>>>>[[[[NOTE: DAY 1]]]]<<<<

I opened the door of the utility room and crouched inside, pulling my fox tail in after me. I grinned as I closed the door to the cramped space. My little sister was scared of this tiny room, but it was a perfect hiding place for me.

At 18, maybe I was getting a little old for hide-n-seek. But as my little sister Kaylee loved the game, I took it as my solemn, brotherly duty to pamper her. The age gap between my cute foxy sister was 8 years, and in theory I should be a teen who despised silly kids. I didn't care. I loved her and got to watch her grow up. If I didn't seem cool to my classmates, that was their problem.

I hid a snicker behind a paw as I heard a distant, “Ready or not, here I come!” I could hear her poking around the house. After a few minutes, my legs and tail were cramping. I was getting a wedgie, but there was no room to shift. I could wait – she would find me soon. Her face would light up with victory, paired with a hug.

There was no light here. Mom had made sure long ago by sealing the door edges with rubber that dug into the carpet. My sister had been pleased there was a barrier between the scary room and the house. Kaylee had never complained about it again. This was the darkest room in the house; I couldn't see my paw in front of my face. I was crammed against the laundry machines and the water heater, under a shelf. I knew the upright vacuum was parked across the little space from me, it was always there.

I held my breath as I heard my little sister wander near. She will find me, I thought, gotta brace for a hug!

A door slammed. A crash from somewhere in the house. I heard my mom's voice, “Kaylee?! Tyler?! Where are you?”

Her voice was desperate. Something was wrong. I heard my sister run off and with a groan tried to drag myself out from under the shelf. Mom never sounded desperate. She was the most resilient fur I knew. Something was really wrong.

“Tyler! Get here immediately!”

Paired screams etched my darkness. One high, one not so high.

I was halfway to my feet when something... hit.

That was the only way to describe it. There was no shaking of the ground, no roar of an explosion like in the movies. Something was happening. My skin crawled as the air seemed to vibrate. There was a strange hum in the air.

I heard strange sounds. Bumping and clattering.

It was completely dark, and my shoulder now leaned against a vibrating door. I had staggered in my half-crouch to lean on it.

My head was humming too. Not just carried vibration from the door. Couldn't think. Just searing vibrations that I could feel everywhere. It seemed to interrupt every budding thought, going on and on. I was mindless, frozen against the door.

The world trembled ever so slightly and ever so terribly. Time was meaningless, thought was.... Well there was no thought. Only sensation. Unending.

And it stopped.

It ended, and the stillness was just as terrible.

I fell to the floor, the vacuum tipping and landing on me. But the moment was gone. The stillness was normal... but I didn't move. The world didn't vibrate. There was solid floor beneath my cheek. The vacuum hose shifted down, making me flinch. Otherwise, I was still immobile, not wanting to move.

I slowly came back to myself. I felt numb and detached. I groaned and pushed myself to sit up, pushing the vacuum away. Sick and dizzy, oh yeah, and numb too. I rubbed my paws on my face, but they felt distant. My fur was standing on end all over my body, making me prickle with sensation every time I moved.

I was Tyler. I nodded to myself, agreeing. I lived here with my....

My blue eyes snapped open in the dark. Dizzily, I groped my way up the washer and struggled to find the door handle. Desperation slowed me more than the shakes my paws made.

“Kaylee!” I yelled. “Mom! What was that? Are you all right?”

There was no answer. Maybe they were worse off than I was. I finally found the little handle and wrenched the door open. I had to get to them.

I stumbled out into the hallway and closed the door out of habit. Hide the scary away. Maybe Kaylee was right, that room was dangerous. I felt I'd barely survived in there. I leaned against the wall, trying to hold upright. I looked down the hall. Empty.

“Mom?”

No response.

I walked slowly down the cramped back hall where the utility room sat next to the garage. Slowly, because my legs felt stiff and hard to move. My paw trailed the wall for balance. Sunlight was brightening the next room.

“Kaylee?”

No response.

“Answer me! Where are you? Are you alright?”

