Numbers

            (Transcribed)

I’m terrified. My name is Six, and right now I’m hiding in some park somewhere. I don’t know where I am. I’ve been running for about an hour, according to my watch.

            I still can’t believe that this is happening.

            We were all so close. How could this be happening. I mean Seven is one of my best friends! He would never do this. He couldn’t have. Could he?

            What am I talking about, I saw it with my own eyes. It was horrifying and I just don’t want to be next. That’s why I’m running. If he could do that to Nine, then why would I be any safer? I mean they were dating for fraction’s sake!

            I tried calling Four, but she didn’t pick up the phone. She would be the person most likely to help me. She’s always there for me. Why wouldn’t she answer the phone? Did he get to her?

            No, no , no! No possible way. Seven wouldn’t go after Four. Unless… Unless he really is after me, and when he couldn’t find me he went for my loved ones! That’s usually how it goes. I’ve seen those cop dramas on TV.

            Would he really go after Four? She’s just so nice and wonderful, he couldn’t hurt her. Well, thinking about it, peoples would have called him wonderful too, but I guess they wouldn’t any longer if I told them what I saw.

            There was so much blood!

            I had never heard screams like those. It had been so quiet. I was walking to go see Seven and Nine. I was outside of Seven’s apartment when I heard the screaming. It was high pitched and painful. It made me want to cry.

            I yanked open the door to Seven’s apartment, and, oh Pi, I can’t talk about it! It was horrible! I mean, his face was coated in a thick layer of what could only have been blood, and Nine was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, eyes staring widely. And the bite from her side… it was terrible.

            After Seven noticed me there, he turned his head way too quickly to look at me. His eyes were wild. He looked like he was a savage dog, much less my friend of eight years! He was all crouched over with his bloody hands by his face. His eyes didn’t leave mine as we stood there.

            Finally I moved, and he launched himself, like a wolf, in my direction. I ran as fast as I could and could hear his heavy breathing behind me. Seven’s in good shape, so this wasn’t heavy breathing showing he was tired, but sounded like that of an animal on the hunt.

            I don’t know where everyone was, but I ran clear across campus without seeing a single person and then clear across town, and still, no one. It’s 5 PM now, so there should be people around leaving work, but I don’t know, maybe it’s a holiday I forgot about.

            I finally gave him the slip when I made a quick right turn onto Front Street and then a quick left onto Keese Avenue and hid behind a dumpster. He was still right behind me and came out onto Keese, still breathing heavily. I could hear his breathing close to the dumpster and felt my heart in my throat. I didn’t know what I would have done if he had come around the corner of that dumpster. I’m still trying to decide if I could have fought my best friend, and in the state he was in, if I stood a chance. Luckily, or sadly, however you want to look at it, someone must’ve kicked a can down the street, and I guess, thinking it was me, Seven let out a wail that almost resembled a howl and ran off in the other direction.

            I waited about three minutes until I hear a man’s scream coming from where Seven had run before starting to run again. I lost all bearings of where I was going and was just running. I took turns at corners quickly and passed by houses. I saw people on the streets now, but didn’t bother stopping to ask for help. I wanted to get as much distance between Seven and me as I could before I asked anyone for help.

            Now here I am, in this park that I’ve never seen before. Hiding for my life inside of a children’s play area shaped like a giant ship.

           

            It’s all over now…

            I pulled out my cell phone. Funny how you forget that you have one some times. I had to call the cops. They could help. Pi I just hoped that Four was alright.

            I tried to explain what was happening to the person who answered when I called 911, but it all seemed like a joke. “Hi, I found my friend eating his girlfriend in his apartment and now he’s chasing me while howling!” Who would ever believe that. Luckily they still came.

            So did Seven.

            I guess he heard the sirens and assumed they were going to me. He followed them. Like the dog he had become, he chased after the cars until they reached my location.

            As the cops got to the park and I felt I was safe, suddenly I saw Seven emerge from behind the cars; blood-soaked and clothing and skin torn. He looked more beast than man.

            The cops stood no chance against him. He launched at them from behind and tore at their necks and back with his nails and teeth. It was like something out of a movie. He knew just where to go. I regretted the day I convinced him to go into medical school. He tore open the major arteries with his teeth and seemed livid at the sight of all the blood.

            The cops, once they noticed what was happening, tried to shoot, but they couldn’t catch him. It was getting dark and he was moving quickly and dodging behind trees and coming out from behind them.

            The gun fell in front of my feet.

            One of the cops had it thrown from his hand when Seven jumped onto him. I grabbed it off the ground, not knowing what I was doing. I held it up with both hands, feeling like an idiot. I couldn’t shoot my best friend.

            He stood there in front of me. He had taken out six police officers. He stood there in front of me. Coated in the police officers’ blood, grinning. He came running at me, teeth bared and hands out in front of him like the claws of something fierce.

            I will never forget the sound of that gunshot.

           

            Four’s alright. She had been at her mom’s house and had left her phone back at our apartment.