I ran in the opposite direction, at first almost dragging Sam along, trying to run faster and faster. Soon Sam was running beside me, easily keeping up as I was giving it all I could, fear adding adrenalin to my endurance.

We needed to hide, get off the street, and find any place that thing could not get to us. I frantically looked around. How many buildings would have locked doors? I thought about the terraced houses. Then to my left, a few hundred meters away, I saw apartment buildings. I changed direction toward them. We could hide in the stairway or basement if we could get inside.

The first door was locked. I looked back at the street we came from and saw more people running in this direction. So I ran to the next door, and could already see it was open. I ran towards it and slammed into it, noticing the door latch was ripped off. I ran inside, down the stairs to the basement floor, stopping to listen. I heard screams again.

There were two doors with one door open. I realized we were at the end of the building, so one must lead outside. I grabbed Sam’s collar to lead her inside quickly. It was pitch black inside the basement hallway, and my eyes would need to adjust. I went inside, closed the door behind me, and was now standing in complete darkness, again hearing screams from outside. They were louder than before, closer.

My heart was racing, and I did not need to feel my pulse to tell my heart was beating faster and harder than I could ever remember experiencing before.

Sam growled. I subconsciously felt for her snout, grabbed it, and held it closed, trying not to hurt her. “Be quiet,” I whispered to her while leaning on one knee and holding my arm around her. I stroked her hair to calm not just her, but myself.

I heard a noise from the other end of the hallway, then the sound of a match striking, and the end of the hallway lit up. I could see all the doors on each side of the hallway, each a basement compartment for the residents of the building. At the end of the hallway stood a man in a brown trench coat and hat, holding a match in one hand and a gun, no, a revolver in the other hand.

I tightened my grip around Sam.

“Who are you?” He said in a loud voice.

I was gripped by fear again.

“Keep your voice down. It will hear us,” I replied to him in a much lower voice.

He looked down at me, not moving but still pointing the gun in our direction, we heard screams from outside, and I looked up towards the ceiling as he did the same.

He looked back at me. “Unknown, who are you?” he asked in a loud voice.

I did not want that thing to hear us. If it heard him, it might try to get down here.

“I am Jack. This is Sam,” I said with a low voice, “Please don’t speak so loud. It will hear us,” I said.

He glanced behind himself, backed up, and used his elbow on the door handle to open it.

“Don’t follow me, or I will shoot you,” he said, still in a way too high a voice for my liking.

I panicked. “Don’t go up there. It will kill you,” I said in a tone higher than intended.

He left, not closing the door all the way. Light was emitting from the skylight in the stairway, which lit up most of the dark hallway I was in. I could hear him fast ascending the stairs. I then heard a door opening and closing a few seconds later.

I was still sitting on one knee, clenching Sam. More screams from the outside. They were close, then gunshots. Sam tensed up.

“Easy, Sam,” I said softly while stroking her.

More gunshots and screams, then loud noises, things breaking, glass shattering. I could feel the vibration in the building. It was here.

My body was shaking, I was still holding onto Sam, and I could feel her shaking too, trying to pull away, but I held a tight grip.

I knew if we went outside and tried to run, it would catch us, and we would die. Sam might be able to outrun it, but I knew I would be too slow.

I heard two more shots and a deafening roar, so loud it felt like it would hurt my ears. Sam tied to stand up, but I held her down, keeping an even tighter grip, just holding her, not letting go.

I don’t know how much time passed, but when my shock subsided, I found myself sitting down with my back against the wall and Sam with her head on my lap. It had been quiet outside for a while.

I reached for my pocket and pulled out my phone. It showed no signal. The basement must be blocking it, but the time was still off, showing a little after 6 am. I looked at the phone’s charge level, 92%, the power bank still had 20% left, so I took the backpack from my side and put the power bank back inside while also folding up the solar cells and putting them in their case.

I felt thirsty and took the water bottle from the side of the backpack, then looked down at Sam. I grabbed a small collapsible bowl I kept in the back just for her and poured some water into it. She got up and started to drink, spilling more than she got into her mouth. So I poured more into her bowl, took a large gulp out of the bottle, and kept drinking, surprising myself at how thirsty I was.

