The Horrors of Blackwood

The Horrors of Blackwood
A Novel by J. D. McAfee

Day 0 - 11:42 p.m.

          Emily awoke with a start to the sudden uproar of thunder outside her window. She could hear the rain scraping against the window with dull thuds as she reached out and grasped her doll and blanket; pulling it tight around her. A flash of lightning illuminated the room and then dispersed into a roar.
          Through the upheavals of thunder, she could hear the low, moaning howl of the wind. Emily tried to shrug off the feeling of anxiety filling her quickly and shut her eyes tight. She just wanted it all to end.
          Being just a child when her parents were in an accident the stormy night in the winter, she grew afraid of the wind and thunder, afraid that she would relive that moment when the policeman came to her home and told them the news. She didn’t like that feeling and was desperately trying to escape it again.
          Another bolt of lightning and rumbling of thunder occurred. Emily quickly stumbled out of bed, dragging the dirty doll behind her and ran to the door. Tears welled in her eyes, now, as she clawed at the door handle, forcing it to turn wide and flinging the door open. She started down the hallway when her knees buckled and she came crashing down to the floor. At that moment, when her head connected with the floorboards, the thunder stopped. The lightning stopped. The world went quiet.
          She laid there a moment longer, listening intently for the soft resonance of rain or the low mumble of thunder. It didn’t come.
          Emily felt the floor beneath her and slowly ached herself up, putting a hand on the railing next to the stairs. Still waiting for it all to rush in again, she slowly inched backwards toward her bedroom door. A bad feeling was in her stomach.
          And as if in the distance, outside the window maybe, protruded a soft, whispering voice. The voice began as a quiet mumble and grew until the words became clear. The voice came as if from nowhere but it was clear as day.
          “Emily . . .” the voice beckoned.
          Emily ignored it at first, reaching around the corner, struggling to find the light switch.
          “Emily . . .” it called once more.
          She found the switch and flipped it up but no light came. She flipped it up and down but still no light. She quickly began to panic, as if the walls of the room were enclosing on her. She scampered to the corner of the room and held her knees to her chin, rocking back and forth, eyes closed.
          “Emily . . .”
          This time the words sunk deep within her. The voice. That very beacon was so familiar. A loving voice but so emotionless. She waited for a moment and it came again. She was positive now, that voice . . . that voice was her mom’s!
          “Mommy!” Emily called out, throwing herself to her feet, the tears washed away with, happiness, “is that you, Mommy?”
          “Yes, my Emily. It is your mommy. I have been waiting for you.”
          “Where have you been? I thought you were in a better place?”
          “I am, darling. I am in a much better place. But it sure is lonely here without you. I sure wish you were here with me. Do you want to be here with me, hunny? Do you want to see me?”
          “Of course, Mommy! I want to see you! I’ve missed you lots!” Emily couldn’t hide her joy as she nodded her head furiously in response.
          “Then come to us. Go to the woods and be with us.”
          “The woods? By myself?”
          “Yes, dear. But do not worry, nothing will hurt you. I will be with you the entire time. And when you get here, we can play together just like before I left.”
          Excitement overwhelmed her as Emily stumbled out of her bedroom door and down the stairs. She turned around the corner and to the front door. Grabbing the flashlight beside the door atop the desk, she exited the house and went out into the night.

Day 0 - 11:48 p.m.

