The Beast Within

‘… in the mists of the throne stood four beasts and a lamb.’

Revelation

A full moon hung overhead in the midnight sky. A light fog lingered waiting the dawning of a new day, as a scream went unanswered.

A woman lay on the ground backing away from a dark figure that was crouched on all fours. Tears streamed down her terrified face staining the collar of her shirt. Her eyes were wide with fear as the dark figure slowly approached her.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing; the figure opened its mouth revealing its many teeth. The beast lunged forward pinning her to the ground with a gigantic clawed hand. Her scream echoed again as its large teeth bit deep into her leg ripping meat from the bone.

It howled in response, bloody saliva dripping on to her bleeding leg. A claw tore open her leg as it began the tedious job of skinning her. Its other claw found her throat and her last scream died quickly in a gurgling hush.

The beast was careful as it pulled the skin and muscle from her bones. It was like a surgeon, cutting and stripping the meat from her corpse, until only two piles remained of the woman, one of meat and the other of bones.

With the job done, it took the tibia in its hand, careful not to fracture it and spill its contents, and broke just the tip off of one end. It held its prize high over its head and let out a guttural howl and slowly lowered the broken end to its open mouth. Its tongue licked the marrow from the bone much like a dog might with a bone. Crunching the bone little by little until there was nothing left of the bone and only then did it take up another bone. In similar ritualistic fashion it devoured every bone that lay in the pile until there was none left.

With its hunger satisfied for the moment it left, leaving the pile of meat and dried blood for the flies.

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Aaron slept while morning came, shining brightly in from the window into his bedroom. He tossed and turned; his bed soaked with sweat and piss. His head thrashed from side to side and he awoke with a scream.

Opening his eyes and peering around the room, he realized that everything was the same as it had always been. He looked into the mirror above his dresser and saw his terrified reflection looking back at him. The nightmares have gotten worse, he thought to himself, and he didn’t know why.

It had been months since he left the hospital and hadn’t the doctors told him to expect disturbing dreams? He looked down at his sheets seeing again the blood that plagued his dreams and not knowing where it came from.

He blinked and the blood was gone, replaced by urine and sweat. They had also told him to expect that as well, having a catheter up your piss hole for so long took its toll on your bladder control.

He had been in a bad car accident and died, so they told him, but they were able to bring him back. Aaron was clinically dead for only a minute or two, but that was long enough to give him these terrible dreams that literally scared the piss out of him.

On many occasions he tried to remember the dreams, but they were as elusive as his memories of the accident. The only image that he could recall was lying in a pool of his own blood. Every morning when he awoke with a scream, this is what he saw.

After throwing the soaked sheets into the corner with the pile of dirty clothes he went right for the shower. Today would be the first day back at work since the accident even though Bill, his boss, told him to take more time off. But Aaron had told him that he needed to get back into a rhythm, besides he hoped the distraction would stop the dreams.

Water began to fall from the shower, he always started the morning with a hot shower and today was no different. Steam clouded the small mirror over the sink were Aaron watched his reflection fade away. His mind was cloudy as the mirror was and he was prone to memory lapses now. Just small gaps now only a minute or two, but he was afraid that they would get bigger as time wore on and how would that look to Bill if it occurred on company time?

When the mirror was translucent Aaron wiped his hand across it revealing his green eyes. “Everything is going to be fine,” he told himself not believing the words even as he spoke them. He watched his reflection fade out quickly, vanishing again in the steam.

Aaron Jacob lived in the city of promise, New York City, and was a nobody in a city of nobodies. His fifteen minutes of fame had been only a side note on the local news broadcasts.

He was a writer working as an editor for The New England Publishing House. He hated reading through books written by others, but this was the only job that he could land after college. He slaved over the literary works of others because he hadn’t made it big as a writer himself yet.

He had a few books to his name, but nothing that was going to get him a book deal. Not even his own publishing house would print one of his books and that made his work even more undesirable.

