geist benj

It was the third time Benjamin Abrams pulled out his phone. Nervously tapping the side with his finger, he frowned as the screen was yet again a blank. No new messages. Where was Leon? They were supposed to meet here thirty minutes ago. It wasn't like him to not at least say something. Not to someone who had been his best friend for years. Maybe... maybe more than that, even.

The only reason had to be that something was wrong. Maybe it was innocuous, just a dead battery or bad signal. But what if it was something more? What if his friend was in trouble? Hurt, or worse? Worry spiked through his head.

Benj unlocked his phone and quickly tapped another message, sending it off.

Five minutes passed. Still no answer.

He shook a little. Another message.

"im coming over. hope youre okay"

Benj began to walk back the way he'd came. As it was a busy Friday night, the streets were packed, the only available parking quite a ways away. And as the streets became more and more dense, the more eyes he felt on him. Though they didn't know the experience his past had given him in defending himself, that still didn't change that he must have looked like an easy target for muggers. Patting at the gun in his pocket, he continued on his way.

He'd parked in a space behind some buildings, a bit into a remote alleyway, but at last it was in sight without incident. He pulled out his keys, but just as he unlocked the truck, he heard a thump behind him. Immediately he relocked, and turned around, though he saw the reflection first in the window.

It was a young woman who looked almost his age. Her clothes were tattered, her skin filthy, and her skin pale and sunken. It might have been pitiable if it wasn't for the wild look in her eyes. Whoever this was, she wasn't poor or disheveled. She was downright predatory.

"W-who are you?" Benj stammered out. His hand began to reach into his pocket.

She didn't answer, but simply smiled. She sauntered forward, confident and yet completely defenseless. There was something strange about her grin; as she got closer it was clear that fangs protruded down her lips.

"I'm armed." Benj said, pulling out his piece and aiming it at her. His eyes were wide, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing was real. Those can't be...

"And I don't give a fuck." she answered.

His finger moved into position, and as it did she leaped forward. The gun fired, blasting a bloody hole through her torso at point-blank range, but she wasn't deterred. It didn't even seem to cause her any particular pain. She grabbed his wrist and there was enough power in her hold that he felt the bones underneath would snap, and she wrenched the gun from his hold, throwing it underneath the truck.

"Fuck! Help! Please, someone! He-"

His words cut off into a choked moan as she went straight for his throat. There was no pain as she bit him, not even a sting as the fangs penetrated flesh. There was immediate, blissful pleasure that made his heart pound more blood into the leech's mouth, sending shivers through his body. It was... familiar. It felt like-

It felt like...

His eyelids fluttered, veins rapidly growing empty and consciousness quickly growing hazy and distant. A slight buzzing sensation ran across his thigh from inside his pocket. But it had lost all its meaning. The world faded gracefully from view into vast blackness. Benjamin Abrams soon followed it into the darkness.

--

He found himself face to face with a single ice-blue eye, surrounded in a halo of shredding, gnashing teeth.

A yelp left his throat and he was surprised to find that he pulled air into his lungs, the shot of adrenaline firing through refilled veins. Was he still dead? Was this Hell? No, Hell wouldn't be floored in concrete. He looked around and saw the discarded gun underneath his truck. Right where it was left.

No. He was alive again, despite all odds. Then what the hell was this thing staring him down?

He directed his gaze back in front of him, to the bloated long body of this beast and the hundreds of skittering, chitinous legs that kept it propped up. It hissed and sputtered, but seemed to take no movements to harm him. It even moved backwards, curling around the front of his truck, but ever watching him with that unblinking eye, set in a lamprey mouth.

It clambered on top of the truck, sitting in the bed like some kind of grotesque pet, jabbing one forelimb towards the driver's seat. Whatever this is, Benj thought, it wants me out of here. And after checking his phone and cheating death, he wasn't in much position to argue.