Hope in the Hearth

by Jacob Raya

  I soon searched the room, which belonged to the founder of the base and space company Fades Research and Space Navigation. In his drawer was an envelope that read on the front “Open immediately once found!” I opened it and found a letter that was from the founder himself, and it read at the top:

  “If you found yourself reading the top of this letter, then that means the creature has sparked madness and terror across the base, and that means you, the reader, are looking for answers on how to stop it.”

  “I continued reading, as I was curious as to how to kill it or why it wasn’t following me and just stayed in the dark room.

  “The creature that broke containment is known as the S15 Extraterrestrial. We say that because the asteroid that landed on our space probe, Empire 461, was called asteroid “Z32R47W6U4S15,” or S15 for short.

  It was supposedly found on the asteroid fragment, and when it came into contact with Empire 461, there seemed to be no damage involved. They must have somehow figured out a way to cover the space probe with the asteroid, and when it flew across Willow X1635Z, that’s when the creature must have clung onto the satellite and made its way into the station.

  When I received that call of our fellow crewmen being slaughtered by this creature, I knew we had to take precautions if this thing were to make it back to Earth.

  Unfortunately, we did not search well enough to find the creature when our space probe somehow made it back to Earth with little to no damage, and those asteroid fragments that came with it.

  It may have disappeared before the crash or found a hiding spot on the probe. Either way, we took it back to the station for analysis. We then soon found out that this specific creature hunts very differently than most animals on Earth. It hunts only in the dark or mainly at night.

  But if it can find dark places to hide, it would want to choose that place over any other place. You may be wondering why this is, so I’ll explain why right now. These creatures don’t like the light. They hate it. If they are exposed to enough light, it can slowly damage them, and soon enough, kill them within seconds. That’s why they would rather hunt at night when the sun isn't out, and they seem to stay away from fires and the brightest lights we could ever invent.

  However, a tiny light like a flashlight or night light won’t do the trick, as it will want to use that so that way the victim could see its pure form, terrifying them before they become their next meal. That is the second part I wanted to get to.

  These creatures like to inject fear into their victims by stalking them at night while they're sleeping and making the victim see only little parts of their body, such as their hands or pale white eyes in the complete darkness. They don’t kill right away, but instead let events unfold to scare the victim, and within about a week is when the victim is new prey to the horrific creature.

  They also have the power of teleportation. If a victim gets too terrified seeing the eyes of the creature, they will eventually turn on a light. But, they could sense when the victim is going to do so and teleport to the nearest dark place that is not too far from the victim.

  They do it without leaving a trace, and will do so if they are exposed to light a second time, third time, or until the creature goes in for the kill. The fourth part is that they can kill very fast, and I mean more swiftly than a shark can tear a fish into pieces.

  They also have a very high stamina rate, which allows them to kill as much as they want without ever getting bored or tired. They are super quick, and kill mainly by first clawing out the victim’s eyes so they can’t see, then finishing them off with many scratches all over their body and ripping off their ears, nose, legs, and arms until the victim eventually dies of massive blood loss.

  After that, the creature decides to feast on the victim until there is no more flesh left and just bone. Sometimes they even like to tear their victims in half, into pieces, or rip their heads off.

  This leads me to the fifth and final part. These creatures duplicate mainly by killing. The more they kill, the stronger they get and can leave their marks in dark places, which transforms slowly into a full form of the same creature, but with no eyes at all. This is where the most horrific part comes into play.

  The creature gets its eyes by killing a victim, eating their eyeballs, and magically, out of nowhere, gets pale white eyes that fill in the two supposed dark spots on its face.

  However, these creatures choose to duplicate. If they feel that they need “backup,” they will double, but since they are so fast and powerful, they decide to go hunting solo most of the time. That is the reason why they could kill so fast at such a rapid pace.

  They cannot be seen in the darkness, and most places are dark at night, but when it’s daytime, it will find a way to kill a victim in a dark place, staying away from the sunlight as much as possible.

  So far, this creature is the first to have gone on a massacre and may have killed almost everyone on the entire base. But our last hope is you, the reader. Whoever is reading this; you know to stop them with any source of light you could find. You are safe as long as you surround yourself with some source of light, even if it’s a fire, as they will not want to come near it.

  They like to scare their victims by stalking them and not revealing how they look, which means not getting close to light for the victim to see their pure form. Best of luck to you, and may you heed this warning and kill this thing before it duplicates again to save humankind from certain death.”

  “All that, wow!”

  “I know it’s a lot to take in, isn’t it Matt?”

  “I’m like, dude. What the hell did you get yourselves into?”

  “That’s the same thing I was thinking. I don’t even know how I survived. I should have been killed, but somehow found a way out. But that means the creature escaped as well.”

  “I don’t know how you did it, but you have guts, man! That also explains why I saw those white-looking eyes. And why my fiancé saw that black-looking hand resting on the window sill. Anyway, are we almost there?”

