May 6th, 2018...
"It all started the night of April 31st, 2018. All the news channels ran stories all day about the tremors being detected all over the world. Even where we lived, which hadn't been known to be tectonically active, was plagued by periodic rumblings in the ground throughout the day. In the evening, the quaking grew worse, and some of the stations began to report panic in certain superstitious parts of the world. Even in America, dozens of people claimed something supernatural was happening. Most people paid them no mind, at least until long after sundown.
It struck in the middle of the night, massive quakes that could be felt even deep in the continental interior. But the quakes weren't the real horror. No, it was the massive columns of stone that shot out of the planet's bowels, which spread mushroomed out across the sky and eventually enveloped the whole world in a rocky dome. One could almost taste the terror that spread across the entire world as humanity realized it had been cut off from the sun and cast into an unending night.
But if this fact was not enough, terrible stories soon began to pour out of the communities near those horrid pillars. Some claimed the great rocky structures turned humans to stone when touched, some said the animals went into ravenous frenzies and attacked anything that moved, and still others claimed that demons to have seen demons lurking the shadows around those massive structures. Whatever the case, the days that followed were utter chaos, filled with riots, suicides and mass hysteria. But though these were worst in the cities, the cities seen turned into the place where everyone flocked. Something was starting to make remote homes and isolated communities go dark, and the sky turned into the ceiling and our satellites cut-off from us, communication become very sporadic.
Pretty soon, entire towns were packing up and leaving, encouraged by mayors and business leaders that it was safer to move to larger populations centers, especially now that things such as heat and food would be at a premium. Unfortunately, because of that very problem, thousands of people have turned to--"
"Hey, Max! There's a vehicle parked alongside the road up ahead. We should check it out, see if they need a hand!" a voice interrupted the writer, as he struggled to jot down his journal draft in the dim light of the motorhome's kitchen area.
"I don't think that's a good idea, Steve. We should just drive on past." Max replied, setting down his pen and standing up.
"This isn't the time for people to just abandon one-another... But grab the baseball bat just in case." Steve stated, as the motorhome was brought to a standstill, "I've got my gun on me as well."
"Fine." Max headed for the sidedoor.
"Do be careful, boys." Steve's wife urged, "I heard awful things on the radio..."
"Hush, it'll be fine." Steve assured her.
"Uncle Max, can I read your story while you're outside?" a little girl hoped down from the upper bunk and ran over the table where Max's journal lay open.
"Uh, I think you should ask your mom on that one, kid." Max answered, picking up the wooden baseball bat propped against the wall near the door, as well as pulling a flashlight from his pocket to hold in the other hand.
"Izzy, you should go back to bed." the girl's mother scolded, as Max and Steve exited the motorhome and started walking up the road toward the vehicle parked on the side.
The car was still running, with all its lights on and the driver's side door open. But as Max and Steve came up alongside, they found nobody inside. The radio was on, but playing nothing but white noise.
"Where do you suppose they went?" Steve wondered.
"No idea..." Max trailed-off, flicking on his flashlight and shining it around the area.
It seemed like there was no sign of the drivers or where they might have gone, at least until Max thought he saw a glint of something reflecting his light. Quickly adjusting his beam, he found a few droplets of some sort of glossy liquid sitting on the road. Just a little further up was a small object, which upon further inspection appeared to be about four by five inches in surface area, with five digits extending about three inches from one end of the main hub, with the other side being coated in a reddish-black liquid substance that was still dripping into a pool on the pavement underneath.
"No..." Max gasped, realizing what it was, "Steve, get back in the vehicle! Steve--?"
Max turned around to look at his brother, only to find nobody there.
"Steve!"
Nothing.
"STEVE!!!" Max screamed, cold sweat now breaking out across his face as he started to stumble back toward the motor home.
The only sound he could hear were the sounds of the engines idling softly, and the crackling white noise of the empty car's radio. Stumbling up the steps, he threw open the side door, breathing heavily as his heart rate steadily began to elevate.
"Leanne, we need to--" he began to say, before he froze dead in his tracks.
It wasn't the silhouette of his brother's wife standing in the entryway in front of him, but a black mass that plotted out the weak bulbs within, and allowing only one feature to be discernible: a squinting pair of flaming orange eyes.
"Oh lord."
