moved closer . It knew he was there . Ern could only hope then that it didn ' t know what he was holding as he gripped the shotgun tightly with both hands and pointed it at the door .
The blast didn ' t manage to knock him on his back this time , but the door was no match for it . After a brief flash and a violent boom , Ern saw a huge chunk of the wood vanish , leaving a cloud of dust and a splintered hole the size of a tire in its place . His ears were ringing from the shot , but he could tell the scratching had stopped ; the door was still , and through the hole and on the other side there was nothing but his field , the dark night sky , and the chirping of crickets . A tension he ' d been holding for he didn ' t know how long left his entire body . His breath came shakily , and he slumped to the ground as his exhausted legs gave out underneath him . Whatever that … thing … had been , it was gone now .
Then , out of the corner of his eye , Ern saw movement through the hole in the door . Immediately , he stood , fumbling to get a proper grip on his gun again . A dark shape lurched just at the edge of the hole , impossible to entirely discern , but unmistakably there . And from it , Ern saw with terror , an arm emerged , smoothly and effortlessly pushing through the breach made in the door – and undid the latch .
Ern ran . He realized that he still had ammo in the gun , that at the first sight of the thing ' s flesh he should have let the buckshot fly and filled it with lead . But he couldn ' t . Just looking at that thing , even a part of it , had filled his mind with nothing but an instinctual need to
13