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OUT.”
     
    W e’d been hearing variations on this all morning. Police cars were apparently canvassing the area with loudspeakers…but what area? The whole town? The county? Just our neighborhood?
    A couple of times, we heard gunshots. And a wail, quickly cut off.
    But this time the car was on our street. From my position a few feet inside the window, I could see there were two men in it. The one in the passenger seat was visibly ready to help spread the message of caution—with some sort of long gun. Probably a shotgun.
    “Kids…Rebecca. Please get back into the office.”
    Our road was a cul-de-sac, and less than an eighth of a mile long. Behind it were acres of scrub wood. If they were coming this way, they wanted something specific. Unless they were new to town and didn’t know where they were. Which I very much doubted.
    Sure enough, the car parked outside the Sullivans’ house next door. The officers got out of the car—I could see uniforms, so that part was legit, but they weren’t wearing any masks or protective gear. Stay inside, huh? Quarantine?
    I lost sight of them when they walked up to the door to Tim’s house. I figured they wanted him because he was a doctor…but I didn’t see any reason to speak to them. Especially when they were probably lying to everybody within earshot, with their guns out.
    Several minutes later I saw them again.
    “Jesus,” one of them said from the sidewalk in front of my house. “Look at that window. There might be a whole nest of them critters in there.”
    “Yeah, or dead bodies. Either way, this is the Ashton place. They might know where the doc is, if they’re here.”
    One of them pounded on the door. I’d have tried ignoring them, but one of the girls shrieked.
    Mistake or not…“Gentlemen,” I greeted them. “What can I do for you?”
    They’d both moved back, startled. I probably should have said something before opening the door.
    “Mr. Ashton,” one of them said, “we’re looking for Doc Sullivan. Have you seen him? There’s no answer at his house.”
    “I guess a doctor might help, if there’s a quarantine and people are sick,” I said. “But no. Uh…what should I tell him, if I do see him?”
    One of them tipped his sunglasses down and eyed me—now I recognized him: Jimmy Shelton. He used to date Rebecca, back in high school. “Ash,” he said. “I’m not gonna bust into your house. Not yet anyway.” He raised his voice. “But if you do see the doctor, we could sure use his help down at the shelter.”
    “Who’s in the shelter?” I asked.
    “Everybody we think we can save,” Jimmy said.
    “From what?”
    We heard gunfire again. Not on our street, but close….
    “Tell him!” Jimmy shouted over his shoulder as the officers ran to their car.
    I watched until they were out of sight, then started to close the door.
    “Ash!”
    I jumped. Tim limped toward me from the right side of the house. He’d made a sling out of his shirt to support his left arm, and I could see scratches all over his pudgy torso. His pants were a mess too.
    “I didn’t find her,” he told me, wheezing a little. “But those guys are full of shit. Shelter, my ass.”
     
    * * *
     
    “T hey were grabbing people off the street .”
    Tim’s eyes were a little wild. I nodded, then turned to scan my neighborhood. Nobody in sight—in fact there was no visible sign that anything unusual was going on at all—but that didn’t mean nobody was watching us. In fact, with the police putting on a show as they had, probably everybody nearby was looking out a window just now.
    That was a problem for later. “Come on inside, man. I don’t know how serious the cops were about taking you with ’em.”
    “Huh? Oh. Okay, yeah.”
    I stood outside for a moment more. We really needed to find a way to protect ourselves. From strange creatures, the police, nosy neighbors…no matter what, I decided, my family and I would leave Henge as soon as we could. And not come