Shadow Walkers

Chapter One

Nick

Nick was going to be grounded for life.

The time was 11:37 at night- over an hour past his mother’s advised curfew. His mind begins racing as he runs through familiar streets, trying to figure out how he could possibly convince his mother that his late night expedition to a friends house was completely justified. And- as usual- he comes up with nothing that could truly save him. So Nick decides to resort to the one thing that he knew his mother couldn’t be angry with- a present. He grins wickedly as turns onto the street leading to the subway station, convinced that he had found a way out to minimize his punishment.

The young man was so preoccupied with getting home and avoiding trouble that he didn’t even notice the purple haired man that had been following him for blocks.

He decides to make a detour. A few sharp turns later and he finds himself emerging onto a bustling street. Cars honk and brakes screech, but he makes it across safely. He looks at the man who almost hit him and offers an apologetic wave, then quickly makes his way to the candy store known as
Jeffries Sweet Stop
. As always, he rolls his eyes at the generic name before making his way inside.

The sweet smell of sugar hits Nick as soon as he enters the shop. A grin stretches across his face as the familiar scents of the store overtake him.

He quickly surveys the walls, identifying the variety of sugary sweets on the shelves. Then a man enters the room through a door behind the cash register.

Nick catches the shop owners gaze and smiles awkwardly. “Hey Jeffrey, which flavor of Sweet Stones does my mom usually buy?”

Jeffrey shakes his head. “It’s really sad that her own son doesn’t even know her favorite flavor. Maybe you should-”

“C’mon man,” Nick pleads, “I’m gonna get chewed out if I don’t hurry home.”

Jeffrey sighs . “You’re unbelievable kid.” The older man then ducks down beneath the counter. A few seconds later he stands back up, now holding a bag full of purple candy, each piece about the size of a gumball.

“Here.” Jeffrey holds the bag out over the counter. “This one's on the house. Now hurry up and get home so your mom doesn’t come complaining to me.”

“Thanks Jeff! I would kiss you if you were a girl. And you know, not so ugly!” Nick snatches the bag and quickly leaves the store. He hears Jeffrey shout some type of insult at him, but he doesn’t let that slow him down. The man could yell at Nick all he wanted the next time he stopped by his house for dinner.

Nick runs through the streets, cutting off cars and almost bumping into every person he runs past. Upon reaching an intersection he is faced with a difficult decision. He could go left down the main street, which would take him home rather safely, or he could take the underground subway, which would get him there faster at the higher risk of being jumped by a gang.

He weighs the options, quickly deciding that a couple of bruises from some thugs was a much better option than his mother never again letting him see the light of day

With his mind made up he makes his way into the building to his right. The people inside scurry about, most likely trying to make it to their rides on time. He heads for the stairs and begins running down them at full speed. With only a few steps left before he would have been on flat ground, Nick accidentally trips over his own foot. He begins to topple over when a hand suddenly grasps onto his shoulder, letting him regain his balance.

Nick looks up to see a smiling man with purple hair. “You won’t get anywhere if you get killed on the way, kid.” He says as he takes his hand off of the boy’s shoulder. “You should be more careful.”

Nick gulps. He clenches his fist and looks down at the ground as a sudden wave of fright suddenly washes over him. He wasn’t sure sure if the man was threatening him or giving actual advice- it was always hard to tell in this neighborhood. Either way, he decides to play it cool.

“Yeah, I’ll try to watch my step next time.” Nick says flatly. He rushes down the rest of the stairs and picks up his pace. The last thing he needed was for that man to try and take his money. But the stranger speeds up as well, staying only a short distance behind him.

“You’re pretty young kid. At this time of night, aren’t you scared of meeting a
Creeper?”

Nick almost flinches at the mention of the urban myth. He’s heard all types of rumors about the Creepers- invisible monsters that terrorize innocent people. They cause traffic accidents, kidnap people, and even suck the life out of those they catch. While they weren’t supposed to be nocturnal, Nick has heard that they do prefer to come out at night. Though nobody has ever actually
seen
a creeper. As far as Nick was concerned, the stupid things were nothing but a myth spread around to scare people. And this guy was just another whackjob who bought into all of that crazy stuff.

Nick shakes his head and continues to walk in silence, the stranger following him all the while. As he approaches the ticket booth he finds himself wondering if he would have been better off walking after all.

But it was too late for him to have a change of plans. And above all else, he did
not
want to let this guy follow him out onto the streets. He forces himself to calm down. For now, it seemed he was safe. There was no point to worry when the man had yet to show even the slightest bit of malice.

Nick pays for a ticket and walks to the boarding station. Once there he peeks over his shoulder to see what the stranger was up to. The purple haired man was casually walking towards the boarding station, which makes Nick feel a little better. He couldn’t imagine someone buying a train ticket just so they could rob someone once they get off. And if he did want to rob Nick, he could have just let the boy fall and then pick his pockets while he was down.

The man sits on a bench a few yards from Nick’s, and the young boy finally relaxes. After about fifteen minutes, the subway train finally arrives. The doors slide open and a sea of people rushes out. The otherwise quiet station was now filled with energetic people trying to make their way to their next destination.

Nick makes his way to the train. The ticket checker holds out his hand and Nick hands his ticket over. The man looks it over, then gives a nod of approval. Nick nods back and then steps aboard train. He takes a seat in the very first row. The purple haired man takes a seat towards the back, where nobody else sits. Nick doesn’t pay him much else attention after the train takes off.

