Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Glass crunched beneath Daniel’s boots as he stepped over the bloated body jammed in the sliding doors. He glanced nervously around the reception area with wide eyes. It was an open space, scattered with toppled tables and chairs. The vinyl floors glistened in the harsh white ceiling lights. Blood splatters coated the walls like an unfinished paint job, and trails of blood led towards the closed wooden doors at the other end of the room. The electric lights hummed above them, mixed with the sound of their unsteady breathing.

Daniel turned his focus towards the reception desk, slipping on the blood as he made his way towards it. He rummaged through the mess of papers until a patient’s list caught his eye. He picked it up and froze. His eyes widened.

“What is it, Daniel?” Amir asked, making his way over to him around the pools of blood.

“Floor 2, Room sixteen.” Daniel said.

Amir nodded and swallowed hard. Daniel’s eyes fixed on the blood-splattered double doors. Beyond their glass panes, flickering white lights alternated with darkness. A loud thud from above made him flinch, sending a wash of dust down onto his shoulders. Then came the rapid scrape of claws, scuttling somewhere above them. Daniel and Amir exchanged looks, both seemingly reluctant to make the first move. But after a few seconds, Daniel began long, silent strides towards the doors, with Amir following suit.

Daniel stared through the glass at the narrow corridor. The displaced ceiling lights illuminated hospital beds, scattered equipment, and more signs of blood. Amir stood to his side and gently pushed against the double doors, entering cautiously with his weapon readied. A crooked sign on the wall beside them pointed towards the stairway dead ahead. Not far in that direction, just before the flickering lights, the corridor split into two passages, both swallowed by darkness. Amir kept his back to the wall and stuck his head out to the left. Nothing but a void of darkness. To the right, a short figure stood completely still. Its silhouette was only made evident by a dim light at the end of the hall. The figure breathed with a light purring sound.

Amir tucked his head back in and stared at Daniel, his posture stiff and eyes wide. He held the shotgun to his chest as if it were a teddy bear. Daniel cautiously stepped towards him and peered around both corners. They then tried to communicate in complete silence, pointing and mouthing; neither seemed to understand the other, but somehow the conclusion was the same: continue straight ahead into the flickering lights, as quietly as possible. Daniel went first.

Keeping on his toes, he took two large strides. He didn’t dare to look either side of him. When he made it past the opening, he kept his head down and his eyes pressed shut. Silence. He took a long exhale, opened his eyes, and turned to Amir. He was still stiff, pressing up against the wall. Daniel stared into Amir’s wide eyes and nodded. Amir turned to the right - eyes fixed on the creature. He took his first large stride.

Squeak.

Amir’s shoe slid on a blood trail, leaving him in an awkward split position in the middle of the corridor. The creature jolted its head to the side violently to face him. Its small black eyes glistened in the electric light, and thick clots of blood dripped from its clenched teeth.

“Run”, Amir whispered.

The creature let out a guttural screech, its claws scrabbling awkwardly on the vinyl floor as it failed to find purchase.

“Run!” Amir screamed.

The sound of scraping claws and guttural groans could now be heard in all directions. The hospital came alive with noise and chaos, clattering and smashing. Daniel turned, colliding with a stray hospital bed as Amir struggled to his feet behind him. Daniel’s ears rang as a deafening blast erupted beside him. He turned to find Amir still standing in the centre of the corridor, firing his weapon in the direction of the creature. Through the darkness behind him, another one of them lunged at frightening speed, latching onto Amir’s back and digging its head into his neck. Its pallid complexion was splattered with Amir’s blood as it ripped a chunk of flesh from his neck. Daniel stood ten yards away, unable to move, unable to breathe.

Something grabbed his arm and yanked him into one of the rooms beside him. A man shut the doors and leaned up against them. Daniel fell to the floor and covered his ears. The chaotic sound of the hospital’s interior mixed with Amir’s screams was now unbearable. There was one final blood-curdling scream from beyond the doors.

The stranger tilted a filing cabinet across the wooden door. Daniel crouched with his head in his hands, his body shaking uncontrollably. That was it. Everyone he had dragged to this fucking place was dead.

“He saved my life,” Daniel muttered to himself.

“What he did was wake up every single one of those things in the building.” The man said sternly, peering through the closed blinds out into the corridor.

He was an older man in a white lab coat with doctor’s scrubs underneath. A grey beard framed his face, while his slicked-back hair remained unnaturally neat given the current circumstances. The man continued past Daniel towards a patient’s bed, which was inhabited by a naked body. The body was severely bloated, as if filled with air. It was covered in the black veins they’d become accustomed to. Its limbs fattened and throbbed; it reminded Daniel of a demonic Michelin man. The man moved towards the bed and began cutting into the bloated body with a scalpel. He continued in a hoarse whisper.

“They’d gone silent the last fifteen minutes or so, after they’d killed near enough everyone. Then you showed up.”

Outside, the chaos continued. Smashing windows and walls. Furniture clattering. Gradually, the noise simmered. Daniel scanned the room. It was an examination room, remarkably pristine compared to the rest of the hospital. The wet scrape of the doctor’s scalpel working through the body’s innards sent a shudder down Daniel’s spine.

“Have you seen my son? My wife?”

The doctor turned sharply, shushing Daniel, lifting his blue-gloved finger to his lips. It was coated with black liquid.

“Don’t go waking them up again.” He whispered before turning back to his work.

“It’s Liam McCallister, Lara McCallister, have you seen those names?” Daniel pleaded, this time in a whisper.

“I’m afraid not.” The man responded after a short silence.

“I’ve been busy.”

Daniel hobbled towards the man, looking over his shoulder. He was cutting into what looked like a wound in the body’s abdomen. Thick black liquid oozed out of it. The black veins were pumping vigorously. The skin looked as though it had hardened. Then he noticed its head. It resembled neither male nor female. All evidence of hair and facial features had vanished, leaving it smooth and featureless, like an inflatable pool toy.

“You’re a doctor, aren’t you? Do you have any idea what it is?” Daniel asked.

The man paused for a moment, before redirecting his knife into another organ. More black stuff oozed out of it and he sighed.

“Medically speaking. It doesn’t make any sense.” The man began, keeping his eyes fixed on the body.

“Didn’t take long for the wound to appear infected.” The doctor placed the scalpel beside the body and turned to Daniel.

“It expands the veins beyond logic, replaces the blood with this... black liquid. With no blood she should be dead, yet her heart still beats.”

“So, in short, I have no idea what it is. It’s not... possible.” He finished, turning back and picking up the scalpel.

Daniel sighed and turned, he wandered around the room aimlessly, his mind racing.

“She was my wife.” The doctor said somberly, breaking the silence as he stared ahead. Daniel turned back to him to listen.

“It was a rare day off for me today. We thought we’d spend it hiking.” He smiled slightly.

“Then on the way, one of those things attacked our car, stabbed her in the stomach with its... claws.” His smile collapsed.

“By the time we got here, they were already swarming the place. Hundreds of them. I ran through the hospital with her in my arms, her wound already...” His voice broke slightly, as he attempted to keep it together.

“And since then, I’ve been locked in here. I thought maybe I could save her.”

Tears dripped from Daniel’s eyes as he thought back to Liam’s wound. It was the exact same thing, which meant Liam was very likely in the same state. But he couldn’t bring himself to believe it. Liam’s wound was on the arm; maybe they amputated it on time, or it was less severe. He could not conceive that Liam was gone unless he had seen it with his own eyes.

“What’s this?”

Daniel heard the doctor mumble to himself. He watched as the doctor dug his scalpel into his wife’s body. Its bloated neck shot forward, its mouth gaped open, and its eyes widened, pulsing wildly. It let out a loud, gasping scream. Its arms straightened out, unable to bend, as its entire form seemed to blacken.

“Lianne?!”

The doctor shouted over the screaming. Black liquid shot from her body, splattering the ceiling as her bloated form seemed to deflate. Daniel backed up towards the door, pressing himself against the cabinet.

“Lianne, can you hear me?!”

The doctor shouted, holding his wife’s head in his arms as she continued screaming without stopping to breathe.

“Lianne!”

The doctor cried. Daniel heard commotion start up again around the hospital. The creatures scuttled and screamed, objects clattered around. He placed his hand over the filing cabinet, ready to throw it to the ground and make a run for it. The glass window beside Daniel shattered open as one of the creatures leapt through, rolling around on the floor, trapped in the blinds. Another followed, leaping straight onto the doctor. He barely noticed. His focus remained entirely on his wife. Two more jumped through. Daniel watched in horror as they tore the doctor to pieces before his very eyes. He heaved the cabinet to the ground and burst out of the door, sprinting towards the stairwell without looking back. Creatures screamed and scuttled around him, mingling with his own cries as he charged up the stairs two at a time.