It was funny to him now; the job that he hated was his only salvation to the torment of his current situation. The sun reflected off the glass buildings as he emerged from his building into a sea of rushing people. Walking anywhere in New York was bad enough, Aaron couldn’t imagine what it would be like to drive in this crazed city.

Aaron pressed his way toward the subway station, calculating the time it would take him to get to his destination and, like so many others on the street, he added a sense of urgency to his step.

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Even in the bright morning Jennifer could not believe that her cries for help went unanswered. She could see the street from where she lay. She could see the crowds of people rushing past the alley from where she and her attacker were.

She was laid out on the ground, her hands pinned and legs open. Her golden hair was matted with garbage and her torn blouse was stained with dirt and oil.

Her cries were rewarded with a painful hand across the cheek from the man that lay on her. Jennifer turned away from her attacker, who stank of liquor and onions, the smell almost choking her.

The blouse she wore hung from her sides exposing her quivering breast that he fondled with his free hand. His eyes devoured her, looking from her breasts to the skirt that she wore. His tongue hung out the corner of his mouth as he spoke to her.

“Silence, shhh, be over quick-like.” His hand snaking down her shaking body to her legs, “Be nice for ol’Charlie. Might ev’n like it. Hmmm?” Charlie’s hand moved up her legs and he smiled as he felt she wore no panties. “See, ya’ like. Yessss.”

She closed her eyes tightly as she felt him invade her. Tears creeping out of the corners of eyes streamed down her face. With one last attempt she cried out for help.

The man’s hand flew again, striking her with such force that she lost consciousness. Free from struggle, Charlie quickly unbuttoned his trousers and didn’t hear the footfall from behind him.

Before he knew what was happening he was thrown up against the wall of the building. The man looked up to see man, no not a man but a thing standing before him.

Charlie watched the thing changing; its once human face bubbling like the bones of its skull shifted and restructured itself. The hair on its face, arms, and hands grew at an unnatural rate. The tips of its fingers split as the bones of its hands grew into sharp points.

This was the beast within. The beast that is within us all; the one that is uncontrollable, the one that hungers for passion, the one that is dead in most people because we live in a civilized uneventful world.

The beast walked towards the man on the ground. It’s claws raked across the Charlie’s horrified face much like his hand did as his hit Jennifer. But this was more damaging than his strike were. Charlie’s face came off as if it were a child’s Halloween mask. His sightless eyes dangled from their sockets and deep gorges crossed his now featureless face. The beast was satisfied.

Jennifer woke with a fright, but couldn’t remember what she was afraid of. To her astonishment her face was bruised and her clothes were in rags. She had blacked out again and this time something bad had happened. She lay in bed for more than hour before she gave up on remembering why she had awakened in this state.

She knew before she felt the soreness of her groin that she had been raped. It was only confirmed when she began bleeding in the shower and was thankful for once that she didn’t remember the experience, but that wasn’t what puzzled her though.

All the other times that she had lost time the time that she had lost was only a few minutes, but this time it must have been hours. She found the keys to her apartment on the table by the door, a place that she didn’t normally put them, and her driver’s license was laying beside the keys.

Also as she was dressing she noticed a red formless mark on her chest in between her breasts. She didn’t think that the mark was a bruise because it caused her no noticeable pain.

As the day went on her memories, those that she had, of the time loss and her violation simply left her mind. She called her boyfriend, Tim, and confirmed that they had a date tonight. They did and she informed him that she would meet him at the club at eight o’clock.

She had fallen asleep sometime during the day and woke in darkness. There were no lights on in the apartment and the sun had already set. It was seven thirty and she knew she was going to be late. She felt dirty and quickly rinsed off in the shower before she got dressed.

She rolled up stockings up her muscular legs feeling a yearning that she couldn’t place. She hooked on the garters to the tops of her stockings and felt down her legs wishing Tim was here to satisfy her, but they had the rest of the evening.

She put on a black blouse that was thin enough that her black lace bra could be seen through it and slid on a tight short skirt. Her golden hair was in curls with the appearance that it was wet and her eyes were dark.

