How far would you go to help a stranger in need?

What if it’s a child?

Having grown up in the small college town Ashley felt like she knew every nook and cranny. It’s a mostly safe place to live where the worst crimes are those that come of partying. Which is why Ashley had no problem walking back to her dorm despite the late hour. When she cuts behind a shopping center parking lot she comes upon a disheveled looking young girl, who is clearly frightened. The girl claims that she is on the run from some very bad people and that she can’t go to the police, for fear that they will just hand who over to those who pursue her. It doesn’t take long for Ashley to learn the truth of the young girls words but things aren’t so straight forward. The men chasing after the girl aren’t human…

‍ March 28th

‍ ‍

          Ashley Tomlin meandered down the sparsely lit side street, her music taking most of her attention. She had grown up near the sleepy college town and knew it well, even before she started going to school at the university. Now a sophomore in her second semester, she she felt like she could map the town, if for some reason she needed to. The cool, spring night air invigorated her almost as much as the high energy track that pumped through her headphones, carrying her at a brisk pace along the bare roads, back to her dorm.

A chime interrupted Ashley’s music. She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her blue and grey SHU hoodie and rolled her eyes when she saw the text preview from Sam, scroll across her phone, but smiled as she texted her friend back.

No. Still walking. I only left like 5min ago lol. Ill txt you when Im back at my dorm.

Before Ashley could put her phone back into the small backpack, she wore in place of a purse, another text came in from Sam, but she ignored this one. While she understood her friends concern, Ashley couldn’t help but feel like Sam had become utterly paranoid since the Oak Hill murders, jumping at anything that moved in the dark. It was a sentiment that was shared by a lot of people at campus and throughout the town over the past few days, ever since Jeremy Holland, a recent South Hampton University graduate, brutally murdered two police officers and three others, including his girlfriend, just off campus. Tons of rumors had been circulating about what really happened that night, but no one knew for sure, as the South Hampton police were being unusually quiet about the whole incident. The only statement that had been given was by the SHPD Chief of Police, which simply stated, “… Ms. Green, both officers, and the two John Doe’s, were brutally murdered by the young man in question.” The officer went on to say that they would release more details after they concluded their investigation, but it had been three days and so far, nothing new had come out.

          While the news certainly made waves through the community, in the silence of further updates, the rumors of what Jeremy Holland had done to his girlfriend and the others, left many people on edge. Supposedly a local news outlet tracked down and interviewed one of the paramedics who arrived on scene, but someone, either in the police or the mayor’s office, had stopped them from releasing it. Still, word about the interview had gotten out and allegedly the paramedic arrived just as three officers were unloading round after round into the killer, who howled and screamed and raged, and was only brought down after taking over a dozen shots to the head and chest. The two officers who originally responded to the call from a neighbor were sprawled out in the parking lot, either strangled or with their throats ripped out, depending on who was telling the story. In the apartment that Jeremy shared with his girlfriend, they found two more bodies that had yet to be identified and the remains of his girlfriend, their corpses either having been chopped up or hung from hooks. Again, depending on who told the story.

          Of course this sparked debate as to why this happened. The most agreed upon thought amongst the students and townsfolk was that Jeremy was hopped up on drugs of some sort, which had led to the violent incident, but not everyone was willing to accept such a simple explanation. Cults, satanic worship, and other such rumors were being spoken of on the fringes of town, each more ridiculous than the last. Ashley had never met Jeremy or his girlfriend, but the couple still regularly hung out with several people that were still enrolled in the university, including Ashley’s senior friend Beth. The word through the grapevine was that Jeremy liked to party, and Ashley thought it was almost certainly a bad mix of drugs that had led to this horrible happening.

          Unfortunately for Ashley, both Sam and her roommate Rebecca had all but convinced themselves there was a cult or secret cabal that would soon kidnap and sacrifice more people; egged on by a small group of people online who felt the same. They had hyped themselves up on the idea so much that Ashley got fed up and put a moratorium on the subject while she was around. Still, both of her friends had been insistent she call an Uber instead of the twenty or so minute walk back to campus she always took. They weren’t alone either. An officer had stopped her on her way over to Sam and Rebecca’s and had been rather insistent that he would give her a ride to wherever she was going. Though the stories of the murders disturbed her, Ashley felt sure that, whatever exactly happened, had been caused by drugs, and was a one-off incident.

          Ashely sighed when the generic tune of her ringtone replaced her song, and she saw Sam’s name pop up. Sure that her friend was going to insist on staying on the phone with her until Ashley got back to her dorm, she let the call go to voicemail, and restarted her interrupted song. She got less than a minute into the new playthrough when her phone chimed a number of times, interrupting her music once more.

Heyyy!!

‍ ‍

Pick up your phone!

‍ ‍

You just missed Katie Lynn. Apparently theres som creepers driving around

‍ ‍

They said theyre looking for someone & tried to give her a ride

‍ ‍

Call me!

