The Darkness in Dominion Mall

Chapter 7

A howl erupted out from the room. Metal racks and broken wires crashed on the concrete floor. After Renae ran out of the room, Layne slammed the door and began to pile heavy cookware and tables in front of the door.

“What the hell’s going on?!” Reggie asked in a concerned and concerned tone.

“GET THE GIRLS’ TO THE OFFICES’!” Layne commanded Reggie. “BILLIE, MICHAEL, HELP ME KEEP THIS THING IN!”

“Layne?!” Jill worryingly called out.

Layne wanted to comfort her, but above anything else, he needed to keep her and everyone else safe. “GO!” He commanded the three to run

As they ran off, all with concern on their faces, Layne, Billie, and Michael began to create a small barricade in front of the door. Meat slicers, tables, heavy boxes, and anything that had some weight to it was thrown in front of the door.

It seemed to be enough because after a few moments of stacking, a loud, heavy, and frequent pounding came from the door. The creature rammed into the door again and again but appeared to not be making any progress. It howled and barked as it realized how difficult it would be to break through. Layne sighed with relief and started to back away from the door.

“That should hold him for a while.” Billie said “Let’s get- “

Suddenly, the pounding ceased. Only the sound of their heavy panting remained, although they soon held their breaths to listen. For ten agonizing seconds, there was nothing. No pounding. No breathing. Nothing. Layne could hear the blood flowing through his ears, it reminded him of wind blowing. He would have preferred the real thing, though, to the silence.

Michael motioned for everyone to back away slowly and quietly. As they did, Layne tried listening for anything. He could hear nothing. Only the slight scrapping of their shoes on the floor produced the tiniest of sounds’. That was until something crashed through the ceiling that caused them to stop dead in their tracks.

The creature somehow figured out that the wall separating them didn’t extend too far up and used it to get over their makeshift barricade. It was smarter than he initially gave it credit.

Billie and Michael bolted as soon as the creature landed. Layne, however, was frozen in fear as he stared at the monstrosity that was only a few yards away from him.

The creature stood on all four of its limbs, like an animal. Judging by its height, the monster was just a few inches taller than Layne even though it hunched forward. Its arms were elongated and long enough so that they could be used like a second pair of legs. Its head, while not entirely a canine’s skull, was fused together into the face of a mannequin. Figuring out where the skull and mannequin head began and ended was next to impossible. It’s limbs’, torso, and long neck were wrapped with the skins of various animals, most of them hung loosely off the monster like some sort of cloak.

The red eyes of the monster turned their gaze towards Layne. It stared at him the way any predator would stare at a defenseless prey. A forked tongue slithered out of its mouth and licked each of its sharp canine teeth. Light steam poured out of the mouth and hung in the air as it growled with a deep and guttural growl that was similar to a tigers’.

‘s**t’ Layne thought to himself as he began to quickly back away.

The creature let out howl-like scream before charging at Layne.

Layne turned and sprinted towards the restaurants opening. No matter how fast he moved his legs, the creature appeared to be toying around with him as it always stayed a few yards behind him.

‘It could easily catch up to me if it wanted to.’

It used it’s elongated front arms to grab onto the stoves and ovens and used them to pull itself closer towards Layne. The nails that were imbedded into the otherwise normal looking hands, tore deep gashes into the metal. With each scrape of metal, the sound would pierce Layne eardrums and make him run faster.

He wanted to stop and cover his hands; but doing anything other than running would mean certain death.

Layne was nearly out of the door when he looked back. The creature was close enough that all it needed to do was leap towards him to get its catch.

With its hands extended out and mouth open far beyond its limits, Layne was only feet away from being mauled to death. The roar that it made as it inched closer sounded unearthly and too rough for any sort of animal on earth to produce.

As he exited through the door, Layne could see something out the corner of his eye. Something that caught his attention, but not the creatures. It wasn’t another mannequin, nor was it a stranger. It was Michael bringing a chair down onto the head of the monster.

With a loud crack, the chair made contact with the top of the creatures “skull.” It hit the ground but continued to slide forward into the food court because of its previous momentous build. Layne instinctively jump over the creature as it slid on the ground. It slid into other chairs and tables before finally stopping about thirty feet from door.

