The Shadow Creature

The Shadow Creature

1st Incident:

In a mansion somewhere in Great Britain—11:56 P.M.—10/30/06
         Once again he found himself standing in the middle of a dark graveyard. As he passed by a particularly large gravestone upon which perched two menacing gargoyles, he heard a low growl of a wild beast. As before, he found that once he looked at the grave, he became trapped. Every which way he turned, there appeared a gargoyle statue as fierce as the ones that perched on the gravestone. There was only one path open to him, and that led to the ominous gravestone. He tried to resist, but some inexplicable force compelled him to approach the gray edifice. Once more, the skeletal hands of the corpse that lay buried beneath the tombstone reached up and grasped his ankles. He was effectively immobilized. He had given up struggling against the iron vice of the bones, as that only resulted in his being pulled under. So instead he waited for something different to happen. Suddenly, the oppressive dark slab of granite began to glow. Lightning started to crawl over the exterior of the stone, then the entire gravestone exploded, sending brilliant shards of hot rock tearing through his body. Only the skeletal hands held him rooted to his spot. Already bleeding from the thousands of wounds the shards had caused him, he looked up to see a gigantic black form emerge from the ruins of the gravestone. He tried to scream, but the monster was already on top of him, tearing his body to shreds.

         Young Johnny Wilcox woke with a quiet shout. He sat upright in bed soaked in sweat and trembling terribly. There was a particularly fierce thunder and lightning storm raging outside. The rain was falling so violently that it reminded him of the rock that had shredded his body. He suddenly heard a chilling howl. No way could a creature born of this earth make a sound like that. Little Johnny Wilcox was seized by a sudden fright. The howl had sounded from right outside his bedroom window. Lightning flashed outside, briefly illuminating the profile of the shadow that he had seen in his dream. Its head was raised in a howl, and Johnny could see that in its short snout, it had dozens of long razor sharp teeth. When the lightning flashed again, the creature was gone. The small ten-year-old yelped and pulled the covers up over his head. Suddenly, the wind gusted and broke the ancient locks to his windows. They flew open as the force of the wind slammed them against their hinges. Johnny screamed and slid deeper under the covers, whimpering softly.

         Don’t mum and daddy hear this? thought the child, Surely they can hear the windows banging so loudly. What Johnny did not know was that both of his parents lay dead in their beds, with deep gouges across their faces. Both of their chests were a bloody mess, as they had been slashed open by wicked claws. Both of their hearts were missing.

         Then, just as quickly as it had begun, Johnny’s windows stopped banging. The wind had died down so there was only a whisper, but the thunderstorm was still raging outside. But even that seemed to subside. Then he felt his bed shudder. Something big had just jumped onto his bed, down by his feet. Something very big. Slowly, very slowly, he peeked out from under his covers. It was pitch black, and he couldn’t see a thing. Just then, lightning flashed outside. The savage creature was crouched at the foot of Johnny’s bed. Its fangs were wet with gore, and blood dripped from its claws. The beast rose to its full height and let out a snarl that quickly grew into a blood-chilling howl. Johnny had just enough time to scream before the creature was on top of him, this time for real. The last thing Johnny saw before he died was the dark behemoth towering over him, holding Johnny’s own beating heart in front of his face.

2nd Incident:

Moscow, Russia—12:01 A.M.—10/31/06
          Sergey Gureyvich bolted upright in bed at the same moment that Johnny died. He sat there shaking, as he had awakened from a terrible nightmare similar to the one that Johnny had had. There was a fierce blizzard raging outside his one-story house. So loud was it that he did not hear the horrible roar that sounded from outside his window. Sergey, at the age of sixteen, considered himself, as most teenagers do, to be invincible. Still, the dream was very terrible, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

          He suddenly realized that someone was banging at his window. The dream was still very vivid in his mind, so he immediately fled to the relative safety of his parents’ room. However, he did not expect to be confronted with the awful sight of his mother and father’s mutilated carcasses on the bed. As with the Wilcox family, their hearts were missing from their chests.

         A synapse finally fired in his brain and he turned and fled the morbid scene. He ran right into an opaque shadow. He stumbled back and stared up at the eight-foot monster that towered over him. It reared back its head, then thrust it forward with a loud roar right into Sergey’s face. Although its breath was rancid, the adrenaline was pumping through Sergey. He grabbed it in a bear hug and heaved backwards. The beast slashed a deep gash in his back, causing Sergey to panic. With a final burst of adrenaline, he flung the creature into his dead parents’ room. He slammed the door and ran for his life. He had made it a half-mile from his house when the creature caught up to him. Sergey never even saw the wicked saber-like claw that took his head clear off of his shoulders.