Smoothing my red fox fur, I managed to stand straight. Kaylee would be scared to see me this puffed up. I don't think I'd ever been so fluffed in my life. I was getting more terrified with every new step. The kitchen came into view... nothing. It was empty of my family.

The digital clock on the stove was off. Happened every time the power went out. I tiptoed through the kitchen. Was anything still wrong? Why was I creeping through my own house?

My nostrils burned with a strange smell. Whatever it was was making a stink. I was halfway across the kitchen when I turned back and snatched a knife from the drawer.

“Is anyone there?” There was no answer. “What was that anyway?” I said, more to myself. I breathed deeply, steadying myself. Then I remembered that Mom and Kaylee had been screaming before. The memory echoed in my mind.

Hurrying forward, I gained entrance to the dining room, but seeing nothing there, I continued. My steps quickened to the family room, where a comfy couch and modestly sized TV were the main features.

I entered, the knife shaking out of my paw and falling to the floor.

I'd found them.

They were lying together, limbs thrown about in awkward angles. A large figure and a small one. My eyes blurred with tears and I sank to the floor next to them. My voice whined and raised higher in wordless expression. I reached forward and touched Kaylee's shoulder.

“Kaylee, it's ok now. It's over. Get up, please get up,” I begged. “Mom, help me get Kaylee up,” I whimpered, reaching and grasping her paw.

I didn't want to look at their faces. The blurred glance I'd seen had been more than I'd ever wanted to see. I glanced up at my mom, wanting to see reassurance. All I saw was the confirmation of my first impression. Her lips pulled back forming a snarling look on her red and white muzzle. Her eyes wide and panicked, filled with fresh tears and strange fluids. Froth and blood mixed with vomit seeped from her muzzle. Blood and fluid came from her ears.

Kaylee was.... I couldn't bear to look. From the corner of my eyes I could tell she must be the same. I couldn't see her like that. I didn't want to acknowledge it. I'd never seen Kaylee even show her teeth to anyone. I couldn't see her like that. It was just not like her.

The terrible smell came from them. But I didn't care. I gathered up my cute sister in my arms and rocked her gently. Holding her head to my shoulder. “It's ok now, Kaylee. You don't have to cry. You found me. I'll play hide-n-seek again.” Without looking, I pushed fingers against her lips, easing the grimace away.

Something wet dropped to my shoulder and neck, and the terrible horror of it all crashed back down. I knew that wetness had come from Kaylee. My sister sank limply out of my arms. Then I struggled to my feet.

“HELP!” I screamed, then ran to the phone nearby. I punched 911 into the receiver and clutched it close, just repeating “help” mindlessly. It took me a long moment to realize the phone was silent. Not even a dial tone. Not even the empty air sound.

I rushed out of the house. My friend Eric lived two houses over, he would have a phone or know what to do. I rushed over, my desperation pushing me faster. I needed help.

His door was unlocked, it always was and I rushed up the stairs to his room. Empty, damn it. Where was he? I stumbled down the stairs and skidded on my paws into the dining area. He was there.

But he was lying on the floor next to an over-turned chair. His raccoon face clenched with snarling silence too. Scattered remains of a late breakfast lay on the table and beside him, still steaming. He'd always gotten up late in the summer. Ordinarily, I would have joined him later to play console games all afternoon.

“Help,” came my faint whisper. Again, “Help?” Where was help? Where were the ambulances? I walked slowly back outside, skirting past his prone mom. A different numb feeling came over me.

In my mad rush before, I had missed it. A car had crashed and was burning steadily. Some fur had collapsed in the sidewalk. Before, I must have jumped the body without realizing it.

I clenched my eyes closed. This was a dream, right? I would wake soon and get ready to take my sister to the park.

Eyes open, the scene remained the same. The grief hit. They were dead. All of them. Maybe everywhere. I was alone. There was no one. It was dead silent, even the birds were quiet. The Matterson's feral dog Diggy was lying still on the ground across the street. No sound of cars. No sirens.

Just silence. Just stillness.

No, a butterfly left a flower for a new one.

