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Chapter 157: The Mannequins See You

Nick rolled his eyes at Jessica. She had dragged him to one of the higher end clothing stores at Park Lane Mall and was trying on some dresses to get his opinion as if he was her boyfriend. She was so fucking obvious. Melissa took the opportunity to try some clothes on herself, also showing them off, but while she had fun modelling for the boys, she wasn't being so bloody flirtatious. Joe, Sam, and little Greg sat on stools nearby offering opinions when prompted, only grudgingly offering opinions. Jessica currently wore an autumnal dress. The Ragdoll Cat had a moderate body type, too chubby to be considered classically curvy, yet not so fat as to overly limit her clothing selection, and despite Nick's objections, she decided to try the dress. It fit too tightly around the middle.

"I said it wouldn't suit you before you tried it on. Why the fuck do you think I'd change my mind now? The colours are fine--" Really good, actually. "--but the fit is all wrong. The bust and hips are decent, but you don't want anything that hugs the torso, and_that_ strangles the torso." He held up a skirt with the same colours, coppery-red and hazel-green, along with a blouse and jacket. "If you want something semi-formal, try these. Wear the jacket open; it'll even out your silhouette on the sides, but show off your front." Jessica pouted at him and turned to the other three guys.

Joe didn't even look up from his phone. "Whatever." The Lynx hated when the girls went clothes shopping and didn't bother trying to hide it.

Greg shrugged and pulled a comic -- possibly the same one he had earlier in the day -- out of his jacket. "I don't really notice what girls are wearing. It seems nice enough, I guess, but I think Nick is right." The Ferret was 'out,' and Nick had trouble believing how at ease he was announcing it. The way he checked out every guy that walked by certainly screamed 'gay!' to the world. Melissa and Greg had a lot of fun openly commenting on their clothes and appearances.

Sam snorted. The Bull looked at her boobs and kept looking. "The fags gave their opinion; you should listen to them. I only care about how a girl looks with her clothes off." Jessica glared daggers at Sam, grabbed the clothes Nick proffered, and held them in front of her as she retreated to the change room. The lady working at the store looked like she wanted to punt Sam off the roof of the building; Nick felt like offering to help.

Melissa pirouetted out of her change room, and stopped with her paw on Nick's shoulder. Nick shrugged it off and stepped away from the wall he leant against, coincidentally also stepping away from the Burmese Cat. Melissa wore a dress very similar to the one Jessica had on, but she was very slinky. This one fit better. "How do I look?"

Joe actually looked up. "Nick was right."

Nick sighed. "Of course. How long have we known each other? You don't need to try everything on; I can tell what colours and styles work. It'd save a shitload of time if you two actually trusted my opinions. If you don't, go shopping on your own, and stop boring me to tears."

Joe raised his paw. "Hear, hear!"

Greg flipped his comic open, nodding, and Sam pawed the ground with a hoof. "Damned fucking right."

Melissa stuck her tongue out at them. "Trying clothes on for people is fun."

'Does Greg's comic have an Akita hero?' Nick sidled a bit closer as he argued with Jessica. "How is trying on clothes that don't fit, or have colours that make you look like a clown, fun?" That was definitely an Akita beating up some guys wearing black leather coats. 'Hunters? Are those supposed to be Hunters?'

Melissa spun about to stand in front of Joe. She lifted his phone-holding paw off his lap. "I need to learn about style and colour, too, Nick." She pulled Joe to his hindpaws, and tried to get him to hold her like they were going to waltz. Joe didn't resist, but he was definitely not cooperating. "Aw, come on, Joe. Dance with me."

"I don't dance. I don't think clothes shopping is fun, either."

Nick was close enough to Greg to see the comic clearly. He was on a page that had a lot of action, but it was that hectic style of action-drawing that had no detail. He couldn't really tell if they were supposed to be Hunters or not, or see much of the Akita. "I'm not giving out free lessons, Melissa."

Melissa dropped Joe's paws and raised her paws above her head in some ballet pose as she tiptoed over to Nick. "Then maybe I should take you out for dinner."

