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as afternoon bled into evening and more of the creatures came and went. It seemed there must have been thousands of them now and Joe was afraid that the time to escape the diner had long since dissipated.
    After a while, he had decided to take stock of their supplies, feeling somewhat lucky to have been at work at the time the shit hit the fan. By his estimation, they would probably be okay food-wise for a couple of weeks, if it came to that.
    That was, if the bee creatures didn’t bust their way inside first.
    Stacy had remained stoic as the drone of the monsters grew more steady, but John was becoming increasingly hysterical with every passing hour. His panic became ever more exacerbated when they began hearing choppers flying overhead. Too terrified to go outside, he began screaming for help through the back door, which he dared not open more than a crack.
    “They’re not gonna hear you!” Joe yelled at the other man, grabbing him by the shoulder. “Even if you were on the goddamn roof they wouldn’t hear you!”
    John stopped his screaming to look at Joe. “Yes! he said. “We need to get to the roof! Even if they can’t hear us, they’ll at least see us!”
    “Maybe, maybe not.”
    “You have the shotgun! You’ll be safe. Just shoot those bastards if they get too close!”
    Joe bit back his anger. “You think I should be the one to risk my ass, huh?”
    “Well...why not? It’s your diner. It’s your fucking gun. You act like you’re so fucking macho, why don’t you prove it?”
    “It’s better if we just stay put for now,” Joe said, ignoring the taunts. “At least until we haven’t seen or heard any of those things for a while.”
    “It’s getting worse not better!” John screamed, spittle flying through the darkness to shower Joe’s face. “We have to do something now !”
    “You’re free to do what you want, man,” Joe said. He tossed his hands in the air and turned his back on John, shaking his head.
    A distant rumble shook the diner and was followed by an explosion. Both were far enough away to not pose any immediate danger to the diner but the sounds were unnerving nonetheless. It told them all that the earth had swallowed more evidence of mankind and most probably took lives down with it.
    Behind Joe, John began to cry again.
    Fresh out of sympathy, Joe said “Don’t open that door unless I’m here.” Without turning, he walked out of the storage room and back into the kitchen which was now aglow with weak candlelight.
    At the counter, Stacy sat toying with an unlit cigarette. Her face was drawn; she looked as though she’d aged at least a decade in a matter of hours. Joe guessed he probably looked the same.
    He nodded at the cigarette. “You gonna smoke that?”
    Stacy signed. “I never wanted this baby,” she said softly, without looking up at him. “But I don’t believe in abortion either, so I figured I was just fucked. Thought I might put it up for adoption, you know?”
    Joe shifted his weight uncomfortably and said nothing.
    “But now,” she continued, “I’m thinking maybe I do want it after all. I’m thinking about what a selfish bitch I’ve been, smoking these cancer sticks. I even kept right on smoking a little weed now and then. Drinking. I didn’t really give a fuck. I was pissed off.” Her voice hitched and Joe reached across the counter to clasp her left hand.
    “So stupid,” she said. “I’ve been so fucking stupid.” She sniffed loudly, then straightened her back. “I turned the radio off. Figured I’d save the batteries since there’s been nothing but static for about an hour now.”
    “Good thinking,” Joe said, because he didn’t know what else to say.
    “We should have left earlier,” she said. “While it was still daylight. I have a feeling this...” She finally brought her gaze up to look him in the eye. “This is probably gonna be our last night. I’m really starting to think we’re not gonna get out of this.”
    Joe frowned.