Charlie’s House.
Night.
The Kitchen.
Charlie stood alone, making hot coffee.
His parents were in London for Christmas.
The house was silent around him.
The kind of silence that makes you hear your own heartbeat.
He took the cup.
The warmth seeped into his hands.
He walked to his room.
Pushed the door open with his shoulder.
Closed it with his leg.
The door swung slowly shut.
Behind it, a man stood.
Middle-aged.
Thin hair.
A heavy, fat body.
No clothes.
Pale skin in the darkness.
Charlie didn’t see him.
He set the cup down beside the lamp.
The light flickered.
A cold breath touched the back of his neck.
Gentle.
Wrong.
He spun around.
His heart lurched.
Nobody there.
He let out a shaky breath.
Laughed at himself.
Turned back.
The man stood in front of him now.
Holding his cup.
His fingers wrapped around the ceramic like dead branches.
“Uncle Ben,” Charlie whispered.
His blood turned to ice.
“Take your cup, boy,” Uncle Ben said.
His voice echoed.
Heavy.
Unnatural.
Like stones falling into deep water.
Charlie’s face went white.
Sweat broke out on his skin.
Cold.
Clammy.
He watched his uncle’s body turn blue.
Blood froze in the veins.
Frost spread across the skin like cracks in ice.
Charlie stepped back.
His shoulder blades hit the wall.
Then he ran.
He burst out of the room.
His feet pounded the floor.
He sprinted for the stairs.
His uncle stood on the stairs.
Still holding the cup.
Still smiling.
“Take your cup, boy.” Charlie screamed.
He jumped over the railing.
His body fell through the air.
He landed hard on the ground floor.
Pain shot through his ankles.
He didn’t stop.
He ran for the exit.
His uncle stood at the gate now.
His face twisted with anger.
His body stretched taller and taller.
His head touched the ceiling.
His shoulders filled the hallway.
Charlie ran back.
His hands shook.
He grabbed the telephone.
Dialed the police.
“Hello!
I need help!
House number sixty-nine—!” A heavy, creeping sound faded in.
Someone saying something.
Like a spell.
Ancient words that crawled into his ear and burrowed into his brain.
A growl came from behind him.
Low.
Deep.
Hungry.
Charlie turned slowly.
His whole body was shaking.
A Karbu stood there.
On its feet.
Tall and thin and terrible.
Black eyes.
Sharp teeth.
Burned skin.
A sound came through the phone.
Several voices.
Men and women speaking together.
Dead voices.
Trapped in the line.
“Hey, bullshit.
Don’t you see?” a woman’s voice said.
“I drink a lot, but it looks like you drink more than me.
Fucking Miller.” a man’s voice said.
The Karbu screamed.
The sound tore through Charlie’s skull.
It hurled him against the wall.
Charlie went limp.
Unconscious.
His body slid to the floor.
The phone hung from its cord.
Swinging.
The voices still whispering.
— Blinc and the Others.
Lomro opened his eyes.
They were in the school corridor.
Darkness pressed in from all sides.
Thick.
Heavy.
The kind of darkness that feels alive.
A single door stood on the right-hand side.
Old wood.
Peeling paint.
“It was that door.
I opened it last time,” Blinc said.
His voice echoed strangely in the dark.
“Then open it again,” Lomro said.
His voice was tense.
Ready.
Blinc walked to the door.
His footsteps were silent on the cold floor.
He pulled it open.
They stepped out.
The school sat behind them on the edge of a cliff.
Ahead stretched a red and orange landscape.
Rocky.
Sandy.
A dark sky boiled overhead, ripped apart by violet lightning.
The air was hot.
Dry.
Wrong.
“What the hell is this place?” Zander said.
His voice was hollow with shock.
His eyes couldn’t take it all in.
“These rocks are cold.
Like ice,” Cult said.
He touched a stone.
His fingers recoiled.
The cold bit him.
“Last time, this place was not here,” Blinc said.
He was staring at the horizon.
Searching.
“Then where is it?” Lomro asked.
Blinc stared out at the long, barren ground.
“It is here now.” Amili walked toward Blinc, standing near the door.
Her steps were careful.
Measured.
Something felt wrong beneath her feet.
Suddenly, Blinc saw something.
His eyes went wide.
His body moved before his mind could think.
He lunged.
Tackled Amili to the ground.
Their bodies hit the dirt hard.
A Karbu burst up from the earth where she had been standing.
Dirt and rock exploded outward.
Claws slashed through empty air.
The creature screamed in frustration.
Blinc and Amili lay at the very edge of the cliff.
