There were more of them, more than Phoebe had noted down on the paper. Three antlered paced the outer edges. The rest sprinted back and forth too quickly to get a real look at them. It felt like an attempt at camouflage, or it would have if they hadn't been so out in the open.

Brian raced out first, screaming at the top of his lungs. His direct approach actually made them step back but it didn't last. They ran to meet him and found the others behind him. If it came down to sheer numbers they would win without question. The only hope that kept Graham running was that their strategy only had to last long enough for Phoebe and Amy to get the car rolling.

The shouting screeches started and Graham swung a fist at the first thing in reach. Their alien features, though strange, still felt like human flesh. It gave in under Graham's punch and he felt the hard skeletal frame beneath. It stumbled back away from him and Graham stepped back closer to the core of their group. "Mike! Don't let them get behind us!"

A car's engine started and wheels crunched over the ground as Amy slammed her foot on the gas. They didn't spare a glance for the figures that ran after it. They had proven to be fast but not fast enough to outrun a car. Besides, the distraction would split their group.

Graham began to call for them to run back. Something hard, almost rock like, hit the back of his head and he dropped. The world spun and the screaming started. Loose dirt covered his face in a cloud when he hit the ground. It coated his face and his lungs making him cough. He planted his hands to push himself up and smacked his forehead against the ground when one of them grabbed his ankle and pulled.

It started dragging him along the ground while the contents of his head seemed to spin. He caught glimpses of the others. They'd been pushed to the side of the house where they'd played baseball on that first day. That was so long ago now.

Quick footsteps pounded against the floor in a run towards him. A fresh wave of dirt sprayed over his face as Spencer launched himself at Graham's attacker. They tumbled over each other and Graham felt his leg hit the ground when it released him. He rolled onto his back to look at the dimming sky. Sunset couldn't have been far off now. How many more would slip past them in the dark?

A heavy weight settled on his chest as one of them wrapped their hands around their throat. For a moment, Graham was too stunned to react. Terror and panic took over as the action triggered a long buried memory. He could see his father above him. Tears mixed with the sweat dripping down the man's face. Graham reached out for the blurred image of his father that blended with the demonish things pinning him down.

It batted his hands away much easier than his father had. Graham had been younger then and much more unwilling to hurt another human. Still he'd kicked and clawed until help arrived. Judging by the sounds of struggles around him, help was a pipe dream. His arm hit the ground again and stayed there as his vision began to dim.

The tips of his fingers brushed something cold, wooden, and heavy. The bat slipped into his hand with practiced ease. He had it by the middle where it still tapered out to a thinner size towards his pinky. Knuckled white and vision black, Graham swung it forward with everything he had left.

There was a satisfying crack and his lungs inflated like an emergency raft being deployed. He swung again and heard a screech as he made another connection. Graham's foot wobbled on a second bat as he stood. Across the way he spotted Mike fending off grasping hands with a flimsy twig. "Mike!" Graham hefted the second bat and flung it as far as he could.

The broad shouldered athlete had been chosen for first base early in his baseball career. With Graham on the pitcher's mound and Mike at first, they seldom had someone who could easily pass between them. At times they seemed able to read each other's minds. Mike's hand went up automatically when Graham shouted his name. The bat hit his palm and his fingers curled around the grip as he swung in one fluid motion.

"You want some more?" Mike screamed in a taunt as they backed away from his wild swings. They were all backing up now. That was all the warning they had before the bird dove at them.

Graham hit the ground with the rest of them, but they never had to worry. It swooped over and past them as it headed for the distant sounds of the car. A knot formed in Graham's stomach as he wondered how Phoebe would be able to dodge around it on the narrow road.

Screams started again behind him. Graham was on his feet in an instant swinging at the first one to come to close. Across the clearing he spotted one of the antlered with Gio slung over his back. It was running in a full sprint into the woods. Graham didn't hesitate and moments later he was in the same woods.

It was fast and the fallen trees and gnarled roots proved to be little hindrance to it. Though Graham managed to keep it in sight he could tell he was losing ground. He bent over as he ran and scooped up a good sized rock. Three more steps and he brought his left hand back, right leg raising up. It was all he could do to keep his momentum from driving him forwards over his single standing leg. He quickly slammed his left arm forward and the rock shot out like a bullet.

The rock slammed into the running antlered's leg and it stumbled. That gave Gio the second he needed to wriggle himself to the side and off its shoulder. He hit the ground and it grabbed for him again.

Graham had started running again before the impact and slid under a fallen tree. The gap between trunk and ground was narrow and he felt the rough bark scratch his face. He planted his leading foot and jumped back up and dove for the man's midsection. They fell and Graham heard a crack as the antlers broke on the large rock its head slammed into. He hit it twice with the bat for good measure and stood panting.

"You ok?" he asked Gio.

"Yeah, I'm good." He reached for Graham's outstretched hand but his eyes went wide before he could grasp it.

Hairs on the back of Graham's neck stood at attention. He'd run right past it and hadn't even seen it curled against the wide tree branch. Its black wings were draped over either side and the very tips brushed the ground. Graham had to crane his neck to see its jagged hooked beak properly.

The wings shot out to either side, balancing it as it walked along the branch and hovered above him. It lunged.

Mike grabbed Graham by the shirt collar and threw him back. The bird's talons locked around Mike's torso and together they barrelled by Graham. With a downbeat of its massive wings they hit the sky and were gone.

Graham took two steps after it but more of the antlered stepped out of the trees. This time he grabbed Gio's hand himself and tugged him to his feet. Bat in hand, he led them through the twisting paths between the trees. They'd put some good ground between them when the ground gave way and they fell.