VENTS

Anthony Jones stepped into the bathroom. He liked his new house, it was big. His family had recently arrived at this new place, after moving from another state. Anthony decided to check the shower water and find out if the water heater was working. He reached into the bathtub and turned on the shower. Steam began to rise. Anthony then noticed a few tiles missing from the back wall of the area inside the shower. It wasn't wide, but it was a deep and dark shaft inside.
"Mom! The water's fine, but there are a few tiles missing in the wall!" Anthony shouted to his mom. His father and two sisters were at the store, getting food.
"We can always fix that later. Check out the rest of the house!" Anthony's mother called back from somewhere else in the house. Anthony looked at the missing tiles again, and he thought he saw something move, but he decided it was probably the steam playing tricks on his mind. He turned off the water, and then he went to find his mother. She was in the basement.
"That's funny, I didn't turn the heater on," his mother said as he got into the basement. She was staring up at the ceiling. Anthony could hear rumbles from the heater vent above their heads. He looked up, but everything looked normal enough for him.
"Hmm. Probably an old mouse or something. No one has lived here for a while, it cost so much.,” his mother said. They heard the noise again, but after that, it was gone like the evening sun. You knew it was there before, but it was gone now and there was nothing you could do about it.
"Let's enjoy this meal, it's the first in our new house," Jacob Jones said. The family finished their prayers, and began eating. Then, they heard a rumble from the vent. Jacob, Anthony, Anthony's sisters (Betty and Bertha,) and Anthony's mom, Sarah, all stopped and stared up at the heater vent.
"Daddy, what was that?" Bertha asked in her slow, four--year-old voice as she tugged on Jacob’s sleeve.
"I don't know. Probably the heater warming up for use, or something. Let's just eat," Jacob answered. The family all slowly averted their gazes back to the delicious-looking meals set before them, and they resumed their dinner. Afterwards, the family watched TV for a little while. The reception wasn’t great, and they only had three channels (“We’ll get cable in a few days, let’s just settle down first, and try to go without it for a few days. Why, when I was a boy...” Jacob had said regarding this issue, and then he went into a long and boring story on how life was so boring and miserable “back in those days,” yet, “we all got along just fine throwing rocks at each other for fun.” After a while of watching the static come and go across the terrifically old black-and-white movie that happened to be on, the kids all got bored and went to bed. Anthony was glad to get his own room, even though they had very little stuff unpacked. The room was basically empty except for his bed, blankets, and a few unopened, variously marked boxes. Anthony climbed into his bed, and looked out of the window. It was a clear night, and he saw a falling star go by. This new place was beautiful to him, but he couldn’t help but feel bad about the home and friends and good times he had left behind to get here. But all things must eventually come to an end, and Anthony knew this well. He lay in bed, trying to fall asleep. After a few minutes, he heard noises coming from the heater vent in the wall that his bed was placed against. Anthony crawled to the edge of his bed and looked under it. When he looked at the vent, he saw two round, red, glowing objects. He thought nothing of it at first, figured they were just his imagination. Or something left there from a previous owner. Or a reflection, or... Suddenly, they blinked. Anthony sat up and rubbed his eyes, thinking he must really have imagined it, but he was awake and alert now, not sleepy at all. He stared back into the vent. They were still there, and they blinked again.
Sarah Jones sat in the den, reading a book. Jacob had gone off on the road. He was a trucker, and was only home for a few days out of the week, and even then sometimes he was gone for weeks at a time. Anthony came down the hallway, with a look of slight worry on his face.

"Mom? Can I talk to you?"
"Sure, Anthony, what is it?" she replied.
"There's a really weird feeling I get about this house. It feels... strange, I guess."
"How so?"
"You know how graveyards are? Like, sometimes they are gloomy and dark, but even when it's bright and sunny, it feels like...death is in the air, I guess, and even though it's sunny, the birds don't sing? It feels odd. This house feels kinda like that," Anthony explained. Sarah grimaced, and turned her head to the side.
"There's nothing wrong with this house. You're probably just homesick," Sarah replied. Anthony was silent for a moment, like he was contemplating something that he had to say, but he just couldn't think of how to put it into words. Finally, after watching his facial expressions and hearing him stumble on his words, he was able to get it out.
"Do rats or mice have red eyes?" Anthony asked.
"Sometimes. Why?"
"How big?"
"Are you going somewhere with this?" Sarah asked.