He reached the second floor and immediately burst through another door. A dimly lit room opened up before him, and without hesitation, he leapt over a reception desk. He didn’t dare to look around. There could have been hundreds of them in the room with him for all he knew. He remained on the ground, on his belly with his hands clasping the back of his head. He kept his eyes tightly shut, waiting to die. He listened intently to the chaotic sounds all around him. Terrified screams of people echoed through the second floor.

“Please stop,”

Daniel whimpered. Eventually, the chaos subsided. Silence returned to the hospital. It was several minutes before Daniel dared to open one eye. For the first time, he was completely alone, and at this point he felt certain of his death. He even longed for it.

As long as it was quick.

Once he was convinced the room was safe, he cautiously scanned his surroundings. He was hidden behind a U-shaped desk, which blocked off the rest of the room. As quietly as he could, he curled up against the desk, leaning his head back. He tried to slow his shuddering breath. Sarah and Amir were both dead because of him. And who knows how many others had died because he had come here? But he couldn’t let the guilt consume him. Not yet. He had to find Lara and Liam.

He sat for a while, listening to the deathly silence. It was broken only by the electrical buzz of ceiling lights and the occasional thud from elsewhere in the hospital. He began looking around at what was available to him. He felt the need for a weapon, and preferably a silent one this time. But there was nothing useful around him, only an array of stationery littered across the floor. All there was left to do was find room sixteen. And he’d have to do it unarmed.

He peered over the desk. Nothing. Just an empty waiting area, which opened onto another corridor disappearing into complete darkness. At the entrance to the corridor, he spotted a closed door. The number 2 was printed on the wall beside it. He let out a slow, steady breath that shuddered despite his efforts. He was very close.

He closed his eyes and whispered, “Come on”.

In one quick but careful movement, he slipped through the opening in the desk. He paused occasionally to listen and assess his footing. His mind flashed with the image and sound of Amir slipping in the pool of blood, and the explosion of these creatures that emerged with it. He was adamant about not making the same mistake.

Peering down the dark corridor, he saw nothing but more empty space. The only light came from the dim glow of a meshed window at the end of the hall, and from the lights in the rooms running parallel. One step after another, he crept forward. He could see it now, room number sixteen. His pace quickened. He felt exposed in the darkness, struggling to keep it together. Images flashed through his mind: claws digging into flesh, razor teeth tearing into throats. Their horrifying cries echoed in his memory. He drew closer to the door. The place he’d been trying to reach since he’d come here: room sixteen.

Reaching it, he opened the door carefully. Lara was there, cowering in the corner, makeup streaking down her face. Her expression was hopeless. Then he saw the bed. Lying on it, inflated, pulsating, strangled by thick black veins like the roots of a tree. Liam. Daniel knew only because Lara was there. It looked nothing like his son. It was identical to the doctor’s wife.

He carefully closed the door and ran to Lara. She threw herself into his arms, her tears dampening his overalls as he held her close and reassured her in a hoarse voice, breathing in the scent of her hair.

“It’s alright,” he said again, remembering he had given the same assurance to Liam just an hour earlier.

“Daniel. What’s happening to him? What are we going to do?”

Lara cried, slowly pulling herself from his embrace. She looked up at him with tears welling in her eyes.

Daniel looked at his only son - or what remained of him. He was barely recognisable; his limbs swollen, leaving visible cracks in his dry skin. Daniel’s denial finally crumbled. He knew now that Liam had suffered the same fate as the doctor’s wife on the ground floor. But there was a part of him that still couldn’t accept it. He approached the limp body slumped across the bed and reached towards Liam’s swollen fingers. Before he could find any words, a distant rumbling shook the room. The windows rattled in their frames. Glass clinked against the floor as objects toppled from the shelves. The deafening roar of jet engines tore across the sky outside, impossibly fast.

Daniel turned towards the window.

A blinding white light flooded the room.

And then there was nothing.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The Fiat 500 crept along the desolate road, occasionally slowing to a crawl to veer past deserted cars. Its engine roared through the still air. Sarah stared, wide-eyed, at each abandoned vehicle. Each one had smashed windows, dents and scattered belongings left behind by their owners. She hoped they had made it out alive. Each bump on the road or distant sound caused Sarah to whimper under her breath. She soon found herself humming the tune of a song she’d heard countless times on the radio.

“What the hell are those things?”

Amir asked, breaking the silence.

“I don’t know,”

Daniel replied, staring out the window.

“But one of them attacked Liam.”

“Where is everybody?”

Sarah interrupted.

A few hours ago, her biggest concern was deciding what she was going to have for lunch. Now, she found herself stuck with a wildly unstable Daniel McCallister, and Amir Aziz sat in her backseat with a shotgun gripped tightly in his hands. Around her, the familiar corners of Aviemore lay in ruins.

“Why are there no bodies?”

Amir whispered, leaning forward.

Sarah hadn’t thought of that. If there were bodies, she wasn’t sure she could keep herself together. But Amir was right; there were none, just the remnants of them. The car rolled past the old post office, Giannis restaurant, the Queen’s pub, places Sarah had visited hundreds of times. Now they all stood deserted, windows and doors gaping.

They came to a gentle stop. Sarah covered her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. She stared through the fractured glass window of her office. Her colleague Andy Johnston was nowhere to be seen. But entrails piled on his desk.

“Just keep us moving. Hospitals close,”

Daniel said.

She tightened her grip on the wheel and hummed a little louder. She couldn’t look at Daniel. They were driving through a living hell, and he had directed them there. But what choice did she have? If she gave any protest, they would likely kick her to the streets.

The deeper they strode into the depths of the town, the tighter she gripped, and the more frequently she would hum. As she turned, veering around a bus parked diagonally on the road, she heard a gurgling screech from the cafe to their right. The clattering of furniture and crockery followed. Before she could take a breath, nails scraped along the bus’s chassis. One of the creatures stood on top of the bus, staring down at them, its mouth gaping with rows of thin, sharp teeth. Another crept up alongside it.

“Go! Go! Go!”

Daniel screamed.

An unnatural squeal emanated from Sarah’s throat as she pushed down on the accelerator with all her weight. The car spun wildly towards a building on their left. She yanked the steering wheel right, causing the Fiat to bump onto the curb and obliterate a public bin. The car went spiralling back onto the road. The creature’s cries could be heard from behind them, accompanied by Amir’s groaning and Daniel’s frantic shouting of useless instructions. A violent scraping sound tore through the back of the car.

“It’s on the car! It’s on the fucking car!”

Amir cried, attempting to turn around and ready his weapon.

Sarah saw the sign for the hospital just ahead of them. Her humming returned as she sped towards it. A black clawed hand smashed the front windscreen, sending shards of glass into her face. She screamed and pulled the steering wheel right. The world spun as the grey monster flew through the air in front of her eyes. For a moment, all she could hear was whooshing air, as she found herself flipped upside down. The silence ended abruptly with a violent crash followed by the scraping of metal. Then everything went black.

Daniel smiled at Lara. She was right there in front of him, wrapped in an angelic glow. She smiled back. He could hear nothing but the wind blowing gently, lifting the strands of her hair. She had never looked so beautiful.

“Daniel.”

She said softly, brushing his cheek.

“Lara.”

He grinned.

She vanished into a blur. His head began to ache. He felt a sharp pain in his left arm. White noise rang sharply in his ears. Opening his eyes, he found himself held in place by his seatbelt, blood rushing to his head. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, feeling blood trickle down his arm to his fingers. Breaking through the white noise, he heard a dripping sound to his right. He turned his neck cautiously. Sarah was also held up by her seatbelt, dangling upside down next to him, her arms stretched. Her glasses sat awkwardly on her face, which was now riddled with pulsing black veins. Blood flowed down from her neck onto the ceiling of the toppled vehicle. As his eyes resumed normal function, something grey emerged beside her. One of the creatures was latched onto her body, its long, black claws digging deep into her chest as it held itself in place, dangling next to her. Its head was pressed against her neck. It made a wet gargling noise as its body pulsed steadily.

Daniel groaned, turning his head further. Amir dangled in the back seat, still alive but unconscious. He swallowed and let out a deep, trembling breath. He scanned his body, finding it grazed and bloodied. The roof was concave, giving him little room for movement. He found the seatbelt release, clicked it, and eased himself down through the window, head-first. Shards of glass grazed his back, sharp pain erupting through his body. He grimaced, trying desperately not to make a sound. He rolled awkwardly onto his front and scanned his surroundings. The sky was deep blue. Night was approaching. A trail of glass and metal stretched along the concrete towards the wreckage. No other creatures in sight. Only the hiss of the wrecked car. He spotted the pistol close by, amongst the rubble. He groaned and dragged himself towards it on his forearms. A deep gurgling growl from behind him stopped him in his tracks. He turned onto his back. Another one of the creatures remained completely still, perched on top of the ruined car, staring at him with its small black eyes. Its mouth slowly opened, revealing a set of razor teeth.