          Ashley frowned and paused both her step and her music. The campus and the town as a whole were known for being a relatively safe place to live, but she knew that that didn’t stop weirdos and scum bags from perusing the streets. A sudden pang of worry caused her to slowly peer up and down the road. She was in a neighborhood of mostly off-campus housing, plenty of which were showing signs of life, despite the late weekday hour, but no cars were currently driving through.

She quickly texted Sam and asked where Katie Lynn had seen these men, before rummaging through her bag and pulling out a small container of pepper spray. With the canister in hand, she continued her journey back to campus with a renewed vigor.

          As she walked, Ashley mentally mapped out the rest of the way to her dorm and the different routes she could take to get there. She had taken this way because it avoided most of the main roads, but she was starting to wonder if maybe it would be better if she did cut through the center of town. If there were people driving around trying to pick up unsuspecting women, she figured they would be around the bars, but at the same time, it was late enough that most of the bars were starting to close, and from what she had seen, the SHPD were out in force still, because the Oak Hill murders, and depending on what road she took, there probably would be one nearby if she did run into trouble.

Her phone started ringing again and this time she answered. ‍ ‍

“Hey. You’re not messing with me, right? Cause if so, that’s not funny. I know you’re worried, but still.” To answer her question Sam put Katie Lynn on the phone, who told her about the three men who had pulled over and asked her if she’d seen a young girl running about.

          “… then they said it’s not safe for me to be out by myself and insisted on giving me a ride. I told them no, of course, and practically ran away. I’m telling you Ashley, it was super creepy. They were wearing sunglasses in the dark. What kind of weirdo incel does that? I hope you’re not too far from campus.”

          Sam stole back the phone before Ashley could answer and the two of them talked for a few minutes, while Ashley cut through the neighborhoods, taking a slightly longer way, so she could end up on main thoroughfare through town. Sam’s alarmed ramblings began seeping into Ashley’s subconscious, transforming the all too familiar homes into something sinister. Each one holding dark secrets that spelled death if she stopped for too long. They loomed over her as she walked by, looking down at her with their glowing eyes, and reaching out to grab her with limbs of tree and brush. A bristling breeze drew attention to the nervous sweat breaking out on her face, as she hurried through an empty lot that the locals used as a communal party space, which led to the back of a shopping center. ‍ ‍

There was no light to illuminate the dumpsters and sparce parking spaces that ran along the back of the shopping center, but for the somber glow of the moon and the aged lights that illuminated the main parking lot. ‍

          Ashley’s muscles ached with tension, and everything Sam said just fed her growing paranoia. So, when something kicked on in one of the buildings, causing a sudden clanging in the pipes, Ashley let out a small scream at the sudden noise and dropped her phone. Realizing it was probably just the heat kicking on inside the shopping center, she took a deep breath and silently admonished her fright and cursed Sam for feeding her fear. The concerned cries from the women on the other line reached her ears before she even leaned over to pick up her phone. ‍

‘You got to be kidding me.’ Ashley thought, looking down at her half-shattered screen.

         “I’m fine. Relax.” ‍

Once her friends had calmed down, Ashley explained that Sam’s babbling had gotten to her for a moment and that she would message them online once she got back to her dorm and aggressively tapped on her screen until the call hung-up amongst her friends protests. Her music resumed, surprising her, but this time she laughed at her fright and started walking, trying not to think about the call home she would have to make to ask for a new phone. She was almost around the back of the shopping center when she thought she heard something moving behind her.

          A large part of her told her not to look, that it was just a cat, if anything, but still a little on edge, Ashley turned around, a death grip on her pepper spray. The world around her transformed into a hiding den for monsters as she scanned the dimly lit space, but nothing came crawling out of the darkness, so she turned back around, deciding she’d feel better once she got to the well-lit road, beyond the shopping center. ‍

More movement sounded behind her. Footsteps. This time she did not turn around but instead turned the corner ready to run.

          A voice called out from behind her, barely audible over the hum of the shopping complex.

“Please help me.” ‍

          Ashley froze. It sounded like a child crying for help. Everything in her told her to run but she slowly turned and found a wide-eyed, young girl, staring at her from around the corner of the building. ‍

At first, she did not know what to make of the frightened-looking child. She still held on tightly to the pepper spray, ready to jump out her skin and run, but when she met the girl’s pale blue eyes, so full of fear that it hurt to look at, some tension faded, replaced by fear, not for herself, but for another. ‍

          “Hey there sweetie,” Ashley said softly, “What are you doing in a place like this? Are you hurt?”

          The child did not answer her question directly. Her eyes began darting around, wildly searching the night behind Ashley, like she expected something to come creeping up behind her. Worried, Ashley also checked behind her but there was nothing to be seen.