"Yes. How big?" he asked again. He looked worried.
"Not very big. About the size of small marbles, maybe,” Sarah said as she indicated the size with her fingers, and then continued to ponder, “why do you ask? Have you seen any red mouse eyes?"
"I might have."
"How big were they?" She asked.
"Each eye was at least as big as a half dollar coin."
"Well, whatever was in there, Anthony, if there was something in thereis gone now," Sarah said as she got up off of the floor near Anthony's bed. They heard the now familiar sound of something moving in the vent. If that was what the noise actually was.
"Look. It's ten o'clock. It's our first night in this new state, new house. Let's try to get some sleep, OK? You have school soon, and we want you back on your old sleeping schedule. Besides, what would people say if a thirteen-year-old was afraid of red eyes in his vents?" Sarah asked.
"OK, mom. Thanks for listening to me," Anthony said as he climbed into bed. Sarah turned off the light, looked at Anthony and smiled, and then closed the door as she left. Anthony tried to get to sleep, but couldn’t help but have that feeling that something was watching him. He knew if he looked under the bed, he’d see the eyes, and become frightened. He could try to tell his mother, but she’d probably become upset, and come and check once more, find nothing, and tell Anthony he wasn’t to leave his room again that night. Then, he’d peer under the bed, see the eyes, and then be overcome with fear. He could try to fall asleep, but he wouldn’t be able to no matter how hard he tried, in fear that he would never wake up. And he would want to be asleep, so he wouldn’t have to watch the vent-dweller kill him. He’d just close his eyes, wait a few minutes, and then suddenly find himself at God’s doorstep, waiting in line to be judged. Anthony pondered all of this for a while, and then, finally, the anxiety was too much for him. He slowly crept toward the edge of his bed, clutching the blankets like a tourniquet clutches a wound, and he slowly leaned his head lower and lower, watching the bed go by, waiting for the moment when the bed would end and the vent would begin, and he’d see the eyes, and then he wouldn’t know what to do. The moment finally came, and as Anthony peered under the bed at the vent, he saw nothing. Relieved, he got back into bed, and quickly, quietly, fell asleep.
As the months went by, the noises continued. The Jones family came to recognize them as an everyday occurrence, and didn’t pay much attention to them. Anthony had some friends now, and was doing well in school. His best friends, Mike and Jim, had also come to know the noises with the time they spent at Anthony’s house. While they all had questions as to what the noises were, they dared not ask, because they’d just get the same old, tired “Everything is fine in this house, there are just some problems with the vents that we need to have looked at, but your father is a very busy man, he doesn’t have time to look at it right now, he’s not off much until the summer season” response from Sarah. Anthony, as well as the others, were sick of hearing it, so they just kept their ponderings and ideas to themselves. Until one day when the three boys were exploring the garage, and they noticed a small hole in a ventilation shaft near the back corner of the room. They wanted to explore it, get inside and see what makes this house tick, but there were some unpacked boxes (Jacob always responded with, “I’ll get to it when I have time, just don’t touch the stuff yet!”) in their way. Too, they could only imagine what Sarah would say, though the thought of imagining it was enough for them to not want to try it. That same night that they discovered the hole, Anthony waited until he knew everyone else was asleep, then he got a flashlight, put some clothes on over his night clothes, and slowly made his way down the stairs. He knew that if his mother woke up, she’d be furious, so he was extremely careful and tried his best not to make any noise at all. He tip-toed down the hallway, and then he reached his mom’s room. The door was slightly opened, and he could see the blue glow of the television set flickering inside of the room and a little bit in the hallway outside. She was probably asleep, there was no noise emerging from the room whatsoever, it was as though the TV didn’t want to make any noise in fear that Sarah would wake up and find Anthony creeping around out of bed with a flashlight, fully dressed and wide awake. He wouldn’t have been able to tell her he had to use the restroom in such a case, he’d be better off telling her that he was sleepwalking. Anthony stopped, and listened carefully. He could faintly hear his mother breathing deeply, definitely asleep. He slowly lurched his foot forward, and after an eternity of moving, he set it down on the shag carpet. He put his weight down, and then took another step. As his foot hit the ground on the second step, the floor made a loud creaking noise, and Anthony winced. He listened, and he could no longer hear his mother’s breathing.

She’s awake.

