((Bit of an origin to get the ball rolling))

“And there it was, movin’ all ‘round me, circling like a vulture! I figured I was done-for for-sure. Black as the night he was, too. I couldn’t see him sometimes if he went into the dark. ‘Least I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for his eyes. They were glowing white, and brightly. I couldn’t take my own eyes off of them, and he kept his on me!”

Albert was famous for his stories, least as famous as you cold get in a place like this. He had a pretty hefty collection, and told them pretty well. Hell, if he wanted, he could probably write them down and sell them ‘round the town. He’d never go for it though. It was their faces he loved. There was something about seeing all the boys gathered ‘round, all eyes on him, focused on what he had to say; that’s what he loved.

And the rest of them loved it too. All the men in the diner were hanging on his every word as he recounted his famous campfire tale, “The Adirondack Shade.” Sure, it lacked the humour of the “Highway 35 UFO,” or the sadness of the “Weeping Wendigo of Cree Lake,” but the Shade was one of the fan favourites.

“What happened next?” asked a particularly concerned looking kid, currently standing, pacing back and forth, unable to keep his nerves stationary any longer. The diner was a pretty common stage for Albert’s theatrics. After school, it was a relatively common place for the kids to wander over to. The younger ones that really wanted to believe in the supernatural flocked to hear if he’d had learned any new ones, and once and a while would request the certain “hall of famers.”

Of course, his legacy wasn’t exactly all positive feedback. Many parents weren’t very big supporters of a “crazy old man polluting the minds of their children.” The small town was heavily Christian, and as a result, did not respond well to the ideas of supernatural talk, or talk of UFOs, or whatever other monster was haunting the city and it’s surrounding areas that week.

Love him or hate him though, he was without a doubt a sensation.

“I’ll tell you what happened next. I picked up my gun and I started firing away at the beast.” A soft “wow” spread throughout the crowd.

“Did you kill it?”

“Course not. You can’t kill a shade; it’s long dead by that point. The sound must’a scared it off though. As soon as the shots were fired, I didn’t them eyes any more. They just disappeared.” Looking around at his collection of 5 kids, all of them looking a little unfulfilled. “Of course, they only disappeared then. Ever since that fateful day, I often see those same, horrible eyes staring at me out of the dark, wherever I may be.” Now they were getting the look he was aiming for.

“He’s watching over me, for what I don’t know. But one thing I am certain of is this. Now that you now about him, he’ll be watching over you as well.”

The kids all looked to one another with uncomfortable smiles, each trying to pretend that this idea didn’t bother them, but it was clear that the boggy man in the closet tonight would have a name tonight.

“Ok, you’ve had your fun, now order something or beat it” Beth, the waitress snidely interjected. She always hassled Albert every time he came in, always holding off on spending any money for as long as possible. Really though, everyone knew her and everyone else in the diner had no issues with him just hanging out. He unquestionably brought business to their little dive.

“Just a coffee, Beth.” He turned back around to look at the faces of the kids, still hanging around. You guys ought’a get outta here before old Beth here throws you out herself. ‘Sides, you don’t want to linger anywhere too long, otherwise the Shade will have an easier time locking his gaze on you.” The kids all exchange an acknowledging gaze with one another, then grab their things and take off running.

Across the diner sat two men, dressed up far more formally then most folks in that area. As the kids ran past, the two of them exchanged a look, then stood up, walking towards Albert.

“Excuse me, sir, but we couldn’t help but overhear your story” the taller of the two men opened up. Untrusting of the two strangers, Albert kept quiet. He’d had his fair share of run ins with upset parents, and wasn’t looking forward to another one. Sensing that something along those lines may be the issue, the shorter man clears his throat and exchanges another look with his partner.

“My name is William Thomas. My associate and I have an interest in this “Shade” of yours, and we were curious if you could answer us a few questions about it. Namely, have you ever actually laid eyes of the… creature?”

“You guys with the FBI or something?” Albert asked, his interest level skyrocketing from 0 to 10 in an instant. Meeting with living Men in Black would be his greatest dream coming true.

“Heavens no.” He Laughed. “We’re researchers looking to write an entry on this Shade in a future installment of a book we are writing.“
“It’s about unsolved mysteries!” exclaimed the taller man, clearly eager to get the message across.

