“Please, let me in,” she begged, trying to keep her voice even, to keep the fear out of it. She could see herself reflected in his glasses, disheveled, muddied, scraped, and bruised.

“Good Lord, young lady!” he exclaimed, wide-eyed. He was an older man, white-haired and slightly stooped. He peered at her doubtfully. “What happened to you?”

He was still talking to her through the screen. She felt her desperation threaten to overwhelm her, felt the demon’s breath on her neck, its claws and teeth on her body. “An accident!” she gasped. “I need to call for help! Please!”

He unfastened the latch now, finally, and the moment he began to crack the door, she wrenched it open and rushed inside, ignoring his startled surprise as she pushed him aside, slamming the screen door, then the inner door, and locking them both.

The man stared at her. “Young lady, what in the world …”

“There’s something chasing me …” she began.

The demon slammed into the screen door from the other side with such force that it tore it off entirely. Then it hammered into the inner door, once, twice, and the hinges began to loosen.

“What in God’s name?” gasped the older man as he stumbled backward in fright.

“Get out of here!” she shouted, racing past him for the back of the house. “Call the police!”

The demon was hammering into the door, pounding at it in fury. It meant to have her, and it didn’t care what stood in its way. She raced down a hall into a kitchen, where an older woman stood washing dishes at a sink. The woman looked up in surprise, blinked, and stared at her with the same look of shock as the man.

“Get out of the house now!” Nest screamed at her.

Sorry, sorry, sorry! she apologized silently as she raced out the back door into the night.

Rain and wind beat at her. The storm was growing worse. She glanced left and right into the darkness, then broke across the backyard, heading north once more. If she could reach the service station the taxi driver had told her about, she could call for help there. Porch lights came on in a few of the houses around her. She could no longer hear the sound of the demon trying to break down the door of the house she had abandoned. That meant it knew she was gone and was coming for her again.

She crossed through several backyards before coming to a fence. She would have to climb it or go back out front. Rain and sweat streaked her forehead and spilled into her eyes. Her strength was ebbing. She wheeled left along the fence and raced for the street once more.

When she broke into the open, she was alone but for one or two feeders; the rest had fallen away. There was no sign of the demon. She felt a moment of elation, then saw a flicker of movement behind her. In a panic, she raced toward the street. A car swept out of the darkness, its tires throwing up spray, and she ran for it, waving her arms and yelling. But the car never slowed, and a moment later she was alone again. In the fading sweep of the car’s headlights, she caught a momentary glimpse of the demon charging toward her. She turned back to the houses, searching. There was a two-story with a glassed-in porch and lights in almost every window. She made for that one. Cars lined the curbing in front. A party was in progress. She felt a hot rush of satisfaction. This time she would find the help she needed.