It looked right at us. Probably at the stables but it's yellow eyed gaze seemed to know that we were in there.
The grey-lions and the Narts alike would be terrified of this motherfucker.
It was so genetically altered that we couldn't tell what it was exactly. It had hooves, and big horns like a musk, it walked on all fours but not like a horse, it crawled, and it had a long tail; that had the shape of a snakes but was feathered. There were gills on it's longish neck and it's face was strangely human. Probably a mix of bear and monkey. I'm a mathematician not an artist, the picture I paint won't sound terrifying. But believe me, it was.
It crawled towards the stables, closer and closer. My heart jumped in my chest. Matthias took the night-glass off. We both lowered our heads, even if it looked into the window it wouldn't be able to see us.
"Ussss." My heart dropped. "Usssss." It repeated. "Usssss." It's voice was silky and snakish. It whispered to us, and I knew that we were the ones it was talking through. "Mathiussss." It seemed to say. Matthias' eyes grew wide in terror. "Mathiussss." It slithered.
We lay there; hearts beating against out ribs, trying our hardest to remain silent as mice. "Emmanuellsssss." Hearing it say my name freaked us both out all the more. Mathiusss could have been just a slurring way it talked, but my name, Emmnauel, that was clearly Emmanuel. How the fuck did it know who we were?
Silence followed. We both so badly wanted to look and see if the creature was still standing there, or if it had left. I started, about to look up but Matthias held me back. Not yet, he mouthed. So we waited a bit more. His patience came to an end and he pushed himself up but I pulled him back down this time. I just shook my head. We needed to be sure that the thing was gone.
Eventually we both couldn't take it anymore and looked up, simultaneously.
And through the window, through the feeble glass pane we found ourselves staring right into it's ape-like face. It blinked. And then, under it's pug-nose, it's lips pulled themselves into a smile. "Mathiusss....Emmanuel...." It whsipered. I felt faint my vision was dark and speckled at the edges. This creature was evolutions favourite, it was evolutions pet, the one who'd been mixed together to be the strongest and the fittest. This was the new queen.
"Don't look into it's eyes Emmanuel." Matthias hissed. "I'm pretty sure that they're radioactive." I didn't know how eyes could be radioactive, but they did shine in the weirdest of ways. I closed my eyes.
Can you hear me Emmanuel? I almost pissed myself in shock. Was it talking to me inside my own head? You can, can't you. Interesting. Most people cannot you know, you're little friend Matthias can't. But he's also not a New Yorker, unlike you an me. I was pretty sure that my paralyzed body and unfunctioning brain were the cause of the illusion, but how could I be truely sure? This is real, Mack, just as real as Joline's passing. I'm sorry for your loss, Mack. It couldn't be real. Impossible. Aren't you tired, Mack? Don't you want to sleep. Why don't you just lay down, exactly, make yourself comftorable, and drift off into a world far away, a dreamers world, it's so much more pretty there isn't it? Sweet rosebuds all round your ankles-."
"Mack!" I felt the hard jab of Matthias' finger in my side. I was startled out of the trance. "You're beathing just stopped completely, what happened?" My breathing had stopped? How was that possible? And where was the animal, where was the dream?
And then it occured to me. The dream was death. The animal had tried to lull me into giving up and dying. A new kind of venom, a venom that didn't enter the body through veins but entered through the mind.
"It almost killed me." I breathed. Matthias nodded. He was pale as a ghost. "I'm going to Chris tomorrow to get more guns." I said, my voice shaky. "A lot more."