It's all gone.

All of it, gone. Every picture, every voicemail, video, text is gone. You know, as long as I had my phone, and I could look at some of the videos and memes I'd saved, things didn't feel so bad. I could, if only for a moment, pretend that I was just looking at my reddit feed, or browsing the net, with everyone else still there.

But now, that last little reminder of the world I once knew was gone as well. Sure, I could find some other abandoned phone, but how would I get in? and even if I did that, it would be the life of a stranger, not my own.

I kept the phone - put it down at the bottom of my pack, covered in bubble wrap.

I pretty much buried my old life that evening. My last reminder was gone, all my worldly memorabilia burned with my apartment, and the only memory of the humans I'd once known were now slowly decaying buildings, some framed pictures and a few dormant servers somewhere else in the world.

I eventually got up from the chair, grabbed an empty mason jar and scooped up some of the ash, and put it into my pack as well. Perhaps it'd be useful?

Nevertheless, we still had to prepare - they were coming. That night, Raven spotted a shadow moving through the wilderness outside of town, circling it, but not entering just yet.

It was scouting.

***

That morning, I got into the car and drove out to one of the largest warehouses by the dock. It was dusty, old, and crumbly in the sunlight that was beaming down from a cloudless sky, but I hoped that it held what I needed for the coming siege. Armed with some industrial bolt cutters and the trusty crowbar, I pried open two large metal doors to the side of the building, and stepped into the self-made entrance.

The inside was just as dusty as the outside, but much more chaotic. There were crates, a few large boats, a few small boats, and a lot of canvas and rope lying around.

I combed through the place as quickly as I could, struggling through bunched-up coils of rope, metal barrels full of god-knows-what, and I eventually found what I was looking for underneath one of the larger motorboats, connected to it via cable: an electric generator.

From the looks of it, it'd been set to charge the boat's battery, but had eventually run out of gas because no one had turned it off. It was a small thing, but packed weight. It was almost too heavy to carry on my own, and I'd definitely have hurt my back if I didn't remember you were supposed to lift from the knees.

After a lot of exertion, I managed to carry it and its cable drum into the waiting trailer, and drove off to the local hardware store, where I'd seen something very useful: A set of floodlights. If I was lucky, those being on display meant that there might be some more in storage, and if I could replicate the modification to the flashlight that was capable of hurting the shadow demon, then a floodlight with a similar lens attached might be enough to kill or seriously injure one.

My suspicions soon proved correct, and I left the hardware store at around noon, trailer filled with about two dozen floodlights, a generator, a bunch of cabling, and a lot of miscellaneous junk that might come in handy.

In my mind, a plan had formed. This plan relied on a few assumptions, mainly that light was somehow capable of harming these demons, but also that they were perhaps smart enough to be spoken to or reasoned with. If I managed to drive them off completely, I may be able to find a way.

Wait a second. Why did I just...a way? a way for what to what?

I clutched my head, a sudden wave of vertigo hitting me, and slammed the brakes, narrowly avoiding disaster. Sitting at the steering wheel, staring at the tree I just managed to avoid looming in front of me, my concerns were quickly forgotten. Instead, I backed up, pressed the gas, and rushed home to Fort Lakeview.

***

Using some common sense and a guide to electrical installation I picked up in the hardware store, I quickly had the generator connected to the house's power grid. I'd also cut any outgoing lines, so my precious energy wasn't being fed into nothingness.

Afterward, I rigged up all the spotlights, calibrated for as narrow a beam as I could manage. They were apparently not the floodlights I assumed they were, but some sort of high-powered version of stage lights, capable of changing their color and doing predefined cycles of movement on a set of tracks.

By nightfall, I'd calibrated them to do a two-second sweep in a rough circle around the house, hopefully enough to dissuade any shadow demon from attempting to enter the house. I'd also rigged up "The Lightcage", in the event that we got the chance to actually catch one.

"The Lightcage" was deceptively simple: A circular rack containing three spotlights, configured to do a single rotation every second or so, with the lights configured to cast an incredibly narrow beam directly downwards. The idea was that a shadow demon would unwittingly step inside, I would activate the array, and it would be prevented from leaving by the lights of the cage. If it was intelligent enough, It would spot the beams of light by their refraction on the dust in the air, and not be injured or killed in an attempt to go on.

The entire array was installed in the porch, just before the front door, on the underside of the little roof that extended from above the front door. If it was capable of talking, I'd talk to it through a removed window panel in the front door, and finally get some answers.

