It was late, on a warm summer day, in a large city. Skyscrapers rose like giant fingers to the sky, blocking out the evening sun. Shadows fell on the streets below, and one man, in particular, reacted oddly to the everyday natural occurrence.

Moans of pain escaped him as he ran, dodging shadows like one would cars on a busy street. Hair stuck to his sweaty skin as his eyes darted around in a panic. He stumbled and fell, scraping his hands as he caught himself.

An orange plastic bottle fell from his pocket, rattling as it did. He scrambled to pick it up and got back to his feet, opening the bottle in a panic.

White pills poured out on his hand, and with shaky motions, he stuffed them in his mouth, swallowing the dry medicine with practiced ease.

He allowed himself a sigh of relief, but then a shadow fell on him. The final golden rays of the sun flashed by as the life-giving star dipped behind the distant mountains. Shadows fell upon the city, taking together together the man’s sanity and reason.

He screamed! A primal shout of fear, terror! He ran away, gasping for breath. His lungs burned, as did his legs, and arms. He shouted for help, yet the people avoided him, stepping out of the way, or crossing the street.

His increasingly hysterical calls for assistance fell on deaf ears, the peaceful hours of dusk broken by his screams.

“Please!” He shouted, running to a person. “Help me! They are coming!”

“You are crazy, man! Get away from me!” The young man pushed him away with disgust.

Somewhere behind him, a mother was telling her child not to stare. A group of teenagers laughed, calling the man a lunatic and recording his desperate plea for help. His voice and eyes became increasingly hysterical. His paranoia reaching its peak.

“They are coming!” The man screamed, eyes wide. His head twitched from side to side, looking for danger. Suddenly he saw a large man and ran to him, clinging to him like a drowning man.

“Please! Please, you need to help me! They are coming for me!”

“Dude, relax! Nobody is coming for you.” The big guy tried to calm him down as he struggled to get rid of the hands that grappled him with hysterical strength.

“Oh, no…” The grip lessened, and the man stepped back, his voice suddenly quiet and full of sorrow. “They are here…”

“What?” The large guy looked around, noting nothing but confused onlookers and a few parked cars. The evening was exceedingly quiet and peaceful, with warm summer wind blowing through the streets. “There’s nothing here, man. It’s all in your head.

His voice fell on deaf ears.

“No, no… Please, no.” The man stumbled back, his voice quiet, pleading. His body naturally took on a submissive posture, head lowered and hands raised before him as he backed to the middle of the street.

“No, no, no, no. No! NO! Stay away! STAY AWAY!” He swatted at empty air while backing away, his breathing becoming increasingly ragged and loud.

“No! Nooo-!”

Under the watchful eyes of the citizens, the man’s voice was cut off, an imprint of… something, appearing on his neck. His voice immediately went silent, his eyes bulging out as he clawed at something that wasn’t there.

Then his neck deformed as if someone squeezed it, and he was lifted into the air. Gasps of disbelief rang out among the people present, the man’s legs kicking like a dying fish flopping dry on land. His hands flailed around, searching for something to grasp, to free himself from the invisible cage.

Suddenly, one of his hands froze in mid-air. And then, without explanation, it snapped. The pop of bones breaking was loud on the quiet street, and the sharp pieces pierced his skin. Blood flowed, and somewhere, a woman screamed.

“Someone call the police!” A person shouted. A few people screamed and escaped, a child cried, and the teenagers kept recording, their mouths agape and eyes wide.

In the midst of chaos, there was a crunch. The man’s arm was torn clean off as if bitten by a wild beast. Released, he collapsed to the ground, sputtering and gasping for air. Blood flowed from his missing limb, yet that was the least of his worries.

Something… Something large pushed him to the ground, invisible claws stabbing into his body. That time, he did scream. He screamed as his chest was torn open, he screamed as his organs were pulled out.

He called, screamed, shouted, pleaded for help. Yet people just watched. Watched as he was torn apart by monsters. Each time a piece of him was devoured, a large silhouette of... something appeared crouching above him, tearing into his flesh.

Its form was indistinct, its shape indescribable. Like mist or smoke its body oozed, rippling in the wind.

As blood pooled around him, the man’s calls became whimpers, growing quiet. He had given up.

