This Story Doesn't Have a Title and That's Okay

Protection

Arriving at Courtney's house was the easiest part of the night. Storms in the sky suddenly vanished, leaving the stars to shut on and off at the speed of light. The house lay silent on that hill, with the snow creating a pillow for the deer to lie on. The front porch stood still. Courtney hit the garage opener button on the wall in anticipation for Kyra and I to come in the house. Tiptoeing down the steps to the basement as if not to wake up the monster that was waiting for them, they hit the landing and sprinted to Courtney's bedroom. Kyra quickly shut the door while I found the TV remote.
    "We can't be the only ones worrying about this, or experiencing this, right?" I asked, looking around the room, not sure what I would find.
    "No. There's no way!" Kyra replied, nearly shaking with the adrenaline rushing through her body.
    "Disaster," The TV yelled. "Disaster throughout the entire United States!"
    "Oh, shit," We all said unanimously.
    "We're being updated by the minute, and the only things we know right now are that at least seven unidentified flying objects have crashed onto our planet. There has been one in every continent, and it looks like ours landed directly in Chippewa Falls! Take shelter immediately, and don't trust anything that comes knocking at your door. Cover all of the open crevices in your house, and for the love of God, if you happen to come in contact with one of them, run. They will come after you. They will find you. Fend for yourself, and for tonight, I'm signing off." The news anchor looked more scared than I've ever seen them.
    We'd all seen newscasters deliver bad news, it's what they do. But, this time, not even they were aware of what they were talking about. No one had ever been in contact with something like this, neither the situation nor the alien.
    "I don't know if I can even think about this. Like, I can't fathom the thought of an entire new effing race coming to take over what we have." Courtney said, beginning to cry.
    "No offense, and I love you, but don't you dare start to cry right now. I will not deal with your crying right now." I said, clenching my fists until my knuckles turned white. Looking over at Kyra was sad. She wasn't saying anything to us. Just sitting. Doing nothing. She wasn't even looking at anything. It was as if she was dissociating to forget our current situation.
    The group fell silent for about five minutes. We just watched the time on Courtney's bedside table move the single digits, one at a time.
    "What are we going to do?" Courtney asked, mustering up the courage to talk.
    "Well, I think we have to try to survive here. We should go to the car and get the groceries, and then I think we should make a game plan." Kyra said, startling us.
    With the group in agreement, we made our way upstairs. It was dark, almost black. We thought it would be safest if we left it like that. Ignoring all of the windows, we ran across the living room to go to the mudroom, and made our way to the garage. We carried the groceries, and sat on the ground of the kitchen.
    "Courtney, do you have any camping stuff?" Kyra asked.
    "Uh, yea, I have a bunch of stuff in our garage. Why?" She asked, clearly confused.
    "Well, what if we suddenly get tied down to your room? Or downstairs? I know there's a microwave down there, but I don't want to have to fend for my life with no lights if the power goes out. I'd like to use a flashlight, and maybe have a hotplate around if able to." Kyra made some good points.
    We made our way to the garage and found her camping supplies on a shelf above the cars. We ended up finding a hotplate, some flashlights, batteries, and some knives and survival tools.
On our way back to the kitchen to grab some non-perishables, we discovered a horrid scene.    The bottom of every window was faced with pairs of glowing, bright green eyes. There was no light outside to create these orbs, but they were there.
    "Shit," Courtney whispered, her face going white. "Are those the aliens?"
    They were the aliens.
    "How are we going to get by?" I asked, sneaking my head out. It was almost like I was not even afraid anymore.
    "Well, the only thing I can think of is to run like a bat out of hell to the other side, and then go downstairs." Courtney said, getting into a runner's starting position.
    "I'm gonna go to the landing," she started.    "When I get there, I'll motion if it's clear for Kyra. Then, Ashley, you need to run. Do not, and I repeat, do not sprain your ankle again." She said, smiling at the end.
