Breath of dawn CH1 P3

My eyes had never been so wide open before; I felt they were about to pop out of my eyes just looking at Joseph rise to his feet. I wanted to check on him but for some reason my body just said no, my body was telling me to stay put having this bad feeling swelling inside me like a thick bubble about to burst in my stomach “Was he hit by a car?..oh my god…” The elder woman behind me was watching Joseph like she was watching some weird birth of a creature…I stress that, Joseph on his own two feet after dying before me and staggering forward to the end of the road, I called out again “JOSEPH!!” Once again my body did not move, but suddenly right before I was about to force my self to approach him he started to make a gurgling sob noise and trembled with his shoulders dropping and twitching up and down.1

15 metres away, I was watching this god awful sight with this woman behind me dumbfounded, he kept making this odd noise before his mouth opened wide with his entire body arching backwards and let out an odd yawn, it sounded like a growl coming from his organs…more like a belch and a heavy groan. The bright day made it hard to see at first, but something came out his mouth, when you were a kid taking the early bus to school, you could sometimes breathe out white fog; we called it dragon breath back then but Joseph was doing it now in broad day light. It looked more fluid rather than the fog dancing like cigarette smoke in distilled air, I cursed quietly in shock just seeing that scared me out of my wits; I dropped the phone, funny thing though there was a dial tone as it just slipped out my hand, because the operator got fed up.2

After his strange show of resurrection and fog, the elderly woman behind me shuddered under her breath once again calling out the lord’s name pushed me forward when I was off guard and slammed the door shut, locking it. All these noises finally caught the attention of Joseph; his feet scrapped against the road turning to look at me with white eyes, I could see them so clearly since they were a deep brown before but now it had all disappeared. I never felt such shock and fear before in my entire life seeing Joseph looking like a monster, more like the weirdo from before that attacked him “Jo-Joseph?...” I side stepped instinctively in case I had to make a break for it, I couldn’t believe that fat short bitch just left me like that with a deranged driving instructor. More panic than hatred swelled inside, quickly glancing at the front door of the house “Bitch!” I said out loud in a high pitch voice, my mouth was trembling like I was about to cry but this was pure fear what the hell is wrong with him!?3

“HHHHaaaAAshhhssss” That was the noise he made as I looked back to him, now my eyes were glued to him, he rose his arms and flexed his fingers making them look like talons of how hard he was shaking them, like he wanted to rip me into pieces with that horrific enraged expression; even frothing at the mouth as he hissed at me and began to lurch towards me at a quick pace. Every time he took a step, I thought he was going to fail his lunge and fall face first but was vigilant with each movement. Now just at the mail box, I could see his open wound on his hand more clearly right before I ran, It was a very powder like grey colour, his very dark tanned skin tone in that whole area was a grey colour just like the silver clouds on an overcast day. All this processing into my mind I quickly picked my jaw up and fled running south down the road away from him, sure I did martial arts, brawling with friends and training is my hobby—hell my life style!—With all the years of martial arts aside, I just stayed with my instincts and ran in a full fledged sprint. I did not know where I was headed I just ran with that one thought in my mind escape, I forget how long I was running for in this very unfamiliar neighborhood but I do recall almost getting hit with a car coming out the owner’s drive way in reverse. So with almost ending up a tasty treat and road kill to cover the oil stains on this person’s drive way I had escaped from the now changed Joseph’s wrath. The echoing sounds of his growls and unusual moans kept replaying in my head, thinking I was still being chased until the shock wore off.4

Joseph was insane, I think I pissed myself, but the good news was that in my state of panic blindly running straight and following the left hand side of the pathway as I crossed the streets, I found myself on a familiar road with the hospital in plain view down the road. The hospital was just a bit of a walk up from the shopping centre, for my self this road had everything I needed which is why my family liked living in this area so much; all the services and needs were very close, even my college. I knew I had to tell someone what happened, the first thought being the police and the second being both my mother and my childhood closest friend Sebastian, he lived only 4 houses away from me which just after a turn on the corner of my street. And so with my adrenaline still pumping like never before I decided to run before it was too late, after I had passed the hospital I would be infront of the shopping mall, just further past that would be the one main long road leading to my neighborhood, it just sounded too easy but I never considered any obstacles, which in the end gave me more grey hairs than I already had.5

With all this quick calculation running through my mind, I was already running just infront of the hospital, the large clean cut field of grass before the parking lot shined with the sun, there was not a single piece of litter on it which I liked to always see but this was no time for sight seeing something I’ve been looking at all my life. After a set of lights, crossing when the coast was clear I ran the short path past some housing and finally onto the entryway of Stocklands mall, there was something I had yet realized, mistaking it at first for a traffic jam, there was a large abundance of cars not moving from the large set of lights from where I was running from. On the side of the road entryway to the mall there was this restaurant I always forgot the name for, the only thing I ever heard from it though is that it was very mediocre, So with these cars looking like they parked incorrectly on the road taking both lanes infront of the restaurant, it was actually a drama that caused these people to step out their cars; they had all gone to the bloody restaurant for god knows what!!6

I slowed to a stop and was at the corner of the intersection and Mall entryway, as I glanced down the road leading to the huge parking lot of the mall it seemed normal, but only turning my head a bit more to the left I saw it…2 female bodies with their faces and chests covered in their own blood and one man sobbing, moaning and crying out in pain just a few feet away from the women. Bystanders were trying to keep him calm and tend to his injuries themselves which consisted of his forearm and wrist of the same arm, I could see all this since the front of the restaurant was a large wooden porch were some customers could sit and eat. Police were just arriving now coming from the opposite end of the mall car park, it made sense since the police station was down next to the hospital, an ambulance accompanied the 3 police cars with two officers each, they rushed to the scene but amongst the chattering in the front and some bystanders now standing next to me who just arrived, there was a struggle inside the restaurant, but standing at the corner I could not know what…7

I could hear cursing and various lines along the term “Hold still!” and “What the fuck is wrong with you!?” heavy Australian accents of two young men kept calling this out, my curiosity grew but then it soon fell as soon as I heard “HE BIT ME!!” …God what the hell was happening in this quiet part of Sydney, I bolted once again hearing that thinking It can’t be, no fucking way!! Is Joseph here too, or that weirdo!? These thoughts and the panic alone fueling my intense sprint made me almost get hit by another car…again.8

Running for my life it felt, I was now halfway up the road to my street, I had passed the small local business which was a grocery store and a liquor shop across from it, but there was nothing special happening there.9

Christ I hoped everything was OK at home…10

to be continued