I was walking alongside the road at night from a party, ditched by my friend for a girl,

when the car pulled up beside me.

Get in, now!

I froze, totally taken by surprise, and he shattered again.

This time, get inside or you're dead!

The door swung open, and I expected to be faced with a gun, but the man's hand rejoined

the other on the wheel, leaving the open seat to me.

I didn't notice anything which could pose an immediate threat.

He was buckled in, there was no weapon that I could see, and the road was boarded by

trees.

It could be well beyond the tree line before he got out of the car.

Two years of track conditioning afforded me a certain proficiency at running.

In the half-second of my brain ran through these observations and considerations, something

else ran towards me.

The sound of its bounding feet barely audible above the hum of the truck's engine.

Hurry!

Instinctively turning to the approaching thing, I saw something terrible, hunched, human

in only the most general sense.

I think it would normally be bipedal, but was hunched over to run in all four of its

limbs.

I couldn't make out the aspects of its appearance, the darkness, but realized with instant

terror, that it was completely silent.

...