Łukasz opened his eyes and gasped for air. Immediately he felt the stench of the creature pressing down on him. The monster, however, no longer looked so terrifying. Now he saw it as it truly was.
The creature stared at him with two small eyes set on a large, round head like a football. The rest of its face consisted of enormous jaws, grinding ominously. The creature watched Łukasz curiously and suddenly roared furiously, revealing a rich arsenal of teeth.
Now I still have a chance, Łukasz thought, trying in vain to throw the monster off him. The creature responded with another roar and then attacked. Łukasz covered himself with his hand and felt its teeth clamp down on his forearm. He screamed loudly, this time from pain, not terror. He jerked his whole body violently. He managed to shift a few centimeters. That was exactly the distance he needed. He moved just enough to reach the red cement mixer. The clay on which the mechanical colossus stood had dripped down in the rain. Currently, the concrete mixer was bending in the gusts of wind like a tree.
"Because it's my cement mixer," Łukasz said, and pulled out the block blocking the wheel.
The monster turned toward the red colossus, stood on two legs, and rattled furiously. Now it looked almost comical. Small legs supported its rounded body and round head.
Łukasz seized the moment and rolled to the side. Immediately afterward, the cement mixer struck the monster, accompanied by the screech of breaking bones and the piercing scream of the creature, which was probably experiencing pain and fear for the first time in its life. The cement mixer toppled over, crushing the gray monster. The impact was too weak to kill the creature, but the concrete mixer's weight effectively pinned it to the ground.
As Łukasz rose, he felt a throbbing pain where the creature had bitten him, but he tried to ignore it. He took a few steps and bent down to pick up a shovel from the ground. Leaning heavily on the shovel, he stood over the creature and looked directly into its small red eyes. The monster tried to seize this opportunity, transforming into different people one by one. This time, Łukasz was unimpressed.
"Let's see what you're afraid of, you freak."
The monster rattled, and Łukasz could have sworn he heard fear in its voice. He tried to free himself, but Robert's cement mixer was pressing his body firmly to the ground. He kept rattling furiously, even when the shovel struck him the first time, reducing most of his head to green pulp. He continued rattling after the third and fourth blows, only falling silent after the fifth, unable to produce a sound. Łukasz, however, continued to pound what remained of the monster. He lowered the shovel again and again until he finally fainted and collapsed heavily to the ground.
By the time Robert returned to the construction site, he was already the father of two children. During the night, his daughter, Julia, was born. In the car, he hummed happily to a song known only to himself. Yesterday's inclement weather was only evidenced by the numerous puddles, now reflecting the cloudless sky and the bright sun. The black tire of the blue Fiat repeatedly unceremoniously shattered these natural mirrors, spilling water in all directions.
Robert tried calling Łukasz again, but he didn't answer. Disappointed, he threw the phone onto the passenger seat and pressed the accelerator harder.
"Did something happen to your uncle?" asked Marcin, sitting in the back, in a special child seat.
"No way. I'm sure everything's fine. He's just not answering his phone. That's all.
" "Uh-huh." Marcin seemed satisfied with this answer, because he went back to playing with his favorite toy car.
"Drive faster," he whispered to the car through gritted teeth. Despite what he'd told the little boy, he was almost certain something unpleasant had happened to Łukasz. Various visions of what could have happened to his friend began to flash before his eyes. Some were incredibly evocative and— "
Dad!" he was interrupted by his son's loud cry.
He looked ahead, just in time to realize he'd just swerved into the left lane and was now flying head-on into the hood of a large truck. He swerved hard to the right. At the last second. A car sped past him with a blare of its horn and the crunch of the driver's side mirror being ripped off. Robert, however, didn't stop to gather them. He merely cursed silently to himself and slowed slightly as he remembered his wife and Julia waiting for him at the hospital, and Marcin sitting in the backseat. Death was hardly the way to spend this afternoon.
"Again!" shouted a delighted Marcin from behind, who had thoroughly enjoyed driving alongside the speeding truck. "Yet.
" "Quiet," Robert said dryly and pulled off the expressway.
Robert stopped the car on the dirt road, seeing the overturned cement mixer ahead of him and the man sitting next to it.
"Łukasz! Łukasz!" he shouted, jumping out of the car. "Stay here!" he ordered his son and started toward his friend, still calling his name.
"They're all gone," Łukasz replied calmly, watching his friend approach. "Don't be afraid, they're all gone." Father. Justyna. Janek. Even the policeman and Mr. Shit Eater. Everyone had already left.
Robert stopped halfway to his friend and hesitantly asked if everything was alright. The man only had to raise his head to see that nothing was wrong. His entire face was caked with mud. Gray strands were clearly visible among his raven-black hair. His eyes were as empty as wells after thirsty troops had passed through small villages.
"You see, everyone's gone. Everyone!" he said almost cheerfully, circling his head with one hand. "They've gone. They've gone."
Robert examined his friend's hand, tucked under the burgundy cloth. Bloody cloth, he corrected himself mentally. Following the bloody trail from his friend's hand along the clay, he came across another stain, olive green, and then something that initially reminded him of a large Brussels sprout. Except that Brussels sprouts don't usually have human shapes. Robert covered his mouth and then screamed loudly, scaring away the birds feeding on the corpse of the creature that had emerged from the outhouse.
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