Daniel’s chest tightened. He continued to crawl on his back, not taking his eyes off the thing. As he reached the pistol, the creature leapt towards him, its claws reaching ahead. Instinctively, he kicked his legs at it, sending it hurdling back towards the toppled vehicle with a screech. He thrust the pistol out, barely able to keep it steady. The creature recovered and sped back towards him. He fired. His ears began to ring again. Black liquid burst from the creature’s head. It spasmed on its feet before collapsing onto the concrete.

Through the ringing, he heard commotion in the toppled vehicle. Another creature appeared from behind it, its face red with blood, chunks of flesh visible between thin rows of teeth. He let off another shot, which ricocheted off the chassis with a spark. It leapt over the vehicle and charged towards him. Daniel closed his eyes, held the pistol out before him, and kept pressing the trigger.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, click, click, click, click.

Daniel opened his eyes. The creature lay in a pool of black liquid.

“Daniel!”

He heard Amir scream from within the vehicle.

“Amir, I’m coming!”

He responded, letting the pistol fall and stumbling to his feet.

He dropped to his knees beside the wreck and peered inside. Amir was fighting the seatbelt, short of breath and wide-eyed.

“Come on, big man,”

Daniel said, reaching into the car and collapsing the passenger seat to make room for Amir to escape. Amir’s white sweater was stained almost entirely red. The interior was a mess of blood, hard to tell whose. Daniel hauled Amir free with all the strength he had left and propped him against the wreck, both of them breathing heavily. He couldn’t take his eyes off Sarah. Her body pulsed rhythmically, black veins spreading beneath her skin. He wanted to believe she was still alive. Tears began to well in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Amir.”

Daniel sobbed.

Amir put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder, still catching his breath. They remained in silence for a while before the unsettling cries of the creatures startled them. They came from inside the hospital. From within the five-story building, shattered windows lit up with pale electric light. There was no sign of life. Amir groaned, taking to a squatted position next to Daniel; his breath steadied. Daniel stared into his eyes.

“You don’t…”

Daniel began, his voice hoarse, but Amir cut him off.

“We can do this.”

They gave each other a nod before Amir reached into the wreck for the shotgun. They stood up and began limping towards the hospital. The automatic doors hissed open and closed, stuck, bashing the ankle of a bloated corpse on the ground, riddled with the now familiar black veins. They hobbled cautiously towards the entrance, engulfed in silence. There was no movement from inside. Yet Daniel could sense there was something there, waiting to receive them.

Part 1

Part 2

If you’d prefer to skip past these sections, here’s a summary of the story so far:

A secretive, international organization establishes a facility on the edges of the remote town of Aviemore, Scotland. There is initial protest from the town residents, which is soon squashed via intimidation. Daniel McCallister, a local self-employed tradesman, and his apprentice son, Liam, travel to a client living near the secret facility. During their lunch break, Liam is attacked and scratched by a creature lurking in the woods. Beneath Liam’s skin, black veins pulse unnaturally from the wound. Realizing something is terribly wrong, Daniel phones his wife, Lara, to inform her that he is taking Liam to the hospital.

Part 3 – The Station

Lara held the phone to her ear as white noise flooded her mind. She had never heard Daniel sound so afraid, angry yes, but this was different. The line went dead. She tried to call him back, but there was no signal. She raced through the house frantically, throwing on her jacket before bursting through the front door into the cold.

“Morning Lara!”

Her elderly neighbour Tony shouted, holding a mug of coffee to his lips. She couldn’t hear him over the droning white noise filling her ears. Daniel’s words echoed in her mind. Her youngest child was in danger, and the severity and cause of his injury were a complete mystery. She felt helpless, like a child desperate for something they could not have. Her drive to the hospital was a blur, infused with tears and road rage.

At the entrance of the hospital parking area, the road led sharply down a hill and levelled out at the newly constructed site. She pulled up after what felt like the slowest ten-minute drive of her life. Dark clouds gathered overhead, and a gentle mist formed around her. She rushed out of the car and stormed the hospital entrance. To her surprise, Daniel was waiting outside in blood-stained overalls and a grim look on his face.

“Daniel? What are you doing outside?”

She asked in a panicked voice, rushing towards him. He pulled her in for a tight embrace, tears welling in his eyes.

“He’s alright Lara, he’s alright. They’ve just taken him in to stitch him up.”

“And you’re not with him?!”

She asked, pulling away from him furiously.

“They wouldn’t let me go in, somethings happening Lara, somethings off.”

He responded, looking around the parking area. There was now a distinct smell of smoke.

“What happened Daniel?”

She asked, now bawling. Daniel looked everywhere but her eyes.

“I don’t know, something scratched him.”

“Something?!”

She paused, noticing Daniel’s van parked by the entrance. She walked towards it with her mouth ajar. The passenger side window was smashed, blood dripping from the shattered glass, and there was a large dent on the driver’s side.

“I don’t know, an animal or something. Listen Lara!”

He grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards him.

He placed both of his hands on her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes.

“It’s all going to be alright! I’m going to head home to get some things, then top up the van with petrol. By the time I’m done with that, Liam will be stitched up and ready to go. Then we’re leaving.”

He said, trying to maintain Lara’s attention through her sobbing.

“I don’t understand, leaving where?”

She cried.

“I’ll be twenty minutes, alright?”

Daniel said, letting go of Sarah and rushing over to his battered van.

“Daniel!?”

Lara’s grief turned to rage as she watched her husband drive away from the hospital treating his injured son. She screamed his name as the car continued to drive out of the parking area and turn onto the main road.

Daniel was heartbroken seeing Lara screaming from his rear-view mirror. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her the full story of what had happened. That some sort of creature ambushed the van on the drive back from a job, that this creature broke through the passenger window and tore up the arm of their only son. Then, without so much as an explanation, doctors rushed in wearing masks. They then pulled Liam from his arms, and when he tried to follow, they physically restrained him. Even if he wanted to tell Lara all of this, he didn’t have time. She would have so many questions that Daniel didn’t have the answers to. He had been overwhelmed and now found himself in the depths of shock. All he knew was that something bad was happening in Aviemore, and he had to get his family out immediately. Whatever attacked them in the woods was still out there.

He repeated his plan to himself like a mantra under his breath,

“Get fuel, get clothes, get out.”

The words pulled him back to reality. For not a moment did he even consider the fact that he may be exaggerating. In his mind, he was doing the right thing, staying ahead of the curve. If it were just that Liam had been attacked by some sort of creature in the woods, then his response wouldn’t be as apocalyptic. It was the mob of masked hospital staff who took Liam away from him that concerned him. They knew what had happened, what that thing was. They were ready.

Daniel’s eyes darted between the road and his surroundings. The plume of smoke from the mountain that Liam had pointed out in the morning had doubled in mass. It slithered ominously up towards the sky and stood out more clearly from the town now; it seemed to blend into the dark clouds above his head. He fiddled with the van’s radio to see if any local news outlet was reporting it, but he found nothing but static. By the time he reached the petrol station, the mist had thickened rapidly, to the point where he couldn’t even make out road signs.

He pulled into the small two-pump station. There was a bright yellow canopy above it, and storage boxes under the window filled with logs and coal. Pulled up in the lane closer to the door was a red Fiat 500. He recognised that it belonged to a local estate agent named Sarah. She was middle-aged and, much like Mrs Anderson, was well-renowned for entrapping people in conversation against their will. She was a tiny woman, always smartly dressed, with perfectly kept straight blonde hair and wide glasses.

He pulled into the empty lane for a quick exit, jumped out of his van, and wrestled the fuel hose towards the van inlet, still notably cautious of his surroundings. The smell of smoke was much stronger, distinctly so. From an outside perspective, he looked as if he were on some seriously hard drugs. He was jittery and occasionally shaking for reasons he was unsure of. He watched with unease as the mist wisped its way under his vehicle and wrapped around the fuel pump as if it was a serpent strangling its prey. Soon enough, the splattering sound of liquid engaged him as he realised that the tank was now full. He slammed the nozzle back in its place and rushed towards the front door, wiping his fuel-drenched hands onto his overalls.