It was a beautiful butterfly. It hurt, so lovely.

Why? Why was it like this? Wasn't there anyone left?

“Hello?” I called. Then I screamed a long, “Helloooooooo-” that ended in a pained yip. I wiped my leaking eyes with the bottom of my shirt.

I sucked in a shuddering breath, then fled. To my house, my stairs, my room; the only safe place in this madness. I collapsed on the bed, fully clothed, sobbing and shuddering. My black paws curled together in front of me, knees drawing to my chest, everything curling inwards. Only my red fur was visible, showing nothing of my vulnerable, white-streaked belly peeping beneath my shirt. Hide it away, make the world leave.

I don't know how long I was like that. I just cried and whimpered and shuddered with sobs until I slipped into exhausted sleep.

***

Barely conscious... my eyes snapped open. I glanced at my clock. It was digital though and was simply dark. Not just a power-out. It was real, attested to by my stinging eyes and crusty cheeks. I eased off my bed, onto my feet. Was it terrible of me to say I felt better than I did before? Several hours had passed, the sun shone from a lower angle. I was only too steady on my feet as I left my room.

Downstairs, I found them still lying there. But there was no need to look closely. I knew they were gone. I knelt and briefly touched the paws, but they were long since cold. A lamp and a few toys had fallen around them, so I picked them up. Things seemed distant, even more in the silence.

So thirsty. I wandered away into the kitchen. I poured a glass of water and drank it down, then paused and downed another one. After rooting around in the fridge, I pulled out some sandwich meat and made a sandwich. I forced myself eat to it at the table, even though the thought of food turned my stomach. My mom would've thrown a fit if I wasn't eating right - always wanted me to grow big and strong. My head sank to the table and I sighed. Couldn't leave them there. I couldn't.

They were gone. Dad was, who knows where, on a business trip. Where was it this time? I'd lost track. They were dead. Only I was left.

I needed to bury them.

Bury my family? Impossible. I couldn't. They were... are my family. But I was the only one who could. I was the only one there. I needed to take over. I couldn't wait for Dad to show up. He'd always told me to take responsibility of the family protection. He hadn't been very kind to any of us, so I think telling me that had been to clear his own conscience for his constant absences. Now, had I failed? It didn't even matter now. They were lying uncared for. I knew that the dead began to smell and rot. How long did that take?

I stonily gathered sheets from the upstairs closet and threw them over the bodies. Grabbing a shovel from the garage, I headed out to the far corner of the back yard. I started digging.

Wait. These weren't pets I was burying. But there was nowhere else. I couldn't take them to a graveyard. I didn't even know where one was nearby. Grandma was in one, but I didn't know which one or how to get there.

Home. If I buried them here, they would always be home. They belonged here, together. I would know where they were, and they would never be among strangers.

Insect sounds were back. A few birds called hesitantly. The hole was growing steadily. I made it fairly deep, but it was exhausting work. I went back in for more water. I got water out, but the pipes sounded weird - all stuttery.

While I dug, I kept seeing their faces. The horrible snarl in death on the faces of everyone I'd seen. Every once in a while, I'd yell and scream for help and when my grief overwhelmed me.

And then there was just the digging. More digging... and more until my shoulders and back hummed with activity. Shove...scoop... toss. The rhythm distracted me. There was nothing but me, the dirt, and that worm I just saw.

The sun was very low, and my progress had been scattered with little breaks. I didn't know if it was deep enough, but it would have to do. It was only about waist-height, but it was better than leaving them out like the others.

The others. Eric. The Mattersons - even their dogs. I felt I should bury them too. All of them? And who else? How about the neighborhood? The numbers were overwhelming. What else was there to do? It didn't look as if University would start in the Fall.

The summer evening taunted me as I went back inside and fully wrapped my Mom. It was distressing work, shifting her weight, cringing when fluids seeped through the sheet. I added my own, unhappy fluids too. She was hard to drag out to the back. I'm not a bulky fox, even by general fox standards. I never felt weaker than that moment, just trying to drag her out. I did it, though and went back for Kaylee.

