The creature hissed and lunged. Simon and Isaac screamed.

“Daddy!”

A girl, about Isaac’s age, stood at the top of the basement stairs. She wore a winter coat and a dirty sun dress underneath it.

“Daddy, please don’t!” Tears flowed down her cheeks.

The creature stopped and wheeled. Seeing the girl, it hissed again and leaped up the stairs to her. The girl turned and sprinted away.

Isaac could hear the girl’s footsteps race across the linoleum and up the stairs—the creak of the floorboard a dead giveaway. The stagger of the creature’s footfall quickly thundered after her.

Isaac jumped up from where he was huddled with Simon and practically dragged him up the stairs. Once in the kitchen, they crashed through the screen door and ran out into the field. It was dusk, and the wind had picked up again, strong enough for the dirt to swirl, but the boys kept running.

***

The girl scampered into the attic and turned to yank in the ladder when the creature grabbed the last rung and pulled it down roughly.

She screamed, fell backward, and scooted away from the opening as the creature emerged from the hatch like a lizard, its belly close to the floor, hissing when it saw her.

The girl’s back hit the attic wall. Next to her was a thin mattress with a blanket and stacks of books.

“Daddy, please, no…” she said softly, shaking her head.

But the creature didn’t stop, approaching her on all fours and baring its teeth.

The girl closed her eyes and turned away.

The creature was close enough to sink its teeth into her neck, but for the first time, it blinked.

“S-sweetie. I’m so sorry. I-I…” It got to its feet and backed away, only to stagger and fall to the ground.

“Daddy!” The girl ran to her father, hugged him tightly, and started to cry.

“It’s okay, Sweetie. It’s okay,” it said, caressing the girl’s hair. “I need you to do something for me. Are you listening?”

The girl nodded.

“Go get the shotgun I gave you. It’s time to do the thing we talked about.”

“I can’t! I can’t do it!”

“It’s okay, Sweetie. We don’t have much time. Go get the gun. Hurry…”

The girl left her father’s arms and went to the mattress. Under the blanket was a shotgun, which she picked up with both hands and returned to her father. It had crawled to the attic wall and was now leaning its back against it.

“Don’t give it to me,” it said. “It’s too late for that. You have to do it.”

“Don’t ask me to do this…”

“I can’t hold on much longer. Hurry… Hurry!”

The girl raised the shotgun and aimed it.

“I love you… so much,” it said.

***

Simon and Isaac had made it to the edge of the field, close to the road. At the foot of the hill was a small pile of their supplies. Isaac knelt by a bag and took out the chef’s knife.

“Wait here,” Isaac said breathlessly. “I have to go back.”

“Isaac, no! You promised!”

“We can’t just leave her behind!” Isaac turned and started to sprint back when a window near the gable of the roof flashed, and a blast like distant thunder came from the house.

Isaac stopped and tried to gauge the situation. Fear and uncertainty gripped him, but he started sprinting towards the house again when the aluminum screen door of the kitchen opened, and the girl came out, dragging the muzzle of the shotgun behind her.

She stepped off the porch and walked across the field, the wind fluttering the sundress around her legs and whipping her long brown hair across her face.

She walked up to Isaac, who hadn’t moved from his spot. They stared at each other for a long while in the swirling dust. And then, she spoke.

“I’m Katie,” she said.

***

The photograph showed a young man perhaps in his late twenties, wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and a trucker’s cap, smiling at a little ponytailed girl who was propped up on the hood of a tractor.

“He gave me the shotgun and told me that, if he ever tried to break into the attic, to shoot him.” Katie was studying the picture, holding it close to the campfire light. Simon and Isaac moved close to her to look at the photo.

The trio were in a ravine, tucked close to the steep sides that rose some fifty feet over their heads. The stars shined crisply, and nearby, a creek flowed gently over a bed of river stones.

“At first, he tried to take us someplace safe. But we didn’t get farther than Lake Road because a whole bunch of ‘em appeared and started tearing at the truck. So, he drove me back to the house and waited with a shotgun in his hands,” Katie said.

“How long was it before he became… like that?” Isaac asked.

“Not long. That first day, he tried to make it as normal for me as he could. He made me toast and put peanut butter on it, and I read my books. Everything kinda seemed... normal. But later that night, I saw him scratching at his throat and complaining about being too hot and then too cold.

“I guess he realized what was happening to him ’cause he took me into the attic and gave me as much food as he could find. He told me to stay up there and not to come down no matter what.

“So that’s what I did. That night, I heard him screaming and tearing up the house. In the morning though, everything fell quiet. I thought he was dead. I was sure of it. I was so scared that I didn’t know what to do, so I just… started to cry. I must’ve cried all day and all night. I guess he heard me because I heard him call my name the next morning.

“‘Katie… I’m here. I’m still here. I brought you food. I’m going to leave it in the closet, but I don’t want you to open the hatch until you look out the window and see me outside,’” Katie said.

“So that’s how we did things for a long while. He would bring me stuff, like food and clothes and books. He’d put them in the closet and go outside, but he’d always go too far for me to get a good look at him. When I saw him through the window, he would wave his hand, and I would go down to the closet and get whatever he’d left me.

“He would also sit in the closet at night and tell me stories until I fell asleep. About his life, how nervous he was asking my mom out on their first date, the time he got sprayed by a skunk when he went hunting… anything to make me laugh.

“One time, when he left me food, I didn’t wait until he was outside. I just opened the hatch and went down to him. I didn’t care what happened. He was angry that I did that at first, but I could tell he was happy to see me because he kept hugging me and telling me how much he missed me.”

“I bet he looked really creepy by then,” said Simon.

Isaac shot him an annoyed look.

“He was different, but I could still tell it was him, and that was enough for me,” Katie replied.

“So, when did he get… like that?” Isaac asked.

“Well… you know how when you don’t see a friend for a long while, they look completely different the next time you see them, but then if you’re together, you don’t notice any changes? I guess it was sort of like that because I didn’t really see him change. I know it’s funny to say, but he still looked like my daddy to me. Until…”

Katie stared at the photo one last time and carefully tucked it away into her backpack. “One night,” she continued, “I guess I was making too much noise. I was trying to clean up some of the mess, and I broke a dish, and… he got angry. Angry like I’ve never seen him before. He came up to me and grabbed me real hard by my arms and lifted me to his face. He didn’t look much like himself then.

“The next day, he gave me the shotgun and told me to go back into the attic. I guess he was worried about what he had done. He still brought me food, but there were no more stories after that. I would see him go out and not come back for days. I don’t know where he went because I never talked to him or really saw him up close again… not until you guys came.”

The three of them stared silently at the restless flames.

“I’m glad he’s dead,” Simon said.

“Simon!” Isaac chastised.

“Well, I am!”

“You shouldn’t say that! She just lost her father.”

“That’s all right,” Katie responded. “My dad died a long time ago.”