Hound

It wasn’t going to stop. The constant pounding in his chest. The murky fog was getting heavier by the second and the frightful gusting was adding horridness to his already scared mind. Police officer Gregor couldn’t hear anything over the sound of his heartbeats. He could feel sweat streaming underneath his blue uniform. He reached for his radio with his g*n rattling in one hand. “Dispatch, this is unit one requesting backup for unknown number of hostiles.” He could feel that he wasn’t alone but he couldn’t see anything, yet. Giant trees and thick bushes continually gave him discomfort as he crept through the endless trail of the woods. He spoke through his radio again, “Dispatch this is unit one, requesting backup.” He stopped. The deafening heartbeats were making things worse for him. The radio in his hand rustled sounds of bad signal. “This is officer Jason Gregor. If anyone can hear me, I need backup.” The uneasiness reached its peak. His uniform felt dumb with sweat adding to the bad quarter of the hour. The only thing worse than losing his way was the thought of getting attacked by a wild animal. Suddenly all his survival skills had faded like repressed memories at a time when he needed them the most. The fog would give the animals perfect cover. They were probably watching devilishly as he walked through the fog. It began clearing like smoke settling on low altitude. Higher ground became clearer. He could see over his shoulders dark, unclear forms of that evening setting. Something caught his eyes. Holding on to a tree up ahead was a humanoid form. Its visage had a dark complexion and its eyes even more so. Marred grey hair hanged loosely from the side of its slender face. At the sight of him, it sunk below the fog and the next thing he heard were the footsteps of it stomping away. This wasn’t one of those bad dreams he would wake up from. It was real. His feet grew numb instantly. The feeling of unimaginable terror snaking up and down his spine. Suddenly a glimpse of life in the form of a little girl in a white dress. At first it seemed like a blurry apparition inside the fog. She got closer and closer bringing into sight her dirt besmeared face and hair in terrible condition. Her bare legs seemed sore and bruised. She seemed not more than ten years old but disturbingly appearing calm and without pain. He saw her earlier that evening crossing the road. It was unsettling and spine chilling. He pulled over on the side of the road and got out of the car. By then she had disappeared into the woods. He was off duty and he could have just got in his car and drove away but he just had to play cop. Now he was in the middle of nowhere with the ghostly girl standing in front of him. “hello there” his voice echoed. “what`s your name sweetheart?” “My name is Anna” she spoke softly. “what are you doing in the woods all alone Anna?” A moment of silence. She was already making him uncomfortable just standing there. Then she broke into tears. Her voice sounding like a siren. Jason watched from where he stood still contending with his thoughts whether she was human or something from a horror movie. The crying came to a sudden stop. Something was coming. Her eyes widened, maybe with fear. She looked around her examining the fading fog as her breathing spoiled into audible breaths. She ran to his side and grabbed his hand without consent, “We have to go, he is coming.” She sounded sure of what she was saying. “Who`s coming?” “Darius, he shouldn’t find us here, he will punish me.” She was already yanking his hand to get him to move but he still wanted to ask further. He saw the fear in her eyes explaining the sore legs and the bruises on her body. This girl had been abused and this Darius, whoever he was, was going to face serious charges. He crouched down in front of the girl holding both hands in place. He lowered his voice hoping to ease her fear and get her to calm down. “It`s ok, no one is going to hurt you. I am a police officer, it`ll be alright.” His words did nothing to calm her. She kept shaking with fear swinging her gave back and forth as if meaning to run. Perhaps there was something worth telling about this Darius. The humanoid creature came to his mind again. He was certain he wasn't hallucinating but he couldn't explain it in his head without sounding crazy. In his efforts of trying to help this girl, he was also struggling to build up courage to get through that night, let alone the ability to see through it. It was past six `o clock. “let me get you to my car and I’ll drive you to the police station” he assured. “No! I can`t go with you!” she screamed. Her heartbeats now being felt through her wrist. Her screaming echoed sky high and then the silence. A disturbing presence filled the atmosphere. The bushes rattled and shock behind them. The noise kept getting louder and louder. It was coming for them. They could hear it clearly speeding towards them. The girl broke free from his grip. She gave him a look that said `it`s not safe here` then she took off running into the fading fog.