The wind carried the scent of rain, thick and heavy in the early evening air. The streets of Red Hollow were quieter than usual, as if the town itself sensed the unease creeping at its edges. Alex sat on the hood of his car, staring down at the map spread across the windshield. Red markers surrounded the town in a loose circle, each one signifying a missing hunter. The pattern was tightening. Whatever was out there was getting closer.
"You ever think about quitting?" Caleb asked, standing beside him, arms crossed. His face was lined with exhaustion, the kind that came from too many sleepless nights and too many unanswered questions.
Alex snorted, rolling his shoulders. "Quitting? You make it sound like we have a choice."
Caleb exhaled sharply. "Yeah, well… when hunters start dropping like flies, I start wondering how much of a choice we actually have."
Alex didn't respond immediately. He traced his fingers over one of the red markers, feeling the lingering pull of something unseen. The disappearances weren't random. Each hunter had been taken efficiently, cleanly. No wasted effort. That kind of precision meant intelligence. And intelligence meant danger.
"We need to move," Alex said finally. "Whatever's doing this is getting bolder."
Caleb nodded. "You got a lead?"
Alex tapped a spot on the map. "Last guy to go dark was Sam Keller. He was seen near the old freight yard two nights ago."
"Then that's where we start." Caleb responded as they got into the car.
The freight yard was a graveyard of rusted metal and forgotten history. Rows of abandoned train cars stretched into the darkness, their hollow interiors yawning open like the mouths of dead beasts. The scent of oil and damp wood lingered, mixing with something else.
Alex stepped forward, senses stretching outward. The world sharpened. The distant sound of dripping water, the scurry of rodents beneath the train cars, the faint hum of something unnatural lurking just beyond reach. He clenched his fists.
' It's here.'
Caleb moved beside him, shotgun at the ready. "Anything?"
Alex nodded, pointing toward a derailed boxcar near the far end of the yard. "There."
They approached cautiously, boots crunching against gravel. The closer they got, the stronger the feeling became like something pressing against the edges of reality, bending it just slightly out of shape. Alex rested a hand against the metal surface of the boxcar, psychometry humming beneath his skin.
A rush of images slammed into him.
Sam Keller, flashlight in hand, stepping into the yard.
A shadow moving behind him.
A flash of silver.
A struggle.
A whisper
Then nothing.
Alex staggered back, breath shallow. "It took him. Fast."
Caleb frowned. "Any idea what we dealing with?"
Alex shook his head. "I don't know. But it's still here."
A sudden clang echoed through the yard.
Both men turned sharply, weapons raised. The air thickened, pressing down on them like unseen hands. A shadow moved between the train cars too fast.Then another. And another.
"We're not alone," Caleb muttered.
Alex barely had time to register the movement before the first creature lunged.
It came from the darkness a figure shrouded in shifting shadows, its form barely human. Eyes like dying embers locked onto Alex, and then it moved.
Alex twisted away, narrowly avoiding a clawed hand swiping for his throat. He rolled, coming up in a crouch, blade already in hand. The creature let out a low, guttural sound, circling him.
Caleb fired. The shotgun blast tore through the air, but the creature barely flinched. It moved—not like a living thing, but like something mimicking life, learning as it went.
"Bullets won't cut it," Alex called.
"Great," Caleb growled. "You got a plan?"
Alex's grip tightened on his blade.
' Testing time.'he thought
He moved fast, closing the distance between them in a blur. The creature reacted, but too slow. His blade struck true, slicing through shadowed flesh. It let out a shriek, staggering back but it didn't bleed. Instead, the wound crackled, silver light spreading through the gash.
' whatever it is it can be hurt, that's a relief '
He thought with finally becoming a bit at ease by the thought.
Alex pressed the advantage, pushing forward with calculated strikes. Each cut burned the creature recoiling further with every hit. But it wasn't alone. More shadows were converging, slipping from the darkness like living nightmares.
"There are too many" Caleb warned as he continued shooting them even though that didn't do any damage,it slowed them down.
Alex made a split-second decision. He reached into his coat, fingers closing around a carved bone talisman. A sigil of banishment. It was risky and untested, but there was no time for doubt.
He slammed it into the ground.
A pulse of energy rippled outward, the very air vibrating with power. The creatures screamed, their forms flickering and distorting. Then, one by one, they vanished.
Silence fell.
Alex let out a slow breath. "Well… that worked."
Caleb exhaled, lowering his shotgun. "I don't even wanna ask how you pulled that off."
Alex smirked. "Good instincts."
Caleb snorted. "Yeah, sure. Let's go with that."
They didn't find Sam Keller. Only his broken phone, lying in the dirt near the derailed boxcar. But the creatures whatever they were,they were something new.
Back at the motel, Alex sat at the desk, flipping through his journal. He had pages filled with notes, sketches, theories. But no answers.
His fingers drummed against the table. The sigil had worked, but it hadn't destroyed them. Just sent them somewhere else. Which meant they could come back. And next time, they'd be ready.
Tomorrow, the hunt continued.
