The backyard, where all that separated them was a pair of flimsy sliding-glass doors. She threw the covers back, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Her hips strained, the cold floor feeling like fire on the soles of her feet.

Andrew bolted to the doors.

“Quick, lock them,” she said.

Instead, he grabbed her tablet, swiping crazily at the screen.

“What are you doing?”

“Doesn’t this thing have a flashlight app?”

Before she could answer, a blinding beam of hot, white light burst from the tiny square at the back of the tablet. He went to open the door.

“Don’t!” Kate exclaimed.

“If it’s an animal, the light should scare it off.”

With a half turn of his wrist, the lock disengaged. He paused to look back at her, his face betraying the certainty in his voice.

What she wanted to say was, “What if it isn’t?”

“Please,” she said instead, but there was no stopping him.

Andrew pulled the door back, the night sounds invading the cottage. A tangy smell of earth and something else, something old and rancid, made her cover her nose. It was a fleeting thing, a pocket of trapped gas waiting for release. But it resided on her tongue, trapped in the hairs of her nose.

Cri-crack. Cri-crack.

Whatever it was, it was lead-footed, unconcerned with stealth. Almost as if it wanted them to hear it.

Andrew stepped onto the porch, holding the tablet before him like Moses with the stone tablets. The light didn’t penetrate deep into the woods. Kate struggled to her feet and stood, holding the edge of the door. The night air was cold and damp. When she spoke, her breath swirled in a heady mist.

“Maybe we should go back inside.”

She laid a hand on Andrew’s taut shoulder. He swept the light beam around the yard. They could barely see the fire pit, and that was only ten or so yards from the porch.

Something was still walking out there.

Cri-crack. Cri-crack.

“I can’t see anything,” Andrew said.

It has to be right in front of us!

The crunching of leaves and twigs never stopped, always just out of the light’s reach, circling them like a shark.

“We need to go back inside, right now,” Kate said, digging her nails into his arm.

“Who’s out there?” Andrew shouted.

The walking stopped.

As did all of the night sounds. It was if a voice from on high had said, “Shush,” silencing every cricket and critter mid-raucous.

“Whoa,” Andrew whispered, the tendrils of his breath spiraling into the black.

Kate’s heart plummeted into her stomach. The flesh at the back of her neck bunched up and felt alive with creepy-crawlies.

Andrew kept the light pointed at a particular spot, as if he was awaiting whatever was out there to step into the spotlight.

“Andrew.”