After that news broadcast, my dad was now convinced that the police really weren't coming.

We were going to have to get ourselves out of here.

There was only one problem.

I glanced out the small kitchen window that my dad had been so intent on staring out of earlier.

"Do you think they're still out there?" I asked quietly, surveying the area in front of our house, trying to make out any shapes I could in the darkness that covered everything in its' dark blanket.

"I don't know." My dad replied as he hurried back and forth throwing things into a small black duffel bag he had found in one of the closets.

"It doesn't matter though. We can't just stay here. We're sitting ducks here."

He was right. The fact that we were surrounded by nothing but trees was a disaster waiting to happen. We wouldn't be able to see them coming until it was too late.

Like it already was.

Like with Ava.

Like with mom.

Biting down on my lip, I quickly turned to face my dad as he came to stand in front of me with the duffel bag now fully loaded.

He sat the bag down on the table and then turned and picked up the rifle that sat laying on the ground. He checked the bullets before looking back at me.

"It has some bullets but we'll need more than this."

I glanced at the door, knowing that the box of bullets still laid outside sprawled across the porch where I had dropped them.

We just had to open the door and get them.

Easy.

My dad picked up the duffel bag and then looked between both the bag and the gun before to my surprise, holding the gun out to me.

"You've got my back?"

My breath caught in my throat.

Suddenly, I was no longer standing in the middle of our lake house but in my childhood bedroom.

I was standing right behind my dad, my small fists clenching his t-shirt as he held his hand out ready to open the closet door where I was two hundred percent sure a monster was lurking inside.

A storm had just passed through and the lingering gusts of wind had been knocking the branches of the tree that sat right outside my window against the side of the house. However, in my head that knocking was actually the monster that frequented my closet trying to claw his way out and eat me.

That was the only rational explanation for an eight year old to come up with obviously.

I had jumped out of my bed and ran to my parents bedroom before dragging my dad back to my room to get rid of it, my mom laughing and wishing him luck as she rolled back over to continue sleeping. The monster was obviously not her problem.

The entire trip back to my room he kept trying to reassure me that there was no monster in my closet and that it was just the wind, but I would have none of it.

"It is a monster daddy. I just know it. As soon as I let my guard down it'll eat me!"

My dad shook his head and chuckled as he entered my bedroom.

"As soon as you let your guard down huh?"

I nodded vigorously.

My dad simply shook his head before walking towards the closet.

Just as his hand wrapped around the door knob he turned and looked down at me in all my Hello Kitty nightgown and pigtail glory.

A small smile was on his face.

"You've got my back right?"

Without hesitation I nodded, because no matter how terrified I was of the monster that was inside my closet, I wasn't going to let it hurt my dad.

Never.

I blinked hard, trying to get rid of the sting behind my eyes as I stared at my dad who was looking at me expectantly.

I slowly reached my hand out and grabbed the gun.

I nodded once.

These things, whatever the hell they were, were no different than the monsters that lurked in my closet as a child.

As my dad stood ready to protect me from the monsters yet again, I knew there was no way in hell I was going to let them hurt him.

He was all I had left and I'd be damned if I let them take someone else I loved away from me.

Dad took a deep breath before slinging the bag across his shoulder and tuning to face the door.

"Let's do this then."

I gripped the gun tightly in my hands and nodded.

Dad slowly pushed the couch away from the door, trying to be as quiet as he could as he did so.

When there was enough space between the couch and the door so that we could squeeze through he looked back at me one more time.

"Ready?"

I bit my lip hard.

"Yeah." I whispered.

He turned back to the door and slowly undid the lock before reaching down to the door knob.

My heart was beating like a hummingbird.

As slowly as he could, he pulled the door open and I was suddenly so thankful that our front didn't squeak.

Peeking his head out first he glanced around for what felt like hours, making sure that there was nothing.

He reached his hand that wasn't clutching the car keys back and grabbed the front of my shirt before slowly pulling me forward as he stepped out onto the porch.

Once we were both outside on the porch my eyes wildly scanned the area, the stars and moon the only source of light, my heart now ready to fall out of my ass.

After making sure there was nothing, I started looking around the porch for the box of bullets I had dropped earlier.

I spotted them near the steps where a few stray ones had rolled out and landed on the stairs.

I quickly scooped them all back up into the box before looking back at my dad.

He motioned for me to follow as he took his first step down the two front steps of our porch.

As soon as his feet hit the grass, my eyes instantly went to the tree line as the sound a branch snapping echoed in the darkened silence.

My dad and I only made eye contact with each other for a split second before we were ripping across the grass and towards the pickup truck that sat parked only a few feet away but what felt like miles.

I didn't even know if there was anything after us but I didn't want to find out.

As I ran I tried my best not to look to the right where I knew my mom's body lay, but I couldn't help the quick glance that I gave.

I was stunned when instead of her body all I saw was the impression her body had made on the grass and the blood that stained it.

I had no time to question it though as I was soon in front of the truck.

Dad quickly unlocked the doors and hopped in after tossing the bag inside as I ran around to the passenger side ready to follow suit.

Instead I ran right into a body.

A startled scream left my lips as I came face to face with my mother.

I stood there frozen, unable to move an inch even if I wanted to, as I stared at her.

Covered in blood, a large piece of flesh missing from her right shoulder and her left arm looked like it was seconds from detaching itself from the socket.

Then there were her eyes.

The same eyes that those things had.

The same eyes that Jim had.

The eyes that meant she was like them.

And then she lunged at me.

~

So sorry the wait guys. As I mentioned before I'm finishing up my last semester of college. Your girl will be a college graduate in December. 😁 So, I'm swamped as usual with work and school but I really wanted to get this chapter out to you all. I literally wrote this when I should've been studying but I love you guys so much so it's okay and I hope you enjoyed it. How is everyone liking it so far? Are you all at the edge of your seats yet?  More to come soon.

~JaeJae