What I'm Hiding - Horror!Edd- WATTYS2018

24.

When they arrived at the hideout, Matt knew something was wrong. A shiver rolled up his spine as they neared the door. He grabbed Tom's shirt and tugged it. The other man turned. "What?"

"Something's not right here," Matt whispered.

Tom just blinked solemnly. "I know."

The inside of the house was a wreck, and it was all Matt could do not to scream. The walls were washed in dried, cracking blood. Pieces of flesh were strewn in piles on the floor.

Tom gagged. The room was filled with the stench of death. A little farther in, Pau had frozen in place, shock coursing through his veins. There, on the floor, was Pat's severed head. Its eyes stared lifelessly at the man, face stuck in an expression of eternal horror.

A strangled sound escaped Pau's throat and he collapsed to his knees. Sobs erupted like screams as the man buried his face into the palms of his hands. "Noooo," he moaned in agony, "no, no, no!"

Matt and Tom watched from the doorway. Tom eventually moved forward through the carnage, hesitantly patting Pau's shoulder as he passed.

He felt sympathy for the mourning man on the ground, but he still had to find Edd.

Matt hadn't moved. It was like he couldn't bring himself to. Something was still very wrong, and it wasn't just the torn corpses. The air was thick with tension. The kind of tension prey would feel right before the predator struck.

Matt wanted to call out to Tom. To tell him to come back. That they should leave now. But he didn't.

He should've.

Tom cried out from where he had made it to a back room. The door had been metal and futuristic and it had been left slightly ajar. He couldn't resist the urge to look inside. There was something in the room. Some creature was crumpled on the floor. Whimpering and growling; twisting around in sickening movements. He couldn't help the gasp that escaped him.

The creature immediately snapped to attention. Slowly, it turned its disfigured face toward Tom. It was revolting. There were tears in its cheeks from where the jaw had unhinged itself forcefully from its place.  Its ribcage was completely exposed, leaving shreds of torn skin hanging from its chest. The creature's limbs twitched and spasmed like it was stuck for forever in a seizure.

But the worst part was its eyes. Brown eyes that stared into Tom's soul. Brown, bloodshot eyes, pleading to be killed.

Edd's eyes.

Tom screamed. And he didn't stop screaming even as he heard Matt's fearful voice pleading for him to move. To run. To do something- ANYTHING.

Edd's teeth ripped into his throat, and he did nothing to stop it.

The creature raged  through the house, unsatisfied even with the fresh blood on its teeth.

It was destroying everything.

Matt could hear his own heartbeat as he watched his friend bleed out on the floor. Blood rushed in his ears when It lunged for Pau.

He couldn't take it. This THING had taken everything from him.

Tom, Edd, Tord. Every little thing that had ever made him happy. A blood curdling scream came from his mouth as he snapped.

Suddenly he was running toward the creature, a shard of glass in his hands. When did that get there, he wondered absent-mindedly as he charged the beast.

The next thing he knew, he was sitting in a silent house, drenched in black blood. The glass slipped from his shaking hand.

He was completely, and utterly, alone.

//the next chapter is the last. Stay tuned//