  “Yes. Just two minutes before we arrive at our destination.”

  “Wait, so they like to stalk their prey in the darkness, which we see as the unknown?”

  “Yes, exactly. That’s why we think they must have come from the deepest and darkest reaches of space. And we don’t know what all of outer space holds. It’s all a mystery, just like what lurks in the darkness here on Earth.”

  “Yeah, that would make sense.”

  “We’re right around the corner.”

  We pulled up to a hotel with other cars parked all over the area. We stepped out, and Blake said, “Your rooms are right up there; room service will be able to assist you with anything that you may need.”

  “Thanks a lot, Blake!”

  “Don’t mention it, Matt. Just head up there, and you and Rebecca will be safe for the rest of the day. I’ll call you to update you on anything. Right now I have to go back to the other base by Santa Fe.”

  “Okay, and this is a secure place, right?”

  “Yes, I called to make sure that they took extra precautions when receiving refugees. Besides that, there are secret agents all over the hotel and scattered around the shopping center near you. They are trained in any emergency situation and are armed and ready if the creatures attempt to attack anyone around and at this hotel. Trust me; you're in safe hands. Those things aren’t going to see you again!”

  “That means everything to us. Thanks again, Blake!”

  “Yep, take it easy, guys. I’ll update you on anything that comes up in the next 24 hours.”

  “Sounds good. You take care of yourself as well!”

  “Thank you! That’s what I need the most during this time!”

  As soon as I started to walk to the entrance of the hotel, Rebecca stopped me and took my hand.

  “So, are we safe, babe?”

  “Yes, we are, honey.”

  “I sure hope we are. We don’t even know who that guy is, even if he just gave us
his name. That doesn’t mean that we should believe everything he said.”

  “But it’s our only option, Rebecca. We either choose to stay home where we're on our own, or we take his word and stay here and listen to what he has to say.”

  “Whatever you do, you know I’ll do the same, but I just want us to be safe.”

  “We will, honey, don’t worry. At least, I think we should be.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing, this will just have to do for now.”

  We approached the entrance of the hotel with a sign that read:

  “All refugees welcome! This is a safe place. Those things can’t get you here! You have everything that you need right here! You are in safe hands, enjoy yourself while you can!”

  7

  Checking Out Early

  Rebecca and I headed to our room in the hotel. The first thing that we noticed when we entered the hotel was that all the lights were on, and many guys were holding all sorts of guns but were dressed casually, almost wearing the same kind of clothes that I had on.

  We got into the elevator and went to the third floor, where our room was located. The same thing as the lobby, as soon as we entered our room, we noticed that all the lights were on and there was a fire burning in the hearth at the center of the room.

  It was a little too warm outside to have a fire on right now, but when I approached the hearth, I found a note posted on the side of it. The letter read:

  “Keep this hearth lit at all times. If you need any more wood, please request room service and we will be glad to bring you more. If it gets too hot, feel free to adjust the air conditioning system in your room any way you desire. Thank you for your cooperation. Be safe.”

  Once I finished reading the note, I knew the hearth was lit for our safety, and if the electricity should fail, the hearth was our last hope to keep us alive from those creatures. They hate fire more than any other light system here on Earth.

  I think maybe because it’s hot and can damage them as the sun can, only the sun is outrageously hotter than anything we could ever imagine and is more effective. But sadly, they hide from the sun, and we must watch our backs with more precautions at night.

  Anyway, after I checked out the room some more, we finally decided to settle down. I set our luggage down beside the bed and grabbed a drink from the fridge. I turned on the TV and searched for the shows I liked to watch back home. I did find a few of my shows, but then stumbled across the news.

  The news anchors had something to add besides the weather and traffic. It was something a little different than just a news story. They were saying that more and more people were being found dead in their homes.

  Men, women, children, pets, and even wild animals around the areas were all dead or torn to pieces. Most of the time they were found with missing body parts such as their eyes, ears, noses, legs, arms, and sometimes even their guts from inside their bodies or even their heads severed from their bodies.

  They were found dead in areas where no light could reach, such as dark rooms in households where, unfortunately, not enough sunlight could penetrate through the windows or even closed curtains.

  The dead animals were mostly found in caves, where not even the animal control officers or specialists made it out alive. Rebecca decided to talk to the hotel manager about if we would be safe here, or if it was all a setup to get us killed.

  She gets worried easily about that kind of stuff, as you may have figured out by now. But I just kicked back and enjoyed this time before something outrageous happened again.

  “I’m going to go talk to the hotel manager, okay, Matt?”

  “About what?”

  “About if we are truly going to be safe here from those things!”

  “I’m pretty sure we're in good hands, honey, but go ahead. I’m not going to stop you from doing what you want and feel what you need to do. If you feel the need to talk to the hotel manager because of safety issues, that's fine by me. I’m here for you and will always be at your side. Just cross my heart and hope to die that he says we’ll be safe.”

  “Thanks, babe. I’ll be back, hopefully not gone for too long. I don’t want to spend too much time away. God knows what could happen, right?”