“Damn.” Michael exhaled. “I was lucky with the timing, huh?”

“You said it.” Billie said from the other side of the door. He held a chair too but started to run towards the monster when he finished speaking, Michael not far behind.

Layne debated on whether or not to follow them, if they really needed his help. He figured there wasn’t a reason for him not to help.

‘This thing tried to kill Renae.’ He thought angrily. ‘Someone needs to f**k this thing up, might as well be me.’

The creature struggled to get up. It swayed back and forth as if it appeared to have received some sort of head trauma. The general “look” and sounds that the creature was making, beyond its sways as it tried to get up, was that of confusion at what it was feeling. Was this the first time it had ever been hurt by a human? Was it its first time being hurt at all?

Billie stopped a foot away from the creature. “Oh no you don’t!” He said before slamming his chair into the creatures back with so much force that it bent the metal legs slightly. That didn’t stop him from hitting creature again and again.

Soon, Michael and Layne partook in pummeling the creature into the ground. The silence from before was now filled with echoing grunts’. Michael took care of the rear legs, Billie kept hitting the creatures back and right arm, and Layne hit the left arm and the skull of the monster. They hit the monster at least a dozen times each before it stopped trying to get up. Once it stopped, they took a moment to breathe and analyze the monster further.

“That…was too….easy.” Michael exhaled heavily as he bent over to rest.

It cried a weak howl that echoed around them.

“Are you guys okay?!?” Jill asked as she rounded the corner. She had some sort of long metal rod in her hand that looked like rebar. It was nearly as tall as she was. No doubt she was ready to join in on helping them if they needed.

“Were fine! Were fine!” Layne yelled exhaustedly as he motioned for her to go back.

“Peachy!” Billie grunted.

As Layne took a deep breathe, he went deafly silent as a loud bellow came from deep in the mall. It started off small, almost inaudible to his ears. The roar soon grew to such intensity that even covering his ear did little to drown it out. It was as if the three of them were next to the loudspeakers at a concert.

When Billie and Michael both retrieved their flashlights off the ground, they shined their lights in the direction of the noise. A black mass, that appeared to float in between the second-floor walkways, was moving towards them. The mass was far too large to be able to fit comfortably in the mall without being cramped or squished. It let out heavy and labored breathes with each strut as it made its way towards them. Each step was loud and shook the ground they were on.

“Run! f*****g run!” Billie screamed.

Layne sprinted away from both of the creatures with his friends’, not stopping until they reached the others. He hoped they would have been inside the offices by the time they rounded the corner. To his disappointment, he saw Reggie, Renae, And Jill trying to break the door open. They appeared to be making no progress.

“Watch out!” Billie said as he motioned the girls away from the door.

He started to kick near the door handle. Michael took part in helping him in between his kicks by kicking in the same spot. The spot they were kicking in

Renae and Jill both shined their flashlights towards the growls near the food court. A look of fear and anticipation of the unknown filled their faces.

Their beams illuminated the large creature as it crawled across the walkway to be perpendicular to them. Now that it was somewhat closer and more illuminated by the lights’, Layne could better make out its horrendous features. He figured the creature was quadrupedal since it had what appeared to be hooves on its front feet. Its massive size prevented it from climbing all the way up, but not from resting its front legs on top of the walkway. The creatures body appeared to be a mixture of both mannequin parts and meat with animal fur scattered around the body. Its head appeared to be three mannequin torsos with missing heads and legs. The arms on the torsos acted like mandibles, swaying and reaching about for something. Burned into the torsos were the familiar pentagon shapes.

“Jesus Christ.” Renae whispered as she began to shake.

The large creature dropped something from its mouth. When it hit the ground in front of the creature, the object made a very hollow, yet meaty, pound. It small groans of pain gave away its identity. The canine.

Using its head, the larger beast made smooth noises while moving the canine with its mandible arms to coax it up. Slowly, but surely, it was working.

“COME ON, COME ON!” Michael grunted as he kicked at the door. “f**k!”

“OPEN UP!” Billie screeched.

The only thing Layne could do was stand still and observe. He could the canine creature begin to stand up and, by the looks of it, recover from its injuries. Its glowing, blood red eyes began to focus more and more on them with each passing second. Once it recovered fully, it would surely start to attack the group, and Layne knew it.

