“Okay,” she heard Dave whisper from the hallway. “Here goes.”
The door slowly opened with a loud creak.
“Jesus Christ!” With a loud crash, he fell back, sitting on the hallway floor, almost spilling into the living room. He scrambled back up as he looked at something in the doorway.
Kaitlyn and Hannah bolted off the couch to see what was happening.
Three of those things loomed in the doorway, trying to get in. One was already in, standing above Dave. It let out a low growl as something oozed out of its mouth. Kaitlyn stared at it, horrified. It looked at her and Hannah. Its eyes were weird: glossy and white and ... is he blind? she wondered. No. He knows we’re here. What does it—?
“Get back!” Dave yelled. She wasn’t sure if he was yelling at the things that just burst in, or at Hannah and her.
Dave got to his feet and pushed the drooling man toward the door. “Get out!” he yelled as he struggled.
The drooling man fought back.
Kaitlyn stood in shock, uncertain of what to do.
Dave looked back at the girls. “Go!” he yelled. “Get back!”
Hannah clung to Kaitlyn, watching her father struggle with the first man as a second one joined the fight. It looked like the woman was going to jump in too.
They all had the same desperate, hungry look on their faces.
“Come on,” Kaitlyn said, tugging Hannah. “Let’s go back to the couch, okay?”
“No!” Dave yelled, as he was shoved further into the hall. “Get back!”
Kaitlyn was confused. They had to ‘get back,’ but not to the living room? She looked around the house. They couldn’t get upstairs—they were blocked by this struggle; she had no idea where the basement was—it hadn’t been on the tour. She glanced to the kitchen—the back door! That was what he meant!
“Come on!” she said, pulling Hannah. “We have to go.”
“Nooo!” Hannah screamed, as she was pulled away. “Daddy!” She tried to get back to her father just as desperately as those other people were trying to get past him. Kaitlyn knew that if Hannah got away from her, she’d run straight into those people, and who knew what they would do to her. They looked more than crazy.
They looked possessed.
Hannah screamed and cried as Kaitlyn dragged her through the kitchen. The sounds of the struggle followed them: he yelled, they growled. As she reached for the backdoor, Kaitlyn stopped to hear what was happening. If the fight was over and Dave had forced the intruders back outside—
SMASH!
No. They had to leave. Now.
A consuming darkness faced them as she opened the door. Instinctively, she tried to turn on the outside light to see. When nothing happened, she felt the dark roll in on them. The single candle from the kitchen cast almost no light through the door. However, through the blackness there was a large darker spot: the house behind the Moores’ backyard. They would head there. She wanted to yell to Dave to let him know, but then the intruders would know too. She’d go now and check back later. They would both return soon to wait for her mother.
A flashlight on the table caught her attention. She grabbed it and shone it out the door. None of the intruders had gone to the backyard. They had a clear path. She opened the door and dragged the nearly hysterical Hannah along with her.
“Daddy! No!” Hannah screamed, as they left her home and her father behind.
“He’ll be okay,” Kaitlyn said into the darkness. It took all she had to hold the other girl. Luckily it was a straight line between the door she had just left and the door to which she was headed, with very few obstacles for her to manoeuvre around.
She pulled open the screen and grabbed the door knob. Locked. Of course it’s locked! she thought, ashamed of herself. Her plan had failed mere moments after she had come up with it. She looked around, hoping to see another way in, but no, there was just one small window on this side. She lowered her head, trying to think of a new plan. Hannah’s loud sobs rang in her ears when she noticed a rock on the step. A fake rock. Oh please. She picked it up and found a key inside. Her plan would work after all. She flung open the door, yanked Hannah through, and slammed it behind them.
She sat on the floor of the enclosed porch, trying to catch her breath and looking at their new surroundings. This room led to the kitchen. She pointed the flashlight toward it. From what she could see, the layout looked almost the same as the Moores’ house.
Hannah kept crying as Kaitlyn hugged her closer.
When she felt they had sat long enough, she decided to try to make the younger girl stop crying, or at least distract her. “Hey, Hannah,” she asked, giving her a slight shake. Go with what she knows, she thought, thinking back to her babysitting tips. Find a pattern. “Wanna do a tour of this place? It looks like it’s the same as your house. Maybe it’s a mirror image, or maybe we can look for the differences? Or—”
Hannah looked up at her and then back down, continuing to sob. “When’s Daddy coming?”
“I dunno,” Kaitlyn said, unsure of what to say. “Probably soon. If not, we’ll go back.”
“But ... but ... but ... what about those people that Daddy was ... was ...”
“They’ll be gone,” Kaitlyn said with some degree of confidence. “Your daddy will make them leave, and then it’ll be safe for us to go back. Okay?”
Hannah nodded and squeezed Kaitlyn tighter. She looked into the kitchen. “This is Bob and Florence’s house,” she said with the flat-fact tone Kaitlyn was getting used to. “They were at the school, so they’re probably not here.”
“I didn’t think so,” Kaitlyn said. “You’ve been here before?”
Hannah nodded.
“Oh, good. So you know your way around?”
Hannah nodded again.
“Okay.
