Avp 2004 3

But hours after the object was brought into their camp, Karl was jolted out of his narrow sleeping bunk by the sound of screams. Yanking on boots but leavinghis coat, Karl dashed across the icy street to the warehouse. The doors were ajar, and one of them had been torn off its hinges.

In the center of the room Karl found
four dead men-more than dead, they were ripped apart, and their heads and spinal columns had been severed and removed. More ominous, the strange coffinlike object was now wide open and empty, and inside the drafty warehouse, mingled with the smell of freshly spilled blood, was a dank, reptilian stench.

Back outside, and shivering on the street, Karl discovered mammoth, bloody footprints leading out of the warehouse and across the street. The crimson spoor formed a path right up to the rough wooden building where the sailors bunked. There, at the door, he saw a ghostly shape shimmering in the frigid air. Before he could shout a warning, Karl watched some invisible force smash down the door and surge into the sailors' quarters. He heard cries of surprise and panic-then fear and agony from inside the building. There was a single shot, then a severed human hand flew through the door, still clutching a small pistol.-Chpt.1 pg.14