She stepped in the night out from her apartment and got the feeling that every man in sight had stopped to watch her walk to the awaiting cabbie. To her amusement the cab driver glanced in the mirror several times and even tried to strike up a conversation, but her thoughts were on Tim and the things that she would do to him. A smile crossed her face at the thought and the cabbie must have thought it was for him because he continued talking.

The door window was cracked enough to let in the night air. A strange scent caught her attention and she gaze went to the passing buildings. Not knowing why her eyes met those of a man leaning against one of those buildings and to her astonishment he smiled.

His brown eyes were barely visible in the street lamps, but she thought that she saw recognition in those eyes. Then he raised a hand in a salute and she turned away quickly staring straight ahead.

Alien feelings washed through her, but not one of them was fear. To the contrary, if she was aroused before, now she lusting and she didn’t know why. Was it the way that he looked at her that made her feel this way? True having other men looking at her, lusting after her had always turned her on, but this was different. She had an impulse to tell the driver to stop the car, but then remembered Tim was waiting and put the thought out of her mind.

As she tried to recall the strangers face in her mind’s eye the car came to a halt. She looked up wondering why the driver had stopped, but was met with the blinking neon sign of the club. How long had she been lost in her thoughts, she wondered.

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Jonathon just knew that he was going to be in trouble. He had lost track of time while he was at the arcade and before he knew it night had fallen. His curfew was six o’clock and it was now a quarter till seven. Sweat streamed down his face as his bicycle rounded the corner and headed into the park.

The shortcut would shave a few minutes off the time it would take him to get home and any time he could save would be beneficial. His legs were tired from pedaling but they would have to continue if he was to make it home.

He passed by tall trees that obscured the moonlight covering the park in a dark blanket. There were street lamps scattered throughout the park, but those followed the many sidewalks that meandered through the park. The bike trails didn’t have such lights and he would have to go from memory.

Something rustled in a bush as he passed. Probably a cat or a dog, he told himself. He ventured a glance back and didn’t see anything in the darkness, no dog, no cat, nothing.

The darkness reached out and slammed into the side of his bike as he passed another large bush. The bush was alive, he thought.

He tumbled from his bike and saw what ever had hit him had missed. His eyes were on his bicycle, or what used to be a bicycle. The metal frame was twisted in parts and broken at others. His gaze fixed on the large figure behind the mangled bike and he froze.

The bush was not a bush at all. What he had thought to be leaves was thick black hair. Two yellowish eyes peered at him from the depths of its blackness and knife-like teeth could be seen from its long snout. The thing smiled from pointed ear to pointed ear.

The beast pounced before the boy could cry out and ended his young life before it had a chance to begin.

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Eli Thompson never much cared for the club scene and now he remembered why. The music inside The Eden Club was loud, too loud to even hear yourself think. He wondered why people came to places like this to congregate with friends because the music drowns out all attempts to speak. Then again, by the looks at the writhing bodies on the dance floor, people didn’t do much talking in places like this.

Women wore next to nothing and were grinding the closest person to them. It seemed not to matter whether it was male or female; they straddled the leg of a stranger and slid up and down his or her leg to the beat of the music.

He found a seat at the edge of the dance floor and watched the action that most places charged for. The waitress shot him a smile as she brought him his drink, making sure that she bent over him giving him a clear view of her cleavage. She ran a finger across his shoulder and then disappeared into a crowd of people.

It had taken him an hour to get into the club and now he was wondering why he had gone through the trouble. The people on the dance floor seemed to part and there she was.

Her golden hair matted with sweat, her blouse open revealing the lace bra the barely covered her bouncing breasts, and skirt riding up her lovely legs. She was grinding her ass into the crotch of a man behind her as a woman was rubbing up and down her front. The two women came close to kissing on several occasions and he could see the man behind her sliding his hand up her leg stopping just before it slipped under her skirt.

Eli was instantly turned on and had to adjust himself as he watched. Her beauty mesmerized him, just as he had been when she drove by in the cab. He had seen her by chance and he knew that she had seen him.

