The next three days were filled with a tension that no one, in the family dared to talk about.
Each morning Donald departed for his workshop, with an apathy that challenged the credibility of the news coverage.
Linda was a woman molded by the brutal truths of life and mortality through her nursing background. Yet despite considering herself resilient her calmness started to falter.
During her breaks she would call home her tone too harsh. A bit too demanding whenever she phoned to inquire about Daniel and Chloe.
As promised Chloe declined to attend school.
Most of her day was spent sitting by the window and gazing at the sky.
In the meantime Daniel found himself stuck amid the commotion. He attempted to divert his attention from everything by dedicating time to playing video games.
The image of his sister's face lingered, her eyes filled with a confidence that appeared endless and resolute.
However the vision of his sister's expression kept recurring in his thoughts.
He often found himself gazing at the clock. The passing hours felt like a countdown… and more like the ticking of a time bomb.
On the scheduled day everything seemed normal. No unusual events took place. The sun rose at its time. People carried on with their activities as if nothing was amiss.
By midday Linda had called three times already.
Donald rang once. His voice was abrupt.
Daniel make sure your sister is not scaring herself much.
The house was silent aside from the hum of the refrigerator and the tense voices of newscasters, on the television. Daniel's mind had blocked out all noises.
He was just about to take a soda can from the fridge in the kitchen, when the microwave clock switched to 2:30 PM.
It wasn't initiated by noise. It originated with an emotion.
A deep intense quake began beneath the ground. Rose upward as though an enormous creature were awakening underneath the earth that holds all that lies above.
The ground beneath Daniel shifted laterally causing a glass to slide off the countertop and break the crash, on the tiles quickly drowned out by a rumble.
"Daniel!" Chloe yelled from the living room.
He grasped the doorframe while the whole house shook fiercely. Books fell off the shelves pictures shook against the walls and a loud creaking crack echoed through the plaster, toward him.
This was not a tremble; it appeared as if the ground was ripping apart under them amid a massive earthquake measuring an incredible 15.8 on the magnitude scale.
From the outside he could hear the screams of bending metal and the thunderous crash of falling buildings.
The shaking was so powerful that it felt like the ground was splitting apart. Then abruptly all movement ceased. Absolute silence settled in.
But the terror was far from over!
Daniel looked out the window feeling a chill while the afternoon light started to dim too swiftly.
It wasn't the sunset. It felt like someone had activated a universal switch.
The sun... Was fading away.
In an instant it vanished completely. Replaced by a circle of absolute darkness.
The world was swallowed by darkness. A void. More complete, than any darkness of night.
It wasn't completely dark. Exactly, at the center of the sky, where the sun should have been
Suddenly a new glowing object appeared in sight.
A moon hung in the sky. It was not the usual silver-white they had known; instead it emitted a crimson-red hue.
This eerie light altered the environment into shades of crimson and black making their familiar street appear like a scene, out of a horror movie.
Chaos broke out. The brief quiet was shattered by the blare of car alarms the screeching of tires and the sickening clang of metal colliding as drivers, taken aback by the blackout crashed into each other.
Then the yelling began. It was fierce and overpowering, with terror resounding from every direction.
"Daniel, what's happening?" Chloe stood next to him shaking violently her face pale, beneath the red light.
He softly pulled her back, from the window his heart pounding furiously in his chest like a bird attempting to break.
On the TV, the news anchor was no longer her usual composed self.
Her face glistened under the studio lights moist, with sweat.
"We… we are getting word… I just can't make sense of it " she lamented, her tone. Wavering.
The angle shifted to a viewpoint captured by a news helicopter revealing a city avenue likewise bathed in the hellish crimson glow.
People were running off in all directions their bodies casting elongated and distorted shadows.
However they weren't simply fleeing the chaos; they were escaping something more terrifying!
As the camera zoomed in further the image became pixelated and shaky.
Strange forms started emerging from the passageways and, from shining cracks that seemed to tear the air itself.
They appeared monstrous. Some assumed shapes but bore gnarled horns jutting from their foreheads, with elongated limbs and skin resembling the hue of contused flesh.
Certain ones bore a similarity, to insects moving at a speed that was truly unsettling.
The journalist's voice shifted into a scream.
"They're everywhere!! Oh my God they're killing people! They're monsters! They're...." The transmission cut, to static.
Daniel was gripped by terror that was icy and complete.
This wasn't a natural disaster. It was an invasion.
His dads ironic remarks regarding survival kits and his own annoyance about missing the football match now appeared as reverberations, from a past that had long vanished.
Now the only thing that really counted was the tiny shaking girl beside him.
His thoughts, sluggish and unconcerned abruptly became sharp and filled with a sense of urgency.
"Stay clear of the windows!" he yelled, his tone feeling strange, to himself.
He quickly guided Chloe down the hallway of the house while moving toward the door locking the deadbolt with a sharp click.
He rushed through the house in a whirlwind of activity locking the back door and pulling the curtains shut surrounding them in near-total darkness, a sanctuary, from the blood-red terror outside.
He reached for his phone his thumb stumbling over the display.
He entered his mothers phone number. The phone didn't even sound.
A prerecorded voice, calm announced: "All lines are presently busy. Please try your call again shortly."
He tried more... Again. Still no success.
His hands trembling he called his fathers number. The outcome was the same. They were isolated. Totally and entirely isolated.
The cries, from approached closer broken by eerie growls that rattled the walls of the house.
He heard a window shatter, at the neighbors house followed by a series of wet tearing sounds concluding with a cry.
They were coming closer!
Chloe was crying aloud her little hands pressed firmly against her mouth to muffle the noise.
Her large frightened eyes shone in the darkness.
They were unable to remain in the corridor. They had to conceal themselves. His gaze flitted across the space examining, evaluating.
The couch? Far too obvious. Under the beds? The first place anyone would look.
Then his gaze landed on the antique wooden closet in his bedroom. It was spacious filled with clothes and blankets his mom insisted on keeping.
A sanctuary of forgotten things.
"Chloe focus " he whispered, gripping her shoulders tightly. His voice was soft. "We have to hide. Right away!"
He essentially pulled her into his bedroom.
The terrifying noises were right, outside their entrance now a deep steady pounding, coupled with a faint dragging sound resembling claws on pavement.
There were no servings!
He yanked the wardrobe door open, the wood groaning in protest. He began moving piles of clothes to clear space at the back.
"Come in. Go all the way to the back " he commanded.
Chloe, paralyzed by fear just stared at him. The knocking, on the door escalated into a crashing slam. They had forced their way.
"NOW!" Daniel bellowed, his tone with alarm. The terror, in his voice at last shattered her immobility.
She hurried into the closet slipping into the area. He tossed garments and a worn smelling blanket, over her hiding her entirely.
Suddenly loud non-human footsteps began pounding through their living room. He squeezed into the open spot pulling the heavy door shut until it closed leaving only a small slit.
The darkness inside the wardrobe was absolute, thick with the smell of mothballs and dust.
He sensed Chloes trembling form against his back. He encircled her with an arm clutching her firmly.
Now he could perceive the animals, inside the house. They were tipping over furniture their actions accompanied by clicks and deep growls.
They were searching.
He tilted his head down until his lips hovered next, to Chloes ear. He sensed the rapid fearful breaths of hers brushing against his cheek.
He gave her the guidance that was essential the one their survival depended on.
"Do not make a sound."