"What the hell was that?" Jared shouted.

Cautiously, we slowly managed to get back on our feet again, just in time to hear a series of heavy clanking footsteps coming from the street. We cast furtive glances at each other, unsure what to do. Should we stay up here or try to escape? Could we even escape?

Two sets of footsteps stopped in front of the house, while the other footsteps sounded like they were walking down the street, heading to the next house over.

I heard what sounded like something wooden being picked up off the ground, then the footsteps left the doorway. Did they pick up the broken door?

"Uhh..." I heard Aaron mutter as he pointed to something directly behind Sarah.

Oh God... when that crash had happened and shook the house, the lit candle was knocked over onto Sarah's blanket. The attic was on fire.

Jared was about to move and try to put the fire out, but the footsteps returned, this time coming into the house. They sounded like something made of heavy metal clanking onto the floor. I kept worryingly eyeing the spreading fire that we couldn't do anything about.

Shit! Go away! It's spreading... fuck, go away!

What are they doing?!

Again, I heard the things lift something up and take it out of the house.

As soon as the footsteps reached the street, Jared ran to the fire and tried to snuff it out by smothering it with another blanket.

But it was too late, the flames had spread too much.

We would burn alive if we stayed in the attic... but what was waiting for us down below?

"Fuck, we have no choice..." Jared cursed.

"Those footsteps..." Sarah muttered, "I swore I heard them Friday when the construction sounds came around..."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Sarah and Jared started to gather food from the boxes, putting some in a bag Sarah had. I moved to open the trapdoor but stopped before my hand touched it when I heard the footsteps come into the house again. By now, the flames were covering most of the wall of the attic where the candle had been. This time, I heard what sounded like a saw tearing something apart directly below me. So was this the "construction noises" Sarah had heard? What the fuck were they doing and why?

After tearing and breaking something made of wood, the footsteps again left the house. The flames were licking the side walls. If we were going to leave, it was then or never.

"There's a big window in the bedroom," Sarah whispered, "If we go down quickly and head through there, we might be able to leave without being seen."

But that loud crash... it sounded like something big had landed on the street. Would we escape its notice? Oh well... we had no other choice.

Jared, Aaron and I nodded.

Quickly, I pulled open the trap door and dropped the ladder down. Sarah went down first, practically leaping down but landing softly and carefully on the floor, then quickly sneaked into the bedroom.

Aaron and I basically went down at the same time and Jared was directly after us.

Just as all four of us made it into the bedroom I heard the footsteps make their way back into the house. We didn't want to risk moving while they were in the house... we had to wait for them to leave again.

I was the one closest to the door, trying to keep my breathing controlled. Jared clutched the gun. Sarah was eyeing the window, ready to pounce for it if whatever was coming into the house showed any signs of coming near the bedroom.

All of my muscles tensed up as the two sets of footsteps made their way to the middle of the kitchen then suddenly stopped.

All we could hear was our subdued breaths.

I kept counting the seconds in my head.

29... 30... 31... 32... 33...

Still nothing.

What the hell were they doing? Why did they just stop this time? I don't know why they were taking stuff out of the house to begin with, but why did they suddenly behave differently now? Did they see us? Could they sense us somehow? Do something, anything, dammit! Should we just smash open the window and gun it? We had no idea what the hell we were dealing with though... If we could escape without alerting them, that would be ideal.

I nearly jumped as a sudden loud mechanical whirring sound came from where they had stopped. It sounded like a... power drill? The four of us stared at each other in shock for a moment, but with the loud noise covering up any sounds we could make we decided that now was the time for action. Sarah jumped onto the bed and threw open the window, leaped outside and landed on the grass. The whirring noise sounded like it was starting to get closer. Next was Jared, then Aaron. As I was climbing onto the window sill, the house suddenly shook as something crashed onto the other side of the bedroom wall, near the door, making me fall back onto the bed.

I was only down for an instant, but in that one second I had caught a glimpse of a grey humanoid figure standing just outside the doorway of the bedroom, facing away from the door.