Mass Extinction Event (Book 2): Days 9-16 by Amy Cross

beer. "In a potential serial killer kind of way. The guy's totally fucked up." Getting to his feet, he comes over to join me at the door. "I know it's against the rules, but seeing as Toad's out, I figure I might go down and get one more beer."
    "That's stealing!" Patricia says firmly.
    "I think the world owes me one fucking beer," Erikson replies. "After everything that's happened in the past week, one beer isn't too much to ask for!"
    "Toad doesn't owe you anything," Patricia says.
    "It's just a beer," he mutters, stepping past me and heading inside. "Just one time. Keep your mouths shut. I'm celebrating the imminent birth of a baby. I'll skip my beer next week or something."
    "He's an idiot," Patricia says after a moment, fixing me with a curious stare. "Please tell me he's not actually a friend of yours."
    "I met him yesterday," I reply.
    "That's better," she says. "I've met men like him before. They're no good, in the long run. I pity that poor bitch who's carrying his baby. Christ, I can't imagine letting such a waste of space into my bed, but I guess it's different strokes for different folks." She pauses. "Can you fire a shotgun, Elizabeth?"
    "Me?" I stare at her for a moment. "I guess so."
    "Wrong answer," she replies. "Either you can or you can't. If you can't, it's fine, but you need to be honest so we can teach you." She stares at me for a moment. "That's a good general rule around here. Don't try to cover up anything. If you can't do something, just say so, and someone'll teach you."
    "I can't fire a shotgun," I admit. "I mean, I've never tried."
    "I'll teach you this afternoon," she says. "You'll have a hell of a bruise from the kickback after the first couple of times."
    "Why do I need to be able to fire a shotgun?" I ask.
    "Two reasons. First, you need to be able to shoot at random people who drive up to the house." She pauses. "That was a joke. But seriously, those creatures we talked about, they're real and they're bad news. The policy here is to shoot on sight. No questions, just get a couple of shots off. Fortunately, they seem to drop pretty easily. Blam, if you're a good shot, you can get 'em down. Blam blam if you're not so steady. Anyway, once one's been killed, you keep the hell away from it. Someone's always on watch, twenty-four-seven, which is why we're happy to have a few new arrivals. You're gonna have to take your turn, Elizabeth, and the first couple of times are pretty damn spooky."
    "You mean they come here?" I ask, shocked at the idea of those things suddenly appearing on the horizon. I turn and look out at the field, but there's no sign of anything so far.
    "We've only had two so far," she replies. "Actually, one was before I got here, and the other was two days ago. Still, they were both headed straight for the farmhouse, which has got us a little spooked. It's almost as if they're drawn here, like moths to a flame. I'm assuming it's either scent-based or they're attracted to heat. Granted, we don't know what they'd do if they actually got here, but none of us wants to find out."
    "They talk," I say.
    She raises an eyebrow.
    "The one in New York talked," I continue. "It didn't really make much sense. It seems confused, but it seemed kind of lucid. Like it was taunting us."
    "I didn't know they could talk," she replies, visibly a little shocked. "That's gonna make shooting them a little more interesting."
    Feeling as if my legs might give way, I walk across the porch and take a seat. The enormity of this situation has suddenly become very apparent to me, and I can't help thinking that maybe we should just keep running. After all, if those creatures are attracted to this place, we're clearly not safe.
    "It's okay," Patricia says after a moment. "It's going to be fine."
    "What is?" I ask.
    "This. The world. I don't know how or when, but it's going to get fixed. This is just a temporary emergency."
    I stare at her. "Who's going to fix it?" I ask, thinking back to a few days ago when I told