----
The motel room was a mess of notes, maps, and half-drunk cups of coffee. Caleb sat on the bed, flipping through his journal, while Alex stood over the table, staring at the map of Red Hollow. The red markers, each representing a missing hunter, weren't just random they formed a shape, a spiral tightening around the town that he noticed as more and more hunters went missing.
Caleb rubbed his temples. "Alright, so let's go over it again. We know hunters are disappearing. We know it's happening fast. And we know whatever's behind this isn't just picking off stragglers it's methodical."
Alex tapped the map. "Look at this. The first disappearance was out here, miles away from Red Hollow. The second? Closer. Third, fourth… see the pattern?"
Caleb leaned in, frowning. "They're circling in."
"Exactly. It's like something's herding the remaining hunters inward, toward the town."
"That doesn't make sense," Caleb muttered. "Why push them into one place instead of picking them off while they're scattered?"
Alex exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "That's what we need to figure out."
"Alright, let's assume it's deliberate. What's at the center of the spiral?" Caleb asked, eyes narrowing.
Alex's stomach tightened. "Red Hollow."
Silence hung between them for a moment. Then Caleb cursed under his breath. "You think whatever's doing this wants something here?"
"I think it's been waiting for something here," Alex corrected. "Something that only happens when the right pieces are in place."
"Like what?"
"Like enough hunters gathered in one place."
Caleb scowled. "A trap?"
Alex nodded. "That's my guess."
"Shit."
Determined to find more clues, they split up. Caleb went to speak with local contacts old hunters who knew the land better than anyone while Alex scoured the records of Red Hollow's history.
Hours later, they reconvened in the diner, the scent of coffee thick in the air. Caleb slid into the booth across from Alex, his expression grim.
"Talked to a guy who's been hunting around here for twenty years. He says hunters have been disappearing off the grid for decades but nobody ever connected the dots."
Alex frowned. "Because they never happened close together and the time span between them was also random."
"Bingo." Caleb took a sip of his coffee. "Every few years, one or two go missing. Nobody thought much of it. But this? This is different. This is organized."
Alex leaned back, processing the information. "So this thing or things have been doing this for years, but they're accelerating. Why?"
"That's your department."
Alex drummed his fingers against the table, then pulled out his notebook. "I went through Red Hollow's archives. This town has a history of weird."
Caleb snorted. "You're gonna have to narrow that down."
"There have been reports of disappearances going back over a hundred years. Every cycle, they increase, then drop off. Like clockwork."
"Then what the hell stops them?" Caleb asked.
"That's what I don't know. But I did find something else." Alex flipped the page. "Ever heard of the Hollow Feast?"
Caleb raised an eyebrow. "No, but that sounds real comforting."
"It was a local legend. Back in the early days of the town, people claimed the land here wasn't empty when settlers arrived. They said something already lived here something hungry."
"And let me guess: the hunters that go missing aren't missing at all?"
Alex's jaw tightened. "They're taken."
Night fell over Red Hollow, the air thick with tension. Armed with new knowledge and reinforced sigils, Alex and Caleb returned to the freight yard. They weren't going to wait to be picked off.
The shadows moved first.
This time, Alex was ready. He struck first, his blade slicing through the darkness with silvered precision. The creatures shrieked but didn't fall back. They were testing him now, learning. Caleb fired his shotgun, rock salt rounds blasting apart the nearest figure. It staggered but didn't vanish.
Alex clenched his jaw. They're adapting.
Diving into his coat, he retrieved another talisman one specifically etched with an old, binding rune. He slammed it against the ground, and the air hummed. The creatures recoiled, their forms flickering, unstable.
Caleb took the opportunity, unloading another round. This time, when the salt hit, the creature burned.
Alex didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, blade flashing, carving sigils mid-motion. Each slice burned deeper than the last, the shadows wailing in agony. Caleb covered him, each blast of salt sending the creatures staggering.
The last one tried to retreat, but Alex wasn't in the mood to let it go. He lunged, hand pressing against its shifting form, and let his power pull.
A flood of images hit him centuries of hunger, an ancient will bent on devouring not just hunters, but the knowledge they carried. It wasn't just feeding on bodies; it was consuming memory, skill, power.
Alex gritted his teeth and ripped it apart.
With a final, tortured scream, the creature disintegrated into nothing.
Silence fell over the yard.
Caleb let out a slow breath. "That's it?"
Alex shook his head. "No. But we just cut off its hand. The rest of it is still out there."
Back at the motel, Alex sat on the edge of the bed, staring at his reflection in the window.
Caleb tossed a beer onto the bed beside him. "You good?"
Alex exhaled. "Yeah. Just thinking."
"About what?"
Alex met his gaze. "If that thing has been feeding off hunters for centuries… what happens when it runs out of them?"
Caleb's expression darkened. "It finds something else."
Alex nodded. "Which means we can't stop here."
Caleb smirked. "Didn't figure you for the quitting type."
A small smile tugged at Alex's lips. "Come on. We've got work to do."
---
To be continued.