Alone Read Online Free PDF Page B

fog.
    He stared at their house, and then turned reluctantly back to his. Dan gasped. His panic and rage dissipated. Seeing Jerry’s silver Lexus parked in front of his Ford Explorer made him realize he hadn’t tried the cars.
    “I can just drive to the police station. Barrel right through this fog. That thing can’t get me inside a car. I can drive faster than it can run, can’t I?
    The silence made him shiver. Dan hurried back to the house and retrieved Jerry’s keys. Then he returned to his driveway. Of the two vehicles, he would have preferred his, but Jerry had him parked in. He pointed the remote at the Lexus and thumbed the remote control, but the doors didn’t unlock. Muttering, he inserted the key into the door and unlocked it manually. Casting a quick glance into the fog to make sure the shadow wasn’t lurking there, he slipped behind the wheel and put the keys in the ignition.
    Nothing happened.  
    “Come on. Come on, you bastard! Please. Please start. Please?”
    Dan tried again, pumping the gas pedal as he did. The results were the same. Then he tried putting the car on accessory and trying the radio. Like all of the other electronics, it was dead. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the wheel.
    “Should have known better. Stupid, Dan. Real stupid. You’re wasting time.”  
    He got out of the car, pocketed the keys, and looked across the street again. After a moment’s hesitation, he crossed over to the neighbor’s house. The fog grew thick again, as if anticipating him. He paused at the edges of it. The mist swirled around his feet, lapping at his toes like surf. Dan cupped his hands over his mouth and took a deep breath.
    “Hello? Can anybody hear me? Please, I need to know someone is there. I need to know I’m not ... alone.”
    The word caught in his throat as that overpowering feeling of dread returned, a harbinger for the shadowy figure that appeared a moment later. The thing moved faster this time, closing the distance between them in only a few strides. It loomed over Dan, seeming to grow taller as it drew nearer. The mist parted before it, yet once again, Dan couldn’t see the figure clearly. It remained a black, humanoid shadow, devoid of facial features or any other distinguishing characteristics. It reached for him without speaking, long arms outstretched, and this time, he was able to see the entity’s hands. Like the rest of the figure, they were oversized. The shadow splayed its massive, elongated fingers. They were large enough to easily wrap themselves around Dan should the thing succeed in grasping him.
    Dan felt rooted to the spot, as if he had stepped outside his body and was watching from above as the shadow reached for him. His mounting terror overrode every other sensation or thought. He couldn’t speak or move. The mist churned and spun, swirling around them both. The temperature grew colder—the first thing he’d felt, other than his emotions, since getting out of bed.
    Was this ... thing responsible for everyone’s disappearances, he wondered? Could it have attacked the neighborhood overnight, while he’d slept, abducting or murdering everyone else, but somehow missing him, until now? What was it? Alien? Supernatural? A figment of his imagination? Just a new addition to this unending nightmare from which he couldn’t awaken?  
    The figure was directly overtop of him now, and the fog encircled them, blocking out the rest of the world. Dan gaped, transfixed. Even this close, the entity still had no features. Its face was non-existent. There were no eyes or mouth or nose. It wore no clothing, that he could see, and had no genitalia, belly button, or anything else that would identify it as human. Its obsidian surface was marred only by tiny, swirling specks. Dan had to strain to see them. His first impression was of dust floating in a beam of sunlight, but he was certain that the specks weren’t dust, and there was nothing light about his tormentor. Then all