The Gathering Dark

Valerie’s POV

The footsteps came first.

Slow. Steady. Heavy enough that each one sent a faint vibration through the damp floor beneath my cot, rattling in my bones as though the walls themselves knew who was coming. I didn’t move right away. My knees were drawn up, my arms wound tight around them, fingers digging into the fabric of my sleeves. I had been sitting like that for hours, my head restin