Prologue: Nightmare on the open road
More than anything else in the world, Malleh Hurr feared the night most. Ever since he was a child his anxiety grew as the light outside grew dimmer. Something unexplainable buried deep in his most primitive mind knew that once the sun went down the world was no longer a safe place. Tonight however was no ordinary night. He was stuck in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania trying to find any place to pull over and stop no matter how primitive, just as long as it got him and his family off the open road. He had been driving non-stop all day. He was on his was to his mother in law's funeral, an ordeal to be survived and forgotten as soon as possible. He hated the foul-mouthed woman. No matter what he did or how nicely he had treated her, she never smiled at him or his children even once. She hardly ever smiled at her own daughter either. If in the autopsy they had found no heart in her Malleh would not have been surprised. He glanced over at his sleeping wife and children. Seeing them so peaceful calmed his anxieties. He could have avoided this he knew, but he loved his wife. He would never leaver her to face her family on her own. His brooding was disrupted by a sharp stab of pain in his stomach blurring of his vision. He had been feeling nauseous ever since the family had stopped for dinner at the roadside diner in Coatesville. He remembered the dump; everything was dirty and sickly looking. Even the waitress didn't look healthy. She coughed all through their meal. Drinking water like she was about to dry up and vanish. He shook his head to clear the memory. Why anyone would want to live in such a god-forsaken area was beyond him. The sooner this trip was over the better. He realized he was sweating heavily. His throat was so dry it felt like it could bleed. How could he be so thirsty after drinking so much water only a few hours earlier? It didn't matter; he would pull over by the side of the road, throw up and continue on hopefully not waking any of his family. No sense in worrying them over nothing. Before he could pull over, he caught sight of something in the middle of the road. It looked like a cow. It was the last thing he saw before losing consciousness as he swerved at the last moment hitting the backside of the cow, the car rolling over into a ditch landing on it's top. When Malleh finally came to, he was lying in the middle of the road. Somehow he was unhurt, but his family. After getting his bearings he looking into the car window trying to make out if his family was alive or not. He fell against the bottom of the car weeping in frustration and fear when a disturbing sound cut through his misery. It sounded like a cross between an injured cow's bleat and the growl of a wolf. Startled he stumbled over to the cow that surely had to be dead. To his partial relief it was only injured, at least one life could be saved. But something was wrong, he looked closer, the cow lunged at him trying to bite him. Malleh couldn't believe what he had just seen, cows don't bit humans, not even injured ones. Before he could ponder the thought any more, a high pitched buzzing sound shrieked in his ears as several dark forms the size of large dogs flew at him from the darkness smothering him in a cocoon of unimaginable pain.
More than anything else in the world, Malleh Hurr feared the night most. Ever since he was a child his anxiety grew as the light outside grew dimmer. Something unexplainable buried deep in his most primitive mind knew that once the sun went down the world was no longer a safe place. Tonight however was no ordinary night. He was stuck in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania trying to find any place to pull over and stop no matter how primitive, just as long as it got him and his family off the open road. He had been driving non-stop all day. He was on his was to his mother in law's funeral, an ordeal to be survived and forgotten as soon as possible. He hated the foul-mouthed woman. No matter what he did or how nicely he had treated her, she never smiled at him or his children even once. She hardly ever smiled at her own daughter either. If in the autopsy they had found no heart in her Malleh would not have been surprised. He glanced over at his sleeping wife and children. Seeing them so peaceful calmed his anxieties. He could have avoided this he knew, but he loved his wife. He would never leaver her to face her family on her own. His brooding was disrupted by a sharp stab of pain in his stomach blurring of his vision. He had been feeling nauseous ever since the family had stopped for dinner at the roadside diner in Coatesville. He remembered the dump; everything was dirty and sickly looking. Even the waitress didn't look healthy. She coughed all through their meal. Drinking water like she was about to dry up and vanish. He shook his head to clear the memory. Why anyone would want to live in such a god-forsaken area was beyond him. The sooner this trip was over the better. He realized he was sweating heavily. His throat was so dry it felt like it could bleed. How could he be so thirsty after drinking so much water only a few hours earlier? It didn't matter; he would pull over by the side of the road, throw up and continue on hopefully not waking any of his family. No sense in worrying them over nothing. Before he could pull over, he caught sight of something in the middle of the road. It looked like a cow. It was the last thing he saw before losing consciousness as he swerved at the last moment hitting the backside of the cow, the car rolling over into a ditch landing on it's top. When Malleh finally came to, he was lying in the middle of the road. Somehow he was unhurt, but his family. After getting his bearings he looking into the car window trying to make out if his family was alive or not. He fell against the bottom of the car weeping in frustration and fear when a disturbing sound cut through his misery. It sounded like a cross between an injured cow's bleat and the growl of a wolf. Startled he stumbled over to the cow that surely had to be dead. To his partial relief it was only injured, at least one life could be saved. But something was wrong, he looked closer, the cow lunged at him trying to bite him. Malleh couldn't believe what he had just seen, cows don't bit humans, not even injured ones. Before he could ponder the thought any more, a high pitched buzzing sound shrieked in his ears as several dark forms the size of large dogs flew at him from the darkness smothering him in a cocoon of unimaginable pain.