He looked at Jill. She stood motionless and stunned like some of the others’, it was something he’d never seen her do. He was afraid that they would all be killed in seconds in a matter of seconds if he didn’t do something.

‘Do something.’ He commanded himself. ‘I won’t let any of my friends die without at least doing something.’

He looked at the door. The spot that Michael and Billie were kicking was now slightly caved in. They were getting somewhere, but not nearly fast enough.

“Move out of the way!” Layne ordered as he backed away from the door.

“What?!” Michael questioned as he looked back at Layne.

“MOVE NOW!” Layne yelled as he sprinted towards the door.

Billie and Michael moved out of the way in time as Layne jumped into the air and rammed his feet into the door. His weight combined with the momentum he acquired with his sprint would have to be enough to break through. Once his feet rammed into the door, a somewhat loud snapping sound could be heard. A wave coursed through Laynes feet and into his legs as they collided with the door. It hurt, but not like the pain he felt after landing on his back and head.

Layne looked up, relieved to see that the snapping wasn’t a bone or tendon, but the door knob being loosened from the strike plate. A few more well-placed kicks by Michael and the door finally swung open.

“Oh f**k! RUN!” Michael yelled.

A howl erupted as the canine started to bolt towards the group. Its red eyes grew larger and larger as it came closer.

The girls’ sprinted through first at the behest of the boys’. Michael slammed the door closed once everyone was through. They got through in time as the canine could be heard sliding across the floor and start to claw at the door. Layne turned around to check and see if Michael was alright, since he was the last one to help everyone through.

He saw his friend close the door but use his body as a barricade to keep the creature from pushing through.

“Michael!” Layne yelled.

“Go! I’ll catch up to you guys!” Michael lied as the pounding caused holes to break some of the door off.

“Michael come on!” Layne said as he was being pulled into a room by Billie and Renae. “Get off me! GET OFF! MICHAEL!”

As Layne was pulled into the room that the others were hiding in, he saw a familiar smile on Michael. Given his output on life and trials he had gone through since he was young, seeing Michael smile on his own was about as rare as seeing a total lunar eclipse. What was strange about his smile to Layne was that he was so close to danger, so close to death, yet he had a smile and a small laugh that stretched from ear to ear.

It reminded him of a long-forgotten memory of their summer after sophomore year. This time, however, he felt like he wasn’t remembering it on his own.

“Where are we going Michael!?” Jonathan asked as he gripped the passengers handle.

“You’ll see when we get there!” Michael yelled over the blaring music.

“I don’t like the sound of that!” Layne said from the backseat, trying to steady himself from the bumpy rise.

“I figured you wouldn’t!”

It was May 29th, the day after Michaels birthday. It was also the day he received his driver’s license and a “brand new” Jeep from his father. To celebrate the moment, Michael took both Layne and Jonathan out for a nice stroll. At least, that was what Layne was expecting to happen on the unusually cool summer day.

Instead, for the better part of half an hour, Michael had been driving like a maniac down every empty and dirt road around the city. He would accelerate on long stretches of road, drift around the curves, and burn rubber at every red light or stop sign. It was on one of these dirt roads that Michael decided to go off roading.

He drove into a small, but very rocky, clearing in the woods. With Metallica’s “All Nightmare Long” blaring on the radio, Michael found it easy to block out to constant jerks that the jeep was taking. On a few occasions, his drifting nearly turned the entire car over.

Michael seemed off to Layne on that day. More so than normal. When he asked them if they wanted to go driving, it sounded more like a command than a question. His expression the whole time was near expressionless. Even when they nearly turned over appeared rather too calm and clear.

“Jesus Michael! Stop the car, now!” Jonathan said in his rare angry voice.

“Don’t worry.” Michal calmly said as the Jeep began to sputter and eventually stopped quit moving. He pushed on the gas pedal over and over again. “No more gas for me to keep on driving, even if I wanted to.”

“Didn’t you fill it up, like, an hour ago?” Layne asked.

“Half an hour.” He said as he got out of the car and went to the front of the car.