I lifted the sheet and stroked her fur. She had been so proud when her baby fur had been replaced by her fine, red coat. The color was lighter than mine, and I always thought she glowed. Especially when the sun was very low, like now.

I scratched her ears one last time and gathered her up in my arms. She was still little enough that I could do this. I carried her out back, and her headfur tickled my nose. It smelled like Kaylee. I tried to ignore the stale, lingering scent of her fear and the stiffening of her little body. It was Kaylee; I always wanted to remember how she smelled. I laid her in the grave, next to Mom's wrapped form and smelled my mom too.

With a last silent goodbye, I covered the grave and went inside.

It was getting dark, and the power was still out, the phones still dead. When I tried the faucet, the water was out. Guess those water pumps are powered too. I grabbed another sandwich from the warming fridge and made myself eat it as is got dark.

I pulled out the camp-lantern from the garage, but any battery I found was dead. My sister and her paw-held games. I didn't want to hunt in my car for a flashlight. I was too tired, so I stumbled through the darkness to my bed.

***

>>>>[[[[NOTE: DAY 2]]]]<<<<

Another beautiful morning. Another stretch, and a realization that all was not well in the world. I had dry cereal and moped around on the couch for a while. From the garage, I found a few two-by-fours and took my frustration and grief out on them with a short knife. All productively, of course, and I went out back to shove them into the fresh dirt.

“Margaret Evans & Kaylee Evans

Loved Forever”

It was rough lettering, all jagged on the edges, but clearly readable.

I was satisfied. Now there was emptiness. I had no purpose now. What was there to do? I sat at the table, thinking. Sagged at the table, actually.

I might just as well die now. At least I'd perish with my family. But the more I wandered that way in my mind, the more I seemed to sink into nothing. Can't do that. Need to find purpose; survival was a good place to start. I could just imagine Mom scolding me for not taking care of myself.

I would need more water. We had a few sports drinks, and bottled waters; I would need water soon now that the pipes were dry. I could always get some from Eric's house. His mom wouldn't mind, right?

I shoved away from the table and went two houses down. The fur in the sidewalk was gathering flies today, so I skirted him. Eric was still on the floor gathering only a few flies so far. I felt bad leaving him there, so I grabbed a throw blanket from his couch and covered him up. I could bury him later when I got things settled.

I had my arms full of bottled water – Eric's mom, the health nut – and was leaving the house when my ears twitched. Something... I almost couldn't hear? I looked around. Nothing. I looked up.

Damn.

The sun was high, must have been midday. But the light... rippled? That wasn't quite right. I looked down around me. In the distance I could see something falling. Well, it looked like it was falling.

Something was cascading down to the ground, translucent and glowing. A continuous vertical ripple that dropped, adding another ripple. Like a curtain of light being dropped and showing pleats or whatever Mom always called them. And then another curtain dropped across in front of it, building layers.

I didn't know what it was. Two guesses.

It was back. Again.

Gasping, I forgot about the clustered water bottles I juggled and streaked for the house. No water came with me as I traded water for air and grabbed at it, trying to go faster.

There was only one safe place I knew, the “scary place” that I'd never wanted to return to. I didn't know if I'd make it, the strange light was approaching so fast. I dived for that door with the little handles and threw myself in, closing the door firmly and gripping the handle hard shut. Again, it was pitch black in here.

And it hit again.

And it was a terrible, wrenching sensation. Vibrations everywhere, so very small. Like a scream in my mind raking claws across any thought, I again became nothing. And it seemed to last forever.

And then it wasn't. It simply stopped, again. And the backlash as my mind couldn't handle the silence, just as jarring.

I was on the floor, crammed between the washer and the door. At least the vacuum hadn't fallen on me this time.

I lay there for a while, gathering myself. Then I started crying, just a silent, helpless crying. It was too much. I couldn't do this. It was too much for any fur. I needed help for me this time. I couldn't take this alone. I couldn't be here with the gazing, dead eyes, with the snarls and sneers on the dead muzzles. I knew them, knew their names and their pets' names. I grew up with them around me.