The heater blasted his face as he entered, and he was met with the familiar Hindi music playing through the speakers. Amir Aziz looked up from behind the counter. Twelve years he had been running this station, and still the people of Aviemore treated him like he didn’t belong. Amir flashed a wide grin, revealing his perfect white teeth through his thick black beard, tinted with grey.

“Danny boy!”

Amir shouted over the head of Sarah, cutting off whatever she was talking to him about. He then burst into a rendition of the song ‘Danny Boy’.

“Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling.”

Daniel barely acknowledged him. He was in no mood for the usual banter. He hurried forward with a straight face, pushing past Sarah slightly and pulling his wallet from his pocket.

“Hi Amir,”

he said in a sombre tone.

“Wow, Daniel, is everything okay?”

Amir asked, noticing the blood on his overalls.

“I just want to...”

Daniel tried to rush the transaction but was cut off by Amir.

“What the hell happened to your van?!”

He exclaimed, staring out of the window at the barely functional vehicle.

“You have blood on you, Daniel. What happened?”

The warmth disappeared from Amir’s voice.

“Amir, I just want to pay,”

Daniel said with a scowl, pulling out his card. He noticed Sarah staring up at him from his side. For once, she had nothing to say.

“I was just telling Sarah the card machine is out of order,”

Amir said, looking frantically between Daniel and his vehicle. Daniel patted his pockets even though he knew he didn’t have enough cash to cover the fuel. He looked around uncertainly as if caught in a trap.

“Look, Amir, you’ve known me for a long time. I’ll come back later, alright?”

Daniel met Amir’s eyes, who looked initially uncertain but nodded with a sigh.

Daniel turned and rushed towards the sliding doors without a moment of remorse. Just as he was about to reach them, a screech of tyres broke through the music, followed by the roar of an engine somewhere in the fog. This sound cue quickly unfolded into a scene of complete chaos as a black SUV roared through the fog at lightning speed. There was something on top of the vehicle, something around 4ft tall, grey in complexion. It was the thing from the woods. The creature scrambled around as it desperately held onto the roof of the unstable vehicle before it skidded towards the fuel lanes. The SUV ran through the front of Daniel’s van with a massive clash, sending both the van and the SUV tumbling over in opposite directions, both missing the petrol pumps by an inch. The SUV rolled three times, glass and metal exploding into the air before it scraped into the steel barrier, leaving it lying still on its side.

The sound of Hindi music became audible again. The car lay there motionless; smoke hissed from its bonnet, and its wheels helplessly spun in place.

“Oh my god!”

Sarah’s voice squealed as she ran towards the sliding door in a panic. Daniel let her pass before remembering the grey creature he had just seen.

“Sarah, wait!”

He screamed, grabbing her arm. She turned to him in half confusion, half annoyance, but upon noticing Daniel’s fixation on the now-toppled vehicle, she turned to look at herself. The passenger door, now facing the sky, flung open, and a rugged-looking bald man emerged. He was dressed all in black, wearing some sort of Kevlar vest and other military gear. After slowly making his way out, he opened the back door and began reaching in before struggling to pull out a motionless body in a hazmat suit with a glass-faced helmet covering the head. The three spectators inside the station watched with awe through the windows, frozen in shock.

The man began to drag the body from the collar towards the station, panting and looking up at the faces inside pleadingly.

“We need to help him!”

Sarah screamed, holding back tears. Before any of them could spring into action, the grey creature crawled back up from behind the toppled vehicle, its nails audibly scratching the metal of the SUV. It perched for a moment before leaping high into the air, tackling the bald man to the ground. All three of the spectators screamed in fright. The man and the creature rolled on the ground in a skirmish, the creature letting off a rasping screech. It tore at the man’s exposed flesh with its claws. The man kicked the creature into the toppled SUV. He took to his hands and knees and began crawling urgently towards the sliding doors. The creature recovered quickly. It pounced, grabbed his leg, and began dragging him backwards. The man screamed in agony, blood trailing beneath him. He turned onto his back and reached for the pistol holstered on his thigh, but the creature swiped it from his hands, sending it scraping over the concrete. Daniel’s horror turned to shock as Amir ran past him with what looked like a shotgun in his hands.

“Amir, wait!”

Daniel tried, but it was too late. The sliding doors opened, and Amir exited. He advanced on the creature without hesitation. Daniel’s ears rang as Amir fired a shot into the creature’s chest, sending it stumbling back towards the wreck. The creature howled and screeched as it attempted to get back to its feet, clawing at the gaping hole in its chest. Amir cocked the shotgun and sent another round into the creature. Its remains splattered against the toppled vehicle in a steaming black liquid.

The hissing symphony of the destroyed vehicles filled the silence. Amir stood over the creature, with his shotgun in both hands, shaking and breathing heavily. Daniel cautiously stepped outside.

“Amir?!”

Daniel said softly as he approached him. Amir remained, staring down at the creature’s remains, his heavy breathing now audible. Daniel slowed, looking down at the bald man. He was lying face down, and a river of blood poured from beneath him into a drain. He was no longer breathing. Soon after inspecting the body, Daniel too became mesmerised by the remains of the creature. From all directions, familiar screeches echoed through the fog around him.

“Amir, we have to go!”

Daniel said, his voice panicked. He grabbed Amir by the shoulder and pulled him back towards the station. The sound of violent coughing stopped them in their tracks. It was the person in the hazmat suit on the ground right next to them. They froze, looked at each other, and then down at the body.

“You get his legs!”

Daniel said with urgency. The two men carried the coughing man through the sliding doors in an awkward waddle; the doors whistled as they slid shut behind them. They laid the man upright against one of the shelving units, and Daniel began fiddling with the helmet of the hazmat suit, struggling to take it off.

“Are you alright?!”

Daniel asked frantically as he found the clip to unfasten the helmet and slid it off. The reveal of the man beneath the suit answered his question for him. It was a balding middle-aged man, pale in complexion, blood dripping down the corner of his mouth. Sarah, breaking out of her own shock paralysis, rushed towards them and knelt next to the man.

“Get back, I’m first-aid trained.”

She announced with authority, Daniel adhering with the relief of someone else taking responsibility. So much had just happened which he hadn’t yet processed. His son was in hospital on the other side of the town. His car had just been completely written off by a mysterious black vehicle. Monsters were currently attacking his hometown. And Amir, the friendly local petrol station cashier, had a shotgun under his till. To say his reality was being completely upended would be an understatement. He felt a stillness, like all the emotions had completely overpowered him. And with that, he stumbled over to the register and slid against the counter down to the ground, head in hands.

Amir approached with a blank expression on his face. He rested the shotgun gently down on the counter, leaned on it, and took a deep breath. They remained silent, listening to Sarah speak quietly to the semi-conscious man they had just rescued.

“Since when have you had a shotgun, Amir?”

Daniel said, his voice barely above a whisper. Amir had calmed his breathing, but his eyes remained wide.

“My cousin from Edinburgh gave it to me.”

Amir began, leaning up against the counter.

“He was here in January, during all the protests. He seen. Well, how things were. He got scared and brought it for me.”

He ran his hand along the handle of the weapon cautiously, as if it could go off at any minute.

“Liam!”

Daniel shouted, realising what he was doing at the petrol station in the first place.

“I’ve got to get my son.”

Daniel stood, unsteady on his feet.

“Daniel, wait!”

Amir held onto him.

“Listen.”

He prompted, waving a finger towards the window.

Daniel stopped and listened. The sound was faint at first, but became clear as soon as he focused. In the distance, he could make out clattering, collisions, gunshots, and most haunting of all, the rasping screeches of the grey creatures. It was coming from the town.

“It’s not safe out there,”

said Amir.

“Ah for fuck’s sake!”

Daniel cried out in anger. He swung his arm across a shelf of chocolate bars, knocking them all to the ground, before collapsing onto his knees.

“I should have never left them. What was I thinking?!”

He sobbed, tears pooling in his eyes.

Suddenly, the man on the ground in the hazmat suit began coughing again.

“He’s awake!”

Sarah cried, resting the man’s head on her lap.

“Are you alright? Can you hear me?”

She asked.

“What? Where am I?”

The man said, his voice hoarse.

“You’re at the petrol station in Aviemore.”

Sarah assured him. Before she could continue, Daniel jumped to his feet and pushed Amir aside. He rushed over to the man and grabbed the front of his hazmat suit.

“You’re one of them, aren’t you?! One of the workers up at that facility?”

“Daniel!”

Sarah protested, failing to push him away.

“What are you doing up there?!”

Daniel screamed into the man’s face. Sarah shot Amir a look, causing him to snap into action and approach Daniel, but he could not bring himself to interfere.

“Aviemore?”

