Page 7 of The General’s Captive (The Rift #1)

Notes.

· Keep out of populated areas.

· Try to avoid canned foods, long shelf life but heavy and harder to carry in backpack.

· Find a public Library, get books on mythology and mechanics. (Need to hotwire a car)

· Need tools to do this

· Don’t travel at night. They like the darkness!!!

T hat sound!

The terrifying sound was different to the one I had heard that day at the cabin… which told me it was something different. My heart was close to pounding its way right out of my chest because every video I watched now played out my potential death on repeat.

I quickly threw myself back behind the car, fumbling with my bag to get out my only weapon, a hunting knife. It had been in the truck bed along with the guns that I had left, seeing as I didn’t know how to use the rifles.

Not that I was an expert with a knife but at least I didn’t have to load the damn thing. Although I wasn’t sure how effective I would be just waving it around, hoping to do some damage.

I knew that I shouldn’t have kept it in my bag, but carrying it constantly was not the best of ideas for someone who wasn’t confident with any weapon. So, I had wrapped it in a cloth and kept it in my backpack.

Something I was now cursing myself for because the knife had slipped to the bottom. And emptying all my belongings out here in the open wasn’t exactly an option. So having no choice but to forget the knife, I decided to make a run for it instead.

Grabbing the arm of the backpack, I peered around the car but saw nothing. The store I was aiming for was just a few meters away. So, with my target in sight, I readied myself to make my move, when all of a sudden, my scars started to itch to the point of burning.

It was like a warning of some kind, because the next thing I knew, the roar came again, only this time, it seemed like it was on top of me!

My horrified suspicions were confirmed from the mighty crash of a giant beast landing on top of the car I was hiding behind.

I crawled backward on my hands and knees, looking at the beast with pure terror.

I had seen nothing like it in my entire life!

Okay, so that wasn’t exactly true. I had seen three things like it in my life. A lion, a goat, and a snake. Now had I see them combined in some freakshow, Frankenstein, unholy creation…? Er… that would be a very firm no. Actually, make that a hell no, with a double dose of Hell!

But that was precisely what I was looking at now.

It appeared that all of them were a part of this grotesque creature.

The mighty lion’s head looked down at me like I was its dinner, with its mane of midnight black hair floating around its head like smoke.

His glowing red eyes burned like hot coals among the darkness of its face.

Its white teeth shone in the daylight as it snarled down at me, its drool seeping down the huge fangs, before landing with a splat on the roof.

Its large, strong paws, also that of a lion, crushed the metal underneath as it balanced on the now crumbling top of the car. Sharp claws extended and I swallowed hard at the stains of red.

As for the rest of its mutated body, the tail was a black snake, its tongue flicking rapidly as it hissed at me from over the lion. It had bright red markings on the scales of its head… yeah, like the added warning was needed!

The body of the creature was still that of a lion, but on its back was part goat, with its head and neck attached to the right side. It was looking around at everything but me, and I wondered if it had any idea I was down here about to become their lunch.

In fact, I wondered what the point of it was, because it looked fucking clueless! More like one of those friends who always got drunk at the bar and you ended up having to carry home at the end of the night.

The only way the creature was in any way similar to the first I had encountered was the way that it was surrounded by a black fog. It was also in the eyes, because all three sets were blood red. The smell of death lingered too, and I repressed a gag.

It seemed we were at an impasse. Me, staring into the multiple glowing eyes of death, and them, staring down at me deciding which part of me to eat first. And that was when the intrusive thoughts of mine won, and the words that spilled out of my mouth next, brought that impasse to a crazy end.

“Good, kitty, nice, kitty… just fuck off, kitty!” I said as I tried to back away slowly, keeping my hands up like this was no longer the universal sign for ‘please don’t shoot’, but now the ‘please don’t eat me, big beastie’ sign.

My inner-self wanted to face-palm my forehead, right about the time the lion roared in anger before making his next move.

It leapt toward me and I rolled to the side a lot quicker than I thought possible. Then, while keeping my bag in hand, I jumped to my feet and entered through the glassless frame into the general store.

The place was much bigger than it looked from the outside, going much further back and having an additional floor. So naturally, this was where I headed. I ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, then once I was at the top, I turned to see how far the creature was behind me.

Incredibly fucking close, that’s what it was!

“AH!” I screamed and threw myself backward. And just in time too, because the lion’s strong jaw was far too close to ripping my face off by a mere fraction. The snake hissed, the goat bleated, and the lion roared in harmony.

Righting myself, and swinging my bag onto my back, I ran along an aisle full of craft products.

Then I started pulling rolls of fabric from the shelves as I passed, in hopes they would slow the creature down.

A quick look and my heart sank as the fabric rolls were squashed by giant lion paws as it continued after me.

But duh, Alex, of course they didn’t do shit, it’s not like you were throwing down cartoon ACME anvils and superstrength sticky glue!

Turning down another aisle, I grabbed a handful of products and threw them behind me before spinning around to confront the creature and improve my aim.

As lame as it was to think I could defeat this beast by throwing household products at it, I didn’t have much of a choice. What else was I going to do? Ask it kindly to piss off and leave me alone? Request a short interval while I emptied my pack to retrieve my dagger?

Of course, the bloodlust in the three sets of eyes told me all I needed to know. That once the creature got hold of me, I’d be reduced to nothing but digested monster shit.

The creature had slowed down now, stalking toward me like it knew I was trapped. I could run down the other aisles, but this game of cat and mouse needed to end.

“Fuck off!” I screamed, picking up a bottle of bleach and launching it at the beast. It passed through the mist of darkness and bounced off the lion’s head, disappearing underneath the shelving as it rolled away. The creature didn’t even flinch.

I backed away again, this time picking up a canister of Ajax and tossing it straight at the goat.