          Ashley strolled the small cart filled with medicine and pills down the white hospital hallway. She slowly passed the rooms of patients to her left and the windows of flashing light to her right. The storm was quickly growing worse outside of the cement walls but she wasn’t that concerned.
          She was concerned, however, about the management mistake in the hospital scheduling management. Ashley had specifically reported on her resume and told the boss, Chris, that she was unwilling to work all night shifts. She had never specifically felt safe working practically alone in a hospital illuminated by fluorescent lights. Especially with the growing population of missing persons over the last few months.
          Ashley was not quite sure why she was afraid and insecure of being alone but it was a problem she had bowed to ever since the age of ten when she was stranded alone in a grocery store overnight when her mom mistakenly left her and the management didn’t notice her while closing the store. From ten to six she waited alone in the grocery store, huddled in the corner waiting for her mom.
          The memory of the emotions of fright and loneliness made her all the more concerned about her current state. What if she was possibly locked in a hospital alone with the silent chirping of the heart monitors. She suddenly felt nauseated.
          Ashley stopped in her tracks and ran around the corner to the bathroom. Rushing inside and flinging a stall door open, she knelt in front of the toilet and threw up. She felt dizzy and out of place, the memories still pulsing in the back of her mind.
          As she knelt forward once more, the lights in the room flickered a few times. Ashley slowly came to her feet and wiped her mouth, sweat now forming around her forehead. She traced her path to the sink and bent over, splashing water on her face. As she lifted back up, she dispensed a paper towel and wiped the water off.
          She looked in to the mirror once more and studied herself.
          Easy, Ashley. Just remember that you are not alone. There are a few others working right now. Just calm and take some nice, deep breaths and it will all be over soon. Nice and easy. She thought slowly as she rubbed her eyes and released a sigh.
          Her moment of calm was quickly interrupted when the lights flickered out completely leaving her alone in the cold, hard bathroom with the smell of urine and vomit hanging in the air.

Day 0 - 11:51 p.m.

          Vincent sat at his desk in the Blackwood Police Department, staring blankly at the form in front of him. His eyes were heavy, fighting to stay awake as he gazed wearily. The one job that Vincent hated about being a policeman. The paperwork. He yawned again and rocked back in his small, hard, wooden chair.
          The paperwork was on an incident that occurred recently when he and his partner, David Cox, were looking into the recent string of missing persons. Their investigation led them in the direction of the forest and they were in quite a hurry to solve the case. Deeper and deeper they went, looking for any remote clue of evidence that could point them closer to the end of the case. But the further they went, the thicker the fog got. After Vincent began to hesitate, David decided he would continue on anyway in an attempt to solve the case soon. Vincent waited for almost three hours before leaving the forest. Since then, he has not seen his partner.
          David was like a brother to him and yet, he felt like he had abandoned him in those woods. Left him to die, even. Ever since he returned, he has not felt the same about himself.
          As he almost drifted out of consciousness, the church bells at the edge of town chimed out reciting that it was midnight.
          Already? Vincent thought. It felt like he had just arrived at work.
          A few more minutes passed when suddenly a scream echoed through the streets, screeching through the silence, it seemed. The scream brought Vincent to his feet and immediately he holstered his gun and grabbed his flashlight.
          Jogging to the door that leads to the street he just barely glanced outside the window to notice the most gut-wrenching thing of the night. The fog had swept through the town from the sea on the other side of the forest. The fog was thick to the point that outside the window was practically engulfed. But, an eerie feeling set in. The fog was a deep, crimson red for some unknown reason.
          Vincent regarded this only for a moment before opening the door and walking out on to the main street in the direction of the scream.

Day 1 - 12:36 p.m.

          Alex quickly awoke, startled by a sudden scream that protruded from outside his window. He paid no attention to it as he stretched out and yawned tiredly. He rolled over in bed, wondering about the sound.
          Yawning once more, he wrapped himself in his blankets and rested for only a few minutes when suddenly three consecutive bangs echoed out.
          Bang!
          Bang!
          Bang!
          And then a deafening silence.
          The sound. It was from a gun!
          Alex threw himself out of bed and onto the cold floor. Stumbling to the door, he burst out into the hallway and ran to his sister’s room. Throwing the door open in hopes he would see her calmly asleep in her bed. His hopes were shattered when it only revealed stirred blankets and an empty bed. Alex was taken aghast.
          “Emily! Emily!” Alex called over and over as he searched the entire upstairs. As he began walking down the stairs, a sudden breeze hit him.
          He turned the corner to face the hall leading to the front door when he saw a heavy blanket of fog rolling across the floorboards. Another breeze hit him and he slowly tilted his head upwards to see the front door ajar and the flashlight missing.
          “Emily . . .” he whispered.
          Alex got dressed quickly and found the emergency flashlight underneath the bed. He then quickly left the house with the horror of hoping his sister was still breathing.