“Can you help me? There are bad men who are trying to find me.”

          “What kind of bad men?” Ashley’s thoughts immediately went to the men Katie Lynn had seen. Again, the girl did not answer, she just shook her head and shrunk back further behind the building. “Hey, it’s alright. I’m going to get you somewhere safe, okay?” Ashley pulled out her phone but cursed when she looked at the shattered screen. She attempted to unlock it but only a small part of the screen seemed to work still. “That’s okay. There should be police cars patrolling the main road a couple of blocks over. We just need to find one and they’ll help you, alright?” ‍

          The child’s eyes went even wider, and she clung to the wall with a white knuckled grip. “No!” Surprised and a little taken aback, Ashley asked why the girl didn’t want to go to the police. “Because the bad men already got to them. They’ll just give me to them. We have to get out of town. Then we can go to the police somewhere else.”

          Ashley chewed on her lower lip as her mind raced wildly. ‘Even if I had a car, I can’t just take this kid to another town. Can I? No. Right? Ugh, what do I do.’ She felt sure she needed to get the child somewhere safe, but she was worried the young girl would take off running if Ashley tried to take her to the police.

“Okay, tell you what. I don’t have a car, but my friend does. We can go there, and she can take us to the police station in Salsbury. How does that sound?” Ashley figured they were about the same distance to Sam and Rebecca’s house as they were to the dorms, but she didn’t know anyone she would trust with, ‘whatever this is.’, at the dorms. She didn’t really intend to take the kid anywhere, besides, if Rebecca was sober enough to drive, Ashley wouldn’t have been walking to begin with, but she was hoping that with the help of the three other girls, they could come up with a plan of action. This was too much for her to handle on her own.

The hesitation was clear on the young girls face but after a few moments she agreed and fully stepped out from behind the shopping center, giving Ashley her first good look at the child. She was small, somewhere between ten and twelve, Ashley guessed. Her shoulder length blonde hair was almost as dirt caked as her jeans and red blouse, which was not just covered with dirt but stained dark in several places. The child’s pale skin was just as dirty, though Ashley could see where she had made attempts to wash her face and arms.

          “What’s your name sweetie?”

          “Miranda.”

          “I’m Ashley. Come on, let’s get going. We’re going to cut across the parking lot here and go and cut over to Third Street.”

          Miranda took a few steps back, and she started shaking her head violently. “No! We can’t go that way.”

“Why not?”

          “I’ve seen them driving over there. That’s why I hid back here, they’ve come through here a few times now, but I hid in one of the dumpsters.”

          Frowning, Ashley consulted the map in her head. She had wanted to follow one of the main roads back to her friends, but the skittish child was having none of it. After a moment she decided their best bet was just to double back the way she’d come from.

“Alright. This way then.” She took Miranda’s trembling hand in hers and quickly led her back behind the shopping center and through the empty lot.

          Her heart was starting to race, mind teetering towards panic, but she did her best to remain calm, at least outwardly, and tried to fix Miranda with a reassuring smile whenever the child looked her way.

‘We just have to make it back to Sam’s. This whole area’s residential. There’s no reason for anyone to look for her around here.’

          Minutes passed in relative silence, outside of a few reassurances from Ashley, as she pulled the child along the empty streets, eyes darting in every direction. Even more than before, the houses leaned into the street, ready to snatch them up and lock them away. She had tried asking Miranda where she was from, and if she knew how to get ahold of her parents. The former she had gotten a noncommittal answer and the latter a simple, “No”. She had so many questions that she wanted to ask but decided she wasn’t going to push.

          A pair of headlights cut through the night from the road they just crossed and was heading in their direction. Miranda stiffened. Ashley slowed their pace, her heart jumping from her stomach to her throat. “Now listen. If -.”‍ ‍

          The pair were walking in front of a house, whose tall, neatly cut hedges served as both a natural fence and a wall, blocking the view of the shottier kept homes that sat on either side. Miranda’s hand slipped from Ashley’s, and she heard the small child rustle through the bushes as the car turned the corner, bathing and blinding Ashley with halogen lights. She raised one hand to try and block the obnoxious headlights and held her pepper spray in a death grip, in the other. The car came to a stop a few yards away and the driver flipped on the low beams, allowing Ashley to get a look inside.

          Two men sat in the front, though she couldn’t make out many details. All she could really tell was that they were men, with short cut hair, and dark clothing. She saw movement in the back and a third man, stepped out of the car. He too had short hair and was wearing a black suit and tie with dark sunglasses.

          Immediately Ashley began backing away and raised the pepper spray defensively. The strange man looked about for a moment, seeming to look past her, as if he didn’t even see her there, but after a few seconds he stopped and looked at her directly. ‍

Something felt wrong about the man, but she couldn’t place it. Her heart was beating too loud for her to think straight. When at last he acknowledged her, there was no expression on his face, nor was there much inflection when he spoke. He held his hands palms out, so that she could see he wasn’t holding a weapon.