What was it about her that intrigued him? He didn’t even know how he knew she would be here, but experience had taught him that things happen in life that no one would ever understand and this was one such instance.

The man she was with stepped off the dance floor leaving the women to themselves. They seemed not to notice his absence. Their hands teased and touched each other. One kissed the palm of the other taking a finger into her mouth and sucking lightly on it. Then pulling the other closer trailing her tongue down the others arm and then to her mouth. They kissed.

Their movements slowed with the kiss and became more sensual. They looked into one another’s eyes their mouths open and smiling. Their legs were rubbing together and their hands moved around their bodies so slowly that it seemed mystical.

Eli wanted to look into those eyes again. If just by sheer will alone or just by chance, he didn’t know, she glanced over her shoulder. Their gazes locked and she smiled at him. She beckoned him with a finger and before he realized it he was on the dance floor.

Jennifer pressed herself against his back while the other woman, Kathy, was rubbing his chest. Eli didn’t know what was happening and didn’t care at the moment. Oblivious to the fact that Tim might return any moment and surely a confrontation would be the result.

Kathy had his shirt unbuttoned and was running her fingers through the fine hair of his chest as Jennifer’s hard nipples circled his back. He felt a hand stroke his hard groin and didn’t know whom it was.

His hands cupped an ass cheek of each woman pulling them closer to him. He was so excited that he thought he may shoot his load right there on the dance floor.

As if she was reading his mind, Kathy led them both by the hand out of the club. They drove to her nearby apartment Jennifer playing with Kathy as she drove.

Before the door was closed Jennifer was on Eli. She pushed him against the wall, her mouth finding his nipple and her hands at his waist. He looked down to find Kathy rubbing Jennifer’s breasts from behind.

His pants hit the floor then in a moment so did his boxers. Jennifer’s hands stroked him as Kathy knelt behind her rubbing her silky legs. Kathy’s hands pushed the hem of Jennifer’s skirt up to her hips and her tongue licked up the back of her leg.

Eli pushed the edge of her bra down freeing her breasts. His fingers rolled her hard nipples between them and massaged them gently. They kissed; tongues touching and circling. Jennifer moaned and spread her legs as Eli felt Kathy’s hair between them.

A second hand cupped his balls as Jennifer moaned loudly. A wet tongue ran up the length of his member and then lips engulfed him. He watched Jennifer slide down to Kathy’s chest, her shirt open exposing her red brazier.

Jennifer cupped her breasts and licked down her cleavage as she pulled down on end. Her mouth closed over a nipple and her hand disappeared beneath Kathy’s skirt.

The night wore on as they pleasured each other. In one night of passion they found each other. Eli and Jennifer didn’t know why but they felt like they belonged together. He didn’t ask her about the man that he had seen her with and she didn’t offer any information.

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“Come and see,” the snaked into Aaron’s mind as he slept. Like a plague it devoured every other thought that ran through his dreaming mind. Until a lone figure stood in his mind’s eye and beckoned him.

“Come. And see,” the figure spoke as the surroundings slowly came into view. He stood on a grassy hill encompassed by trees and bushes. There was a cement walkway that led down the hill into a small valley. The trees were thick here and there was a three other figures waiting there.

He knew they waited for him and yet he could not move. His gaze remained fixed on the figure that appeared to be robed. A hood was drawn over his head and the only skin that was exposed was that of his hand. It was bone white and even as he watched the hand seemed to change into a claw.

“The years of the apocalypse have come to its end. You have great work to do. Come and see.” Then in a blink of an eye the figure vanished into a wisp of smoke that rose high in the sky.

Aaron lifted his head from the pillow and knew that he had to see. An ache in his chest pained him some, but nothing would keep him from his great work.

He threw on what clothes he found and left his apartment. He found himself running through empty streets and wondered if he was still dreaming. The streets were never empty, not in this city, and yet it didn’t trouble him.

He entered the park in a sprint, heading for the hill where the figure had stood. He didn’t know what he had expected to find, but there was no sign of the figure.