In Darkness Dwells

"Did he say anything? Perhaps something he screamed or muttered?"

"He was without mind or soul, a vicious creature."

"When you said you wounded him, can you be specific? Where did you hit him? What kind of ammo were you using?" Sam asked.

"It was buckshot. I aimed for his chest, but the gun kicked and I winged his shoulder."

"And you said he jumped out the window. Did you see him run off?"

"No, it was too dark, and he was fast, very fast."

"With your permission, we would like to examine your daughter's wounds. How she died may give us a hint to tracking him down."

"She is in her room. I will show you," George said. He brought them upstairs to a door, but hesitated to open it. "What that monster did to her... no man could have done it."

He opened the door, and they entered Irena's room. The autumn wind blew through the broken window, and the cloudy sky cast the room with gray light. Handmade toys sat on shelves, simple dolls staring into nothingness with button eyes. She lay on the bed, covered by a white sheet, with an anxious young man sitting nearby. Per tradition, bodies had to be observed until they were buried for protection against evil spirits.

"Andrei, you can go," George said, ushering the young man outside. He then turned to Sorine and two men. "Please, be kind to her, and let her have her dignity."

"Of course," Sorine replied.

The door was closed behind them, and the three were left alone with her. At that moment, the weight hit them, the presence of a slain innocent. A young life had been cut short, leaving only a husk filled with the pain and love of her family.

"In Romania, death is something to be celebrated," Sorine whispered. "It means a loved one is ascending to the afterlife, a place of serenity where no pain can reach them. You don't say goodbye, you say good luck." She walked over and placed her hand on Ilena's covered forehead. "But when a child dies, even the most faithful struggle to find beauty in their passing. Rather than rewarded in Heaven, it's hard not to feel they have been cheated on Earth." She took a deep breath.

"Sorine...."

"She's the sixth person Danut killed. The second was killed during the night after leaving my father's funeral. The third? Killed after leaving the second's funeral. Our funerals last for days, usually involving singing, games, and masks, but no more. Bad enough we are losing so many friends and family, now we're too afraid to mourn them properly. Danut, whoever or whatever he is now, truly has lost his soul, for it is clear that nothing is sacred to him." She then turned away and sat in the nearby chair. "Go on, then. Get what you came here for."

Volker approached the bed and murmured a small prayer in German, then slowly pulled back the sheet to see Ilena's face. "Oh Dear God," he hissed, staggering back and covering his mouth.

Sam rushed over to see what had shocked him so. "Sweet Christ," he muttered.

Ilena's eyes were gone and her skull was completely hollow, like a carved pumpkin awaiting its candle.

"That's exactly what my father looked like after the exorcism," Sorine cursed after looking. "His brain had been sucked right out of his skull, leaving two empty pits where the windows to his soul used be."

"Volker, please tell me you've seen something like this in the past, because not even No Man's Land had shit like this."

Volker was just barely keeping his breakfast down. "In a-ancient Egypt, when pre-preparing bodies for mummification, the brains would be pulled out of their noses with a metal hook. Perhaps this is some kind of ritualistic practice, similar to--"

"For God's sake, man! This was not done with a metal hook!"

"Keep your voice down!" Sorine hissed.

"George said Danut was covering Ilena's face. It's possible that Danut did something to liquify her brain and then consumed it through her sockets. It's not demonic possession, it's deranged cannibalism." Sam grumbled in annoyance and then examined the wall beside the bed. "What are you searching for?"

"I may not be a fancy doctor or historian, but I learned plenty of interesting things in the war, like what happens when soft stuff gets hit with hard stuff. Ah, here we go." He held up a doll from a shelf above the bed, showing its face had been torn. He removed the rest, revealing several pockmarks in the wall, with several lead pellets embedded in the wood. "George said he winged Danut with buckshot, so there should be some kind of splatter, and here it is, take a look."

Along with buckshot, the wall was also peppered with dark tissue, like drops of tar. Volker leaned in for a closer look. "What is that?"

"It sure as shit ain't blood or flesh, at least not from a human, and you can believe that. That is from something demonic."

"They also said his body looked molted, like he had been badly burned and then healed. This could be the result of some kind of horrible infection that's addled his brain and distorted his flesh."

