the door, the gun shaking in her hands as she ran down the several steps of the front porch towards the barn. The lights in the barn cut off as an ear piercing shriek stabbed into her head, causing her to stop in mid run halfway towards the barn doors as she tried to cover her ears. She stumbled back, dizzy from the scream that caused her ears to start ringing as the double doors to the barn were forcefully thrown open with a crack of protesting wood as they slammed against the barn. A large shadow came lurking out of the barn, pausing as it noticed her. A deep feral growl issued from the shadow cloaked figure, the sound causing Alice to freeze in place as her breath caught in her throat. Her heart pounded in her ears like thunder, her chest tightening as her vision started going black from lack of air. A scream pierced the air then, shocking Alice into remembering to breathe as she recognized Paulie's voice. Looking behind her she saw her youngest, standing in the doorway behind the closed screen door. Turning back towards the nightmare in the barn, she felt the figure's gaze leave her as it focused on her son. Just then the figure shrieked as it dashed with inhuman speed towards her. Fueled by the screams of fear from her son, Alice sprinted back towards the house as fast as her legs could carry her.
"Run, Paulie!" she screamed, as she felt the figure quickly gaining on her.
"Momma!" shrieked Paulie, his voice cracking from fear that had him frozen where he stood. Alice made it to the porch, leaping up the porch stairs just as she heard Julia scream out from upstairs. Crashing through the screen door, she ran into Paulie, wrapping her arms around him protectively as they fell to the floor. The front door slammed shut behind them. Paulie wailed as he hugged her tightly, refusing to let go as Alice turned around, gun extended in a trembling hand. She stared wide eyed at Charlie as he pressed himself against the door, his complexion pale white, eyes wide with fear.
"Wha... What was..." Charlie couldn't finish his words as he slowly slid towards the floor.
"Take your brother." said Alice loudly to be heard over Paulie's cries. Charlie quickly crawled towards them, pulling his younger brother off her as he wrapped him in his arms, both looking equally terrified. Alice quickly looked towards the kitchen window as she crawled towards the kitchen phone. Staying low, she pulled the cord of the receiver, knocking it off its base towards her. Keeping her gun aimed between the kitchen window and front door, she dialed 911.
"Come on, come on, come on..." she said repeatedly as the phone started to ring. After the third ring, dispatch picked up, the woman's voice sounding as if she would rather be doing anything but talking to Alice.
"911. What is your emergency?"
"Please, send help. There is..." Alice was interrupted as the power went out. The darkness engulfed them as Alice gasped, her eyes looking around franticly. Paulie's cries stopped, so shocked was he from the sudden darkness and the sense of doom that weighed upon all of them.
"Hello? Hello--are you still there?" Alice cried into the phone, not hearing anything on the other line. The realization that the phone line was cut hit her just as the sound of glass shattering upstairs was heard followed by Julia screaming desperately. Paulie started crying again as Charlie wrapped his arms about him tighter. Alice jumped to her feet, guided more by memory than sight since her eyes were still adjusting to the dark, and tore open the drawer that held the miscellaneous items. Fumbling around in the drawer, she found the flash light, quickly turning it on as she glanced at Charlie. "Hide yourselves." she whispered before running down the hall towards the stairs, taking them at speed, slowing only when she reached the top. The beam of light wavered on the floor and wall as her hands shook, her heartbeat thundering in her ears as silence greeted her. Coming off the stairs the hallway on the second floor ran the length of the house, and on her left were the children's bedrooms, while at her right was the master bedroom. The thought of her husband caused her to nearly breakdown, but she forced her emotions back, keeping them in check as she took a deep breath. She quickly glanced to her right, shining the flashlight down the hall, making sure nothing was waiting in the thick shadows before turning to the left.
Keeping her gun extended she quickly ran down the hall to Julia's room, the last door on the left. Despite fearing what she may find, she didn't hesitate as she entered the bedroom. She froze as her flashlight revealed smeared blood on the hardwood floor. Broken glass reflected the beam of light in several directions. Terror seized her as a low rumbling growl sounded from the darkness. Looking across the room from where she stood, the dim moonlight streamed in from the shattered window and outlined a massive figure standing before it. Shaking violently, she raised the flashlight up slowly towards the figure, only to drop to her knees and scream as the light revealed her husband.
Dennis stood crouched before her, head dropped low, his massive shoulders bunched up as he snarled at her. Bloody froth bubbled from his mouth with every intake and exhale of breath as his unblinking eyes bored into her own. She couldn't look away from his gaze as much as she wanted to. The whites of his eyes had turned a soulless black, while the irises and pupils had turned menacingly red. Trails of blood seeped from his demonic eyes, traveling down his cheeks to collect in his thick beard. His once large hands now ended with monstrous claws that twitched eagerly as he glared at her.
