Sacrificed

    Gary threw his life away to save us, and I just sat there and watched him die. I watched as that creature tore into him, its teeth wet and red with blood, hunks of gore visible as it chewed. Something happened then, something I haven't been able to figure out fully, which is saying something given everything that has happened.
   It looked up, it's face bare before me, and it looked in my direction, but it didn't look -at- me. It looked -through- me. That's when I realized it couldn't see me. I don't know why, but this thing was looking around the room, sniffing the air, but it couldn't see me sitting there nearly paralyzed with fear and staring at it.
  It stood then, hunched over and growling, and began to prowl around the room. It sniffed around again as it did, like it was looking for something, and I wasn't going to give it the chance to find me. I stood, slowly, and backed out of the basement, keeping the thing in sight as I did, and when only when I topped the stairs did I turn around and run.
  I ran all the way back to my home, shut the door, bolted it, and cowered in a corner. I sat there for what seemed like forever, not moving, trying desperately not to think. It was all I could do.