"Look, I wasn't a choir boy growing up, and I get that you're trying to look at this thing scientifically, but it's pretty clear you're dealing with something demonic."

"Well we won't know until we find him."

"No, not until YOU find him. You hired me to help you catch a madman, not a monster. I'm not looking to get my brain sucked out of my eyes by some demon in human skin. I quit."

He then walked out of the room, ignoring all voices.

Later that day, after attending Ilena's wake, Sorine visited the tavern to find Sam at the counter, nursing a half-empty mug. "Volker told me you would be here."

"It's a small town. There really isn't anywhere else for me to go," he replied with slurred speech.

"He also told me that you were broke. How did you afford that?"

"I'm no stranger to doing odd jobs, or even begging. The barkeeper gives me a drink for every chore I do. This nectar of the gods is my reward for sweeping the floor. He told me he'll give me a shot for each rat I manage to kill. Hopefully there are enough for me to get totally shit-faced and forget everything about today."

"So you're really just quitting on us?"

"What's the point of working for booze money if my job gives me even more reason to drink? I saw the inside of a little girl's hollowed-out skull. Even after all the shit I witnessed in the war, that still left me shaking."

"Sam, we need your help, and you know it. Don't walk away from us."

"Don't talk like you know me. You don't know me. You don't know the things I've done. I'm not a fancy doctor or some hero from your crazy folk tales. I'm just a guy who rolled into town off a cliff. You got a whole village of people who can help you."

"Everyone is too afraid. After what happened in the church, hope has left them. All they wish to do now is hide and wait for this evil to eventually leave."

"Well winter is coming, so unless Danut gets mauled by a bear or succumbs to his wounds, he'll probably freeze to death."

"He'll kill us all before then."

"So then leave. I thought you Romani were wanderers."

"This is our home. Our ancestors put down roots here, and we can't just pack up and run."

"Sure you can, it's easy."

"Oh yeah? What are you running from?" Sam didn't answer. "I thought so. Volker and I aren't giving up, and neither should you. We're going to hunt down this monster and we could appreciate your help."

"I already have more than my fair share of demons. I don't need to go chasing after them."

"Well it's not like you have anything better to do." She turned around and walked away.

"I got some fucking rats to kill!" Sam shouted as she left.

Sam's mood didn't improve for the rest of the day. He worked around the tavern to earn his drinks, all while muttering better responses he could have used on Sorine. That night, though he went to bed in Romania, his dreams carried him back to France. America was only in the war for a year, but that was long enough for the horrors of war to be forever etched into Sam's soul.

He could still smell the spilled blood and voided bowels of the slain, and the pungent stink of burning gunpowder. How many days did he spend in those trenches? As a member of the 315th Infantry Regiment, all he and his fellow troops could do was hide in their holes, waiting for death, while occasionally shooting at enemies they couldn't even see. When it rained, all they could do was shiver, and when they did advance, they ran in an awkward shamble, all suffering from trench foot. Their uniforms were caked with mud from crawling across the ground and shredded from barbed wire. Machine gun fire chopped men into pieces, making it look like their bodies were exploding from the inside.

Hiding behind a tank, Sam and several others made it to an enemy trench, finally able to look their foes in the eyes. He now used his rifle to stab and slash at his opponents, slipping his bayonet between their ribs like he was stabbing a pillow. Those beyond his reach, he dispatched with his trusty revolver. How strange that something so small as a bullet could end lives so easily. A simple piece of lead could erase memories, dreams, fear, pain, and love and turn human beings into nothing more than cooling meat.

Sam couldn't remember the date, as the days all melted together. He didn't know when it was that that grenade landed in front of him. All he remembered was the flash, brighter than the sunrise, and the sound of the explosion, like--

Sam bolted out of bed, awoken once again by the sound of a gunshot. However, unlike the night before, it didn't happen in some house down the road. Instead, it was right down the hall. Sam grabbed his pistol and checked it. Four bullets. He ran out into the hall, driven by primal instinct and a soldier's restlessness. He could hear movement and sobbing in the tavernkeeper's bedroom. He kicked the door open, finding the barman dead on the floor beside his shotgun. His skull had already been hollowed out. The man's wife was cowering in the corner, as before her stood Danut, growling like a hellhound with a sickening gurgle in his throat.

