Hannah looked up at her. “Can I hold the flashlight?”
Kaitlyn smiled; Hannah was, for the moment, distracted with her new task. “Sure.” She handed the flashlight to the smaller girl.
“Okay,” Hannah said, shining it around the kitchen, “let’s go to the living room.”
She got up and pulled Kaitlyn up after her. As they passed through the kitchen, she shone the light on the fridge. “Do you think they have any food?”
“Only one way to find out,” Kaitlyn said with a smile. She hadn’t noticed until she stood up that she was still shaking. Fortunately, Hannah either didn’t notice, or didn’t let it bother her. She couldn’t let her see. There was no one else. The act was over, and now she was all Hannah had, at least until someone came to find them.
If someone came to find them.
DAY 6
KAITLYN
They sat in the living room, curtains drawn, eating peanut butter sandwiches in front of the TV as if it worked. Their flashlight was the only light source, but they had gotten used to doing things in the dark.
As she ate her sandwich, Kaitlyn thought about her mother again. If she had tried this house, she would have found so much food, and then come back so long ago! Or we all could have come here! Or—
“How long has it been?”
“What?” Kaitlyn said, coming out of her thoughts.
“How long have we been here?”
“Um,” Kaitlyn looked for a clock, to no avail. “I don’t know.” She had no idea what time it was when they left the house, although they’d all slept for a while before the creatures came. Kaitlyn thought it must be getting close to morning. “Maybe half an hour?”
“Can we go back?” Hannah asked, a hint of a whine creeping in.
“I dunno,” said Kaitlyn. She didn’t have much of a plan. More a ‘run-and-hide’ idea. But she had to work out some kind of answer for Hannah before she fell back into hysterics. “Maybe another half hour,” she said. “That way your dad will have an hour to—”
SMASH! BANG!
Both girls jumped and screamed.
“What was that?!”
“I don’t know!”
BANG!
They jumped and screamed again.
“The back door!” Hannah moaned. “The backdoor! The backdoor!”
“It’s okay,” Kaitlyn said, trying to stay calm. “I ... I locked it ... I think.” I must have. I can’t be that stupid.
BANG!
“Can ... can you check?” Hannah asked, shaking.
Kaitlyn swallowed hard. She had hoped Hannah wouldn’t ask that. She thought for a moment, looking at the end of the flashlight beam which vibrated in Hannah’s hands. “Yeah,” she said, eventually. “I can check. Can I have the flashlight?”
Hannah shook her head.
“I need it to see if the door is locked.”
Hannah looked at the flashlight in her hands and begrudgingly handed it to Kaitlyn. In the dining room, Kaitlyn bent around the corner, but she couldn’t see the porch door. She took a deep breath and took a step in. The linoleum floor was cold under her feet. She hadn’t noticed before that she wasn’t wearing shoes. She didn’t think to grab them before they left Hannah’s house. She shone the light on the porch door.
“It’s locked,” she said, staring at the door.
SMASH!
A hand came through the door’s window, quickly followed by a head and shoulders. Shards of protruding glass gashed open the intruder’s face.
Frozen in shock, all Kaitlyn could do was look at the face of the intruder—a woman—who was trying very desperately to get into this house.
“What happened?” Hannah called weakly from the other room.
Whether it was fear for her own life, or to protect Hannah, Kaitlyn yelled. “Go away! The door is locked! Go away!” She picked up the jar of peanut butter they had left on the counter and threw it. She missed and the intruder snarled.
“Kaitlyn,” Hannah yelled through sobs. “What’s that noise? I’m scared!”
“Hannah,” she started, not sure what words would follow.
She didn’t get the chance.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
...
SMASH!
BANG!
The sounds weren’t coming from the kitchen. They came from the living room, or maybe outside. Hannah let out a brief scream, then silence.
No. Not silence. There was noise, but she couldn’t figure out what. She ran to the living room, tripping over a chair, then bumped into the table in the dining room. “Hannah?” she said, into the darkness. “Hannah, where are you?” She shone the light around the room, searching. She didn’t see her, but she did see the source of the noises she had heard.
The picture window in the living room was smashed in. Something had splattered the jagged glass. Whatever it was, it was very sticky and thick. Red and black goop.
“Hannah?!” Kaitlyn screamed. “Where are you?” She went to the window, thinking that the younger girl had jumped through it trying to escape. She did not see her, but she did see the source of the noise she was hearing.
There were dozens of them. The intruders. They were all over the place. On the street, in the front yard, on the step.
And now, with a broken window, nothing separated them.
“Hannah?!” she screamed, backing away from the window. “We have to—” She kicked something soft and heavy on the floor. It was a hand. She grabbed it to pull Hannah up, but no one was attached to it.
Just a hand with a dangling string of muscles.
She screamed, as she dropped the hand and the flashlight.
She stumbled back, the hand sticking to her foot. She fell to the floor in front of the couch, where she had been safely sitting just a few minutes prior.
The flashlight shone straight ahead by the coffee table, illuminating two heads. One belonged to Hannah, lying unconscious on the floor. The other, Kaitlyn didn’t recognize.
“H—hello?” Kaitlyn said, hoping it would answer. Or maybe not. She wasn’t sure.
She looked closer at the stranger and realized that it, too, was not attached to anything else. It was just a head. She would have