Anthony stood there in utter silence until he could hear the deep, faint breathing, and then he continued, but with more caution now. He finally made it out of earshot, and made his way down the stairs and into the garage. He didn't turn on the light, he just used the flashlight that he had in his hand. He went to the corner of the garage, stacked some sturdy-looking-and-feeling boxes, and climbed up toward the hole in the vent. It was a tight squeeze into the vent, but once inside, he realized that the vent was big enough for him to move around in, as though it were specifically designed for someone to be able to crawl around in. Had he been a few years older, Anthony would’ve realized that it was extremely odd for a heater vent to be so large. With the flashlight as his guide, he began crawling (although with the severe lack of space, it was more like sliding, and more still like slithering). He turned his head to make sure he knew where the hole in the vent was, and then pulled out a marker and made an arrow on the vent wall, pointing toward the hole. He crawled forward, and saw a vent wall where the shaft turned and went upward. Upon arrival, Anthony noticed that he could stand up in this area, but it was too high for him to climb up any further. This area provided space for him to turn around and crawl back to the hole. When Anthony got back to the hole and turned off his flashlight, he saw two red eyes across the hole, staring directly at him. He reached to turn his flashlight back on, but in his panic he fumbled it and dropped it down and into the hole. The red eyes suddenly started to approach. Anthony reached into the hole for the flashlight, he wanted to see what these red eyes belonged to. He reached, the flashlight had landed on one of the boxes he had used to climb up and into the hole to begin with. The thing with the eyes got closer and closer, so close that Anthony had a better chance of reaching them than he had of reaching the flashlight. Anthony reached, the plastic cylinder at his fingertips, just out of grasp. He could touch it, but not hold it. The eyes were so close that Anthony could feel a cold, hairy breath on him now, and he lunged downward and grabbed a hold of the flashlight, turned it on, and pointed the light at the eyes. He didn't see much, but he heard a shriek, and the eyes moved sideways into another area of the shaft. All that Anthony saw was a mouth with pointed teeth, opening as he heard the scream. Terrified, Anthony dove out of the hole, landed on a box and hurt his leg, rolled off and ran as fast as he could with his injured leg back into his room. as he ran, he suddenly realized that the creak in the floor was louder, and he could swear he heard Sarah getting up. Anthony threw off his extra clothes, took an extra pillow and an extra blanket, stuffed them under his bed to block off the vent, and then scrambled back into bed just as Sarah peered into the room. She looked for a moment with glazed eyes, then rubbed the back of her neck, and turned back toward her room. Anthony breathed a sigh of relief after just cheating doom twice. Understandably, he did not get much sleep that night.

"No offense, Anthony, but you are crazy," Jim said after Anthony explained what had happened the night before.
"I believe him," Mike said.
"You believe everything. There are no monsters living in Anthony's vents," Jim said. It was a Saturday. The three boys were whispering, so that the teacher wouldn't hear them.
"It happened. It was weird. I have proof, look at my leg where I landed on the box," Anthony said as he pulled up his pant leg. There was a big bruise there.
"So you had a bad dream, rolled out of bed, and landed on a box or something else on the floor," Jim said.
"Then why are the boxes in my garage stacked up, and why is the one I landed on bent?" Anthony asked.
"Humbug. I still don't believe," Jim said. "Maybe you should show us. Tonight."
"I'm not going back in that vent, Jim. I don't want to go near any vents at all," Anthony said. It started to snow outside. The bell rang. The kids picked up their stuff and left the school.
"So is the sleep-over off? We planned this last week, are we still going to sleep over? If we don't go near the vent?" Jim asked.
"Yeah, I'll see you guys at my house at three thirty, right?" the boys went off in different directions toward their houses.
Anthony heard a knock on his door. He opened it, and saw Jim and Mike and their various sleeping items. It was snowing heavily now. Anthony invited them in and turned on the TV. It was a weather report.
"We may see blizzards in some areas, don't be afraid, folks. The worst that could happen would be being snowed in for the night, and most of the snow should be gone before tomorrow afternoon," a reporter said.
"Maybe we should go home?" Mike asked.
"Nah. They said it'll be fine by tomorrow afternoon, that's when we planned on going home anyway," Jim said. Anthony's mom said something from the hall, then came into the living room, and was about to speak, when a loud bang came from the vent. They all looked up, then looked back down.
"Anthony, your friends can set up their sleeping area in here while you shower, you smell like a monkey," Anthony's mom said. She left the room.