          “Excuse me ma’am, but have you seen a young girl around here? She’s about this tall and has blonde hair and blue eyes. She ran away from home recently and we’re trying to get her back.”

          Ashley wanted to run but she was too afraid to take her eyes off the stranger or the car, so instead, she continued to back away slowly, ready to run and scream for help if he started towards her.

“No. I haven’t seen her.”

          “Are you sure? I understand your hesitation, but we’re just trying to bring her home.” ‍

          “Yeah, I’m sure. Look, if you’re looking for someone, you should go to the SHPD and let them know.”

          The strange, plain faced man looked away and stared at the tall hedges for a long moment. Ashley felt sure he was about to dive through and start looking for the child, but he turned back to Ashley suddenly, and said, “Very well. May I offer you a ride, ma’am? It is not safe to be out alone tonight. We can take you to wherever you may need.”

          “No way!” The words came spurting out, louder and more aggressive than she intended. She didn’t want to offend the stranger. Not out of any morose sense of politeness or social obligation but fear. She was afraid that if she offended this man and made him angry, he would come chasing after her, but the man just stared at her for another moment and got back into the car without another word.

The halogen high beams flipped on, blinding her once more. She was about to throw herself to the side, convinced that they were about to run her down, but the SUV cruised on by and continued down the road in the direction she and Miranda had been heading.

‘What the actual fuck.’ Ashley thought, as she watched the cars taillights grow distant. Her whole body was shaking; the cool night breeze rustled the goosebumps that littered her skin. She forced herself to turn around and start walking, heading back the way they just came from. If Miranda was still around, Ashley wanted to at least circle the block, and hoped that the child would wait for her, and that the strangers would move on. ‍

          She made it down the block and around the corner when she heard the patter of footsteps rapidly approaching from behind. She let out a frightened cry and spun around, already pressing down on the pepper spray, which mercifully shot over the small child’s head.

          “Oh god, Miranda! I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” They both started to cough and had to make their way a little further down the road before Miranda answered.

          “I’m okay.”

          “Good. Good.”

Ashely was breathing heavy, eyes squeezed tight. She could feel tears building in the corners of her eyes as the adrenaline wreaked havoc on her body. She took a couple deep breaths to try and calm herself, and dabbed at her eyes, before she reached out and took Miranda’s hand and hurried her along. She wanted to put as much distance between them and the car full of strange men as possible, as quickly as possible. They doubled back a little and she took them in the direction of one of the two main roads that ran through town and back to the dorms. Once they were safe, she would figure out what to do next, and if they just so happened to come across a police officer, then all the better. Despite what Miranda had told her, Ashley planned to pick up and carry the child if she tried to take off, but she put up no resistance. ‍

“Who are those guys? Why are they looking for you?” She asked the question, not really expecting an answer, but to her surprise, she got somewhat of an answer this time.

          “They’re Catchers. They kidnap children and keep them locked away until they’re older. Then they do horrible things to them. Some of us escaped. So now they want to take me and the others back.” ‍

          Ashley swallowed hard, trying not to imagine what awful things Miranda must have been through. ‍

‘Not just Miranda.’ she thought. She shuddered, thinking about the fate that would have awaited her and Katie Lynn if she had been naïve enough to get in that car. Mixed in with the growing sense of horror and dread was a whisp of determination, that steadily grew stronger as they walked. ‘I’ve got to get her to safety and let the police know what’s going on.’ ‍

          “Do you know where this place is? If you could tell the police where to find them, they could shut it down and rescue whoever’s still there.” ‍

           Miranda started to answer as they stepped into the crosswalk but the high pitch squeal of rubber on asphalt drowned out her words. The two of them looked up in time to spot the speeding vehicle racing towards them from the crossroads; lights off, and nearly upon them. Ashley just stared, all thought and function gone, unable to process her bad fortune. It was Miranda who acted. The child half shoved, half tackled the older woman as the vehicle tried to come to a stop before them, but the driver slammed on the brakes too late and over compensated as it swerved around them and crashed into a parked truck.

The clash of steel tore through the night like thunder. Almost at once people came slinking out of their home to see what had happened. Ashley laid there, staring at the wrecked car, praying that the men inside were either unconscious or to hurt to move.

          “Are you two alright?” Ashely jumped to her feet, the sudden, unexpected voice drawing her back to the moment. A man wearing the same SHU hoodie Ashley wore and basketball shorts and a woman wrapped in a small blanket, came trotting over from one of the nearby houses to see if they were alright, while a few more made their way over to the crashed car.

          “Please,” Ashley croaked, “tell those guys to stay away, the people in that car are dangerous.” She helped Miranda stand and checked to make sure she was okay, before she asked if anyone had a phone to call 911.