Jessica practically burst out of her changing room with a few of her buttons still undone; she hated how Melissa innocently flirted with Nick, even though Jessica knew Melissa acted like that with everyone, even other girls and gay guys. If Nick needed a warning sign to avoid dating Jessica, her jealousy was a loud one. "How does this look, Nick?"

He rolled his eyes. "It'd be better if you finished buttoning it up before coming out." She did, and Nick looked her over. The colours went well with her soft brown fur and the dark brown markings on her face, ears, and tail. The jacket hid the pudginess on her sides, just like he expected, while the blouse accented her strong points. He rotated his finger to get her to turn, which she did. Yeah, it fit just like he thought it would. "As I said, this is the proper semi-formal look for you."

The cashier wandered over. "I was going to help you pick something out since we have the same body type--" She was a similarly 'soft' Cat. "--but your friend has a good eye. That looks great." Nick tapped his temple with his index finger and flicked up and out in a little salute.

Melissa spun around for the cashier. "He picked this for me, too. Isn't it lovely?" She didn't wait for an answer. "I'll wear it out, if you can cut the tags off." Jessica, not to be outdone, followed the two toward the register.

Nick growled. "Greg, get Melissa's stuff. I want to get the hells out of this store." He grabbed the crap Jessica left in her dressing room and brought it up to the cash just as the girls finished paying. "Done?"

Jessica batted her eyes at Nick, and moved as if she were going to put her arms around him. Nick stepped away. Her smile fell. "Thank you, Nick."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

Melissa kissed Greg's ear. "That was sweet of you, Greg."

The younger Ferret just grinned. "Anything to make it faster, Mel."

The cashier packed up the girls' old clothes, and Melissa took hers with a smile and a, "Thank you." She turned to her male friends with a smile. "So, where do you want to go?"

Jessica smiled her thanks to the cashier before frowning at the other Cat. "Don't bother asking, they'll probably say something dumb like a sports store."

Nick actually agreed with Sam when the Bull rumbled, "And how is that worse for_you_ than this store is for us?"

Jessica scowled up at Sam. "Come off it. Guys like looking at girls in pretty clothing."

Sam led the way out of the store, snarkily saying over his shoulder, "I like looking at girls out of clothing, but what the fuck? Girls like looking at fit guys playing sports, so what's the difference? Shopping for shit you have no interest in is boring."

Greg shifted the comic in his paws as he went to put it away and Nick got a clear view of the cover. Wunderkind: The Real Life Hero. The picture was a drawing of Nats, no doubt, and those were definitely meant to be Hunters he was thrashing. "What the fucking hells?" Everyone stopped to look at him; they were by the railing overlooking the drop from the second floor down to fountain in the basement. "Is that supposed to be my brother?!"

Sam instantly flared up. "No fucking way!" He grabbed at Greg, and Nick reacted without thinking by striking Sam's wrist with the heel of his paw and stepping between them. The bull glared bloody murder at him. "Bad move, fuckwad."

'Shit.'_Nick's neck felt itchy, and he heard his grimoire start to whisper to him. "Just leave him be, Sam. _Ask if you wa--"

Sam grabbed him by the collar. "I do what I want, mutt." Greg scuttled out from behind Nick holding the comic close to his chest. It looked like he was about to try to intervene, but Sam lifted Nick up and slammed him back against the railing, making the glass panels rattle loudly. That fucking hurt."And right now I feel like tossing you over the edge." The fourteen metre pit behind him seemed even deeper than normal.

The whispering was getting louder, and Nick's magic moved around his clutching attempts at controlling it, like he really was trying to stop floodwaters with his paws. 'No, no, no!' It flowed into Sam, and a fiery silhouette began to move from his eyelids toward the pupils. 'No! Fuck it all, no!' The Bull's grip loosened on his shirt. Nick closed his eyes, forced himself to relax, and focused on freezing his magic. Jessica screamed.

Melissa futilely punched at Sam's arms. "You're choking him!" Joe and Greg tried to pull Sam back, but they might as well have been pulling on the mall's walls. The flames of his magic had nearly consumed Sam's will. In a few seconds, the Bull would be little more than Nick's puppet, unless he could stop it before it was too late.