Of course, I'd also planned for the possibility of it escaping the Lightcage almost instantly, in which case I'd barricade the door into the house properly, flee into the second floor, and then throw furniture into the stairway until it was filled with debris.

Shortly after I'd finished refueling the generator, Raven came in the front door, a disheveled mass of black feathers, and cawed loudly at me, gesturing her wings to the door. When I looked over, I saw the last few rays of sunlight on the nearby rooftops, and knew that it was time.

The night came swiftly, quicker than previous nights.

This night was also different from the others, it was darker. When I looked through a gap in the barricaded windows upstairs, I saw why. The moon was an incredibly thin crescent in the sky. Not quire a new moon, but not enough light to illuminate much of anything.

Despite the utter darkness outside, I could see the monster clearly. Not because it wasn't dark or shadowy among the night, but because it was darker. Looking at it made me nauseous, it was darker than dark, darker than light or color or anything good in life. Looking at it unwittingly recalled the cold seeping into my bones, and I quickly stepped away from the window.

Now, it was time to wait.

***

The monster circled the Fort for a long time. It tried to get in one or two times, but the light did seem to hurt it somewhat, as it withdrew as soon as the perimeter lamp swept over it.

I did direct one of the spotlights directly at it once, and it just glided back until the light didn't seem to affect it anymore.

About two hours into the night, one of the lights flickered. I only saw it out the corner of my eye, but it did so long enough for me to spot a thin tendril of darkness contrasting with the night behind it, before it was cut off by my flashbulb.

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So the streetlights weren't a coincidence after all. After that, I reloaded the flashbulb, and kept a closer look at the monster, blasting it every time it tried to break one of my lamps. After three attempts, it seemed to get the message.

About three hours into the night, it tried something else. I was watching it from the upstairs bedroom, when I suddenly felt cold. After I got a blanket, it still seemed to get colder, and I eventually realized: It was condensing its icy aura.

I tried blasting it for that, but it just withdrew behind a car in the street, and the cold continued to build.

Not long after that, my teeth were clattering. Raven was sitting, wrapped in a blanket, on top of the tiny space heater I'd liberated from the hardware store, but I didn't have anything but a bunch of hand warmers which alternated between saving my hands and face from hypothermia.

It was in this icy cold, windows nearly frosted over, a thin film of ice over everything in the house, that I saw the lights flicker once more. This time though, there was no tendril of darkness, and the monster was still hidden behind its impromptu car-barricade. I stood up, shook the building stiffness from my legs and arms, and stumbled over to the generator.

When I reached it, the lights flickered again, and I knew how it was doing it - The cold aura was concentrated over the generator, trying to smother its reaction chamber. I gave it a good kick, which seemed to end the sputtering fit, and teetered back over to the window, only to spot something even worse.

One of the spotlights wasn't moving anymore.

The generator was a distraction, and it froze the bearing while I wasn't looking.

I quickly directed my gaze back to the car, only to see the edge of a shadow flitter through the gap in my perimeter.

Storming downwards, I began hearing a thunderous banging onto the front door, accompanied by the noise of glass breaking and metal creaking.

When I arrived in the entry hall, I saw the front door, or rather, what remained of it. The entire thing was caved inward, shards of glass lying everywhere, and the wooden frame of the door seemed to be completely pulverized.

the worst thing though was that the shadow was nowhere to be seen.

Creeping around the doorframe leading into the entryway, I spotted nothing. The monster was seemingly gone, vanished without a trace. I contemplated for a moment if that was some twisted way of making fun of my situation, before banishing the thought - it could be around any corner.

The Lightcage may have failed the first time around, but it could still work, provided it wasn't destroyed with the door. A quick check of the breaker switch and the rotary bearing revealed that yes, it was unharmed. I let out the tiny breath I didn't realize I was still holding, and quickly formulated a plan.

Gripping the flashbulb tightly, I stepped out into the night, turned around, and began shouting loudly.

"Hey you! I know you're in there, you son of a bitch! I bet the little laser pointer hurt, eh? How about a rematch out here!"

I wasn't exactly sure it would be so easily taunted, but it was really the only option I had.

Sure enough, before long, the doorway darkened, and i was once more faced with IT.

I don't know if it was because I knew how to hurt it now, or because of something else, but its aura of dread did not hit me as hard this time. I was still very, very, very scared, but I managed to keep it together, and didn't stumble to the ground. I did take a step back, though.

