“There, Dad,” Joe said, pointing at the corner of the display. He let his son move to a different view, where they caught a glimpse of the black shape moving off the screen again. The next view show the creature slipping in through the window.
“It’s in the house,” Alan whispered.
“Lots of them are,” Joe said.
Alan didn’t care so much about most of them. He had dealt with them before. There was something different about the one from the side yard. It frightened him to his core.
“How long until dawn?” Liz asked.
“Seven minutes.”
“We can make it,” she said. “We just have to hold out. You still hear the banging, Joe?”
Their son shook his head and then closed his eyes, concentrating. A moment later, he opened his eyes and nodded.
“Yeah.”
“What’s going on,” Liz wondered aloud. “I don’t understand.”
Alan was closest to the door. He reacted quickly when the mechanism snapped and the door began to swing inwards. He threw himself against it, forcing it shut. In an instant, Liz was by his side, holding it too. The force against the door was unbelievable, like they were trying to hold back a flood at the base of a dam. It was a battle that they were quickly losing as the door inched inwards.
“This is impossible,” Alan whispered.
Joe was holding the screen with the views from the cameras.
“There’s nothing out there,” Joe said. “Look.”
Alan could only spare a quick glance. All his effort was focused on trying to make sure that the door didn’t move any farther.
“He’s right, Alan,” Liz said.
“Don’t tell me there’s nothing there. Can’t you feel it?”
“Alan, let go.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Keep pressing,” she said. “Just let go of the handle.”
“No. How much time?”
“Four minutes,” Joe said.
“We just have to keep them out for four minutes. They won’t risk being out in the sunlight,” Alan said between gasping breaths. His energy was starting to give out. He didn’t know if he would be able to keep up his effort for four seconds, let alone four minutes.
“Three and a half,” Joe said.
“Alan, there’s nothing in the hall. The lights are on. Living room, too. They’re only out in the den, kitchen, and upstairs.”
“They move fast, remember?” Alan asked. “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to open this door. They’re in your head, Liz. Remember the trance we fell into in the hotel room?”
“I never fell into a trance,” she said.
She still had her shoulder against the door, but Liz took her hands away and moved them to Alan’s hand. His white knuckles were gripping the inside handle. She was trying to peel his fingers away.
“Liz, what are you doing?”
“Keep pushing on the door, but let go!” she said.
“You’re not making any sense.”
“Three minutes,” Joe said.
“They’re going to have to hide in the cellar,” Alan said. “Or the barn. I don’t know where else they will go.”
“The ones on the roof are gone,” Joe said. “I just saw a couple leave through the kitchen window.”
The door opened another quarter of an inch. There was enough of a gap where Alan could imagine taloned fingers probing into the room. He almost hoped they would so he could slam shut the door and guillotine them off.
“Alan, let go!” Liz said.
She balled her hand into a fist and started to beat at his strained fingers.
“Liz! Stop it! Are you crazy? Joe, help me out.”
“Maybe Mom is right,” Joe said.
Alan’s eyes went wide. “You’re both crazy. He’s in your head—don’t you understand?”
“But, Dad, why are you pulling on the handle?” Joe asked.
Alan looked down at his own hand. The door swung inwards, yes, but he was gripping the handle in order to give himself more grip to push with. He didn’t understand why his family couldn’t comprehend that. He was the only thing keeping them from being mercilessly attacked by the monsters on the other side of the door.
Liz pounded on his fingers and then his wrist, trying to break his grip.
Alan yelled in pain and pressed his head against the door.
That’s when he heard the drumbeat of the thumping. It was impossible to him that he hadn’t heard it before. It was like a low heartbeat, thrumming through the structure of the house. Alan immediately understood that it was a form of hypnosis, just like their eyes had been. He couldn’t remember for sure if Liz had been entranced at the hotel or not, but he remember that he had been. He realized that it might be happening again.
Giving in to faith in his wife and son, Alan let go of the door.
It immediately slammed shut.
He reached with sore fingers and closed the mechanism again.
“Ninety seconds,” Joe said.
Alan kept his hand on the latch. It was supposed to be electrically and mechanically interlocked, so nothing would open it when it was engaged from the inside. Somehow, it had opened.
“Dad,” Joe said.
He tiled the screen so both of his parents could see it. They watched a dark shape exit through the kitchen window and walk down the sloped surface of the bulkhead door. It disappeared out of frame. Joe switched the view but wasn’t fast enough to see the thing before it slipped into the woods.
“It should be sunrise now,” Joe said.
“Give it time for the sun to really come up,” Liz said.
Joe nodded. He flipped through until he found the highest camera—the one mounted on the barn. The three of them watched until the sky brightened and the sun finally began to peek up from above the trees.
“I have to go,” Alan said. “I want to get to Ricky’s.”
Liz nodded.
“Be careful.”
“Put the barn door up, would you?” he asked Joe. His son pulled up the controls and the door began to rise, letting the first sunlight into the barn.
Alan took a breath and opened the door.
Twenty-Three: Ricky
Ricky’s headlights swept over the road as he made his turn into the driveway. The sun was just starting to brighten the sky in the east. All