Day 1 - 12:08 p.m.

          Vincent slowly drifted across the pavement, gun loaded and ready to fire in front of him. He could barely see due to the immense fog so instead he focused on trying to hear steps on the pavement. Deeper he delved into the crimson fog.
          Walking further, a sudden flashback of David’s laugh as he taunted Vincent, walking down the forest path alone. How could he leave him alone. It was wrong of him. He shunned himself constantly for it.
          Suddenly, he was able to make out a dark figure coiled on the ground. He approached it slowly, gun out held, questioning his actual ability of shooting someone.
          The figure became clearer as he got closer until finally revealing a young woman clutching her stomach and breathing heavily. She looked deeply troubled and as if she could not breath.
          “Ma’am? Are you alright?” Vincent questioned, lowering his gun slightly.
          “I am having troubles breathing. I can’t breathe.,” she slowly exhaled, moving her hand to her own throat.
          “I could escort you to the hospital. It is not that far. Just down the street and around the corner.”
          He gave her his hand and then lifted her up. Putting her arm around him, they together walked down the deep fog covered path.

Day 1 - 12:14

          Ashley walked down the hall with the flashlight glaring off the tile floor, back towards where the medicine cart was left. The power in the building was completely off and by the looks of outside, the entire city’s power was as well.
          She came to the small metal cart and began to push it further up the hall towards the nurses station behind the lobby. She strolled along breathing heavily as she fought to keep her mind from that exact moment when she discovered she was lost in the grocery store. That fear kept overwhelming her. What if she was alone and locked in here, now?
          She dropped off the cart in the nurses station and made her way to the faucet in the back of the room. Without looking down, she turned on the faucet and began to wash her hands.
          Then the most grotesque feeling hit her. Her hands felt slimy and the water felt real warm. She glanced down and saw that mud was squirting out of the faucet. She almost screamed as she practically fell backwards on the tile.
          “Is anyone here?”

Day 1 - 12:18

          “Is anyone here?’ Vincent called out to the empty lobby room, “Someone! We need dire assistance immediately!”
          Suddenly, a young slender woman with hazel eyes and flowing brown hair came out of the nurses station.
          “What do you need?” she asked calmly but her serene appearance quickly jutted when she saw the woman clasping her throat.
          “She can not breathe!”
          “I need to call Doctor Lowe.”
          She jumped towards the phone and began to dial when she suddenly hung up the phone.
          “The phone line is dead. Quick! Bring her this way.”
          She led him and the woman to a small room down the long, narrow hall and they placed her on a cold steel medical bed.
          The woman on the table started coughing blood and gasping for air. She threw her arms out, grasping at the air in front of her, her eyes bold and dull.
          “Contain her!” the nurse said as she stabbed a needle in to her shoulder and pushed the medicine in her system.
          The woman slowly became limp on the table. Vincent and the nurse looked at each other profoundly.
          “Dear God . . .” she whispered quietly.
          Vincent took her by the hand and led her to the door.
          “You shouldn’t have to see this.”
          They opened the door and stepped outside of the room. Vincent looked at her.
          “You did your best. It was too late for her.”
          “Thanks,” she said as she barely managed a small smile.
          With a sudden snap, Vincent was thrown to the ground by an immense weight as he heard the nurse scream out. His head banged the tile, ripping a wound across his forehead. Letting out a quick gasp, he looked at where the force came to see the woman who had just died atop him, foam forming around her mouth as she bit furiously at him. Her teeth seemed more jagged, blood drooling out of the corner of her mouth. Vincent grasped her throat and held her head away from him as his other hand felt down his side to his gun holster. All the while, the nurse was screaming.
          The fingernails of the woman dug deep into his flesh, ripping the skin off his wrist. He felt the sharp pain as he pulled out his gun and pointed up towards her stomach and firing once.
          The woman seemed to be surprised but ravaged on. He fired once more in the left breast. This time, she was pushed back just enough for him to swing the gun out from underneath her and point at her face.
          The woman, as if possessed, growled lowly and lunged at him once more and he pulled the trigger a final time.
          The woman fell motionless to the floor, arms and legs twitching.
          The nurse continued to scream.
          “Calm down, just relax. Are you okay?”
          “What the fuck was that?” she screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
          “I think she was crazed . . .”
          “Crazed? Crazed!? She was fucking dead!”
          “We need to find some help.”
          He grabbed her hand and they started down the hall when he stopped abruptly.
          “What is it?” the nurse questioned.
          “Look . . .”
          He pointed down the long corridor. She followed his finger and saw with overwhelming horror what he had revealed. Coming out of one of the patient rooms was a young man whose eyes were bleeding and his face torn. He was drooling blood similar to the other woman. She groped his hand.
          “The second floor.”
          They ran to the stairs.


