Every light in the town went out. Everyone thought it was a power outage, but it wasn’t. It was something much more than that.

Logan finished punching in the code to the underground back-up generator. The lights turned back on and things went back to normal.

He looked at me with a worried stare. Him and I were the only ones who really knew what was happening. The only ones who knew what possible fate lie ahead. Everyone else didn’t have a clue.

I walked over to Logan and sat next to him on the floor examining the screen of his laptop.

“Do you think we can stop it?” I asked looking him in the eyes.

“It’s not that powerful yet. We have to try. I’m not going down without a good fight.”

“We should get going then.” I said standing up and help Logan do the same.

After we got outside and packed everything up, we got in Logan’s gray pick-up truck and headed off.

“Do you think you can handle this?” Logan placed a 45’ on my lap.

“Dude, this is easy! I grew up with a sniper, remember?” It always hurt me to talk about my old life. Even more so to talk about my father. He went missing in action when I was 15. I was his little princess. We were so close.

“I’m sure you can handle it! Just making sure you aren’t going to chicken out on me.” He winked at me and reverted his attention to the road that lay ahead. An old Kansas dirt road with nothing but dust to keep us company. It made sense. For the last couple years the population begun to die down. Less and less babies each year. Scientists couldn’t figure out why. By this time they had given up on a possible solution.

After about an hour of driving and chatting, we reached our destination- The edge of Oklahoma. Desert mountain ranges and all, it sufficed as a hiding place for the one thing killing us off.

The sun was just setting and the sky was a deep purple.

“Sophie,” Logan unbuckled his seatbelt and started getting out of the truck.

“Yes?” I replied.

“Stay here. I want to make sure it’s safe.”

“Don’t die,” Logan brushed the sarcastic comment off, took a deep breath, and got out of the truck.

My watch ticked and made each moment unbearable. After 10 minutes I heard a light knock on the window. It startled me making me jump. It was Logan. I unlocked the door and he hoped in. His breath was heavy and sweat rolled down his forehead.

“What did you find out there?” I asked anticipation building up within me.

“Just the thing we were looking for,” He said. A new dread filled his eyes. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

“Thousands of lives depend on this, Logan,” I grabbed his sweaty hand and made him look straight into my eyes, “There is no way we’re backing out of this now. We very well may die either way. We’ve been tracking it for months and now we have our chance. It’s your choice, but I’m going out there.” I check the 45’ that still sat in my lap and opened the door.

“No! Wait!” Logan pulled me back into the truck and held my arm with and iron grip, “You have no idea what you’re facing, Sophie. You can’t do this alone,” He spoke in a hushed, yet panicky tone.

“What are you talking about? Are you coming or not?” I also spoke in almost a whisper not knowing why.

“Trust me. Close the door. Sit down. And listen.” I obeyed. Something was really bothering him and things don’t usually get him freaked.

There was a faint buzzing sound. A loud almost deafening buzzing, yet it came from a distance. It wasn’t natural but it sounded familiar.

“What’s that sound?”

“Shhhh!”

The buzzing abruptly stopped.

“It’s now or never, Sophie. Are you ready?” I nodded, “Let’s go!”

Immediately Logan busted out of the truck and began running towards a small peak that had to be less than half a mile away. I followed suite and ran after him. It was dark. The only thing lighting my path was the moon and stars.

Logan stopped at the bottom of the peak. I did the same when I caught up to him.

“Get ready to wet your pants,” Logan turned around to make sure I was actually there.

“Don’t worry buddy. I planned to.”

“Come on!” Logan charged up a small mound and began shooting at our target.

“It’s now or never.” I repeated to myself.

Immediately I charged up the hill and faced my kill.