Ravenous

Don't look up. Don't look up.

Erin sits on the top shelf, eyes squeezed shut. With her knees clutched against her chest, she hardly dares to breathe. The creature shuffles along the floor below her hiding place, knocking cans and boxes off the shelves as it searches. Erin winces each time another item clatters to the concrete below. It knows she's somewhere nearby.

Someone outside screams. With a burst of speed, the green-skinned beast spins around. Then, it hurtles out the door and toward the sound.

Erin finally lets out a stifled sob and slumps back against the wall. It's over. For now, at least. After allowing herself a few moments of emotion, she wipes her face and pulls herself together. If she's going to survive, she needs her wits about her. And she needs to get out of here before the creature comes back.

As quiet as a mouse, Erin slips over the edge and cautiously climbs down the tower of metal shelves. She  slides the backpack off and tugs at the zipper. In the quiet room, the zipping sound is deafening, but the chorus of growls and screams from outside is enough to hide it from the ravenous monsters. She stuffs cans and boxes of food into the bag with layers of towels in between.

She zips the bag closed. She turns to leave, but stops at the sight in front of her. One of the creatures -- much bigger than the one who had stalked her before -- stands just outside the open door. Its back is toward her. Erin's heart pounds against her chest. Maybe I can sneak out the back. Breath held, she takes a step backwards. Then another. And another. All is well so far. She starts to feel hopeful.

Then, she starts to turn around. The bulge of the backpack snags on something. A can scrapes across the metal shelf and slams to the ground. The creature bellows as its claws tear at the door frame. Erin panics. She freezes in place, watching over her shoulder. Long fangs hang well below its lower lip as it bares its teeth. Its four yellow eyes glare with murderous intent.

It lets out another roar and Erin breaks from her stupor. She bolts through the huge building. Behind her, the monster breaks through the wall. It lets out a screech that echoes through the building. More monsters appear through the demolished doorway as Erin tries to escape. She tries door after door, but they're all locked. The floors start to shake as behind her, the creatures start to stampede. Her fear mounts as they get closer and there's no escape in sight.

At last, she finds an unlocked door. Her legs nearly buckle in relief. But, with the thunder of clawed feet barreling toward her, she throws herself through the opening. Then, she turns and yanks the door shut.

"Hey!"

Erin shrieks at the unexpected voice in the stairwell. She spins around, fists raised, prepared for battle.

"I ain't gonna hurt ya. But they will. Come on!" Before she can protest, the man grabs her hand and starts running up the stairs. Erin's lungs fight for air. There's a stitch in her side, too, but she obediently runs after the stranger.

"Come on! Through here." He drags her through another door and pushes it closed behind them. The cacophony of roars and shrieks from the monsters echoes through the building.

Erin frantically looks around the room, trying to find the way out. But the man is doubled over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. When Erin notices that he's in no hurry to leave, her voice comes out an octave higher than normal. "What are you waiting for? We have to go! Now!"

He stands up and looks her over. "Nah. Them things can't get through that stairwell. They're too big." He watches her for a moment longer before extending his hand. "Name's Clayton."

She shakes the proffered hand in a daze. "Wha... But... H..." Erin closes her eyes for a moment to find the right words. "How do we get out of here?" Then, as an afterthought, "Erin, by the way."

Clayton smiles. "Lovely to meet ya, Erin. Although, I do wish it was under better circumstances."

Impatience growing, she begins to look around again for an exit. The roars and screeches from the creatures seem to grow louder. The sounds of claws against concrete and steel below echoes through the room.

"Alright. See that door, back over there? We're gonna wait 'til the sun goes down," Clayton pauses as he sees Erin start to protest. With a raised eyebrow and a stern voice, he continues, "We'll wait 'til sunset and then climb down that ol' fire escape."

"What?! No! Why wait so long?" Without waiting for an answer, she starts marching toward the exit.

"Because," Clayton grabs her by the arm and spins her around to face him. "Because I got backup comin' then."

Erin glares. "Let me go." She tries to twist out of his grip, but it doesn't work. "I have to get back to my sister!"

The two keep staring. Finally, Clayton releases her. "Fine. Go if you wanna. But you're gonna have a better chance if ya stick with us."

"Why? Those things can't be killed! How would it help to stay with you?"

His smile returns. "Yeah, they can. Ever since the day those things landed on earth and started wiping us out, we've been searchin' for a way to kill 'em. Now?" His smile broadens. "We found it."

