The sky was turning dark, and it was getting hard to see. The sun was gone, and I could see tiny white lights in the sky begin to appear. I didn’t want to see them; we were still a long way from home, and now we would need to hurry.
I was scared, really scared, but I couldn’t let her know that. I held her hand really tight and kept walking. We were alone out there—everyone else, and there weren’t a lot—had gone inside and sealed up their homes. They were smart.
“Scott… slow down,” she pleaded.
I knew I was walking too fast for her little six year old legs, but I didn’t have a choice. If we weren’t indoors soon, then the Howlers would get us, and I wasn’t gonna let that happen, no matter what. So I kept walking and I tried to keep my voice gentle, just like mom did when she talked to us. “We have to keep going, Maggie,” I urged her along, walking even faster. Then I lied. I know I shouldn’t have, but she needed to hear it. “We’re almost there.”
I looked up at the sky, which was getting blacker by the second. We’re not gonna make it.
No! Had to think positive, like Dad taught us, I remembered. He taught me how to shoot, although I wasn’t very good at it. Still, I kept my other hand on the gun dad had given me, before he went out with the other hunters and never come back. The gun was big and really powerful (I think Dad called it a magnet or magnum or something like that), and it fired these huge bullets. They’d stop a Howler cold, until another one came around and woke it up.
There were no buildings left, although I used to listen when Dad and other grown-ups would talk about the old days, when buildings were so big and tall that they reached all the way into the sky. The Howlers changed all of that; they could rip anything apart with those huge hands of theirs. They never died, either. That’s why there weren’t a lot of humans left…
Maggie tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, and she nearly took me with her. I turned back and spoke to her in a whisper: “Maggie, come on. We’re almost there. We have to hurry. We gotta go!” Howlers could hear everything for miles, and with the night being so close, they’d be out soon. I heard a coyote scream in the distance and I grabbed the gun Dad gave me, but I kept it in my pocket.
“Scott, I can’t, I’m so tired!” Maggie pleaded. “Please can we rest for a minute?”
The coyote screamed again, but I was used to it, so I wasn’t scared. Maggie had never been healthy, and it was dangerous to go all the way to see aunt Deara, but she was the only one who could make her medication anymore. Without it, Maggie couldn’t walk very far without getting tired, and her breathing got all weird.
I got her medication quickly from the pouch at my waist and almost jammed it into Maggie’s mouth. I pushed the plunger, and Maggie started breathing normally again.
The coyote screamed again. It sounded like it was getting closer, and I hoped I was right and it was just a coyote. It sounded like it was coming from just up the block, but it was too dark for me to see.
I pulled her to her feet. We still had a few miles to go—
Another shriek, and this one wasn’t a coyote. The noise was long and gargly, and it came from behind us.
“Maggie!” I whispered urgently, trying not to show my fear. “We gotta go now.”
I could see in her big brown eyes that she knew I was serious. She got up quickly and didn’t complain when I jerked her forward. I pulled the big gun out of my pocket and used my thumb to pull back the lever that meant I could pull the trigger. Any Howler that wanted my sister would have to kill me first.
The Howler screamed again; it was gaining on us. It was only about twenty feet away, but when I turned around, I couldn’t see anything. They could make themselves disappear and look like whatever they were close to. You didn’t see one until it was too late…
I held my sister’s hand and we began to run. We only had a few miles to go, and even as that thing began to scream and I heard the scraping of claws on the ground pursuing us, I had to believe we would be okay. We would be okay.
Enjoy your day. 
