Part One

"We shouldn't have panicked back there," sputtered Mason, slumped over to his side in a pool of his own blood and guts. "...We shouldn't ha--"
Then he was gone. The whites of his eyes slowly grayed over and rolled concocted upward. I'd never seen someone die before. I'd never seen someone look on as life was about to continue on without them. I clenched my gun tighter as the thoughts filled my mind. I'd never wanted so badly not to die.

"Fucking grab his gun and keep movin'!" yelled Sidney. "He's gone, the fucking bastards got him, now keep movin!" She reached over my shoulder and shoved Abby forward. From behind her you could hear the shrieks and screams of those dying and those doing the killing. Strange, we actually thought we'd be safe in this run down mansion. Seems to me like we just gave them a more sophisticated environment to take us out in. We pushed forward into the east entrance of the kitchen and barricaded ourselves in. I checked the clip in my gun...7 more rounds. Not enough to kill one of 'em, but enough to get me pretty close. Suddenly loud pounds on the door almost rumbled it off of its hinges. It wouldn't be long before they were in here.

"Arm yourselves!" yelled Sidney as she loaded two shotgun shells. "This is it." I managed to raise my Nightmare-0777 just before some of the door broke away leaving a large crack that stretched from one end to the other. Sidney fired two shots and everyone else followed suit, firing everything they had at the door. Clouds of smoke filled the room as round after round flew at our enemies with the force and power of beings desperately trying to survive. I took a step back in hopes to find a clear shot but something just at my feet shifted my balance and I fell backwards firing a shot off into the ceiling. At that moment everyone had stopped shooting. The smoke was too thick to see, but it seemed as though maybe we'd taken it down. Everyone was coughing and staggering around. The muffled sound of voices and footsteps echoed throughout my head. I couldn't tell exactly, but it sounded like Sidney was telling everyone to take cover. Then, from the thick bulk of the smoke two black tentacles swooped in and pulled two of us kids out as quick as a whisper leaves the tip of your tongue. Before I had time to react, four more flew in. Two of them must have grabbed a hold of Simon and Reece because I could hear their screams die out in the distance. I scrambled backwards along the floor as more and more tentacles snatched us from the kitchen. Suddenly one flew at me. I pulled the trigger and blam, it split into two. On my hands and knees I crawled over bodies of the wounded we'd carried in with us, when I remembered what Mason told us back at the loft about the "trackers". Then, as if someone had poured white hot acid on me, I felt a searing pain erupt from my ankle. I screamed out but the words barely left my mouth before the searing pain reached across my face and down the side of my neck. It lifted me off the ground as I kicked at the floor. A quick jolt sent me flying through the air and into Sidney who'd been propped up against the wall shielding off the "trackers" from some of the younger ones. Our eyes met only for a split second before I was soaring away from her and into a group of hopefuls frantically running around in horror, like chickens with their heads cut off.
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