"Come ON, you're going to MISS it!" Louis Burg yell from the living room.

"I'm going as fast as I can." replied Emma. The middle aged woman hastily snatched the dishes from the dining room table and shuffled into the kitchen.

"You can move faster that that!" yelled Louis. "Must be getting old!"

"All RIGHT, you..." Emma said with a smile. Indeed, Emma Burg and her husband were the exact same age... forty seven. It was a ripe old age in some parts of the world, but for the two of them it seemed as young as the day they first met. They were not yet in their teens when they fell in love, and now they looked forward to growing old and senile together. Although, at times it seemed Louis would reach the 'senile' part well before she did. "I'm coming!" she said. She deposited the dishes on the counter and joined her husband in the living room.

He was turning both their chairs towards a large window. Their farmhouse had a perfect western view... just as Louis had envisioned it years ago. He was quite a firebrand with the carpenters when they wanted to change it due to some peculiarity of the land, but in the end he got what he wanted. It was the only way they could continue the ritual they had started on the day he proposed, and performed faithfully every single night since then. Every night... after Louis finished the chores and Emma saw to the dishes, they would both sit down and watch the sunset.

"Oh, look at that sky... " said Emma as she pulled the curtains back. Outside, the sun was nearing the horizon. She looked across the farm and saw the animals all sealed in their pens. The dogs were barking, but other than that it would be yet another perfect sunset.

"Beautiful," said Louis. "Just like my bride."

They shared a short kiss.

"Hey, what are those dogs barking at?" Louis peered out the window.

"Probably those rabbits again."

"That ain't no rabbit-bark." said Louis. He squinted out into the growing shadows.

"Don't squint your eyes like that," said Emma. "Makes you look uglier than you really are."

"No, no... I think something's out there."

"Where?" Emma stood beside her husband and looked out. "I don't see any-"

"There!" Louis pointed. "There, did you see?"

"Not a darned thing. Now sit down."

Grumbling, Louis sat down in his chair.

"Did you chop the wood?" said Emma.

"Yeah."

"Well next time make sure to put that axe back in the shed-" Emma pointed to Louis's axe, which was leaning in a corner by the window.

"Oh. Heh-heh. Sorry."

"Senile old coot."

"OLD!"

The barking of the dogs increased suddenly. It was soon joined by the worried whinnying of the horses. The pigs squealed nosily in their pens.

"See," Louis popped out of his chair like a cork from a bottle of fine champagne. He strolled over to the window. "Something's out there."

"Yeah... the sun, and we can SEE it just fine sitting down."

"You don't suppose it's those kids agai-"

Suddenly the barking changed... it became a chaotic jumble of snarls and growls as the beasts attacked *something.* At the same instant, a large shadow passed in front of the window.

"What the hell?"

Footsteps... heavy boots crunching the loose stone outside the door.

The dogs growls turned to yelps of pain.

"Who's there!"

The front door burst open.

Emma screamed and backed away towards the kitchen. Louis spun and grabbed the axe. He ran for the door and arrived just as the Stranger entered the house. He was tall... six feet or more. His body was hidden in the dusty gray long-coat that fell from his shoulders like a shroud.

His face... he HAD no face... just an expanse of smooth emptiness beneath an unruly mop of dirty blond hair.

"Who the HELL are you!" Louis brandished the axe as menacingly as he could, but the Stranger walked past him as if he weren't even there.

"LOUIS!" Emma screeched. The Stranger was walking straight towards her.

"I WARNED YOU!" Louis swung the axe...

He never saw the creature as it leapt through the open door. A hideously deformed beast... part dog, part something else. It was the size of a small bear, and even through the thick, matted hair, Louis could see the knotted bulges of misformed muscle contract as it prepared to attack. The beast leapt... and flew through the air with a speed that belied its immense bulk. Powerful jaws snapped shut around Louis's arm... catching him in mid-swing, then the creature collided with him, knocking them both to the floor.

"AAAAAAAH!" Louis scrambled away... his terror-filled eyes were focused not on the dog-beast that had attacked him... but on the bloody, jagged nub where his forearm used to be. His axe was still clasped in his hand... but that hand was now hanging from the Hellhound's slavering maw.

The beast dropped the appendage and leapt for Louis.

"EMMMAAA! EMMA RUNNN!!!" he yelled. Then the dog's jaws closed around his face.

Emma ran.

Screaming at the top of her lungs, Louis's wife turned and took two steps toward the kitchen... hoping to make it out the back door. She didn't

Some unseen force grabbed her and flung her across the room. Her back slammed hard against the wall, but before she could even feel the pain, the force threw her again. She hit the far wall face-first. Then she was spun violently around and pinned. The force was holding her torso with such power that she could hardly breathe. Her bare feet kicked the wall behind her until her heels bled. She tried to scream, but couldn't get enough air into her compressed lungs to produce more than a whimper.

The Stranger was standing in the middle of the room... watching her with unseen eyes. He turned briefly towards the Hellhound that was feasting loudly on Louis's body, then he turned back to Emma. He walked slowly towards her... and as he did so, the emptiness that was his face began to pull back like a veil. It revealed only the eyes... but that was enough to send Emma into paroxysms of fear.

Those burning red eyes... looking at her... looking THROUGH her... into her mind... her soul.... looking... searching...

...burning...

"You are not the one," said the Stranger. His voice was like a pot of boiling acid thrown across Emma's soul. It came from everywhere and nowhere... for the Stranger had no mouth.

The force holding her to the wall doubled... and doubled again. She couldn't breathe, but suffocation was the LEAST of her concerns. The Stranger was crushing her like an insect.

Emma heard her ribs snapping like dry twigs in her chest. Just before the pain erased her mind, Emma mouthed a single word...

"...why..."

Then there was nothing.

---

The Stranger turned away from the red smear on the wall and walked calmly out of the Burg's farmhouse. He made no sound or motion, but the instant he crossed the threshold, the Hellhound abandoned its feast and trotted after him. Together, they headed across the farm in a unwavering path that would take them to the neighboring farmhouse. From there, they would go on to the next... and then the next... and then eventually into heart of the city itself.

Their quarry was here.... somewhere in this town.

Somewhere in Montfort.

And there was nothing that could stop them from finding her.

[To Be Continued]