They fill the shadows and I can feel the air get colder. One breaks the invisible line between the dark and the light. It stares at me. We both don't move. Is it thinking? Can they think? It slowly moves toward me.
GRANT
I'm here now! I'm ready! If you
get closer, I'll swing and knock
all of you tiny monsters down!
I can feel it. I look down, and there is one of them already next to me. Its tiny hand is grabbing my jeans.
GRANT
Not working this time!
I swing at the monster, and it breaks apart into dark puff clouds. Already many of the nails and screws are frozen. They don't rush me; they take slow steps. I'm not taking my time. I rush in swinging.
GRANT
Ha, told you I would! You thought
I couldn't handle you!
POOF, POOF, POOF! These smoke monsters go down one by one. I run toward them, not giving them a chance to make the first move. I never leave the safety of the light. My clothes get heavier as chunks of ice for on them, as they reach out to grab me, and their ice claws rip into my clothes. I can't slow down; I'm thinning their numbers.
GRANT
Well, guess what? I am not
going down toni...
It was a fun dose of adrenaline. All those small clouds start to clump back together, and they retake their shape and start walking toward me. It feels like I'm holding onto an icicle, and my gloves are frozen onto the bat's handle.
I see one of them crawling like a spider on my bus, going for the door.
GRANT
You are not allowed in there!
POOF!
I get it before it goes inside, but now my bat is broken. It wasn't the only one. The bus windows start to frost as more and more of them crawl onto my bus. I told myself this was going to be my last night, but... I can't. I can't!
I swing at any that are near the door and make it inside. I quickly throw my bat and gloves on the ground. I wasn't kidding about them freezing together. I lock the doors and turn the key in the ignition.
GRANT
Turn on! Come on.
The engine roars, and I peel out onto the road. I can't give up like that. I don't even need to look at the rearview. I know they are after me. Alone on this road with a tsunami of frosting snow and crackling lighting behind me.
YOU ARE READING
Internet 24
Science FictionAgent Rico, the head of the 24th division of "Internet," is stuck in a room with his pet fish Laurel and forced to go through other agents' accounts of what they face in the strange and unbelievable world. From monsters eating people in the snow, vi...