          “Both of our phones are in the house, but our roommate is calling already,” The woman answered.

          “Ashley!” Miranda grabbed her hand and pointed at the crashed cars just as people started shouting. Two men in suits emerged from the crashed car. Both of them were armed. The screams intensified, and several people started to run back to their house. ‍

Ashley and Miranda ran for the nearest crossroad and got out of sight just before a gunshot rang out into the night, amongst a chorus of frightened shouts. Before they reached another street, another gunshot cried out. Ashley heard the bullet whistle past, a moment before a bloom of concrete spat up in front of them. The shot had gone wide, but she still screamed in fright and surprise and nearly lost her balance. Another shot rang out, this time striking the sidewalk in between Miranda’s steps, who started to whimper as they ran. Despite her fear, Ashley pulled Miranda in front of her, and out of the direct line of sight of the shooter.

Instead of more gunfire, a pair of heavy footsteps came stomping up the road and quickly overtook them. Ashley was knocked to the side and landed hard onto the street; the wind knocked from her lungs. ‍

Miranda’s pained screams quickly drew more attention from the neighborhood. Many people had already been looking on, drawn in, but frightened, by the sound of gunshots, but hearing a child cry out for help, some found courage and stepped outside and hesitantly approached.

A bevy of questions began being hurled all at once.

          “Who are you?”

          “What the hell’s going on?”

          “What are you doing to the child?”

          A nervous gasp rung out from the collective on lookers when one of the strange men arrived and raised his gun into the air. Some froze where they were, others started to back away, while those who’d stayed by the doors quickly slipped inside.

          “Everyone, stay back. This doesn’t concern you.” Ashley didn’t think this was the same man who had spoken to her before, but he wore the same suit and spoke with the same emotionless cadence.

          Ashley got to her feet in the midst of all this. She spotted Miranda, pinned to the ground and trying to swarm out of the grasp of her captor. The man with the gun had his back to Ashley and was surveilling those who had started to approach. Ashley quickly found her pepper spray, which had rolled a few feet away when she hit the ground and, before she could think about what she was doing, ran up and kicked the gun toting man as hard as she could, right between his legs. The man snarled and grunted with pain but otherwise hardly reacted. He turned to face her, a slight grimace pulling at his otherwise placid features. The dark sunglasses had slid down his nose enough that she got a look at his eyes in the moonlight. A pair of black orbs stared out at her, like smooth obsidian. Ashley screamed and pressed down on the pepper spray, dousing the hypnotic, alien eyes. The man roared with pain. He dropped his gun and covered his face and started to back away. ‍

          Miranda was still pinned down but had managed to get one arm free and was burying her nail into his face, drawing a few trickles of blood, but he hardly seemed to notice. She did, however, manage to knock off his sunglasses, revealing another pair of black eyes to the night. Ashley put the can of pepper spray right in his face, the pressurized stream struck him right in the open eye. He screamed and started flailing wildly, knocking the can from her hand and striking her hard in the leg, sending a bolt of pain up her side, which brought her to her knees.

Miranda had been pinned with her legs underneath one of the assailants, so she couldn’t start kicking, but with him now racked in pain, the young girl got her legs free and started kicking up at her captor until her foot connected with his nose. Crunch. The strange man’s cries of pain doubled, his nose shattered. Blood poured down his face but still he tried to hold on. Thinking quickly, Ashley slung her bag off her shoulder and swung it as hard as she could right into the man’s face. The bone in his nose snaped further and he finally let go of Miranda.

The young girl scrambled to her feet and the two of them took off at a sprint, refusing to look back.

          Ashley ignored the fire brewing in her chest, and the throbbing and aching in her muscles, and kept running. Even when her body told her to quit. Even when Miranda begged her to stop, she pulled them along. Not even the pair of lights and sirens that blazed past them in the direction the girls had come from stopped her from pumping her legs.

No coherent thoughts ran through her mind for those long minutes. It wasn’t until the familiar forms and dull glow of the midcentury dorms brought her back to her senses, that she finally slowed to a stop. Only now noticing her wheezing lungs and her heart bursting through her chest. She looked to Miranda, whose pale skin was bright red underneath all the dirt. She was bent over, breathing heavily, but she sounded better than Ashley, if only a little.

          “I-I… I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

          It took Miranda several seconds to catch her breath enough to speak. “I’m okay. Nothing serious.”

          Ashley said a silent prayer of thanks, while the two of them slowly caught their breaths. She told Miranda that since they were already close, they would just go back to the dorms instead and the pair walked quickly along the mostly empty streets.

Since her dorm was on the other side of campus, and it would take them a few minutes to get there, Ashley took the chance to question the child once more.

          “What was with those guys who attacked us? Why were their eyes like that?” Miranda started to speak then stopped a few times, but the words would not seem to come. “Look, if you don’t want to talk about it that’s fine. I won’t force you.”

