Eaters

“Ten minutes to eight. It will be pitch black outside soon.”
“So? We’ll wait till morning. We’ll just sleep.”
“Sleep? No. We can’t do that now. They know we’re here.”
“So what? We locked and barricaded the door. They can’t get in.”
“What? You ever see how these things get through doors? They know we’re here and they can smell us and the blood from your friend’s wound. They won’t stop until they get us.”
“We’ll just hold out. They’ll get tired and go away.”
“No, it doesn’t work like that. They won’t give up. Have you ever seen these things before?”
“I saw videos of them. Never seen them for up close until a few days ago, but what makes you think they can get through wood and metal?”
“I’ve been barricaded up like this before. They’ll eat the wood and chew through the metal.”
“Well, we’ve got guns and there isn’t that many from what I saw.”
“How many rounds to you have?:
“Hold on…eighteen bullets.”
“I’ve got…twelve, but that won’t matter. Thirty bullets won’t help us for long.”
“What are you talking about? One shot in their heads and they’re dead.”
“Shit, kid! Did you hear all that screaming and banging at the door they did when we first got in here?”
“Yeah, means they’re pissed.”
“No, I mean, well, yeah but they’re also calling their pack and do you still hear it?”
“Yeah.”
“That means more are coming, for us!”
“How many will come just for us?”
“All of them in the area. They don’t know if there is more of us in here, but they’ll call everyone just to make sure we’re eaten.”
“So how many?”
“A hundred, maybe more.”
“What? No way.”
“Kid, I’ve lived and ran through the backlands for a year and know all that there is to about the eaters.”
“So, what do you know about them?”
“Well, they…they’re some kind of mutant insect species. Scientist don’t know where they came from.”
“Aliens?”
“No, they’re DNA is of this world, in some parts we can recognize at least. Some think they may be aliens, but what most people think is that they we’re created by us. That’s we get when we mess around with DNA.”
“So why are we so afraid of them?”
“There’s too many of them. They can reproduce extremely quickly. Plus they love the night and you know how good we can see in the night. They’re nocturnal."
“So, how can we-”
“Shit!”
“What’s that sound? What are they doing?!”
“They’re biting through the wood and metal and they’re digging! Shit, I didn‘t know they would be that hungry for us.”
“What do we do?!”
“Load up your pistol and look where they will come out first.”
“What about David?”
“Your friends’ probably already dead. They chewed through his leg pretty good. He’s pretty damn lucky that he’s dead. Goddamn lucky bastard.”