3rd Incident:

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.—12:15 A.M.—10/31/06
          Jack Holum could not get to sleep. Nor did he want to, at least not with the recent dreams he had been having. There was a mild thunderstorm outside. However, despite his best efforts, Jack’s eyes began to droop and he started to drift to sleep. That’s when he heard the shriek coming from his sister’s room. It was just as unnerving as it was in his dreams. He was wide-awake and running to his sister’s room in the blink of an eye. He kicked the door open just as the window to her thirty-first floor room shattered. Jack could barely distinguish an inky form entering her room. The beast saw Jack, and now Jack could see it. The creature’s eyes are what allowed Jack to act. He dropped into a fighting stance, and waited to see if the beast would take his challenge. It answered by screaming shrilly, then launching itself at Jack. Jack kept watching the blood red orbs of the creature’s eyes to judge the distance. At the last possible moment, Jack sidestepped the charging behemoth. The monster tore a chunk out of his shirt, but did no physical harm. Jack grabbed it from behind. Using the creature’s own momentum, he was able to slingshot the creature around and toss it back out the window. He was confident that it was dead, as they were on the thirty-first floor, but when he looked out the window, he could see the beast disappear into the shadows cast by a local street lamp. He heard someone running.

          Oh, no, thought Jack, I forgot that Mr. Watson likes to go for midnight runs!! He should be returning any second now. As if to prove him right, Mr. Watson jogged into the circle of light cast by the street lamp, then disappeared back into the darkness. A shadow separated itself from the wall and quickly followed him. Jack suddenly became very sick in the stomach. I may have saved my sister, but I’ve doomed Mr. Watson, he thought to himself. He turned away from the window. There was nothing more he could do now.

          Mr. Watson was a physically fit forty-one year old man. He often jogged the streets at night, daring unsuspecting muggers to attack him. After the first one did, they all tended to leave him pretty much alone, as he gave that young fellow a rather good thrashing. Now he was entering a dark section of the street before he reached the hotel lobby. He liked to refer to this stretch of pavement as “the Gauntlet.” Little did he know what really awaited him in the shadows.

          They really should get a lamp for this street, thought Mr. Watson, It is the perfect place for someone to set up an ambush. He suddenly ran straight smack into a wall. He fell back onto the pavement.

         Who the heck built a wall here?! he thought as he got up and brushed himself off, It wasn’t there when I left. A pair of savage red eyes appeared from the darkness. He heard a low growl that escalated into a high-pitched scream. Mr. Watson was paralyzed with fear. The creature was huge. Watson could barely make out long, wicked claws on the hand of the beast. Then his entire chest felt as if it were suddenly set on fire. The beast had thrust one of its claws into Watson’s chest and lifted him clear off the ground. It raked its other hand across Mr. Watson’s face. Mr. Watson cried out and tried to hold his face together with his hands. Seeing this, the creature slashed at both of Mr. Watson’s arms with its one free hand. There was a sickening tearing sound and Watson’s arms fell to the street. Mr. Watson was still conscious as he cried out in agony. He let out one last final screech of pain as the creature yanked Mr. Watson’s heart out. It let the body of the dead man fall to the ground, then took off with the fresh heart clutched in its paw. Watson’s mutilated corpse lay on the street in an ever-expanding pool of blood.

The Roundup:

Berlin, Germany—8:30 A.M.—10/31/06
          Jack and his sister entered the large building. A woman seated behind a large desk greeted them. She led them to a waiting room and told them to take a seat. After about ten minutes, the secretary opened the door and ushered in a young man, actually a boy, who could not have been older than 18 into the room. He had somewhat of a pale face, and jet-black hair. Over the next half-hour, four more people were ushered into the room. The last one to enter was a face that Jack instantly recognized.

          “Mikhail!” he exclaimed, “How have you been? We haven’t heard from you in years!”

          “Da, tovarisch,” answered Mikhail Gureyvich, “It has been something like three or four years.”

          “We were starting to wonder if you had forgotten us,” said Jack. He motioned to his sister, “Sara was heartbroken for months.”

          “Shut up,” she said playfully, hitting him hard on the arm. She was turning red.

          “It’s alright,” said Mikhail, “You can bet I was also heartbroken for months.” Mikhail and Jack snickered as Sara relaxed. Jack had often joked that Mikhail did not have a heart at all, as he never missed people, even close friends. Sara finally caught on and slugged Mikhail in the arm, causing him to wince.

          “Anyway, do you have any idea why we’re all here?” asked Jack.

          “Nyet. No idea whatsoever,” he sat down between Jack and Sara, “how are your parents doing?”

          “Unfortunately, both of them died last year; killed by a drunk driver,” replied Jack. Then he realized the reason why they might all be here. “Something funny happened last night,” said Jack.

