I Have Been Tested

I labored long into the night – and awoke to screams. I made an error in my methods… my family has paid the price. Both of the Withered I had caught died upon the table. Yet… and I see my mistake now… when I had taken the second Withered from the pen, I did not lock the gate – and when they rose again hours later, they found the cage unlocked. Then, they found Genevieve. They found Simon. The first beast was still skulking outside the house – all I could see was red. I planted a hatchet in its skull, and it turned to ash. The second one soon followed… but as their corpses vanished, the corpses of my wife, my son… they remained.