"Don't take too long, monkey boy," Jim said. He threw a pillow at Mike as Anthony walked off toward the bathroom. When he got there, he closed the door, and turned on the water. Steam started rising. He took his shoes and socks off, then hung a towel on the rod. He had his shirt halfway off. He looked at the missing tiles. He saw the red eyes.
"What the heck?" he whispered to himself. He leaned in closer for a better look. Suddenly, something shot out of the hole. It was a long, insect-like arm with three claws at the end, resembling a grappling hook. The claws clapped together wildly.
"Holy crap!" Anthony screamed as he backed away, the claws had just missed his head. He heard the shriek he had heard in the heater vent that night he had gone up there. As he turned around, he tripped on a shoe, fell down, and hit his face on the doorknob of one door. He struggled to get up, but his shirt was wrapped around his hands. He thrashed and got it off, and the got up, but he hit the back of his head on the doorknob again. He got up, and turned around and tried to run, but slammed into the other door, which he had also closed. He opened the door and ran out screaming.
"The snowstorm that was passing by us seems to have suddenly, without warning, changed directions. Expect about three to four feet, the snowstorm should pass over the night, and the snow will be gone within forty-eight hours. For now, we suggest that you stay wherever you are, it should be getting crackle colder crackle as long as-" the TV signals were being interrupted by the storm. Mike started moving the antenna around.
"It ain't going to work, storm's gotten too wild. I suppose we should call our parents, though I can't say the phone will be working too well either." Jim said. He reached for the phone, dialed, and heard his mom on the other end. He explained, then hung up and threw the phone to Mike. He called his house and explained, then hung up. Then the two heard Anthony scream from the hall as he came running into the living room. He had no shirt on and his nose was bleeding. His mom came into the living room from the basement.
"Dude, what happened?" Jim asked.
"The hole, in the bathroom, the eyes, and, and-" Anthony was breathing deeply, trying to catch his breath.
"I saw two eyes in the hole, and then I looked closer, a hand came out and grabbed for me!" he said.
"A hand? Like a human hand?" Mike asked.
"No, it looked like a grasshopper, and it had claws, I hit my face on the doorknob," Anthony said. The four went into the bathroom, where the shower was still running. Anthony's mom turned off the water. The four looked into the hole. There was nothing there.
"Anthony, you're going to scare your sisters," Mike said. It seemed more like fear, because Mike knew that Anthony's sisters were both napping. Then they heard it coming from the vents: the same old rumbling noise.
"It must be them," Anthony said. His mother turned to him.
"Nonsense. It must've been your eyes playing tricks on you. Or you made it up so you wouldn't have to take a shower. Well, Anthony, it won't work," she said.
When Anthony finally got out of the shower, he looked like he had seen a ghost.
"When the heat returns, we can turn the heater on, it will be getting cold soon."
"No offense ma'am, but it's cold right now," Mike said. It was hard to see through the snow, but it was getting dark. The three boys decided to stop watching TV and play video games. They had been playing for an hour before the power suddenly went out. Sarah entered the room with a bunch of candles and flashlights.
"It'd be no good to turn on the heater, there's a big hole in the vent. We haven’t needed the heater yet, so I guess nobody noticed. Fortunately we have four mini heaters, we can put one in here, and one per bedroom. I wish we could just find something to block up the hole with, but it's so big," she said as she gave each boy a flashlight. The girls both awoke from the couch they had been sleeping on. It was dark outside, and Anthony checked his watch, it was five thirty.
"So what can we do for fun now?" Mike asked.
"Let's tell scary stories," Jim suggested.
"Not with the girls in here," Anthony said. The boys lit candles and placed them in various areas.
"What the heck is that?" Mike said from the darkness.
"What?" Anthony asked.
"It's gone. Um, I don't think I should explain, with the girls in here."
"They fell asleep," Jim said.
"Red lights in the vent over there. Looked like huge eyes. As soon as I put my flashlight there, they were gone," Mike said. All three boys pointed their flashlights at the vent.
"Weird," Jim said. "Are you sure your glasses aren't playing tricks on you?"
"No, it couldn't have been, these things blinked," Mike responded. The three looked at the vent, but didn't see anything.
"Well, they aren't there anymore. Let's find something fun to do. Like telling scary stories," Jim said. The three boys attempted scary stories, but couldn't get into the screaming mood. Nothing they said was scary. Most of their stories were more funny than scary. Sarah wasn't in the living room, the boys figured she was cleaning something.
