be trapped if you go that way."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Of course I'm sure! There's nothing there but guards and more guards. Do you want to die?"
"I'm not going to die."
"Who are you?" I demanded. It was a trap, following him. I was running willingly into a trap. I knew it now. My mind told me to run the other way, but my body wouldn't listen. I had to follow him. There was no turning back. It was like I had made an unconscious choice and could not turn from that, no matter the outcome.
Suddenly, the man was gone. I stopped short, glancing wildly around. He had been in front of me two seconds ago. He couldn't have just disappeared.
I knew where I was. There was no where to hide even a small leaf in this part of the city, let alone a man. I took two steps forward. Maybe he had slipped into a new hole in the ground.
Suddenly he was in front of me again, inches from my face, appearing literally out of thin air.
My heart stopped. I stared into his cold eyes, fear freezing the blood in my veins. What have you done? I thought, What fate have you brought on yourself by following this man? My mind screamed the words, but the rest of me didn't move. The man was, as I had originally suspected, a phantom. He was one of the creatures that had created the horror I was now living in. His kind had turned my once beautiful city into the crumbling heap that existed now.
"What do you want?" I whispered, knowing it was futile to run.
"I told you," He said. "You."