Caden spun the feather duster in a lazy circle, humming to the quiet sound of Boc rolling in from the store speakers.

He took a deep breath, relaxing as the scent of old books and cinnamon filled his nose.

Caden Nook Books was his store, his. Even after three years, the thought still warmed him.

He’d done it.

Oh, it might not be endless riches or the flashy lifestyle that James or Marvin had always talked about getting, but that had never appealed to Caden.

He was a simple man with simple needs, thank you very much.

A little shop, a small home, and his books were all he needed.

The others were still out chasing or talking about chasing a dream they would never achieve while he had already gotten his.

Morons.

Mire Lock was a small sleepy town. It was unremarkable, save for the hill it was built on and the river running down it. Nothing exceptional, but a pretty town with friendly enough neighbors.

It was perfect.

A floorboard creaked to his right, and Caden spun, his heart pounding.

A young boy wearing a blue superman shirt and dark shorts stared back at him, brown eyes wide.

He couldn’t be older than seven or eight.

The kid had frozen with a book halfway off the shelf, and he looked like he might bolt.

Caden took a deep breath. It’s just a kid, don’t be so jumpy.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t hear the bell; you caught me off guard.”

The child slowly started moving again. “So I’m not in trouble?” He asked, his voice high and uncertain.

“No,” Caden laughed. “You’re not in trouble. Is there any book in particular you're looking for?”

“Par-tic-ular?”

“It means a certain kind of thing.”

The kid blinked and then shook his head. “No. I’m just looking at any with pictures.”

Caden grinned. “Well, you're going to want to look over there.” He pointed to the picture book section. “Good luck with your search.”

The boy gave a serious nod and turned back to the shelf.

Caden chuckled and resumed his dusting. It was a little odd that the kid was wandering around without his parents, but it was a small town, so that wasn’t too uncommon.

He glanced towards the windows. The sun had set a little while ago, leaving the town in the latter edge of twilight.

It is a little odd for him to be out this late, isn’t it?

The streets and storefronts of their tiny downtown were illuminated with the harsh yellow of the streetlights, and the shadows they cast were just as intense.

As he dusted, the simple task ahead of him, the music in his ears and familiar smells of the shop filling his nose, his eyes began to wander.

He felt himself staring into those shadows and his eyes began to unfocus.

Something about them, they seemed almost…rich. Like staring into a painting and seeing depths you weren’t expecting. How could one shadow have so many shades of black?

Something tugged at the edge of his awareness.

Was…was something moving outside?

He shuddered, tearing his gaze away from the street. What was wrong with him tonight? Why was he so jumpy?

He shook his head and kept dusting. Just a little more, and he’d close up. He repeated that to himself several times until he started to feel better.

A gust of wind howled down the street, rattling the front door and causing Caden to flinch.

He bit back a curse as the kid eyed him.

Don’t swear in front of children, Caden.

The door stopped rattling, but the sound took a few seconds longer to taper out.

Huh.

He glanced at the kid. “Shouldn’t you be getting home? It’s pretty late. Your parents are going to worry.”

The kid shrugged without looking up from his picture book. “No, they won’t.”

Caden’s following words died on his lips. “…Oh. Take your time then.” It wasn’t enough, but what were you supposed to say to something like that?

The wind howled again. Caden had moved to the next shelf and started dusting when he realized something was wrong.

If the wind was howling like before, why wasn’t his door rattling?

An overwhelming sense of dread settled in his stomach as he turned to the door. No leaves blew by, and the distant trees weren’t moving.

No wind.

If there was no wind…

He took a deep breath as his hand clenched around the duster.

If there was no wind, then what was howling?

There was a boom somewhere in the distance, and the power cut off with a crack.

Every light winked out at once, plunging them into darkness.

Caden immediately started hyperventilating.

He wasn’t proud of it, but he owned a bookshop; dammit, he wasn’t made for surprises.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Mister? Are you okay?” The kid's voice snapped Caden from his building panic attack.

“I- ah- yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just…” he trailed off and quickly fished his keys from his pocket. “Is that howling getting louder?”

He rushed to the front door and locked it.

“Maybe?” The kid sounded equal parts curious and terrified.

Caden was just terrified.

“Okay. Okay. Okay.” Caden paused. His heart was hammering. He’d expected to think of something by the third ‘okay,’ but he was as confused and terrified as before.

He took a step back from the door. There was no denying it. The howling was growing louder.

Oh god!

“Get to the back of the store! Stay away from the windows!” He hissed.

They stumbled in the darkness, nearly tripping in their haste.

The howling was almost to the street!

At the back of the store was a small office with a door to the alley. With those howls growing ever closer, going outside wasn’t an option, but hiding away in his office was sounding like a fantastic idea.

They slipped inside, and Caden fumbled in the dark with his keys. He wanted to be certain the backdoor was locked.

With that done, they just had to…to sit here. Waiting.

Caden took a few deliberate breaths.

Screams rose up to join the howls. Tortured, terrified sounds that turned Caden’s guts to jelly. They were unlike anything he had ever heard, primal, almost inhuman.

The kid was remarkably quiet, staying huddled in the corner with his knees pulled up to his chest.

Shouldn’t he be panicking or something?

