*Siren wailing in the distance*
Another police car whooshed past my house for the forth time. I could hear distant screaming and gunshots, but I reckon that as another shooting. No big deal, it was something fairly common in the neighborhood.
Just as I was about to curse at the monitor for the eight death streak in Call of Duty, my phone on the desk buzzed, followed by an unfamiliar ringtone which I immediately recognized as an emergency alert. A notification popped up on my phone as soon as I turned it on.
“EMERGENCY ALERT: This is not a drill. All local residents of XXX town are instructed to stay indoors immediately. Remain calm and shut all doors and windows, and do not let anybody in. Your area is under attack by unidentified threat. The military is expected to arrive shortly and will neutralize anybody in sight. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EXIT. It is recommended to stay indoors until further instructions are given by the authorities.”
A shock-wave of dread hit me. Initially, I had no idea what to do, but as soon as I regained sanity, I rushed to the living room to shut the big door and windows as instructed. I pulled out my phone and dialed my husband who was at work, only to enter voicemail. Soon, I dialed my parents’ number who lived far away from where I was, but the signal was immediately cut off.
From my peripheral sight I noticed something odd from outside the window. Instead of fences and beautiful neighborhood houses like one would expect, they were shaded with layers of thick fog. In fact, it was so thick I could only see as far as twenty yards ahead. The only things visible were car headlights and the illuminated windows from houses across.
Due to the thick fog shading the entire neighborhood from the sun, my house got dark fast. I hesitantly went to turn on the light switch when the ground below unexpectedly shook. It became louder, followed by rumbling noises from the distance. My heart was pounding harder as I took small steps towards the other window to have a look.
From the window I noticed several pairs of fog lights illuminating the streets. As they got closer, I made out the green camouflage of those heavy looking vehicles. A few heavily armed men were marching along and aiming their rifles at various houses.
“What the hell was going on? Why would there be soldiers?” I asked myself. My urge to open the window and ask one of the men was growing impatiently. However as soon as I touched the window handle, a series of deafening gunshots roared in a sudden, followed by muffled but blood-curdling screams from one of the houses.
Primal instinct kicked in and I instantly ducked for cover. I crawled under the coffee table and hid in a fetal position. Several heavy gunshots and explosions reverberated my home, and soon after an announcement came from outside. It was the military’s loudspeaker. A rough voice, in a slight panicked state yelled out the following.
“All residents, I am speaking on behalf of the military. This is a compulsory order. Do not panic and find the safest spot to hide immediately. Do not let anything enter your house no matter how convincing, as they may endanger you and your family. Stay hidden and do not show yourself. Do so until further instruct-”
The announcement was interrupted with blood gurgling screams from the announcer. I instantly stood up, nearly knocking my head against the table. What I did was that I dashed into my bedroom and lock everything up as fast as I could, tears filling my eyes as I did so.
It was then that I realized my body was shaking from panicking. I sat on my bed and dialed my husband again, only to realize the signal was still down. To calm myself down, I hid under the blankets. Nevertheless, I still couldn’t cool down so I peeked through the curtain of my bedroom window.
An appearance standing right on the lawn of my house nearly made me jump. The moment my eyes try to identify that unknown object, it dashed towards the front door.
“BANG” a loud crash could be heard from the living room. The impact was so strong that my bone felt shock-wave from that crash. I yelped. Not long after the breach, I was nearly paralyzed by a series of low frequency growls. The unknown trespasser’s footstep sounded more apparent as time went by. I regained momentum and stealthily crawled towards the closet beside my bed to avoid being heard.
As soon as the closet was in proximity, I stood up, opened the closet door, pushed the clothes aside and took a step into the abysmal wooden bunker. I closed the door and there was absolute darkness around me, albeit the sunlight from the closet hole being the only source of illumination.
There was dead silence. So silent I could feel my heartbeat within my ribs. It was incredibly fast and desperate. But it was soon cut off by the sound of my bedroom door knob clicking, followed by the creaking sound that I was familiar for five years. Peeking from the closet hole I could barely see the door opposite of me, but one thing for sure is that I could see four long red sticks grappling the knob.
It felt like an eternity for the “Object” to enter the room. During the entire process of its appearance reveal I prayed even more that this was just a bad dream. However reality was reality and I couldn’t escape from it.
As I gazed upon the creature, my mind struggled to comprehend its unearthly appearance. Towering at least eight feet tall, it seemed almost otherworldly. Its long, spindly limbs seemed almost too thin to support its weight. Each of its five fingers ended in razor-sharp claws that glinted menacingly in the dim light. Its skin was a sickening shade of red, glistening with an unknown liquid, and its face… dear God, its face. The bulging eyes seemed to bore into my very soul, and the twisted smile on its face made my blood run cold.
That entity took several steps and scanned my room, like an apex predator searching for its prey. Every footstep, every growl, I backed an inch, hoping it wouldn’t notice me. When the abominated entity approached closer, still unaware of my presence, the window shattered into millions of pieces with bullets riddling through and hitting the creature. Before I could process anything, four military men jumped into my room and opened fire at the demonic creature.
The scene was deafening. I was only a few feet away from the firefight and the only barrier between me and them was a one-inch thick wood. I fell among the clothes from shock and couldn’t stand, but that saved my life as bullets whizzed into the closet, barely missing me.
Too unfortunate for me though, as the military men were no match for the supernatural entity due to the fact that it survived every shot. No bullets stopped it from advancing towards one of the men. One swoop into his neck and the soldier was instantly decapitated. It devoured the man’s head with its monstrous jaw. The fate of the three remaining military men were also pretty much sealed, and I was left hopeless.
It’ll probably take some time for reinforcements, but that given time was enough for the entity to regain stamina. I cried, I couldn’t do anything. I could only pray that it ignores the closet but the last of all hopes shattered when its head turned and our eyes locked onto each other.