Ricky screamed when something pulled at his ankle. He saw his mother working the straps and glanced to see Alan helping Amber and George.
When Tucker barked, fresh terror washed through Ricky. The dog was in the car—trapped and helpless if the monsters came after him. His mother loosened the last strap and Ricky climbed off the table. Amber cut in front of him as he dashed for the car. The light from the headlights spilling out of the garage quickly faded. The night was a big ocean of blackness around them.
Ricky opened the car door and Tucker rushed to him.
“Come on,” he said to the dog. “Into the light.”
There was a flashlight and a big bag of bird seed on the seat next to Tucker. Ricky grabbed both and raced with the dog back around into the headlights.
“Stay here. Stay in the light,” he said to Tucker, knowing that the words meant nothing. He ripped open the top of the bag and began to hurl handfuls of seeds into the darkness and across the clean garage floor.
“George!” Alan shouted. Mary pulled George from the table as shadows shifted above them. They fell backwards into Alan and he dragged them into the light.
“Where’s Amber?” Mary asked.
Ricky opened his mouth to answer and then realized he didn’t know. She had run past him just a moment before.
The overhead lights came on.
Bright purple light above made them all flinch backwards. A shadow near George erupted with horrible shrieks and the creature was visible. Tucker barked as the thing twisted and smoked. A moment later, there was nothing left but a quickly evaporating puddle on the garage floor.
Amber jogged back towards the headlights.
“I found the switch,” she said, pointing up towards the light. “The switch locks on, but we shouldn’t trust the lights to stay on.”
Ricky understood what she meant. Beyond the confines of the garage, there was still a thumping sound reverberating in the air. George shielded his eyes from the lights, trying to see up beyond them. His mother had her phone out. The screen reflected purple up into the shadows above. Ricky didn’t see any of their eyes. He wondered if the creatures up there were already dead.
George wasn’t content to simply wonder. He went fast to the truck and picked up the table that Ricky had been strapped to. Lifting it high, George brought the table down on the truck’s side mirror, snapping the closure. The side mirror was encased in a cloth bag. Ripping it free, George used the mirror to reflect the purple lights up into the space above the rafters. The bright beam of light worked like magic. When George exposed one of the things, it screamed a high-pitch whine and tumbled down from the framing. As the creature tumbled down into the lights, it nearly vaporized before it even hit the floor. Tucker barked at the twisted mass of dissolving flesh.
“I’m so glad you made me attractive to these things, Ricky,” George said.
Alan and Amber moved in opposite directions. Alan smashed a window and pulled a big chunk of glass from the frame. Amber opened the door to Romeo’s truck and wrenched the rearview mirror off so she could imitate what George was doing. That mirror was bagged as well.
“Watch it, Amber,” Mary said. She pointed as Amber was sliding out of the truck. Ricky saw it too—there were glowing eyes in the shadows under there. Crouching, George managed to reflect a beam of light under there and the creature screeched and fled deeper into the darkness.
Amber jumped out when she had a chance. She knelt too and she and George managed to pin the creature with their beams of light until it was dispatched. Alan used his chunk of glass to reflect light up. He chased a couple of the creatures but couldn’t kill them until George and Amber helped. Their light was stronger and when the three of them converged their lights on the same spot it meant burning death for the monsters.
Ricky added his flashlight to their strength and saw movement in a corner. His light found the hole up in the top of the gable.
“They’re getting out,” Amber said.
The thumping outside warned them that there were still more of the monsters out in the night.
“We need to get out of here before Romeo finds a way to shut off these lights,” Ricky said. He looked at the patch of darkness they would have to cross to get back to the car doors.
“No,” Amber said. “He’s still in there. I’m going after him.”
“And do what?” Ricky asked.
He saw an answer in her eyes. It wasn’t the same thing that came out of her mouth.
“Justice,” she said.
“Agreed,” Alan said.
“You’re crazy,” Ricky said.
“They’re right, Ricky,” his brother said. “We have to press our advantage or else we’ll be looking over our shoulders day and night. While we have him cornered, we need to neutralize him.”
“But what does that mean?” Ricky asked. “Are you going to murder him?”
“Isn’t that what he just tried to do to us?” Amber asked. “He strapped us down to sacrifice us. If your mom and Alan hadn’t come along, we would be dead.”
“That doesn’t mean we can murder him.”
“He’s going to lead them to us again,” Alan said. “We can’t let him do that.”
Ricky looked between the three of them. Amber, Alan, and George didn’t look like anything would sway their opinion. If he had to, Ricky knew that he could make George back down. It wouldn’t mean anything if he couldn’t talk Amber and Alan out of what they were planning.
Ricky looked to his mother for help.
“You think they’re in there?” his mother asked. “Those things—are they inside?”
“I don’t know,” Ricky said. “I doubt it, but I can’t be sure.”
“Well, I think we should go have a conversation with Romeo,” Mary said. “Then we’ll know if he intends to be reasonable
