Was it possible to shout quietly?
Nnadim pressed himself against the hallway wall as if he could melt into the concrete and brick, if he tried hard enough.
At the same time, in slow motion, he watched in agony as Anyia reached for the tranquilizer gun on the coffee table by the window.
He took the smallest breath, once every minute. Anymore would alert the crazy creatures that scientists couldn't seem to come up with a name for, to his presence. It was sheer agony. More so, his sister and only living family member was alone in the living room.
The crazy creatures, as he named them, stormed Earth a week ago. Bodies, humans and animals, littered the streets in their wake.
It took days before people figured the creatures hunted by breath and motion. The slightest shift in the air called them.
By then, their parents and two brothers were gone. He and Anyia were the only ones left. They had been extremely careful, moving only in the early hours of dawn to gather supplies when the creatures were said to be asleep.
But this morning, something changed. It seemed the creatures close to their town were awake and it was barely six am.
They had come up from their bunker upstairs to grab a few tranquilizers and food when the guttural, hair-raising growl ripped through the house.
He was close to the trapdoor leading to the bunker. He flattened himself to the wall at once and held his breath. But Anyia kept moving to grab her tranquilizer gun on the table. She didn't see the eight feet, spider-like, scraggly creature by the window.
It was closer than they had imagined.
He didn't want to lose her. His instinct pushed him to move…act…save her. But he could only scream in his head—Stop! Don't move, Anyia!
I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "shout quietly!" and also the sci-fi movies Quiet Place and its sequel.
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