Dark shadows.
How did it come to this?
The ground was frosted over as it always was. There was a thick smell in the air like a rotting carcass, the scientists said it was the backed up sewage system that the town had. It was never meant to hold the sort of output a regiment of guard made. The town itself was a small new settlement that usually held about 500 people, but now it was empty. A ghost town, when they planet had stopped sending the yearly tithes to the emperor the guard were sent out. And this is what they found an empty husk of what once used to be a happy and bright village. He was one of the first down a scouting party to see why no one answered the hails from space. When they landed there was nothing around, no animals no people not even a dead body to make it seem like a raid had happened. Now he was sitting in a small bunker that they had built doing his shift on watch waiting for something anything to happen.
From his view he could see about 100 meters of clear ground until the land suddenly became a rocky outcropping with tall ash grey trees. Even the landscape seemed dead and ghostly. Sitting next to him was his companion and fellow corporal Dillon. Ever since the training fields they had been close friends always working better together than any other pair. And now they were out on this bleak piece of land playing would be detectives.
Dillon moved a bit in his slumped position, sleeping and waiting for his shift to start. Cameron (Dillon calls him Hobbes) watched out making a ever sweeping gave on the ground turning his head from one bunker on his left to the one on his right making sure everything was still as dull and grey as it was before. Dillon snorted. Cameron looked back out over his back and out the bunkers door seeing the village again. It was a stained yellow and all the buildings had huge trappings over them proclaiming love for the emperor and the owners of the buildings. The once cheer full banners now made the town seem even more ghostly, they had been battered in the wind and now were torn in corners cutting of prayers in mid sentence or just making it all seem older than it could possibly be. Dillon snorted again.
Cameron looked back out across the waste land returning to his boring duty knowing it was only another 20 minutes until Dillon would share the same fate. But this time he stopped mid head turn. What was that? It looked a small black blob against the grey rocky outcropping. He groped around behind him looking for his rifle, but more importantly the sight on the rifle not daring to look away from the blob lest it move. Finally his fingers wrapped around the cold comforting steel of the barrel and he brought it up to his shoulder. Looking down the sight he aimed for the blob, but it was gone. Instead of the blob there was a small puff of dust. As if disturbed by movement.
Cameron leaned over and nudged Dillon. "Hey man I just saw something I don't know what the hell it was but something was out there". Dillon snorted again. This time Cameron kicked Dillon which he in turn replied with a loud yelp. "God emperor what the hell do you want?" 'I saw something" said Cameron "big whoop it's probably an animal or something" Dillon said settling back down as if to go back to sleep. "Have you seen any fething animals out here since we landed?" Cameron said looking back out the gun slit scoping the area he saw the black thing "well maybe it was a patrol out there doing some recon" suggested Dillon. He reached over and grabbed a data slate and threw it at Cameron who looked it over "there isn't any patrols out for another day. This is some scary stuff man im gonna call it in" said Cameron. "are you crazy???" said Dillon "if you call it in we are gonna hafta go out in the creepy waste land and try and confirm your spooky 'thing' and I for one don't want to move just yet" Dillon was right and Cameron sure as hell didn't want to go out there without any good reason.
20 minutes later he and Dillon were slowly walking across the wasteland to the spot, Cameron in front and Dillon in the rear cursing a little bit louder than he should on a recon.
