Dawning

As he ran towards the dock, Smitty wiped the sweat from his brow and then looked to the East as the sun was rising. He looked at this watch quickly. 5:32 am. The radio blared in its radio holder on his belt.

“Delta-Sierra…Delta-Sierra…What’s your 20?” The radio blared.

Smitty slowed his running down to a walk to get catch his breath.  He pushed aside the botton of his leather jacket and unclipped the radio inside its holder from his belt.

“Central, disregard. I do not have a location of the subject. Advise all units to stand down at this time.” Smitty said into the radio calmly. “I’ll 10-1 in five to ten Mikes. Copy, Central?”

“Ten-Four. Is that a copy, sectors Adam and Ida?”

Smitty heard the acknowledgement of both patrol cars. Then he “saw” a flash of light in his mind. He drew his gun and walked warily towards the empty warehouse on the left. He tried the door and it was unlocked. He peered inside and saw only blackness.

“Fitting.” he said quietly to himself and quickly slipped inside. He got down on one knee and pointed his service weapon, a Glock, in an almost half counter-clockwise position into the darkness. He turned the radio off.

He carefully made his way through the darkness. He knew that It was here. He carefully felt around with his left foot in front of him. He felt a step.

It waited at the top of the stairs for Smitty. It didn’t hear or see Smitty enter the warehouse, but It felt Smitty’s presence. He heard Smitty ascend the stairs. It tightened his hand into a fist and smiled. Its other hand was on the light switch.

The lights went on. Instinctively  Smitty aimed his weapon towards the top flight os stairs and began firing about six shots. He was right and knew that he had hit It all six times. Yet, It just stood there and smiled at Smitty. Then, It leaped from the top of the stairs right into Smitty. Smitty felt himself rolling down the stairs and finally stop unceremoniously at the bottom, but he held on to the gun for dear life.  He looked up at It. It was walking down the stairs slowly and smiling at him. It was taunting him. He pointed the weapon at It.

Smitty looked at It. It had taken the form of the first human that he saw riding by on a motorcycle. The form was that of a large man, 6’4″ and weighing about 310 lbs., Smitty guessed. The form had long shoulder length hair and an unusually long beard, dressed in a black leather motorcycle jacket, black T-shirt with a large, bloody hole in the collarbone area (the grouping of Smitty’s shots), black jeans and large motorcycle boots. Smitty was only 5′-8″ and weighed only 180 lbs. Also contributing to the mismatch was the fact that It wasn’t even human.

“Why’d you call off your back-up, Detective? Stupid human idiot.” It smiled at Smitty.

Smitty crawled on his back hurriedly away from It. He pointed his weapon at It. “I didn’t want any of those cops to get hurt.” Then he fired two more shots at It’s legs. It buckled slightly and smiled at Smitty.

“Very noble of you Detective. Right now, I tire of these games. I’ll make your death quick because I’ve taken a liking to you.”

“Before you do that, tell me who the fuck you are first.”

It laughed. “I’ll humor you since you are about to die anyway. I am something beyond your very comprehension, beyond your very existence. Humans have tried to Presence my kind because they think that they are evolved enough to do so.”

“Then how did you get here, then?” asked Smitty.

“My, aren’t we the intuitive one?” It smiled.

Smitty smiled back stupidly. He saw the irony of It speaking with a gentlemanly air dressed as a biker.

“Yes.”

Its smile faded and then he turned somber.

“That I know not, if I may be truthful.”

“It’s because there were some that were worthy.” said Smitty.

“What would you know about that?” It inched closer to Smitty. Then It let out a primal, guttural scream that seemed to make the warehouse shake. “What the fuck would you know about that?!?” It now growled at Smitty as he stomped closer.

Smitty while on his back raised both knees to his chest and kicked out at the charging It. The impact sent It flying abou 5 feet up in the air and then almost twenty feet away, crashing into the wall and cracking the cement. Smitty got up and walked towards It. It looked at Smitty incredulously.

“You’re…one of Us?”

“I am of the same, but not of your kind.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I am not here to drain the humans of acausal life force. In other words, I’m not an extraterrestrial leech like you. I was Presenced here as you were, but I want to know why and what the humans will do with themselves.”

It got up and grabbed Smitty by the collar of his jacket, flinging him. Smitty grabbed back at It’s collar and they both began to fling each other, cracking cemant beams and walls.

It laughed. “You want to see the humans thrive? And then what of us?”

“We are Gods. What would that matter?”

“They are our food! They are a lower life form than us! Beneath us! Fuck their individual Destinies!”

“Fuck you, Leech!” Smitty headbutted It continuously until Its form’s face was a crimson mask of blood.

Smitty then knelt beside the now unconscious It. “Back to where you came from, leech.” Smitty placed his right forefinger to his lips and then on top of Its form’s Adam’s apple. A purple mist appeared and enshrouded It. Then, the mist disappeared. Smitty took the pulse of the form that remained. The human form that It had taken was dead.

Smitty walked outside the warehouse. Workers were gathered outside and looked at Smitty puzzled. Smitty walked up to the first worker and showed him his police shield.

“You. I’ve got an unresponsive suspect inside. Call 9-1-1.”

“Yessir.” the worker said nervously and then started dialing his cellphone.

Smitty looked around at the workers who still looked at him puzzled. He looked at himself and saw that he was covered in blood.

“Any of you guys got a cigarette?” he smiled.