I was beginning to panic. I needed to flee. I left the utility room, went to the door and stopped.

The glass was... wrong. It looked strange, like it was frosted and the frost was receding and pulling into itself and disappearing. It was hot outside, so regular frost was impossible. It actually looked different, not like frost at all.... It had depth – within – the glass.

I left through the door, keeping my eyes on the glass. I carefully exited, looking for the light curtain, but there was no sign. As if it had never existed. A sunny, summer day. I saw a bottled water in the grass, and grabbed it, but it was “frosted” inside also.

What the hell?

I held the bottle unsteadily and watched the “frost” ripple inwards. That was too weird. It floated in the center of the water and the receding, frosty branches drew inwards, fluidly moving with the water.

There were a few dead birds this time as well, lying underneath trees. Once again, the world was dead silent, eased as the bugs and remaining birds started making their usual fuss.

I dropped the bottle and went back inside, grabbed the keys to my “test vehicle” and slipped into the garage. My dumpy little car that I was still learning to drive waited and I jumped in. I closed my eyes and just hoped it would start with the key.

It started. Yes, it was alive! My Frankenstein car. My rust-bucket patchwork covered little monster. Great on gas, always starts, never have to wash it. Mom said I could use it for my, well my early learning period. When I was a reliable and safe driver, Dad would get me a nicer car, like a-

And that was the end of that thought as I pulled a CD player and mini FM transmitter from the metal glove box and turned loud, obnoxious music up too loud. Thought were gone as I pulled away from the house.

***

It was great, as long as I didn't look at the bodies everywhere. The wind in my face, no traffic, no lights. Stop signs were meaningless decorations now. I just drove in one direction, just heading away.

And I got lost.

Hey! I was new to driving. I'd gotten practice with my student license. I'd been planning to get my real deal next week. I thought I'd headed in one direction, but in a big city, sometimes streets shifted or merged. I was distracted by all the cars I had to drive around. Even on the sidewalk! The bodies were starting to smell, and after a while my nose adjusted. I still didn't want to get close enough to check stench level. My little Frankenstein car did great, just taking every bump and new direction with tried-n-true joints.

I tried to backtrack, but just got turned around. I was even closer to downtown Furnonn than before, when I pulled over at a gas station. Guys don't ask for directions, right? Well I didn't have a way to call for help and couldn't be anywhere “unsafe” now. Just in case that- that thing happened again. No. When it happened again, I needed to have a bolt-hole. Like a rabbit, I smiled. No longer a fox, I was the rabbit.

I poked around in the gas station and grabbed drinks, all non-perishable. I raided the shelves for snacks and gave the station manager behind the counter a quick sorry. The rabbit said nothing, only grinned evilly in death. No maps there, well, not that I found. There might be one behind the counter, but I didn't feel that brave. Outside, it was even quieter than my home in the suburbs. Hardly any insects. Rarely a bird, and none of them sang. Without all the furs going about their business, it was just a paved-over waste.

Back in the car. At least I had some supplies now. I wouldn't starve, though I might die of malnourishment if I lived off these things. My mom would've had a fit if I lived off these. Same thing at the next gas station, though they had a lot of jerky. I couldn't even look at the attendant though. She had damaged her face in the thrashing that seemed to occur with... that thing. I couldn't look and left quickly.

I was in a section not far from downtown where older office buildings and a few industrial buildings sat. How was I going closer to the city, not further away?

The third gas station rendered a map of the city and surrounding area. Even a few road atlases. I'd left my car playing music, needing something to escape the too-silent downtown. I opened a map on the hood and munched on junk food, trying to figure out where I was. The CD stopped and the silence crashed in again. I dove into the car for the player attached to the mini FM transmitter. I just started it over again and lowered the volume to just background noise. I needed to be able think to figure this out. It started on one of Eric's favorite songs, “Your howl echoes in my heart.” Ever heard a raccoon try to howl?

I got out of the car and turned. I saw someone out of the corner of my eye. I turned away out of habit. Just some stranger-

Wait. Some fur was walking towards me!