Caden licked his lips and crept towards the office door. He had to see. Just sitting in the dark, listening to the howls and screams, would drive him insane. He glanced at the boy. “I’m going to get a look, stay put,” he whispered.

He carefully cracked the door open, just enough for him to catch a glimpse of the outside.

It was dark, but his eyes had started to adjust, and his office door had a direct view of a window. He slowly inched his way over, afraid to even breathe.

Something bone deep told him that one wrong step, one noise at the wrong time- he cut that line of thought off and bent his focus towards the window as he crept into place.

Now- something moved in front of the window.

His breath caught.

The shape was massive and furry and slinked forward on four legs.

It moved with the grace and confidence of a predator. Like something that knew, just knew that it was above everything around it.

It didn’t look like a bear, it’s movements, it’s shape, they were all wrong, but Caden’s mind still latched onto the thought.

Yeah, it’s a big bear that’s passing through. Totally normal. Even if things are howling out there, and the power went out. It’s just a bear. It’s just a bear that’s walking by.

As if it heard his thoughts, the beast froze just before it passed out of sight.

Don’t turn back. Don’t turn back!

The monster snapped its head to the side and took off at a sprint, directly away from his store.

He held back his sigh of relief as It crashed into the shop across the street—Tammy’s Baked Goods—and more screams erupted into the night.

Caden carefully closed the door.

An odd calm had settled over him. He wasn’t actually calm, not at all. But his fear had grown so overpowering, so all-encompassing, that it went full circle, leaving him empty.

He had to run.

That thing had crashed through the wall like it was nothing. His store wouldn’t hold up any better.

His eyes flicked to the boy. He was small, too small to run away. He wouldn’t make it out there.

The part of Caden that could still fight his fear protested, but only for a moment.

The kid couldn’t make it out there. He’d only slow Caden down.

Just because he didn’t like that fact didn’t make it untrue.

He took a deep breath. He wasn’t abandoning the kid. He wasn’t.

He might draw some attention away from the kid by leaving, which would help him survive. He certainly had a better chance of surviving by staying here than he would trying to run.

It was for the best.

A small, treacherous part of his mind whispered. If staying was really the safest option, why are you running?

Caden killed that voice and unlocked the back door with a shaking hand.

The kid was watching him. He could feel the small eyes boring into his back like accusing fingers.

He licked his lips and handed him the keys. “Lock the door behind me,” he whispered.

The boy didn’t protest, didn’t say anything. He just took the keys and kept staring. Caden tried not to look at him or the Superman shirt that seemed to be glaring daggers at him.

He slipped out the door, careful to avoid making any excess noise.

The buildings seemed to push in on the alley, leaving only a thin stretch of damp pavement and barely enough room to walk without turning sideways.

Light from the moon poured between the buildings, lighting his path, almost seeming to guide him.

If Caden took a right and followed it to the end, the alley would let out onto Walker Street. It would be a short run to his house from there.

More importantly, his car. He was going to drive and drive and drive, and he didn’t plan on stopping until he ran out of gas.

Caden made it through the alley and started running.

He didn’t see the shape that swept his feet.

One moment he was sprinting, his heart in his throat. The next, he was on his back, looking up at the full moon.

The moon seemed huge, its great white expanse hanging over the hill as if it were waiting to drop and crush them.

It felt like a living, pulsing thing as it hung there, like Caden could reach out and touch it, if he only stretched a little more…

Beautiful. The thought came out of nowhere, and was so odd that if momentarily cut through his fear.

“Wha-“ he cut off as a massive man stepped into view.

With the moon to his back, he was little more than a dark silhouette. Caden could vaguely make out that he was wearing a long coat and heavy boots. The rest was just shadows. With the way he stood there, unmoving, his coat hanging perfectly still, he almost seemed to be part of the night itself.

“You choose wrong, Caden.” The stranger's voice was smooth as honey and deep, deeper than anyone else Caden had ever heard.

As the man’s words registered, a bolt of fear tore through his gut. The man knew his name.

His pseudo-calm cracked like an egg, leaving the fear to choke him.

“Wha-what do you mean?” Caden didn’t even try to keep his voice from shaking.

The man chuckled, the sound barely above a rumble.

“Come now, Caden. Don’t play dumb with me. You left Jeramy to the monsters in the dark.”

“I-I didn’t! He’s safer there than running! I was I-“ Caden paused as the man shifted. He seemed even larger all of a sudden, his dark frame filling Caden’s vision.

He desperately searched for anything that could get him out of this situation, but there was nothing but the moon overhead, and the man.

As he moved closer, an errant beam of moonlight struck him, illuminating part of his face.

Caden gasped. His mind ignored most of the details, his craggy features, his heavy, drawn brows, focusing on the long, sloping scar that ran the length of his face.

It was a raised, ugly thing starting at his temple and ending at the tip of his chin. It looked like it should have split his head in two.

A note of ice entered the man’s voice. “I told you not to lie, especially if you cannot sell them to yourself. As the elder, the stronger, it is your duty to protect the weak.”

The man’s eyes flashed in the darkness, standing out like two bright yellow searchlights.

He stomped down, and Caden felt something break in his foot.

He wanted to scream and thrash, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from the man’s eyes.

“You failed, Caden.”

Another howl joined the night, reaching out towards the great moon overhead.