The Surveillance mission
Once the creatures had retreated back into the forest, Kristie had decided to follow Kyle and Krystal back into their house. She explained that even though she needed to remain in her house, she just felt safer close to him. He couldn't argue with her on that since he really didn't fully understand what worked against them so the three decided to sleep in the same bed just in case.
Sleep came harder that night than before for Kyle. He kept running the events of the second night through his head. The creature had seen Krystal through the window. Once he had left the house, it had chased her out behind him, but how? Katie had run out of her house in fear. That much he understood. The creatures didn't attack her until she left the porch, but Krystal already had one behind her when she jumped off the porch to escape.
He looked to both sides of him at the women who didn't seem to have had the same problem falling asleep as him. They were both quite beautiful in their different ways.
Krystal was dark skinned with obvious Hispanic genes in her and had the muscular frame of someone who lived sports for as long as she could probably remember. Her athletic abilities might come in handy if Kyle could find a way to fight back at these things, but her fear would hold him back from asking her for help.
Katie was fair skinned with blond hair and curves in all the right places. Her large breasts pressed against his body as she breathed deeply in her sleep. She had an accent that sounded like she might be from the West coast, but he was always terrible at guessing where people come from. All he knew was that she was too frightened of the monsters to help combat them.
Light began to leak through the window and Kyle knew that the day was nearly upon them. He didn't have time to waste if he wanted to go into the woods and look for those things. His stomach began to growl as he thought about the group's lack of food. He quietly stepped out of the house and walked down the dirt path toward the other side of the village.
He approached Gavin's house and softly knocked on the door, hoping to not wake the angry little redheaded woman up. That woman was incredibly hot, but so was her temper. He didn't want to get on her bad side. She might scare him even more than the monsters.
The door opened and Gavin stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him.
"How'd it go last night?" He asked as the two stepped off of the porch.
Kyle told him about everything that had happened overnight. He tried to his best to remember everything to the exact detail so that they could figure out how to combat these nightly visitors.
"The real question is whether it's just you or if it works with anybody," Gavin finally stated as he looked around. The shadows of the night were nearly gone and the morning was upon them.
Kyle looked toward the treeline.
"I'm going into the forest today," he told Gavin, not looking away from the forest. "I watched those things run back in last night so I think I have an idea of which direction to follow.
"That sounds extremely dangerous," Gavin said with concern in his voice. "What if those things are still active in there? What do you plan on doing if you find them?"
"To be honest I'm not sure," Kyle admitted with a shrug. "But We've spent the last two nights surviving against things and I'm the type of man who fights back. I don't like hiding."
"I understand that," Gavin said with a chuckle. "You shouldn't go in alone."
"I don't know who would go in with me," Kyle admitted as he could see people exiting their houses and looking around.
"Go with you where?" Eliza asked as she and Joe approached them.
"Kyle wants to go looking for those things in the forest today," Gavin explained to the two as they stepped up to the discussion. "I was telling him that he shouldn't go alone."
"You know where they went?" Joe asked as he narrowed his eyes. "If we can find a way to beat the shit out of those things then I'm all in."
"I'm not going to let you two go on without me," Eliza stated with her arms crossed. "I'm in too."
"Well, that settles it I guess," Gavin said as a scream caused all four to look toward a house in the center of the village.
Kyle ran toward a woman who was standing in front of a sign, covering her mouth with an open hand in shock.
"What is it?" Kyle asked as he closed the ground between them. He looked to see that the other three people he was talking to had followed him. Joe appeared ready for any kind of action. Kyle understood. It felt strange being so helpless. Maybe that's why he was wanting to follow the creatures as well. He just needed to do something.
"Look," the woman gasped.
Both names were scratched out of the sign.
"There was a man that stayed here alone last night," Gavin explained as he pressed his fingers to his temples and began massaging his head. "Looks like last night wasn't as good to us as we initially thought.
"We need to go quickly," Kyle stated as he turned the other two members that had volunteered to follow him. "We need to find those things before nightfall if we can."
"What do we plan on doing when we find them exactly?" Eliza asked. It was a legitimate question considering they were all risking their lives on this mission.
Kyle opened his mouth and was about to explain that he wasn't sure when the same woman who had spotted the sign interrupted him from inside the house.
"Guys," she screamed. "Come here and check this out!"
They ran into the house to find it filled with food. There were cans of preserved fruit and even bread on a breadboard setting out. This was strange indeed.
"You think it's safe?" Kyle asked Gavin as they looked around at the abundance of foods and jugs of beverages setting about.
"It's safer than starving to death," he finally stated as he stepped out of the house and starting calling everyone over.
The entire population, which was down to fifteen by their count, found their way into the house and were talking and laughing with one another as they stuffed their faces with the food. Kyle, Joe, and Eliza grabbed just enough to quickly fill them up before stepping back out of the house.
"Survey mission," Joe finally said, which broke the silence as the three stopped on the porch.
"What?" Eliza asked as she tore a piece of bread off in her mouth.
"We are going to find those things and obverse everything about them that we can without getting noticed. Once we have our information we will make our way back here before nightfall and survive tonight."
Kyle nodded his head in agreement as he stared in the direction they were about to walk. "Then we come up with a plan to beat these fuckers in the morning."
"Sounds like you guys have everything planned out then," Gavin said as he exited the house and walked up to them. "Please be careful. I'd rather not have to deal with all of this without you."
Kyle nodded again and stepped off of the porch. Joe and Eliza followed him.
Hours of silent walking passed as the three walked straight north through the never-ending forest. The walk went by uneventful and the danger in the reality had all walking in complete silence as they scanned their eyes around for signs of those creatures.
A faint scratching noise caused Kyle to look up. He saw one of the creatures hanging upside down from a tree branch. It appeared to be sleeping. He gestured for the other two to look up as he started seeing the things everywhere.
Joe's eyes narrowed in anger at the sight of the things and Eliza's eyes shot wide open in fear. Kyle gestured for them to keep going the way they were and then they nodded in agreement.
They approached the end of the tree line to find another village spread out almost identical to the one they were living in. Kyle dropped down on his belly and looked at the houses to see if he might find others like him.
The village seemed empty at first, but then he noticed movement in one of the windows. He gestured for them to stay behind as he stood up and dashed to the window that he had seen something in.
He looked at him as he reached the house to see that Joe and Eliza were still there watching him. He pressed his forehead against the glass of the window and used his hands to block the sun from the sides to see an empty and dark bedroom. There had to be someone in there!
He looked back and gestured for his friends to stay before walking around the house and up the porch. He turned the doorknob to find it unlocked and stepped inside before closing the door behind him. The house was dark, but there was enough light from the sun coming through the windows for him to see perfectly fine. There was nobody in the living room or kitchen so he walked down the hallway.
He gently pushed the bathroom door open to find it empty and turned to the bedroom door. He pushed it open and felt a sharp pain on the side of his head as his legs gave out from under him.
Someone jumped on top of him and he could feel hands wrap around his throat and squeeze. He opened his eyes to see a woman straddled over him with a face of determination. He grabbed her wrists and twisted, causing her grip to fail before he rolled her over on her back and pinned her hands to the floor.
"Who are you?" He demanded as she squirmed in an attempt to get free. "Where are we?"
The woman grunted as she tried to throw her knee up into him, but he shifted and blocked her attack with his leg before slamming her hands back to the floor.
"I don't want to hurt you," he told her. "I'm trying to figure out what's happening to us."
"Where did you come from?" She finally spoke after giving up attempts to escape. "You didn't come from here. I'm the last."