Day 1 - 12:26 a.m.

          Alex wondered across the street and to the small bridge that crossed the river which leads to the sea on the other side of the forest. He crossed it, following the trail of footprints left in the mud by what seemed to be her feet. He came to the bridge and crossed, shining the flashlight towards the forest. He was unsure that she would wander this far at this time.
          He crept along the side of the bridge, grasping the rail. The night air was brisk and cool, making him begin to shiver. The fog didn’t help the matter, either.
          Once on the opposite side of the bridge, Alex looked for footprints but saw none.
          Where did she go? He questioned himself.
          Alex continued on the path anyway, searching for any clues as to where she might had been.
          Ten minutes passed by the time he reached a barricade in his path. During the storm, the wind must had knocked down a large tree, now blocking his path. The only way around was to climb through the branches and leaves.
          He did just that.
          Brushing through the branches, feeling the wet leaves smack across his face, Alex crawled through the tree. The branches were sharp enough to rip through his white tee-shirt and across bare flesh, leaving cat scratch marks.
          About halfway to the other side, he could hear a faint cry come from nearby. He stopped in his path and glanced around, searching for the cause of the noise. Surely enough, a young girl was cuddled in between branches to his left, sobbing her eyes out.
          “Are you alright? What are you doing out here alone?”
He questioned, moving closer to her through the leaves.
          “They are after me,” she whispered through the tears.
          “Who is after you?”
          “They are. I did something they did not like and now they are after me.”
          “What r you talking about?”
         The girl shifted uneasily.
          “Can you help me? Please help me. Please?”
          “What can I do for you?”
          “Take me with you. Please Don’t leave me here with them after me.”
          “I can take you with me I guess but I am looking for my sister.”
          “Out here?”
          “Yeah. You seen her?”
          “They might have.”
          “Who are they? What would they want with her?”
          “I do not know. It is not safe.”
          “Come with me. I can help you and you can help me.”
          He grabbed her hand and together they walked through the tree and to the other side where they continued down the long twisting forest path.

Day 1 - 12:41 a.m.

