The three rushed to the door, Kait taking the lead. But as she wanted to push it open, it swung back.

Again, she threw herself at the door, but for a second time it was forced back into the lock. With panic in her eyes, she threw a glance out the window, only to meet the eyes of her mother.

With a grim expression, Reyna forced her knife into the lock to seal the door.

"Mom?!", Kait's voice was shaking as she tried to force her way out. "Mom!"

Outside, people were screaming. Chaos had the village in a chokehold. Everything was dark and yet people tried to escape the threat that the shadows had brought.

Reyna shook her head.

"Kait, listen!", Reyna's voice was calm but the shimmer in her eyes was a painful one. "You need to hide and then you need to run."

Kait's eyes jumped through the darkness.

A huge, strangely formed outline appeared. Slowly, it came closer, directly towards her mother. Unknown sounds came from its direction.

"What are you doing?", Kait asked, afraid this thing could come any closer.

But her mother caught her attention again.

"Kait, you have to listen-!", she insisted, but was interrupted as the strange creature wrapped its huge paws around her neck.

"Mom!"

Gasping and struggling, Reyna was swept off her feet and into the air as if she wasn't heavier than a hand full of dirt.
The unfamiliar creature eyed the human woman from all sides, as if it was the very first time that it made contact with something like her. Sounds escaped its mouth, which was filled with sharp, pointed teeth.

Without gasping for air, Reyna drew her second blade and cut the creatures hand off.

Screaming in pain, it let go of her.

She feel into the dirt, choking for air. But she didn't loose time and jumped back to her feet.

With a growl, the creature came running at her, only one hand left to grab its prey.

Reyna pulled her head in and landed a long, deep cut at the side of the monster. Blood covered her hands. But it struck her down with one blow, throwing her into the dirt as her attention briefly jumped to the people of the village.

Screaming, they ran for their lives as different looking, even stranger creatures jumped through the night and swallowed them in one bite.

Inside the barn, JD and Del tried to throw themselves against the door to force it open.

Kait stumbled back. With horror in her eyes she watched as one boy got snatched right in the middle of begging for shelter.

Outside, Reyna got smashed into the wall of a building. Breathing heavily, she gasped for air, trying to keep her mind going despite the pain and injuries her body had suffered already.

Suddenly, Oscar appeared out of nowhere. With his gun, he kept shooting at the creature.

"Reyna!", he shouted. "Run!"

But he was eliminated with one mighty blow. Coughing, he sunk to the ground.

His appearance gave her enough time to pick up her knife again and ram it into the creatures flesh.

Blood poured out of the huge wound, covering her hands and face.

But this wasn't enough to defeat an enemy so unknown, yet mighty as this thing.

With a growl, it pushed her back to the ground. It's fleshy fingers wrapped around the handle of her knife and ripped it out as if it was nothing. Threateningly, it approached Oscar, who was curling in pain in the dirt. One stab into his shoulder and the rainwater turned bloody.

"No!", Reyna screamed.

As if he was nothing but a mere puppet, the creature kicked his motionless body way only for it to be snatched by one of the many other creatures that were terrorising the village.

"Oscar...", she whispered, fighting back a stabbing pain in her chest.

Now, the creatures attention turned back to her. With a threatening growl, it approached her again, throwing away the blade to ensure that she had no options left anymore.

Breathing heavily, she crawled through the mud, feeling the cold world pressing down on her. But she didn't make it face, was barely strong enough to reach a pile of wood to press her back against. She had to swallow hard as the realisation struck that there was no escape no more. Her legs did not want to carry her and her body was slowly but surely turning against her.

Blackness crept into the corners of her eyes as she grabbed the medallion hanging around her neck and squeezed it as hard as she could. If this was the end, then she wanted to feel as calm as the sea. The square shaped metal pressed cold into her hand, as if it tried to become one with the flesh.

But despite the comfort that she found in this piece of jewellery, she couldn't help but sob a little. Her eyes jumped back to the barn.

Kait's voice filled the ears if her mothers. It was so shaky, so filled with pain as if she was about to loose everything that this world had to offer.

Their eyes met.

Kait screamed but all of a sudden the world fell silent.

Reyna's ears turned deaf. All she could hear was her own breath, echoing inside her head.

A soft smile appeared on her face as she whispered her daughters name.

The ground began to shake with every step that the monster came closer. It felt like a vibration, like an earthquake, so powerful and destructive yet unavoidable.

Reyna turned her gaze back to the unfamiliar enemy. Hate burned in her eyes. But she wasn't staring enough to resist.

Slowly, almost hesitantly, the huge hand reached out for her. Sharp claws dug into her skull, not painfully but deep enough to tear the soft skin apart and cause thin trails of red to drip over her face and down her throat.

A shaky, tired gasp escaped Reyna. She was barely able to raised her hands and grab the monsters wrist before the world drowned in darkness.