Things are usually referred to what they are as opposed to what they aren't. But in this instance David thought it much easier to refer to the thing in front of him in terms of what it was not. There were many things that this thing wasn't. It wasn't human, well at least not any more. It had a smell which was like nothing he had smelled before... except perhaps in those old medieval reconstructions.

And it moved towards him. He couldn't really tell how it moved towards him, as it had no obvious appendages.

David had decided to work late this night. And he was just going to the toilet before he left, when he came across this creature. There was clingfilm on the floor... or at least some substance that looked like clingfilm. And there were also various parts of a security guard's uniform, as well as bits of food... well meat... David was almost sick, except he realised that this thing, this unformed creature was looking at him.

Then it ate him. It was quick. His body was gone. It went so quickly he barely noticed it. And then he knew he was dead... there was a light...

One hundred years later...

I knew I had been dead for a while... my name is David Banst, and things were different. I had only a faint memory of what it was like to be dead. I don't know why I could remember it at all. I'd spent much of my life as an agnostic. But was I a ghost? I don't know, I just knew I was dead... and that I could think. Beyond that my memory of the afterlife was hazy... but my memories of life were strangely still present.

It took a long time for me to realise I was dead. I couldn't see my hands. That was the first thing. It was such a small thing... but I could feel where my hands should be... but I couldn't see them.

But after a time I felt like time was just whizzing past, before I knew it 100 years had passed... and then time slowed to a crawl, and I "awoke" here in the year 2109. It was strange seeing the future. For such a long time I had been unaware of the material world, and then suddenly I had a strong feeling that I was needed. Someone needed me. And then I remembered the creature that killed me.

I still didn't know what it was, but it had returned. Why had it returned? Had it been satisified with killing me, until now? I knew nothing about the fate of humanity. Did anyone still exist after all this time? Surely nothing could stand up against that creature.

So I decided to look... and what I saw disturbed me.

Fiction Archive

Terran

02.11.09 Front Page

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