          Sarah awoke to a large crash from inside the house. She quickly crawled out of bed and turned the light in her room on. Cracking the door open just enough to see out, she peered across the hallway and to the stairways.
          Did that come from downstairs? She pondered before stepping outside her room and proceeding to the stairs. Slowly she crept, each stair making a squeak until she reached the bottom floor.
          She kept going over the possibility of a burglar in her mind. What if someone has a gun or is going to attack me. What if -
          She continued questioning as she glanced around the corner. She then snuck across the hallway to the kitchen opening. Around the corner of the door stood her mom hovering above the sink. A shattered plate was around her feet as she silently washed the dishes.
          Something didn’t seem right.
          Sarah moved very slowly to the left just enough to see what exactly her mom was doing. The vision was grotesque and horrifying.
          Her mother’s hands were rubbing against the plates, not cleaning them but instead scratching them; fingernails ripping off and blood spilling over the dishes. The sink was squirting what seemed like mud. Blood coated the sink and down the front of the cupboard.
          The high scratching noise of a chalkboard protruded from the plate as her mom inspected it and then dropped it next to her, shattering the plate.
          The sudden burst of noise led Sarah to let out a small yelp and at that her mom swung around revealing a scratched up face, her eyes emitting drops of blood like tears. Sarah screamed as she quickly turned and scrambled at the stairs, the sound of her mom’s steps closing in behind her and the heavy breathing she gave out. She stumbled across the stairs when suddenly a tight grip came to her ankle. She spun around to see her mother digging what few nails she had left in to her tendons as she let out a cry of pain.
          Sarah kicked over and over until her foot landed on her mom’s face, crushing her nose underneath the force. At the snap of the bone, Sarah got to her feet, now limping, and ran to her room, shutting the door behind her.
          She leapt across the floor to the closet and hid inside.
          She quickly tried to stop breathing so heavily but it was to no avail. She could hear the footsteps coming closer to her room as she cuddled up in the corner, tears streaming down her face.
Soon, the knob on the door rattled before being pushed open. The steps came closer then stopped. She could hear the sound of her mom’s breathing growing louder as she moved closer to the closet door.
          Sarah took a deep breath in and held it as long as she could. Her stomach squirmed wanting to exhale but it suddenly dropped when underneath the door, the light was suddenly retreated by the shadow of her mom. She continued holding her breath, sweat starting to drench her skin, her nightgown now sticking to her. A minute or so passed and Sarah began to contemplate not breathing again, similar to when you are underwater and you seem so far to the top and you wonder if you will make it before you drown.
          Just then, the shadow went away and the footsteps seemed to grow distant. Sarah let out her breath in a loud sigh.
          At that very moment, the closet door flung open revealing her mom standing there. Sarah screamed and dived out of the closet, knocking past her mom as she ran to the window.
          She struggled getting it open, her mom’s breathing growing steadily louder. Finally the latch broke and the window slid open. She crawled outside of the room when her mom suddenly grabbed her foot again but this time Sarah was ready. She brought the other foot full around and knocked her mom sideways. She then threw herself out on to the shingle roof.
          The rain poured on her as she crawled on the roof towards the other side of the house where the shed was. The rain made the roof slick, her hands and feet sliding off the shingles. She came to the point in the roof and began to stand, just then she fell and slid down the side of the roof. She clawed at the tiles, ripping them off as she fell. Suddenly she clenched on to the FIND THE NAME and held on tight. She pulled herself up and clawed back up the side of the house. She reached the point and tried to stand once more, this time succeeding.
          Sarah then slowly inched herself across towards the side on which the shed was. When she came to it she saw the distance between the edge of the roof and the shed top. Taking one big breath in, she ran to jump but suddenly, her foot slipped from beneath her and she fell. Sliding to the edge of the roof, she latched onto the gutter, which then consecutively swung her down to the yard.
          She let go of the gutter, falling down in to a puddle of mud. She was soaked as she clawed her way closer to the shed across the lawn. The mud tore up underneath her nails.
          As she clawed her way towards the shed, she suddenly became very woozy. The blood loss must had been to great. She needed medical attention soon.
          She came to the shed and a sudden realization hit her. The only way to get inside to get what she needed was to have the key to the padlock.


Day 1 - 12:43 a.m.

