His vision blurred. He rubbed his eyes with a knuckle. He’d never been so scared in his life.

The world outside the paper-thin glass doors was suddenly filled with the sound of incessant barking. The creature stopped talking to itself.

Nikki said, “Is that Buttons?”

Andrew’s heart turned to ice.

It was.

Buttons advanced on the monster, growling in between angry barks. The creature answered with its own roar.

“Buttons!”

Andrew spun to see Kate sitting up in bed. She threw the covers off and jumped to her feet, nudging him aside as she went to open the door.

“Kate, no!” Nikki and Andrew screamed in unison.

They were too late.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kate instantly knew that she was, as her colorful father would say, out where the buses don’t run. Propelled from the warm comfort of the darkness (the only place where she could truly be pain-free, both physically and mentally) by the distressed barking of her beloved Buttons, she wasn’t even exactly sure where she was. She only knew that her dog was beyond the door and she needed to get to him.

People shouted at her, but all she cared about was finding Buttons.

She briefly wondered why it was so dark and who would put candles on the floor. Next thing she knew, she was jerking the door open and stepping outside, the wood chilly on her bare feet. A hand clutched her shoulder, stopping her.

“Buttons!”

The beagle was growling in a way she’d never heard him growl before.

A rush of displaced air smacked her in the face.

Very little light penetrated the pitch outside, but there was just enough to see what had Buttons in a frenzy. One look at the horrid face brought reality crashing down around her.

The monster had turned to glare at her with its cold, glowing eyes.

She felt stark terror, trapped by its gaze. Those flaming eyes penetrated her like laser beams, raping her soul, leaving her empty and hopeless.

Nikki wrapped her arms around Kate, dragging her back.

Andrew knocked into them, rifle raised.

He could have pulled the trigger.

The creature let loose with a bone-rattling bellow. Andrew froze.

Buttons scampered past the beast, positioning himself between Kate and the monstrosity.

It was huge, its barrel chest almost taking up the width of the stairway. Getting a longer look, Kate saw she been right earlier. It was covered in short, bristly hairs, with exposed patches of corrupted flesh. The mephitic stench rolling off it in waves made her gorge rise. Its face looked slightly different than before, its complexion gone sallow.

A long, heavily muscled arm lashed out, reducing the railing to splinters. Andrew regained his senses, but it was too late. The beast bounded off the stairs and ran, its thunderous footfalls heading toward the water.

Andrew fired, but there was no subsequent cry of pain.

It kept running and running until it faded into the distance.