    Her hand switched the lights off and her eyes shot forward. Her feet trembled and her hands were clammy.
    "See you on the other side," She said dramatically.
    Her feet flew across the wooden panels and shot like a rocket to the other side of the house. The outline of her head was moving back and forth, and we could barely see her motion us to her. As we ran to the other side to be with Courtney, I did the anticipated. I fell directly on my ankle. Courtney motioned me over, and I crawled as far as I could without my now sore ankle holding me back.
    "What did I say?" She whispered as we made our way, slowly but surely, down the stairs to her basement.
    "I'm sorry, you know I don't run. Damnit, I can't do anything right, and I just knew-" I was cut off by Kyra shaking her head and telling me to shut up.
    "Don't blame yourself. Let's get a heat pack and you can sit down." Kyra said to me, walking over to the bathroom cabinet. She warmed up the pack for me in the rec room microwave and we sat there, me wanting to cry from the pain, and everyone else from the aliens that are preventing us from leaving Courtney's house.
   "Where's Bart?" Courtney asked, trying to break the silence.
    "I'm not sure," I started, suddenly remembering the entire point of being here.   
    "Wait, we could start blowing up the balloons! We don't have anything else to do, and that could be super fun!" I said, trying to save the mood.
    "Yes!" Kyra and Courtney said simultaneously.
    "Okay, uhm, Court, where'd you put the helium tanks?" I asked, trying my best to stand up from my now stationary position on the couch.
    "Oh, I'll go get them! I put them in my room. Kyra, can you help me?" She asked, motioning for Kyra to follow her. Without saying a word, they left down the hall to go and get the tanks and the balloons. As I sat there, waiting for them to come back, I saw a small, gray formation under the couch. Praying it was what I thought it was, I reached my hand under the couch to feel around. A small bite was placed on my hand, and as I jerked my hand away, I realized that it was, indeed, Bart under the couch.
    "Bartholomew, you little shit! Get out of there!" I said, just enough for him to hear me. I stuck my hand back under and grabbed him by his scruff, pulling him out, forcefully. I set him on my lab, more gently, now, and I started to pet him, hoping to calm him from that traumatic experience.
    "Oh, you found my little boy!" Courtney said, dropping the tank she was holding.
    "Well, he's one now, and he's pretty long. Not very little anymore." Kyra said, reaching down to pet him. Courtney glared at her, normal for their conversations, especially about Bart.
    His fur was smooth, and shined like it was sebaceous. When we say he was long, though, we mean it. Like, twice the length of a normal cat. Bart was a blessing, and we loved him, but, God, he was an ass sometimes. He loved to chew on anything that resembled skin. I think it was because he was still a little cat, and still young, but it really didn't excuse him trying to bite your arm or your legs every time you moved. Did it stop us from loving him like a child, though? No, absolutely not.
    We were blowing the balloons up from the helium tanks as fast as we could. The balloons were slowly being tied to the bag we planned to place Bart in, and it was all coming together. We had a ten pound weight in the bag, which we measured was about the same weight as Bart. 
    Eventually, the bag began to lift into the air, and it started to shift so that no part of it was touching the carpet. Balloons of every color and size imaginable were now floating in the air, connected to a green, reusable grocery bag. Some may call this inhumane, and even just plain mean, but we just wanted to give Bart the ability  to fly like we knew he would want to do.
    "Okay! I think we did it!" Kyra said, tying off her last balloon.
    "Yea! I have just a couple more, and then we should be good," I retorted.
    "Oh, my gosh! I am so freaking excited!" Courtney said, proud of the idea she had come up with. We slowly began to pull everything apart from each other, and set the finished product on the floor. I looked over to the clock.
1:24 AM
    "Wait, where's Bart?" I asked, coming back to reality.