Suddenly, several of the glass panels around them cracked loudly, and the theme of The Pirates of the Caribbean began to play over the mall speakers. The magic flowing into Sam stopped, and the Bull dropped him. Nick knew he didn't cause the glass to crack, so maybe he had the order reversed. Nats_probably made Sam drop him, and without an active threat, his magic stopped running wild. He began shaking uncontrollably. _'Shit. That was close. Too fucking close.' He looked up into Sam's eyes. The Bull's pupils were dilated, and he stared blankly through Nick, but Nick could see some_life to them. There was still a soul left in there. _'Shit, how true is that?_Was _I about to kill his soul?' Did he dare ask Liam-sensei if it was true? Could he actually destroy someone's soul?

Joe pushed Sam away from Nick. The black Bovine stumbled a few steps, offering no more resistance than a pillow. "You fucking asshole! What the hell were you thinking!?"_The teens noticed Sam's blank stare and turned toward Nick. No, they seemed to looking past him, too. Nick looked back. The three panels close by had cracked, just like he thought, but these weren't _random lines; they formed the Jolly Roger, the flag of Captain Blacktail. An Otter skull and crossbones. Definitely Nats's work. He couldn't be angry, though. Nats may have thought he had saved Nick, but he'd actually saved Sam. Nick knew a couple of spells that would've kept him safe even if he'd been lobbed over the railing; one of them would've kept the magical nature of his survival secret, too.

The security guard came running up. "You!" He pointed at Sam. "Stop right there!" Sam didn't even twitch.

Nick held his shaking paws up before quickly stuffing them into his pockets. "What's wrong, sir?" His friends stared at him like he was insane. Nick couldn't explain how close things had gotten, or why he felt like he _owed_Sam something because of it. "We were just roughhousing a little. We're sorry if we were too loud, and we'll just leave to avoid causing any more trouble."

Joe and Melissa couldn't make much more than strangled noises of disbelief. Greg pointed at the railing. "He was going to throw you over! Look at the glass he broke!"

Nick shrugged. "Pfft. Right. He wasn't going to throw me. He's all bluster, you know that. And the glass was rigged to crack easily. There's no way it could crack like that unless the manufacturers intentionally put fault lines in the glass when they made it. Come on, just look at it. It's too perfect." There was no way to argue against it, not without bringing supernatural phenomena into the picture.

Jessica looked faint and trembled violently. "You, y-you blacked out. He was choking you. I-I thought--" She sobbed.

Nick rubbed her back and let her lean against him for a bit. "Nah, Sam just wanted me to fight back, so when I felt like I was getting angry I just started some deep breathing exercises. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction." He gently pushed her away so he could look her in the eyes. "I'm fine, and I'm really sorry for scaring you." She nodded after a second, which was good enough for him, so he turned to Sam. He snapped his fingers; the sound of claws clicking past each other echoed off the walls. "Sam, go home." The Bull nodded mutely and began plodding away. There was still very little sign of awareness to his actions, but Nick thought he saw a bit more life in Sam's eyes.

Joe frowned at the retreating figure. "Is...he all right? He seems...off." The security guard scowled at Nick and began following Sam.

Jessica sniffed and rubbed her nose with a tissue. "I don't care. I don't care if he jumps off a br--"

"No!"_Nick didn't mean to shout like that, but the trauma Nats suffered after finding Donny Markham... Fuck. He couldn't... Nats would blame himself. The trip on the harbour, calling up all those bodies. The pain the loss caused people. Sam was a fucking prick, but he had family. Shit, hearing Nats talk about how he felt thinking about it, how _Nick felt imagining Nats dying; gods, how could he put someone through that? "No. Suicide is terrible, Jessica. Please, don't wish it on anyone. They won't be the ones who suffer. It's the ones left behind who do."

The Ragdoll Cat went to hug him with a sad smile. "Finally, some real emotion out of you, you stupid Dog."

Nick shrugged and turned away toward the other exit before she managed to embrace him. "Whatever. I need to get some stuff from Dad's office before they close up and head home. See you all Monday." Dad said he'd already grabbed the tickets, but Nick just wanted an excuse to leave. He waved over his shoulder when Joe said bye and ignored everything else.