The mist seemed to grow thicker, but for some reason the Ajax passed straight through.

It hit the lion’s head clean between the eyes, the impact causing the canister to burst open, covering the lion and parts of the goat in white powder.

The goat made a terrifying sound, somewhat similar to a dying breath ending in a sneeze.

But I didn’t care because, incredibly, it seemed to have the desirable effect on the rest of the body.

Desirable for me anyway.

Because the lion and snake both turned away from me to now look at the goat. Who was clearly portraying themselves as the weakest link here, and soon that drunk friend analogy started to hold more weight.

Not wanting to chance it, I ripped the lids off multiple canisters of Ajax, holding my breath so as not to breath in the same shit. I then hurled it at the creature and, again, the powder came pouring out in a cloud of white, hitting the target once more.

Before it had even landed, the other canisters were being thrown, and the goat sneezed and sneezed repeatedly.

It threw its head back, opened its mouth wide like it was yawning, and actually closed its eyes!

Then its head fell to rest awkwardly on the lion’s body and a loud rumbling sound, that could have been a weird ass snore, emanated from it.

With another canister of Ajax in my hand, I waited.

The lion roared but, this time, it sounded like a worried kitten whining. Then astonishingly, without turning back to confront me and rip me to pieces, it ran down the aisle and out of sight.

My heart raced and I stood in terrified silence until my arm ached from holding the next canister of Ajax at the ready to throw. It wasn’t until I heard the creature make its way down the stairs and leave the store completely that I recapped it.

Okay, so canned food might be too heavy to carry but there was no way I was leaving this store without loading up on this shit, so I grabbed the last two that were remaining.

I then placed them in my backpack and took in my surroundings. The good news was that this small-town general store seemed to have most things left. Which meant it likely hadn’t been looted by many, and only by people like me who only took what they could carry.

There was plenty of food, drink, and medication in the store from what I could see in my mad dash up here, meaning it was a perfect opportunity to stock up.

The bad news was most of the supplies I needed were back down the stairs and, therefore, close to where the creature had just exited from.

And for all I knew, they were out there right now, trying to bitch slap the goat awake so they could get the feeding party started.

My second problem, which was related to the first, was there was no other way of escaping that I could currently see.

A quick scan of the upper floor showed a whole lot of textiles, most of which I had thrown on to the floor, lots of storage solutions, and aisles full of cleaning products that had potentially saved my life.

What there wasn’t, was a fire exit up here, which meant that I had no choice, I had to go back down. It wasn’t like I could stay here forever, surrounding myself in a little cleaning product fort.

I was really hoping that I had scared the creature off for good. Or at least for long enough to allow me time to grab some supplies. Of course, I wasn’t looking forward to leaving the building and continuing to my destination on foot, especially knowing that thing was out there.

I shuddered at the thought of what other patchwork creatures could be out there too.

Because the ones I had seen so far looked more like the Gods had a load of left-over bits and thought, oh well, better not let these parts go to waste before then mashing them together. The word ‘Tadaa’ also came to mind.

I took my time on the stairs, creeping down in an attempt to make no sound at all.

Back on the ground floor, I looked over at the entrance once more, happy to see that there was no sign of the monster.

Then after a quick scan, I saw the illuminated green exit sign at the back, and I prepared myself for a quick escape.

I debated with myself whether to chance it at all and just grab food at the next store I came across. Although really, I didn’t know when that would be. But I also worried about staying here for too long with the lion-snake-goat mash-up thing possibly still hanging around.

My decision was made after seeing the bottles of cola calling out to me.

I quietly unzipped my backpack, being smart enough now to dig out the knife.

Then once I had it, I placed it close by on one of the shelves, along with one of the canisters of Ajax at the ready just in case.

Then I started to fill the backpack with anything quiet, so in this case, and much to my dismay, no potato chips allowed.

I grabbed what I could around me, not wanting to move up and down aisles too much, because I wanted to keep an eye on the store entrance. Then with a full backpack, I eased the zipper closed and swung it onto my back.

And that was precisely when it all went to shit!

My backpack swung round too far and caught one of the bottles of cola, knocking it off the shelf.

It fell in what seemed like slow motion, yet I wasn’t quick enough to stop it.

It hit the ground with a thud, a pop, and a fizz before the neck of the bottle split.

The cola gushed out like a geyser, drenching me and the surrounding area.

Meaning that as far as mistakes went… this one wasn’t subtle.

The cola threatened to drip from my sodden hair into my eyes, but I stood frozen solid, staring at the store entrance. Nothing came and I released a premature sigh of relief. Because as soon as the sigh left my lips, a mighty roar vibrated the shelves as the creature appeared at the entrance again.

I grabbed the canister of Ajax, this time ready to defend myself, but something was delaying the creature from coming closer and ripping me limb from limb.

In any other situation, the sight would have been comical.

But I was potentially about to be eaten, so I promised myself I would laugh about this later if, by some miracle, I survived this.

Something that didn’t seem likely, because the lion was determined to get in through the doorway.

However, the goat was making this difficult because it was still taking a nap with its head hanging down to one side.

Every time the lion tried to maneuver its way through, the goat’s head would smack against the wall, not allowing them to gain access.

The snake tail was also becoming irritated by this and was trying to lift the goat’s head up, but to no avail. The darkness also seemed aggravated, swirling around the creature, under its body and between its heads.

As for me, I took this as the perfect time to do a runner.

So, I turned my back on the creature, grabbed my bag, and kept the fire exit in my sights as I ran.

But before I could even make it a few feet, it was like a switch had been pressed, because a high-pitched bleating sound came from behind me.

“Fuck,” I hissed as my shoulders tensed.

Because of course…

The fucking goat was awake!