But then, as all seemed lost, the screeching of tires was heard as a dark unmarked car came to a sudden stop. A man jumped out of the passenger's seat, a brimmed hat on his head, tinted glasses on his face, and a long trench coat that reached to his knees covering the rest of his body.

His leather boots struck loudly against the pavement, as he ran towards the bleeding man.

“Get away! All of you! It’s not safe!” He shouted at the onlookers and then pulled a sword from beneath his coat. It had a blade about the length of an arm, dark and see-through like stained glass.

He jumped and swung the blade at the invisible beast. The creature flinched and pulled back in a quiet scream whenever it was struck, its form becoming increasingly material.

The man roared, slashing, dodging, while the beast was doing the same. It was losing, but… It was not alone.

A shadowy hand slashed the man across his back, tearing his trench coat, yet he only spared it a momentary glance, before returning to his battle, not caring to respond to the assault.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

With a final swing of his dark sword, the monster collapsed, its giant form similar to that of a bear collapsed, shrinking down and breaking off into a puddle of black ooze.

With practiced swings and apparent ease, he finished off the other creature as well, similarly turning into a puddle of goo. In a fluid motion, he kneeled down, a small, hand-held vacuum in his hand. In mere moments the black goo was no more, safely stored in glass jars on his belt. There were many. Some were empty, but most were full.

Lastly, as the sounds of police sirens approached, he checked on the victim, but the man, butchered as he was, was already dead.

Not wanting to be implicated in the death of the man, he jumped into the car, sped off, and disappeared.

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[… is already the third such death this month and the police are still unable to-]

The flat-screen TV turned black as a newcomer entered the room and pressed the power button on the remote.

“Hey, c’mon man! I was watching that.” Tony protested from his upside-down position on the couch.

“In that position? You are watching this crap?” Jack, his roommate said as he went to unload bags of groceries. “I thought you said you were going out to eat?”

“Yeah, well…” Tony jumped up and went to help him unpack with a grin on his face. “As it turns out, I have no money. The rent is damn expensive!”

“Tell me about it…” Jack murmured.

“And I was bored. There is nothing to do.”

“No video games?” Jack lifted an eyebrow at his friend.

Tony shrugged. “Ehh. Didn’t feel like playing.”

Jack paused with a stick of butter and sliced ham in his hand. He stared at his roommate for a good while before finally speaking. “Are you sick?”

Tony laughed and took the items from him, going to make himself a sandwich.

“Say, you think it was a ghost?” He said as he stuffed a piece of ham into his mouth. “Some people think it was a ghost.”

“Nah.” Jack shook his head and took a bottle of ketchup, storing it in the fridge. “I don’t believe in that in that shit.” He was not a superstitious guy.

“Could it be the moon? You know, since it’s cracked…”

Jack slowly turned, giving his buddy yet another long, hard look, seemingly asking him if he was for real. “Dude…”

“Yeah, I know…” Tony rubbed the back of his head. “That was the last year, I know. This is new. The two are probably not connected, right? But man, so many disasters… First the recession, then the moon, now this… When will we get a break?”

Jack simply shook his head and shrugged. The whole world could go to hell for all he cared. And, in a way, it already did.

I mean, to think they actually cracked the moon... What madness.

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It was evening, the air was warm and there were a few more precious hours until nightfall. Jack and Tony decided to go out into the city while they still had time.

They jumped on their electric skateboards and rode down the street for a while until they reached the local park. There, they joined others in basketball for a while before moving onward to the skate park where they usually met with their friends for a chat.

They talked for a while, cracking jokes, socializing, when they heard a shout.

“Ayo, dude!” A big guy called. “You alright?”

The one being addressed was Victor, a scrawny, nerdy-looking guy. They spoke to him sometimes, but they couldn’t really be considered friends. He was just there most of the time. He started skateboarding a few years ago, yet it was difficult to say he improved much.

While he was usually quite pale already, for some reason that day he was even whiter than that. Pale as a ghost, some might say.

“Huh?!” Victor jumped at the question, clearly even more distracted than usual. “Yeah!” He shouted back. “Yeah, I’m fine…”

He was not fine. Even a blind man could see and hear in his voice that something was wrong.

“Guys… I think… I think I’ll head back.” He said. Without another word, he took his board and stuffed it in his backpack, before jumping on his bike and driving off.

“Uh…”

The guys watched him as he drove on the street, swerving like a madman, appearing drunk, dodging invisible cars or something. The street was empty, save for a few parked cars by the side of the road.

