Mia was thankful the roads were barren at this time of night, allowing her to speed through empty stretches of asphalt in whatever direction they took her. She was no stranger to running. It happened whenever her passenger’s eating habits got out of control. It happened like clockwork now. The creature would begin to feed more erratically, Mia would make the plans to move, and once the final feeding was as devastating as predicted, she would leave. This time, the situation was a bit more dire. The sudden upheaval that forced her back onto the roads was so unpredictable that this time Mia had no opportunity to set up alternative living spaces. The pattern had been so predictable for so long. What the hell changed?
Whatever caused the creature to decide to wipe out half a street of homes, it forced her to find somewhere, anywhere to go. She couldn’t set up shop near civilization, not when she had no idea if the creature’s feeding was even done yet. Instead she was searching for something remote, somewhere that no one would go looking. Something like…
Some decrepit old building, just as sad and pathetic looking as the lonely unkempt lot it sat in. It would have to do. While it didn’t look like it officially housed anyone, there was no telling if someone hadn’t already staked claim to the dilapidated walls and molding floors. If there was someone in there, well…it was highly unlikely they would be for long.
She turned off the car and exited, opting to keep her stuff in the car until morning – when she had a game plan of how she was going to go about repairing her life again. Loose rocks crunched under her feet as she rounded the side of the building to look for any type of entrance. The rotting window sills looked like they wouldn’t put up much of a fight. She approached a ground floor window, fingers clawing beneath the crack where the pane was flush with the frame and began to force it back open. Decaying wood protested but with an angry and more forceful shove it opened just enough for her to crawl inside. She was cautious as she climbed inside, with a foot testing the structural integrity of the floor before she committed her weight fully.
The place smelled like rot. If anyone was living in this house, based on smell alone, they were either beyond dead or had something very wrong with them.
“If anyone’s in here, it would be best to speak up now. I don’t do well with surprises,” she spoke through the dust and darkness, opting to warn whoever may be sharing the walls with her. At least give them the opportunity to get away from her before they got too close. She took out her phone, with fingers fumbling to click the flashlight button to give herself some sort of grasp on the extent of her surroundings.