The creature was huge and still, the size of a bear, and where its ears should have been were horns that curled forwards and ended in points sharper than any knife. Its teeth protruded grimly from its jaws, and blood frothed from its crooked mouth onto the floor. Six legs stuck out from its torso like some kind of insect, and each long, scaly limb was armed with a set of huge claws. Its tail was the kind of thing a child would draw on a dragon: long, strong and covered in spikes. It didn't move or twitch, and its fur was a cold pebbly grey colour.

Paul was ready to scream and run off into the trees, anything to get away from the monster, but George suddenly jerked his hand to his lips and gestured for them to be silent. The creature was immobile and unblinking, staring at a point behind them. It looked like a statue. George took a step forward, not making a sound as he walked towards it.

Paul silently clapped a hand over his mouth as George tiptoed closer, never once stumbling. The monster didn't move and just continued staring forwards blankly. The more he stared at it, the more it looked like a statue, gazing indifferently into the distance.

Wait... it was a statue. Just a stone statue. Paul noticed what he hadn't seen previously - the creature's fur didn't rustle at all in the slight breeze, because it was solid. But how could it be fake? It was so realistic... and it had moved before, hadn't it?

George had, by now, crept completely past the immobile beast and he gestured to the others to follow. But he still wanted them to be silent. Ringo crept past it silently, trying to avoid looking at its twisted jaws. Then John did the same, holding his breath nervously.

Paul started to creep towards them, stepping one foot at a time... as long as he took it slowly, he wouldn't make a sound. But then, mid-step, his foot slid on a damp piece of ground and he nearly slipped. He managed to regain balance without making a noise, but couldn't stop himself gasping. The small sound was clearly audible in the still air.

There was a sickening cracking sound from behind that made Paul's heart fly up to his mouth, and he turned his head slowly, dreading to see where the noise had come from.

The stone creature was stood in the same place as before, but its huge head had rotated to face him and its grey and empty eyes stared straight at him. The stone pupils could see him. He knew that for sure. It didn't move again but froze with a disturbing smile stretched across its animal jaws. Paul moved away, hoping it would stay stationary as long as he didn't make another sound.

When he reached the others, John gave him a comforting rub on the back, but nobody made another noise. Looking back, he could see the creature's head was still facing where he had stood just seconds before, immobile and menacing.

They moved on silently, away from the statue with John in the lead. He seemed to remember where they had left the car and the walked quickly, covering as much ground as they could without making a noise. It was slow and tedious, but better than being caught by that strange, stone creature. It was probably the same thing that had attacked them before outside the mausoleum.

John stopped suddenly and pointed excitedly. Paul, George and Ringo followed his gaze to see they had arrived back at the car, which was still lying against the tree, battered and sprayed in blood from earlier.

Looking around, John decided it was safe to speak and whispered, "I bet I can get the car started again."

He didn't realise what a terrible mistake he had just made.

The sound of his voice echoed through the still night air, painfully loud compared to the silence of their surroundings.

A crack resonated from somewhere amongst the trees, quickly followed by another. Two grey horns emerged from the darkness, accompanied by a pair of grey eyes. The creature turned its head to stare at John and opened its jaws, emitting a gravelly snarl that sprayed a mixture of blood and froth over the forest floor. Then another set of hungry eyes joined the first. Before they had time to realise what was going on, they were surrounded by at least ten of the stone monsters.

Paul shivered. He couldn't stand it. More than twenty dull eyes were staring at him, unblinking, and it was really getting to him. If they took another step closer, he would...

As if sensing his thoughts, one of the creatures stepped slowly and malevolently towards him, baring its stone teeth in a hungry grimace. That was it. The adrenaline building up inside him was too much, and every instinct in Paul's body was screaming at him to leap away to safety. The car was just a few metres away...

He leapt, yelling, towards the car and flew the door open, throwing himself inside. He heard John, George and Ringo follow him quickly and they dove in after him, slamming the doors.

"DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE!" Ringo yelled for the second time that night, gripping on to the back of Paul's seat like his life depended on it.

"What do you think I'm doing?" John shouted in response, desperately trying to get the engine to work. "Get started, you stupid car!" Full of frustration, he slammed his fist onto the steering wheel, and to his delight, the engine spluttered into life.

"YES!" He exclaimed, and put his foot down, causing the car to jerk forwards and nearly crashing into another tree.

There was a strangled roar from outside the car, and a thump from directly above Ringo's head. A claw ripped through the car ceiling and a stone limb reached out aggressively for the drummer. Ringo yelped and dodged out of the way, barely escaping the monster's grasp. He backed away hurriedly, almost crushing George in his bid to get away.

"Mmph, Ringo!" Gasped George from somewhere underneath the drummer, "Gerroff me!"

Paul looked over his shoulder and saw that one of the creatures had managed to rip a hole in the back of the car and was attacking George and Ringo. It was gripping onto the car with one foot and reaching towards them with the other, snarling.

"John, drive faster!" He yelled, "Its the only way we can lose them!" He stuck his head out of the car window and was horrified to see they were being followed by the monsters, each one doing everything in its power to kill them.

Terror in its purest form rippled through Paul, and he turned his attention back to the one creature that was still latched onto the car, slowing them down.

He threw the glovebox open and rummaged around inside, looking around for anything that could help them.

"PENKNIFE! GET THE PENKNIFE!" John yelled suddenly, trying to gesture towards the glovebox without taking his hands off the steering wheel.

"You had a penknife this whole time!?" Paul exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell us earlier!?"

"Shut up and use it now!" John snapped, swerving manically in an attempt to shake off the pursuing creatures.

Paul grabbed John's penknife in his sweaty hand and turned around to see George trying to keep the beast away from him without being sliced in half. Screaming at George and Ringo to get out the way, Paul lunged forwards and stabbed the blade into the clawed paw.

Instead of digging into flesh, the knife slid off the monster's stone foot harmlessly, causing nothing but a superficial crack to appear on the surface of the rock. There was a deafening roar as the creature snarled with pain, but the wound wasn't enough to stop it.

"WHY ARE YOU SO BLOODY HARD TO KILL!?" Paul screamed, losing his temper, and plunged the knife straight into the crack that he had made earlier. This time, instead of sliding away, the knife dug into its victim and caused sharp shards of stone to break off and shatter, revealing a hollow inside. Instead of blood, green goo poured out of the animal's wounds and Paul backed away hurriedly, repulsed.

George and Ringo sighed with relief as their attacker pulled its huge and injured limb away from them, snarling viciously as a sudden swerve from John sent it flying off the car.

They had escaped.