Cabin Creeper...

TK jogged up the last few paces toward the back of the cabin without breaking stride, her heart both pounding and soaring from her long morning jog. A deep sense of contentment, as well as the exhilaration that only came from a vigorous workout, pulsed through the young tigress. It was a beautiful day, deep in the woods miles away from the hustle and bustle of civilization...and she was alone. The perfect recipe for the relaxation and recuperation she so badly needed after all the strain and stress of her recent life.

But it was also a recipe for something else: The danger which so often intruded into that life. Danger which was watching her from the trees and bushes nearby as TK reached out and opened the cabin's door. A...thing which watched her with hungry, inhuman eyes. A cunning Thing which waited eagerly for the perfect moment to strike. She didn't see it...she didn't sense it. And though TK would have berated herself for missing its presence, very, very few would have noticed it at all, so well did it blend with the surroundings. These were Its woods, this was Its terrain...and It had all the advantages.

And then, just as she stepped inside and started to kick her sneakers off, giving the door a sharp, absent tug to send it swinging shut behind her...the Thing did strike. One of its thick tentacles shot through the closing gap and lashed around the startled tiger-heroine's throat from behind, sending her staggering backward with a abruptly-choked-off growl-gasp of alarm. Adrenaline and shock surged through TK's veins as she reached up to clutch at the tangling, snake-like appendage, giving another rasping gasp as it pulled and began dragging her backward toward the door. Her socks would have given her almost no traction on the cabin's well-kept old hardwood floorboards, even if she didn't have a loose rug underfoot which was starting to slide and bunch inconveniently beneath her scuffling, stumbling feet. TK struggled and growled as best she could, fear and fury whirling through her mind like a thunderstorm, the peace and happiness of a few seconds before gone like the fragments of a dream. Whatever had her though, it had her but-good, and though the battle was only seconds old - with far worse to come, she was sure - the experienced young warrior's instincts told her she already wasn't doing very well. And she hadn't even noticed the other tendrils snaking their way through the doorway, reaching out to tangle her in their insidious, monstrous grasp...