"And what would you suggest we do?" Robert Smith, better known around town as Bob, asked. He had seen his fair share of violence and hellish situations but nothing like this. This was something entirely different than the former Marine had seen. There was something ominous about this darkness that had settled over their tiny town. "We can't send more people out there. They never come back!" 

A soft whimper came from across the diner. 

"That's enough Bob." In the time that they had been trapped in the diner, Bob had been getting on her nerves. It wasn't like she could outright tell the man to shut up, her brother wouldn't allow that. The woman got up and walked closer to the source of the whimper. Tucked into the farthest corner was a boy no older than eight. His brother sat a few tables down, completely sucked into his phone. Her own brother was like that actually. For the past hour or so he had been trying to get his phone to work so he could call their parents. Their parents were off on vacation and it worried them that they couldn't make any calls. 

She bent down and smiled at the boy, "Hey kiddo. Let's play a game, okay?" She was just as scared as the boy so the little game would be a distraction for them both. The boy nodded and moved closer to her. His small arms wrapped around her neck and he buried his face into her neck. 

"Don't make a mess. You'll have to clean it yourself Rowena." The woman's brother said as he looked up for a moment.

"You got it Sam, now Avery...let's see about that game!" 

Avery nodded and followed the woman to one of the tables. She picked a few napkins from the napkin holder in the middle of the table and laid them out before grabbing a few of the crayons that were used for kid menus. "Let's make a map, okay? The first one to finish their map gets...um...a hug." The boy giggled before beginning on his map.

Sam sighed as he leaned back in his seat; his cellphone was discarded on the table in front of him. They couldn't send someone out there, no one came back and if the screams they heard earlier were anything to go by, he guessed that they hadn't made it to safety. Sam got up and approached the table that Joel was sitting at before asking if he could take a seat across from him. "We can't go outside but I agree we can't stay here for much longer."