He pays no mind to the chatter of the passengers around him, and instead finds himself focusing on his mother. This was Nick’s third time coming home late in just this week alone. There wasn’t any way that she didn’t plan on laying down the rules the moment he arrived home. And Nick
hated
when his mother got upset. Ever since his dad died, he tried his hardest to keep his mother smiling. Times could be tough, and she provided too much to Nick for him to ignore her feelings.

He shakes the bag of candy around. A strong urge to take a piece comes over him, so he places the bag down on the empty seat next to him, hoping that the separation would take away the temptation.

It only takes about fifteen minutes for the train to come to a stop. Nick wastes no time hopping off of the train and running straight to the escalator.

“Hey!” A voice screams from behind him. He turns to see the purple haired man now running after him. All of Nick’s doubt returns in an instant. Without a second thought, he books it up the escalator. People scream insults at him as he pushes past them, up the escalator, and to the exit. The man yells at him, only making him pick up his speed as he runs outside into the cold aired night.

Nick ignores the man and only focuses on the streets ahead of him. He runs directly to the familiar systems of alleys that can lead him to his home. He risks a look over his shoulder, only to see the man still running in pursuit.

He starts to panic, but keeps pushing on. Only a few more turns and his home would be right before his eyes. He makes a sharp left turn, and what he sees around the corner makes him stop dead in his tracks. He kneels over and tries to catch his breath, all the while trying to determine if what he saw in front of him was actually real. The stranger following him was no longer the biggest thing on his mind.

A long emaciated arm was rising out of a pool of purple goo on the ground. The fingers were freakishly long and looked like knives. Another arm suddenly emerges from the purple goo, and both hands begin pushing off of the ground. The thing- whatever it was- slowly starts to push itself out of the ground. It’s head had no facial features- just jagged purple flesh that sagged here and there.

Nick starts walking backwards as an overwhelming sense of fear overcomes him. His hands clench at his sides and his breaths speed up. He couldn’t be here. Not with this… monster.

“Is this your first time seeing a
Creeper
?” Nick’s stalker asks mockingly. Nick turns around to look at the man, but he’s nowhere to be seen. He turns back to the purple monster and jumps from shock. The purple haired man was now standing in front of him- blocking him from the only path that could take him home- with a smile on his face. “I was only trying to give you back your candy.” He holds up the bag of Sweet Stones and then throws it in front of Nick’s feet. Nick doesn’t pay any attention to the candy, and instead focuses on the purple goo that was suddenly forming on the ground. Three more of the faceless monsters begin climbing out of seemingly nowhere. Whether the creatures were actually Creepers didn’t matter one bit to Nick. All he cared about was finding a way to escape.

The man in front of Nick laughs. “Considering that you can see the Void, you’re either a Shadow Walker or an Invert, though I’m sure you don’t know anything about all of that.” He cocks his head to the side and stares at Nick like an artist to a marvelous statue. “I feel like I’ve met you a long time ago, but that’s neither here nor there. I’m just very surprised that you’ve never seen one of the Void before. I guess today is your lucky day.”

The Void
. The man has called the monsters by that name twice now, though he also called them Creepers at first. Nick wanted to ask what in the world was going on, but he found himself incapable of forming words. The bare sight of their grotesque bodies petrified Nick with fear. The stranger laughs.

“Don’t be scared, I’ll make this real quick. I only summoned these minions,” He gestures to the monsters surrounding him, “So that I could stop you without lifting a finger. I know that they must look pretty terrifying to someone completely new to all of this, so I’ll do you a favor. If you’d please stand still, I’ll save you the terror of being ripped to shreds by disposing of you myself.”

He smiles and holds out his right hand to his side. Purple smoke appears in his hand, swirling around in a circular pattern. And then, with a purple flash, the man suddenly grips a sword in his hand.
A katana,
Nick notes. The man readies the sword and lunges forward without warning. Nick manages to gain a grip, the fear of his death overcoming his dazed confusion, and tries to dodge the man's attack.

But the sword goes right through the right side of his neck. Nick instantly reaches up to where the sword passed through, ready to fulfill the cliche of trying to hold in an uncontrollable stream of blood, only to find that there was no wound. His eyes grow wide in shock. He had no doubt in his mind that the man had just swung his blade through his neck.

The stranger laughs. “Hey, what’s your name kid?”

Nick’s body begins shaking uncontrollably. To say that he was afraid before would be an exaggeration, because he now felt an unbelievable wave of terror coursing through his veins. He was crippled with fear, suddenly unable to move. In this moment, Nick no longer saw any reason to live on. He was equally as shocked as he was afraid when he somehow manages to summon the courage to answer the man’s question.

“My name is Nicholas Winters.”

The man stops laughing and his face contorts as if he smelled something repugnant. “How on earth do you still know your name?” His expression changes from offended to confused and finally rests on angry. “Wait, did you say
Winters
? So that’s what it is- you came from that witch. In that case I guess I have no time to play with you. To think that you’d be unfortunate enough to have fate make our paths cross so early on in your life. Goodbye, Winters.”

The stranger raises his blade once again. In his current state Nick knew that he had no chance of survival, let alone dodging the strangers attack. He closes his eyes, preferring not to see his death unfold before him. The only thing he finds himself thinking about is the regret he held towards disobeying his mother’s curfew. Thanks to his disobedience, she was now about to lose her son, only eight years after she lost Nick’s father.

A sudden clanging sound causes Nick to look up in shock. He finds himself staring at the back of a new figure standing in the alleyway.

Nick locks eyes with the new stranger in front of him, but the older man quickly turns his attention back to Nick’s attacker. He swings his longsword in an arc, pushing the purple haired man’s katana away. Nick’s attacker steps back, scowling.