/lit/ - Literature

The alley was a dead end, a wall of brick and mortar that rose three stories. James cursed under his breath as he groped around in the darkness for anything he could use: a bottle, a broom handle, a length of chain. There was nothing. A billboard on the main drag through town proudly declared they were building cleaner, safer cities. What a joke.

He heard it then. The rattling was getting closer. He could hear its scales scraping and dragging against concrete. James turned to the entrance of the alley and pressed his body against the shadows of the wall, trying to make himself as small as possible.

The first thing he saw was the long, slender appendage. It gleamed and glittered under the street lamps. James could smell the fetid stench of rot and decay as it pulled its grotesque and deformed body into view. It horrible figure was bathed in that sickly orange glow.

James clapped his hand over his mouth as it drew nearer. It was no use. He screamed as it lunged down the alley with a cry from the depths of Hell. It fell on deaf ears.