Cara wasn't sure what town she'd stumbled into, or where. It was small and in the middle of an expanse of lonely, desert terrain. It reminded her of something out of an old west movie. The day had been so hot she thought fainting would be a better plan than walking around, but she eventually found the local watering hole and then remained there for the rest of the day. When they finally threw her out after starting an argument with one of the local hicks, she shivered with every awkward, drunken step when she fled. The frozen night cleared out the scorching day.
"To Hell with them," she grumbled to herself as she swayed down the street towards the small inn the barkeep told her about.
She wasn't that bad, really. People called her violent and maladjusted, but they just misunderstood her. The fights she'd gotten into were only out of defense, especially the physical ones. Was she supposed to sit around and take the abuse? Not at all. She grew up having to just take it as a kid, but she would be damned if she'd take it as an adult.
"Are you lost?"
Cara turned her head towards the sound, finding a man leaning against the clay plaster wall of one of the town's short buildings. Somehow, he looked very out of place in the small western town. He appeared unnaturally pale, especially in the glare of white street lights. His bald head reminded her of a glowing orb. He wore a black tee shirt with chains and skulls printed haphazardly in the cloth.
This guy is trying way too hard, Cara thought. She really didn't want to entertain whatever kind of foolishness the man promised.
"I'm good," she said to him, giving him a dismissive wave as she kept on track.
"Hey!" he called after her.
She stopped, wobbled, then turned around. She threw her hands up and sighed with annoyance.
"What? Can't you see I'm heading somewhere?"
The man chuckled at her as he pushed off the wall, taking a step closer. Cara put her hands on her hips, holding her ground. No chump was going to chase her away, especially not someone as lame as this guy.
"I'll give you twenty dollars if you come over here," the pale man told her.
Cara laughed. She closed her eyes, tilting her face to the clear sky. When she looked at the man again with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.
"What, so I can suck your pencil dick because I'd love it so much?" she asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "I don't think so, buddy. I'm not a damned whore."
She continued on her way, ignoring the shuffling sounds coming from the direction of the stranger. He could follow her if he wanted to, but it was a bad idea. The thought brought a smile to her lips.
"Aren't all women?"
And there it was--the wrong move. Rage filled Cara, burning deep in her chest. Every breath became a struggled as anger tightened her throat. This guy was going to get the beat down of his life.
She turned her head, eyes wide, and teeth clenched enough to make her jaw spasm. The man laughed, darkness brimming in his eyes as he grinned at her. But there was something wrong with that smile--something inhuman. That look was enough to make her waver. The man looked insane, and she didn't like to tango with crazy people.
"What's the matter, little girl? Are you afraid?" he cooed.
He stepped closer still, grin widening to show a mouth full of too sharp teeth coated in dark slime. Black goop began spilling from his mouth until it covered his chin. At the same time, the air filled with the scent of old blood and sulfur. It was so overwhelming, Cara doubled over, covering her mouth and nose with her hand. Gorge rose in her throat, threatening to spill.
Forcing herself to swallow her stomach, Cara stood up so that she could properly escape, but as she tried, the man appeared before her in a blur. She stumbled back, nearly tripping over herself, but the man grabbed her shirt at the chest and pulled her closer. He snapped his horrible teeth at her, splashing some of the foul goop onto her face.
"Don't like what you see, huh?" he asked, then licked his lips with a charred, black tongue.
She looked into his eyes and saw death coated in those milky blue orbs. A tremor of fear moved through her, causing her body to shake with it. Still, she wasn't about to take that fate.
"Oh, hell no!" she growled.
Her hand balled into a tight fist, then launched at the monster's face. It contacted his jaw with a loud crunch. The monster man stumbled back, releasing her. Cara fell to the ground, gagging from the nastiness. She took a moment to recover before getting to her feet and running, even as she choked from the horrible smells around her.
The world blurred while her feet carried her as fast as they could. She wanted to scream out for help, but her voice had disappeared, and her throat constricted. She made her way down a narrow, sparsely lit alley way, ignoring the squeaks of cats and critters scurrying away at the sounds of her feet against gritty concrete.
A strong gust of night chilled air slammed into her, forcing Cara into the wall of one of those buildings. She yelped as pain shot through her body. Before she could recover, her body lifted from the ground with a tight hand around her neck. She gasped, clawing at the offensive clutch around her throat, and her legs kicked violently against a solid mass of flesh.
But she refused to die there, helplessly dangling from the hand of a nightmare. Cara forced her eyes open and focused on escape. She punched at him in his now glowing eyes until they bled his blackened blood. The monster hissed and stumbled. Eventually, his grasp slacked and Cara landed on the ground, balance completely thrown. Luckily, she could recover quickly. Then once she had, she stomped on the man's foot, then kicked him hard in the groin.
Satisfied with the man creature's groans of pain, Cara took a step back in preparation to run. Arms wrapped around her, underneath her own, capturing her. She screamed out even with her bruised and closing throat, but it wasn't enough. More hands grabbed her flailing legs, holding her down with an almost sharp force.
Though her assailants moved mostly in shadow, soon they stepped into the moonlight. To her horror, they looked like the first monster man to attack her. No, not just similar. They held the same disturbing face.
"Not nice..." the men whispered, though it sounded more like grunts, hisses, and growls.
More of the same man joined them, surrounding them in a semi-circle, all with goop covered mouths salivating in wicked glee. They smiled at her, sharp, long teeth chattering.
The first took a prominent spot in the semi-circle. His eyes still bled the black blood, but it was smeared across his pale face as though he tried to wipe it away. Unlike the other monsters, his grin had turned to an irritated grimace.
"We like when they fight," he said to her as he licked his slimy lips. "We like the smell of your fear."
The group of them took in deep breaths of her, causing Cara to shiver. The one holding her down was worst of all. His face buried into her thick, curly dark hair. The cold slime from his mouth seeped through to her scalp.
Breath struggled to fill her lungs, but she still growled, "Go to hell."
They laughed in unison. "We've seen Hell," the main one told her, "now we would like to visit Heaven."
