Nemean

                                    

                                          
'The lion approaches its prey. Silent, and quiet like a deadly whisper. It raises its hackles, and gets ready to pounce on the helpless gazelle. A chase will surely ensue once it does this...' The blueish light from a television screen illuminated Jason's resting figure. His eyes were firmly closed, but he wasn't sleeping. Just... not quite conscious. Those pills that he'd been taking had disabled him from sleeping - he was running on completely empty. The doctors had said that this might happen. 
His tired feet fiddled with the remote subconsciously, and knocked the thing off a small table. The channel changed, and a hydra roared to life on Jason and the Argonauts. Made to jump, the real Jason opened his eyes and yawned. With an irritated grumble, he hammered on the 'off' button of the television. His paranoid eyes flickered briefly to the dark blue painted door, and he clutched his head in the ringing pain that emanated from his lack of sleep. 
                          
From the bushes, outside the house, stepped a man. This man had sandy blond hair - and a dark, black cotton suit. He cracked his neck, and then his knuckles. His eyes shifted slowly, up into his scalp. With a satisfied gasp; he felt his features change smoothly.
Looking down at his now-clawed hand, he padded along the gravel driveway and twisted the latch on the door. 
                          
Jason had been trying to close his eyes. This, predictably, hadn't resulted in any sleep - but all that it did was mean that he was sidetracked at the wrong moment. 
Tap. 
A noise. On his porch. 
Tap. 
Another. That was getting closer. 
Eventually, Jason looked back up from his hollow rest, and placed his attention to these noises. Millions of thoughts fired through his synapses, all querying anything and everything that could be causing them. Thieves, killers, hydras. 
Jason's feet balled against the floor inside his socks - and his hand flexed against the rim of his sofa. Another one of his shivery hands darted down towards the floor and grabbed a shotgun. His teeth chattered as he walked slowly toward the door.
Gradually pressing his hand to the blue wood, he paused for a second - to listen to what was behind it. 
Snuffling. Laboured breathing. Like a really big animal. A bear, maybe? 
                          
With a sudden surge of panic, Jason pressed the mouth of the gun to the door's window... and fired. The back-jolt sent a painful crack through his shoulder - but no more sounds came from from behind the door. Now down on his knees, Jason waited to see what had got into his house. 
However, what had got into his house wasn't waiting to see him. Jason gasped as some kind of a dart coursed straight through his arm. Looking at it, he could see it slowly dripping an almost luminous green liquid. 
He screamed, and scrambled underneath a table. The door flew open, and the breathing sounds ran rife through the air of the room. 
                          
The paws of a large animal padded towards the table, and the breathing turned into snarling. Jason yelped desperately as the table was thrown across the room. Looking up at the beast, he was held still - in awe, like a deer in headlights. A massive creature, stood proudly on two legs; like a man. Silvery fur covered it's musculature - and each individual fibre glistened like sharp barbs of steel. 
A segmented tail arched behind the creature, as if in anticipation of the meal that was about to come to it.
                          
Jason screamed with a primordial terror as the monster tore into his flesh.