A Quiet Place- Silently Screaming

3: Sacrifices

Grandpa drew away from Grandma and Lila, a grin of relief stretching broadly across his face. He pushed his sliding glasses back up his glistening nose. "You're alive," he breathed. He gripped their shoulders in relief. "Oh, thank God you're alive."

Grandma clutched at his hand. "Herbert, how did you know...?"

But the joy that had filled Grandpa's worn face at the sight of his wife and granddaughter suddenly vanished. His expression was instead flooded with realization at the new rules surrounding them and the fact that they had broken them. He raised a finger to his lips.

Lila listened.

In the distance, another creature let out its life-ending roar of triumph. It must have heard the gunshot. Anyone, alien or not, could have easily heard the earsplitting sound. It would be advancing to the house even now, as they sat and waited, cornered in the closet of their burning building, faced once again with the life-threatening danger of a merciless creature coming in search of their lives.

Despair welled up within Lila's stomach. They had done the impossible. They had killed an alien. But it didn't matter. Another one was coming. And however many more there were after that. Would they always have to run like this? Would they always have to run, and run, and run, until they died?

Grandpa pulled Lila to her feet. "Tornado shelter," he mouthed in decisiveness, jerking his head towards the door that the alien had rent into pieces only moments before.

Grandma followed Lila's motions and staggered to her feet, only to collapse back to the floor with a stifled groan of pain.

Grandpa crouched beside his wife in concern. His eyes examined her until they caught sight of her bloody foot. His face paled. He blew out a breath and bowed his head.

Then he looked back at Lila and motioned her over.

2 minutes later, Lila found herself gulping down the cool, refreshing air that came to meet her as she emerged from the remains of Grandma and Grandpa's burning house. Grandma was slung in between her Grandpa; limping along on in pain, supported by the two of them as they struggled their way over to the tornado shelter, which lay at the far side of the house's expansive yard. They neared the refuge with every stumbling step. Lila panted with exertion and urged herself on with thoughts of hope.

They were gonna make it. They were gonna make it. They wer--

A screech sounded nearby. Lila whipped her head around to see an alien charging straight at them from far down the street; rapidly diminishing the distance between them with every second.

The weight of Grandma's body seemed to shrink in the face of the oncoming danger. Lila's legs picked up in speed, breaking into a desperate, dogged sprint. Grandpa wheezed beside her.

The shelter drew close. The alien's thudding drew closer.

"The door," gasped Grandpa. He hoisted Grandma up into his arms. "Lila, the door!"

Lila ran on ahead of her grandparents to the unopened shelter door. She gripped the handle and pulled at it. It refused to open.

No. This had to work. It had to. It was now or never.

The alien cried out again. It had entered the yard. Mere seconds remained.

But still the trap door remained shut. Lila pulled at it with every last ounce of strength that she could muster, tightly grasping it in desperation, jerking with all her might at their only escape.