"Coonthulhu Witness" by A. M. Bacon

Coonthulhu Witness

by A M Bacon 

Descending the stairs from the fourth floor brownstone apartment, Charlie passed the other trash that littered the stairway. He was already carrying two bags of garbage, and could not stop to pick up what was there. 

Someone always left half empty coffee cups on the stairs, or candy and gum wrappers randomly dropped out of purses and pockets as tenants tried to locate their keys. Not many people actually cared enough to pick up after themselves. 

Unfortunately, Charlie lived on the fourth floor, and saw this happening way too often. As he descended the final flight of stairs, he pulled open the door, walking out into the dark evening. He drew in a breath, half expecting to smell fresh air, but instead had his nostrils assaulted by the foul stench of the dumpster that was around the corner of the apartments. Wrinkling his nose, he walked over, and realised that someone had left the dumpster wide open again. The landlord has a fit every time the trash is exposed. Rats, racoons, cats, and homeless people tended to root through the garbage and make a mess every time. Sighing, Charlie swung his bags like pendulums, launching them into the open space. As they impacted, there was a skittering and chattering from inside the dumpster. “Shit!” Charlie let the curse slip, as three racoons climbed out of the dumpster, dragging food scraps with them. They chattered, giving Charlie a dirty look as they scrambled down the alley. Shaking his head, he wandered back out in front of the apartments. 

He crossed the street to the park that had a small lake that it bordered. He was about to start his walk for the evening. It helped him to clear his head and decompress from his chaotic studying. The teachers he had this year were brutal with the homework assignments. Half of them he would argue that he would never use after the finals next month. The other half were just monotonous repeats of everything he learned LAST year. 

As he walked along the trail, he tried to clear the equations from his mind and took in the fall beauty. The colors changing on the trees, other walkers were out and about. The dog walkers at the dog park. The birds chirping. The old gods rising out of the lake. It was such a night to bask in the… 

“Wait! What the…?” Charlie started to ask as a huge mass of creatures rose up from the lake. It was growing ever larger, over thirty feet high, and still climbing from the lake. He noticed that the creature was moving towards the farther shore, and he was at a loss of what he could do. The immense creature leaned over to the beach, and then Charlie noticed an odd occurrence. 

It was communicating with something small. Something familiar. 

A racoon! 

This huge, obscenely disgusting and horrifying beast that crawled from the depths of the lake was talking to a trash panda! And the vermin had a necklace or something in its paws. Looking around, Charlie noticed that people were slowly noticing the beast, and pulled out their cell phones recording the entire event. He had left his phone at home, and decided that home would be a better place to be than watching a dumpster diving menace talking to a creature that crawled its way out of some nightmare world.

Home was the best answer! The sirens screamed their announced presence as the creatures started dropping from the huge beast. There were hundreds of fiends that split off from the monster and chased down the people on the street. Charlie ran for the door to the apartment building, fiddling for his keys in his pocket. A large dog like monstrosity leapt onto the hood of a squad car, slashing claws ripping through the top of the car, peeling it open like a can opener. It reached inside, pulling the shocked officer out, biting his head off as people all around screamed, and fled in panic. 

The horrifying monstrosities chased the people down, ripping them to shreds. Breaking his attention, Charlie snapped back to his attention as he dropped the items from his pocket as he drew out his keys. 

Unlocking the door, he pushed in, and slammed the door shut. The locks securing behind him. Breathing a sigh of relief, he felt a massive impact on the door. He began climbing the stairs, three at a time, as he was scared out of his mind. Making it to the second floor, he turned back just in time to see a pair if alien creatures plow through the door like a tank, tearing it off its hinges. 

Terror propelled him up the next flight of stairs as he heard the beasts scrambling through the door and climbing the stairs. 

On the third floor, one of the nosiest neighbors, who usually banged on her ceiling if a mouse farted in his apartment, came out yelling, but screamed as Charlie passed her, climbing the final flight of stairs. She screamed as a beast ripped her apart, and Charlie hit the top of the stairs, plunged his key in his lock, turning it, and slipped into his apartment, slamming the door closed. 

He locked all four deadbolts on his door, and let out a breath of relief. 

He had made it. 

Although he could hear screams of horror and agony from elsewhere in the apartment, He picked up his phone to call for help, only to get a busy signal. Trying again and again, he eventually gave up. 

He had no weapons, no way to call for help, so he crawled under his bed, tucking himself up against the wall. He cried in fright as the door exploded off the wall, monstrosities flooding into the apartment. 

He heard them scraping their claws on the hardwood floors, searching, and eventually finding him. 

The last thing he thought as they dragged him out and shredded him was “That damned racoon!”