"This isn't fun anymore. We've been at it for half an hour. Let's do something else," Mike said. Suddenly, a scream filled the darkness, all three boys jumped to their feet.
"That was mom. Where did it come from?" Anthony asked.
"I didn't notice, it could've come from anywhere!" Jim said.
"It came from there," Mike quietly said. His flashlight was frozen, locked on the vent.
"The garage," Anthony said. He ran for the garage, yelling for Mike to stay with the girls. Anthony and Jim ran toward the garage, and burst open the door when they got there.
"What's wrong?" Anthony shouted.
"Sorry boys. It was just a spider. It startled me," Sarah calmly explained. She had been dusting. Anthony breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he noticed two red eyes near the hole in the vent.
"Look!" He whispered. The three looked.
"What in the world?" Sarah said to herself. Their silence was broken by the sound of Mike shouting, "No, get away!" and three ran up the stairs and into the living room. He was sitting in front of the girls, who had woken up. He was pointing his flashlight at the heater vent. He had a long scratch on his arm, it looked like a cat with only one claw had scratched him.
"It came out of the vent. I saw eyes. I turned to get a better look, and my flashlight got hit by a table. It rolled to the heater. I thought I was fast enough. I reached for it, something came out of the heater and scratched my arm. I pointed my flashlight, it screamed and ran through the vent," Mike explained.
"What is going on here?" Sarah said. Then, it sounded like rain. Rain in the vent. They could all tell that it was the sound of maybe a hundred or thousand or any number of feet, all moving through the vents.
"They're coming," Anthony said.
"What can we do?" Sarah asked.
"Mom, I know you are going to object, but we need Dad's gun," Anthony said.
"No! I won't allow it!" Sarah said.
"Mom, look at Mike's arm. Do you want that to happen to anyone else? Worse things could happen. They seem to be afraid of light. The power is out, and our flashlights won't last forever. We need protection," Anthony explained.
"All right. But I'll be the one handling it," Sarah said. She went off somewhere, and soon returned with a small, unloaded handgun.
"When morning comes, it'll be bright, and they won't come out. We may be stuck here until the blizzard is over. Dad should be back by then, and we can be well on our way to finding a different house. The phone lines are down, so we can't call for help. And it's still snowing, it's gotten very deep, we can't leave. We're stuck here for a while," Anthony said.
"You guys can stay with us until you find a new house," Jim said.
"We should be fine at least until daylight. Until then, we just set flashlights in front of the vents. It's simple," Mike said.
"Oh no...the hole in the garage vent, it's not filled in, they can get in!" Anthony said. Sarah and Anthony rushed to the garage, pointing their flashlights in every direction. They heard a shriek from one corner of the room, and Anthony saw a small, cricket-like leg move behind a box. He kept his light there so that it couldn't move while Sarah piled boxes up until the hole was covered. There was still a crack, but nothing could fit through.
"Let's go. We can't be here much longer," Sarah said as Anthony's flashlight began to flicker, and as they were reaching the garage door, the light went out. Something in the dark jumped, a shadow quickly running toward them. Sarah handed her flashlight to Anthony, and he pointed it at the shadow. He heard a scream, and he could see what it was. It was a small ball of hair, about the size of a basketball. It had insect-like legs, and pincher hands. It resembled a spider in many ways. It screamed and jumped behind a box. Anthony and Sarah left the room, and closed the door.
"I grabbed this on the way out, it's Dad's spare car light, we can put it in front of the door," Anthony said as he set the light to point at the door. They went upstairs and back into the living room. They could hear the footsteps in the vents.
"So we just have to wait until it's light outside?" Mike asked.
"That's the plan. It's nine. The girls are asleep, right?" Anthony asked.
"Yes, they are. Are we sure the flashlights can last that long?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know. That part is up to faith. We don't have any extra batteries. These flashlights say they can last for, let's see..." Anthony said as he read the plastic on the outside of a flashlight.
"Oh no, they can only last for about two more hours. Three at the most!" Anthony exclaimed.
"That's horrible. What else can we do? Candles won't work." Sarah said.
"That leaves us with one option, then...as scary as it is..." Anthony said.
"What are we doing?" Mike asked.
"We have to kill them all. Someone has to take the gun, go into the hole in the garage vent, and then...well..." Anthony trailed off.