          “You’re telling me?” said Mikhail, “Last night I saw the worst thing in the world. My brother Sergey’s bloody carcass lying in the middle of the road, and his head lying about ten feet away!” Mikhail shook his head as if to clear away the bad thought, then continued, “and that’s not all. When I got home, I found both of my parents in a similar state as he.”

          “I wonder who is to bla—” Sara started to say, but she was cut off by the entrance of three men in black suits. The man in lead looked all of them over, then motioned for them to follow him. They were led into a large room. He walked to the center of the room, then turned and began to speak.

          “You people are gathered here for one reason,” he began. “Every single one of you has either encountered the being we are calling the ‘Shadow Creature’ firsthand, or has arrived after the creature had left.” Without waiting for any questions, he motioned for the two other men to set down and open their suitcases. The ‘men in black’ quickly distributed a funny looking pistol and rifle to each person in the room.

          “What kind of guns are these?” thought Jack aloud. Mikhail was wondering the same thing.

          “They aren’t conventional guns. These are the light weapons that you will use to kill the shadow creatures at their source. My name is Hans Saxon, and I will be leading the expedition to the shadow creatures’ hideout. Once there, we hope to be able to kill the shadow king and rid ourselves of these creatures. I will now leave you, as I have some planning to do. You have until 1500 hours until we must leave. Get acquainted with each other in the meantime. That is all.” He turned and quickly left the room, the two other men following him.

          “That was quick,” said Sara. She looked at her gun.

          “They’re lasers,” said Mikhail. “Just simple lasers. No bang, no smoke, just plain light.”

          “Figures,” said Jack, “These are shadow creatures, right? Well what better way to defeat a shadow than with light?”

          Everyone agreed with him, and they spent the next few hours forming themselves into a tightly bound team.

Showdown:

“Shadow Cove,” Greenland—7:30 P.M.—10/31/06
          They stood in the fading light at the cove’s entrance. They had their rifles out and at the ready, while their pistols were worn on their belts in holsters. Also on their belts were night vision goggles. There were three high-powered spotlights set up on towers. Hans silently instructed Jerry Williams, Harry Wilcox, and Kage Makuso to man each station. He then motioned to Jack, Sara, Mikhail, and the young boy whose name was Max Heidelberg to follow him into the cove. As they entered, the three beams of the spotlights illuminated them as the beams centered on the entrance. They had penetrated about twenty feet into the cove when they were plunged into total darkness. Hans muttered the first words to be spoken since they arrived by helicopter.

          “NVGs,” he said. The five of them quickly lay their rifles down and slipped the goggles off of their waists and onto their faces. They then retrieved their rifles and proceeded deeper into the cove. Multiple shadow creatures that appeared from thin air as they penetrated even deeper attacked them. They dropped each monster that appeared with a single blast from their laser rifles. Suddenly, the tunnel they were in expanded into a huge domed cavern, with splotches of black shadow creatures clinging to the walls. In the middle of the room sat the Shadow King. It was over 12 feet tall, and had distinguishable features. It raised itself off of its throne and motioned to the walls. Four shadow creatures dropped down and zoomed to the middle of the room. As Jack and Max fired at them, they burst into flame. The humans cried and tore off their goggles as the light blinded them.

          “SO,” said the king, “YOU HAVE PENETRATED AS FAR AS MY THRONE ROOM. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO ACHIEVE NOW?” Hans knelt and raised his rifle.

          “We’re gonna kill you now!” answered Hans. He fired, but the king was unaffected. Instead, it stepped over to Hans and picked him up. Hans shrieked as his body was ripped in half by the Shadow King. It lour at the other humans.

          “ANYONE ELSE WANT TO STAND UP TO ME?” asked the king. Suddenly, two beams of light streaked over the heads of the expedition party. Jerry Williams and Harry Wilcox were firing into the king’s eyes with their rifles. Kage seemed to be meditating.

         “SHOOT IT IN THE EYES!” yelled Jerry, “WE GOTTA BLIND IT SO KAGE CAN KILL IT!” Jack and Sara immediately raised their rifles and fired at the king’s eyes. Mikhail and Max did likewise.

          Kage stood, slowly inhaling as he opened his eyes. He gave a frightening shout, then launched himself towards the king. As he neared it, Kage leapt high into the air, a long sword in his hands. With a final yell, he sliced the sword through the king’s neck. The dead king’s head flew off. The room was suddenly plunged into darkness as the Shadow Torches died. All around them, they could here the moans of the creatures as they died.

          “We did it,” said Jack, “We killed the king. Now all the creatures are dying.”

          “Let’s get out of here,” said Mikhail. They all slipped on their NVGs again and made their way out of the cove. It was already morning and it was bright and sunny. They were glad to be free of the curse of the Shadow King.

-The End-