Continue the story #1

This is arguably the best way to cook up stories that one can’t even begin to imagine! Here’s how it goes:

• I begin the story (the beginning is given below) and you get to continue the story. Fill this form to submit your continuation, and your entry will be updated on the page. Then someone else will get to continue the story further, until the story reaches the point of existential crisis.
• To reduce the asymptotic complexity, let’s stick to a maximum word limit of 200 words per entry. If you like your entry short and sweet then by all means, go ahead!
• The ups and downs, the twists and turns, this stuff make a story interesting! What’s the fun to stick to one genre of writing? Feel free to use a writing style different to that of the existing story and mix it all up!

And now we begin…

Rhythm. That's all that made sense to him as he ran; his heartbeat and gait were periodic in nature, but distinct nonetheless. His eyes were wide open, but he couldn't see a thing. The moonlight tore through the midnight darkness, showing him just enough for the next step he was going to make. A bead of sweat slipped against his forehead and landed right in his eye, but he didn't care. This little pain was nothing compared to the concoction of emotions that filled him, after the sight he had witnessed 10 minutes ago. It wasn't just fear, nor was it just surprise. He still couldn't wrap his head around what he had seen.

As he pinched himself to ensure he wasn't dreaming something buzzed past him, it was way too dark to figure out what it was. He put his hand in his jeans pocket and pulled out a palm-sized object. He made dextrous movements with his fingers to handle it as he continued running. In a matter of seconds a bright flash lit up the night sky stopping him in his tracks. The object now had a weird symbol on it, "No its way too soon.. this can't be any good" he muttered under his breath ...