Don’t Let It Touch You
Nobody moved for one frozen second after the creature started climbing the staircase.
Then Selene Cross screamed.
The sound shattered whatever shock still trapped the group, and suddenly everyone lurched backward at once while the thing below them climbed higher through the darkness.
Fast.
Far too fast.
Its limbs struck the metal stairs with wet cracking noises while seawater poured constantly from its body onto the steps beneath it.
God.
Nora Vale couldn’t fully process what she saw during each lightning flash through the hallway windows.
The thing looked human only from a distance.
Up close?
Everything about it felt wrong.
Its arms hung too long, its neck twisted slightly sideways like broken bones healed incorrectly, and its pale skin stretched tightly across its face like it didn’t fully fit anymore.
But the eyes—
God.
The eyes looked completely black.
Another lightning flash illuminated the staircase.
The creature smiled wider.
Then it lunged upward.
“RUN!” Jace Holloway shouted.
The group bolted instantly.
They sprinted through the flooding hallway while alarms screamed throughout the ferry and metal groaned violently around them. Water surged harder beneath their feet now, dark seawater splashing against cabin doors while the ship tilted dangerously sideways again.
Behind them came the sound of the creature chasing.
Its body slammed against the walls as it moved unnaturally fast through the corridor, dragging sounds and snapping joints echoing behind the group every few seconds.
Kai nearly slipped while turning the hallway corner.
“It’s still behind us!”
“DON’T SAY THAT!”
“I FEEL LIKE IT’S IMPORTANT INFORMATION!”
Another scream echoed somewhere deeper in the ferry.
Then suddenly a cabin door burst open ahead of them.
A terrified boy stumbled into the hallway wearing a soaked university hoodie while blood streamed down one side of his face.
“There’s something on the ship!” he shouted hysterically.
Before anyone could answer—
the creature reached him.
A pale arm shot from the darkness behind the group and wrapped violently around the boy’s neck.
The sound that followed would stay inside Nora’s head forever.
CRACK.
The boy’s body twisted unnaturally sideways before the creature dragged him screaming into the darkness behind the flickering lights.
Blood splashed across the hallway wall.
Then silence.
Complete silence.
The entire group froze in horror.
Selene looked like she might throw up.
“Oh my God…”
Nora physically couldn’t breathe properly anymore.
Because that just happened.
That was real.
And now the thing hunting them had already killed someone.
“MOVE!” Rowan shouted suddenly.
The hallway lights exploded overhead.
Glass rained downward while darkness swallowed the corridor completely again.
The creature screamed somewhere behind them.
Not human.
Not animal.
Something worse.
Then the emergency lights returned faintly.
Red.
Flashing.
And for one horrifying second, Nora saw multiple silhouettes standing motionless at the far end of the hallway now.
Not one creature.
Three.
Watching them silently.
God.
More of them.
“We’re dead,” Kai whispered. “We’re completely dead.”
Jace grabbed Nora’s wrist immediately.
“GO!”
The group sprinted again while the ferry shook violently beneath them. Somewhere below the ship, something massive slammed against the hull hard enough to tilt the entire vessel sideways.
Water surged through the corridor knee-deep now.
The ferry was sinking.
Nora realized it suddenly.
Not damaged.
Sinking.
Fast.
Another announcement crackled through the intercom above.
Only static at first.
Then the ferryman’s voice burst through distorted and panicked.
“They’re already inside—”
Static screamed loudly.
Then another voice interrupted.
A woman’s voice.
Cold.
Wet.
“Don’t let them reach the island.”
The intercom died immediately afterward.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody even knew what that meant anymore.
The group finally burst through the hallway doors leading toward the loading deck near the ferry exit.
Cold storm wind slammed into them instantly.
Rain hammered sideways across the deck while giant waves crashed violently against the ferry railings.
And ahead—
through fog and darkness—
stood the island shoreline.
Closer now.
Too close.
Black cliffs towered over jagged rocks while dim orange lights flickered near the top of the hill where the broken resort waited silently above the forest.
The ferry had nearly reached land before everything went wrong.
Crew members shouted frantically across the deck while lowering emergency ropes toward the rocky shoreline nearby.
For the first time since boarding, Nora saw other passengers.
Only a few.
Terrified students crowded near the deck exit while rain soaked through their clothes and panic spread rapidly between them.
“Everybody off the ship!” one crewman screamed. “NOW!”
Another loud impact exploded beneath the ferry.
BOOM.
The entire deck lurched sideways hard enough that several people collapsed screaming onto the wet floor.
Then came another sound.
Deep beneath the ship.
A roar.
God.
It sounded enormous.
The ocean beside the ferry suddenly erupted violently.
Black water exploded upward against the side of the ship while something huge moved briefly beneath the surface.
Nobody saw it clearly.
Only shape.
Movement.
Something long enough to stretch beneath half the ferry itself.
Then the water settled again.
Selene stared at the ocean in horror.
“What IS that?”
Nobody answered.
Because suddenly the creatures inside the ferry no longer felt like the worst thing here.
Another scream erupted from inside the ship behind them.
Then more.
The things had reached the deck.
Jace turned instantly.
Three pale figures crawled unnaturally from the hallway entrance behind the group, their soaked bodies twisting wrong beneath flashing emergency lights.
And God—
they moved faster outside the darkness.
One of them opened its mouth impossibly wide before releasing a shrieking scream across the storm.
Passengers panicked immediately.
People shoved toward the lifeboats while crew members shouted desperately over the chaos.
“GO!” Rowan yelled.
The group sprinted toward the emergency ropes leading down toward the rocky shore below.
But before Nora reached the railing—
something grabbed her ankle.
Ice-cold fingers wrapped violently around her leg from beneath the flooding deck water.
She screamed instantly and crashed hard against the metal floor.
Lightning flashed overhead.
And beneath the swirling seawater covering the deck—
a pale face stared upward at her from below the water itself.
Smiling.