Albert looked at the two men with curiosity, as well as interest. Raising an eyebrow, his face straightens out. “I ain’t no liar. Every one of my stories is fact. I’ve seen the creature, and I’ll never forget those white eyes staring back at me from the shadows.”

The two men look to each other with an approving glance. “We were wondering then, if it would be possible for you to lead us out into the woods to the place where you encountered it for the first time. We hope to gather some photographic evidence there.”

Albert looks back at Beth, now handing him his coffee. She hands him a worried expression, followed by a glare in the direction of William. Albert sighed, torn between the excitement of his story reaching such a wide audience and the prospect of going back out there again.

“What you’re looking for is The Hut.” Albert finally sighs out.

“The Hut?” William asked, lacking confidence for the first time since he began to speak. “What’s that?”

Albert leans in towards the two researchers. “If you want to find this Shade, that is the place to look.” Then he leans back, and between sips of coffee, blurts out. “I can show you where it is, for a price. But I ain’t stepping foot on its property. I don’t want to ever see them eyes again.”

William and his associate exchange nods, then look back to Albert. “Great, what say we make a deal, hmmm?”

((One week later))

Adirondack Park. One of the largest forests in North America. Certain areas are completely untouched by humanity, letting the wildlife live free without any kind of outside threat. And that was just the way Shane liked it.

He’d run away from home when he was a teenager, that much he knew. However, shortly after his mutation first began manifesting itself his memories started getting all jumbled up and he had a hard time remembering entire events. His memories were fragmented. Once in a while he’d get pieces back in dreams, but they were few and far between, and he had no way of knowing if they were real.

After a rough stint in the city, suffering persecution and fear for his appearance, Shane started heading north. Hiding on trains and the backs of trucks, we worked his way a few hours north of “home,” settling in one of the few places his memories hadn’t failed him, this park. When he was younger, his father would bring him there to camp, and learn the skills of a true survivalist. If his father were still here, by this age he would have taken him out hunting for the first time. Shane had been looking forward to going on one of his father’s hunting trips for years. Wanting to carry on his legacy, Shane took it up as a full career once he got to Adirondack, living off the land and hunting for his food from the day he arrived.

Hanging from a tree, he watched over his prey, a relatively young deer, though quite large and still equipped with a set of antlers. This one had been foolish enough to wander off from the rest of the herd, a foolish mistake for any of the creature in this forest to make. Slithering a long, snake-like body out across the tree branch above the stag, he began to position himself for the strike.

It had been a few days since he’d last eaten so he was beginning to dwell on the smaller side of the BMI, but he was far from an unhealthy point, at least as far as he could tell from past experiences. Deer had become his target of choice over the last few months. The time between meals was cut down significantly from their size so long as he relaxed between meals, which was all he ever wanted to do. With the size of this one, he would be able to relax for at least 2-3 days before he’s need to venture out into the wilderness again.

Waiting until it lowered its head to go for a bite to eat, Shane dropped down from the tree, landing right on the unsuspecting deer’s head. He quickly warped his body completely around the creature’s head, weighing it down so it couldn’t stand up and preventing any noise from escaping. Kicking out sporadically at first, the deer slowing down its resistance over a few minutes as it suffocated. Shane extended a limb out, wrapping it around the deer’s abdomen and squeezing like a snake to speed the process along. After about 4 minutes or so, the deer had completely stopped moving.

He stood up over it, took a deep breath and took in the size of his catch. He’d already lost a few pounds from the scuffle, but it was nothing compared to his first attempts at chasing his prey. By this point he’d figured out how to let gravity do as much of the work as possible. He examined his surroundings to make sure no scavengers were around. There was no point in moving the kill; it would just exert him more to drag something of that size. He’d do the deed here.

Next came the part Shane had still not gotten used to. The hunt, and even the kill were something that he had built up and prepared for in his mind his entire life. But this, the consumption that his mutation desired – or rather required – was something he just couldn’t find a taste for.

He covered the entire creature and extended a giant mouth-like opening around the deer’s whole body. Taking the stag in, he could feel the tingling feeling surge through his entire body. The tingling was the nice part. It was the feeling of his cells anticipating their growth and expansion, and it felt like a celebration coursing through his veins. Then come the cramps. Snapping and creaking with an all too frequent bubbling sound, his body began expanding as it broke down the deer in moments while simultaneously expanding his body outward. Every single time he felt like a baking soda and vinegar volcano was exploding under his skin, bubbling up and up.

