Alex with an Axe

Alex slid the axe against the cement floor of the garage in long arcs. Each one let out a loud scraping sound, but he knew that no matter how quiet he tried to be, the creature would still hear him. The thing was, the axe was shit really. The head of it was pitted and rusted, coated with something sticky and old—wood-sap, grease, or worse. And there was a troubling looseness in the haft, like the wood was split inside. He had found old thing hanging off the wall, and just wrapping his hands around it had made him feel slightly better.

But after ten minutes of work the grime on the edge had been scraped away, revealing shining steel underneath. And a few minutes of repeated grinding he had managed to put and edge of some sort on it. Sharp enough to cut normal flesh, although he had no idea if it could penetrate the skin of the creature that was hunting him.

At least now it wasn’t the only one of them with teeth, or a tooth at least. It made the feeling of terror recede, if only just enough for him to feel as if he could move again. And that was good, because in the game of cat and mouse that he’d been playing with the monster for the last half hour, he’d definitely spent most of that time as the rodent, watching with wide eyes as the four people he loved most in the world screamed and vanished into the darkness one by one, dragged away by something large, terrible, and covered with fur. And once they were gone they had all screamed again from somewhere out in the black woods.

Whatever it was, the creature was intelligent and cruel, and just as capable of unlocking a door as a human being was, which was how his girlfriend Gina had vanished. Her desperate cries for help had ended with a choking gurgle. That had been an hour ago, and since then things had been completely quiet.

Outside the high garage windows he could see that night was finally fading into shades of gray just above the horizon. And maybe the morning sun would be his salvation, but it was more hope than he was willing to allow. If Alex was going to survive this, and after the death of five of his closest friends there was no reason to think that he would, the only hope he had in the world was the axe in his hands.

Standing with his pathetic weapon in his hand he took a long breath, pulling it down into his belly, filling his lungs, and then letting it out through his nose. It was the same breath of fire he had been teaching people for years in his yoga class, and even now it did bring him a tiny bit of the clarity and calmness that he promised his students it would.

Before he could take a second one the garage’s back door exploded open, the glass panels along the top of it shattering as it swung hard against the wall.

He could see the creature in the dim light—finally getting a good look at the nightmare that had consumed everyone in his world he truly loved. It was vaguely human shaped, although the bulging muscles seemed to be in all the wrong places, and the head was fused to the front of its chest, the eyes staring at him from just below the twisted hump of its neck, a wide grin on the slit of its mouth.

Alex smiled involuntarily at the unwanted image of the thing trying to do downward dog leapt into his mind. Then he heard a roar, and the creature was moving closer, the room shaking with every step. And as his arms swung upward he realized that he was the one yelling, and the shaking came from the steps he was taking towards it.

The monster opened its mouth wide to reveal rows of undulating teeth, and as the gray tongue snaked outwards Alex sunk his axe straight into its horrible face. The axe bit in, showering him with hot black ichor that burned his skin wherever it touched him. And somewhere along his side Alex felt something moving through him… deeply.

An instant later there was a loud crack as the axe handle split, and he stumbled backwards with only a splintered stake in his hand, warm liquid running down his side. At least there was no pain… yet.
The creature screeched, the first time he had heard it make any noise besides guttural grunts, and dark laughter. The axe head jammed into the bone of the creature’s jaw, holding the mouth open. The multi-jointed monstrosities it called hands were clawing at the metal, trying to pull it out, but the long claws at the end of the distended fingers were a poor tool for finding purchase on the blade.
And then, fueled by a second dose of the rage that had consumed him before, Alex charged, aiming for the fat belly that swayed beneath the creature’s legs. When he plunged the wooden stake down into it both of them screamed together.