6:32 PM
Saffron was still. Her heart was pounding, throbbing in her ears. In between the rampant beating rhythm, she could hear it. Still kissing at an unwitting Jason. Trembling, Saff’s fingers tap onto the CDAM app. Instantly, there’s a body on the screen. Pixelated and blurred, you could still tell that it used to be a human neck, the head painfully missing. Three strider-related incidents have been reported so far, each one a victim dying in similar circumstances. The last body was discovered at 6 o’clock. only a mile or so from the office. The kissing stopped. Another tap on the screen. As always, the information is pretty limited. The city’s security cameras are down, because of course they are. There’s an unexpected cold spike downtown, some of the roads are iced over. Leonard Mitchel put out an official statement, saying that citizens are to shelter in place. Which is NOT very helpful. Another ta-
The kissing stopped. Saffron can hear her own eyelids batting back tears as they blink. It’s painfully quiet, now. All the blood drained from her face, replaced by a bone deep chill. There’s breathing, one source close, and two close yet distinct sources to her left. Saffron’s frozen like a deer in headlights, her breaths stalling to slow weary inhalations… She could see her own breath now. The chill she felt wasn’t just from the gravity of the situation, it was literally colder now.
Even through the stall door, she can hear that another is clearly panicking, hyperventilating. It’s fast and frantic, the beginnings of words forming at the tongue and falling dead at the lips. And the other. It’s slow. Hollow, almost. Like a draft ringing through an alley. You could tell by how it echoed off the walls, it’s closer to the ceiling. It’s looking down, like a lion glaring at a wounded gazelle. There’s a sound something between a dull series of snaps, crackles, and pops, what Saff could only assume was a jaw unhinging like a snake’s.
Jason’s voice broke the silence. Cracking and high, a response to his circumstances. “W-What the fuc-”
His terrified voice was cut off by a swift rustle of fabric, and a dull series of crunches and squelches. It sounded like a watermelon getting ran over by an F150. Initial dull snapping and crackling, giving way to something much softer and visceral gushing about. A singular, greedy swallow sounds out, an obscene amount of matter moving down an unholy esophagus. You could hear the maw reopen, sounding out with the subtle smack of gums. Another bite, the bones snapping like twigs and sinew getting torn apart become a macabre sort of soundtrack. It’s the only thing Saffron can hear, the constant gorging of some thing, stuffing it’s belly with her boss. It wasn’t the first time she’s heard something like this, but it was certainly the worst. Not being able to run or sneak away without going past that open stall was certainly a factor.
A bit of crimson runs under her stall, her eyes instantly locking onto the movement. at first, she assumed it was a young cockroach, thin and small. No, she hoped it was a cockroach. Something relatively benign. something normal. But there is no insect here. It’s blood. Potent and coppery, the smell just now hitting her nose, scrunching involuntarily. Blood was running in-between the grout lines of the tile, slow and meandering. As quietly as she could manage, Saff’s hazel thumbs maneuver on the broken screen. She sends a text to Klara.
“Call CDAM”
“What the fuck are you on about?”
“Call CDAM. Something is in the restroom”
“Quit fucking with me, I’m actually trying to get something done.”
Saffron takes a ten second video, before singing it to Klara. The video is taken pointed at the floor, shaking hands hovering the phone over the dark red snaking through the tile. Faintly, the chewing can be heard. After fifteen painfully slow seconds, there’s a reply.
“I’ll call.”
Saffron was sitting in the fetal position, her red slides resting on the toilet bowl. The crunching stopped a few minutes ago, indicated by what she could only assume as Jason’s body thudding onto the floor. She didn’t dare to move, let alone check what exactly it was. She could still tell that it was still in the stall by the door. She hoped, rather. She hadn’t heard it move.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Saffron was clenching her jaw to keep it from chattering. Her whole body was shivering, fright and frost wreaking havoc on her body. Every breath was heralded with a telltale cloud of condensation. Her nose was ruddy and running, but she didn’t dare wipe the snot away. She’d been frostbitten before, her right hand could only high four. New York got bitter cold during the winter, especially when the already shaky power grid went out. It didn’t feel good, and she certainly didn’t feel like enduring it again. Frostbite in summer? Embarrassing more than anything. And the fuckass monster who is presumably generating the cold who eats people. That too.
Hesitantly, she shifted herself and looked down between the seat of the toilet and her body, only to be met with the water in the bowl frosting over. That damn thing had turned the restroom into a deep freezer, even that line of blood in between the tiles had frozen solid. A deep, jovial hum echoed throughout the restroom. And with it, Saffron’s blood ran colder. It was a the Hungarian Dance, but dramatically slower and distorted. Like someone beating the life out of a pipe organ. The impostor turned on its heels, and took three loud steps out of the stall. The humming got louder now, closer to a rumbling than music. The stalls began to shake, Saffron could feel the tune deep in her chest, gnawing at her. It took another slow step. From the footfall, Saffron could tell that it took a step in her direction. The air somehow got even colder.
Click
Clack
Click
Clack
It knew where she was. It was approaching, and with it the cold. Maybe it was Saffron’s nerves, but her body got even colder. The air stung her eyes, even blinking hurt now.
Click
Clack
Saffron could now see its feet, white high heels splotched red. There… There was a chunk of Jason’s skull stuck to the top of its foot, skin and bone and a lock of his short brown hair. It had frozen solid to the impostor’s foot.
Click
Clack
It was standing at her stall now. Just by breathing near the door, it was beginning to ice over. Three deafening knocks rattle the door.
“Hello cutie~ I know you’re in there~” A different voice came out of it’s abominable maw. Now, it was more like a cavalcade of voices, all chiming in at once. “Oh don’t be so cold! I only want a bite~”
Another series of knocks shook the door, more forceful and impatient. Saffron didn’t move. She couldn’t.
“Oh, I just realized why you aren’t letting me in~” it said with glee. “Usually, people lose their reason when they see the face of a loved one. Give me a moment…”. With a series of robust cracks and squelches, the impostor changed once more. Slowly, the crown of a head with jet black hair began to rise over the top of the stall. Soon, two jet black eyes were drilling into Saffron.
Saffron opened her mouth, her voice trembling. “W-why do you have An-”
“OPEN FIRE!”
A series of deafening bangs bombard the room. The familiar face looming over the door was blown to smithereens in an instant. Chunks of the frozen door were blown off by stray shots, jagged peepholes blown onto the cheap wood. Saffron scrambled off of the toilet and pressed herself against the wall, gnawing splotches of pain spiraling in her gut. She watched as the entity dropped to the tile, it’s vague feminine form getting reduced to a splatter by the gunfire. From under the stall door, she could see better now, it’s still writhing mass get pelted with silver shot. When it stopped moving, the shots stalled, plunging the restroom back into silence.
The same voice that called out the order to shoot called out again. “You in the stall! Come out with your hands up!”