I looked at my phone again, deciding to wait a bit longer before going out and trying to find help for myself and…

It was like someone had slapped me in my face, the realization, where was help? I could not hear any sirens or any sound from the outside, with that thing attacking, wait, attacking?, yes I saw it chasing humans. There should be police, even the military, in the area, but I had heard nothing. But, then, a thought struck me, ‘Could they stop it?’

What was it?

The rational side of my brain conflicted with what I had seen. No animal on this planet would match that thing’s appearance. Still, I was hit by lightning. I could be seeing things. But it all looked and felt too real to be a dream. I…

That thing looked like what I could best describe as a Nordic troll, around three times as tall as a human, it had a large torso, legs far apart, and a large head, but its arms and legs were thin, the arms were longer than what you would see on a human, its hands extending almost to its knees, its hands and feet were huge.

It had gray skin, long hair, and hair that grew on its chest and down the top of its arms. Even its feet were hairy. It had on a single piece of cloth around its waist. A loincloth, I think it is called.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I leaned back against the wall, still trying to find any flaws in what I had seen, trying to find anything that would expose what I had witnessed as a dream or a figment of my sometimes very overactive imagination.

I had seen it chase people, catch one and rip him apart, then grab another and throw her into a wall. She just fell down, like a rag doll, not moving. I remember thinking that it did not look natural. It looked like a bad game animation, she just fell down flat on the sidewalk, and I just stood there watching before my brain managed to tell my legs to run, not run to try to help the injured people, but just run, run away fast.

I kept going back and forth, going over the entire day, trying to rationalize everything, feeling the fear of what I had seen repeat in my mind repeatedly. It made my body start shaking every time I relived the event. I felt like I was stuck in a loop, I could tell I was, but I… could not get out of it.

I was finally pulled out of my trance when Sam started to lick my face. She was making whining noises like she was concerned about me. I pulled her back a bit a stroked her head, but within a few seconds, I was back in the loop, Sam again started to lick my face, and I got pulled out again.

“Thank you, Sam,” I said, holding her head and softly scratching her.

I forced myself to stand up while making grunting noises, my legs felt sore, and my butt did not like sitting on hard cold concrete for that long.

“Aww, my ass, “ I complained while trying to stand up straight. That thing was not happy with me at the moment.

I put on my backpack, and Sam started to walk toward the light at the other end of the hallway. Then, a concerning thought struck me. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight function. I looked at the doors along the hallway. Some were open. I looked into one and saw a few boxes and clothes on the ground. Someone had been through these, the door had been kicked in, and the door frame was broken. I looked through the mess for anything I could use, but nothing.

I went to the next room. More clothing was on the ground and other items. I checked some unopened boxes, old kitchenware, shoes, dresses, and a shoe box full of dildos.

‘I wonder why she is not using these anymore,’ I found myself thinking before throwing the box into a corner and continuing my search. Finally, after a few minutes, I found something I could use, a long extension cord. I returned to the box with kitchenware, found a knife and cut off both ends of the cord, and called for Sam.

“Sam, come here” She came over to me, and I tied the extension cord to her collar. This would have to do until I could find a real leach for her. It was four, maybe 5 meters long, so she could have some room around me if needed.

I approached the door to the stairwell and felt my legs tense up, I was afraid, and part of me wanted to stay, but we could not stay here. I slowly went up the stairs, listening for any sound and watching the window in the door to the outside. I slowly walked closer to it, staring out of it, looking for any movement of any kind. I could only see the trees on the other side of the grass field between buildings.

I approached the door and leaned against its window, trying to see anything. I saw some debris on the stone pavement, and there, further out, was a person, a body. I froze and just stared at it. It did not appear to be making any movement.

I turned around and walked over to the left apartment door. It had been broken open by maybe a crowbar. I opened the door and held out the kitchen knife I had used before. For a moment, I stood there, just staring at it. I mean, what use would the knife be against someone with a gun or even against the troll? This was like a splinter to that thing.

I entered the apartment, putting the knife down on a small table at the entrance. I did not want to appear threatening to the man with the gun. He let me go once, so maybe he would a second time.

