,AN: The next few chapters are going to be short, I'm afraid. I originally wanted them to be one whole chapter, but once the individual scenes were written, I found they wouldn't really fit under the same chapter name. Thus, they were split.
Anyway, on with the story.
A heavy fog blanketed the docks that night. The only lights were coming from the lampposts lining the harbor. At the current time, a lone longshoreman was at work unloading crates from a cargo ship that had come from Romania.
"Sh-t, I hate the graveyard shift," the longshoreman complained as he operated the controls of the forklift to unload the heavy crates from the ship. In the process of moving one crate, however, the forklift rammed into one of the cleats. With a crash, the crate slid off of the forklift and toppled over, landing on its side and spilling half of the contents into the water. "Aw, fu-k!" The longshoreman climbed out of the forklift and stormed over to the fallen crate, muttering obscenities under his breath. With a flashlight, he scanned over the floating items, and continued to mutter curses.
From the shadows, the longshoreman was being watched. The shrouded figure flexed his long fingers in exuberant relief. It had been so long since he'd been free, ages since he'd been sealed up. And now, just when he thought he'd never be released, his accursed prison had been split open when the crate had fallen. Finally, he was able to roam free once again.
The figure smelled the air in anticipation. Beyond the heavy stench of fish and seaweed that hung in the air around the harbor, he could smell them all. Thousands of people, maybe even millions. And they were all out there, waiting unknowingly for what was to come now. Ah, the thrill of the hunt.
But they could wait. They could all wait. For now, they were safe. He was hungry now. It had been so long since he had fed. And why should he try to find a hunt out there when there was a waiting straggler right in front of him, practically handed to him on a silver platter?
With a grunt, the longshoreman turned away from the crate, still fuming. But as he turned, a shadowy blur dashed by out of the corner of his eye. The longshoreman turned quickly, but found only a deserted harbor. A second later, he saw the movement in his peripheral vision again. But whatever was moving around was gone when he turned to get a better look.
"Hey!" The longshoreman barked, getting pretty annoyed now. "Whoever is out there, the joke's over. Now come out! You shouldn't be out here, this area is for authorized personnel only!" The longshoreman was met with only silence. Starting to feel uneasy, he went to reach for his radio to call for the other night workers. But as he did so, the light from the nearest lamppost went out. The longshoreman turned quickly to look up at the faulty lamppost. The instant he looked up, his face blanched in terror.
The quiet that had resided over the docks was broken by a horrified scream, one that was silenced almost instantly. But the sudden disturbance sent a flock of gulls fleeing from their nesting place, with resounding, high-pitched squawks.