Run

Them

When the lights go off at night and people slowly fall into sleep, we do not fear of whether we will wake the next morning. We just believe we will.

When we do wake, we go about our eveyday lives. Mabey we make a mistake or two, but in this reality nobody cares accept Them.

They are the reasons the lights stay out and They are the reasons we don't wake; unless we are strong, unless we are lucky.

I would never consider myself strong, but yes, I am lucky. I am one of the living.

We wake in the mornings, but the lights stay off. The lights must always be off. My twin brother Reece and I crawl into the closet, which is now our pantry as we cannot leave my room. We each get half of a chewy granola bar. This must last us 24 hours.

We are starved, we are tired, but we are not yet dead. In this life, being alive is all thats important. Especially in a day like today, today we leave the bedroom and today we leave the house.

All the living must leave today, if we stay we will join Them. No one wants to join Them.

Reese pears out the pinhole we made on the wall. This pinhole is our life, its our news channel, its our survival plan.

He glances at me and gives a slight wink. It's time.

I have not talked to anyone in days, seven days to be exact. One week, no one still living has made sound. One week of living off of half a chocolate chip granola bar each day. One week of no showers or fresh clothes. One week of three small sips of water a day. One week of sleeping under the bed to ensure of being unseen. One week of absolute hell.

We slowly crawl towards the bedroom door, doing everything we can to make no sound. Absolutely no sound. They are gone for now, but They will be back. That is why now is the only time we can escape.

Reese and I have been planning this day for a week. The day where They think we must be dead and move onto the next city, but They will be back so we must move quickly and quietly.

~

It all started seven days ago today. Seven days ago my parents never returned from their work, but They did.

It was actually a really good day at school for once.

I had a crush on this guy, Percy Holmes, he was on the varsity football team with Reece. What I thought was the best school day ever turned into the worst...

Percy asked me to our senior prom, which would be sometime next month if They did not come. I was so surprised that he asked me of all people, I'm a loser. I have no friends other than my brother, and even he ignores me at school.

Percy is Reece's best friend, that's the only reason that Percy even knows who I am. He is always at our house and swims in our pool over summer, but he has never actually talked to me other than, "Hey Quinn!" Whenever he comes over.

Because They came, that last time I saw Percy was at the end of lunch when he found me sitting at a table eating by myself he asked me to prom. The last words I said to him was yes.

Later that day Reese and I came home from school and pursued our everyday normal by doing homework while watching T.V.

Our parents both walked in together, which completely freaked us out since they are divorced and hate each other. They continued to walk towards us and that's when we saw it, a black flash in their eyes. We did not know what was going on, but we rushed into my bedroom and locked the door.

They shot the lock and aimed their gun right at my head, thankfully, Reese distracted them. I hid in my closet and heard a gunshot go off.

I was so afraid they killed my twin, so afraid. I would not leave my closet because I knew They were out there. I just knew.

It wasn't until a long time after (two days as I found out later) that I heard three consecutive knocks on the closet door, waking me up. Not sure if I should open it, I just knocked back. One single knock and I heard my brothers voice reply in a soft whisper, "come out."

I knew he wasn't one of Them, so I opened the door and he told me in a barely auditory voice what had happend. He had redirected the gun my dad held and shot him dead. Our mother ran off. Reese decided to follow her but then it happend, he saw millions of Them. Black eyes roaming the streets. They all began to chase my brother and shot at him.

Within the two days without him he had been in hiding and gathering food and water. He was trying to find out information about Them, but there's nothing. According to Reese, no one knows anything about how They got here or why.

He returned to see if I was still alive and found that our father was gone. It's freaky, but now we know that a gun to the head can't kill Them.

However, Reese's adventures in Them-watching wasn't a total bust. He did discover their moving patterns. Apparently they break and destroy all life in one city, then they move on to the next, but they come back. They come back to the city to check that everything is dead.

That's why moving day is today, we are living and because of our hiding, They don't know that.

Our tiny pinhole in the wall shows Them leaving they are gathered and march on the streets heading for the next town.

My twin was shot in the hip, but it's nearly healed now. It was when he followed our mom outside and They shot at him. I think They believe he is dead from the shot and I died of starvation.

~

Equipped with my old pink school backpack filled with two almost empty waters bottles, a couple granola bars, and a gun, Reese limp/crawls infront of me and slowly without making a peep, turns the knob and pushed open the door.

Our house is just how we left it, except dark and dusty. We softly scurry down to the kitchen where we grab more waters and some food.

Shoving them in the bag, we slip out the back door, stand up for the first time in a week, and run for our lives.

We run and run because until we find out who They are and what They want, we must run from our fears instead of facing them.

We must run from our fears because Reese is strong and I am lucky, but neither of us know if either of these things will defeat them.