(15) Escape...

As the dark Rufus pushed itself across the landscape, it heaved huge breaths of exhaustion. Each inhalation seemed to absorb the exuberance of the landscape surrounding it. Each preceeding exhalation reverberated across the desert, whisking up dust all around its darkened form.

The agony of hunger was pushing the dark Rufus to take desperate measure. He'd consumed the fear from two yaks, a small furry creature, and one very skinny horse. Of course, they'd all killed over instantly, something the Darkness could not explain. Although it was apparent that when an animal lost its fear to consumption thereof, it could not maintain the beating of its heart. But now, there seemed to be no animals within detection.

If they have a beating heart, I will be able to hear it, the dark Rufus assured himself.

The Darkness only wished it could find a human from which to extract the delecious taste of fear. These puny animals provided not nearly enough fear to even substantially satiate its unsatiable appetite. The need for humans was great, as their infinitely complicated brains yielded far more fear than the average yak.

But this barren landscape provided no signs whatsoever of any human life.
Just then, something comparable made itself available. In the distance, the faint heart beat of camel echoed through the chasms of the dark Rufus's black exterior. It immediately veered left towards the source, practically hydroplaning across the sandy earth.

Camels were an oddity amongst the animals of Earth, as they were far smarter than most other animals of their calibur. As such, their fear was much more complex, although still minscule in comparison to that of humans. But the Darkness had no room to be picky; without more fear, it would surely parish.

The camel fell quietly, seconds after the Darkness made contact. It made no sound, but stare blankly up at its predator, coldy contemplating the existence of this abomination, but falling short of any coherent thought. A few seconds later, all signs of life vanished from its eyes.

Although he continued his travels, the dark Rufus howled in frustration. That camel was a decent appetizer, but the Darkness craved a main course. Having a human host allowed for quicker transportation to its target, but it could not maintain its control over that host without the energy that Fear provided for it. And that fear was painstakingly absent right now.

Then he felt it. A lone human in the distance, moving at a high rate of speed by most standards.

I can get to him in time, the Darkness realized, pushing itself into an accelerated sprint. It hit about eighty miles per hour and reached the human within seconds.

A middle aged, middle eastern male, he was cruising through the wide open desert in a beat up jeep. As he neared, the dark Rufus could hear the man yelling at himself in a thick accent.

"Why couldn't they have left it alone? They knew Mr. Biggs had stumbled upon something... dangerous. But they had to go and mess with it. Now Mr. Biggs counterpart has... dissapeared himself, and I have fled like a coward. Oh, what shall I do?"

Glancing in his rearview mirror, the man gasped at the sight of Jay, bruised and bloody, in his backseat.

"How in the...?!"

The man could only react by slamming on the brakes. Half a second later, he realized he was not wearing a seat belt. The man plummeted through the windshield, coming to a stop at the edge of the hood.

Only half conscious and sprawled on the hood of his jeep, the man could only groan as the Darkness feasted on his Fear invisibly. He stared through the broken windshield, only wondering why Jay was no longer in the backseat. Quickly thereafter, he drifted off into complete unconsciousness.

After his meal, the Darkness assessed his state of being.

Even this wealth of energy is not enough, the dark Rufus sighed in frustration. I still cannot make it to the enemy, to the Jay...

Seconds later, it realized what it neeeded to do.

At least not by literal travel...
Screeching at itself, it took off back toward the ruins.