Jonathan and Layne followed suit and joined him. Michael had a bland, bored, and slightly resentful look on his face as he stared at the Jeep. It was apparent to him that Michael was lost in thought and wasn’t with them at that moment.

They waited for Michael to speak first, which was taking an awkward amount of time. Jonathan would shoot Layne looks that said, “Who talks first?” Finally, after a moment or two, Michael finally began to talk.

“My dad makes over ninety-five thousand a year. Did y’all know that? That doesn’t even come near the amount he makes from his stocks, which is a fuckton if you guys didn’t know.” He took out a cigarette, lit it with his lighter, and smoked about half of it before continuing. “All that money, and he gets me this gas guzzling piece of s**t that not even a carless man would want to drive.”

“Because it runs out of gas?” Layne asked.

“That, and most of the other parts are old as s**t. The engine’s s**t, the wheels are s**t, the suspension’s s**t, everythin’ about it’s a piece of s**t. The scrapyard would pay me more out of pity than anything else if I sold it to them.”

“Damn. I mean, It could be worse, I guess.”

“How?”

“You could be driving a minivan.” Layne joked and looked at Michael.

Michael smirked and gave a small laugh at the joke. As he threw his finished cigarette at the Jeep. It bounced off fairly easily and made no sound once it hit the rocky ground. The sound of a rock colliding with the windshield, however, made both Layne and Jonathan jump.

A golf ball sized hole now filled the center of the windshield with its cracks scattering out about a foot away. The point of origin; Michaels hand.

“What the f**k dude!” Jonathan in a shocked tone.

“Whoops.” Michael shrugged nonchalantly.

“Your dads gonna fuckin’ kill you! How are you gonna to explain that to him?”

“Nah, I doubt it. He’ll definitely yell at me, but he won’t kill me. Especially over a car that’s worth less than a grand. I bet he won’t even bat an eyelash when his secretary tells him about it.”

It was quiet again as Michael bent over and picked up more rocks. He quietly and quickly handed them to Jonathan and Layne. Layne was confused at first, but then put all the pieces together.

“You drove the two of us out here to help you wreck the car up, didn’t you?” Layne asked as he stared at the car.

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“I know how much steam you two need to blow off, what with football and college on your minds’, what perfect way than by destroying a piece of s**t? Besides, it wouldn’t feel right to hog such a fun activity to myself.” He said as he began to pelt the windshield with a flurry of rocks.

Jonathan decided to join in and help Michael out with the windshield. It took Layne a little longer before he finally decided to join as well. Together, they peppered the windshield with rocks that cracked the window to the point of it being opaque.

‘When in Rome, I guess.’ Layne justified to himself.

When they were done with the windshield, they went to the side windows, then the back window, then the tail lights and front lights, and finally finishing off with the general exterior. They moved on to larger and much heavier rocks to throw at the metal. The body of the car soon looked like it had been in the middle of a hail storm and hit with football sized balls. The metal was dented to the point that it would have been cheaper to replace all of it than to bang it out and repaint.

It was admittedly more fun than Layne had thought it would be. That was until he noticed that Michael seemed to be hitting the Jeep a little too hard to be enjoying himself. He wasn’t hitting it like it was a car that would be wrecked at some carnival for money and enjoyment. Michael was pummeling the hood as if it was someone that harmed his mother or sister. His grunts became louder as well as his hits. Layne knew he had to interfere.

“Michael!” Layne said as he tried to restrain his friend’s hands.

Michael pushed him away and began to pummel the metallic hood until the rock broke into multiple smaller pieces. He then began to pound the front with his foot instead. Jonathan then noticed and helped Layne calm his friend down.

Jonathan wrapped his arms around Michaels chest and did his best to pull him back. Layne, meanwhile, did his best to restrain his friend’s feet to keep him from damaging it like the rock.

“Michael, chill out bro!” Jonathan pleaded.

“f**k you! f**k YOU!” Michael yelled at the car with such abhorrence that it could have burned Jonathans arms’.

Jonathan slipped on the uneven terrain and fell to the ground. The impact looked like it took away Michaels rage as his look slowly faded from anger to misery.

