The Other Earth - Derek Schumacher (good novels to read .TXT) 📗

enough to break from the nightmares, and gave him a chance to fight. Even though he didn't know if there was a way to kill a shade, he was going to try his hardest. He flipped the knife over, pointing towards the figure, and took that last step. He then jabbed towards the shade, plunging the knife into the chest of the thing. Black substance spewed everywhere, and the thing began to growl.

That terrifying sound would have put Neil into shock, if it weren't for the insane amount of adrenaline filling his body. The cool rain surrounding the two began to chill the bodies of both. The black and the red washed away into the ground, and the man and the shade stared at eachother, being face to face.

Tearing the knife from the chest of the creature, Neil stepped backwards, bradishing his weapon once again, watching the black wash away from the blade. Was it injured? If not, then maybe he just needs to stab it a few more times. Or maybe more than that, whatever it takes. If it bleeds, it can die.

The shade jittered a bit, and then began to approach Neil. It put it's arm out, spreading the fingers on it's hand out, reaching towards the man. But Neil knew now, where it would aim, where it would attempt to attack him. It wanted to pick him up by the throat, in an attempt to immobolize him, but that wouldn't happen this time.

As the creature leaned towards him to grab at the throat, Neil slashes back at it with his knife, cutting into it's hand, once again the black substance spraying off to the side. Another growl emitted from the creature, and it's pace increase. It seems to be growing more agitated. Which means he might just be inflicting damage.

This time, when the shade went in to attempt to grab him, Neil evaded towards the right side of the creature, and slammed the knife into it's chest once again. The growl grew even louder, and it tried to use it's hands to move him off. The man put his other hand on the knife, and cut it out downwards, gashing the belly of the creature.

The creature must now have noticed that it had a conflict on it's hands, because it's arms began to morph and change, into a familiar sight. The same blades that Neil had been stabbed with days ago. The same things that had started the cycle of nightmares, which won't let him sleep. Neil grasped his knife tightly, staring at the arms of the creature. He knew this wouldn't be easy, but then again, if it was, then so many people wouldn't have died, without having the chance to fight back.

He closed in on the creature, and suddently, it motioned it's left blade arm, and unexpected backhanded Neil with it. The man staggered backwards, a searing gash now on his right cheek, blood dripping downwards from the wound, the rain washing it away, returning it down towards the muddy ground of the clearing. How much blood would be spilled at this ground? Red blood, black blood, the essence of life is blood. And so much of it may be lost, but the winner will be determined, by the one who holds onto their fluids the longest. 

The shade moved towards the man, and Neil watched it's left arm begin to move once again. Putting the knife up in an act to deflect a blow, he watched the arm closely. Once again, the blade quickly moved towards him, but this time, he tried to stop it with the knife. Puncturing into the arm, the black fluid spilled out once again. But it wasn't enough to fully stop the arm, as it once again slashed Neil, this time in the shoulder. His shirt slowly becoming soaked in red, the blood leaking all over his body. The rain would attempt to wash away the traces of blood, but the memory of spilled blood will always remain.

Furious, Neil decided to use it's own tactics against it, and grabbed the arm tightly, slamming the knife into it's belly repeatedly. A hole began to appear at the area of attack, the black blood spewing over the ground, over the shade, over the man. The creature growled loudly, almost like the bellow of a large animal. It moved it's other arm, smacking Neil off of it by catching him in the side.

This caused him to stumble to the right side of the being, holding his now bloody and cut open side. Neil's blue eyes stared through the empty sockets of the shade, almost as if he were trying to see right through it's tactics, it's ways, it's motivations. Almost like a dull attempt to understand just exactly what he was dealing with.

The creature began to move in closer once again, both of it's arms moving in sync. Neil backed away, watched them move. He would hold the knife off to the side, and dared make a dangerous move. He quickly dodged forward at the thing, and noticed both arms cling together over it's head, and make a motion to slam down in front of it.

Diving to the side, Neil barely makes it out of the way, and brings the knife across the creature's face while moving away. The slice was not deep, but still damage none the less. The creature groaned and turned towards him. But, before it could make a full turn, Neil pierced the back of it's skull with his knife.

Suddently, the shade began to change nature completely. After tearing the knife out of it's head, it began to flail around violently, slamming it's arms to the side, and then, begins to make a sound. A sound that, no person would ever want to hear. A blood curdling screech, one that practically dulled the sense of hearing from Neil.

