Ravenous

   My eyes widened in disgust, a gurgling cry of alarm tore from me. I was shaking, coated in sweat and blood. My heart was hammering so violently I was half afraid I was going to have a heart attack. I was frantic with terror. I may not be frozen like the others, but that thing was still completely capable of killing me, even if I had wounded it. Its howling cries grew louder as it darted at me, slicing across my cheek, spilling more of my blood. Suddenly it screams weren’t all about agony, but also excitement and hunger as it tasted me.

   I dodged its attack as it searched for the source of the fresh blood it had spilled. I scrambled away, crab crawling rapidly backwards as it lunged at me again. This time I wasn’t fast enough. This time it was on me.

   It wrapped swiftly around my middle, winding rapidly toward my throat with the speed of a cobra. I clawed at it, trying to grasp it as it neared my throat with deadly velocity. “No, no, no,” I found myself rapidly and uselessly panting out the word, even as the thing continued to ensnare me.

   “Bethany!” Abby screamed.

   Then it was there, in front of my face, floating before my wide, terrified eyes. Those thousands of needlelike teeth clicked as they rippled over like dandelions blowing in a summer wind. Though it had no discernible eyes I knew it was staring at me, judging me, sizing me up; tormenting me before it delivered its killing blow.

   The thing screamed suddenly, rearing back. I recoiled, wincing as I waited for the death blow to be delivered, but it did not come. I winced as it constricted painfully upon me, nearly cracking my ribs with its intense pressure. The thing dropped suddenly, hissing and screaming as it plummeted out of my line of vision. I inhaled sharply, finally able to draw a full breath as its crushing embrace on my lungs eased.

   My gaze found Abby across the way. My younger, smaller sister was sitting over the creature. The piece of glass within her hands had been driven through my original wound, severing the thing in half. She was staring at me in wide eyed horror; blood smeared her delicate, fair cheeks. Gratitude filled me; I pulled the limp thing away from me, dropping it onto the floor as I rose shakily to my feet. There was far more strength and courage in Abby than I had realized.

   I had only a moment of relief though as all of the lights suddenly stopped flashing and became focused solely upon our house. The beams blazed brightly, lighting the room far more than even the sun would. I lifted my hand, attempting to block the blinding light from my burning eyes. “Abby, get away from the window,” I commanded softly.

   “Bethany?”

   “Get away from the window!” I ordered more fiercely, my teeth clenching tight as my body thrummed with a sense of impending doom.

   Abby crawled toward me; carefully avoiding the thing sprawled on the floor. “Hurry Abby, hurry!” I urged.

   She was almost to me when another window shattered. Glass sprayed inward, showering the room with its sharp slivers. It cut across my arms, sliced my flesh, and one imbedded deeply in my raised right forearm. A hiss of pain escaped me; I grabbed hold of the shard and tore it from my skin. Blood surged forth but I had no time to try and staunch the flow, or to tend to the wound. Abby was curled into the fetal position, her hands wrapped protectively around her head. Her screams were piercing as they echoed throughout the room.

   We had to get out of here. Now.

   I tossed the glass aside as I ran toward Abby. “Get up Abby! Get up!” I grabbed hold of her shoulders, dragging her toward me. “Abby get up!”

   She was still screaming as she stumbled to her feet. Her cheek had been cut, glass was in her hair, but thankfully she seemed to have weathered the exploding window better than I had. “Grab the plywood. Abby, grab the plywood!”

   She was dazed; her eyes wide and confused. Shock was evident in her slack features and glazed eyes. The courage she had just recently displayed seemed to have vanished before this fresh onslaught of brutality. I thought maybe I should slap her, that is what they did in movies after all, but I felt the last thing Abby needed was any more physical trauma right now. “Abby please, you have to help me. I can’t do this alone.”

   She was moving with me to the plywood when a burst of motion caught my attention. The window was full; there were at least twenty of those things there now. They moved and dodged and darted as gracefully as bees as they swarmed toward us. Bile surged up my throat, panic hammered through me. They were coming for us. Allof us.

   “Move!” I cried.

   I grabbed hold of the plywood, lifting my mom swiftly off the floor. Abby grabbed the other end, sobs escaping her as she caught sight of the creatures rolling toward us. “Hurry Abby, hurry.” The tears streaking down her face cleansed some of the blood that had sprayed over her. “Go,” I urged. “Please go.”

   Abby was nodding, choking on her sobs as she moved swiftly toward the door. My arms were already aching from the weight of the plywood, and our mother. We couldn’t move fast enough, couldn’t get out of this room in time. I found myself praying silently, desperate to run, desperate to move faster. Desperate to surviveas all of my survival instincts kicked into high gear and the fight or flight response consumed me.

   “Bethany,” Abby whispered horror evident in her voice.

   She was near the door, almost completely out of it, but I was not close enough. I wasn’t nearly close enough. And Abby could see those things. She knew where they were, I didn’t. “I’m sorry,” I breathed.

   She opened her mouth to say something but I shoved forward, thrusting the plywood, and our mother, forcefully at her. Abby cried out in surprise, staggering into the hall before she disappeared beneath the weight of the plywood, and our mother’s frozen form. I dove forward, thrusting myself through the door, rolling as I dodged the snapping tentacles I knew were close on my heels.

   I scrambled over top of the plywood, not feeling at all sorry when I knocked my immobile mother out of the way. I was pretty sure she would forgive me, and understand. I lunged forward, grabbing the bottom of the bedroom door as one of those things darted at me with deadly intent. I ripped the door toward me, slamming it shut with a resounding thud that echoed throughout the house.

   I rolled back, my rapid pants loud in my ears as I tried to catch my breath. One of the things slammed into the door, rattling it in its frame. The old, heavy wood held up beneath the onslaught. For now, anyway. “Abby get up! Abby up, up!”

   Abby was trying to get to her feet, but she struggled beneath the weight of the plywood lying half on top of her. I helped to pull it off her. The things were banging against the door with more urgency now. It would not be long before they broke through it. I threw the plywood down and began to awkwardly roll our mom back onto it.

   “Bethany,” Abby whispered. “Bethany, we have to go.”

   “I know, I know,” I replied impatiently as I finally managed to shove my mom haphazardly onto the wood. Light suddenly filled the upper hallway. I lifted my head slowly, the hair on the nape of my neck standing on end as dread filled me. The window at the end of the hall was now ablaze, the room behind me had become eerily silent. “Oh.”

   Abby grasped hold of my arm, her grip bruising and painful. “Bethy.”

   I rose slowly, my heart hammering, my whole body trembling with terror. “Get the other end of the plywood Abby.”

   “Bethy…”

   “Now Abby, get it now!”

   She released me slowly and crawled to the other end of the board. It was not the light blazing in on us that u