After close to 5 minutes, the deed was done. Shane rested there patiently; his fresh skin usually needed a minute or two to solidify a bit, generally staying a little on the goopy side at first. Staring off into the sunset, he let his heart rate slow right down, almost falling asleep. Once satisfied that all of the precautions had been taken care of, he stood us, trying to find his balance with his now twice as large body as he stumbled towards his home.

Pushing past an incredibly dense section of bushes, he popped out the other side and smiled at his poorly constructed, though incredibly personal shack, hidden away in all directions from view. Today had been a huge success, and he was going to spend what was left of it relaxing.

It hadn’t taken the men long to pack up their things and be on their way. By that weekend they had managed to convince Albert to head out into the wilderness with them without much hassle, on the condition that he get credit as the first sighting in their book. Considering their plan to stay the night, they were packed rather light. No call for rain meant they hadn’t figured tents would be very important, plus they intended to work much of the night.

Mainly armed with photography equipment, they did have a few measurement devices neatly packed away in their backpacks. Albert had no idea what any of this stuff was for, and really, he didn’t care. He mainly lived off of charity, so when some offers you money to show them a place you’d been before, you take it. Albert hadn’t packed much at all, just a bottle of water and his walking stick; he had no intention of staying the night. The “Hut” was just a few hours into the forest; a he had every intention of showing them the place, and taking off before the sun started setting.

There were five of them in total now. The men from the diner had added on two more considerably younger individuals to their “team.” These two, as far as Albert could tell were some kind of students doing some kind of placement. He wasn’t sure what they were studying, but he definitely thought that what ever it was, this was a stupid way to learn it. He never cared enough to ask them questions. One of these two students – the blond one – seemed to be hanging pretty close to William. From as far as he could tell, they were probably father and son.

“We’re getting close” Albert mentioned, just to break the silence. The crunching of leaves was beginning to give him a headache, and although he would never admit it, nothing made him feel more relaxed then the sound of his own voice. “I remember this field.”

“How long has it been since you came here?” the blond student questioned. “You seem to remember it really well.” He didn’t seem as though he meant anything by it, there was a faint sense of disbelief in the tone of his question.

“Don’t you worry, I don’t forget a thing, and I ain’t no liar neither. If I say this is where the hut it, then this is where it is!” Albert snapped.

“Ok, sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. Just curious.” The blond boy responded. His father gave him a rather stern look, pushing him ahead of the group as they walked. A few moments of silence followed, until the taller man from the diner stopped to take a knee and examine the ground.

“You find something Michael?” William asked, raising a hand to stop the group, turning around and heading towards the very focused man. He was examining markings on the ground that appeared to be hoof marks, but they had ripped up the grass outward from the origin.

“What do you have?” William asked curiously, taking out his camera.

“Looks like some kind of a struggle. Probably a deer. What ever killed it didn’t draw any blood though, or leave any part of the body near by. Could be a snake, but nothing like that lives anywhere near here.” Michael looked incredibly confused. He was the “animal” guy in their partnership, usually taking the lead on the stories that dealt with “monsters” and other non-sense like that. Taking the camera from William, he snapped off a few pictures of the scene, more puzzled then anyone else. As the group started to pack up and continue on their way, Michael and Albert both shared a look of concern. They both suspected this could have something to do with their little expedition.

Pushing through the brush a little bit farther, they came upon a very dense collection of bushes, thick enough to completely hide everything on the other side. William went to grab the machete out of Michael’s pack when Albert stopped them.

“This is the place.” Albert said, foot tapping nervously the whole time.

“You’re sure?” William asked.

Albert managed to squeeze in a frustrated look at him before his face transitioned back to a look of concern. “This is as far as I go with you. You know the way back out again, right?” He was already started to inch his way back. “The hut is right on the other side of these bushes.”

William, looking a little frustrated, reluctantly sighed and nodded. We’ll find our way back. Thank you.”

Albert slowly backed away from them, slowly turning around, still keeping his eyes on the bushes. William was now marching towards the dense mess of twigs and thorns, machete in hand. Albert’s last look before he completely turned around was of William taking his first swings at the bushes.

After a few moments of furious hacking and slashing, and a hole had been cut straight through revealing a relatively large open space with a barely standing shack stationed right in the center.

