prologue

The first time I saw a monster, it was in my dreams. My family had carefully shielded my childhood from them. Any monster, any villain. But they found me eventually.

            My dream horrified me. I had never seen a beast like this before. Black and shaggy like a bear. But it was at least three times the size of a grizzly. Long, sharp blood-red spikes protruded from its back. The hide was so thick that bullet could possibly pass into its flesh. Yellow fangs made to tear the flesh and meat of its victim. Black claws six inches long were made to fatally injure, if the victim wasn’t killed by the shock of the monster.

            Its breath came out in a cloud and I shivered. It reeked of decaying bodies. I gagged at the stench.

That was the first monster. After that they kept coming. I saw them everywhere. No one else seemed to see them; they were all blind to the monsters. How I wished that I could be ignorant again. But one thing was for certain: I could never go back. I could never stop seeing them, and I certainly could never forget them