"Yeah, it's me. Only this time, I'm armed. You want to feel this flashlight again? COME AT ME!"

I only had to make it move a few more meters out, and then signal Raven, who would throw the switch for me and trap the monster. I prayed to any god or goddess that would hear me for the monster to glide forward, just a tiny bit more...

Then, there was a loud clang, as the stone I'd thrown hit one of the metal trash cans, a loud CLACK sounded from within the house, and the Lightcage sprung into action, the shadow trapped within.

It seemed to thrash about for a moment, trying to weasel a tendril outside of the cage, but every time it did, the appendage in question was cut off by the rotating lights. It was completely, and utterly, at my mercy.

***

About five minutes later, I pulled up a chair, sat down, and looked at it through the shattered door.

It twitched in a disconcerting way, shuddered once, and spoke in a voice like broken glass, grinding stone, running water and whistling wind at the same time.

"What ...does it want?"

I was ever so slightly stunned at the response, and its voice. It was the first time I heard one emanating anything resembling speech, and it was this. No "A puny human catches me? Impossible!", just a dismissive question?

"Why are you talking to me now, and not before?"

I asked it in a shaky voice, the previous fear still eminent in my voice.

"Because it possesses the power to kill."

"I do?"

"Yes. there is no problem in giving it this information," It paused for a moment "Though a cruel being might use that to its advantage. It is not a cruel being. A deal? In exchange for release before dawn, its questions will be answered. If refused, its questions will be met with silence."

Its use of the third person singular while referring to me disconcerted me a little, but I pressed on, eager for information.

"Deal. Were you the one who was trying to kill me a week ago?"

"Yes."

It outright admitting to attempted murder suprised me. I thought it would deny, or find excuses. Either it really believed I wouldn't find a way to kill it, or it didn't see me as a serious threat. Both were equally disconcerting.

"Why?"

"Because it is in the way."

There it was. No "because I am evil", or "Because you'd make a great addition to my undead army", no, simply "because you were in the way.''

"In the way of what?"

"It is the failsafe."

'The Failsafe'? What the hell did that mean?

"What do you mean, 'Failsafe'?"

"To tell it would be to kill it. Death after release is preferred."

Another one of those responses. Outright admitting to wanting me dead. I stood up, and leaned on the chair from behind.

One of the beams on the Lightcage flickered.

The flashbulb was instantly trained on the thing in my cage.

"Do that again and I'll blast you with this. Do you understand?"

"The malfunction was its own error. However, it has quick reflexes when threatened."

I looked down and realized that my leaning on the chair had nudged one of the cables.

I shivered as I was reminded of the fact that even though it spoke like a human, it wasn't human, and it evidently did not care about me at all beyond as a means to an end.

"One more question. Did you kill the others?"

"The other what?"

"The other humans."

"No."

"What? Who did then?"

"The others."

"The other what?"

"The others."

I'd hit a wall. Apparently, it wasn't ready to reveal the killers of my species. I didn't give up, though.

"Why did they have to die?"

"Because they were in the way."

There it was. This thing, whatever it was, knew about the disappearance of humanity. It knew more than it would tell me.

"If I let you go, will you continue trying to kill me?"

"Affirmative. Death after release is required to advance the goal."

And there came the dilemma I'd feared. This thing was relentless. If I released it, it would come after me, and kill me. If I didn't I'd be a murderer. It was clearly sapient.

I tried to convince myself that it was self-defense, but I still felt a sinking feeling deep in my chest.

No. I thought. It has to die, or I'll spend my life on the run. It's necessary. It's necessary. It's necessary.

Like a mantra, those two words replayed in my mind over and over as I stood up and walked away from the beast in the cage, which began shouting after me. Between its sentences, I began hearing the sizzle of its tendrils being repeatedly cut off by the Lightcage.

"A deal was struck. Betrayal is dishonorable."

"Betrayal is unfair."

"Betrayal is not nice."

"Betrayal is against the law."

"Betrayal violates-"

I realized that it was trying to find something to appeal to, and quickly put my fingers in my ears, walked even faster, tears welling up in my eyes..

***

Dawn came quickly after that. I sat huddled on the balcony, hands on my ears, humming loudly and crying quietly as the sun peeked over the horizon.

The humming did little to drown out the tortured screams coming from down below.