Dane walked in the door of the church, muttering to himself. He put his stuff down in the seat, and went back to the foyer, where he knew Steve and Cal

would be waiting to talk. Walking down the hall, Dane passed the bulletin board. On passing, he noticed a new note. On a plain sheet of paper, in big letters,

was pasted, "It's Coming," hastily scrawled. He didn't give it a second glance, taking it to be talking about the upcoming concert. Turning, he nearly ran

into a girl, who had just turned the corner. "Hey, what's new?" she said, glancing down the hall. "Not much, Julia, just heading to talk to Cal and see

if Faith's here yet. Is that new? It looks great," replied Dane, looking at her dress. "Yeah, thanks. Dad wants me there early again, I have to go," she

said, and walked off. Dane went into the foyer,

to see Cal listening to his iPod in the corner. "Where's Steve?" Dane asked, walking over. "He's not here yet," replied Cal, turning down his Three Days

Grace. "Has Faith come by yet?" he said quietly. "Yeah," Dane smirked, "She didn't look very happy. Maybe she was missing you." Cal punched Dane in the

shoulder, and Dane laughed. Just then, Steve walked up. "What's up?" he asked, slamming Cal on the back so hard he almost fell over. "Not much," replied

Dane, "I just got here, and Cal's struggling to breathe." Just then, the bell rang. "Early again? Dangit, I swear, one day.." Steve trailed off. "I'll see

you afterwards." Steve took off. Dane and Cal followed more slowly.

Dane sat down, after an annoyed look from his mother. He leaned forward, and whispered to the girl in front of him, "Psst, Julia, is Faith here yet?" "Yeah,"

she whispered back, "She just left for the restroom." Dane sat back as Pastor Evans started talking. He rifled through the songbook restlessly. His mother

hissed at him to stop moving. He tried, but he couldn't shake the nervous feeling that something wasn't quite right. As Pastor Evans called up Jimmy to talk

about the concert next week, a large crash was heard coming from the outside of the sanctuary. Dane looked out the window and saw a huge tree, engulfed in

flames, hurtling towards the roof. It smashed through and slammed down, inches from the podium. The organ caught fire, and panic spread through the church.

Shattering glass was heard from the foyer, and a deafening, gutteral roar. The doors to the sanctuary suddenly burst from their hinges, flying into the side

walls. There, framed in the flickering flame, stood a huge black.. thing. It looked like a dog, with one huge, unblinking eye in the center of its head,

and a huge maw, almost clear through its head. Its muscles bulged, and its eye was bloodshot. It rose to its full height, almost five feet tall on all

fours, and roared again, breaking windows and instilling pure fear in the hearts of all who heard it.

Dane and Julia were caught in the swarm of people. "Head for the window!" Dane shouted over the noise. They pushed through the mob, and dove out the now-

shattered window. They looked back through the hall to see Pastor Evans dashing down the aisle with a heavy metal candlestick. The dog stood there, its eye

unblinking, until the man was only a few feet away. Then it opened its mouth, and flames erupted from it. Pastor Evans hurled the candlestick, a split-

second before the fire engulfed him. It struck the dog right between its stumpy ears, making a dull thud. The dog leapt on another man, tore at his throat,

and roared his defiance to the sky. Julia turned away and sat against the wall, her eyes tight shut, but Dane continued to scan the crowd. He saw Cal jump

out a window on the opposite side, but saw no sign of Steve or Faith. He felt something bump his elbow, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to

see Steve looking in the window as well. "Why are we squatting?" he whispered to Dane. Dane didn't answer, still scanning the sanctuary. Then he sat down

against the wall next to Steve and Julia. "No sign of Faith," he said. "Maybe she didn't come back from the restroom yet?" offered Julia. "I really hope

so.." Steve said, and Dane put his head to the window again.

He never expected what he saw when he did. The thing was 3 feet away from the window, with his nose to the ground. Dane ever so slowly moved his head down

again, and whispered to Julia and Steve, "Run. Now." "How do I run in these?" Julia whispered, looking at her high heels. "Leave them and go," Dane hissed.

She took them off and started to run. Dane picked one of them up, and stood bolt upright, coming face to face with the thing. Dane stabbed the heel of the

shoe into the dog's paw, which was on the windowsill, and ran. He heard the thing's shriek of pain, and the sound of trees falling behind

him as it gave chase. Diving for the door to the crawlspace under the church, he could hear the dog's heavy breathing. He rolled in, bowling into Cal and

almost kicking Julia in the head. He spun around and slammed the steel grate door. A split-second later, he heard a heavy thud as the dog hurled itself

against the grating. The four scrambled to get to one side as it wrestled with the bars, which were beginning to bend. Dane felt a piece of wood as he was

crawling, and picked it up. With a shout of defiance, he stabbed it through the bars. It caught the dog square in the eye, and it fell back, whining. Suddenly

another scream was heard, which the monster perked its head at. Snarling, it bounded away in the direction of the scream.

