But now it seems some unseen monster lays
His vast and filthy hands upon my will
Alfred Lord Tennyson, Lucretius
The trio reached the spot where the hall ended at the stairwell. The man leading them stopped and considered their options. To the right, a few stairs led down into even deeper darkness. The stairs to the left led upward to the next floor. Glen pointed toward the descending side and whispered a memory.
“One night, Marshall and I stayed late after basketball practice because we needed to get a shop assignment done. The janitor, Wally, liked us so he got us into the room so we could work. The room is on the bottom floor down there. Wally turned out to be a monster. Son of a bitch turned into one right in front of us.”
“He turned into a monster?” Spencer asked. “Like a werewolf?”
“Nothing like a werewolf. It was like what I saw that night in the living room window. Damndest thing I’ve ever seen. His skin just melted away and then he was this lizard man.”
The awful hiss echoed once again. This time from upstairs. The man in the cardigan reached into his satchel and pulled out a weapon foreign to Glen and Spencer. Its chrome plating reflected light from the flashlight. The shape was like something from a 1950s sci-fi B movie. The man led them silently up the stairs and shined his light in the hall. What they saw was a nightmare.
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