the hunt.

"jeremy? can you hear me?"

jeremy didn't register the question. his chest ached from the building tension, his body shook with each thunderous beat of his heart. the screams echoing from down the hall seemed to be coming from all around them now. a deafening shriek--louder than the others--ripped through their small apartment. the couple three doors down had a 4 year old.

he instinctively tightened his grip on the body in his arms, shutting his eyes in an effort to block out the noise. this had to be a dream. soon he would wake up and they would be lying peacefully in their bed... a mess of limbs and sheets. how had it come to this? why hadn't the police arrived yet? it felt like the screaming had been going on for hours. cora's cool hands quickly found his face.

"jeremy... listen to me."

her voice was stern and her body still in his arms. too still. more screams. jeremy's eyes wandered to the door, expecting it to burst open at any moment. cora's round face suddenly filled his blurring vision.

"listen to my voice, okay? we have to get out of here. if we don't leave now, those... people... are going to kill us. do you understand?"

more screams as another apartment door banged open. they were getting closer. jeremy shook his head again. what was going on? what was she talking about?

"babe, i don't..."

in one graceful movement, cora was on her feet and darting around the bedroom. jeremy watched as she stuffed her slender legs into a pair of jeans from the floor. he remembered watching her shimmy out of the same pair the night before. she had kicked them into the corner before crawling into bed beside him.

"JEREMY," cora hissed, more forcefully, "turn off the tv in the living room. hurry."

jeremy nodded numbly and somehow found his way down the short hall. it felt like someone had replaced his legs with blocks of cement. some Evangelist was framed on their small tv set, preaching about the second coming. jeremy managed to grip the remote in his shaking hands and return to the bedroom. he was confused by what he saw. half an hour earlier, cora had made the bed. now, she had pulled the sheets off and tossed the pillows about. she was now rifling through the dirty clothes hamper.

he watched as cora forced the window open and arbitrarily tossed several of their clothes out. she turned around suddenly, and jeremy caught a glimpse of her face. the same round face, perfect mouth. the scar that ran across the top of her brow, dipping past her temple. the same almond shaped eyes and stubby nose. the same cora... but not. there was something wrong. jeremy took a deep breath and stepped closer.

"this isn't making any sense! we need to be getting out here. we gotta find some help--"

there was suddenly a sharp rapping at the door. cora was by his side in an instant with a hand over his mouth, the other gripping his arm. they both stopped breathing. a soft, panicked voice floated through the door. cora immediately recognized it as Mrs. Jenkins, their neighbor across the hall.

"hello? you kids in there?"

jeremy tried to move towards the door but cora tightened her grip. their eyes locked as cora shook her head no.

"jeremy? cora? hello? i think something's very wrong. i can't use my phone or anything. and all the scream... Oh God. Oh, my God... who are you? what do you want?"

there was a brief silence in which the low, rumbling voices of several men could be heard. jeremy felt his heart drop to his stomach as the old woman screamed. there was a thud against the wall that knocked several of their paintings off the wall. cora was pulling at his arm, but the only thing he could think about was the screaming. the next thing he knew, they were both huddled beneath their bed. cora was pressed against him, small as ever in his arms with one hand still over his mouth. the other hand slowly ran through his hair while she cooed at him, begging him to calm down. jeremy couldn't help but struggle against her... this all wasn't right.

they both were immediately still when the front door burst open.