Hannah raised her rifle to the gasps of those in the cabin behind her, but she couldn’t take a shot. There was no way to know what she would be hitting. One of the shapes on the ground scuttled towards her. It slipped out of the darkness and into the small pool of light bleeding inside the doorway.
“Get me out of here!” Dr Kamiyo cried out from on his belly. Hannah reached down and grabbed his blood-slick hand and dragged him out of the room. He was shaking like a leaf, and bled from a wound buried beneath his thick, black hair.
Hannah left the doctor behind the reception desk and hurried back to help Jackie. But before she was able to rescue the woman, something swiped at her from the shadows. The blow knocked her sideways, and she bounced off the doorframe before tripping over an obstacle on floor. Something grabbed her, and she realised it was Jackie. “Help me!” the woman cried. “Get me out of here!”
Hannah was tangled in her rifle’s strap, but she managed to grab Jackie and shove her up onto her hands and knees. The two of them hurried towards the doorway, and Hannah got Jackie out into the light. Before she could reach safety herself though, the shadowy presence still in the room grabbed her belt and yanked her backwards. She threw out her hands and grabbed the doorframe and then screamed as the door slammed shut on her hands. She kicked her legs, trying to shake off her attacker, but the pain in her hands dizzied her, and made her weak. Those inside the main cabin howled in fear, but no one came to help her. Only a sliver of light existed in the room. If she let go of the frame, the darkness would consume her.
A laugh broke out in the shadows, turning her blood to ice. The evil let go of her belt and grabbed her ankles. The darkness was going to devour her. “H-Help me! Please... somebody!”
The laughter in the darkness mocked her.
She tried pulling herself through the doorway, but it was no use. The door cut into her fingers, and the force pulling her back was too strong. Her wrists would give out any second. Her fingers began to tremble. And slip.
The darkness retreated.
Hannah found herself being pulled into the light.
The laughter behind her stopped, and a frustrated snarl. A dog losing its bone.
Ted gathered Hannah into his thick arms and dragged her away from danger. He didn’t put her down until she was well out from behind the reception desk. “You have a talent for finding trouble, luv.”
“You’re the one who jumps in with nothing but a hammer and a bad attitude,” she shot back.
“This makes us even, deal?”
The candles on the reception desk blinked out. Dr Kamiyo shot to his feet and pointed frantically. “That’s how it started! The candles snuffed out and I was attacked. The thing inside that room is evil.”
Hannah flexed her hands, wincing in pain. She felt confident they were unbroken, so she got a grip on her rifle and pointed it at the open doorway.
“What is it, Doctor? A dee?”
“What the hell is a dee?”
“A demon.”
Kamiyo shook his head. “No, it’s not a demon. It’s just… it’s just a young man I pulled from the lake. He’s behaving like he’s possessed. Maybe he is.”
“Take the sod down,” said Ted. “We don’t need this aggro.”
Hannah glanced at Jackie. A bloody wound dissected her cheek, making it clear that whatever had attacked her in that room wasn’t a man. “Come out or I’ll blow your goddamn head off,” she yelled at the darkness. “I don’t want to kill you, but you’ve got a lot of people out here scared.”
Silence. The people in the cabin pressed together like spooked cattle, children in the middle, adults at the front. They all fixated on the rectangle of darkness coming from the open doorway.
Whatever was inside did not come out. Hannah cursed beneath her breath. For the first time since she’d been a recruit, her finger trembled over the trigger guard. Something was wrong about this. The presence in the room had been more than just a dee, but it wasn’t some deranged guy either. She sensed something unnatural, something that turned her stomach and sent feverish quivers across her skin.
“Okay, whoever is in there, you have three-seconds to come out. Fail to do so and I will fire and kill you. A shot from this range will cause your internal organs to rupture even if I hit you in the shoulder. It is important you understand that. Okay, I’m going to start counting. This is your last chance. Come out or I will shoot you dead.”
Candles deeper in the room blinked out, one by one, leaving the frightened spectators in near-darkness. Hannah exchanged a glance with Ted, who was the only one in the cabin who didn’t look terrified. In fact, he looked irritated. He had his hammer raised, ready for action, and was the only one in the room she would count on helping if a fight broke out. She decided being grumpy was better than being a coward.
Hannah started her count. “Okay. Three… two…” She slipped an aching finger inside the trigger guard. “One!”
“Don’t shoot! Please!” A young black man appeared in the doorway with his hands on top of his head. Sweat and grime covered his entire body, and flesh hung from his skull like it was unattached. He looked utterly afraid.
Hannah lowered her aim, but only by five-degrees. “Who are you?”
“My name is Vamps. Don’t shoot me, yeah? I’m one of the good guys.”
Dr Kamiyo moved beside Hannah and whispered to her. “Vamps is who I was talking to, before he... changed.”
Ted overheard and huffed out a laugh. “Before he changed? People don’t turn into monsters.”
Kamiyo glanced at him sternly. “I don’t think any of us know what’s possible anymore. I believe whoever this man is, he
