The Storm

Andre pulled at the plywood covering his window. He could hear the screams. He had to help. If no one helped the screams wouldn't go away. He pried the plywood away, making the nails holding it in squeal from the friction. The plywood finally came off, revealing the bleak wet world outside.

There was no green, not anymore. Hadn't been for years. Once the storms came everything became the same color of wet grey. It rained constantly and some nights, or what passed as nights now, you could hear the screams. Andre heard them every night, the screams of the women and children that didn't somewhere safe when the rain started.

Sometimes the screams were real and Andre could see the people running through the rain, begging for someone to give them shelter. Tonight Andre heard them, and he just had to know if they were real. He couldn't just ignore them anymore. They needed help, he had to help. But only the bleak wet world greeted him. The wind and rain pounded on his window, threatening to break it, but the glass held.

The small town Andre lived in had flooded within the first few hours, making the upper floors of the downtown buildings the only habitable areas. Somehow the electricity still worked even with all the rain and wind, so the streets stayed illuminated at night, but that wasn't always a good thing. Tonight, it wasn't a good thing. The screams weren't real. There were no humans in the street tonight. Those creatures looked human, but everyone knew they weren't.

They came with the storms, tall with paper white skin. There had been stories of such creatures, mermaids and naiads. But those were supposed to be beautiful. These creatures that came with the storm were anything but beautiful. Long thin limbs ending in long thin fingers tipped with sharp claws. He had watched them kill people who didn't get inside a building fast enough. They tore them to shreds, the flesh almost being peeled away from their bodies by those claws.

One of those unlucky people was Andre's partner, Charles. They were in the street when the rain started. Another summer storm, rolling black clouds, thunder heralding its impending arrival. And when it hit the town, the thick sheets of heavy rain obscured the street, but it wasn't until the screaming started that anyone gave the rain a second thought.

Andre recognized the creature in the street beneath him. He could see the gift he bought Charles lodged between two of its teeth. They had gone shopping the day of the storm; they always bought anniversary gifts at the same time. Neither of them cared for surprises. They had bags of things but Charles had already started wearing the locket Andre had bought for him. The rain caught them and they stood under an awning, talking about which restaurants to go to after the rain let up.

But then the screams started. They didn't understand at first, but when the creatures rounded a corner, some of them holding half eaten corpses. Andre and Charles ran, dropping their bags they took off down the street, heading for the shop they just left. Andre made it, slamming through the door and crashing into a display case. The sound of his heart beating slammed in his ears, drowning out the noise of the pounding rain.

Charles scream tore through the pounding of his heart. Andre turned and Charles stood at the door, holding it shut against on of the creatures. Andre slammed his shoulder into the door, hoping that both him and Charles could hold the door until the creature grew bored and left. The creature didn't grow bored, it grew angry. It screeched, the sound shattering the storefront windows. Seeing its opportunity the creature surged through the broken window, grabbing Charles and biting his head off.

Blood splattered across the walls and Andre, who stood there shocked as he watched the creature devour Charles. He didn't feel the water start running over his feet as the streets began to flood. All he could focus on was the crunching of Charles bones as the creature ate him.

He stood transfixed a the creature swallowed the last of Charles, the crunching of bone silenced, replaced by the pounding of the rain. It stood there watching Andre, its dark eyes watching him breathe in and out, with an almost human intelligence. Andre was too scared to move. He could see the gold chain from the locket hanging from the corner of its mouth.

It reached a hand out to him and stroked his jawline. It opened its mouth and Andre knew he was dead.

"Andre."

The voice was Charles'. Andre shivered and decided he had to run. If he was going to die he wasn't going to do it with this creature touching his face like a lover. He took off running toward the back of the store. He reached the back door and slammed the wooden door behind him. The door cracked as the creature slammed against it.

Another slamming broke Andre out of his memories. He was still looking out the window but the view had changed. The creature was hanging on with one hand, its face dead center of the window. It pulled its lips back into a sneer as it slammed its other hand flat against the glass.

Andre backed away from the window. It just watched him back away, the sneer on it face. His back finally hit the back wall, he had nowhere backwards to go.

"Andre."

The creature had used Charles' voice again, and he almost broke down crying. This creature ate the man he loved and it was taunting him. He watched it staring back through the glass, that same sneer on its face. It brought its hand up and and punched the window shattering it. It didn't move into the room, just held its hand out, palm up with its thin fingers open.

Andre knew what the creature wanted from him. If he went to it, it would grab him and kill him, just like it did Charles. But it sat there. The locket just sat there in the creature's open hand. It was the only thing Andre would have of Charles.

"Put it on the floor," he choked out, his fear making a lump in his throat.

The creature cocked its head to the side, deciding. Its never left Andre's, they stared at each other, the never ceasing rain pounding on the roof above them. Slowly its hand moved toward the floor and let the locket slip off its palm. It moved its arm back to its side, still hanging in front of the window by one hand.

Andre moved toward it, his eyes never leaving the creature's. He wanted to see his death coming. He gently stepped on the locket before squatting down and grabbing the locket without looking away from the creature. Tears started to fall down his cheeks as his thumb ran over the surface of the last piece of Charles he would ever have.

This creature had taken the only thing that mattered to him. The storms and the flooding he had dealt with every season. A non stop storm would have been a world ending event, but he would have adapted. But without Charles it would be meaningless. It has been meaningless.

Looking in the creature's eyes, only six feet away from him, Andre made his decision. He clenched the locket in his hand, the pain from it digging into his skin on steeling his resolve. Every muscle in Andre's body surged to send him toward the creature. It's eyes widened as it realized what he was doing. Before it could move Andre had his shoulder buried in its chest pushing it away from the window.

Its claws scrapped against the brick of the building it was holding onto as they were dragged away from its hold by Andre's attack. They fell through the sheets of rain toward the flooded street below. Andre had only moments to regret his decision before the creature slammed into something and he was thrown to the side. He landed against a runty bench, his vision blurred from the impact.

He felt the water pushing him against the bench as it flowed down the street; it held him with more strength than he could fight. He waited for his vision to clear, as all he could see was the street lamps on the street. He heard the screeching of the creatures not far away and knew they would find him.

He didn't know how long it took for his vision to clear, but when he could finally see clearly only one thing held his attention. The creature lay impaled by a street lamp, it eyes dead and its limbs listless in the current. He had killed it. Six months he had wanted to kill that damn water born freak. He had did it and no matter what happened now, he had avenged Charles.

Hours passed and Andre had fallen asleep and woke up several times as he heard the screeching the creatures. They were getting closer and finally one of them came around the corner. It took in the scene before it. Its dead screeched as it saw him. It charged at him, its long fingers reaching out.

Andre brought his hand up from under the water and looked at the locket he held in it. The opal stone shined at him under lights of the street lamps. He didn't look up when the creature reached him. He smiled as the creature's body hid the light. Charles was waiting.