The man said with a raspy groan before starting another coughing fit.

“We didn’t make it out then?”

He asked, his American accent now becoming apparent.

Daniel looked up at Amir and Sarah, who were staring back at him. He loosened his grip slightly and continued.

“Listen, you’ve got to tell us what the hell is going on out there.”

The man stared back at Daniel with a look of resilience. But the desperation in Daniel’s eyes seemed to win him over.

“Ah, what the hell, we’re all dead anyway.”

The man sighed.

“It’s not a facility.”

He started between a few coughs, clearing his throat.

“There was a cave, an old cave, which seemed to have become exposed at around this point last year. That’s what we were working on. Clearing those… things from it.”

“Well, you’ve done a good job at that,”

Amir added sarcastically.

“You said we’re all dead already, why? Won’t someone be coming?”

Sarah asked concernedly. The man in the hazmat suit began laughing, which transitioned into another coughing fit.

“Even if the military knew about this, they wouldn’t be coming to save you. I’d reckon in a couple of hours. Aviemore will be wiped off the map.”

The man croaked. There was a deathly silence between those who stood around him.

“Those things.”

He continued as if to clarify to the baffled crowd,

“They were deep underground, took us a good while to find them. Took us a good while longer to reach their nest.”

He paused, looking up at the ceiling.

“You’re full of shite.”

Daniel scoffed, standing up and turning away.

“There were so many of them.”

The man continued.

“Our task of eliminating them was proving impossible. That’s when, Gale, that bastard. Gale suggested that we try to burn them out. Let them flock to the surface and mow them all down when they did. I tried to warn them. I told them it was a stupid idea. But they didn’t listen to me.”

He coughed up a clot of blood before finishing,

“We were soon overwhelmed.”

He made an explosion gesture with his hands,

“chaos.”

He turned to look at the two remaining bystanders who stared back, struggling to process what they were hearing.

“So what do you mean we’re all dead? If these… things… are just here in Aviemore, we can still get out, can we not?”

Sarah suggested.

“The company I work for. They deal with these kinds of things all the time. Safe to say it’s a company that likes to keep their secrets. So, the chances are, they’ve already set up a perimeter around the town. In a week’s time, after they’ve firebombed the place, the news will be reporting on some catastrophic gas leak, or freak incident.”

He turned to them with a look of intent,

“No one on the outside will ever know what really happened here.”

“You can’t just destroy an entire town, kill thousands of people, and just say it was an accident?!”

Daniel exclaimed in disgust, turning back towards them. The wounded man chuckled somberly.

“Oh yes, you can. Or at least, they can. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

He chuckled bitterly before his coughing resumed for a while, revealing his teeth, which were now stained red with blood.

“We’ve got to get out of here,”

Daniel stated calmly after a deep breath. He turned towards the windows, assessing the situation outside with his hands on his hips. His van was completely destroyed thanks to the collision with the SUV. The SUV was toppled and smoking even more furiously now. Sat directly outside the window, pristinely like a complete anomaly, Sarah’s red Fiat 500. Daniel stared at it for a moment before turning to Amir.

“Do you have a car?”

He asked.

“No, I walked to work.”

Amir shrugged.

Reluctantly, Daniel turned to Sarah, who was still looking down, wide-eyed at the injured man on the ground. Sarah turned to face Daniel, noticing his desperate glare. She began to shake her head.

“Sarah, I need your car.”

Daniel pleaded.

“No... I.. I...”

She stuttered; her eyes blinked excessively. Daniel interrupted before she could finish, crouching down close to her and staring into her eyes.

“Sarah, my family is out there; I’ve got to get them out of Aviemore,”

Daniel said with a hint of frustration. Sarah continued to struggle for words; she turned to Amir.

“Say something, Amir! We can’t go out there!”

She cried.

“I agree with Sarah, going out there is suicide.”

He glanced towards the window.

“But if you’re going to go Daniel. I’m coming with you.”

Amir said boldly. Daniel turned to him with a look of resistance

“Amir, no.”

Amir cut him off.

“I wish I had a wife and child of my own to save Daniel, but I don’t. So, saving your family will have to do.”

He smiled; Daniel nodded back at him before turning to Sarah, gently raising his outstretched palm.

“Give me the keys, Sarah.”

Daniel said calmly, calm enough in such a scenario that his tone had the air of threat about it. Sarah leaned back slightly, feeling like she had no choice in the matter. Something in Daniel’s eyes made her feel unsafe, but even so, the concept of being left alone was even more terrifying.

“If we do this. We go to the hospital, and if anything looks off, we leave, alright?”

Sarah said sternly, attempting to claim a small piece of authority around her own vehicle.

“Aye, alright.”

Daniel nodded before turning back to Amir and getting to his feet.

“You’ll need that,”

he pointed at the shotgun on the counter. Amir grabbed the shotgun and cocked it, gripping it firmly in both hands.

“What about him?”

Sarah asked, referring to the injured man lying on the ground.

“Oh, don’t worry about me.”

He croaked, lifting his arm, revealing a scratch on the side of his chest. The wound was relatively small, but it pulsed grotesquely, with black veins, like the scratches on Liam’s arm.

“I think that scratch is the least of your worries pal.”

Daniel replied.

“It was one of them. If they draw blood. You’re dead.”

The three of them exchanged confused glances.

“Forget it, just go.”

He said hopelessly.

Daniel rushed past Sarah, who remained looking down at the man sympathetically. He approached the bald man on the ground outside, picking up the pistol that lay close to his outstretched hand. The fog had dissipated slightly now; the tips of the trees emerged through the drifting mist on the other side of the road. There was a strange silence. He told himself that maybe the creatures had left or had even somehow perished. But he knew this was an unlikely scenario. The wind broke through the silence with an eerie whistle, as Daniel stood staring out onto the road with the pistol now tightly gripped in his hand. It had felt like days had passed since he left Lara at the hospital, but it had only been half an hour. Perhaps they could still be alive.

Sarah and Amir made their way out of the station and rushed towards Sarah’s tiny car. The car lit up with two flashes as Sarah hit the unlock button and jumped into the driver’s seat. Amir folded over the front seat and squeezed into the back before clicking it back in place. Daniel took a deep breath and turned, making a light jog towards the open door. They sat in silence for a few moments, all staring ahead in stunned silence. Sarah had a vice-grip on the steering wheel.

“Let’s go,”

Daniel said assuredly, keeping his eyes locked ahead. Sarah’s trembling hand reached down towards the key as she turned on the ignition.

Part 1

Part 2 - Outbreak

October 2001

Daniel McCallister sat restlessly in the driver’s seat of his work van, clad in well-worn tan work overalls. He tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel and shook his leg with an impatient jitter. The sensation of warm air from the vents caressed his face, bringing great relief from the near-freezing climate outside. His eyes fixated between the door of his home and the digital clock on the dashboard of the van. It was 07:36.

“Come on, Liam.”

He murmured under his breath, his jaw clenched.

The one thing in life Daniel hated most was tardiness. Ever since his seventeen-year-old son Liam had dropped out of sixth form at school and joined him as an apprentice, being late had become a new reality that Daniel had to come to terms with. He’d tried everything to get his son out of bed in the morning. At first, there was his instinctive anger, shouting and slamming doors. A sort of primitive show of force that didn’t seem to work. His wife, Lara, then suggested he try a more gentle approach. He’d try to persuade Liam in a calm and Zen manner to get out of his bed and get ready for the workday. He’d given up on the Zen approach weeks ago. For the past few weeks, he’d resorted to getting into his van at 07:30, the time they should be leaving, and sitting in a sulk. Part of him thought that maybe, deep down inside, a sliver of guilt might begin to seep through the cracks of the teenager’s complex brain. The one thing Daniel knew for sure was that he couldn’t go back to using anger. His anger was the sole reason his eldest child Lianne, didn’t reach out to him much since she moved back to Glasgow.

Daniel grew up in Glasgow and met his wife Lara at school there. They had a happy life together. Daniel worked his way up the apprentice ladder and became a reputable joiner in the city, and Lara worked as a nurse at the hospital. They had Lianne at first and were happy enough with just one child. They went with the approach of not necessarily trying for another, but if one happened, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Five years flew by. Lianne grew faster than Daniel could ever have imagined, his busy work schedule making his life feel like it was on fast-forward mode. As Lianne was starting school, Daniel and Lara were hit with some unexpected news. Lara was pregnant again. Their casual approach to the thought of a second child had certainly dissipated by this point. Daniel worked a lot, as did Lara, and they didn’t feel they had the time for another baby. Their relationship had also considerably deteriorated, and Daniel’s blood pressure was through the roof with the demands of an extensive work life combined with the responsibilities of parenthood. As they were weighing up what they should do about the pregnancy, they received more unexpected news. Lara’s father, who lived in Aviemore, had passed away.

