I kept myself hidden within the shadows, trying to stay away from the monsters.

When I saw it come into view, I started to run. I didn't want to be caught up by the monsters 

I skipped over the front door steps and hopped onto the porch of Kayla's house. Dropping the backpacks on top of the porch.

"Michelle! It's Ethan! Open the door!"

I started to just whisper yell, in hopes that they could hear me. I heard a bit of shuffling and footsteps come up to the door.

"Ethan? Didn't I tell you to stay at home? Why are you here?"

I started to feel jumpy the more I stayed outside. Before I answered back to Michelle, I looked down the street to see a horde of monsters coming. Panicking, I hurried to answer.

"Well, that's a long story, but Michelle, I need you to open the door. There is a horde of monsters coming down the street from the south!"

"Really!?! Ethan, you're going to have to go to the backyard and scale the tree that is close to Kayla's window to get in. We barricaded all of the downstairs windows, the upstairs windows are the only things not barricaded yet."

As soon as I heard that, I sprinted and hopped the fence into the backyard. Running towards the tree, I jumped and pulled myself onto the highest branch I could reach. Once I pulled myself onto the branch, I looked for the next branch I could jump to. 

'I never climbed a tree in my life! But with how I'm going, I might as well be a pro!'

I reached towards the next branch that looked like it could hold me. Before I even started to pull myself up onto the branch…..

*CRACKKK*

"FUCK!"

I slipped back onto the branch below and almost fell back onto the ground. Catching myself, I pull myself back onto the branch and steady myself.

"Goodness gracious, I almost died! I need to stop thinking so soon."

I look around to see if there is another branch I could reach that would help me get to the window. Spotting a branch to my right, I leaped for it and made it.

"Alright, at least this one didn't break."

I jumped to the next branch successfully and made it to Kayla's window. I lift the window up and climb through.

I then hear footsteps coming up the stairs and running towards Kayla's room.

*BOOM!*

*SMASSSSH!*

"Ethan!"

My sister runs and hugs me.

"I'm so glad you're safe! I was worried you would get hurt!"

She then hits my shoulder, unexpectedly.

"OW! What was that for?!?! How were you worried I was going to get hurt when you're the only one who actually hurt me!"

"Shut up! I didn't know you would come out of the house and come here! You knew it wasn't safe outside!"

"WELL, IT WASN'T SAFE INSIDE THE HOUSE EITHER!"

Silence went on throughout the house. The only things I could hear were the sound of monsters faintly outside and the oncoming footsteps coming towards the room.

"Guys…. Be quiet, remember? Monsters outside."

Kalya comes into the room and says to us, whispering. Michelle turned around and apologized, "Right…. Sorry, we forgot in the moment…. Can you close the door? We will be right out in a moment."

Kayla nods towards her and turns to smile slightly at me, then leaves the room while closing the door.

Michelle looks at me and frowns, "What do you mean by, 'it wasn't safe in the house'. Did you have trouble?"

I look at her and nod with a straight face so she won't be as worried as she looked. Guess that didn't work because she started to tear up.

"You're not hurt, right?" she says as she comes forward to look at my face, hands, and back.

I push her away and shake my head no, "I'm not hurt". 

She looks at me with her face scrunched up.

"Really! If you looked all you wanted, you wouldn't see a single scratch on me."

Her face relaxed when I told her that.

'She is a live lie detector! She can tell when I'm lying and when I'm telling the truth! She is my older sister, so it's to be expected when she doesn't buy my lie.'

"Tell me what happened so I can get a better understanding of why you didn't stay. It should have been safe if you locked down the house like I said."

She pulled me towards Kayla's bed and sat me down.

"Well……."