"So!" said Steve, always energetic, "What do we want to do next? Stay here until the building burns down on top of us, or go outside and die a screaming,

burning..." "Shut up," snapped Cal. "What the heck is it?" Dane turned to Julia, who had said nothing since he had entered. Her eyes were all black, with

a strange red glow emanating from them. "I am the Black Shuck," she said, a demonic voice coming from her, "I am darkness, I am night. I am vengeance. I

emerged from the eternal fire, and now you will all burn, as I did. BURN! HAHAHAHAHA!" Trailing off

in maniacal laughter, the voice left Julia. As her eyes returned to normal, she collapsed. Moving to catch her, Dane said, almost bitterly, "Is that good

enough for you, Cal?" Cal huddled against the wall, saying nothing. "So!" said Steve, "It appears our remaining option is to go outside and die a screaming..."

"SHUT UP!" shouted Dane, holding Julia's head on his shoulder. Another burning tree shook the ground with its impact, and the crawl space was silent save

the quiet sobbing of Julia.

They sat there for several more minutes, listening to the carnage happening above and around them. Without warning, a burning beam hurtled through the top

of the space, falling inches from Steve's head. "Time to go?" he suggested, sliding open the steel grate and poking his head out. "No sign of the Shuck,"

he whispered to them, "Come on." The four crawled out and looked into the window directly above them. All they saw was the burnt-out sanctuary, with nothing

left alive inside except the black hulk of muscle, which was tearing at one of the carcasses. They ducked down quickly, and looked at Dane. "Faith may still

be in there," he said, sounding as if he didn't believe his own words. "Dude," Cal said skeptically, "There's no way that thing left anything alive. Unless.."

he trailed off, desperately trying to get the image he'd just conjured up out of his mind forever. "Well," piped up Steve, "Isn't it better to die for

someone you love with people you love than to just die?" Julia raised her head. "I'll go with you," she said. Cal stared at them in disbelief. "Are you guys

crazy? You're willing to go back to face that thing for some girl you barely know?" "Yup!" said Steve cheerfully, "She's always nice to me.." Dane and

Julia had already started to crawl away. Steve gave Cal one last look, and followed. With one last glance over his shoulder, Cal slinked back into the crawl

space, and slid the door shut.

The front door of the church was hanging by one hinge as they carefully made their way in. Dane picked up a twisted aluminum curtain rod, and Steve grabbed

a metal trash can lid. Julia found an ornamental cane in the coat closet, and they cautiously advanced into the burned-out church. The stench of death was

almost overwhelming, although they hadn't seen any dead yet. "Here's a supply closet," said Steve. "Maybe there's some survivors hiding out here?" He slowly

inched the door open. Since the death smell didn't knock them over, they advanced cautiously. As they did so, they heard the front door creak. "Quick! Close

the door!" hissed Steve. Julia closed it as quietly as she could, and they waited in the dark, scarcely daring to breathe. Suddenly, Steve tripped and fell,

the trash can lid he carried clattering to the ground. In their enclosed space, it was deafening. They heard footsteps approaching the door to the closet,

and the latch turning. Frozen with fear, they watched the door slowly open.

Cal stood and laughed quietly. "Did you guys really think I was going to abandon you? Or worse yet, jump in with a metal pole and sacrifice myself to save

you? How cliched would that be?" Dane considered hitting Cal with the curtain rod, but thought better of it. "Hey guys! Guess what it was I tripped over?"

Steve said cheerfully. "It smells pretty bad.." Cal let a little more light in, and they saw that the only other things left alive inside were the

flies buzzing around the bodies. "This thing is ruthless," said Dane, "It didn't even spare the little kids." "Well, he did say we would all burn.." Cal

muttered. "Seriously. Are you guys nuts? If it knows how to open doors, where could someone hide?" Julia perked up. "I think I know. The attic."

They cautiously opened the door to the closet again, and tiptoed out. Soon, they reached the place where the hall leading to the sanctuary intersected

the hall leading to the attic. "What do we do now?" asked Cal. "If he's looking this way he'll see us for sure, since the doors are busted down.." "Give me

that rod," said Steve. "I'll hold him off." Dane handed him the rod. "Dude, what chance do you have against that thing?" asked Dane. "More than you guys

have, having to worry about finding Faith. Today's as good a day to die as any." Steve jumped out into the hall, facing the sanctuary. Dane, Julia, and Cal

dove across the gap, and into the opposite side of the hallway. They heard the roar, and the pounding footsteps of the Shuck. Dane turned to see flames

engulf Steve, although his head was shielded by the trash can lid. For a second, the fire stopped. With a yell, Steve dove towards the dog with a yell of

defiance, and stabbed the now-white-hot metal rod into its eye. Still burning, Steve ran for the kitchen as the agonized yowls of the Shuck echoed through

the church. "Dane! Come on!" Cal yelled, pulling down the attic door and deploying the ladder. Turning, Dane headed up after them, the haunting scream of

the Shuck still burned into his mind.

Right now Faith's gonna be in the attic, along with Tom, who's mortally wounded, and then we go back down, to find Steve, who survived in a way I'll explain, and then as the Shuck is smelling us out and tries to burn us, but Cal jumps in front of the flames and hurls himself on the Shuck, burning both. Then Faith'll end up liking Tom and I'll end up with Julia, I guess..[/spoiler

 

Memoria!