---

Sam let the ass-kissing mangina, Nick, and the fag, Greg, grab the girls' stuff from the change rooms and met them at the cash. Even Nick seemed to be pissed at how long the bitches took in the store and tossed Jessica's shit onto the counter. "Done?"

Jessica was always oblivious to who the actual alpha was in the group, and tried to flirt with Nick, but the mangina knew he was just the beta -- as if a Dog_could _ever be more than a beta -- and didn't let her hug him. "Thank you, Nick."

Sam found the mutt's sarcasm funny. He looked a lot like his pansy-faggy-shithead brother, so the mouth on him just reached that extra level of humour. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

Melissa, the fag-hag, but still hot Cat, kissed Greg's ear. "That was sweet of you, Greg."

Faggy the Ferret just grinned. "Anything to make it faster, Mel." He had a point.

The cashier packed up the girls' old clothes, and Melissa took hers with a smoking hot smile and a, "Thank you." She turned to Sam with another smile. "So, where do you want to go?"

Jessica frowned at the other Cat. "Don't bother asking, they'll probably say something dumb like a sports store."

Them? Melissa had asked him. Who actually gave a fuck about what they_thought? Besides, "And how is that worse for _you than this store is for us?"

Jessica scowled up at Sam. "Come off it. Guys like looking at girls in pretty clothing."

Sam led the way out of the store, as befitted the alpha, and pointed out her fucking stupidity. "I like looking at girls out of clothing, but what the fuck? Girls like looking at fit guys playing sports, so what's the difference? Shopping for shit you have no interest in is boring."

Nick suddenly said, "What the hells?" forgetting there was only one_hell, as he saw the stupid comic book the fag was reading. He added on another blasphemy. "Is that supposed to be my _brother?!"

No fucking way Sam was going to let an omega like that pathetically weak fag be shown like a hero. Heroes were men, real men, with muscles, bravery, and power. John Wayne-like men. Straight men. The way men used to be, and the way God intended them to be. "No fucking way!" He grabbed at the offending comic, but Nick stepped out of his place and actually hit Sam's arm. He glared. "Bad move, fuck wad." He moved to tear the little tard apart. Sam saw the proper level of fear in Nick's eyes. Little beta knew he'd made a fucking big mistake and was going to pay for it. The only thing that'd make this better was if Nick's eyes were blue like his brother's. Sam always liked looking into them as he thrashed the fucking daylights out of that fag.

Nick actually rolled his eyes. "Just leave him be, Sam. Ask if you wa--"

What? This was supposed to be where Nick begged for forgiveness, not started to preach_at him. Nathanial knew the score; Nick needed to learn what it meant to be a Dog. Sam grabbed him by the collar. "I do what I want, mutt." Faggy scuttled out of the way; if only he'd _keep scuttling right out of Sam's life. Sam easily lifted Nick up and slammed him back against the railing, making the glass panels rattle loudly. "And right now I feel like tossing you over the edge." He didn't, not really, but it was the manly thing to say. He'd just scare Nick, work him over a bit, and remind _everyone_who was in charge. The mutt's soft fur tickled Sam's palms; it was almost as plush as Nathanial's.

Nick's eyes suddenly seemed to bore into Sam's skull. The bright gold drowned out everything else. Sam couldn't even see his target's pupils anymore. 'Nick? I can't see. What the fuck are you doing?' Something was very wrong. Sam could barely feel someone hitting him, but even that seemed to vanish as the fire in his head became scorching bright. 'I-I can't move! What... What's happening?' The very faint noises around him faded to silence. Nothing existed except the flame, not even his own body. He felt his memories burning up, leaving only ash. He was some bug caught in sap, drowning in a sticky, liquid fire, becoming amber. Trapped. 'Am I...dying? Where...am...?'_Even the awareness of _'him,' of his own thoughts, was burning away. 'No, please...' Then...nothing.