After the scream, the shade closed in quickly, and grabbed the defenseless man by the throat, raising him off the ground, squeezing his throat hard. Neil yelped, and tried to get away, accidently dropping his knife, the feeling of his neck being seared was back once again. But this time, the shade wasn't going to let go. It then grabbed him by the shirt, and then by his chest, right by his wound. Suddently, the creature tore through his shirt, and grabbed into his skin, causing it to break apart, and bleeding all over Neil's body.

Reaching for his knife, Neil groaned out in pain. The feeling was similar to that if you were to imagine hot lead being poured onto your body. And in that area, once that molten metal settles, it is then slowly flakes away. The touch of a shade burns the victim alive, eventually destroying their skin, then tissue, then organs.

After minutes of mind destroying pain, Neil was able to regain his knife, grasping it tightly, the warm feeling of the hands of the shade had begun to spread. But, he knew it wasn't blood. The skin around the affected area was beginning to suffer a similar fate, and beginning to burn off and die.

Neil needed to act fast, but he didn't have to think twice. There was no second chances, no second guesses. It was now or never, it or him. He held the knife as tight as he could, to make sure he wouldn't lose it again. His hand gripped the handle so hard, the man's nails tore into his own hands, practically locking his hand together.

Then, he turned towards the shade, which still had him straddled in the air, holding his throat and chest tightly, not letting go. There was no use in attacking the limbs that were holding him. Instead, the best thing to do was to target the weak spot. Neil had figured out it was the creature's head, as it reacted the most when struck.

Reaching over with his other hand, Neil grasped the knife with both hands now. The man stared at the forehead of the shade, the spot in which he intended to strike and pierce through. He wound up, and brought the knife above his head as far as it could go. And then, he brought it down with all the might he could muster.

The shade hadn't noticed what was going on till it hit it. The blade had enough force to gash into the skull of the shade, but not just that. It pierced deep into the creature's head, and still, there was more. After it was gashed into the forehead, Neil grabbed the end of the knife, and thrusted it as deep as it could go. This wasn't going to be difficult, since it was already buried over halfway inside the thing's head. This extra force was enough to stab completely through the shade's skull. Neil watched as the end of the knife poked through on the other side, and a smile widened on his face. That had to hurt.

The shade tried to scream it seemed, but it couldn't. It's body had become shocked by the sudden internal damage in the head region. And that wasn't the only thing that was going to happen to it. Neil grabbed the handle of the knife once again, which was inside of the thing's head, and tore it out, downwards. This, if the shade had human features, would have not only sliced through the rest of the brain, but the brain stem, the throat, and some of the windpipe. If this thing was a human, it would have been dead, very dead.

But somehow, the shade continued to stay on it's feet, beginning to show signs of spasms. Along with that, black liquid began to pour from it's facial region, and started to pool beneath it's feet. It growled softly, which became more and more distorted as time progressed. The thing's voice was being garbled and covered by it's own blood.

While the shade was still in shock, Neil it as a chance to strike once again, and grabbed the thing by the throat, just as it had done to him. He stared through the empty eyes of the figure. He felt a small smile form on his face and he flipped the knife around, facing downwards, pointing slightly towards his enemy. He would do this for himself, and for everyone that fell by the hands of these creatures.

Neil then began to slice into the shade's body left and right. Into the hip, next the face, now the chest, there the leg. Over and over, over and over. He wouldn't let this fiend escape, to exist another day. He would end it's reign of terror on his mind. With each slash, more and more black liquid blood sprayed onto the man. Ten seconds, twenty, thirty, the clock ticks, and every second, another gash is added to the body of the shade. Neil didn't seem to show any signs of stopping. He was enjoying every second of this.

After five minutes of ripping and tearing apart the shade, Neil let go of it's throat. It fell to the ground, and made no noise, no moves. It simply layed there, completely and utterly still. Whatever signs of life were gone, and had been rid of minutes ago. The man stared at the body of the shade.

Slowly, the being then began to dissapear, the shadows that the body was composed of began to disperse, disspearing into the dark, rainy sky. Eventually, only one thing was left in Neil's view. His knife layed on the ground, coated with the black substance of the shade. But it seemed, as the rain hit the knife, almost all of it washed away. Except for a tiny smidge on the end. Neil fixed his eyes on the small black spot on his knife, and brought it closer to him. Suddently, the speck jumped off the blade and landed onto his bare arm.

Instantly, visions began to fill the mind of Neil, as he began to see things of the past. Things he had forgotten,