The transit system in my city sucks. Any buses take at least forty-five minutes to get to the university to my cheap apartment but if I walked through the park, it would only take fifteen minutes. After a full day of classes, and working I hated walking home. But I also wanted to get into bed as fast as possible. Dragging my tired feet along, I made the long trek through the park almost every night. I did come across some homeless men asking for change. Being a broke student, I couldn't give them much. Though I could give them sandwiches from my job that were just going to be thrown out at the end of the night. Most of them appreciated the gesture. One man named Eddie always thanked me and walked along with me for a few minutes making sure I got through the darker part of the park safely. Because of his overall manner, I fretted over his motives until I realized he was a pretty decent guy under his appearance.

I started to get worried when a few days went by and I didn’t see any of the regulars in the park. That wasn’t unusual. Sometimes the cops ran them out thinking they were doing drugs or creating a mess. The homeless men only quietly drank and collected bottles or cans along the path. Honestly, those men were the ones taking care of the park better than the paid city workers.

My room mates were thankful for the leftovers to grabbed from work that should have gone to the regulars, but I still wondered about the men I’d slowly become friendly with. As I walked along the dark path one night, I thought I saw a figure following behind me. I wasn’t alarmed because I thought it was one of the men. From the smell drifting on the wind, and how the figure stumbled behind I felt positive there wasn’t any danger. I just kept my music playing as I walked a little bit faster. I did think those homeless men were harmless, but sometimes they got awkward to be around if they were wasted or in a bad mood. After my long day of work, I didn’t want to deal with a tense interaction.

I nearly reached a light post when I thought I heard a noise over my music. I turned it off and looked over my shoulder just in time to see a pale figure running down the path. Something that looked pale and human and not any of the men I’ve come across before. The figure let out a heart stopping scream and I bolted. My legs and chest burned right away. I might be able to stand serving food for eight hours but that didn’t mean I could run for any length of time. The thing close on my heels as I started to feel dizzy from the effort of running.

I tripped over my own feet when I reached the light. My elbows and knees hitting the paved ground hard. I saw stars from the impact for a few moments. Panting, I looked around trying to see what made me run in the first place. My eyes darted around in the dark, my head swimming. I expected to see that figure again, but nothing moved on the path.

I forced my breathing to slow at least until I saw what I may have missed if I’d been walking down the path. Being on the ground made it so I could see under some bushes. A smell hit my nose the same time I saw a dark color staining the grass and leaves. A face stared back from under the bush, eyes lifeless and mouth open in a silent scream. I knew the face as one of the regulars in the park. I choked on air and my hand flew to my pocket trying to find my phone. To my horror, my pockets was empty. My phone had flown out when I crashed to the ground. I started to sit up to look for it and another scream came causing my body to freeze.

A blur of white came leaping out from the bush. I raised my arms in a useless defence. Another body came down on top of mine, forcing us both to the ground. I screamed for help, praying that anyone could hear. Those screams replaced by cries of pain as the creature thrashed trying to bite my face sank their teeth into my palm. I hooked one arm under the neck, using all my strength to keep the face up and from it ripping out my throat. I tried to use a thumb to dig into the eye socket but the pale thing bit me first. I kicked trying to get it off, shocked at how heavy the creature felt even though it looked impossibly thin.

We struggled with each other in a desperate messy attempt towards our own goals. The pale monster wanted to eat me and I wanted to get the hell away. Without any weapons or any knowledge of how to deal with a situation like this, I would be bound to fail. Tears clouded my vision as the thing tore into my hand even deeper, causing blood to spray and for me to scream to loudly it hurt my throat. My heart almost stopping from fear. Just as I thought I would be torn apart by those sharp teeth and claws; a sound rang out as the thing collapsed. Someone had walked over and smashed a bent steel pipe against my attacker's skull. I scrambled away, crying and holding my torn-up hand as another person dragged the monster off and in the middle of the light.

I flinched hearing the steel pipe coming down again and again. I couldn’t even look up to see my rescuer fully from the stress and fear. Body trembling uncontrollably, I listened as the creature's head got smashed in until there was nothing left. Finally, I looked up, and movement caught my eyes.

Another one of those lankly pale things came screaming from outside the light towards the one who saved me. It was nearly naked, skin a pale grey with blue veins showing. The hair falling out in clumps leaving a messy greasy mess behind. The mouth opened so wide it might be able literally bite off someone’s entire head. Hands out stretched, it leapt into the light. The steel pipe came down, knocking the pale monster out of midair and it landed front of my legs.

