"Before you leave," Vin whispered, weakly digging into his pocket.

He handed her his skatetool, a T-shaped instrument with screwdrivers and a wrench.

It wasn't much of a weapon. But she took it.

"Go slow," Vin said, looking over her as she began to climb down, the dark of night making it hard to see what was below.

"And don't swallow any of the water—No matter what."

Lynn glanced over his withering state, aware of the consequences of doing so.

She nodded, descending as quietly as possible to avoid invoking the monster.

A deafening crack like thunder BOOMED, and their ears rang.

Fractured light exploded, and they both became overwhelmed. Blinded as colors bled into the dark from a tear in space.

Vin uncovered his eyes when it cleared.

Lynn was in the same spot. However, there was now a chocolate-brown Jeep, partially submerged in the swamp below, with its headlights flickering weakly.

A man inside rolled down the window, blinking in disbelief at his new setting.

"What the heck…?"

Lynn shot back up. "Get out of the car! Climb the tree—now!"

Vin forced air through his failing lungs. "Move! Something's coming!"

The door to the Jeep popped open, and the man got out.

His face was gentle and innocuous—a cream-colored striped shirt tucked into his belted pants.

"Are there kids up there?!" He shouted with genuine worry.

"Come down here before you fall and hurt yourself!"

"There's a killer down there, move!" Vin shouted, pointing to the lowest branch. Much more plausible than claiming a monster was coming.

"Killer?" the stranger reiterated.

He glanced into the darkness once and shuddered.

"Alright... i'm coming toward you," he said, trudging through the mud.

The water behind him split apart.

The monster surged forward—pale, peeling flesh sliding like wet paper, a single bulging eye locked onto its prey.

"Hurry!" Lynn screamed.

The adult reached the trunk and began to climb, but he made the mistake of turning around.

When he saw the beast himself, a terrified howl burst from his mouth.

His moves immediately became messy—muddied shoes slipping against the damp bark, arms flailing.

The well-dressed man's legs splashed back into the water a couple of times in his attempt to climb.

The creature was already behind him.

Lynn yelled something, but Vin couldn't hear her over the pounding of his heart.

With an exaggerated yell of desperation, the man summoned all of his upper-body strength to lift himself.

At the same time, the monster flared its razor-like teeth to rip his flesh.

The stranger screamed, and then his foot was violently tugged downward.

Vin instinctively shut his eyes.

When he opened them again, he saw the monster had snagged something in its mouth.

Not flesh...

By some miracle, the man pulled himself up just in time, and only his shoe was ripped off, saving him.

There was blood running down his leg, but he was alive, arriving on the branch with the two teenagers.

Miracles don't last.

Vin, Lynn, and the gentleman all exhaled with relief.

The branch they sat on let out an unsettling groan.

Then—CRACK

Everything fell at once.

The branch snapped beneath the weight of all three. Vin and Lynn slipped. The stranger plunged past them both with a scream as the swamp rushed up to meet them.

They all hit the water in a spray of rot and mud.

Vin's mouth stayed clamped shut—the instinct of someone already poisoned—but the impact knocked the breath out of him.

Lynn bounced up first and hauled Vin upright before he ingested more water.

The stranger only found his footing long enough to scream before the monster slammed into him, dragging him under. Every so often, his head would jerk above the surface long enough to wail in agony, but it'd soon get drowned out by that rotten water.

Vin turned to look, but Lynn forced his head away, pulling him from the gruesome scene.

He was sick and slow, so they needed as big a head start as possible.

The sound didn't become any less disgusting as they fled.

Bone. Splashing of water. Wet tearing of flesh.

A man, a human, was being killed. Brutalized.

And Vin ran away helplessly.

He felt pathetic.

And at this rate, they would be next.

His perfectly mundane life had become hell.