Jared and I cursed simultaneously and looked at each other. Neither of us spoke for a long second.

"I'll get the gas," I volunteered, though my shaking voice seemed to go against the notion. I almost whispered it, the fear was clear in my voice.

Jared hesitated for a moment, like he was considering going instead. But then he agreed, "Alright." he handed me his gun. "Take this, just in case. Remember, we don't have many bullets so only use it when you have no other options."

Aaron handed me the flashlight. "Be careful, dad." His eyes seemed to beg me to come back safely, not to leave him alone.

I wouldn't leave him alone. I would survive. That's what I tried to convince myself as I walked towards the gas station, but my trembling body seemed to protest. With each step I took, it seemed that the shaking became more frequent. I started to sprint. The pumps and the building came into view. It was still intact, which was good.

Some of the entryway windows had been smashed, probably by the winds and rain.

I hoped.

I flicked on the flashlight when I reached the building, pointing it inside and finding it stripped of food but otherwise not damaged. I scanned around the room with the flashlight. Where were the gas cans? I stepped inside, the floor creaking under my feet. Screw being careful, I just want to get back to the car as soon as possible! I ran frantically around the room, and in the back corner I found two gas cans knocked off the shelf. I knelt to pick one up, but as I did the ground quaked around me, sending me sprawling on the floor head first. I cursed, whatever caused that must be close. I tried to straighten myself out, but the ground shook again, knocking me back down. I did not want to be here when whatever was coming got here. I jumped up, quickly bent down and grabbed the gas can, and then I was sprinting out the door. I listened for the sounds of explosions and gunshots, but they seemed to have stopped.

I ran as fast as I could to the closest pump, and turned it on as I opened the gas can. It shuddered for a moment, then said it was ready for use. I put the tip of the hose into the can, and began to pump it full of gas.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

As I filled it, I counted the number of seconds in-between each time the ground shook. Ten seconds, though sometimes there would be two shakes in quick succession. One almost knocked me completely off my feet, and that was when I realized I had to go back to the car now or it would be too late. I could feel that the shaking was coming from somewhere fairly close. I tore the hose out of the can, put the cover back on and then started running back to the car. I took one last look back towards the gas station and what I saw almost made me freeze in place. There was something in the fog behind the gas station, at the absolute edge of my vision. I almost didn't even notice it, but I glanced enough to see that there was in fact something there. I could only make out an outline, but from what I could tell it was huge; much taller than the gas station. Much taller than anything around it.

I didn't freeze and stare though, I didn't dare. If I would have, there's no way we'd have enough time.

Out of breath, I stumbled over to the car and knocked on the window, letting Jared and Aaron know that I was back. Right as I opened the gas cap, the ground quaked again, shaking the car and almost making me drop the gas can in the process. I fumbled with it in my hands for a moment, and then managed to insert the nozzle into the gas tank. I heard something collide with the ground this time, getting closer to us.

But I didn't dare look; I needed to fill up the gas tank as much as I could. I heard Jared honk the horn of the car, almost sending me jumping into the air. The next vibration made me stumble. It was close, that's what Jared was telling me. We didn't have any more time. I pulled the nozzle out of the tank, closed the lid and looked up.

At first, my eyes saw nothing but the thick fog and the veiled silhouettes of the skyscrapers. But then I saw something else, something almost as large as the skyscrapers, move at the edge of my vision.

Suddenly, from where I was staring, something came flying in my direction and then made contact with the ground a little over thirty feet ahead of me. This time, the ground shaking actually did send me flying to the ground right onto my back.

Just what was that? At first, I thought it was a huge rock or something that had fallen, because it had a sort of grey craggy texture to it, but that wouldn't make any sense. It wasn't that wide, but it was very tall.

As I tried to decipher what exactly it could be, the fog slowly started to wisp away, like the curtains being pulled back at the start of a play. I noticed that there was something attached behind the tall thing, something that extended past the reaches of my vision and into the fog. That too was slowly unveiled as the fog pulled away, wisping and contorting around the thing. The fog was disappearing. A low rumbling started to rattle the air and even the ground around me, practically forcing me to clamp my hands over my ears I recognized it as the sound.