Now, they had it.
There was nothing on the road, from any of the views or camera types. He didn’t see anything else until he finally got to the camera that was mounted on the side of the barn. On that thermal view, their metal roof was nearly black. When he adjusted the range of the colors, he saw the outlines of several of them. They had somehow climbed up the side of the barn and were trying to scale the roof of the shed. One of the dark shapes slipped and took out another one. Alan had a brief flash of hope that the metal would prove too slippery for them to navigate, but then one of the creatures made it to the peak and started to work its way towards the house.
“It’s okay,” Alan said. “Even if they’re on the roof, there’s no way in. The second floor glass is upgraded as well.”
“That tapping thing they do…” Liz said.
“The latches are electric. I think we’re okay. And even if they’re able to break the glass, remember that the pieces will slow them down,” Alan said.
“What about the chimney?” Joe asked.
Alan and Liz looked at each other with wide eyes.
# # #
“No,” Liz said. “You’ve been out risking yourself this whole time. I’ll go. I’ll light the fire and be back in two shakes. The lights are all on anyway.”
“Liz, the fact that they exist isn’t my fault, but the fact that they’re here? That has to be my fault. I’m going. No more arguing. We’re wasting time.”
She clearly didn’t agree, but she didn’t move to stop him when Alan went for the door.
“Stay safe, Dad,” Joe said.
Alan nodded.
He slipped through the door and closed it behind himself. Alan didn’t move away from it until he heard it latch. The speakers in the living room were humming. Joe had opened up the channel so Alan could hear them breathing. If something got inside the house, they would alert him.
He slipped along the interior wall, around the corner, and made his way to the fireplace. They had a brass basket that held decorative chunks of birch. On the other side, there was a newspaper waiting to be recycled. Alan shut the flue with the lever and started crumpling paper as he kept his eyes on the window. The curtains were shut but he still saw a flicker of something moving out there. He turned away fast, remembering that it wasn’t safe to look.
The eyes would be hypnotic.
Alan added birch on top of the piled paper. He couldn’t remember the last time they had used the fireplace. When they first moved in, they had stacked wood in the shed and enjoyed a good fire almost every weekend. It turned the living room into a cozy hideaway. Then, the porcupines had invaded their shed. The only way to get rid of them was to stop keeping wood. Now, the only logs were the decorative ones in the basket. Alan could only hope that there was enough wood to last until dawn.
He reached for the box of matches and knew it was empty as soon as he picked it up.
“Dad,” Joe’s voice said through the living room speakers, “they’re coming.”
Alan dropped the matches and ran. In the kitchen they had candles in one of the drawers. He lit one from the stove and cupped his hand around the flame as he walked as fast as he dared back to the living room.
Liz’s voice came through next. “They’re climbing up the wall and they’re… They’re on the peak.”
Dropping to his knees, Alan touched the candle to the paper and it burst into quick flames.
“They’re coming across. It’s hard to see, but we think they’re almost at the chimney,” Joe said.
Alan leaned forward and blew to fan the flames. The smoke stung his eyes. He could close the glass doors. That might give them a fraction of a second more before the creatures came into the living room. Aside from that, he didn’t know what else to do. Smoke was rolling out from the chimney and Alan finally remembered.
“The flue!” he said.
He reached in over the flames, ignoring the fact that the hair on his arm caught, and he pushed the lever to open the flue. The draft blew over the fire and it flared. The bark of the birch crackled as it lit. Smoke billowed upwards. He could only hope it was enough. Alan shut the glass doors, making sure the vents were fully open and he ran for the closet. They anticipated his arrival and the door to their safe room opened and Liz pulled him inside as Joe slammed the door behind him.
It locked into place.
His robe was still smoking.
“Are they coming down?” Alan asked.
Joe activated the screen and turned it so Alan could see. Their shapes on top of the chimney were dark holes in the picture. The smoke from the chimney showed up as glowing vapor, dissipating into space.
“The furnace,” Alan said to Joe. His son understood immediately. They all had the app on their phone. Joe used his to crank up the heat so the furnace’s exhaust would add to the smoke from the chimney. Sure enough, the creatures backed away.
“I can’t believe it’s working,” Liz said.
“What about him?” Alan asked. He scrolled through the cameras until he found the stationary image of the man against the woods.
“Him?” Liz asked.
“It’s SE Prescott,” Alan said. “I’m sure of it. We disturbed his rest and that’s why he’s here. He caught my scent.”
“How would he get here so quickly?” Liz asked.
Alan shook his head. “I don’t know.”
# # #
For a couple of hours, everything was quiet.
They didn’t have much to make them comfortable in the small space, but Joe was curled up with a blanket and a pillow and
