02:03:36 (2:04 AM)

November 28, 20XX

The sound of my phone making that horrid AMBER alert sound disturbed my much needed sleep. Without looking I groped for it on my bedside countertop, and locked it a few times so it'd shut up. Once it did it again, thunder struck outside and I reached over, pressed the volume all the way down and carelessly tossed it back onto the hardwood bed stand. Ain't nobody got time for poop colored Lamborghinis or whatever the hell it was goin' on about.

Now that I was irritably awake, I tossed and turned helplessly and unwillingly drinking in the bloody ruckus outside through my ears. The wind and my neighbor's dog was howling. Rain was drilling into the roof and a helicopter whirred in the distance. It wasn't until the dog next door yelped and went silent that I opened my eyes.

Weird, it just stopped. It was like someone went out of their way and slapped it to be quiet but no one in their right mind would go through the effort in this rain. My teeth were grit when I heaved an aggravated breath and checked the time on my phone. My eyes took a moment to adjust but that's when I noticed several ominous things. First, my mom called. Not just once, but several times. She's at work, in the middle of the night and several thousand miles away. I doubt she was trying to make a social call at two something in the morning and was desperate enough to call seven times.

Second, my phone was bombarded with messages that read:

"Official EAS WEA (Emergency Alert System Wireless Emergency Alert): Presidential Shelter-in-Place warning. The country is in the state of EMERGCON 'Hot Box'. This is not an excercise-" something clattered downstairs. After a moment more of the incessant rain I set my phone down, and raked my hair out of my face before getting up with a groggy yawn. I wrapped myself up with my black blanket to shield myself from the night's chill. Was there a draft? I tucked my phone into my shorts riding up and the big thing was cramped-no, sticking halfway out lazily as I made my way down the stairs. The wooden floor creaked as I walked.

"Dad? Are you home?"

I heard the television on as I descended down the steps. In the kitchen, none of the lights were on, the moon or whatever light that filtered from outside illuminated the hall and stairs a bit but the kitchen was almost completely dark. The only light was the refrigerator being ajar but that was blocked off by the island in our humble kitchenette. Unease started gnawing at my insides. Wind howling sometimes added to the creepy meter our quaint little house in the middle of a stormy night. Maybe dad is in the easy chair with some ice cream? Passing the kitchen I came to the front door with Dad's bedroom on my right and the living room on my left.

Stepping across the wide, doorless threshold I gazed at the scene before me. No one was in the room, and the only sound aside from the cacophony outside was the purring of the heater and the repeating recording of the President's message. Fear was slowly rising up in me. I jumped at the distant sound of a scream and gunshot. What had gripped south Texas as I was sleeping?

My phone started vibrating in my pocket and it was mom... again. She sounded frantic and I still didn't know what was going on.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"Thank God! Sarah, you need to listen to me. Go get the gun in the bedroom-"

"Mom you're scaring me. What's going on? You're boss is on the EAS."

"Look, look, listen to me. Where is your father?"

"I-I haven't seen him."

"Oh, oh God. Honey, get the gun in the cupboard and don't let ANYONE inside. Even your father."

"Mom! Why-?"

After a distant crack of thunder the television and heater cut off. The only sound now was the rain, my mother's yapping, and breathing. Things is, what I saw reflecting off the blank television had my breath caught in my throat. Taking slow, labored, and animalistic breaths behind me was a little brunette girl. Water was dripping off of her. Her night gown was soaked. The shoulder length locks were dripping as well and unkempt. Even though I couldn't make out her face something extremely weird is going on. She was far to young to be seen alone even in the day time.

Even though I'm so-so with kids her breathing just felt uncanny. It's was closer to hissing rather than breathing. I was frozen in place for a moment, unsure of what to do. The girl was at least six feet behind me. My mom noticed my silence and asked,

"Honey, what's wrong?"

I whispered sheepishly, "There's... something right behind me."

"Get the gun."

"I-It's a little girl."

She repeated the order in steel just before the power cut back on. A police siren passed the back of the house and there was a crash. I could see with my mind's eye as the girl flicked her head towards the sound, grunted and pattered down the hall. The wood floor didn't creek under her weight as she went away, was she in the kitchen earlier? Why was the fridge open? Was she behind the island eating something and that's why I didn't see her right away?

My grip tightened on my black blanket like a cloak. Come to think of it, did it just help me blend into the shadows of the dim living room right now? Regardless, I tried to step into the hall and slip into my parents room before slamming and locking the door behind me. Before I could do that, however, the floor creaked and I froze in place. The little girl was by the staircase, the back door flapping in the storm behind her as she slowly turned to me.

From this angle I saw the girl's face. Her eyes weren't dead, no, they drank in too much to belong to a small girl. Blood lazily masked the lower part of her face but I was positive that she didn't paint it onto her mouth. Something primal possessed this girl and this animal was about to pounce. One could just tell.

Without warning the woman stamped her foot, screamed and rushed towards me. I was so startled I did two very natural things: one, I cussed, and the second thing I did was put my foot up to kick her. Oh, and I dropped my phone. In fact my foot collided so solidly that two teeth left her mouth. One careened to the floor and the other was painfully embedded in my foot. Streaming together yet more curses I grabbed the closest semi-heavy thing—a lamp—and threw it onto the girl's head point blank. Though lighter than a brick, blood still spat from the girl's head and I was heaving on adrenaline from the scrap.

She groaned and I half-ran-half-hopped to my parents room and clamored over the cupboard for the revolver. I found it and saw movement behind me in the mirror. My hand flew to my mouth as the girl held her eye in her palm, looking at it before burning her glare into me. Squeezing her swelling eyeball in her fist I swallowed my vomit before it escaped and pointed the revolver at her.

"D-don't come any closer." I coughed, still struggling with the bile in my throat. She shrieked and I shot.

It was almost scarier how simple it all was. Shooting a child in the chest is social taboo but one covered in blood and murderous intent? I had grandparents and uncles who served in the military, did they ever do this? The girls mouth made a shocked 'O' shape before she collapsed. She wasn't dead, but instead started sobbing. I was taken aback by this as I watched her slowly die.

Only thing is, that didn't happen.

In response to the gunshot that deafened my ears, footsteps rushed in from outside. It was so fast, one moment she was there and then the next she was being carried out by two men. She was screaming and I peered down the hall after her and saw blood squirt onto the walls before they took her outside. Blood dropped onto floor.

I couldn't hold it in anymore, after throwing up on the floor I ran to the open door and locked it. Looking through the peephole I instantly regretted it. The girl wasn't there anymore. Just a pack of monsters that wore men's clothing each running away fighting over scraps. They had torn her to pieces and I was alone.

Regurgitating stomach juices, I went into the kitchen and wiped my mouth. I tried to get some 7-Up to settle my stomach before hearing muffled sobbing in the hallway. Peering around the corner the hall was empty, but my phone still was on a call. Oh, my phone. The scuttle from earlier made me lose my bearings a bit. Picking up my phone I stammered,

"M-mom?"