    "Oh, God," Kyra said, getting up to look for Bart. My ankle felt a trillion times better by the end of the night, but I'm pretty sure if I walked on it incorrectly, I would collapse. Everyone followed behind her to go find Bart, and then, when in the hall, we split paths. I looked in her sister's rooms and Kyra checked in the laundry room. Courtney checked her room, and no one came back with good results.
    "I'm sure he's just hiding really well. Do you have any treats that we can use to, like, lure him in?" I asked, making my way towards his food dishes in the laundry room.
    "No, I mean, yes, but they're upstairs." Courtney said, her head motioning to the staircase.
    "Of course they are," Kyra said, sarcastically. "Why wouldn't they be?"
    "I'll do it." I said, shrugging. What else did I have to lose? "We have to face it at some point."
    As I made my way towards the stairs, I looked back as if it was the last time I'd see them.
    "We'll wait at the landing. Just, like, yell if you need something." Courtney said. I took that advice with a grain of salt at the time.
    My way to the top of the staircase was the most terrifying experience of my life. I climbed, slowly the whole time, but increasingly slower while I got closer to the top. I took a breath, then a leap of faith. I didn't expect her home to look any different than it previously had, there were just aliens on the outside, now. Nothing too scary, in the grand scheme of things. I couldn't see the treats from where I had stationed myself, so I'd have to go through some other parts of the house. I figured I go to the closest room I could think of: the office. My first few steps caused the floors to creak, making me take long, agonizing, slow steps.
    "Man," I thought. "Maybe I can find Bart while I'm up here."
    I started to rummage through the office to find the treats. I'm not too sure why I thought they would be in a room that was barely ever used, but I knew that Bart sometimes got stuck in there, so I figured I might as well try. When that room was done, and I had run out of luck, I made my way to the next, with no luck there, as well. At this point, I was just trying my best to avoid going anywhere with large windows.
    "I don't even care anymore," I said, quietly, yet out loud to myself.
    I made my first step into the open living room. As soon as I stood up, I saw them. Green eyes. They looked back at me menacingly, and I shook my head at them. If I had to die to get these cat treats, damnit, I'll do it. I walked to the kitchen and began to rummage through the drawers. I think, at this point, I just didn't care about my well being, because I went as far as to turn on the lights in the kitchen. Those little alien bastards had full view of who I was and what I looked like. As I looked through and on drawers and cupboards, I heard the beginning of what would shake me completely.
    Scratch.
    What?
    Scratch.
    You've got to be kidding me. I looked ahead of me, expecting something better, just hoping I would lose my vision and would get to skip out on the horror I now saw.  Ahead of me, with tens of pairs of green, glowing eyes, were scratches. Scratches from the beasts. Hearing it, it's scary enough. Seeing it, though... The long, witch-like nail coming for the window and scraping, taking pieces of glass and screen with it, that's scary.    Now, imagine it's not just one. It's hands that look nothing like a human's. There are multiple hands on each section of the glass, each on scratching and ripping at it, prying the glass open to come into the house.
     "Uh, guys!" I yelled, starting to shake, again. You know when you freak out over looking for something, and once you lose your mind, you see it right in front of you? Well, that happened. The treats fell out of the cupboard and I swooped to grab them. As I ran down the stairs, I forgot about all of my surroundings. I stubbed my toe on the way to the stairs, adding to the pain from my ankle. I threw myself down the stairs and tried to run as fast as I could with a now bloody toe. With all of the action, I forgot to turn the kitchen lights off. Big mistake.
    "They're coming in! Oh my effing God they're coming in!" I yelled, sprinting into Courtney's lounge area, where the other girls followed.
    "What are we going to do?" Kyra asked, her face going white.
    "Are... Are we going to have to fight?" Courtney asked, visibly scared.
    "I'd love to tell you no, but I think we might have to." I said, looking into her face. I'd never noticed how small and innocent we all were. Not that I'd ever have to have the thought of the three of us, fending off our city from a plight of aliens, but I didn't realize we were this small and fragile.
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