Sam felt a bit of light hit his mind, rousing him from the... What? 'Where am I?' He glanced around. He was in a large space. There was shiny stuff to either side, behind solid air-thing. 'Glass.' The word came unbidden to his mind. There were also fake-people facing toward him behind the glass, statues for showing off the shiny stuff and other things. _'Sam, go home.'_This order seemed to be important, but he couldn't remember who said it, or where he was, or what 'home' meant. He plodded on, figuring he was at least going in the right direction. He glanced around again. The statues were still looking at him, but now all of them had their hands in front of their faces like they were crying. Something in the back of his mind said this wasn't normal.

'Sam, go home.'

He obeyed the order, stepped onto the moving stairs bemusedly. The order person said to go, so he was. There was a swinging glass wall down at the bottom of the moving stairs. Was that home? No, it was a 'door.' Sam looked around and saw a few ways to go and more of the statue people facing him with their hands in front of their faces. Looking up at a higher portion of the wall with the 'doors' in it, he saw three statue people stood in front of the glass and seemed to be looking down at him from behind their hands. Paws, in this case. He could think a bit more clearly, and these...mannequins were Cats. 'O-Okay, that's freaky.'

He walked outdoors, glancing back and up. The mannequins in the second floor window had turned around and were staring down. There was no fucking way someone could have climbed out onto the ledge to turn them around in the five seconds it took him to walk out. 'What's going on? Why does everything feel so fuzzy?'

'Sam, go home.'

'Home?'_He made his way through the crowds on the sidewalk and stopped in the middle of a group of people waiting for something. This was important for some reason and would lead him to 'home.' He looked back along the sidewalk and saw that a mannequin stood behind a railing around the outdoor patio of a restaurant. It faced him, face behind paws. _'The hell?' Sam resolutely turned away, toward the Dairy Queen across the road. A mannequin -- the same one maybe? -- stood in line watching him from behind its paws. Its face was _always_hidden for some reason.

Sam felt a strong warning itch down his back. This... This wasn't normal. This was seriously freaky. He stared down at the ground. No, they were getting closer while he wasn't looking. No! He had to look up! 'Shit-shit-shit-shit!'_It was in the phone store on the corner, not even four metres away! He could see an eye in between the small gaps between its spreading fingers. Blue eyes. Just like Nathanial's. Shit. Was he the only one seeing this? Couldn't anyone else feel the hatred coming off that thing? How was it moving around so quickly? Why were its eyes _alive? What had happened back there?

The bus pulled up and Sam shoved his way on quickly, all while trying to keep his eyes on that mannequin. It didn't move he if watched it. He'd watch it while--

'Sam, go home.'

Where'd that thought come from? Why was it so important he get home? It must be because this creature was stalking him. Did this mannequin monster cause him to black out like that?

No, that was stupid. Sam sat in his seat at the back of the bus. The mannequin was still there and it was just a mannequin. People must be moving them with remote control for some movie or publicity thing. That made a lot more sense. But where did the one in the Dairy Queen go? He looked out the opposite window, and yeah, there wasn't a mannequin there. Looking back, and-- 'Shit! It's gone!'

'Fuck-fuck-fuck!'_Sam whipped his head around wildly trying to find that thing. Movie be damned! There was no way this could be happening! The bus began rolling through the intersection toward the Public Gardens. _'Why is this happening!?'

The bus rumbled on, the fenced beds and trees of the gardens dominating his view. There! On the bench! The mannequin sat holding a paper under its elbow. Crowds of people moved up and down the sidewalk, ignorant of the monster in their midst. A thicker group of people moved between it and the bus, blocking his view of it. When they passed, the mannequin was gone.

'Where!? How can people not see?!'

Seconds later, he found it a few dozen metres away sitting in a tree. It was in the same pose, almost like it had just been picked up and dropped onto the branch. It still faced him, paws over its face.

Sam swallowed a panicked whimper. He was in charge, damn it, and not some fucking pathetic weakling. There was still a chance this was some prank, publicity for some movie or something. He knew that couldn't be true, but that was the only thing he could think of that made any sense. But it wasn't true. 'Sense' no longer existed. God had let the demons free, and Armageddon was coming soon. He hated the slow motion of the bus. 'It's falling back. I'll lose sight of it. It'll move, but where? Where will it go?' He needed to get home. Only home. The bus would take him home.