“I think we’ve found our place.” William announced confidently. Packing away the machete, the four men proudly walked towards the hut, all smiles and cameras in hand.

It wasn’t much, but it was home.

Shane pulled back the curtain that served as a door and entered into his little humble abode. For the most part it was empty. It’s walls we’re manly just supporting each other, assembled out of logs leaning upright on one another, meeting at the top center forming a point. Leaves and smaller twigs filled in the spaces in between. It was strong enough to hold again the elements, but it wasn’t well designed for decoration. A few carvings were scattered throughout the single room, mostly crude child-like drawings, but still very personal and valuable to Shane.

Really the only decorations in the hut were a few family photos that sat in the corner of them room. They were mostly pictures of him with his father, some in the wilderness camping, some just a home. All of them reminded Shane of a time when he was happier, not to mention a time when his memories were intact. He wanted to make sure that those memories always lasted; he refused to let himself forget their faces.

Shane stumbled a bit as he walked into the hut. He had noticed with the bigger prey he had been hunting less that he had been experiencing headaches shortly after he consumed them. They weren’t like any other headaches he’d had before either. It felt like something scraping across the inside of his head, and it would come and go for a few hours when he got them. It was almost rhythmic, the way the pain would come and go. They would never last too long, but they were painful as hell. This one was due to start passing any minute, but knowing that didn’t help him to deal with the pain right now. The pain actually began to get to be too much for him to handle. Hands on his head, he fainted.

…

He was dreaming. He always knew when he was dreaming. The problem with knowing he was in them was that he couldn’t control what happened. The majority of time, he felt like a bystander in his own dreams, observing them from the outside. In reality, he knew that what he was watching unfold were his memories, or at least pieces of them, and he couldn’t change their out come.

This time he was running in a field, up on a hill, and bellow him was a herd of deer. He looked down on them, grazing and drinking from a near by river.

And then like that, the memory moved on.

Now he was with his mother. She was sitting across from him in a chair reading. Shane had a magazine in front of himself, reading up on something, only to linger on an ad for hunting equipment. He could hear something resembling wood chopping in the background. A good CHOP, CHOP, CHOP going on, far in the distance.

And again, the memory was over.

This time however, he didn’t move on. This time he was waking up. The chopping wasn’t going away though. Standing himself up, he looked out the side of his curtain. He could see that a few men were chopping their way through the bushes. Panicking, he looked back into his room, locking eyes on his parent’s photos.

He wasn’t going anywhere, and no one was going to take his home from him.

The four men confidently marched towards the hut, snapping photos of the surrounding area as they got closer and closer. It was still daylight, and while none of them truly believed that there was a ghost or shade in this hut, they all had in their back of their mind that even if there was, they weren’t going to see it in the day time. Michael didn’t quite share the same point of view. While he was a skeptic at heart, he was very nervous about what killed that deer, be it a man whole lives out here, or something else. Whatever it turned out to be, he wasn’t too keen on finding out, and this hut seemed as though it would end up having something to do with it.

“Hello?” William’s son shouted at the hut. All three of the other heads turned to look at him with a disapproving eye.

“Seth! Keep your voice down.” William whispered, loudly. Unimpressed, he tossed Seth his bag, knocking the boy back a few steps and he walked up to the door of the hut. With Seth just a few feet behind him, Will poked his head into the curtain, quietly uttering a “hello?”

Across from him stood a dark figure, hidden in shadow. The man was wearing a long coat that ran right down to the floor with a hat that covered his head. He stood with his back to the door, staring down at a collection of framed photos sitting together on the floor. He was tall, over 6 foot at least, and he wasn’t speaking. Swallowing hard with an audible gulp, William tried again.

“Umm… hello. My name is William Thomas. I was wondering if it would be possible to ask you a few questions about the way live out here.” No Response. He tries again. “This cabin is pretty impressive. Did you build it yourself?” Again, no response. He noticed that the man’s head was aimed right down to the floor where the pictures were. “Is that your family?” William asked. The man grunted. Sensing progress, William took a step forward.

Shane wasn’t impressed. Hearing the sound of shoes on his leaf covered floor, he raised his head, averting his eyes from the photographs. William stopped his advance after the first step. His hand was quivering now, Shane’s size was little but intimidating. William could hear sounds not unlike cracking knuckles. Shane was forming a mouth and preparing to use a muscle he hadn’t used in a long time.