When she was young, Lara moved to Glasgow with her mother after her parents’ divorce. And other than the occasional weekend visit, her father wasn’t present in her life. She resented him for that. She also blamed him for the divorce, but wasn’t sure why, as she was never told the true reason. Her resentment towards him seemed to dissolve after hearing the news of his death, and in its place took a form of guilt and a sense of missed time. Here she was, spending her whole life so bitter about the divorce she endured as a child, and now she was on the brink of one herself.

After much back and forth and many previously unsaid words between Daniel and Lara, they decided to take the family home Lara had inherited from her father and move to Aviemore for a quieter, more family-oriented life. A weight was lifted from their shoulders as Daniel no longer felt the need to climb the exhausting ladder of larger corporations. He felt excited about the idea of starting his own company and seeing where it would take him. He’d never be a rich man, but that desire disappeared after his kids were born. Lara would switch to part-time, given they wouldn’t have to pay rent, and Daniel would start his own joinery company out in the highlands. It was a new start for them, and their relationship seemed to rekindle on the back of it.

Liam was born at Aviemore hospital, where Lara is now working. Daniel’s business was going well, as the number of jobs seemed to increase as the people in the area got to know him. He’d even had jobs in different towns, as far as an hour away. The one caveat to this new life of peace was their daughter Lianne. She missed her friends in Glasgow. Daniel and Lara assumed that, given she was only five years old when they moved, she would soon make new friends and forget about Glasgow altogether. But that never happened. Lianne built up an inner resentment towards her parents, growing into a rebellious teen who made their lives a consistent concoction of worry, anger, and stress. And Daniel handled the teenage rebellion phase poorly; he perhaps even worsened it with his strict response. At the age of eighteen, Lianne moved back to Glasgow and rarely stayed in touch.

07:40, the analog clock read.

“Fucksake Liam.”

Daniel scowled, grabbing the door handle and pulling it open with force.

Just as he exited the car, ready to kick through the front door of his home, the door opened, and there emerged a scruffy-looking teenager, struggling to open his eyes. He was a tall lad, around six foot two, fairly built but not in a healthy way. His short blonde hair stuck up in several directions, as if he had literally just gotten out of bed. Daniel raised his arms in a gesture as if to say, “Are you taking the piss?” Before jumping back into the van. Liam threw himself into the passenger seat, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“You can’t keep doing this Liam.”

Daniel said, pulling off the curb and accelerating down the road. Liam didn’t respond; instead, he turned on the radio and started fiddling with the dial.

“Just because I’m your dad doesn’t mean you can take the piss Liam. This is my business, this is what pays the bills, you need to be taking it more seriously!”

Daniel continued, trying to break through his teenage son’s forcefield of morning fatigue.

“The radio is not working.”

Liam responded as he flicked through the channels of nothing but static.

Daniel said nothing. He wanted to say one hundred different things, scream them even. As Liam was growing and his business was thriving, he had dreamed that one day Liam would learn the trade and take the reins of the business. But his sons’ lack of interest and motivation imposed nothing but doubt upon this fantasy. The white van made its way into the town and then right, heading South.

“Are we not off to Grantown again?”

Liam asked, turning off the radio.

“No”

Daniel began with a sigh,

“We’re waiting on the painters on that job. Today, we’re off to Mrs. Andrews to get planning done on an extension.”

“Oh no”

Liam let out in a gurgled voice, leaning back into his seat,

“Not Mrs. Andrews, how many extensions does she need?”

Daniel ignored the remark, but he agreed with it. Mrs. Andrews was notorious amongst the local workers for getting unnecessary work done on her house. She lived remotely, out in the woodlands at the foot of the mountain Ben Macdui. Ever since her husband had passed away ten years prior, she’d made countless changes to her home, with the help of local traders. To an extent, this was great for a local business such as Daniel’s. But Mrs. Andrews, without fail, will distract and pester you to the point of insanity. To say she likes to take visitors on a trip down memory lane would be an understatement. To top it all off, she will offer you a cup of tea so frequently that you won’t have even had a sip from the last one she gave you before she offers you another. Daniel knew the truth of the matter was that Mrs. Andrews was deeply lonely ever since her husband passed away. She just liked the company. Given she had no children and was sitting on a mountain of money left by her husband, getting work done on her house was her social outlet.

They made their way off the main road and onto the single-track roads through the woods in continued silence. Daniel felt his anger slowly dissipate as he began fantasizing about the pay for this upcoming job.

“What’s that?”

Liam asked, pointing at an area of blue sky between the tips of the pine trees.

Daniel dipped his head slightly and peered through the windscreen upwards. A large plume of dark smoke was being emitted in the distance, its source not clear as it floated up in a dense, steady stream over the hill.

“I don’t know.”

Daniel responded,

“Probably that new factory they’ve put up there.”

Daniel and Lara did not take much interest in the drama that had erupted in the town at the start of the year. It was nearly twenty years ago that they were also considered outsiders, so they felt no need to get involved. Instead, they mocked it from the privacy of their own home.

“It’s not a factory Dad.”

Liam stated plainly, as if he were offended by the comment.

“Oh, is it not? What is it then? Are they experimenting on Aliens up there after all?”

Daniel responded with a wry smile.

“Not Aliens’ dad. But it’s something dodgy, that’s for sure. One of the guys at school said he knows someone who works there, and it’s all top-secret stuff.”

Daniel laughed,

“top-secret stuff eh? In Aviemore? Aye right. People spout all sorts of shite at school Liam.”

He said sarcastically to the dismay of Liam, who crossed his arms and slumped a little deeper in his seat.

“You know, I went to school with a guy who said that Hitler didn’t kill himself, it was his grandad who killed him. Would you believe him and all?”

His grin widened as he turned his head between Liam and the road. Liam didn’t respond. Somehow, the tables had turned, and now Liam was annoyed at him.

They continued down the single-track road, flanked by leafless trees with sharp branches reaching out towards them. Nothing but a crumbling stone wall separated the woodlands from the road. They passed the now infamous barrier blocking the road up to the facility and continued driving for another ten minutes before reaching a similar turning that led onto a dirt track heading through the woods. They turned onto it and continued hesitantly over the mountainous bumps and icy waterlogged potholes along the way. Occasionally, they would drift off the road to avoid the treacherous terrain. After many inconveniences and many more curse words, they emerged onto a slightly smoother stretch of the road, which led them to an opening in the trees.

At the very end of the opening stood a large Victorian house which looked slightly out of place. It was the kind of house you would find on the edges of a city, yet here it was, resting on top of dirt, in the middle of the woods. It was a complete juxtaposition of the surrounding nature. A tall spire at the front reached desperately above the tree line. Its exterior paint was pristinely blue, with its arches tipped in a pure white that the dirt from the ground didn’t seem to taint. Daniel parked the van just behind Mrs. Andrews’ grey VW Fox. He had always wondered how she managed to get it to the house, given the state of the road leading up to where it was parked. He turned off the ignition and hesitated for a moment, as if trying to remember something.

“Shall we go?”

Liam prompted, breaking Daniel from his temporary mind block. They both left the van and stood staring up at the intimidating piece of architecture before them, which appeared to lean over them and stare ominously.

“Morning boys!”

The animated voice of an old woman came from the house, startling Liam.

“Good morning Mrs. Andrews!”

Daniel shouted back with a smile, as he strolled towards her,

“Beautiful morning, isn’t it!”

He added, ignoring the clouds of condensation pluming from his mouth, more referring to the clear skies than the temperature.

“Aye a bit cold mind! Come on in, I’ll get the kettle on.”

She responded from the doorway before scuttling her way back inside. Reluctantly, Liam followed Daniel into the house, which opened into a wide space with tall ceilings, covered with rustic decor.

The exterior of the house was a spectacle. However, the inside gave a more accurate representation of the life Mrs. Andrews had been living in recent years. The air was heavy, filled with the sickening aroma of damp and cigarette smoke. Jackets were spread unevenly atop a carpet that looked like it was once red at the foot of an empty coat hanger. Next to the hallway, shoes of all kinds littered their way up to the base of the large stairwell. To the left was a spacious room, which one would assume was a living/dining area, but it was hard to tell given the uneven placement of the barely visible furniture, buried beneath a mountain of clutter. Heading straight through the opening corridor, you enter an enormous kitchen, big enough for a large restaurant. The kitchen counters were left with little space from the dirty pots, pans, mugs, and plates scattered around them, and barren cupboards lay slightly ajar, starving to be filled with the misplaced crockery.