I walked forward to the first door on the right and looked inside. It was a bedroom, and it appeared someone had gone through it. There were items on the floor, along with some clothes, the next door led into the bathroom, and the following was the kitchen, another room with some exercise equipment, and a living room. Everything seemed to have been ransacked.

I thought about what to do, I did not want to go outside, and my phone still showed no bar. So I stood there, not knowing what to do. So I did the first thing that came to mind. I was hungry, so I might as well find something to eat.

I went into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and immediately slammed the door shut. That thing had been off for a long while. I looked through the cupboards but found only some flour, spices, and dry pasta. Nothing I could eat. I looked down at Sam, reopened a cabinet, and took out two large bowls.

I placed my backpack on the floor and opened the main compartment to retrieve the dog food I had bought for Sam. Unfortunately, the snacks and frozen food I had bought for myself had most likely fallen out of the hole in the backpack’s side. The dog food was still there, the packing undamaged.

Sam started to tippy-toe, hopping from one front paw to the other while I poured food into a bowl. I pushed it towards her, and she went headfirst into the bowl, munching on the food. I took the second bowl to fill with water, but of course, nothing came out of the faucet. I looked down at Sam while taking the water bottle from my backpack. I emptied the last of the water into the bowl and placed it down next to Sam.

I entered the living room and checked the drawers for food or anything useful. As I was kneeling and looking at some shelves, I spotted a landline phone on a small stand. I went for it and dialed 911 before the phone’s receiver hit my ear. No sound. I pressed down the switch to disconnect, but still nothing. Then followed the cable to the wall, it appeared to be connected, but there was no tone.

No power, no water, and no phones. What is going on in this town? I returned to the kitchen to see Sam still eating her food. Even when she was hungry, she was not a fast eater. I looked at my backpack sitting on the kitchen counter with a hole in its side.

‘Well, I might as well replace it,’ I thought. So I went into the bedroom searching for a backpack. There was none, not even a gym bag. I went back into the hallway and opened the cupboard built into the wall. I had not checked there yet. No bag, but there was a toolbox with some duct tape. So I spent the next few minutes fixing up my backpack with the wonder that is duct tape.

Sam was done eating, but I had one remaining item to complete before leaving, using the little boy’s room.

You know there are some things that you do out of habit. You have done them so often that you don’t think about it. They just happen automatically. As I had just gotten off the toilet, I found myself pressing the flush handle.

Now up until that point in my life, I had never realized how loud a toilet flushing could be, and out of shock, my hands flew toward my face, stopping just shy of touching it. Because in that split second, I remembered that I had just used my dominant right hand to wipe my rear end with toilet paper.

I stood there frozen, listening for any sounds from the outside. I looked around the bathroom, it had no window, and I breathed out in relief and thought if the troll could hear that, then I stood no chance.

I proceeded to put soap on my fingers to wash my hands, and… no water. So, I stood there looking down at the soap in one hand while the other was on the faucet, thinking that I was glad this was not a life-and-death situation because I would be useless. Then realizing that this was a life-and-death situation.

My head banged against the mirror in frustration. The mirror made a clicking sound. There was a cabinet behind the mirror. I opened it and smiled. There were wet wipes in front of me.

As I left the apartment, I looked over at the apartment across’s the one I had been in and could see it, too, was damaged. I went over and pushed the door open. It, too, had been broken into. I quickly went through this apartment and found no food or backpack. I went up a floor and saw both apartment doors open. I checked them both and found a few water bottles in one. I poured two of the single-use bottle into the water bottle on my backpack, thinking it was more sturdy, and put the last two into my pack.

I was in the last apartment and was going through the drawers in the bedroom when I opened the nightstand to find several vibrators and dildoes, along with a few protein bars, under the toys.

‘Well, at least she is keeping her energy levels up,’ I thought.

Before leaving the apartment, I checked out of the windows, making sure that the troll was not near, and I was getting increasingly frustrated that I had not seen any people nor heard or seen any signs of emergency services.

I went down to the ground floor and approached the outer door, my legs again not wanting to move. I leaned against the window and could still not see anything that looked like trouble. I slowly opened the door, stuck my head out and looked around, then took the first step out while keeping Sam close to my side.

I did not take many steps from the door before I saw the body of the man in the brown trench coat lying next to the garbage shed.