Erin's jaw drops. Before the military had been wiped out, they'd tried everything. Some countries had even resorted to nukes. But the extraterrestrial creatures persisted. "No way. You couldn't possi..." Erin's eyes are drawn to the corner of the room. "What's that noise?"

Just as Clayton turns around to look, a chunk of the concrete floor crumbles and falls away. The rebar inside has been snapped, useless against the strength of the monsters. A clawed hand reaches up through the new opening. "Shit! Run!"

Another chunk of floor disappears behind them as they book it toward the door. Erin reaches it first and stops to yank it open. Clayton looks over his shoulder. The creature's snout is through the opening now. Its slit-like nostrils flare as it huffs in anger. As soon as Clayton and the beast make eye contact, a deafening roar shakes the room. Both humans wince at the sound, then rush out the door and down the fire escape.

As soon as her feet hit the ground, Erin starts to dash off. Clayton grabs her arm once more and pulls her the other way. "I have to get to my si-"

"No! Come on!" Erin fights to get out of his grip, but he keeps hold. He finally looks her in the eye. "We gotta get to my truck and lead 'em away. If we go to your sister, they'll follow us there and then we'll all be dead."

Erin glowers at him. As they hear another large chunk of concrete fall inside the building, she makes up her mind. She gives a slight nod, then sprints after Clayton to the truck.

Safe in the truck, Erin turns in the seat and watches as the buildings disappear into the distance. Once they've both finally caught their breath, she turns to Clayton. "Can you warn your team? They'll get there and--"

"Nah. They'll see my truck is gone and they won't go in. And as soon as they meet up with us, we'll go back for your sister."

"Oh. That's good." She leans back against the seat and lets herself relax a little. Suddenly, she remembers the conversation they were in the middle of when the floor started getting ripped apart. "So, earlier you were saying you found a way to kill those things."

"Yep. Hold on a sec." Just then, he turns into a well-concealed driveway and parks the truck. "Wait here." He climbs out and starts searching through a nearby bush. Erin watches in confusion. Finally, he pulls out a walkie-talkie and speaks into it. From her spot in the truck, Erin can't quite make out what's going on. Finally, he comes back and puts the vehicle back into drive. "Sorry 'bout that. I had to let base know we're coming so they could open the gates for us."

"OK. So, about killing those things..."

"Right. So, it took a lot of trial and error. Whole lotta people died in the process, too. It's sugar." Clayton pulls up in front of the building and throws the truck back into park. When he turns toward Erin, he sees the disbelieving smile written across her face. "No, I'm serious. It's high concentrations of sugar."

"What? Like, they're diabetic?"

"I dunno. Something like that. Anyway, if ya give 'em high doses of sugar, they just drop dead. It's so simple that we should've figured it out sooner."

"How the hell do you get them to eat sugar?"

"We don't. Come on in, I'll show ya."

The pair walked inside the building. Clayton said hello and introduced Erin along the way, but she was too preoccupied to take much note of names and faces. They walked through a large room with multiple vats of boiling liquid.

Finally, they traveled down a hallway and entered a much smaller space. Several people were inside, funneling liquid into small, odd-looking syringes.

"You've seen tranquilizer guns on movies, right?" Erin gives a nod while continuing to watch the process. "Well, those things are meant to be tranq darts. We just empty 'em out and put in sugar water instead. Ya hit those guys with a one or two of those darts, they're out," he snaps his fingers, "like that."

Erin turns towards him. "No, I've seen bullets bounce of those things. There's no way that little needle goes in."

Clayton lets out a chuckle. "Yeah, it does. Imagine this: You've got a piece of cloth stretched out in front of you. How hard is it to push a little needle through? Not hard at all, right? Now, take that same piece of cloth and try to push the end of a baseball bat through it. It's gonna take a whole lot more force to get that bat through than the little needle."

She looks off into space for a moment, deep in thought. Finally, she nods.

"Alright. Now as soon as the group gets back, we'll go get your sister and bring her back here. Hopefully take out a few of those extra-terrestrial killing machines in the process."

--------------

Erin taps her foot against the floorboards. She stares down at the tranq gun propped against the seat in front of her.

"Knock it off, you're making me nervous."

She turns toward the woman in the seat beside her. "Rosa, I'm sorry, but I've been gone for nearly two days now. She's been alone this whole time and has no idea what's happened to me."