'Sam, go home.'

Why did the voice keep saying that? 'I'm trying to go home!'

He had almost lost sight of the mannequin. In a few seconds, it'd fall too far back. No, it was too soon. His silent pleading wouldn't stop it from happening, though. Aaaand...gone. He almost leapt out of his seat as he whipped around to begin searching. 'There!' At the corner! It stood by the post with a paper under its elbow. A giant 'I' dominated the visible part of the front page. Sam stared at it until it passed too far behind him. He spun about and soon saw it on the opposite side of the road. It held another newspaper, but the main headline just said 'See.'

'I see? See what? Is that the same mannequin? Just with a different paper?'_It wore the same clothes, had the same faux fur, everything was identical. It had to be alone. The thought of there being _more of them, even if it would help explain how it got around so fucking fast, was too scary to think about.

Once he lost it, he frantically looked around to try to make sure it couldn't get on the bus. It'd catch him and kill him for sure, if it did. 'It's after me. I know it.' All too soon, and after far too long a wait, it appeared sitting in a grooming parlour to his right. Its fur was too short to need a trim, but it waited nonetheless. It held a newspaper up as if reading, and the headline was a single word, 'You.' The confirmation of his fears filled him with dread.

'Ohhhh, shit. Why? Why, God? What the fuck is going on!? It sees me, but what is it?'

'Sam, go home.'

'I_am _going home! Who are you? Why are you doing this?'

The bus rolled to a stop near Dalhousie University. 'Watch. Must keep watch. Don't let it on. It can't get on. No, please, God, no.'

The sound of paper slapping against the window behind him made Sam jump and nearly yelp. It was the newspaper. The full headline screamed, 'I See You,'_and beneath it was a large picture. It was the bus. He was on it facing away and there was _that mannequin behind him! It was reaching for him! Oh, SHIT!

Sam leapt up and whirled around with a hoarse gasp, but the back of the bus was nearly empty. Several college students looked at him oddly as they moved to take the empty seats nearby, but the mannequin wasn't to be seen. "Fuck... Holy fucking God." He panted as he struggled to catch his breath.

A massive Polar Bear sat next to him. Normally, a guy that much bigger than Sam made him feel aggressive, like he needed to prove who was stronger, but right now he was just fucking glad he wasn't alone. Even if the Bear wore fucking stupid looking clothes. Deep blue Oriental clothes with silver stitching...and a black belt. Yeah, not a guy to mess with, demon statue or no.

The Bear held his gym bag on his lap, and turned to Sam. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

Real men didn't get scared, so Sam couldn't talk about what was happening. Who'd believe him anyway? "I'm fine. Mind your own fucking business." The Bear scowled and moved to get up. 'Shit! No! Don't go! It'll get me!'_Sam, in his panic did something he _never did. "Sorry, no, you don't need to go! My bad! Just..." He recovered. He noticed he'd raised his hands like he was pleading and that they were shaking. Fuck. The Oriental clothes guy saw it, too, and settled back down. Sam turned away. "Whatever." Double fuck. He sounded like that mangina Nick.

He could've sworn he heard that guy quietly snort in amusement, but he only said, "I might be able to help."

Shit, while he was distracted, he hadn't looked for the mannequin. Where was it? The bus rumbled and moved from the curb. He saw it tucked behind a tree. Was it _grinning_at him? The mouth hung open showing pointed teeth, too many to be a _Cat's_mouth, and way too big and sharp. They'd rip him apart in seconds.

"What are you looking for?" The Bear leant across him as soon as he finished talking and looked back. "That weird mannequin?"

'He can see it? Someone else can see it? I'm not alone.' The pressure in his chest eased, but he felt his muscles quivering all over his body as the tension released. Sam could barely even hear himself of the bus. "Yeah."

The question was almost as quiet as the last answer. "It's following you?" Sam almost jumped away from the Bear. How did he know!? Was _he_the one that was telling him to go home or the one that sicced the mannequin on him? "Calm down. It was pretty obvious based on your actions." The Bear frowned and scanned around as he mused. "Gargoyle? No, they're always stone. Mimic? I've never heard of one becoming an armour stand or mannequin. Doppelganger? Always a living being. A haunt of some sort? Maaaybe, but why here? And it looks too new to be a 100 year creation."