It seemed that Mrs. Andrews would only clean something when she needed to use it, as made evident by her frail figure leaning over the kitchen sink, fiercely battling a mug with a sponge. Daniel shot Liam a concerned look as they both emerged into the kitchen.

“Sorry about the mess. This house was a lot cleaner when Duncan was here. You know, Duncan was quite a neat freak in his day. You wouldn’t have thought it. That man...”

She began a story which branched into several others about her late husband as she wrestled with the tea-stained mugs in front of her, all while the kettle growled in the background. Daniel and Liam stood in the doorway, Daniel attempting to show a little more interest than Liam, who was not shy to show his lack of it as he explored the jungle of clutter spread around the room.

Daniel’s attention was stolen from the elderly woman, towards the large glass-paneled doors at the back of the kitchen. He wandered aimlessly towards them, staring out at the thick collection of trees standing so close to the house. Their ancient branches entangled, and their impressive roots sprawled along the floor, as if they were trying to merge into a single entity. He spotted several crows deeper into the woods, perched on a thin branch; their rasping songs echoed. For a moment, he spotted something that didn’t fit, its presence confirmed by the panicked flight of the birds. A small, grey, man-like figure stood still, blending in with the trees, slightly masked by a thin veil of mist which danced between the tree trunks. It seemed to be staring back at him. As the mist became denser, the figure disappeared for a moment before vanishing completely, leaving Daniel slightly startled.

“There’s something out there.”

Daniel jumped in fright, not noticing that Mrs. Andrews was now standing beside him, also staring out of the window with a steaming hot cup of tea in her hand.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

Daniel said with a nervous laugh.

“I saw it last night. Wee grey thing, never seen anything like it before!”

She added, handing Daniel the weak tea.

“So, we have all of the plans here,”

Daniel said, raising the stack of papers in his hand, taking advantage of the momentary gap in Mrs. Andrew’s ramblings.

“If you don’t mind, we’re just going to have a look at the side of the house where it’s going up. We’ll take some measurements, figure out all the parts we need, and see if there’s any preemptive work needing done that we could start today. Does that sound alright?”

He said, immediately regretting adding the question he had added to the end of his sentence. To his surprise, she said nothing; she remained staring out of the glass doors, the fear in her eyes raising Daniel’s concern. He glanced at Liam, who stood shrugging his shoulders behind them, equally baffled.

“Mrs. Andrews?”

She turned to him with a thin smile, her stained teeth showing, the fearsome look melting from her aged face as it resumed its innocence.

“Sorry, what was that, dear?”

She asked, blinking heavily, as if snapping herself out of a dream.

“We’ll be just round the side there, alright.”

He said, with the kind of emphasis you would use when talking to someone hard of hearing. He turned back to Liam and gave him a nod as they both headed towards the front door. Mrs. Andrews followed.

“Well, if you need anything, I’ll be around. Duncan had some tools stashed away in the garage if you needed any tools or anything. All that stuff is a bit over my head I’m afraid. Duncan could have chewed your ear off talking about his tools.”

She continued rambling as Daniel and Liam’s pace quickened through the front door, leaving the old woman standing in the doorway.

“I appreciate it, Mrs. Andrews. We’ll give you a shout if we need anything.”

Daniel shouted back to her, disappearing around to the side of the house. Both Liam and Daniel synchronously poured their tea into the dirt and placed their mugs down as soon as they were out of sight. They started clearing all the debris in the area, then took measurements to verify that the extension plans matched the foundations they were about to set. All the while, Mrs. Andrews would appear every fifteen minutes or so to offer more tea. Daniel tried his best to continue working through her rambling but found it difficult. Before he knew it, it was half past 12, and they had achieved little to no progress on what they had set out to do.

“Lunch time I think,”

Daniel said just as Mrs. Andrews had disappeared back inside.

They rushed into the van before she would reappear, turned on the ignition, and pulled a quick U-turn to head back down the lethal dirt road.

“Do you want a cup of tea Dad?”

Liam said. Daniel laughed heartily in response,

“Aye, it’s a wonder she has any left.”

He responded.

“Where are we heading for lunch?”

asked Liam.

“I’m thinking Kingussie, there’s a cracking bakery there,”

Daniel replied with a hint of excitement. It was days like today when Daniel appreciated Liam’s company. Dealing with Mrs. Anderson on his own would be significantly tougher. Having someone to at least make light of the situation helped get through it.

As they weaved their way down the track, the bumps and scraping of branches on the base and side of the van were interrupted by a large thud on the roof. Daniel peered through his wing mirrors curiously.

“What was tha...”

Before he could finish his sentence, the passenger side window shattered in an explosion of glass, sending shards flying through the interior towards Daniel. Time seemed to slow as he covered his face, letting go of the steering wheel, sending the van drifting towards the side of the road. Daniel didn’t have time to think about what had broken the window. He simply stared in horror as a stony, grey, thin arm, with sharp black claws, reached through, ripping at his son’s arm. As he was trying to process this through Liam’s screams, the van collided with a tree, scraping up the side of it with a sharp scraping sound, violently throwing Liam and Daniel sideways. Daniel bashed his head against the window, and there was a loud scratching noise on the roof. The arm had disappeared, and the scratching changed direction to Daniel’s side of the van. In a pure rush of adrenaline, Daniel grabbed the wheel and slammed his foot on the accelerator, forcing the van back onto the road.

He scanned both wing mirrors frantically as the van jumped violently over potholes, all the while Liam screamed in agony. He couldn’t see anything there, but the grey arm was gone, and he heard whatever had mounted the vehicle fall off as they collided with the tree.

“Are you alright son!?”

He asked in a panicked shout, struggling to steer around the many obstacles on the road.

“What the fuck was that?! It burns!”

Liam screamed out, wailing now as tears dripped from his eyes, holding the wounded arm out in front of him as if it wasn’t his.

“Just keep calm son, we’ll get you to the hospital!”

Daniel screamed, trying to reassure his son, but his panicked tone had the opposite effect. As soon as the car thudded onto the concrete road at the bottom of the hill, it let out a deep roar and screech as Daniel slammed his foot on the accelerator and began speeding down the single-track road. Liam’s arm was coated in blood now, as the deep gashes pulsed and poured it down onto his lap. Daniel noticed thick black veins protruding from either side of the wound, pulsing viciously. He stared in horror for a moment before reaching back and grabbing an old towel, throwing it at Liam. He’d never seen anything like it. He could only assume it was an infection of some kind.

“Just keep it covered, keep the pressure on it, alright? We’ll get to the hospital soon.”

“Dad, what was that?!”

Liam asked through his screams of agony, tears welling in his eyes.

“I don’t know,”

Daniel said, looking for more words but not finding them. He dug into his overalls pocket and pulled out his mobile phone, holding down the shortcut key to call Lara. The phone rang several times before cutting out.

“Lara?!”

He called out, holding the phone to his ear, Liam groaning in the background. The teenager was as white as a sheet, his eyes slightly glazed. His body grew a kind of weightlessness, as if he might be losing consciousness.

“Liam stay awake lad!”

He shouted whilst shaking him with his free arm, prompting Liam to sit up a little straighter.

“Lara!?”

Daniel screamed down the phone again. Pieces of Lara’s voice broke down the other end of the line.

“Lara, I can’t hear you! But we’re on our way to the hospital! Liams had a...”

He paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to briefly explain what had just happened.

“He had an accident! Meet us there, alright?!”

He waited for a response but was only given snippets of hysteria on the other end. Hanging up, he caught himself in complete panic. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself, simply repeating to Liam,

“You’ll be alright son, you’ll be alright.”

Liam’s moans subsided gently, as slowly he faded from consciousness, dropping the blood-soaked towel onto the floor.

Back in the year 2001, a small town in the Scottish Highlands named Aviemore was home to a social and nosey populace. You could probably say the same about any remote town in the United Kingdom. Based in Cairngorms National Park, Aviemore was a stunning place. It was a quiet town with around three thousand inhabitants, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the bigger cities. It was a place packed with secluded lochs, ancient woodlands, and mountain trails. The locals felt a duty of sorts, to protect the town from any individual or corporation who would try to rip the soul from the place. It was the month of January 2001 when the residents of the town began to feel the tension of this exact danger.

Without any form of notice, outsiders from around the world began moving in. They would fill the quaint bars and pack the towns amenities which once thrived with sparsity. The locals of the town remained speculative, but polite. They watched from the edges, eavesdropping in on the newcomers conversations. At first, people said they were Americans. Andrew McCulloch, one of the local farmers claimed so.