As he stepped forward, Sam raised his gun. "Danut!"

The ghoul turned to him, staring with soulless eyes that gleamed in the dark, and screamed with an inhuman voice of wrathful bloodlust. Sam pulled the trigger, drilling a hole through the center of Danut's heart and severing his spine, causing instant death. Danut collapsed like a puppet with his stringers cut, and it was like the world had frozen. The barman's wife was still weeping in the corner, but Sam couldn't hear her, for to him, all seemed silent. He had killed numerous men during the war, but this felt different from all of them. He didn't feel weighed down by guilt, questions, or terror. He didn't feel sin dripping from his hands like blood, and he took a shuddering breath, breathing the clear air as though he had just pulled off his gas mask in the trenches.

"It's over." He then grabbed Danut's cold wrist and dragged him out of the room, with other guests hesitantly stepping out to see what was happening. Sam pulled the corpse outside into the middle of the street. "Everyone! It's dead! The monster is dead!"

He repeated it in every language he knew, while all around him, candles were lit, and fearful villagers came out of their homes. Several were carrying weapons out of caution, and Volker and Sorine were among those gathering. Under the light of torches, the villagers looked upon the slain beast, gasping in both horror and relief. They nudged it with their feet and poked it with whatever they had in hand, making sure it was dead.

"Let me through, please!" Volker exclaimed, worming his way through the crowd until he could see the body up close. "My word," he gasped.

Danut was nothing like what he was before the exorcism. His entire body appeared layered with an infected scar, rough with crusted tissue like tree bark, and leaking pus like it was sweat. His muscles and skeletal structure also appeared to be undergoing transformations as well. The jagged tips of bones had torn free of his flesh, growing too fast for his skin to cover them. His feet had grown longer, letting him stand with his heels off the ground, and his toes and fingers were growing claws in place of nails. His cheeks were torn like a horrific smile, and he had a vertical wound going down the middle of his face as if he had been slashed with a sword. His mouth was slightly open, showing that the middle two teeth on his upper and lower jaw had extended and sharpened.

"Volker, I'd be very interested to know what I'm looking at here," said Sam.

"I... I honestly have no idea. I've never seen anything like this. This is..."

"Monstrous," Sorine muttered.

The mayor stepped forward and grimaced as he looked at the body. "Everyone, gather wood and oil. We're going to burn this thing tonight, until not even bones remain. The sun shall shine on a valley freed of evil." Everyone began to cheer and pray to God to voice their gratitude, and the mayor turned to Sam and shook his hand. "This town and I owe you a debt that can never be repaid. You've saved us all, and freed us from the oppression of terror. May God smile upon you always, just as he smiled upon you tonight."

"Thank you, I just wish I could have saved the barkeeper."

"You've saved the town, no more can be asked of you than--"

The mayor was cut off as he fell to the ground. A fearful scream silenced the celebration, and all eyes turned back to Danut, back on his feet and holding the mayor off the ground by the ankle. Sam raised his pistol and took aim, but Danut swung the screaming mayor like a pillow, smashing the two men together and knocking Sam through the air. Danut did it to everyone still in reach, forcing them back.

He then held the mayor by the shoulders, covered in blood and barely conscious. The few men with guns wanted to shoot, but they risked hitting the mayor. Then, fear robbed them of the ability to pull the trigger. Danut's jawbone split into a pair of mandibles, followed by his cranium. His entire skull opened up into four segments, like a flower, filled with teeth, and what had originally been his brain was now a writhing mass of tentacles.

"Oh God," the mayor gasped with his last shred of coherence.

The tentacles shot into his eyes, and Danut enveloped the mayor's head with his own. The four elongated incisors at the ends of the segments perfectly hooked onto the ridges of the mayor's cranium, ensuring that he couldn't pull himself free. The mayor jerked and spasmed as his brain was devoured, with everyone unable to do anything but scream in terror. It was only a handful of moments, then Danut dropped the mayor's corpse, his skull completely hollowed out.

"Monster!" Volker roared, raising his shotgun and blasting Danut with rock salt.