          “It’s not that, it’s just…” Miranda came to a stop, forcing Ashley to halt, and turn to look at the child, who looked up at her with a mix of fear and desire. “You won’t believe me if I told you. No one will.”

          Ashley put a comforting hand on the girls shoulder and got down on one knee so that she could look Miranda in the eyes when she said, “Sweetie, I promise that whatever you tell me, I’ll believe you. Even if no one else does. There’s something not right with those men. Who are they?” she paused then added. “What are they?”

          Miranda met her gaze, eyes wet with fear. “They’re monsters. Real monsters, created by House Auguste at La Ferme. The family who runs everything are also monsters who treat humans like cattle, feeding on the blood of children and turning the adults into monsters that serve them.” Ashley was silent in the face of Miranda’s revelation. She wasn’t sure what she expected the young girl to say but it certainly had not been that. She searched the child’s pale blue eyes for any sense of doubt or hesitation but decided that, at the very least, Miranda believed what she was saying. The worst part was, Ashley thought she believed her too. “I told you you wouldn’t believe me.

          “What? No, I do. I swear. It’s just a lot to take in.” Ashley gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile and held out her hand. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

As they approached the dorm, Ashley fished out her ID, which doubled as a key fob, and led Miranda inside, eyes fixed on the elevator that sat at the far side of the lobby.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s going on here?” The lanky RA stood up from behind the small table that served as a desk for whoever was on duty, and where guests had to sign in. “You can’t just come storming in here at two in the morning with a feral looking child in tow. -”

“Hey!”

“- She definitely wasn’t here before, and you have to let us know if you’re bringing family who’s underage.”

Ashley considered ignoring him and staying course, but she knew the RA enough to know he would follow after them. “Look, Steve… I don’t have time for your shit right now. You wouldn’t believe what we just went through.” She started to walk around the RA, but he moved to block them.

“I don’t care. Explain yourself or I’m calling campus security.”

For just a moment she wondered if there was anything left in her can of pepper spray, but the thought quickly passed.

“You want to call security? Good! In fact, I’ll do you one better. Give me your phone so I can call the police. Mine’s broke.”

This caught the RA off guard, who hesitated but slowly pulled out his phone. “Are you serious?”

“Yes!”

Behind her, Miranda whispered her protest, reminding Ashley what she had told them about the local police, but Ashley just took the frightened child’s hand, in part so she wouldn’t try to take off, and assured her everything would be okay, and that she knew what she was doing. “I promise they won’t give you to the bad men after what happened, and I’ll stay with you until we can get ahold of your family, okay?”

Despite her visible doubt, Miranda nodded and said nothing further.

When she heard the operator pick up the line, Ashley snatched the phone from Steve and told them a greatly condensed version of what had transpired. When the operator told her an officer was on the way, she gave the phone back to Steve and told him to stay on the line in her place.

Ashley felt like her world was spinning and she decided she needed to sit down before she fell over. She sat on the table, not bothering to move the sign-in sheet, and put her head in her hands. She wanted nothing more than to go up to her bed and drag herself under the covers, so she could shut out the rest of the world and the nightmare she had just endured. Her eyelids became laden with an unbearable weight as she sat there, and she did not have the strength to fight it.

Miranda screamed, causing Ashley to hop up in alarm. She followed the girl’s gaze and found a man in a dark suit and sunglasses staring at them from the other side of the glass panel in the door.

“Is that a cop?’ Steve asked.

“No! Do not let him in!” Steve took a step back, surprised by her outburst, but nodded his understanding and told the operator there was a strange man trying to get into the dorm.

Deciding he could not force the door open, the man stepped back and raised his pistol and fired at the glass paneling.

They all screamed, and Ashley grabbed Miranda by the arm and ran for the elevator, shouting for Steve to follow. She nearly slammed into the elevator door and began frantically pressing the call button. To her dismay, the display said the elevator was up on the fifth floor. She cursed and made a beeline for the stairwell. At first Steve trailed behind them, but Ashley heard the buzz of an electric door lock opening and looked back to see the RA dash into a small kitchenette, that was kept locked at night.

‘Bastard.’

The two girls raced up the stairs to Ashley’s dorm room on the fourth floor. Ashley locked the door behind them and immediately ran over to her roommate’s bed and, with great effort, began dragging it across the room to put it up against the door. She didn’t stop there though and managed to wedge her bed behind her roommates. ‍

For a minute she stood there, eyes shut, leaning up against the bed and trying to calm her breathing and the pounding in her chest. She tried to hear if there was anyone out there, but her rapidly drumming heart was making it hard. ‍

“It looks like this is it,” Miranda muttered.