"No. No, no no. I am not going to let you do that! It's way too dangerous!" Sarah yelled.
"Then we can sit here in the dark and get killed, or chopped up, or eaten, or whatever these damned things do!" Anthony screamed. Then, the power went on.
It was three in the morning when the power went back off again. They had all taken turns sleeping, and were told to wake everyone else if the power went back off. It was Jim's shift when it went out. He woke the others, except for Betty and Bertha.
"Now what? We have about two hours on our strongest flashlight. That won't last until sun-up," Jim said.
"Supposing we can even get out of here at sunrise. It's still snowing outside, it's about four feet deep out there," Anthony said.
"Hey, what if we get something made of metal to black every vent, then turn on the heater at full blast? We can burn them all out of there," Mike suggested.
"And cook ourselves alive in here," Anthony said.
"Mrs. Jones, we have to take the gun in there," Jim said as he went into the kitchen. It sounded like he was getting water for everyone. He came back in with several glasses of water.
"No. That is too dangerous, someone could get killed," Sarah said. She drank her water.
"OK then," Jim said as he sat down.
"That tasted funny," Sarah said. Within ten minutes, she was sleeping on the floor.
"Anthony, take the gun into the vent. I gave your mom some of the sleeping powder I took to summer camp last year. I know it's dangerous, but this is our only option," Jim explained.
"Right. Let's go, Mike, stay here with the girls. If mom wakes up, tell her I'm already in the vent," Anthony said.
"Just sit by this door. Point the flashlight at anything that you see moving. No matter what you see, no matter what you hear, stay there. Don't come after me. This gun loads fast, and I have forty bullets," Anthony said.
"What if there are more than forty of them?" Jim asked.
"I'll come back to the hole if I get down to ten bullets. I have some of my mom's lipstick to mark my way back. I also have a weak flashlight. If your flashlight runs out, close the door, and turn the car light back on. I'll give a secret knock. I'm going now. It's 3:30. If I'm not back by 4:30, assume they got me, OK?"
"Right. Be careful, man," Jim said. Anthony moved to where the box was covering the vent hole. There were legs and eyes visible in the crack where the box didn't quite reach the vent. They were trying to get out. Anthony pointed his flashlight at them. He heard running, and screeching. Then, he heard a screech from close by. He remembered the thing he had trapped in the garage. He quickly turned around.
"Anthony, there's one in here!" Jim screamed. Anthony could see its eyes. He pointed the now loaded gun, and fired. He heard a screech, and the ball of hair and legs exploded. It had been close, and the force knocked him down.
"Whoa...this should be easier than we thought..." Jim said about the explosion. Anthony pointed his light at the vent hole, and moved the box. He remembered that the vent went in two directions. First he decided to check at the vertical vent that he had seen but couldn't get by. He slowly climbed into the vent, and fired at the three things that had been trying to move the box. Green, sticky slime covered the vents as they exploded. Anthony went to the vertical shaft. He didn't see or hear anything, and figured that the things couldn't get down the shaft. He began to crawl back. He marked an arrow when he got to the first place where the vent split into two directions. He saw red eyes and immediately shot at them. He decided to go straight. He crawled forward, and soon reached a dead end, where a vent led into the basement room. He struggled to turn around, but found that it was very hard. He instead backed up, grabbed the vent cover, and shoved it out of its socket. He heard screeches where he had pointed his flashlight to avoid an attack from behind. He was able to fit just enough of his legs out of the vent to turn around. He saw three things, as he called them, and shot. He pulled the cover back on, and began to crawl toward the hole. He turned, saw six pairs of eyes, and fired.
That leaves me with thirty bullets.
Anthony thought as he crawled. He could hear them moving. He saw five and shot.
How many of these things are living here?
