Rule # 1 Pack light

It all started at night, the animals were restless. The dogs were howling and the cats were screeching, I was awake when it happened, kinda hard to fall asleep when every animal in the neighborhood is screaming their asses off.

I looked out the window and that's when I first saw it, under the light of the lamp post it was just there on all fours, It has a humanoid shape so I was unsure if it was a ghost or a dog, maybe some crazy drunk dude. It was just staring at another house across the street when suddenly its head snapped back to look at me, I fell back on my bed, it definitely removed any ounce of sleep I had left.

I ignored it, thinking that I was just hallucinating or it was the lack of sleep. I really did try to sleep it off and eventually I dozed off, I was woken up by the sound of the warning alarm on my phone. It was already morning and the animals seemed to calm down, I looked at my phone to read a message from whatever government disaster agency it is.

" This is only a drill, everyone is advised to stay inside and keep their doors locked, and as much as possible avoid going outside. Our local government units will be bringing food rations to every home. This is only a drill, to improve our services. Keep safe and don't panic. "

Well, that's definitely questionable, I was still half asleep when I remembered what I saw in the middle of the night. Still nervous, I slowly looked out the window and I was relieved that the humanoid figure I saw was gone. Maybe it was really a figment of my imagination.

I went down to the kitchen, to grab something to eat. My family was huddled in the living room, my sisters were playing as usual and my mom and grandparents are watching the tv, what was weird is that all tv channels were either static or blocked off. Same with the radio, it's all static.

" Hey ma, have you also received the text? kinda fishy don't you think? now the tv channel's signal is all gone." My mom suddenly pulled me aside somewhere private scrolled into her phone then showed me a video "What do you think of this?" I watched it and my eyes widened in surprise, in broad daylight it was the same humanoid figure I saw earlier only now I can see its features well.

It's a live feed of a person in their home, they were taking a video of what's happening outside. The person who was taking the video was shaking so badly and was both screaming and crying. I can't tear my eyes off the screen and my mom is watching over my shoulder, there was a person being torn apart by this humanoid figure, it was on all fours, muscular literally as if it has no skin, its eyes were hollow, nails are sharp and so is its teeth. The monster noticed the person who was taking the video and focused its attention on them, I wasn't able to watch after that.

My mom and I were silent after that, the silence was only broken when my mom spoke " pack your things, don't bring too much. " I couldn't ask much since she hurriedly went to her room to talk to different people on her phone, my baby sister in tow. I only packed a few things, then packed canned goods and brought water bottles in a separate bag, I felt like we would need them.

My mom went out of her room and pulled me aside to talk to me, her voice almost a whisper " Your dad called, it's urgent. We have to take shelter, don't tell your grandma, just..." she trailed off and looked away then spoke again in a stutter her voice shaking " Just tell her that we're going to your uncle's house. " My dad is a military man, if he said to take shelter there should be something wrong, very wrong. I looked at my sisters full of worry, one was only 3 and the other 13. My baby sister is very happy, she thinks that we would be going to visit her uncle, my heart dropped, then I looked at my grandparents.

I wasn't able to speak, my head was swirling with questions and I was starting to feel lightheaded, sure my grandparents are not the best people in the world but, they don't deserve to be monster feed. My grandma was disabled, a big woman, and can't walk while my grandpa though still strong is stubborn and doesn't believe in "monsters".

I just nodded and whispered in response to my mom "I'll start the car." My grandma stopped me to ask for takeout when we get home, and I forced a smile "I'll bring you your favorite snack." I then proceeded to connect her phone to the wifi so she could watch her favorite movies online. I started putting our luggage into our trunk and then started the car.

There was no person in sight, everything was quiet saved for the excited chatter of my baby sister and my mom's constant hushing, when we were all settled my mom took her gun from the compartment loaded it and gave it to me. "Something to protect yourself with." At this point my sister Agatha started asking "what's wrong? you're not acting normal.." We didn't answer. My mom warned us not to look back, my sister did and what she saw horrified her, a group of monsters gathering in front of our house and the sound of our dog growling and howling.

She started crying and screaming "WHAT WERE THOSE?! YOU LEFT THEM THERE! YOU...YOU LEFT THEM TO DIE?...did you leave them to die?." she spoke hyperventilating, my baby sister started crying too because of the commotion which stressed my mom causing her to swerve a bit almost hitting a speeding car.

She stopped for a while causing all of us to catch our breath " Calm down Agatha! I don't know what's happening but people are dying. It was either them or us...you know we won't be able to fit in this small car and you know your grandparents will only slow us down. " She sighed and started driving to my dad's safe zone we kept quiet the whole ride after that, occasional sniffs could be heard from my sister.

That was the day, the first day that I realized. Rule # 1 pack lightly, if they're gonna slow you down and you can't save them. Leave them.