  “Yeah, by this time anything could happen. Just be safe, all right, honey?”

  “I will. You better do the same as well!”

  “You’ll have no doubts!”

  “I hope I won’t have to!”

  She headed out to talk to the hotel manager about her concerns. I lost track of what the news anchor was saying, and once I started to close in on the conversation, I wanted to turn off the TV for good.

  The news anchor started going on and on about how it may not even be safe for most people, since they live in areas where there is some patch or part of darkness. Plus, those creatures only hunt during the night, as they hate sunlight.

  It’s daytime currently, which means we should be safe. But that doesn’t mean everyone else is safe. Those creatures could hide in dark areas such as caves, vacant buildings where no sunlight could hit, and sewers. They started to sound more worried when they discussed how certain parts of the world that are dark at this moment when it's daylight for us could be in trouble but may not even know what’s going on.

  I’m just hoping that our government or whoever the hell is in charge of contacting the other countries lets them know what threats are lurking in the unknown of our planet.

  Luckily, these creatures are said to have only been wandering the United States and Canadian regions, but shockingly are scattering and finding their way to Mexico, Central America, South America, and close to Russia as they reach Alaska.

  I highly doubt they would be able to hide in a boat for a whole trip to get across to the eastern side of the hemisphere and start to duplicate there.

  They don’t seem that smart, but I should think twice about what they're capable of. And if they do get across, then we better start to prepare ourselves and get all the energy for light, fire, and solar power that we could understand if they ever want to attempt to bring humanity to extinction and make this their new “dark world.” I turned off the TV and put my head back to try and get some rest.

  I found it easier to fall asleep during the day, as I knew I was safe from those creatures because the sun was out. While at night, I would feel that I was being watched with my stomach in knots and my head bursting with anxiety.

  Even with the lights to keep those things away, nothing seemed to make me feel safe. I closed my eyes and slowly fell asleep.

  I took a long, refreshing nap, so long that when I got up, I forgot where I was. I remembered I was in a hotel room for safety reasons, but then checked the clock and it was 8:45 in the evening. By this time, it was dark outside, and I looked around to see if Rebecca had returned, but she hadn’t. I began to get worried and called her cell number, but she didn’t answer. I attempted to call her another four times, but still no answer.

  I also sent her a few texts to see if that would do the trick, but after waiting for a few minutes, I knew something was wrong. She usually checks her phone every minute in emergency situations, and I’m pretty sure if she wanted to talk to the hotel manager, it must have been an emergency or something important and she would be able to call me to see if I was all right. But, she hadn’t. No missed calls, no voicemails, nothing.

  It began to feel cold in the room, and I went to check the thermostat. It read that it was a stable 40 degrees in the room and roughly the same temperature in the hotel lobby at 43 degrees.

  I wondered why it got so cold, because if I remember correctly, last time I checked it was 67 degrees in the room and 64 in the lobby. The hearth was surprisingly still lit with a little bit of wood burning, but could die out any minute.

  I put on the extra wood to keep it burning for a few more hours and to warm the place up when Rebecca returned. I walked over to the thermostat to try and fix the temperature, but it was broken, completely missing e
verything. The only things remaining were wires and a few scratch marks from the creature.

  The gas was not working as well for the stoves, and even the fire pit in the lobby, which runs on gasoline. The lights were starting to flicker slowly in the room, the refrigerator was off, and the TV would not turn on. I ran towards the door that led outside into the hallway and noticed there was a considerable chunk of rotting flesh underneath the door. I cracked open the door a tiny bit and peeped through, only seeing that there was a little bit of blood blended in with the red carpet.

  I opened up the door entirely and turned to the left to see a security guard with his head missing and a gun right beside him. I took advantage of the moment and seized his blood-soaked gun for my protection. The lights in the hallway were flickering as well, almost like they were making their final breaths, slowly losing more watts of energy every second.

  All of the doors had been broken into, each with a corpse, rotting flesh, body part, or to make it simpler, gore. I didn’t want to search all the rooms on my floor, hell, not even the rest of the levels of the hotel. That would be a death sentence. I just wanted to search for Rebecca and see if she was okay.

  When I walked past all the rooms on my floor, I looked to see if there was anyone in there, but only found complete darkness, with the hearths dying out and blood all over the entrances of the rooms.

  I kept my distance, as I knew that there must have been a creature hiding in there somewhere, feasting on a dead man's flesh waiting for me to be the side dish to its meal. I continued walking and reached the elevator.

  Inside the elevator was a maid with both of her arms and legs missing. There was blood all over the towels that were next to her, along with bloody handprints on the sides of the elevator.

  I tried to see if the elevator was operating, but it ultimately died out. My last option was to use the stairs. I entered the stairwell, when after a second of being able to breathe again, a high-pitched screech stopped me dead in my tracks and made me hold my breath. I stood there with my heart feeling that it was going to come out of my chest.