Finally, an update. I've been overloaded with revision and exams lately, hence the lack of writing, but this chapter is pretty big so I might use it as an excuse if I don't update again for a little while! Anyone else taking exams right now, I'm sure you feel my pain, and good luck to you!

Hopefully this chapter will actually explain what the hell is going on. Sorry about the poorly explained exsposition, though- I found it difficult to have a more elegant solution, but this will do for now.

Near Dark

Chapter 1-

The window was open slightly, and a gentle breeze wafted through, making the net curtains dance. Light and shadows flickered across the beige carpet. The tree outside rustled, and everything held itself in a state of anxious calm. Two large, brown eyes looked out into the darkness.

"Mary? Why aren't you in bed yet? I thought you'd have gone to sleep by now."

The girl closed her eyes patiently, tucking a side of thick, black, straight hair behind an ear, and turning away from the window.

"Sorry, Dad."

The tall, thin man loitering in the doorway entered Mary's room and flicked her bedside table lamp on, illuminating both his pale, drawn face, hidden by large glasses, and her rounded, young complexion. She sat on her bed cross-legged, and he leaned on her dresser.

"Honey, you've got to get more sleep. You know you haven't been doing as well in school as usual, and I think that with a proper routine-"

"I can't get to sleep! No matter how hard I try! I just can't stop thinking about..."

The man bit the inside of his lips, sensing what she would say next.

"...About them...Oh, Dad...How could this have happened? How could I let this happen?" Mary shook her head, rubbing one of her eyes intensely for several seconds before peering up at her father. He gazed at her sympathetically, and by habit took off his glasses and rubbed them clean with a cloth from his pocket as he spoke.

"Mary, we've got to think about this logically. Scientifically. Firstly, it wasn't your fault that we found the Monster World, and you know that. You never told anyone about what you had experienced there. You kept your secret, your end of the bargain. This all would've happened even if you were just like any other girl." He spoke with a soft, yet firm voice, enwrapping his daughter in quiet confidence and security.

"But how did they find out? I still don't get it."

"Well, you know the story. Heck, you even know the guy who found the Monster World in the first place. Billionaire by now, of course...But he found it without your help. Just a few surveillance cameras in his son's bedroom, caught it all on footage, and that was that. Those monsters were bound to be found out at some point anyway-they were entering children's bedrooms all over the world! They were the ones that should have been more careful, not us- not you."

"I've heard that story before, Dad, and you know what I think? I think it's a load of crap."

There was silence in the room for a few moments, Mary quietly seething, yet also pained by the thought of anything bad ever happening to the monsters, happening to Kitty. Her precious Kitty.

"Anyway, why can't they just leave the monster world alone? The monsters never did anything to us. Not really." Mary's eyes brimmed with tears, her cheeks shaking in the effort of holding them back.

Her father sighed, finally replacing his glasses.

"You're too young to understand, Mary," he said, less fiercely than before. Indignation swelled up in Mary's chest, and her father was clever enough to notice it- his daughter didn't like being kept out of the loop. Age was never a reason or an excuse to her. "Humans are greedy creatures. We've destroyed one world, and we're embarking on destroying another. At first, I guess it was about money; seeing what scientists could find out the most about the monster world, seeing what they could understand, and if any of it would be of use to us. Then, when the military moved in...See, look at it like this. The people taking the monster world over don't think they're doing anything wrong. They just think they're taking over another planet, like if we went to Mars, killed some of the Martians and took over their world to meet our needs- it's all for the benefit of mankind. Unfortunately, other creatures have to suffer for it."

Mary had been listening intently; for nigh on nearly a year, she had been asking the same questions, over and over again, and her father had brushed her to one side, telling her only the basic facts and that eventually, everything would be all right again. Now, she felt honoured to have been told what was happening, as though she had been told a secret by her best friend.

"But there's one important thing you have to remember, Mary." The stern tone had returned to her father's voice. "Never tell anyone else about this. Ever. Otherwise the two of us will be in deep trouble." He turned to one side, seemingly staring at blank space and said, almost to himself, "The rest of humanity isn't ready to find out what it's done." He snapped back. "And the government officials won't be too happy that you know either. If I had my way, you wouldn't have found out in the first place...Still, can't be helped." Smiling at her, he stood up, moving to tuck Mary into bed. "Have I answered all of your questions?"

Mary nodded mutely, slithering down into bed as fatigue seemed to suddenly overwhelm her.

"Kitty's alright, isn't he, Dad?"

Several seconds passed.

"He'll be fine. Now, get some sleep."

He left the dark room and closed the door softly. Walking down the hallway back into his own bedroom, he almost felt a pang of guilt, but soon brushed it away. If Mary ever found out that she was the cause for all of this, that without her, none of it would've happened...It'd kill her.

Everyone was in the dining area of the Atticus. It was cramped, stuffy, and windowless, with a small coal fire burning in a stove in one corner, keeping the cold night air at bay. Shelves lined the room, adorned with an inconceivable collection of various objects found on the Atticus' travels.

A large door balanced on a pile of cement blocks was used as a dining table, and all of the Monsters aboard were tucking into yet another dinner of lukewarm baked eyes and mashed bone marrow. The newcomer sat at the far end of the table. Still wrapped in a blanket, she timidly prodded at her plate, struggling to encourage her appetite.

"So, Shelly, how are you settling in? I assume Chuck gave you the tour? You 'bin introduced to everyone?" One of the monsters smiled, struggling to break the ice. Chuck took up this thread.