What the fucking hell was this guy going on about? Was he some sort of alien conspiracist? Fat lot of good a shithead like that would be. Sam ignored the continuing gibberish and kept watch for the gar-mim-ganger, or whatever shit buddy was saying.

Sam climbed off the bus at the end of his street and waited for the traffic to clear so he could get to the right side. He wasn't sure if the presence of the Bear kept the mannequin away or if the bus moved too fast once it turned onto Oxford Street after leaving the Dalhousie University stop. He didn't see it while waiting at the Mumford Terminal, or on the route through Timberlea and past that weird community he'd heard a bunch of Wolves call 'the clan.' He was fucking glad that shit show was over.

'Sam, go home.'

He just wished that was over. "I am, fuck-nuts. I'm almost there, so just shut the fuck up."

He crossed the road and onto the sidewalk. He scuffed up the chalk drawings some brat made and felt better -- well, as good as he could knowing he was almost home. His bitch of a mother was going to be there, and his bastard dad would be home soon if traffic wasn't too bad.

'I see you.'

Ohhhh... shit. He looked back over his shoulder and screamed. It was there! Not two metres away, and it was reaching for him! It looked frozen in mid-grab with only one paw partly covering its face. The shadow from its paw was impossibly black, but a single sky-blue eye stared at him with loathing.

'So close, so close, so close--' Sam backpedalled as fast as he could, not daring to take his eyes from it. He crushed some plastic toy beneath his hooves, completely by accident for once, but didn't look down. That eye, so much like Nathanial's, wouldn't let him. If he looked away, he was dead. 'No-no-nononono!'

Five metres down, nearly a hundred to go. He tripped over a fire hydrant, the square bolt digging into his thigh, cutting through his pants and skin. Even worse, he lost line of sight with it. He scrambled back once he got his hooves and hands beneath him, and the mannequin had closed the gap his frantic running had opened.

Sam struggled to climb to his hooves without stopping his crab-walk back and somehow managed it. A trail of blood splatters marked his progress as he ran away backwards, crashing into poles, posts, and parked cars as he went. 'Can't blink. Can't blink.'

The fourth time he crashed into a telephone pole, the sudden pain shocked him into blinking. In that split second, the mannequin covered half the distance he'd struggled over. Twenty-five metres in no time at all! He felt his way around the pole and resumed running.

His muscles burned from the unusual way he was using them, and the deep gash in his left thigh throbbed painfully, promising worse if he managed to get to safety. If such a thing existed. 'Go home. Go home. Go home. Almost home.'

He almost tripped over some brat's tricycle, but he caught his balance before falling. He punted it away, but the stumble broke eye contact. The painfully earned gap narrowed.

'Two yards to go. I'm almost there. I can make it.'

'Sam, go home.'

"Shut the fuck up!"

One yard!

He slipped around the short retaining wall at the edge of his property to get into his driveway. The rough stone scraped another hole in his pants and his other leg. At least now he could move forward and just twist his head to watch the mannequin. Almost there! The creature stood frozen five yards away mostly hidden by the cars parked in their driveways. Sam couldn't see its visible eye anymore, and the one paw reached out into empty air. He was going to make it! He backed into the wall beside the garage and felt his way to the front door. His meaty hands fumbled for the knob, wrenched it open, and fell back into the entryway. He kicked it shut and lay on the mat, panting.

His mother looked out of the kitchen. She stepped out fully, hands covered in dough and flour, and stared at him in disbelief. "What happened to you?"

Sam tipped his head forward and froze. The mirror by the door had some writing scrawled on it in inky darkness, 'Sam, I See You.'

He hoarsely shouted and shoved himself away. He bumped into wall, knocking some heavy ornaments off a shelf and onto his head. The world went black.

Unbeknownst to Sam, in another house many blocks away, a young Akita smiled in evil satisfaction as he rubbed the ears of a gigantic black dog.