The wind whistled through the trees, creaking through dying branches and rustling through the dry leaves littering the rugged tar beneath his boots. 

Telephone poles loomed ominously in the dark as the lone streetlamp lighting the road guttered and finally blew out, plunging the street into darkness.

Seungyoon stopped for a minute before forging on, shivering a little in the cold. He was wrapped securely in a windcheater and a thick woolen scarf, but the chill seeped into his skin as sure as poison.

He walked faster, head bowed against the wind. The howling was worse now, a fine sleet starting to drizzle. He cursed under his breath, balling his fists deeper into his pockets. The last thing he wanted was to get drenched and catch a cold.

The moon was dull and waning, partially obscured by scurrying clouds. The weak light illuminated very little as he turned left into a weed choked alley, soles crunching over broken glass.

Not too far now.

The sleet began to fall in earnest, pellets of hail skimming over his exposed face. Treading carefully over patches of fast forming ice, he climbed over the chained gate onto the main road, heaving a sigh of relief as he spotted the familiar rows of houses on each side.

He had only walked a few steps when he stopped abruptly.

What was that?

He whirled around, trying to find the source of the noise. He was sure that he had heard right – a