They Walk at Night

An Introduction: The events of April 2022

Hello to whoever ends up reading this. My name's Scott, Scott Harding. This thing you're about to read is not a story I want to tell but it's one that must be told. Read this carefully and focus on any mistakes either me, my friends or the government made. The smallest detail could save your life.

Creatures have arrived on our planet, creatures beyond your worst nightmares. They're  invisible, invincible and will stop at nothing to hunt their prey, humans. Everyone who tried to fight them is dead. Everyone who tried to ignore them has either changed their mind or is dead too. Those that were afraid, the runners and the hiders, remain. Fearing the monsters keeps you safe...well safer.

I suppose if you're reading this you want to know the threat you're facing. Then, I guess you're going to need some  context. Sorry for the exposition but your survival really does depend on it.

I'm writing this bit, my introduction, at the end of May 2022. My story starts at the start of May but they arrived earlier. April 3rd was the day the monsters came. It started in America. The first death was that of an eight year old girl, killed in New York City at 9:03pm. Her name was Diana, at least she didn't have to witness what came after.

So, Diana died and the cries of her parents echoed through the streets of Manhattan. Not for long though, her parents were both slain at 9:04pm. By 10 o'clock that night, over one hundred people had died. By the end of the night  the death toll stood at 1258 with deaths reported in 8 different states. As of yet, nobody knew what or how they had died.

The next day, April 4th, scientists worked fast as lightning to find out what had happened. Bodies were examined and streets were closed for inspection. But, they couldn't ascertain anything about what had killed them. The deaths stopped for a while. At that time, it seemed that whatever had killed these people had stopped. That it was just a horrible, abnormal night. Then night fell again and the creatures returned.

By dawn on April 5th the deaths stood at over ten thousand with at least one death in all fifty states. Worse still, deaths had been recorded in Canada and Mexico. The scientists thought it to be a disease, a relentless foreign pathogen. If only it were just that. The World Health Organisation, recommended countries closed their borders to these three countries immediately. Very few listened.

It took until April 6th to fully realise that these deaths were only occuring at night. The scientists reported that the corpses showed no signs of infection, so disease was ruled out. All those that had died, were killed on the streets, in the open but none were killed inside their homes. So that's when the recommendation came for everyone to stay inside their homes at night. I say recommendation but by April 7th it was mandatory in all countries with at least one death.

Oh, you probably want to know what the figures were at this point. Well by the morning of the seventh, every country in both the continents of North and South America had reported a death. Deaths altogether stood at over a million. Four nights and over a million had died.

The only iota of good news was that whatever causing the deaths was yet to cross the Atlantic or Pacific oceans, most countries were safe. In fact many people in America realised this and migrated to the countries still with their borders open, to try and escape the killers in their own land. The rate of deaths fell, a distinctly smaller 75,000 died on the night of April 7th. It was mainly those, who thought this nighttime curfew to be some trick by the government to enforce control on the population.

The night of April the eight swept by with only 5,000 dead. The scientists, the government and the people of America breathed a sigh of relief. The rate was falling, they thought the nightmare was over. The nightmare was just evolving.

There were a few days of peace, with ever smaller numbers of deaths. Things changed on the night of April 12th. True, the number of these suspicious deaths was still small at just 464. Yet, for the first time, people had been found dead in their homes. 227 people had died inside, where the government had promised they were safe.