Chapter 1
James Weathers stood underneath the last light that remained in the hospital corridor. He knew something was in the dark waiting for him, waiting for the light to go out.
James looked at the light, silently praying for it to stay on. The light started to flicker.
“Please, God, help me. Please don’t let them get me.”
The light continued to flicker, then went out. James could see it now, looking at him from the far end of the corridor next to the double doors. The thing shone out from the pitch black, as though a spotlight was shining down on it. The thing, whatever it was, stood three feet tall, it had the head of a badger, except the fur was brown, its nose was elongated to a point, and its eyes were large, teardrop-shaped and soullessly black. Its body was worn brown-patchwork, like a ragdoll, it had no legs, just rough strips of torn material hangng down to the floor, and it had rusty serrated blades in place of hands.
It was looking at James with those soulless eyes and was making its way towards him in jerky, robotic movements, holding its blade hands out in front of it. James pushed himself into the far wall of the corridor, trying to merge into the plaster, trying to hide.
The thing was halfway along the corridor when the light came back on and the door to the right opened. Lewis, the patient from the next room, came out, rubbing his eyes.
“James, what are you doing out of your room?”
James wasn’t looking at Lewis, but at the place the thing had been. He just stared at the space, not moving, not blinking.
“James, are you ok?” Lewis moved to approach James when he suddenly lurched forward, a scream exploding from his lips.
He put his hand to his back, then stared at the blood that covered his palm. He arched, as more blood – this time by his right shoulder blade – sprayed out against the wall in red dots, as if an artist had flicked red paint at the wall.
Lewis screamed again and was knocked to the floor. He clawed at the tiles as he started to slide backward into the darkness. James could do nothing but stand there, staring, as somebody who he had started to see as a friend in the hospital disappeared into blackness.
Lewis vanished and the thing appeared again, its movements more jerky as it dragged Lewis. It stopped and turned, moving to the unseen Lewis, whose cries echoed down the corridor.
The thing thrashed its blades into the darkness. Lewis’s cries became shrieks of pain; blood jets came out of the dark, splatting across the floor towards James. But still he continued to watch the thing, unmoving.
The thing turned to James again. James stared into the abysses of its eyes, feeling like he was falling into the blackness, descending into a dark world of madness.
