The firelight flickered across the cabin. The shadows jittered and jumped, as if they were alive. The chill settled in, and I pulled the blanket tightly around me.
“So every phone number goes to voicemail. Including my mom’s, and she always wants to talk to me.” I swirled the dregs of wine in my glass. “And there’s no mention of anything on the news. Where does that leave us?”
“Stranded?” Daniel said, with a dry laugh. “Dead?”
“Daniel!”
“Kidding, kidding! Here, let me see if I can’t find anything online about it.” He pulled out his phone; the blue glow contrasted sharply with the fire. “Instead of looking on news sites, I’m going to just Google with wild abandon. Let’s see… ‘Minnesota’… ‘radio broadcast’… ‘put sheets over windows’… ugh, page loading, we’re down to 3G.”
The fire crackled and hissed.
“Aha!” he said, thrusting the phone in my face. I took it and began reading.
queenofthenorth89
Hey, anybody in C___, Minnesota? We just got a really weird radio broadcast. They told us to lock up and shut our blinds, but now other broadcasts are saying to come out and get supplies on Maple Street. Anyone know what this is about?
CrazyCatGuy
The second one’s fake. It’s been playing on repeat, on every local station in range, for the past six hours.
excalibrrr
Guys, I did a lot of research, and a similar thing happened back in the ‘70s. YOU WILL BE OKAY, if you follow these rules:
Don’t look at them. Don’t let them see you.
Even if you’re camping in a tent, or sleeping in your car, you can survive. Just be sure to cover any windows and apertures with something opaque.
Keep all pets (and other animals, even livestock) inside. Don’t put out the garbage. Don’t light a fire. They can smell from miles away.
Daniel and I looked at each other –
And then at the roaring fire.
Thud.
I jolted awake.
The blanket was tangled around my feet. My neck ached, and my hands were cold as ice. The cabin was pitch-black now, save for the dying embers in the fireplace.
“Daniel?”
He only snored in response.
“Daniel!”
“What? ”
Thud.
“Did you hear that?”
“Probably just a branch, or something. Don’t worry about it.”
Thud! Thud, thud, thud!