He kept crawling, and got to a split. In one direction he saw only a vertical shaft, in the other, the same type of dead end that he had seen earlier. He crawled toward the vertical shaft. He saw a vent cover within reach. He grabbed on and pulled himself upward, and grabbed on to the ledge. He pointed his flashlight, heard screeches, then quickly climbed up. He saw five more, and shot five shots. He missed three, and fired three more. He kept crawling, though there was another vent on the other side of the vertical shaft. He got to the living room vent, and heard his mom and Mike talking. There weren't any eyes here, there was a flashlight pointing at the vent. He looked ahead of him. He could see many eyes. He didn't want to fire any shots here, he didn't want to scare his sisters. He found room to turn around. He headed back to the vertical shaft, and saw eyes. He shot three shots. Then he reached his hands to the other side of the shaft, and pulled himself across, to where he fell downward and could easily pull himself up. Then he kept crawling. He heard footsteps, and he turned his head to look behind him. He saw many pairs of eyes coming at him. They jumped across the shaft. He saw four pairs of eyes and fired. He then picked up his speed. Crawling through a small maze of shafts, he saw a vertical shaft. He also noticed a small red mark on the bottom of the shaft, and recognized it as the way out. He turned so that he could lower himself down, and not break a hole in the vent by dropping. Then, as he lowered down and noticed that his feet were about a foot and a half away from the vent, he felt a sharp stab in his hand. He screamed. He couldn't drop himself down, the thing had stabbed nearly all the way through his bone, and he didn't want his hand to be ripped off. Then, he realized the real target: a different thing opened its mouth, and bit the flashlight in half. He pointed the gun up, and started firing. He didn’t know how many he shot, but he knew he hit the one holding him there, because he fell down the shaft. He struggled to crawl, and found it very difficult. He reached the hole and went down. He realized that several had probably gotten out, Because the door was closed, and there were scratch marks on it. He ran, and had to put the gun down to do the secret knock, his left hand hurt a lot. Then, he heard footsteps. Inside the garage, and on the other side of the door. Jim must have left, and had just heard the knock. He turned, and saw one jump at him. Then a flashlight beam hit its face, and it missed Anthony. Anthony jumped backward, not even taking the time to turn around. But he landed on Jim's feet and knocked him down. He fired a few shots as Jim kicked the door shut.
One by one, silently, flashlights flickered and went out in the darkness. It was 4:30. Anthony had his hand bandaged, and Sarah didn’t even bother to yell at him. Anthony noticed that Jim had puffy eyes and a red face, and figured that he had been crying.
I've never seen Jim cry. He's always either laughing or yelling. We can't let ourselves die in here.
"All right. We have one flashlight left. It will last a few more minutes. We're going to have to use plan B. Start looking for metal to cover vents with. We have to burn these things alive. Jim and I will look for metal. Mike, you still know how to tunnel like you did at camp?" Anthony asked.
"Right," Mike found some gloves, opened the front door, and snow started to pour in. It was very deep. Mike started digging to make the hole big enough. Jim went to the basement and got the spare car light. They positioned it to where it was pointed in a circle of light around Betty and Bertha, and Sarah left to the closet to find some warm clothes for everyone. Jim and Anthony took the flashlight around the house, finding various metal objects to use for blocking heater vents. Then, they found a cooking sheet, and went into the garage, pointing the light everywhere, got a battery powered nail gun, and nailed the hole shut. Then they blocked every vent in the house with metal. They woke Betty and Bertha, everyone layered their clothing and put on coats. They got some essentials, food and blankets, a solar powered mini heater, and a tent. They had a hard time getting out, but they quickly set up the tent in a field across the street from the house. Jim, Mike, and Anthony went back toward the house to grab the solar heater, they had left it by the door because they couldn't carry it all at the same time.
Inside the house, The furnace was going at full speed. Screeches could be heard everywhere, if there had been anyone to hear the screeching. No one knew of the punctured gas lines caused by the bullets of the gun, and the house slowly filling with flammable gases. No one knew that the furnace was way too close to a spare can of gasoline. The temperature kept rising...
"Well, let's take this across the street. I'm glad this is over," Anthony said as he lifted the solar heater. They were halfway across the street. Anthony turned to get a last look at the house. He closed his eyes to think for a few seconds. Mike and Jim didn't turn, they didn't want to see the house again. Then, a loud popping noise was heard, and then the house exploded. The force threw the boys off their feet, they fell the rest of the way across the street. They looked up. The house, whatever was left of it, was burning. Pieces of the house were shooting toward the sky. If there had been houses near by, they would have been burned or hit.
"What happened?" Mike asked.
"I'm not sure, I guess when I was shooting, I must have hit a gas line," Anthony said.
"Look at the pieces!" Jim said.
"Those aren't pieces of the house," Anthony said with a smile, as fire shot into the night sky, which hadn't begun to brighten yet.
"Yes. Burn you little freaks! Try to kill us, will you!" Jim yelled. He picked up a rock and threw it at the remains of the house.
"So what happens now?" Mike asked.
"We wait for morning," Anthony replied.