Wren stared through the small glass windows facing out of her kitchen. Between the gaps of the large trees surrounding her wooden hut, she counted 11 moons and 2 distant planets, big and bold in their home amongst the stars. The beautiful midwinter sky more than made up for the snow and the cold. Wren cast her eyes down to the ground, where the snow was knee-deep at least. She groaned at the prospect of shoveling snow in the morning. Walking to her village became more arduous with each trip. The snow slowed her down greatly, especially when she was carrying bags of raw meat on her back on her return trips. If she knew how shoot and lay traps she wouldn't need to buy food, but learning how to hunt was one more thing she hadn't gotten around to.
Wren shut the curtains and returned to her chair. The hut seemed bigger to her since Mum and Dad had died. Whole corners of the house left untouched, collecting dust and spider webs. Wren looked at the single picture frame on the wall above the fire. Dad sat on a village bench smiling at the camera, holding Wren in his arms. Her left hand was wrapped around his index finger.
"Wren, listen to me. You have to run. I can hold them back for a while, but you have to go. Go back to the hut, you'll be safe there."
Wren held on tight to her Dad's hand as the shuffled slowly backwards through the snow. She kept her eyes wide open, forcing them to through the pain.
"Dad, I'm not leaving you! We can do this together. Two pairs of eyes, we can hold them off! Just keep moving, please." Wren started to cry.
"Don't cry my darling; you won't be able to see them. Please, go now. There's too many. I promised your mother that I'd keep you safe." He kissed his daughters head, keeping his eyes on the statues.
"Do this for me Wren. My brave girl. Run."
Wren forced her eyes away from the photo. Memories of her parents were coming back more frequently than ever, now she spent so much time alone. The days were so empty, the hours seemed to blur together into one long nightmare. The nightmare that began when she was 12 years old, the year the Devil came to her planet. The Devil, and all the monsters he had brought in his wake.
As Wren prepared for bed, something terrifying happened.
A knock at the door. Wren froze where she stood, her eyes fixed on the door.
Another knock. Wren crept towards her kitchen drawers, silently opened the second one and retrieved her mother's pistol.
A third knock. She closed the drawer and crept towards the front entrance. Who would come to her house at this time? In fact, no one ever visited Wren. Not for a long time.
A fourth knock, louder than the rest. As she reached the door, she heard a young woman's voice on the other side.
"I told you, there's no one home. We should go, something's not right. Doctor!"
Wren screamed as the door flew open.