He whacked his funny bone when he woke up on Wednesday. It hurt, but not enough to stop him from standing up and staring at the sharp corner on his bedside stand.

"I've gotta move that thing. Every morning, damnit. Every single morning," he muttered to himself. After shaking his head at the small table a few times, he turned and walked out of his room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

"Morning, dad!" said his daughter Jaimie.

"Hey."

"Sleepyhead. I've been up for ages."

"Yeah. I want coffee." He reached in vain for the coffeepot from his seat at the table.

"You know, instead of reliance on some chemical to wake up, you ought to try going outside. It's a nice day out, you know."

"No it isn't. Look outside, it's cloudy." He gestured to the window over the sink.

"The air is still fresh."

"Not in humid, humid August. Oh, that reminds me."

"What?"
"Niece is coming over soon. What time is it?" he said. Jaimie groaned. "What do you not like about her? She's my best girlfriend since Claire."

"I hate how she's so formal. She calls you Reuben."

"That is my name, you know."

"Most people call you Rob."

"I know, but she grew up rich. You can't blame her. Formal dinners and the like. What time did you say it was?"

" I didn't say."

"Don't throw me that teenage sass, young lady." He smiled at her. He knew she hated it when he made fun of her like that.

"It's ten thirty."

"Thank you. She'll be here in around a half hour." Jaimie groaned again.

Reuben walked back upstairs to the bathroom, he needed a shower. It was a quick one, he needed to be ready for Niece. She wasn't the type of person who would respond well to being answered at the door by someone in boxers. Not even Reuben.

As he put on his pants, some nice comfy jeans, heard a rather loud scream sound from out his window. It sounded like it was a few blocks away at least. Reuben, slightly shaken, went back downstairs. He found Jaimie sitting on the couch in the living room, staring blankly at the television. It was off.

"And you persecute me for being lazy, look at you, you won't even reach over to the remote-"

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"The scream?"

"Yeah."

"It was loud."

"Yeah?"

"When someone screams like that, they're hurt."

"So?" He didn't understand.

"I was watching the news." Jaimie reached and picked up the remote. "And then I heard the scream."

"What was on the news?" Reuben was starting to get concerned. The look on Jaimie's face, her tone of voice… She sounded scared. Not scared of snakes scared, either. Freeze your insides and hand over your larynx scared, she sounded.

Jaimie clicked the circular button on the remote, the one that turned on the television. On screen, there was a news anchor talking about something, but Reuben didn't care. He was too busy looking past the T.V., at the sliding glass doors they had had installed last month. Beyond them was a person, scratching at the glass, screaming to let her in. She had blood on her neck, staining the top left part of her tank top.

"Please! Oh, God, please let me in," she sobbed. Reuben didn't move. Jaimie, previously frozen to the spot, moved towards the door.

"No," said Reuben. "Don't move."

"We have to let her in, she's hurt."

"Tell me what you saw on the news," Reuben said.

"We have to let her in!"

"Don't move. We don't know her. What was on the news?"

"We have to-"

"Tell me what was on the news, now!" Reuben screamed. The woman continued sobbing and pressing herself upon the glass. Jaimie looked at her, and then at her dad.

"The anchor said there was a riot in the city."

"And?"

"And nothing. He said there was a riot, that people were shooting stuff up and killing other people and crap."

"Sit down."

"But-"

"Sit down!" he yelled. "I'm going to let her in." Reuben stepped a bit closer to the door, and motioned to calm down. The he remembered that glass wasn't soundproof.

"Calm down. I'll let you in if you tell me your name." The lady stopped yelling and said, shakily, "Laura Ander. Please let me in. There is danger out here."

Reuben walked to the glass and let her in. She stepped in quickly and shut the glass door. She turned to Reuben.

"Do you have any weapons? We have to cover this glass up, now." She pulled the shade shut. "Weapons."

"I, uh, don't have any guns, if that's what you mean." He gestured with his eyes towards Jaimie, who hadn't taken her eyes off of this 'Laura'.

"Look, if you're keeping a secret handgun under your dresser, now's the time to pull it out. I hope it's ideal for home defense."

" Dad, is she right?" Jaimie looked stunned. "You can't have a gun. You can't. We don't keep guns." She was obviously put off by this. Then they all heard the slam against the glass.

"What the hell was that?" asked Reuben.

"What do you think?" said Laura. "One of them."

"You remind me of a movie," said Reuben. "What the hell was that? I'm being serious here." Another slam against the glass. A sharp sound cracked across the room.

"Daddy!" screamed Jaimie.

"Calm down!" said Reuben.

"We don't have time! Get a weapon, it's coming in!" said Laura. She had a very warrior like look to her now.

"What the hell is coming in?" screamed Reuben. He briskly walked over and grabbed the shade retracting string. He pulled.

Beyond the glass, there stood a horror. It looked like a person, but no living person had ever lived beyond suck injuries It's lips were gone, exposing a human jaw, with a set of teeth, several of which had obviously been violently been ripped out. It's gut was slashed, showing intestine, and a knife was lodged in the throat of this creature. The nose was gone, exposing the nosebone, and the skin of the face was very much mangled. The only truly recognizable facial structures were the jaws and the lidless eyes. The thing stopped flailing against the glass when the shade was pulled back, and it seemed to flinch a bit when it saw the three humans staring back at it in horror and revulsion. Then it let out a guttural screech and threw itself all more frantically at the thick glass.

"Holy shit."

"Get your gun, now."

"Yeah." Reuben turned to run towards the stairs, and was met by another scream.

"Daddy!"

"Listen to me, Jaimie. Come with me upstairs. Now!"

"Go!" yelled Laura. Reuben grabbed Jaimie and whisked her away, up to his room. He reached into his closet and pulled out a box. Upon opening, this box held a very modern, very dangerous looking pistol. Reuben expertly loaded and cocked it, and after telling Jaimie to stay up here, looked at the staircase. He heard a crash, and then a scream. Laura's scream.

He ran downstairs, to see the creature crouched over her, with it's head buried into her stomach, gorging. She looked at him, her face a mask of agony and croaked, "The head." Then she closed her eyes. Reuben threw a cup from the coffee table at the creatures body. It stopped chewing, and pulled it's head out of Laura's body to look at him. He took aim and fired. The bullet passed into the monster's forehead, and traveled out of the back, finally lodging itself into the wall. The creature slumped to the ground, inanimate.

Reuben called to Jaimie to get downstairs, and keep her eyes closed. Of course she didn't. She started to scream, confronted with the carnage but Reuben slapped his hand over her mouth, and held her tight to his body.

"Listen. Do not scream. That can only do us harm. We must keep from calling attention to ourselves. There was one of those things, and there very, very easily could be more. Do you think it's a coincidence that there was rioting in the city, and then this happened?" She shook her head as much as she could, with his grip upon it. "Then do you understand why you can't scream?" She shook her head yes. He released her.

"What do we do?"

"We get the radio. And some food. Hurry!" After a few moments of quick preparation, they ran out the door, and got in the car. Reuben reached down, and started the ignition. They began driving towards the city. It was only three miles, after all.