The place might have been deserted, save for the smoke he saw rising from the kitchen chimney.

He tried to call, but found he had no voice left.

An unearthly guttural hiss alternately rattled and wheezed in his throat.

He fumbled for the rifle, got it to his shoulder, and pulled the trigger.

The recoil of the discharge tore through his frame, racking it with a thousand agonies.