"Dennis, baby. Please." Alice sobbed, dropping the flashlight as she raised a shaking hand towards him. No expression of recognition crossed his features as he shrieked at her, causing her ears to ring. She screamed out in horror as he charged her, barreling into her. Alice gasped loudly as her husband wrapped a clawed hand around her throat and slammed her body to the floor. She choked and desperately tried to inhale a breath as he pressed down on her, his snarling face lunging towards her. Kicking her legs feebly, she grasped at the claw wrapped around her throat as her vision started to blur from lack of oxygen. Clenching her hands into fists as panic set in, a gunshot rang out, loud enough to be heard over the ringing of her ears. Dennis' soulless eyes went wide as he shuddered, his snarl turning into a dull growl before trailing off until she felt his body relax. The claw hand around her throat slackened, letting Alice greedily gulp air in a shaky breath. Having nearly blacked out from lack of oxygen, Alice quickly remembered the danger she was in, yelling out as she shoved and squirmed out from beneath her husband. Pushing herself away from Dennis, she back peddled until her back hit the wall in the hallway. Keeping her shaking gun pointed at her husband, realization of what she'd done slowly dawned on her, causing her to drop the weapon in shock as she cried out in despair. "No! Dennis! Dennis, please!" she cried as she quickly crawled towards his body. Grabbing his left shoulder, she strained until she flipped him onto his back, cradling his head on her legs as she bent over him. His eyes stared blankly up at her as she ran her hands through his hair. "I'm sorry." she whispered, closing his unseeing eyes.
"Momma!" screamed out Paulie franticly from downstairs.
"Paulie!" yelled Alice as she jumped to her feet, grabbing the dropped flashlight and gun before running down the hall towards the stairs. "Baby, Momma's coming!"
"Momma, help!" His words ended with a terror filled shriek.
"Paulie!" Alice ran down the stairs at speed, leaping the final four as she turned towards the living room. Just as she entered the living room her foot slipped forward on something wet, sending her crashing down to the floor in a heap. The back of her head slamming into the floor causing her to yelp in pain as her vision blurred dangerously. Her son's cries for help faded out as she fought to cling to consciousness.
Ticticticpictictictic... The sound seemed to echo down a long hallway as Alice was on the verge of blacking out. Ticticticpicticticpic. Groaning, she reached for the back of her head, undoing her messy bun as she winched in pain, and sat up. Paulie! The thought of her son caused her to look around alarmingly as silence reigned in the dark house. Picking up the flashlight laying on the floor next to her, she placed her weight on her right hand to stand up. Alice froze, cursing under her breathe when she realized her gun was missing. Look
ing around, her heartbeat thundering in her ears, she saw the pool of blood that she had slipped in. Swallowing the fear that sent chills up and down her spine, she spotted her gun in the corner near the staircase six feet from her. As she rose to get up, something wet hit her right shoulder. She wiped her shoulder without thinking before a paranoid sense of being watched hung over her. Closing her eyes, she whispered a quick prayer and quickly heard an amused giggle sound out near her. Julia. She opened her eyes, tracing the flashlight beam around the room looking for her daughter.
"Silly mommy. Praying won't help you."
Following where her daughter's voice sounded, Alice slowly looked up to the ceiling. Terror engulfed her as she saw her daughter clinging to the ceiling directly above her. A maniacal grin was splayed on her face. Her demonic eyes, the same as Dennis's, bled freely. Another drop of blood fell, hitting Alice's shoulder as all she could do was stare at her daughter. No. Please, no.
Julia giggled again as she scuttled about the ceiling effortlessly with her clawed hands and feet. Ticticticpicticpictic. Her claws dug into the ceiling easily, leaving small punctures as she circled over Alice's head. Slowly the realization that she was not looking at her daughter came to her. My husband, my little girl. What have you done? What have you... "What have you done?!" screamed Alice, tears blurring her vision as anger started to boil away the fear festering in her stomach. Julia stopped, nightmarish eyes wide as she hung from her clawed feet and pointed to her own chest.
"Who, me? I've found myself a new home." she said with a snicker. "Do you like it?" she asked, her voice turning husky as she slowly trailed a claw down her body.
"Give me my daughter back." cried Alice as she took a slow step back, hands grasped before her. The thing that was now Julia paused for a moment, a claw tapping her chin in thought before flashing Alice a devious grin.
"No. But how about joining my new family?" she asked, cocking her head to the side, blood dripping from her eyes and mouth.
"I'd sooner die than join you." spat Alice as she took another step back. Just a couple more steps. She thought as she drew closer to her gun.
"Oh," pouted Julia before a smile came to her bloodied face once more. "Well, that's okay... cause you die when we take your body anyway. But I promise to not make it hurt if you just say pretty please?"
"Fuck you!" yelled Alice as she took another step back. Julia dropped from the ceiling, landing on her feet easily, bending at the knees to absorb the shock. Slowly rising up she let out a shrilly giggle, her eyes glowing with excitement.
"Now mommy, it's not polite to cuss at your children like that. It could scar me talking like that." she said, flexing her claws eagerly. "And since you didn't say please, I get to hurt you now."
Alice quickly backed up, keeping the flashlight on Julia as her daughter let out a warbling screech and charged, claws extended eagerly towards her. Alice's back hit the wall and she bent down immediately to snatch up her gun up. Standing, she pointed the gun at her daughter, her eyes welling up with tears as she pulled the trigger. A clawed hand smacked the gun out of the way just as it fired. Alice gasped in shock, staring at Julia's grinning face before looking down to see a single claw from her daughter's right hand embedded in her stomach. Blood seeped from her wound, quickly staining her shirt as the intense pain erupted from her wound. Seeing the agony on Alice's face, Julia's demonic eyes shined with a perverted sense of