When they got the spot nothing was there it was just like the rocks all around it grey bleak and depressing. As if to make the mood even worse Dillon chipped back in "ok where the hell is this phantom black thing you saw? I don't even see foot prints it looks like nothing has been here for years" Cameron rounded to snap off something rather rude and nasty to Dillon when he spotted it on the ground. At first he thought it was a smudge but when he looked again it became clearer. He stepped towards it. "What now?" moaned Dillon? "Look" said Cameron bending down to it. At first he couldn't understand what it was until he stared at it for a good few seconds. His sharp intake of breath was enough to quiet even Dillon's complaints. On the ground was a boot print but where the toe should have ended 3 claw marks took its place in a scraping look. "We better call it in Dillon" "yea" said Dillon with a worried look on his face. "I think we should"
Later on in the day they had a whole squad of shock troops there in a defensive perimeter shot guns leveled and ready. One of the higher ups was leaning over the foot print looking deeply concerned. "What exactly did you see corporal?" he asked getting up from the foot print. "I told you it was just a black… blob, it was like I couldn't make it out, then when I got my scope up it was just gone that's when we called it in and came out to check it." The officer looked puzzled "what do you mean a, blob?" "I told you it was just kind of a roundish black thing too far out for me to see with my eye and when I could it was gone." The officer didn't look convinced "had you had anything to drink? Were you eating any of the villager's food? How long had you been on watch duty?" the officer fired off questions like rounds from a bolt gun, direct and painful. "I wasn't hallucinating sir! I saw it I know I did I just don't know what it was" Cameron didn't like the way this was going. "Ok then I wants you and Corporal Dillon to go on a 24 hour break go get some sleep eat some good food and relax this has been a bit stressful on us all."
Cameron couldn't believe what he was saying. That was it they would just leave this and go back to watching and waiting hoping the villagers would just walk back and explain where they had been for so long. Cameron shook his head and started to walk back to the village. "Are you just going to let this slide Hobbes?" asked Dillon worry plain on his face. "I have to if they don't deem it worthy of checking out any farther than it can't be very big" Cameron was defeated. Dillon looked ready to protest on his behalf but Cameron put an arm around his shoulder. "Don't. You were asleep remember? You have even less credibility than me" Dillon slowly walked along with Cameron realizing that it was true and nothing he did would change the way this was handled.
24 hours later they were back in their bunker listening to the guardsmen in the middle of the village laughing and joking. Dillon was back on the ground mumbling how they just got brushed aside but Cameron wasn't listening he was focusing on the landscape with his night vision on. He wanted to find the thing again and he wanted to prove he wasn't crazy. But know matter how much he looked all he saw was those dam rocks and trees just so grey and cold and bleak. They left nothing to the imagination and all seemed to look alike making the whole outcropping seem like a repeat of itself.
When it was Dillon's turn Cameron sat on the floor cuddling his rifle and slowly he fell into and uncomfortable sleep. In his dreams he saw shadows moving about dark and threatening yet always out of sight. As if the bodies belonging to the shadows were detached and somewhere else. Some of them came close almost brushing against him, their very presence made him cold to the bone and made him want to scream, but he couldn't his mouth was gone now just skin over bone. He grabbed and pulled at the skin trying to tear it free so he could speak but nothing happened. As he was thrashing the shadows got closer and closer enveloping him and swallowing him whole. Then all a sudden his world burst into light and sound.
At first his eyes were bleary and the sound seemed distant and UN threatening until it washed back in a torrent of senses. Dillon was over him screaming and outside the gun slit was strobing blinding white and a deathly pale red.
"Get up man we're under attack!" shouted Dillon. He was then back up to the firing slit sending a clip of las charges down to the rocks in a wash of red. "wWhothe hell is attacking and where are they?" screamed Cameron over the roar of heavier weaponry "I don't know I was just sitting there and all of a sudden one of the bunkers just started firing and the com lines were flooded with orders to fire" Cameron looked out to the rock outcroppings. With all the lights he couldn't see anything. So he looked with his scope switching between night and motion because his thermal would be useless with all of the laser burns on rocks and such. Or so he thought. When he switched to the thermal he saw a blob again but it wasn't red or yellow with the beat from blasts it was deep blue colder than the vacuum of space. All around it was glowing from the impacts of blasts. Cameron took careful aim and shot the blob. The deep blue didn't change color but moved. Back down and then behind a rock. "I don't like this Dillon" stated Cameron rising up from his rifle