Chapter 1 Katie's pov

There was blood everywhere, all I could remember was that there was so much blood everywhere.

A few minutes ago, the night had been still, suffocatingly quiet. It was as if even the crickets and owls were to scared to make noise. That was because they knew something I didn't. There was a monster nearby.

I had been trying to figure out where I was when suddenly, a blood curling scream pierced through the night.

"Oh God please no! Please stop!" A man screamed.

The sound was terrifying. It sounded like fear and pain and agony. I was about to react when more screams filled the air.

"Help! Somebody please help us!" People were in danger, they were dying and they needed my help.

My heart began racing in my chest, and sweat beaded my for head as I struggled to control my breathing. What could possibly make grown men scream like that?

Hot fear coiled inside me as I stood infront of the door that the screams were coming from. My hand was trembling violently as I reached for the handle.

"Get a grip Katie! You can do this," I whispered to myself but the words were barely audible over the pounding of my heart. "I'm a police officer, damn it. I can handle this." I reminded myself.

It didn't matter that I was just 5'3 and weighed 109 pounds. I was a trained police officer and I swore an oath to help and protect people in danger. It was my duty to help these people.

With a shaky breath, I pushed open the door, but was totally unprepared for darkness that quickly swallowed me whole. I seemed to have forgotten my prescription glasses so it was very hard to see at first.

It was the stench that hit me first. It was a sickening mix of blood, piss and death that threatened to choke me.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry and tight, as I stepped into the room.

I kept my senses on high alert but the sight that greeted me when I turned a corner was enough to make me vomit as my blood ran cold.

There were bodies everywhere, slumped and lifeless. The worse part was that some bodies weren't whole, it was as if some were torn to pieces and scattered on the floor like discarded dolls.

My stomach finally churned and I could feel bile rising in my throat as I fought to push the contents of my stomach back inside.

"Oh god," I whispered, my voice barely a recognizable to my ears. "What happened here?"

I forced my feet to move further into the room, my eyes scanning the walls for any clue, any sign of what could have caused such a horror. And then I saw them-the scratches, long and deep, etched into the surface of the walls as if by the claws of a ginormous monster.

"What kind of animal could have done this?" I murmured to myself.

Suddenly, a chorus of loud wolf howls echoed in the distance. The sound immediately sent more icy shivers down my veins.

My fear finally overwhelmed me and I realized that this was way beyond my capacity. Whatever this was, a tiny unarmed human like me couldn't handle it alone.

I turned around to get the hell out of there, but before I could take a single step, I collided with something-or someone-in the darkness.

I let out a scream before I finally managed to ask. "W-Who's there?"

A figure stumbled infront of me, he was covered with blood and was breathing raggedly. He looked like he was seriously injured and on the brink of collapse.

"Miss Katie?" The figure suddenly gasped. His voice was faint but I recognized it immediately.

"Tom?" I gasped. I knew him because I had personally helped to arrest he and his gang members for their violent, horrific crimes in our town.

He and his friends had attacked and killed people, just because they were bored and could do it.

We were finally able to arrest them after many months of investigation but he and most of the others were children of rich and influential men, so they were immediately released and the case was shut down even though we had damming evidence on them.

Still, he was a human being and it was my duty to help him, even now.

I took a step closer, and grabbed his arm. "We need to get out of here," I said, my voice urgent. "I think there's something out here."

But before we could move, Tom collapsed to the ground, his body shaking as more blood gushed from his side. The injury looked very bad and I honestly didn't think he would survive it.

Still, I had to help him to a hospital. I reached out to grab him again but he took one look at me and recoiled, his eyes wild with fear.

"What?-" I began but he cut me off.

"You!... It's you!" He screamed, "You did this! You killed them!"

I recoiled, shocked at his reaction to me.

"You fucking bitch! You killed everyone!"

"What? No, Tom, you're wrong. I would never-"

But before I could finish my sentence, I suddenly jolted awake.

***

When I jolted awake, my heart was still racing in my chest and my skin felt slick with sweat.

It took me a moment to recognize my surroundings, the familiar view of my bedroom, and the soft glow of streetlights shining through the curtains.

"It was just a dream," I whispered to myself.

It was the same mantra I had been repeating every other time that I had this nightmare. "It's Just a dream."

When my heart finally slowed down, I tried to lie back on the bed, but that's when I suddenly realized that I wasn't on the bed.... I was on the floor!

I was naked, and it wasn't sweat covering me,... it was blood!

My heart started pounding viciously again but I forced it to slow down. There was no need to panic. I wasn't in danger and this was not the first time that this had happened to me before.

Over the past few months, I had been having different variations of this kind of nightmare. I would see bloodied or dead bodies of some of the town's most vicious criminals.

Some violent drug dealers, murderers, kidnappers, rapists and traffickers. The one thing in common they all had was that they had been unjustly freed through their corruption and influence.

I didn't know what these nightmares meant, or why I always woke up covered in blood. All I knew was that I had to keep it a secret. No one could find out that I, a police office often woke up on my bedroom floor, covered in somebody's blood with no memory of how I got that way.

I took a quick shower and cleaned up the mess before glancing at the clock-only a few hours until I had to wake up and go to work.

I was just about to go back to sleep before my phone rang. It was Eloise, my only friend and fellow colleague.

"H-h Hello?" I answered. I stuttered sometimes, and it often made made me the target of bullies but the stuttering always got worse when I was nervous.

"Hi Katie, sorry to wake you up so early in the morning, but you have to resume work 2 hours early today."

"W-What? Why?" I asked.

"Well.... Remember Tom? The rich kid that we arrested but got suddenly bailed by his asshole dad?"

My heart skipped a beat as Tom's bloodied face from my dream flashed in front of me.

"Yea? Wh-what about him?" I asked tentatively.

"He's dead. His body was found a few hours ago, along with some of his other friends. Most of the station have been called over to investigate the site, so we have to cover their shift."

"O-okay." I gulped. But then I thought of something. "Wait! D-do they know how he died?" I asked, and Eloise hesitated.

"He was murdered, all of them, I heard that it looks like an animal attack but we're not sure. That's why more than half the station is there investigating. If he was murdered by someone, that person better flee the country because his parents will probably burn the world down looking for his killer. That means double the work for us." She joked and I pretended to laugh.

The truth was that I suddenly felt weak, like I was about to faint.

"Oh and one more thing," Eloise said. "His body was found on Grater's street. Isn't that just a few blocks away from your house?" She asked and I froze.

"N-not r-really." I stuttered and Eloise paused.

"Yes it is, I remember always passing it on my way from your house."

I felt all the blood drain from my face. This was it, I was screwed.