One wrong move and they would fall.
Karbu stood in front of them.
Its black eyes stared down.
Hungry.
Inose was behind the creature.
Her body trembled.
Fear locked her in place.
Her legs wouldn’t move.
Her voice wouldn’t come.
Karbu turned.
It saw her.
It screamed.
Inose’s hand moved without thought.
Pure instinct.
She threw the acid.
The liquid hit Karbu’s body.
Its skin began to burn.
Sizzle.
Steam rose from the wounds.
The creature howled in pain.
Everyone ran.
Feet pounding the rocky ground.
Inose still stood there.
Frozen.
Her eyes wide.
Her body refusing to obey.
Zander ran back.
He grabbed her hand.
His grip was strong.
Warm.
Alive.
“Come on!” He pulled her.
They ran together.
Their hearts pounding in the same rhythm.
Karbu steadied itself.
The burning didn’t slow it for long.
Pain was just fuel.
It chased after them.
Fast.
Faster.
The creature jumped high into the air.
A dark shape against the violet sky.
Blinc turned.
He saw Karbu hanging in the sky behind Inose and Zander.
Time slowed.
He didn’t think.
He didn’t hesitate.
He grabbed a petrol bottle from Lomro’s bag.
Lit the cloth.
The flame caught.
He threw it.
The bottle spun through the air in a slow arc.
Fire trailing behind it like a comet.
It hit Karbu.
Fire erupted across the creature’s body.
Orange flames against black skin.
The Karbu screamed.
Blinc smelled something behind him.
A strong smell.
Blood.
Thick.
Metallic.
Familiar.
He turned.
Someone stood there.
A figure in the fog.
Long hair.
Wearing a mixed-length wool trench coat.
The coat moved without wind.
Blinc couldn’t see a face.
Only the outline of a body.
A shape that felt ancient.
Watching.
Pain exploded in Blinc’s head.
White hot.
Blinding.
He dropped to his knees.
His hands pressed to his skull.
His eyes squeezed shut.
A scream died in his throat.
Time snapped back to normal.
Blinc was on his knees.
In pain.
His head throbbed.
His vision blurred.
Karbu came down with its body still burning.
The flames consumed it.
Everyone stared, shocked, as the creature’s body turned to fog and vanished.
Nothing left but ash and silence.
“What happened to him?” Zander asked.
His voice was thin.
Afraid.
“I don’t know.
I didn’t throw the petrol,” Blinc said.
His voice was weak.
Confused.
Amili saw Blinc on the ground behind them.
She rushed to him.
“What happened?” Worry filled her voice.
Her hands touched his face.
Checked for wounds.
“I don’t know.
But it was very strange,” Blinc said through the pain.
Every word hurt.
“Whatever is happening here is strange,” Cult said.
He was looking around.
Scanning for more threats.
“Yes.
But this is more…” Blinc started.
He couldn’t finish.
He didn’t have the words.
A sound rose from below the cliff.
Footsteps.
Many footsteps.
The ground vibrated.
They looked down.
A large number of Karbu stood beneath the peak.
Dozens of them.
Staring up.
Growling.
Their black eyes were dead and hungry.
They had been waiting.
The Karbu started climbing.
Their claws dug into the rock.
Their bodies moved like spiders.
Fast.
Wrong.
Blinc got to his feet.
His legs shook.
He pushed through the pain.
Everyone ran.
Their lungs burned.
Their legs screamed.
The Karbu were faster.
They gained ground with every second.
Closer.
Closer.
The group reached the end of the cliff.
They couldn’t see the bottom.
Only darkness below.
Endless.
Waiting.
Fear gripped them.
No one wanted to jump.
“What do we do now?” Zander shouted.
His voice cracked with panic.
“I don’t know!
I don’t know!” Blinc shouted back.
Fear raw in his voice.
Amili closed her eyes.
She took a breath.
Made her peace.
And jumped.
“Amili!” Inose screamed.
Her hand reached out.
Grabbing at empty air.
She stepped forward to follow.
Her foot slipped on the loose rock.
She fell.
Her body tumbled over the edge.
The Karbu closed in.
Their growls filled the air.
Blinc, Lomro, Cult, and Zander grabbed each other’s hands.
Their fingers interlaced.
Tight.
Unbreakable.
They jumped.
The wind rushed past them.
The darkness swallowed them whole.
The Karbu stopped at the edge.
They watched the bodies fall.
They did not follow.
— To be continued…
— Author’s Note Dear Reader, The Karbu are not just in the other world anymore.
The garbage man.
The hunting has begun.
The two worlds are bleeding into each other,