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From his right he heard a faint sound and he turned his attention over to where he saw a figure emerge from the bushes. One of the creatures had stepped out of the trees and on to the lawn. Like before there seemed to be no hurry with these figures. The figure just stepped gently on to the grass and stared at him. Michael looked back, his heart racing. None of the other creatures in the bushes did the same, they remained where they were. Michael wondered if this was the leader? Or Tony? The figure began to tread carefully forward and Michael reacted the opposite.
 

   A restlessness was building in Michael, his fear evolving into anger. Michael even took a few steps forward to get a better look at the creature slowly making its way toward him.

   “Who are you?” Michael asked. His voice was quiet, as if speaking to himself, “What do you want? What are you doing?” He said staring the creature. The creature kept taking small, careful steps closer to him but not directly at him, but cutting him off from the exit of the driveway.

   “Who are you?!” Michael eventually spat out at the top of his voice. There was no response, no reaction. With the lack of visible ears that Michael had observed he was not even convinced the creature could him.

   “Do you understand me? What do you want? I’ve done nothing to you, why are you here?!” He barked over the driveway. There were a million things he wanted to say, but random words just fired from his lips. The creature just stood there, now deliberately blocking Michael’s exit from the driveway. The creature barely moved, no body motion or head movement. The creature didn’t look around or assess of its surroundings. It carried no stress or anxiety on its shoulders and the only thing it revealed was its absolute interest in Michael. Michael though, was stressed. So stressed he was sweating heavily now. It was a cold sweat and he realised he felt a freezing sensation overcome him when he tried yelling at the creature again. His chest was shaking and the three layers of clothes he was wearing made no difference.

   “I just want to find Sarah and Rebecca and Alex. Just let me find them,” he whimpered through his chattering teeth. His voice was down in volume again and he sounded as if he was begging. The anger had gone and he stood there feeling cold and broken.
 

   The creature very slowly began moving toward him again. It took small steps over the gravel with the elegance of a ballet-dancer. The creature’s gaze did not flinch, but nothing Michael saw in this figure suggested the violence they inflicted upon Tony earlier that evening. The creature’s physique was big and carried thick muscle, and Michael had witnessed the capability for enormous strength, but it’s movements right now were soft and gentle. Even in the shed when the creature attacked Tony, it didn’t struggle and it did what it did to Tony without effort. Right now the creature in front of Michael moved with a calculated grace that he could never emulate, he was far too clumsy as his shoes slid and scraped into the gravel underneath him.

   With the figure only a few dozen feet away, Michael made a run for the door. He had playing Chicken with this creature long enough and ran inside and slammed the door shut. His house keys were still stuck in the padlock of the shed so he could not lock the door so he pressed himself up against it with all his strength. He could hear the creature come right up to the door. The footsteps were light but he could sense where it was. Michael was sweating heavily and his hands and lips were still shaking. A fear came over him the he had not known before. He was begging himself to remain silent but he knew his breathing gave everything away, whether the creature could hear him or not. His thoughts dragged him back to the shed and remembered how the creature has grabbed Tony and lifted him up before Tony began to transform into one of them. Michael was not a strong man and physical fitness had never been a priority in his life. If this creature wanted to break down the door there was probably very little he could do. But still, Michael held fast, gripping the door handle with his sweaty palms and praying the creature didn’t try to force its way through.
 

   The green light of the creature’s eyes pierced through the doorframe and Michael waited for the door to start moving. He could feel the creature’s presence immediately on the other side. However, in his surprise the green glow began to fade and the soft footsteps on the other side of the door grew quieter. Still grasping the door handle, Michael leant over to see if there was anything he could see from either of the two narrow windows either side of the door, but the curtains in front of them blocked his view. He was sure the creature had walked away but was unsure where and he was too scared to let go of the door but knew he was desperate to see what was happening outside. After taking a leap of faith, he slowly let go of the door handle and tiptoed around to the living room to get a view from one of the windows. He hopped from window to window, not daring to throw the curtains aside, but peering carefully between the gaps in the curtains to get a glimpse of anything outside.
 

   He was trying to be as quiet as possible, but with the squeaking of the wooden floorboards under his shoes he cursed under his breath every time he took a step. As he made his way to different windows in the house he wondered why the creature had not attempted to open the door. He remembered earlier back in the shed when he saw the creature climbing onto the roof and had made no attempt to enter. This recollection filled Michael with the idea that the creatures had no concept of a door and that they couldn’t get in the house. He knew he had no keys with him to lock the door, but if the doors were closed then surely the house was secure. Could they not get to him if he simply went into a room and shut the door?
 

   He thought about various scenarios for a while as he looked around for the creature, before finally catching sight of it out of one of the windows in the living room as it stood on the lawn. Like before, it was again staring straight at him. Michael had gone from window to window trying to find the creature but it was staring back at him as if it knew where he was the whole time. The creature continued to move slowly and carefully and it seemed like a lifetime that this creature was glaring at him. But then, for what seemed like the first time ever, its gaze eventually moved away from Michael and began looking at the whole house. It looked up and down, left and right and Michael guessed it was figuring out a way in. If it was true that the creature’s did not use doors then he had to be careful as this house was big with two front doors, two back doors and more than a dozen windows. Michael was certain the doors were shut tight, but was not sure about the windows, but there was now no time to run around and check them all again. Now that he could see the creature he didn’t dare let this thing out of his sight. As the creature moved so did he, room to room, window to window he followed its journey around the house. Michael moved from the living room to the hallway, to the kitchen, the dining-room, the pantry, the study, the bathroom and then back to the living room in a desperate race to not to lose the creature’s location. It had circled the whole house and had slowly made its way closer and closer. Staring back at Michael again it came right up to the window. Knowing the creature knew where he was, Michael slowly pulled back the curtain to get a full look at it, now separated by only a pane of glass. The green light from the creatures eyes made him nauseous and he had to look away. Its arm was now outstretched and using its long, lanky fingers to feel the glass and the brick of the window frame. Michael followed its fingers with his eyes and for a moment its touch of the glass seemed tender and gentle. Michael momentarily forgot what these fingers belonged to and was captivated by the smooth and soft motion of its hands.
 

   The fingers running along the glass slowed down, the creature kept its position and Michael saw the grey skin of the fingers appeared to fuse with the glass. It was almost instantaneous that its fingertips latched onto the glass like a sticky putty. The creature raised its other arm and its fingers did the same and they stuck to the window. Within a second the creature had lifted itself up, and along with its feet had now began to climb onto the window. The window frame and the glass immediately groaned and crackled at the weight of its body. These windows were as old as the house and Michael thought the whole window was going to shatter. Thankfully it didn’t and very quickly the creature had disappeared up past the window and was now climbing up the side of his house.