The beast staggered back, momentarily disoriented, then pounced on a fallen woman and began to feed. A man with a pitchfork ran over and stabbed Danut in the back, causing him to release the dead woman and howl in pain. He pulled himself off the pitchfork and turned around, slashing the man across the face with his claws. He fell back, screaming in agony and pouring blood, and Danut was immediately upon him. A bullet from a M1893 rifle pierced the monster's chest from the side, wounding him, but failing to interrupt his feeding.

After hollowing out the pitchfork-wielder, he pounced on a woman, proceeding to suck the life out of her skull. Several men gathered around and began beating on him with shovels and torches, but Danut knocked them back with a swing of his arm and retreated several meters. Crouching on all fours, he released a furious snarl, with the four segments of his skull shaking like vocal cords.

"Don't let it get away!" Sorine yelled as she grabbed a rock and threw it with all her strength. The rock struck Danut in the head, failing to wound him, but drawing his ire. He charged forward with ravenous fury and pounced on her, only to be slammed midair with another burst of rock salt from Volker. He rolled across the ground and darted into a nearby house for cover.

"There are people in there!" one man yelled as a trio of screams echoed from within.

He and several others were about to charge inside, but Danut burst out of the upstairs window and back into the street. He gripped a child's severed head between his four mandibles and glared at the men with soulless eyes. One man screamed in fury and attacked with an axe. Danut dodged and slashed his throat with his claws, only to be struck in the shoulder by another rifle bullet. Having finished devouring the child's brain, he crushed the hollow skull between his mandibles and went after the man with a rifle.

The beast dodged two rounds as he ran and pounced on the shooter. He raised his rifle, locking it between Danut's mandibles with the brain tentacles trying to reach him like striking snakes. Sam ran over with a dropped axe and buried it in Danut's back, drawing another shriek of agony. The beast moved away, facing the villagers now coming together with weapons in their hands. He gave one final threatening roar and then turned around, disappearing into the darkness.

"God help us," one man said.

"This is not God's fight," said Sorine, "it is our own. We've managed to drive it off, but it will return, and when it does, we'll be ready. Next time, we'll kill it."

The curtain of terrified silence had been broken. The villagers knew the face of their enemy and could no longer ignore what was happening.

"So, are you ready to believe that this is legitimate demonic possession?" Sam asked Volker.

The German sighed and opened his shotgun, discharging the two spent shells. "I'm going to need new ammo."

The next day, the townsfolk gathered in the center of the village to devise a plan. The mayor was dead, so all the most respected men in the community were standing in the tavern, arguing about what should be done.

"Let's form a hunting party, get out there, and kill it!"

"We should trap it in a building a burn it down!"

"We need to get help from outside the town!"

"God is punishing us for our sins! We must repent or we will all be killed!"

"We must abandon the village! This land is cursed!"

Sam, Volker, and Sorine sat in the back, listening to the rabble.

"We're not going to get anywhere like this," said Sam, turning to Sorine. "Shouldn't you get in there? What happened to all that "this is our fight" puff you were throwing out last night?"

"I'm simply the daughter of a dead priest. You think they'll listen to me?"

Finally, Volker stepped forward. "ENOUGH!" he boomed, silencing everyone. "Please, listen to what I have to say. Now it's clear this monster is not something of our world, but it seems to follow the behavioral patterns of a typical nocturnal predator. We're its prey, and it's feeding. If you remain scattered in your homes, it'll just keep picking us off every night. I propose we gather every villager and sequester them here in the tavern and the surrounding buildings.

We'll put up walls and barricades between the houses to create a box with one opening. Then, when the monster returns, it will be drawn to where all its food has gathered. We lure it into the box and attack it from all sides."

"We tried that last night," one man argued. "It's fast, strong, and doesn't die. We can't pin it down, chase it, or kill it."

"Back in the train wreckage, along with my luggage, there is a cage I brought with me to deal with him. It's heavy, and takes several men to move, but it's built to hold wild lions and rhinos. If we can transport the cage here and drive the monster inside, then it will be trapped. After that, we just stick our guns between the bars and shoot it until its reduced to pulp. Powerful as it may be, it is just a mindless beast, and I'm sure it can be killed."