He started to sob quietly. Layne helped Jonathan and Michael up to their feet. In all of his years of knowing Michael, he’d seen him sad and depressed, but not once did Layne ever see his friend cry. Not even shed a tear. What he was seeing was years of built up sadness finally leaking out.

Layne knew that Michael needed someone to talk to.

“You’re hurting man.” Layne said as he put a hand on Michaels shoulder. “I don’t know what it’s like to have my parents separated, most of us don’t. But, we’re all here for you man. Me, Jonathan, Renae, Jill, Reggie, and Billie. We’ll always be there for you when you’re feelin’ down. We’ll do our best to help you out.”

Michael was quiet, but he seemed be taking in the words.

“I know, and that’s why I love you guys.” He sobbed. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to seem ungrateful or anything, most people don’t get the luxury of getting a car for their birthday. It’s just that….my dad really pisses me off. I barely see him, and he never calls me. When he does, its only for a few minutes. Then, he drops this piece of s**t off at the house and doesn’t even bother to wake me up? f**k that.”

It was then that Layne realized that Michael didn’t care about the state of the car. He didn’t care if it was a pile of junk or the best car in the world. All he wanted was to see his dad. To have him in his life.

“If he doesn’t want to be in my life, I won’t be in his then.” Michael said as he wiped away his tears.

“Yeah.” Layne said, not able to come up with anything else to say.

“Who knows, maybe he’ll want to see you more after this.” Jonathan said with a laugh as he pointed at the Jeep.

“Maybe.” Michael laughed. “Maybe.”

“…..Oh yeah, Michael?”

“Yeah man?”

“This has been fun and all, but how are we getting home?”

“…”

“Michael?”

Michael’s face became expressionless. It wasn’t like before when he was depressed, this time it felt as if it was because he realized the predicament they were in. Only the sound of a distant vulture screeching broke the silence.

“You did have a way to get us back home, right?”

“…..”

“You didn’t think that far ahead, did you?” Layne said with a glare.

“…. To be fair, I was a little heated when I came up with this plan.”

“Fuck.” Jonathan grumbled. “Everyone take out your phones.”

They quickly took out their phones like their lives depended on it.

“Mines dead.” Layne said as he tried to turn his on.

“No signal.” Michael sighed.

“Yeah, me too. No bars” Jonathan said sadly.

“Even if we had gas, there’s no way in hell that things running again without being worked on and having the tires replaced.”

“If we leave now and keep a steady pace, we could be home by three.” Jonathan said as he observed the dirt road.

“Let’s get going then.” Michael sighed and walked towards the road.

As they walked down the dirt road, Layne couldn’t help but feel like they were in the middle of a horror movie type of situation. To try and make his friends laugh, he put on his “movie narrator” voice.

“After having an afternoon of fun, three lifelong friends walked home on a desolate dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Soon, however, the fun afternoon they had would become the nightmare of their lives.”

“Don’t even play around man. I’ll be the first to go!” Jonathan laughed.

Michael had a smile on his face as he walked on the road.

‘Another memory?’

Michaels small smile disappeared behind the door as Billie slammed it shut and locked the locks’ in a panic. He backed away from the door with a look of disbelief at his own actions’. His eyes were wide and filled with water.

“What did I just do? What did I just do?” He whispered to himself.

“Billie! We can’t leave him out there!” Layne yelled as he got up

“Yeah.’ Billie said as he looked around him and seemed to eye something on the ground.

The sound of splintered wood and a door crashing filled the outside of the office room they were in. After that, the canine seemed to make playful sounding growls as Michael’s screams became more and more apparent. His screams were filled with both pain, terror, and a longing for help. Through the screaming and growling, Layne could hear a tearing noise that didn’t sound like clothes being ripped. The noise was sickening.

Billie violently pulled the trimmer off of a paper trimmer and held it, ready for a fight. Layne grabbed the piece of rebar that was in Jill’s hands. She didn’t appear to object or do much of anything but back up to a desk with Renae and Reggie.

“HOLD ON MICHAEL!” Billie yelled as he unlocked the door and opened it.

Layne stopped in his tracks as he realized what he was hearing.

Silence.

There were screams.

No playful growls.

No objects falling.

No poundings’.

Nothing.

Michael, as well as the canine, were gone.