“I caught them whispering to each other, before ordering their drinks with American accents,” he claimed, “They’ve come to turn the town into a military base.” Was another somewhat speculative claim from the farmer. But the locals took little of what Andrew said seriously, the mad farmer was known to dive a little too deep into the depths of conspiracy.

Next on the rumour mill was that they were German. A local post office worker, Mary Bell had spun up that web. They were purchasing tourist maps, and when she prompted them on their business in the town, they told her they were looking to move near the area, for a more ‘quiet lifestyle’. The local supermarket manager, Fergus Dunne added that they had come from China. According to Fergus, he had three of them in requesting that the supermarket stock more oriental products, given that they would be moving nearby. They assured him that they would pay well if he were to satisfy their request.

As the month went on, the number of outsiders continued to rise, and the rumours grew all sorts of limbs. On the 1^st of February, the Mayor, Jane Flemming called an emergency town meeting. Typically town meetings ran once per month, but they were always poorly attended. However, on this occasion the town hall was packed up to the door.

Mayor Flemming started the meeting by expressing her joy in relation to the meetings attendance, and her pride in the residents concern about the town. She recited a rallying speech, which noted the beauty in the fact that the residents of Aviemore care about their home and the awe-inspiring nature which surrounds it. The applause from the crowd was short-lived, as she then moved on to what she had learned about the recent influx of foreign visitors.

Masked by the woodlands, a facility had been constructed at the foot of the neighbouring mountain, Ben Macdui. The facility was constructed without any form of notice that would typically be required. The facility’s purpose was also unclear. The mayor had met resistance when directing her outrage further up the chain of government. What she didn’t tell the crowd at the meeting was, that she had even travelled to the capital city of Edinburgh to chase her enquiries, to which she was met with a word of caution around her inquisition. She was advised that she should keep her head down and ask fewer questions on the matter. It was such a bizarre response to receive from any form of authority, which put her in an uncertain position, one she had never been in during her time as a mayor. On the journey back to Aviemore, she even found herself considering the raving conspiracies of the farmer Andrew McCulloch, which she found was a dangerous mindset to be in.

As she expected, the crowd was far from satisfied. They had their source of invasion, but not its objective. Over the following few weeks, the people of the town began to lose their patience, and with it their politeness. Brawls erupted in the bars and restaurants, as the locals began interrogating these outsiders about the facility, only to be met with nothing but denial. Gradually, over February, the crowd of outsiders thinned, and Aviemore adjusted back into its state of quiet serenity. But this was not enough. The townsfolk knew now of a clandestine structure, placed somewhere on their doorstep. Although the outsiders had left their town, they remained firmly fixed in the residents’ minds.

The conspiratorial farmer McCulloch had gained loyal supporters in those so desperate for answers. He arranged a scouting group to head out into the woods, and snoop around for any sign of the mysterious facility. And eventually, they found it. They didn’t catch a glimpse of the facility itself, but rather the large electric fence which surrounded it. They discovered the dirt track which the workers used for access. It led through the woods to a large metal gate, flanked by two booths which held several security guards, all donning assault rifles. Upon making the discovery, McCulloch’s conspiracies had turned from fantasy to fact in the minds of many residents. Within the space of a month, McCulloch had turned from a mere farmer, to Aviemore’s very own Che Guevara. He had organized a group of nearly two hundred residents to storm the gates of the compound and demand answers.

“They can’t kill us all, there would be outrage!” Was the logic of farmer McCulloch. With this, Mayor Flemming found her predicament growing by the day. She tried to plead with the crowd as they gathered in the town centre one Saturday, but no one would listen. All she could think of was the caution she was given back in Edinburgh. It could not be without merit that higher levels of government feared whatever this was. Without avail, the mayor was left in the silent streets, as she watched the convoy of vehicles disappear over the horizon, lion’s rampant flags waving from their open windows.

The convoy led by the large truck of farmer McCulloch, departed the town and trailed through the poorly kept single-track back roads at a snail’s pace. Dark clouds circled ahead, dimming the sunlight, and frost settled on the branches of the lifeless trees around them, creating a feeling of appropriate unease. As they edged closer, the morale of the convoy slowly descended into a deep-rooted collective fear. They drove up to the dirt track exiting the road and veering left into the woods. It was marked with a sign which read “workforce only beyond this point”. Several cars towards the rear of the convoy opted to pull over and await the conclusion from a distance.

McCulloch and his inner circle did not show any indication of fear. However, as they pressed on, as if to try and reignite the inspiration felt by all when they had left, McCulloch took the sign down and waved it in the air towards the convoy. This was met by cheers and honking of horns. That was until several ominous looking black trucks made their way down the dirt track towards the convoy cautiously; their blackened-out windows masking any intentions. With this, the crowds shouting was gradually silenced. McCulloch slowly lowered his arms and watched the vehicles approach with a scowl. No one else dared to move, as a strange standoff between the mad farmer and the pristine black vehicles began. The black vehicles remained blocking the path ahead, but no one emerged from them.

McCulloch faced them with a firm posture, not daring to turn away. In impeccable timing, from the opposite side of the road, two police cars emerged slowly, bumping over the uneven track. Two of the officers exited and immediately approached McCulloch. The other two officers in the vehicle behind them remained standing, leaning on their doors, eyeing up the black vehicles with uneasy suspicion.

The police officers and McCulloch went back and forth for a while. Not one member of the convoy dared to exit the safety of their vehicle; rather, they sat watching, hoping the farmer had it all in hand. Unfortunately for the convoy, he did not. His rage grew stronger and more evident, seemingly not receiving the answers he was looking for. McCulloch was losing control of his anger, the police had no choice. One of the officers grabbed him, turned him around, and slammed him onto the side of his truck. As the officer was putting on the handcuffs, another approached the next car in line and gave instructions to return home. There was a mixture of relief and shame within the crowd. They were relieved that they would be returning home, yet ashamed that when it came down to their revolution, they were all too afraid to act. The officers put the farmer into the back of their vehicle and moved his car off the road, allowing the rest of the convoy to pass by and return to Aviemore. Each passerby stared at the black vehicles, sitting there, as if they were predators ready to pounce. They hadn’t moved an inch since the convoy arrived.

The mayor was relieved to find the disappointed and disheartened array of faces returning so soon after departing. Nobody was hurt, which was the best outcome in her mind, and most importantly, the mad farmer McCulloch had been arrested. Aviemore’s revolution had ended abruptly. The outsiders were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps everything could return as it was before. But things were never the same. Over the following months, paranoia only grew within the town, and in turn, the residents became more secluded. The bars and restaurants were quieter; the town meetings were ill attended, and that sense of community which once enriched the town had ceased to exist.

McCulloch’s farm remained abandoned. He was the only child of two now deceased parents, so there was no one to care for his land. But this was not the only problem. The mayor visited the property frequently, looking for McCulloch to try to make amends. But two months passed, and he had never returned. She chased up with the local authorities about him. They had told her that for whatever reason, he was not processed locally. With enough chasing and pressure, she was met with the same response she had received nearly three months prior in Edinburgh. Be careful. Her reality unfolded into chaos. The quaint and peaceful town of Aviemore of which she had known her whole life, was no longer what it once was. There were secretive and malicious goings on within the town, and she could do nothing about it.

It was early in the month of May when Mayor Flemming received a letter from the authorities, giving her a ‘resolution’ to her inquiries. Andrew McCulloch had opted to leave Aviemore upon inheriting some land in the south of England. Her jaw dropped, and at that moment, she knew Andrew McCulloch was dead. Hoping she was wrong and had perhaps gone a little over the edge in paranoia, she drove as fast as she could towards McCulloch’s farm. To her shock, she found the property completely desolate and pristine. All of his untidy and barely functional vehicles were gone, and his unkept front garden was cleared of debris. Upon peering through the windows, the interior had been completely stripped. Her last visit was two days prior, meaning the place had been completely emptied within that two-day window. This was inconceivable.

Still shook from her most recent caution, mayor Flemming no longer felt safe in Aviemore, especially living alone. She struggled to sleep at night with her newfound bout of unbearable paranoia. Black-tinted cars parked outside of her house at night, and occasionally, they would follow her on her morning commute to the office. She couldn’t bear it anymore. By July, Mayor Flemming handed in her notice to the now seemingly desolate town, and moved to Spain in an attempt at early retirement.

There was no replacement. In fact, there seemed to be radio silence on the matter altogether. Aviemore had become a shell of its former self within the space of months. Once a community of caring residents who wanted the best for their local area, to now a collection of people who wanted to keep to their own business. Whoever or whatever it was that had introduced this facility outside of the town had won. They were on track to phasing back into nonexistence to the perception of the civilians surrounding them.