A pale specter walked alone through the dark, labyrinthian streets of the Suburbs. This man—if he could even be called a man—wandered aimlessly through streets built for no one. All he wanted was to feel alive.

Alive. Ha. He laughed to himself. His chest heaved in and out as his feet dragged across the concrete paths lit by a sickly green moon and amber streetlights.

Sssh… ssssh.

Sssh… ssssh.

The sound of his shambling form scraped like sandpaper against gnarled wood.

A lonely night was brought to a halt when the silhouette of a man pulled out of the darkened side streets ahead.

Oh? The shriveled man stopped and stared, thinking to himself for a moment.

Maybe tonight will be the night, he wheezed and laughed as he began to slink towards the man who seemed to be waiting silently for his arrival.

The distant man shouted, “stop! Empty your pockets and you won’t be harmed.”

“Why would I do something so inconvenient?”

The man gave a shrug and, as though to punctuate that gesture, a crack echoed from a faraway place, and the wall to the pale man’s right cracked. Dust and debris began to rain to the floor.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Only the weak kill a fly with a hammer.” A breathless laugh slipped out of the thin gangly man, shooting a chill down the wannabe ambusher’s spine. He took a step back. The swaying corpse seemed to like that and started to slide forward in the darkness.

Sssh… ssssh.

Sssh… ssssh.

“Hey, stand back! W-we’ll paint the walls with your brains. Don’t mo—” A crack echoed through the streets, and the figure jerked unnaturally. The thug froze and squinted. It was so much darker than he had anticipated tonight. The streetlights barely seemed to cast any light anymore as they flickered feebly. Trying to see whether his support’s shot landed, the thug’s heart skipped a beat as the figure twitched and resumed his walk.

Sssh… ssssh.

Sssh… ssssh.

“S-Stop!” Throwing his hands down, the man slapped the ground causing spikes of rebar to shoot out from the wall to impale the stalking horror. A smile half crept onto the man’s face before the shadow pulled past the spikes like they had all just chosen not to harm him.

This wasn’t a human… it couldn’t be. He tried to turn and run, but his trembling legs gave out underneath him.

Sssh… ssssh.

Sssh… ssssh.

Two cracks filled the air in rapid succession. The hollow man seized and twisted violently with each shot, but, alas, he kept on advancing with those uneven, loping steps. There were no impacts again?

“Stay awa—” The man’s words caught in his throat as he started to see the nearly skeletal man reach out. When had he gotten so close? He could see the man’s face clearly now, empty eyes held in deep sockets. This man's skin seemed to be pulled far too tightly against his skull… and he was showing his teeth. A smile that made the man give up, right then and there. Like a bug growing tired of struggling in the web, the man just laid on the ground, frozen, eyes forward as the man’s spidery fingers inched towards his face. All he saw, in the end, were those teeth… and the three bullets wedged between them.