Barely understandable, a creaky, coarse voice mumbled the words “Get out.” Before William had a chance to respond, Shane slowly turned his head revealing the black skin and white eyes. His mouth was a giant jaw, resembling a skull more then a normal person’s face. An “Oh s***” was all William could muster up and he slowly backed out of the hut. Shane did not break eye contact once.

White as a ghost, William backed out into the field where all of the eager members of the party were waiting, curious what was inside. He didn’t look at any one of them. His eyes just stayed fixed on the doorway as he slowly backed up. He was mumbling something under his breath as he walked, but no one could quite understand what. Seth looked at his father with confusion as he moved past him. Moving his head back and forth between the hut and his father, he put on a looked that said one thing to the other two men in the group: “I’m going in there.”

Michael began taking a few steps towards Seth, but by that point he’d already turned to move towards the hut. He was close to it already, and he ran to it with enthusiasm; Michael really had no way to catching up. Throwing the curtain aside, He burst into the hut.

“What’s going on in here?” he demanded as he stormed into the small hut. His cool composure vanished pretty quickly as a startled Shane spun around, revealing his gaping jaw and impressive size. His body began to change, with most of his weight “sliding down into his legs, bulking them up while simultaneously shrinking his top half until his jacket fell off of his now scrawny arms. Seth was fumbling around with his pack trying to find the machete that should have been in there. Slowly backing out of the hut himself. Shane let out a bit of growl, sort of a low hum a bit like a grunt before launching all of the mass that was now in his legs forward, propelling his entire body out of the door, sending Seth flying out with him.

Crashing out the door, the collision sent Seth’s body flying, disorienting him on the landing. The sound of the whole thing grabbed everyone’s attention, immediately, even snapping William out of his almost trance-like state. Both Michael and the other student began running immediately, while William started shouting Seth’s name. Grabbing a large stick lying on the ground, William began charging towards Shane, flailing the club as he run. Shane switched his focus to Will. First collapsing into a ball, he launched out a long tentacle, which he plucked the club from William’s hand with, tossing it to the side. Forming back into a humanoid shape, he charged at William, batting him aside back towards the thick bushes he had cut the hole in earlier. Michael had just re-emerged from that very doorway, immediately helping William up.

“Will, we need to get out of here. Now!” He shouted at the tired, winded man. He wouldn’t hear any of it. Getting to his feet, he looked up to the shade, still staring right at him, slowly moving forward. Forming the same large, skull-like jaw, he began to build crack a bit of an intimidating smile.

BANG.

A gunshot had just rung out, echoing around the woods. The sounds of birds flying form their treetop resting places could be heard in all other directions. The entire forest seemed to get quieter in response. Shane’s smile had disappeared and he clutched at a small wound on what was currently his arm. He quickly spun around, eying Seth who now held up a small revolver towards Shane. He was lying on his side, propped up by his elbow, the entire contents of his pack spread out over the ground around him. The wound on his side was spilling out blood.

“Seth!” William shouted again. He wasn’t listening though. Him and Shane were locked in a staring matched that seemed to last forever. Finally Shane let out another growl, driving into the air, his body molding into one long snake like figure. Seth fired again, missing due to the unexpected the shape change. The next thing he knew, Shane was on top of him. He’d grabbed the hand that held the gun and was squeezing it, the rest of him covering Seth’s body, the weight holding him down. A crack could be heard followed by Seth’s screaming as Shane broke his wrist with the constriction. The gun fell down to their side.

Wrapping his tentacles around Seth’s neck, he began to squeeze. William started to run towards the two of them but Michael grabbed him, holding him back telling him it was too late. Seth and Shane’s eyes did not leave each others the entire time this struggle took place. The boy flailed his good arm around, trying to get a grasp on the gun again, but he couldn’t seem to find it. The whole thing seemed to last hours for everyone involved, but really it was no more then 2 minutes.

Dragging William out kicking a screaming, Michael ran. Seth’s flailing arm slowed down until it didn’t move any longer. Shane began to loosen his grip. Looking around and realizing the others had left, His body began to get the tingling feeling of fresh meat. Shane was only partially himself at this point. The animal inside him had taken over much of the confrontation, and now it was taking care of the spoils as well. Completely covering Seth’s limp body, Shane began to take the boy into himself. His body bubbled and grew, and he could feel his instincts starting to push his consciousness out of the way.

Then Black.