At night they walk through the streets. They look like regular people, but in reality, they are horrible monsters. When you see them, you won’t be able to tell that they are not human. They won’t hunt you, like other monsters. And they won’t mangle you or eat you flesh either. They simply walk around, carefully looking for prey. Only a few people know that monsters even exist, and even fewer believe that the Night Marchers are actually real. There are never any traces after them, other than a few people go missing over a couple of days. This is what makes them such excellent predators, and also what makes them so dangerous to hunt.
The lore, what little there is, tells us that the Night Marchers are immortal, never aging creatures. No one knows if they actually kill their victims, but it is said that if you look a Night Marcher in the eyes, you are bound to walk with them for eternity. Maybe as one of them. Maybe as their slave. It is impossible to say, since no one has been able to provide a firsthand account of the monsters.
After years I have finally managed to track one of them down. The trick is to follow the disappearings and start looking for the patterns. It has taken several months to catch up to the creature, and now I am finally getting close. It has been walking from town to town, never resting. I know I’m not far behind now. I tracked it to a small town a few miles off the nearest highway, but I haven’t figured out how to go the last stretch just yet. Tracking it to this town is one thing, but actually getting close enough to trap it or kill it is a whole other deal.
The sun is going down, and I’ve decided to take a walk through the town, trying to figure out how to get closer to the monster. Maybe I’ll get lucky and spot it. Or maybe I’ll find a way to track it more reliably than what I have been doing so far. Either way I’m going to learn all I can about this creature, so I can finally catch it. Or better yet kill it.
At first, I go to a large parking lot at the outskirts of town, by the main road. The creature would most likely have passed through here just a few hours ago. I don’t believe I will find much help here, but I have to start somewhere. From the lot, I follow the main road into town. There’s not much life here at this time. The shops are closed for the night, and most of the houses are already dark. The town has very little night life. I wonder why a Night Marcher would go here. They are supposed to hunt at night, but if there is no prey to be found they won’t have much purpose.
Further into the town I come across the town square. The area is surrounded by small shops, a few restaurants and bars and has a fountain in the centre. It’s been a long road coming here, so I decide to grant myself a few moments of rest. I walk up to a place called Brews and Bacon. Apparently, it is both a bar and a breakfast cafe. As I walk in, there are only about five people in the place. Two drunks at a table in the corner are arguing over a card game. Two middle-aged men are at the bar discussing some sort of business deal. And finally, a man is sitting alone at a table at the far end of the room. He is holding a newspaper, but he seems to be more interested in what everyone else is doing than the words on the pages. I look over at him as I walk up to the bar, and he quickly looks down and takes a sip of his coffee. A soft woman’s voice pulls my attention away from the strange man. ”Don’t mind him, he’s just curious. What can I get you?”. The young woman looks a bit shy for a bartender. She is about nineteen, her hair has a colour that reminds me of chestnuts and her smile makes me feel like I’m back home with my friends. ”Uhm.. A porter, please.” I answer. She nods politely, grabs a glass, and start filling it from the tap. Just when she places the beer on the bar, three very upset men walk through the door. The man in front is talking loudly to the others, with a hint of scorn in his voice.
”What do you mean ’he just disappeared’? A grown ass man don’t just vanish into the night without a trace”. The man behind him is shaking his head. His eyes are widened, and his eyebrows are pulled so far up his forehead that it looks as if they are trying to escape the big eyes. ”I’m telling you John. He was right there, I grabbed the rods from the truck, and when I turned back round, he wasn’t. And there’s no place he could have went. I swear, there’s something going on.”
The third man push past the first two to get to the bar, while mocking his friend. ”Sure, something is going on. You are losing your mind. He probably got tired of waiting for you getting gear out of the car and went for a beer somewhere. Anita! Three cold ones”. The bartender, whose name evidently is Anita, quickly starts pouring three beers. ”What’s going on guys? You lose someone?”, she asks jokingly. The one named John shakes his head and shrug. ”We brought Sam out for fishing in the pond, and then he up and Houdinied on us. Peter thinks it’s aliens that took him”. Peter leans on the bar. ”Not saying it’s aliens. Just that I don’t understand where he went.” Anita serves the men their beers. She puts her small, pale hand on Peters arm as if to comfort him. ”I’m sure it wasn’t aliens. But maybe a monster got him. Or the giant shark in the pond.” Peter isn’t amused but the other two laugh loudly, as Anita walks off to serve the two businessmen further down the bar. From all of this I can only assume that this is my one and only fresh lead in my hunt. I ask the men where I can find the pond and they tell me the direction to go.
As I leave the bar, I walk at a fair pace. The monster is unlikely to hang around the pond for long. It might already be gone, but this is the freshest lead I have ever had. I have to try my best to find any tracks it might have left behind. I can’t believe that it would grab someone out from a group like this, but maybe it is desperate for food in this very dull town.
I arrive at the pond and quickly walk around the area, and around the pond. I don’t know what I am looking for, but I have a strong feeling I will know when I find it. Maybe a clue or proof that a Night Marcher was actually here. Maybe some evidence of that guy, Sam, being grabbed from here. Or maybe I might even run into the monster itself. As I search the area meticulously, I start to wonder what I would actually do if I did find it. I don’t have a way to kill it or trap it. And to be honest I don’t even know if it can be killed at all.
I search the park around the pond for over an hour. Look through the mud, and up every tree. Not that there are a lot of trees. The park seems mostly barren. After going over the entire area a third time, I decide to call it quits. I found nothing out of the ordinary, and the fatigue is getting to me, so I start walking back to the bar. I can’t believe the monster wouldn’t leave any trace at all. There must be some way of proving that it is, or was, here. After having a few beers at the bar, I head back to my car to turn in for the night.
The next morning, I decide to go back to Brews and Bacon for some breakfast. When I get there, John, from the night before, is sitting at a table having a large brunch. I order the same and sit at a table. Anita serves it with her usual smile, and pours the steaming, black coffee. The door swings open and a young man walks in. I immediately hear John from behind me: ”Sam! Where have you been? Peter thought aliens got you last night”. Sam waltzes over to Johns table and pulls up a chair. ”I went to take a piss. But I had to go quite far to find a suitable tree, in that bloody park. When I came back you were all gone.”
This would mean Sam wasn’t taken by the Night Marcher after all. Maybe I was wrong all along. Maybe the Night Marcher walked straight through the town and on to the next. I can’t believe I wasted all this time, only to find that I might not be nearly as close to the monster as I thought. I’m drifting in my own thoughts when Anita comes over to refill my coffee. ”Something the matter? You seem a bit gloomy”. I shake my head lightly. ”No, I’m fine. It’s just”, I hesitate a bit before finally finding the words. ”It’s just a project of mine, that hasn’t gone the way I planned”. Anita smiles as she pours the coffee. ”Not to worry. It’ll be ok. Maybe this just isn’t a good town for a hunt.”
My fork freeze halfway between the plate and my mouth. The entire world is standing still for a second, while I process her words. I finally turn my head and look up at her and catch her gaze. As a cold, tingling sensation rolls down my back, I realize that this is the first time she has looked me directly in the eyes. And there is something wrong with her eyes. Like they aren’t human.