“Is he on drugs?” A jokester asked, half in jest and half in concern. None of them really knew Victor, but he certainly wasn’t a bad guy. And he wasn’t acting like his usual quiet, calm self.

“AH!”

Viktor suddenly suddenly fell from the bike, striking the road hard. As he was still close and they heard his scream, the guys ran to help him.

As they neared, his first shout of surprise was followed by a scream of fear and horror. They saw him crawling back on his hands swatting and kicking at empty air all while wailing and shouting.

“Dude, did he finally lose it?” Tony’s question went unanswered, as suddenly they heard a snap, and Victor's leg snapped in half just below the knee. The bone just popped through the skin all of a sudden, with blood spraying as it pierced a major vein.

Panic erupted among the gathered younger generation. Screams erupted all around, the loudest among them being Victor, who was practically screaming his lungs out in terror and pain.

It was pandemonium.

“Oh, my god! What do we do, what do we do?!” A girl screamed, panicked.

Luckily for Victor, his life was not dependent on the handful of youngsters barely a few years out of high school.

A blacked-out car screeched to a stop near them, a rough man in a trench coat jumping out of it. A sword appeared in hais hand which he used to swing at something above Victor. Whatever it was, he seemed to be pushing it back, allowing the guy to drag himself away.

Soon that… thing died, collapsing into a puddle of black ooze.

“Stop… struggling. I’m trying to help you.” The man said as he caught up to Vikrot, stabbing him in the leg with some kind of needle.

Viktor shouted, more in surprise and fear than in pain, but the man already let him go, slurping up the monster's remains.

Suddenly, the alarm went off on his phone, and the man looked at it and cursed. “Shit, another one… Go, go! Drive!” He shouted and jumped into the passenger’s seat of the car.

The wheels spun, burning rubber from the immense torque of the quiet electric motor, and they sped off.

“Go home, kids! Go to sleep! Stay safe! And whatever you do, stay away from the dark!” The man shouted towards them before they turned the corner onto the main road and disappeared into the evening traffic.

The gathered group looked at each other in confusion and then shrugged. None of them understood what they had just seen, or had been witness to. It was all too weird.

As they went to check on Victor, Tony crouched down beside the tire marks and picked up something, quickly stashing it into his pocket.

Paramedics soon arrived and took away the guy and the gang dispersed, too tired to continue.

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Back at home, Jack jumped on the couch, exhausted.

“What the fuck was that, huh? Did you see that? That was crazy. You think it could be mafia?”

Tony, having arrived just after him, was suspiciously quiet in the kitchen. Suddenly he screamed. Jack jumped to his feet, running to help, only to find his friend trembling in a corner, eyes wide.

“What the hell happened?!” He demanded.

Tony pointed at a small medallion on the table with a shaky finger, his face pale as a ghost.

“What is this? Where did you get it?” Jack asked.

“Fell from the pocket of the trench coat guy…” Tony admitted.

“That lunatic? And you just took it?” Jack gasped.

“He was already gone when I noticed it!” Tony protested.

Curious, Jack picked up the medallion by the string, lifting it up to eye level and into the light. It was a simple golden pendant with a purple inlay.

“Careful! Don’t touch it!” Tony warned hastily.

“Why not?

“I have… seen things, man. Horrible things. Creatures. Monsters…” Tony shuddered.

Jack, still not convinced supernatural things were real, touched it. He poked it with his index finger.

Immediately, his face went pale and he felt joy drain out of him, and he, for the first time in his life, saw the world for what it truly was.

Shadows poured from the walls, tentacles stretching from dark corners of the room, avoiding the light. Large hands clawed at the ceiling lights, trying to put them out. Large beasts hiding behind the furniture rose, turning their empty eyes at him. Hungry mouths opened, nostrils flaring, ready to pounce.

He could smell them, the insanity. And they could smell him, the living flesh.

Jack screamed and released the medallion, life slowly returning to him as his pale face slowly gained color. He frantically scanned the room for monsters, but they were not there anymore.

He dropped the medallion on the table as if it was radioactive and took a step back.

The two men shared a look. “Dude…” Tony laughed nervously. “Did you see it too?”

Jack slowly nodded. “I… I don’t think we are safe here anymore.” His eyes fell on the medallion on the table and swallowed. That night the two didn’t sleep.