“What? No. We’re going to be okay. The police are on their way, and I don’t think that guy knows where we went.” ‍

“That call is why he knew where we were, and, this close, he’ll sniff out my sent like a dog. It’s what they were created for. Thank you for trying to help me. I… I’m sorry about this.” Her words were surprisingly soft. There was no fear in them, just facts to be stated. ‍

“Don’t apologize, it’s going to be okay. We just need to wait long enough for the – Ow. What the…”

A sharp pain burrowed into her neck and quickly spread through her body like wildfire. Ashley started to flail wildly, trying to dislodge the girl, but Miranda’s teeth only sunk deeper. She tightly wrapped her arms and legs around Ashley and brought her to the floor with a heavy crash. Ashley started to scream but Miranda got a vice grip on her mouth, forcing it shut. A warm, numbing sensation started to spread out from the bite, moving fast enough to overtake the pain, leaving Ashley unable to move, let alone fight back.

For what felt like several minutes, but may have been a matter of seconds, she lay there, whatever was numbing the pain was also numbing the fear, which felt distant, leaving a strange, hypnotic sensation coursing through her and becoming the sole focus of her existence. She didn’t even notice right away when it stopped, not until Miranda turned her over to look down on her.

Dark blood had replaced much of the dirt on her face. Ashley watched it drip down onto her shirt and realized what the stains she noticed earlier had been.

Something in the child’s features had changed. They seemed sharper, her skin no longer as pale, her hair seemed to shine, but all that was lost against her eyes. Gone were the soft pale blue eyes; replaced with a brilliant crimson ring, that glowed in the dim light.

The two stared at one another for several moments before Ashley managed to dreamily ask, “Why?”

A smile flashed across Miranda’s lips so quickly, Ashley wasn’t entirely sure she had really seen it. As she spoke, Miranda ran a nail along the palm of her hand, which split open with surprising ease, and let a pool of blood start to form. “I wasn’t entirely honest with you before. Those men aren’t the Catchers, but they do want to bring me back to La Ferme. The thing is, I hate it there. My family is insufferable.” This time Ashley was sure the child smiled. It was a cruel thing that thinly pulled her lips. “You cannot imagine what it’s like growing up at a place like La Ferme. All that food and I wasn’t allowed to touch any of it.” Miranda forced Ashley’s mouth open and let the pool of blood pour into it. She then forced her mouth shut and made her swallow it.

Ashley felt like she was going to be sick. She felt ready to retch as the warm blood trickled down her throat, but the moment the last of the blood hit her stomach she gasped and grabbed the Miranda’s arm, drawing her bloody hand closer. With reckless abandon, Ashley’s tongue snaked out and began lapping at the girls open wound. She tried to stop herself, but all she could do was close her eyes and try not to be sick. She only stopped when, out of nowhere, all her muscle stiffened, and she started to twitch and shake violently on the floor. Pain, far worse than when she’d been bitten, stormed through her, starting in her veins and leaking into her muscles. Even her bones seemed to ache and vibrate, only Miranda’s forceful grip kept her from screaming aloud.

Ashley nearly lost consciousness as the pain hit its crescendo and all light faded from her world. An incessant ringing in her ears was all she could hear until that same warm, numbing feeling began creeping through her, only this time it barely managed to dull the intense pain to a point where she could start to think again, and her world came back into focus.

The first thing she saw was the monster child, who knelt over her, staring down, unblinking. Something about her had changed once more; it was as if she was giving off a light of her own, a personal radiance that would have been beautiful if Ashley hadn’t been so scared.

“Good, you made it through the transformation.”

“What did you do to me?”

Miranda sighed, and, just for a moment, resembled a kid again. “You’ve been made into a monster too.” The room shook as something slammed into the door. “Now rise.” ‍

She started to ask her what she meant by “monster”, but her body suddenly shot up on its own accord. “What the – wait. What’s happening?” ‍

Miranda ignored Ashley’s question and, with little effort, dragged the two beds away from the door.  She then walked over to Ashley and stood on the tips of her toes so she could gently cup Ashley’s face and look her in the eyes. “I really am sorry; I didn’t mean for this to be your fate. I wanted to hide and feed on you slowly for a few days, not turn you into a ghoul.” The room shook again, and Ashley thought she heard part of the frame crack. “When he comes through that door, you’re going to tear his throat out while I make my escape. There are others like him out tonight, so I want you to draw up as much attention as you can.” Her words slithered into Ashley’s ears and repeated over and over, an insidious echoing in her mind.

“I can’t. Please! Please don’t do this!” A waterfall of tears cascaded down her face as Ashley searched the child’s crimson eyes for any hint of compassion, but Miranda just stepped aside as the door came crashing in.

What fear Ashley felt melted away, and she acted without thought or hesitation. She smacked into the surprised, would-be captor, like a truck, burying him halfway into the wall across the hall. Almost at once the man pulled himself out and was on his feet. He managed to hold onto his pistol and tried to aim at Ashley, but she was too quick. Her newly sharpened teeth sank easily into the man’s flesh, as she tackled him to the ground. The moment the blood touched her lips, the last vestiges of who she was broke, and Ashley Tomlin, the sophomore at South Hampton University, was washed away with the blood pouring down her throat.