"Shelly rather likes the Atticus, don't you?" He looked around himself. "It's not much, but it's our home, and you'll soon learn how much that means. And don't worry about remembering everyone's names- you'll get it eventually. It's always a lot to take in on the first night. I still remember when Lucky was the newbie around!" A few chortles echoed around the table, as well as a nudge or two.

Despite this, Shelly's nervous disposition was not alleviated. It became clear that she was staring intently at someone as opposed to something.

Two firm green eyes stared intently back.

Chuck sensed the tension.

"Come on guys, get tucked in. Anyone who doesn't clean their plate has to do the dishes tonight!" A chorus of groans came from almost every monster present, and the scrape of cutlery against cracked plates ensued.

Yet Shelly was still staring. She felt as though she was staring only because he was, or perhaps she was just being rude and curious. Her spines bristled. That monster hadn't blinked even once.

Suddenly, he scraped back his chair and stormed out of the room. His food was untouched.

"Randall?" said Miles, but he was quietened by Chuck.

"Leave him."

"Well, don't he have to clean our dishes tonight? He ain't even touched his!" piped up another monster, a black furred creature similar in features to a bear.

"That doesn't matter right now. We need to decide where to go next. Obviously there's nothing else much here. And we need to go somewhere with an abundance of canisters, because we're into our last batch. Any suggestions?" There was some umm-ing and ahh-ing, but no feasible ideas came through. "Well, better get the map out, Ijzendoorn."

A pencil –thin monster, striped orange and red with a tuft of orange hair at the tip of his head, pushed aside everyone's dishes still brimming with food and lay out a huge map across the entire width of the table. He poured over it, quickly identifying their current location.

"We are-e-e..." he began nasally, "right here." He prodded the map. Chuck stood by his side.

"Well, the place that makes sense is Monstropolis. It's a big city, and it's barely nine hours drive away. We could make the journey tonight and get there by early morning." Everyone nodded in agreement, discussing to themselves about the prospect of visiting place once so bustling, so industrial, so famous. "Then Monstropolis it is."

The stillness was almost suffocating in comparison with their trembling heartbeats. Even in the middle of the night, the idea that danger could lurk around any corner was sometimes just too crushing too deal with.

Huddling together, the two monsters tried to make the most out of each other's company. Their hideaway had worked very well- it was in a building still almost entirely intact from the attacks, but the room they remained in was discreet, at the back of the building, and was well-insulated. There wasn't much furniture around- a few tables, some chairs- despite that fact that it appeared to have been used as a collection of offices, but it was clean and liveable.

This didn't make up for the shuddering isolation of inhabiting a city almost entirely void of any other life, but they always had each other. One of them had even sung a song about their friendship, lamenting, "I wouldn't have nothing if I didn't have you," and this idealisation was all that kept them going.

Mike's single eye darted around the room, wary of the fact that the only light source was a slowly burning oil lamp that illuminated about a metre squared of floor space. He wrapped the several thermal blankets smothering him around himself more tightly.

Suddenly, a scream echoed off the buildings outside. The two monsters jumped.

"Mike, did you hear that?"

"No, sure I didn't. Of COURSE I DID! THAT was the sound of someone being attacked, or killed, or something bad happening!"

"It could've just been a kat-fight, Mike..."

"If you aren't so worried, why did you ask me if I had heard it?"

Sulley rolled his eyes and looked the other way, letting Mike continue.

"I'll tell you why, Sulley- because YOU feel as guilty as ME!"

Sulley sighed. He had heard this all before, and it had become almost a painful routine, a vicious circle, something they couldn't get out of simply because they had nothing better to talk about, nothing else to fill their mind with.

"If you had just got rid of that kid, Sulley..." Mike said darkly, eyeing the monster he considered to be his best friend.

"Why are you bringing this up now? We've talked about it before..."

"No, you've talked about it, tried to get yourself out of it, and I've listened."

"Listened?" Sulley scoffed.

"Yeah! Listened! And now it's your turn to listen! You did the wrong thing, Sul. And this is all your fault. All of it! Because if you had just got rid of that kid, then she wouldn't have blabbered to all the humans, and we wouldn't be stuck in the middle of a deserted city with no power, hardly any food, and a bucket as a toilet! Sure," Mike got up, pacing heavily under his thermals, "You'd still just be a Scarer, and I'd still just be a Scare Assistant, but I didn't mind our old life. It was better than this. Now, we're in a situation we can't get out of...Everyone that's left hates us...And it's all your FAULT!"

Mike stormed off in a huff, leaving Sulley bewildered. Yes, they had talked about this before, and had generally agreed that ultimately, it was Waternoose's fault for causing the whole thing in the first place. Mike had never over-spilled with such anger and hate, not for a long time.

Sulley wasn't inclined to move, happy with where he was sitting, but his eyes widened at the sound of a door slamming several floors below.

Mike had gone outside.

In the middle of the night.

Downstairs, Mike stormed into the middle of the deserted street, the only light coming from the two full moons floating far above his head. He began shivering almost immediately, and paced about agitatedly for a minute, mumbling under his own breath. The danger of being outside at this time didn't strike him until his thoughts had cooled down and he had taken a few long, shuddering deep breaths.

Gradually, the shadows seemed more and more menacing. Eyes seemed to appear here and there, and then suddenly disappear. He thought he heard a low, throaty growl...

Out of the blue, two huge beams of strong white light brightened up the whole street. Every shadow was banished, every nook and cranny exposed.

Mike gasped, raising his arms to shield his face.

The world abruptly tumbled, and it took Mike several dragging seconds to realise that Sulley had knocked him to the ground for protection. Gawping up at the huge, progressing, rumbling contraption before them, they said their last prayers as they were surely going to die.

The Atticus grinded to a halt.