          Vincent was pushed up against the door, pressing as hard as he can as Ashley was sobbing in the background. On the other side of the door, two or three of the crazed people slammed in to the door.
          “I can’t hold it much longer!” Vincent called as he started to lose pressure against their consistent slamming.
          “I have an idea,” she walked away for a minute then returned with a small wooden chair.
          Together they propped the door handle on the chair and then quickly stepped back.
          “We need to find help,” Vincent said as he searched the room for anything that could be used as a weapon.
          “How, though? We can’t possibly just walk out of here! Did you see those fucks? They were crazed. Crazed!”
          “Calm down ...”
          “Calm down!? How can I be calm when people who I put to sleep earlier are trying to rip me apart? I know these people! I know them!”
          Vincent stumbled a bit more listening to her rant when a sudden idea hit him.
          “Is there an emergency exit?”
          “On the first floor. Why?”
          “We can go out through there and the siren will ring signaling help. Two birds, one stone.”
          “How are we going to get there, though?”
          Vincent sprawled out the blueprints off the hospital.
          “We are here, correct?” he pointed to a spot on the map.
          “Yeah.”
          “We need to get here,” he said as he traced his finger down the stairway, across the first floor and to the exit.
          “Yep.”
          “We can climb out of the window and...”
          “Out of the window? Are you nuts?”
          “Just listen. Climb out the window and walk along the edge to the room that is in front of the stairs. R203. We then run down the stairs and to the exit. Simple as that.”
          “Simple?’
          “We will be out of here in no time.”
          She shook her head and chuckled.
          “You are joking, right? We are not really going out on the ledge?’
          Vincent propped the window open and stuck his head outside. He studied the angle and estimated which room was R203. Placing his foot on to the ledge, he slowly crawled over the window and pushed himself against the outside wall. He then crossed out of Ashley’s vision.
          “Oh my God,” she whispered as she did the same.
          As she stepped out of the room, she could hear the door bust open and as quick as she could, she crossed along the ledge.


Day 1 - 12:52 a.m.

          Sarah crawled along the top of the roof, the rain still pouring down on her. The key she needed for the padlock was on the bottom floor of the house in the storage room. It was just the matter of getting there.
          She slid down the roof to the edge where she crept along to her open window. She stepped back in and changed clothes quickly. Something more mobile.
          Sarah crept out of the room and to the stairway. She watched for a few minutes, not seeing anyone and went down the stairs and to the kitchen area. Her mom was not there. The realization that she could be anywhere made her stomach drop.
          She slowly crossed the floor until reaching the doorway to the living room.
          Sarah peered around the corner, seeing no one, and then quickly crossed the room to the door leading to the hallway. This way was faster and was less risk of being seen by her mom.
          Sarah slowly turned the knob and pushed open the door. She glanced around quickly to make sure no one was there and began inching across the hall to the storage room.
          Abruptly, she heard quick footsteps approaching and in order to hide, turned around and ran in to the bathroom at the end of the hall.
          She pressed herself against the door, listening intently as the footsteps grew nearer. The handle of the door began to turn. Sarah, startled turned and opened the shower curtain and laid down inside the bath. She closed the curtain and awaited her mom to enter.
          In came she, with what seemed to be a butcher knife. Slowly the figure approached, only the shadow visible through the curtain. Sarah held her breath again but this time, her mom left quickly.
          Sarah took her chances and snuck out of the room and down the hallway, her mom’s steps unheard. Turning into the storage room, she entered and grabbed the shed key off of the hook.
          She then continued down the hall towards the stairway. As she turned the corner, she saw her dad standing on the banister. Blood spewed from his mouth down his shirt, his eyes a pale green instead of their usual dark brown.
          Sarah quickly retreated back around the corner.
          THINK! Where else can I get out of here unnoticed? I can’t go out the upstairs and the only way out downstairs is the front door. Oh! And the bathroom window but that is risky. It is my only way though.
          She returned to the bathroom and climbed on top of the sink. She then, maintaining balance, reached across the room and forced the window open. With a sudden crack, it whipped open sending out a loud noise across the silence.
          Shit!
          She grabbed on to the ledge and began pulling herself up. Struggling to lift herself, the approaching sound of her parents came closer. She swung her leg up over the edge, sending the stuff sitting on the sink crashing to the floor.
          Her mom let out a low croaking noise as she ran towards Sarah through the hall.
          Sarah swung her other leg over and fell to the mud and rain outside the window. She could hear the incessant growling and scratching at the bathroom wall.
          Taking her opportunity, she ran across the yard and to the shed where she unlocked the padlock and entered. Quickly, she grabbed what she came for, a flashlight and a small pistol. She then ran out the front gate towards the main road.

