At this point, Sean wasn't surprised. He'd been hearing the voice for months now. The first time he'd been in the middle of class one day, about to fall asleep, when he heard an old man say "Come quickly, the time is almost upon us." Sean's eyes had snapped open and he looked all around, but to no one else seemed to have heard it.

He'd heard the voice several times since that, and every time it said the same thing: "Come quickly, the time is almost upon us."

This time it was different.

"Come quickly," the voice began, and Sean rolled his eyes, expecting the same thing. But then it said, "The time is here."

"Huh?" Sean asked aloud. "Time for what?"

And then he heard the scream. The same scream he heard last night.

Sean jumped out of his seat and ran towards the source of the scream; it had come from the front of the restaurant. He tore through the building, spilling a glass of someone's water and knocking over a waiter in the process and blasted out the front doors just in time to see a flash of gray and red disappear around the street corner.

"No. This isn't possible."

Sean dashed around the corner and into a narrow alleyway, where the Slyveth had dropped Annemarie and was now drawing a line of blood down her left leg with its feral claws. Annemarie was unconscious. "NO!" Sean shouted at the top of his lungs, and he dove at the beast. His full weight struck the Slyveth at its waist, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Sean came up on top and began beating the creature with his fists, slamming them into its gray flesh with all the might he could muster.

The Slyveth was unfazed, and after recovering from the initial shock from the impact it slung Sean towards the alley wall with one arm.

Sean felt his breath leave his body as he hit the brick hard. He thumped to the ground and saw stars. Can't... pass... out... he thought, breathing unsteadily. His head was on fire, the world was too bright, he couldn't feel his legs, but... the nightmare... must... stop....

Sean forced himself to his feet. It was his duty to beat the nightmares. He was the only thing between this beast and the end of many lives. "Hey!" he yelled at the Slyveth, who had turned its attention back to Annemarie. "You'll have to do better than that!"

The Slyveth looked up at Sean with its one red eye and began walking slowly towards the alley wall where he stood. Sean steadied himself for what he was about to do. When it got close, the Slyveth took two quick steps toward Sean, swung its clawed hand, and Sean dove in between its legs. Before the beast had a chance to react, Sean clasped his hands together into one big fist and slammed them into the Slyveth's back.

There was a sickening crunch as something inside the creature broke, and a brief cry of surprise and pain came from its fanged mouth. Before it had a chance to recover Sean jumped up and wrapped his arms around the Slyveth's neck. The Slyveth stumbled backwards, off-balance from the sudden addition of weight, and then fell, crushing Sean under it.

"Uumph!" the breath left Sean's lungs once again. His vision blurred; he couldn't tell if it was from tears or the shock. Mustering up his strength he pushed the limp body of the Slyveth off his body and breathed in the sweet oxygen. He struggled up into a kneeling position and looked at the limp gray mass and the bloody stain on the alley wall. Sean sighed with relief, but found himself unable to inhale- there was an arm tightly pressed to his throat.

"You messed with the wrong girl!" a familiar voice whispered in his ear. Black dots began clouding Sean's vision. "It- it wasn't- me," Sean gasped, trying to pry Annemarie's arm from its death hold around his throat. "Fought- Slyveth- to save- you." Sean's vision tunneled and began fading.

"Wait, you fought- AH!" Suddenly the arm was gone and Sean collapsed, spluttering on the dirty ground like a fish out of water. His vision slowly returned to normal. When he finally looked up, he saw Annemarie goggling at the dead Slyveth. Her green eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"Yeah. That thing was trying to kill you," Sean crawled over to where Annemarie sat petrified with fright. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, it won't be getting  up anytime soon."

"You sure?" Annemarie asked meekly.

"Not many creatures I know can survive a head-first encounter with a solid brick wall."

He scooted around so he was in between her and the slain beast. "You're okay?"

Annemarie looked down at her leg. "I don't know. This might need stitches." She looked back up at Sean. "I should be asking you. You look terrible."

Sean surveyed the damage. His shirt had three long slits running across his chest, all of them stained red. The Slyveth hadn't missed after all.

"I think I'll live," Sean said. He began to stand. "C'mon, let's get you a the hospi- ahg!"

Sean put his hand to his temple. His head felt like it was filled with lead and it was getting harder to keep his eyes open. He looked back at Annemarie, who was leaning back against the brick wall, also holding her head.

"I may not be so... okay... after all..." She slumped to the ground, passed out cold.

"Annemarie?" Sean inched toward her. "Annemarie... stay... with... me..."

A sudden fatigue overtook Sean, and he fell to the concrete ground. His fluttered as he fought to stay conscious. The last thing he saw was multiple gray masses walking into the alleyway, their red eyes piercing his vision like miniature suns.

"Not... good..." Sean whispered, and his eyelids crashed shut.