​     "What," Skip said. "He's planning to get to us by driving ​through the house?"

​     "Looks that way," Abby replied.

​     "But how can he be sure that..."

     BAM!

​     It was like the van was some kind of tank. It shattered the front door, went right through the parlor, then continued halfway down the hall that led to the safe room.

     Damn.

     Now hundreds of replacers were inside the house, in every room. The family in the safe room watched the replacers tear apart their house on what security cameras still worked, the one in the kitchen, in the living room, the ones trained on the upstairs and downstairs hallways.

     And what they saw made both Abby and Alison gasp.

     The replacers were looking for something.

     And they looked everywhere.

     Behind every cabinet. Under every sink. They watched as the replacers ripped apart their chairs and the sofa in the parlor. Cathy watched them drag a bed mattress into the hall to tear that apart.

     And they crawled all over the van.

​     It'd gotten to within fifteen feet of the safe room. A beam had dropped from the ceiling to block any further progress. Those inside the safe room could longer even see the van itself, so many replacers crawled all over it.

     "You okay in there, Daddy?" Abby asked over the com.

     "I'm fine."

​     "What's the plan, Dad? I know you've got one. You always do."

​     "We've got to figure out someway to get you into the van with me."

​     "And how are you planning to do that?"

​     "I don't know. I was hoping I'd be able to drive right up to the door."

​     "You might want to come up with something quick, huh?"

​     Two dozen replacers crowded between the van and the inch thick iron door that led to the safe room, with hundreds more to take their place if Gramps struck them down.​

​     And then all of them, as one, stopped whatever it was they were doing and raced from the house.

​     "Daddy!" Abby exclaimed. "We can get out now! We'll be there..."

​     "No!" Gramps barked. "Do ​not touch that door! There's got to be a..."

     BOOM!​     

     The security camera that had been trained on the door flicked off, blown apart by the blast. The safe room was soundproofed. Still, it was enough to make everyone inside shudder.

     The lights stayed on, though.

     Some sort of generator, Brian figured.

     And then he went back to panicking.

     Not out loud, not so that, he hoped, anyone would even notice, but inside, in his gut, terror pulsated. He held a weapon in his hands, and it was a ​weapon. It was not a toy. His hands were so sweaty, he felt afraid he might pull the trigger by mistake.

     He looked at Alison. She had a pained expression on her face, and she fingered a wound on her neck that hadn't been there an hour before. The wound was all red, and it was big, and...and...oh my God. 

​     Brian couldn't help but gasp. Were those...those...teeth marks?

     He pointed to the wound. "Alison, did..."

​     She nodded without looking in his direction. Her attention was focused on the situation at hand, on her family. She held her weapon as if, in a sense, she'd held one her entire life. 

​     "Daddy!" Abby barked. "What happened?"

​     "Some of the replacers brought explosives. They're..."

​     BAM! BOOM!

     The room trembled. Plaster dust floated from the ceiling to coat everyone's shoulders.

​     "Shit," Cathy said. "We're in it now."

​     "They couldn't find what they're looking for," Gramps said. "My guess is that they're trying to reduce the entire house to rubble, then resume the search."

     "They're moving fast."

     "There's a lot of them and, yes, I do have a plan."

​     "I was hoping you'd say that."

​     "You all secure in there?"

​     A table attached firmly to the cement floor sat at the center of the room. The four teens sat in chairs around it and held on tight to its edges. Abby herself sat in one corner. She outstretched her arms and fingers along the wall. She wanted to be able to, in an instant, leap up to defend herself and her family.

​     "Go ahead, Daddy," she said.

     BAM! BLAM! BAM!

     The safe room vibrated like a gong. More plaster dust drifted from the ceiling. Then,

     "Okay Daddy, so what'd that do for us?"

     "I'm stuck, Honey. I can't go backwards or forwards. I was hoping I'd be able to blast my way out."

     "Our home..."

     "Our home's done for, Abby. ​We're going to have to find ourselves another home."​

​     "There wasn't even..."

​     "We always knew it was going to happen sooner or later, right?"

​     "It would have been nice if we'd had a little time to prepare, that's all I'm saying."

​     Both Skip and Cathy nodded.

​     "There's never time to prepare," Gramps replied.

​                                                 CONTINUE

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