Day 1 - 12:54 A.M.

          “Fuck.”
          “What is it, Vincent?” Ashley nervously questioned him.
          Vincent was standing at the door of room R203 with his ear to the door. Ashley was behind him, her brown hair falling in tangles.
          “Those bastards. They are outside this door too. There must be a dozen of them outside.”
          “Is there any other ideas you have?”
          Vincent paced the room. Ashley took a seat on the small chair in the room.
          “Where are the stairs leading to the emergency exit?”
          “They are at the far end of this hall but the door is locked due to the establishment of the stairway in front of us. So the only way down is through here unless you of course have the key.”
          “Where is the key?”
          “It is in the janitor office in the basement but,”
          Vincent handed her his gun and then took off his over shirt revealing his bulletproof vest and his white undershirt. He then unfastened his utility belt and grabbed the flashlight out of it.
          “What is this for? Where are you going?”
          Ashley began to panic.
          “I am going to the basement to get those keys so we can get the hell out of here.”
          “But-,”
          “Shoot them in the face. Seems to work well.”
          Before she could say another word, Vincent crawled out the window and on to the ledge.
          “If I am not back in thirty minutes, crawl out the window and make your way to the roof where I want you to light the flares. Got it?”
          “Why don’t we just light them now?”
          “We don’t have that long.”
          With that he inched away from the window heading towards the edge of the building.

Day 1 - 12:56 a.m.

          Chris woke to the sound of someone rapidly knocking and banging on the door. He got out of bed and continued downstairs where he could hear the sound of a young girl yelling muffled words through the door. He opened it and saw the sobbing and soaked Sarah Navarre standing in front of him.
          “You have to help me, please! Something is wrong! I don’t know what happened!” she excitedly spoke.
          “Calm down and start from the beginning.”
          “My parents! They tried to kill me!”
          “What?” he questioned horrified.
          “They were changed. I don’t know how to explain it. They were not them. Please you have to help me!”
          “Come on inside.”
          He wrapped a jacket around her shivering body and took her inside, sitting her at the table in the kitchen.
          “I will be right back. I am going to grab the phone upstairs so we can report this.”
          He walked upstairs and when he reached the hallway, his daughter, Amber, was standing at the other end of the hall. He could not see what she was doing, just her silhouette.
          “What are you doing up Amber?”
          Her silhouette became lifelike as she stepped out of the darkness, revealing her normally hazel eyes to be a strange, light green. Her teeth were jagged and she was spitting up blood. He recoiled in horror.
          “Amber? What happened?”
          Without a word she let out a screech and tackled him down to the ground. He held her shoulders as she viscously snapped at his neck. Blood flying everywhere from her crooked jaws.
          Chris struggled, keeping her teeth from his neck, as he attempted not to hurt her. Amber reached back and brought her hand down hard on his chest, her unusually long nails ripping through flesh and meat, the horrid tearing sound filling the air.
          And then came a rush by his ear and a loud crack.
          Amber’s body fell limp in his arms. Looking up, a bullet was through her left eye leaving an enormous exit wound.
          He threw the corpse off of him and found where the bullet came from. Sarah stood with the gun out, smoke billowing from its barrel.
          “That is how my parents were. Do you have a wife?”
          “No.”
          “Something is the matter. This is not a coincidence. I think the entire town is like this. I have no idea why we still are normal but we have to get out of Blackwood. We have to get out of here!”
          Chris stood, brushing off the scattered chunks of flesh when suddenly he doubled over in pain.
          “What is wrong?” she asked, coming to his aide.
          “She got me good.”
          He lifted up and let her see the ripped up flesh of his chest.
          “My ankle got torn also.”
          “Come here and let me see.”
          “What are you a doctor?”
          “Actually, yes I am. The name is Chris Lowe, M.D.”
          “Sarah Navarre.”
          He took her in to the bathroom where he then treated her ankle.