Shadowmen

Chapter Two

Two days ago

“Mom I’m back from school!” I shouted as I walked in the door.  Hale nudged my bedroom door open and he walked out. I smiled and rubbed his head. His enormous tail swayed back and forth. I walked into the kitchen to grab a snack when I noticed the note that read, “ Went to get groceries, be back soon -Mom”.

I shrugged and grabbed some juice out of the fridge. It was fine, this way I get some peace and quiet when I get home. I walked over to the couch and flopped down and drank my drink. I started to nod off when suddenly the lights outside got brighter, which only meant one thing…shadowmen.

 I ran into the kitchen and opened the drawer closest to the fridge and pulled out the goggles that lay inside it. I put them on and put a handkerchief around Hale’s face. It was thin enough to see through but it blocked the light out a little.

I directed him down the fire escape and before long we were racing through the streets. Everyone was huddled in the center of streets and directly under lights with their hands over their eyes. People were shouting names to try and find their loved ones in the panic. It wasn’t hard maneuvering through the streets. I made it to the market in about 5 minutes.  I left Hale outside of the district just in case. I walked into the market center.

That’s where the shadowhunters were. I saw them racing around with lights on their heads pointing wherever they looked. They wear the same goggles I am wearing. They have a helmet that holds their light. And they wear all white, their jackets, pants and boots all shine bright white.

 The market was empty besides them. The market stands were abandoned—their food and supplies still fill the stands. I scan the market place once more. The gate into town was wide open and all you saw was barren land outside the gates, brightly lit.

I don’t understand. How did they get in? Before I could do anything a Shadow Hunter pushed me out of the way.

“Get out of this District! Its not safe!” as he said that the lights above the market center started to flicker.  “NOW!” he shouted.

I started to turn when I saw it. In an alley leading towards my house, lurking in the shadows, I saw two green glowing eyes.  The spotlight lighting up that alley was shattered. The creature was slender and had long hair that appeared to almost float around in the air.

 I started to walk towards it when the shadowhunter pushed me. I fell to the ground and before I could react the man had a light on the creature. He reached out and grabbed it by its arm and pulled it out into light shining from the light bulbs that hang in a four by four pattern across the market center.

The creature shrieks in pain from the light. That’s when it hits me. The shriek, the structure of the creature, it was too familiar.

It was my mom.

“NO!” I scream scrambling to get up and save my only family left.

Another Shadowhunter steps in my way and picks me up. I’m screaming and kicking and punching. I don’t care who this person is. They are just letting my mother die right in front of me. I reach up and punch him in the face, his goggle crushes into his right eye and he drops me to the ground.

Once I turn to race towards my mom I see her. She looks like she used to, only now she looks burnt. Her skin is blackened and her hair is almost all burnt off. I turn my head and the tears start flowing from my eyes. The shadow hunter I punched picks me up once more and I let him. He begins to carry me out of the market place when I hear another shriek of pain. I looked once more over his shoulder to see what was going on.

The other shadowhunter had found the other Shadowmen. They had his lower half in the light and his upper half in the shadows.

“Are there more of you? “ the shadowhunter shouted at him.

The voice of the shadowmen was almost snake-like. “No.” it hissed. And that’s when the hunters pushed the rest of him into the light.

The man carrying me starts to turn a corner and the last thing is see is the creature twitching and squirming around on the stone street as it slowly died.

“I’m sorry, it’s what we do,” the man carrying me said “we want to keep this from happening altogether.”

*

I was brought back to the police station to be watched after and given any medical treatment that I might have needed. I was fine, physically at least.  An officer walked up to me and I immediately asked how they got into the city. I didn’t want to talk about what had happened

They don’t know for sure but they think when a truck came into the town to drop off a shipment from another city the creature had hitched a ride underneath the vessel. The light underneath the truck had gone out during the trip over and it was able to hide within the trucks shadow. They believe the creature then slowly worked its way around until it was able to break a light in a nearby alley.

“There was an unfortunate women in the alley who fell victim to the creature, but she was terminated as well, so there is no worry of further disturbance” the officer said.  He was so official about it all. He said it all as though the woman was just anyone. To him she was I guess, but to me she was my mom, the women who raised me and kept me alive throughout everything.

I got up and left at this. Tears were streaming down my face. Hale sat out front of the station and he sat up at my presence. I climbed on top of him and he instinctively took off toward home. The lights had dimmed down again and I took off opal’s Handkerchief, and slid my goggles from my eyes down to around my neck.

When I finally got home I flung myself on the couch and I lay there hating myself. I was alone aside from Hale. I didn’t want this to happen. I wanted it all to end. I want to put a stop to the shadowmen. Just like the Hunter who carried me said “we want to keep this from happening altogether.”

I want to too I thought.

Jumped off the couch and spent the next two days looking for their headquarters, picking up what I needed to know on how to get into the clan and what all they do. I went to bars, to police stations. I studied up on them.

 I was ready to put a stop to the shadowmen, even if I died trying.