This week, Samuel Sattin’s The Silent End will be released in bookstores everywhere. The story of The Silent End takes place from the first-person perspective of high school senior Nathaniel Eberstark, as he and his friends Lexi and Gus discover something in the woods of their small town. Something that can only be described as a wounded monster.
For Eberstark, this means that his father’s crazy stories about hunting monsters aren’t so crazy afterall. But this discovery is only the beginning of the horror for Eberstark and his friends. Their decision to hide the monster leads them deeper into a supernatural conspiracy within the town that may cost them more than just their lives.
The Silent End has been described as “Stand by Me mixed with The Goonies and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” And CraveOnline is proud to present an exclusive excerpt from The Silent End. But first, enjoy Jacob Magraw’s map of Mossglow, the town featured in the novel. Click on the image to see it in full size!
The door swung silently, and we peered inside. a haze of light from the rest of the cottage cast gray-blue shade on the entrance, but beyond that was a pitch so dark it was as if the dark itself were a hungry, living thing.
“Flashlight,” whispered Lexi.
Gus tossed her his Maglite, and she shined it into the room. The beam appeared to travel a yard or two, but then, as opposed to hitting an end, was swallowed as if into nothingness. The room appeared to go further back than the house itself should have allowed.
“Hurry up…” Gus was whispering though his voice felt far off.
A steely cold cut away at my nose and cheeks. I heard a soft sucking sound.
My sneaker toe tested the ground at each step to make sure I didn’t fall forward. A few feet in, something stringy and web-like brushed across my face. I would have panicked had it not been for Lexi. She put her hand on my shoulder and shushed me before reaching out to tug what turned out to be a string. She pulled it and—click—a hot, yellow light flooded the room.
A gigantic spread of black sludge was eating away at the wall. A sprawling fungus that traveled across almost the entire width of the room from floor to ceiling. Off to the left, near the door, was a simple, well-made twin bed, and to the right, in almost exactly the same position, were two metal filing cabinets and a small, wooden table. One of the cabinets had been left ajar, and upon the desk lay an open file. But the tapestry of murk kept our full attention.
Lexi made a chittering sound, and when I looked at her, I saw her breath was steaming.
“Are you okay?” As I spoke, I realized mine was doing the same.
“W-w-what i-i-is it?” She was almost incomprehensible.
I stepped toward the wall, conscious of the fact that my clothes, already wet from the rain, were hardening up so quickly with frost I could barely walk. Is this how Mrs. Duncan had felt? I wondered. Had she woken up to an unworldly temperature that turned her blood to ice? And how the hell did Mr. Kraft sleep in a place like this?
Staring into the mass on the wall was like staring into a cavern. A hole that had been dug to an evil dimension. I discerned some sort of movement inside. Or at least I thought I did. A liquid-like compound sloshing around like water in an underground well. I almost wanted to drive my hand into it, into that cold, rippling dark, but kept a careful distance. This was when I noticed an event occurring. Something at its edges. The mold, it was shriveling. Peeling from the wall. Stepping back, I understood this was because it had begun to shrink. Slurp toward its center as it receded. Squiggling spores puckered from the drywall, leaving it wet but unblemished beneath.
“It’s shhhhh-shhhh-shhhh,” I stuttered. “It’s g-g-getting smaller.”
Lexi, beyond words at this point, hobbled up to it. Her body looked injured, her hands in claws, but she didn’t let that stop her.
“C-come.” She flipped back her hood, turned her ear, and motioned me closer. “L-l-l-listen.”
Click over to the next page to read the conclusion of our exclusive excerpt from The Silent End!