I let out a yelp of fear as the pipe made short work of the second monster. Blood spraying from the wound from each swing. Grey brain matter spilling out causing the creature to twitch for a few seconds. As grateful as I felt over not getting eaten, my body reacted from such a gory sight. I turned, throwing up my small dinner to the side.

When I emptied out my stomach, I looked up at the man holding the pipe. His appearance strange, but I didn’t see just how strange until I stopped shaking long enough to get a good look. Aside from the pipe, he didn’t have any weapons. It was as if he picked up the first thing he found on the ground to use to kill these monsters. He wore white gloves now stained with blood and rust from the pipe. His sharp dress shoes also stained with blood. He wore a suite, but that wasn't what made my brain almost shut down.

His face hidden by a large bunny mascot face. One ear up, and one ear down. The bunny’s eyes massive and looked too freaky to be cute. Like, the person designing the mask wanted it to be cute, but went overboard causing it to look menacing with the large eyes. The blood now splattered on the white fur didn’t help. As I stared, I noticed something off, I couldn’t see any eye holes. How the hell did this guy see out of the mask, especially in the dark?

In the distance, I heard sirens. My shoulders dropped all the tension I felt for a second when I thought I was going to be saved. Cops would show up, and I could go to the hospital for my hand. I opened my mouth to question the man, and to thank him when he dropped the pipe.

With one swift movement, he’d closed the distance and kicked his foot against my chest to I fell back to the ground. I didn’t have a chance to move as he knees pined both my arms down. I opened my mouth to scream again as one gloved hand covered it, muffling the noise. I fought for my life, and didn’t move the mask wearing weirdo an inch. He lifted his hand from my mouth to pull a small case form his suit pocket. I screamed, hoping the cops would hear.

The noise died in my throat as he pulled out a syringe from the case. My head feeling faint from the blood loss, but the sight of the needle nearly made me pass out. I've never been so scared in my life. Getting attacked by that monster was less frightening than seeing a syringe filled with a mystery liquid.

I fought even harder, doing nothing to avoid the masked man grabbing my face with one hand. With one other steady gloved hand he started to bring the needle closer. My mouth became dry as he grabbed my eyelids with two fingers, forcing my left eye open. I would rather be eaten by that monster than what he had in mind. The needle came ever closer. I heard people starting down the path, shouting orders and asking if everything was alright. My body froze when the tip of the needle went into my eye, and I passed out into a very long darkness.

When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital bed and shortly went into hysterics. Some police arrived to take statements, and asked for some drug tests to be taken after hearing my story. I don’t blame them for that. I heard a body of a homeless man was found nearby where I fainted along with a lot of blood. They weren’t able to figure out who killed the man, or who the blood came from. They mystery blood assumed to be at least a few hours old even though they found me on the path only a few minutes after I passed out.

All the tests came back clean and I was released after a few days. The police also told me that Eddie heard screaming in the park and called them. I would need to thank him later when we came across each other again.

I made a habit of looking at my left eye in the mirror before bed, trying to see any damage. My hand healing up fine, but I fear the wound is going to leave a nasty scar. I thought I would be too stressed out to eat after such an ordeal, but the opposite happened. I couldn’t stop eating. A dull hunger lingered in the pit of my stomach now, always there no matter how much I ate in a day. And I don’t seem to be gaining any weight. I think I’ve lost some, but I’m too scared to weigh myself. My skin has started to go paler and I've gotten some comments on my sickly appearance. I've taken time off work unsure of when, or if I'll be back.

I’m keeping an eye out for any other weird signs, or changes. I can’t sleep from over thinking about a very simple fact. One that I don’t want to face but deep down know it true. It might have been better if that creature killed me that night. That the man who tried to save me failed. Whatever he injected into my eye simply didn’t work, or only delayed what was coming. I would rather die than turn into anything remotely close to the monster that attacked me. With how things are looking, I'm not sure how long I'll remain myself for and that scares me to death. I've started to make a habit of walking in the park praying to find some answers or a sign of the man wearing the bunny mask.

At least I was able to thank Eddie for calling for help that night. If I die because of a random monster attack while trying to get home, I won't bring that regret with me.