CHAPTER 1 THE CROW Jonathan Crane couldn’t run fast enough No matter how hard he tried he just couldn’t seem to pick up his pace It was almost like he was wading through deep water His legs wouldn’t do what his brain told them to do Behind him Jonathan heard the caws of the crows He looked over his shoulder There were hundreds of them They were as black as shadows Their wings flapped violently The birds sharp beaks glistened in the moonlight Their jet black eyes were staring right at him That was when Jonathan felt his foot catch on a rock on the cliff side THUDDDDD Jonathan fell to the ground The crows would surely catch up to him now He could see the swirling mass of birds flying closer and closer still His heart pounded in his chest The birds wings flapped loudly in the air But the noise wasn’t quite right Crow wings didn’t sound like that Jonathan squinted at the approaching birds And that was when he realized it They weren’t crows at all The mass of fluttering flying beasts was actually a cloud of bats
Jonathan got to his feet The situation was worse than he thought He stood up tall and looked down at his legs They were skinny He had always been a bit gangly The kids in his high school had mocked him for his appearance Even one of his college professors had made fun of him for his resemblance to a common scarecrow Jonathan narrowed his eyes The bats were almost upon him But he wasn’t a helpless little boy any longer He was a full-grown man He would fight the creatures off He wouldn’t let them win There was a broom resting at his feet Had this been what had tripped him No he thought That was a rock He had tripped on a rock Hadn’t he Everything seemed so confusing now Jonathan saw that the broom was there so he decided to pick it up and use it The first of the bats swooped down toward him Jonathan Crane raised the broom and swung with all his might WOOOOOOOOSH The bat dodged his attack while another nipped at his ear from behind Jonathan felt the fear rising in his chest again Two more bats swooped down at him He swatted at them with his hands But they were too quick Suddenly there were dozens of bats swarming all over him FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP He tried to fight them off There were just too many The broom fell out of his hands to the ground below And then the rumbling started RUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMBLE It was a deep primal sound coming from the darkness in front of him He didn’t want to look but Jonathan couldn’t help it He had to see this beast that was approaching him The sound grew louder A hot gust of wind rushed out from the darkness Jonathan knew it was the creature’s breath It had a foul smell to it A smell like death