"Yeah, I get it. Just chill though. Bouncing around like you're strung out isn't gonna help anyone. The way you're jittering, you're never going to hit your target with that gun. Hell, we'll be lucky if you don't hit one of us."

Erin grinds her teeth at the woman's abrasive manner, but forces herself to sit still.

Jasper turns around from the passenger seat to look at Rosa. "Come on, she's just worried about the kid. Have a little empathy."

Clayton glances back at them in the rearview mirror, but doesn't intervene. Jasper turns back toward the front and the rest of the ride continues in silence.

Finally, they pull up in front of the house where Ellie has been waiting.

"Jasper and I will go chec--"

Erin bolts out of the van, ignoring Clayton's words. "Ellie?" She sprints up the porch steps and through the front door. "Ellie, I'm back!"

The others grab their guns and jump out of the van to follow. Rosa rolls her eyes and mutters something under her breath. By the time the trio makes it inside, they're greeted by the sight of Erin hugging a crying twelve-year old girl.

"Alright, you can hug in the van. Let's go."

"Geeze, Rosa, just let them have a minute." Jasper glares at her.

"No, we've got to get out of here before o..." Her eyes dart to the window. "What's that sound?" She rushes over and peers through a gap in the blinds. Then, she hisses back at him, "There's one out there right now. If we go now, we can make it to the van before it finds us. If we wait and it finds us first..."

"Why can't we just shoot it with the tranq guns? I thought that was the plan." Erin looks around at the others, trying to understand.

Jasper sighs. "Well, we need to do it as we move. The injection takes a while to work. They can still attack or call others over in the meantime."

She turns to glare at Clayton. "I thought you--"

"Yeah, I may have exaggerated a bit. But it does work. It just takes a few minutes."

Before Erin can respond, Rosa speaks up again. "Guys, what's the plan? It's getting closer. We need to decide now."

"Alright," Clayton says, "show of hands, who wants to go?" Clayton, Rosa, and Erin raise their hands. "OK, we go. Jasper, you drive. Rosa, you're in back with me. You two, in the middle. We go out there, slow and quiet. On three, we open the doors and hop in. Any questions?" He takes a moment to look around at the group. "Good. Let's go."

Jasper crouches at the door. He slowly pulls the door open and steps outside. Rosa and Clayton stay close on his heels. Erin and Ellie follow at the rear.

They're halfway to the van when Ellie catches a glimpse of the four-eyed creature and gasps. Clayton spins around and presses a hand against the girl's mouth. Panicking, she tries to push away from his grip. The beast hears the commotion and bellows.

"Three!" Clayton scoops the girl up and makes a mad dash toward the van. He tosses her inside then leaps in after her. "Come on!" Jasper dives in and starts the van as Erin and Rosa hurry to close the doors. The tires squeal as they peel out across the blacktop. Erin clutches the crying Ellie to her chest as they watch the beast gaining on them.

Rosa, already in the back, knocks out the rear window while Clayton struggles over the back of the seat. The creature tears after them, its claws leaving gouges in the asphalt. Rosa takes aim, holds her breath, and shoots the first dart at the monster. It screeches as the needle sticks in its leg. Clayton, finally positioned in the back, takes aim as Rosa reloads. He shoots and the monster shrieks once more as the dart sticks in the center of its chest.

Rosa holds up her gun again, but looks toward Clayton. "How many shots?"

"This guy's big. One more, then we'll see if he goes down soon."

She turns back toward the window and takes aim. She fires, but the van hits a pothole and the dart goes flying over the thing's head. Clayton shoots once more. This one hits just inches from his first shot. The creature's stride falters a bit, but it continues its pursuit.

"Floor it, Jasper!"

The van speeds up and finally makes some real distance from the monster. Soon, the creature's knees buckle and it collapses to the ground. Rosa cheers, and Erin lets out the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"See?" Clayton looks at Erin. "Just like that." He snaps his fingers for emphasis.

Erin can't decide whether to laugh or cry, so she does both. Slowing to a more reasonable speed, Jasper turns the van back toward the base.

Finally, Erin calms down and turns toward Clayton. "I want to help. I haven't had much practice with a gun, so I don't know if I can shoot them. But give me something to do. I can make the darts or gather supplies or something. I'm tired of running."

Clayton smiles at her. "Alright." He offers her his hand. "Welcome to the team."