DATE: 25TH JUNE. TIME- 01:10

The loading dock was full of activity as four people hurried to load boxes onto a tractor.

The tractor was a Daihotai, an off-road vehicle designed for use on hostile, uneven and unprepared ground. A fully-enclosed cabin containing life support capability and sealed against poisonous atmospheres, biohazards and low-level ionising radiation was being loaded with extra supplies. The tractor had accommodation for five people and had been designed so that it could act as a self-contained habitat for as long as supplies lasted.

Perfect, Curtis Finch had thought, for getting away from these alien things and waiting for help to arrive. His older brother Otto had agreed on the proviso that they have some company with them. Specifically female company. Curtis had agreed and whilst the others were arguing over what to do next they had approached Neela Parvati and Mina Osterman with their plan.

Neela was a surveyor and wildcatter like the Finch's, and had slept with Otto a few times but neither of them were interested in love and kept the relationship casual between friends. Curtis had guessed that his older brother would have wanted to ride out the apocalypse with Neela in his bed.

Mina was an architect and new to the colony and for some reason Curtis had felt the need to look after her. They had only spoken a handful of times and yet something about her had caught his attention. Perhaps it was because they were two of the youngest adults in the colony, he didn't know or care, but she had been the one he had felt compelled to try and save.

The plan was simple. Load up a tractor with as many supplies as they could, get the hell away from the colony and its monsters and wait somewhere safe for rescue.

'Right, that's it' shouted Otto over the howling wind that was still raging outside, 'let's get the fuck outta here!'

Curtis helped Mina up into the unfamiliar form of the tractor, shut the door for her and then jumped into the driver's cab himself.

Suddenly a shadow, black, spidery, huge, scrabbled down the side of the dock incredibly fast and slid past the closing door as slippery as oil.

Shouts and shrieks came from inside the tractor, both human and inhuman. Blood splashed against the clear windows of the tractor. The screams intensified.

Suddenly the passenger door flew open and Otto Finch bolted out as if fired from a cannon, his face contorted in frantic terror. He grabbed the door, fighting to get out. Huge, dark hands grabbed him round the legs, hauling him down, back into hell.

The windows were all completely covered in red now, but shadows still struggled within, behind the screen of blood.

Eventually all movement within the tractor ceased and quiet returned to the loading dock once more.