The wind whispered through the dark, empty trees like a warning in a foreign language. Winter was coming and with winter came the frost. It spread across the land like a plague covering everything it touched, making even the most insignificant blade of grass become frozen over with ice crystals along with any unsuspecting animals that hadn't found a source of warmth to protect them through the night. For the frost could cripple even the strongest steed farmer Hazenburg had trained that year. But it wasn't just the frost that made people freeze in their tracks at the beginning of the winter months. It was what followed.
The frost was a warning sign that the howls would soon start. A singular howl would pierce the air and then a cacophony of howls would respond to the first one and chaos would descend upon the land like it did every year, and not everyone would make it to see the spring no matter how hard each and every person worked to protect those around them.
But they would keep trying anyways.
Hazenburg would lock up his horses in hope that the doors would stand through the night while his family hid in the steel cased bunker that had been placed that year. The town gathered together and formed the plan of the bunkers as a new solution to the madness that filled their precious land each winter. So after all their hard work through the summer now each family had a bunker detached from their house buried in the earth, below the pounding of the feet of the terror that was to come.
"JULIA," James Hazenburg yelled up the stairs at his daughter.
"Yes?" she responded popping her head out of her room at the top of the stairs meeting her father's eyes.
"It's time to go to town one last time before we lock up for the night" he stated before turning and leaving her sight.
Julia grabbed her backpack, slinging it over her shoulders before scampering down the stairs after her father. The walk to town was quiet, the only sound emanating into the air being her father's heavy footsteps in comparison to the pitter patter of her small feet trying to keep up with her father's long strides.
"Dad," nerves racked her voice, "do you think we'll..." she trailed off.
"I won't let anything happen to you." he replied to her unfinished question.
A curt nod was all she could manage as she thought about her mother who hadn't made it back in time last year.
Soon enough they were in town and it was bustling with people, everyone getting in their last minute shopping even though everything had been prepared weeks ago. Shopping was an excuse to gather one last time. Julia's eyes scanned the crowd before they locked in on her best friends Mark and Hailey who were sitting at the fountain in the center of the marketplace. Hustling over to them Julia immediately embraced Hailey in a bone crushing hug and then Mark. Mark placed a kiss on top of her head his affection for her no longer hidden in friendship that had transformed over the past year. Tears swam in Julia's eyes as she left the embrace and met the eyes of Hailey whose eyes were also clouded with tears.
"We will all see each other after this just like we do every year and then we'll go splurge on milkshakes and french fries," he tried cheering the girls up but nothing could hide the sadness in his smiles because even Mark couldn't do anything to stop what was to come. The best friends stood there in silence just enjoying each other's company, maybe for the last time, before the clock tower rang out, notifying the townspeople to say their last words and buy their last items before returning back home and locking up for the frost. Julia's father called out her name notifying her it was time to get going, so with one last hug from her friends she found her father at their usual meeting spot in town and they went on their way back home.
Julia couldn't help but eye the bag her father carried but held her tongue and didn't ask him about it. By the time they had arrived home the air had started to become chilly and they knew that they had no time to waste before locking themselves into their shelter. Hazenburg and his daughter didn't say anything as they went inside and started packing up the last things they might need before IT began. Julia grabbed all the blankets she could find in the house and carried them to the front door. Her father couldn't stifle the laugh as he watched his daughter waddle to the front door blankets dragging against the floor, spilling out of her arms. Julia shot her father a look as he came and took a few of the blankets out of her hands to help her carry them to the bunker. After dropping the blankets off Hazenburg told Julia to wait in there while he got the food. When he returned they locked up the bunker and tried to get comfortable seeing as they would be there for what would feel like forever.
Soon enough they heard the howls.
It was a couple hours of waiting covered in blankets to protect themselves from the cold before they could hear the rumble of the feet headed their way. Julia scooted closer to her father, gulping as the noises continued to grow louder. She couldn't help but feel the need to blow out the candles that provided them light even though the bunker didn't let any light leak out of it. Julia and her father didn't dare make a sound, hoping that the dirt and grass they glued to the hood the bunker would camaflodge their hideout from whatever was out there.
By now it sounded like thunder over their heads. But then the thundering came to a sudden stop. For a moment Julia thought she heard a whisper in her mind, telling her to unlock the bunker. And it wasn't until her father yanked her back into the blankets did she realize that she had almost done just that.
"Dad." Julia whispered tears starting to form in her eyes as she feared what she had almost done.
"Shh honey it's okay, now we have to be quiet." he spoke to his daughter in soothing tones.
All of a sudden there was a bang on the bunker door causing julia to gasp and her father to hold her tighter.
The banging continued and it sounded like the thousands of feet that had been running towards them were now all pounding on the metal that separated them from the beasts.
All Julia wanted to do was sob but fear had struck her to her core, paralyzing her in shock.
The steel started to bend under the force of the beasts above them.
Hazenburg knew it wouldn't hold so he quickly convinced Julia to hide under all the blankets as he left himself exposed hoping they would only take him and not his only child. He aimed his gun at the hatch and waited for the inevitable to happen.
The hinges snapped and the steel hatch slammed into the bunker floor.
But what happened next shocked Hazenburg.
A human started to descend the ladder into the bunker.