April 2nd

          The South Hampton Chief of Police, David Jefferson, had liked to drink since well before he was allowed to by law. His drink of choice was whiskey on ice and had been since the days when he was still a beat cop, fresh out of the academy. He used to joke that it was his preferred choice because he was preparing for when he was in charge someday. Despite this, he had never been one to drink on the job, and had even admonished his predecessor, who was known to keep a personal sized bottle of Johnny Walker in the bottom drawer of his desk. Jefferson had been the SHPD Police Chief for almost a decade, and not once had he ever drunk in his office, not even to celebrate.

Not before a few days ago.

Now, he pulled the half-filled bottle out of the bottom drawer and topped off his glass. This far into the bottle, he no longer felt the sting of the whiskey, as he knocked back a large gulp, draining most of what he just poured.

          As an officer in a small college town, most of what he delt with was related to drinking, drugs, and unruly parties, but the town had seen its share of tragedy over the years. In his twenty-six years as a SHPD officer there had been eleven murders before March 25th, and he had been involved with six of the cases, in various capacities. They had all been tough, all had worn on him and still stayed with him, out of mind but not forgotten. What happened at Oak Hills on March 25th, and the grueling sight of the aftermath, eclipsed all those cases, and cemented themselves in his mind, plastered on the back of his eyelids whenever he dared close his eyes.

Two officers and two men from out of town had died that night, beaten half to death before having their throats ripped out. And the girl… the poor girl, who’d had her blood completely drained before being ripped to pieces. The coroner still had no idea how it was done. And yet all that was somehow outdone by the strange and perplexing condition of the murderer’s body. It was deformed in ways that defied logic, he barely resembled a person, his skin was hardened and greyed, his arms were too long, and his jaw extended like a snake’s.

          The horrific sights and personal loss had left the Police Chief in a mild state of shock. He was drinking from the moment he got home to the moment he passed out, but he got up the next morning and did his job, clean and sober. Now that was no longer the case. He felt sure that the Oak Hill murders would only be a footnote in the towns bloody history, however, as the massacre at the East Street dorms was sure to be what people remembered. As far as he knew, the coroner was still trying to match many of the body parts.

A sophomore, Ashley Tomlin, somehow killed twenty-three people, including three officers, with her bare hands. She had gone from dorm to dorm, strewing the walls with gore when the first two officers arrived and managed to lead her down to the lobby before they too were torn to pieces.

The young woman was stained head to toe in viscera by the time the SHPD managed to bring her down. Like Jeremy Holland, Ashley’s features were somewhat distorted, her jaw extended to reveal a mouthful of pointed teeth, her eyes red orbs, but she otherwise looked like a normal person.

A person he felt sure he saw that night out on the street. ‍

Unlike with Jeremy, the captain had not gotten to see the body after it was brought to the morgue. He only got a glance when she was being carted away from the scene of the massacre. The discerning men, with the suspicious government clearance, had come in and scooped her up, almost right away.

If she was the same person as the one he’d seen on his way home that night, there hadn’t been any red flags or obvious signs that something was wrong with her. What’s more, he could not help but shake the feeling she was somehow a victim too.

‘If I had been more insistent, could I have done something to change all this?” Captain Jefferson wondered and knocked back the rest of his drink. He had no real reason to believe the girl was a victim, besides a gut feeling. That and the mysterious girl that multiple witnesses claimed to see her with that night, including a frightened RA who had been on duty when everything went down at the dorm. He swore Ms. Tomlin had entered the building with a disheveled-looking child, but Jefferson had seen the footage from the lobby camera and there was no girl.

Jefferson cursed and ran his hand through his thinning, grey hair, contemplating pouring himself another drink. He had been off duty for almost two hours but had remained at his desk since his shift had run late enough that his wife would be asleep already. He couldn’t bring himself to face the silent home, but it was late enough now that he thought he could go home and crawl into bed without assistance from more than another couple of drinks.

There was a knock on his door and a rookie officer stepped in, bearing a look that was both apologetic and frazzled. “I’m really sorry sir, but there’s been an incident. We received a call from a concerned citizen about shouting coming from a house on the three-hundred block of Attle Road. When they arrived no one answered, so they looked through a window and… and there’s at least four victims, but it’s hard to say for sure with the condition the bodies are in.”

The Police Chief dismissed the rookie officer and stared deeply into his empty glass for a long moment before he returned it to the bottom drawer of his desk and fished out a business card from his wallet.

The card had no name on it. Only a series of ten numbers. He punched the numbers into his phone and waited for the discerning men in suits, with the suspicious government clearing, to answer.

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