"I have struggled for a long time with surviving. And no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for"- Joel Miller (Troy Baker) from The Last Of Us

"WE'VE GOTTA GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!!!!!!" Screamed Lori desperately trying to open the front door, but it was frozen shut.

Leni was carrying an injured Lynn in her arms. Most of Lynn's bones were either; sprained, broken or dislocated from being tossed around the now deceased Lola and Lana's room. But what was causing Lynn the most physical pain, was the fact that her left arm, was completely shredded down to the bone.

Leni carefully placed Lynn on the couch, and Lynn continued to moan in pain.

"Someone get me that axe" Lori demanded "We need to get Lynn to a hospital"

Lincoln handed Lori the axe Lynn was using just moments before. Lori struck the front door with the axe, she was full of fury, and panic.

The door came down, Lori gasped at what was on the other side.

After the door crumbled, the doorway was still blocked by a thick layer of ice.

The entire house, in fact, had been cocooned in a cold thick layer of ice that was thick enough to reach from the front door, to the end of the porch. "Lisa hand me one of those flamethrowers!" Lori requested.

"Unfortunately, the incendiary weapons have been depleted of fossil fuels" Lisa responded.

"What the HELL does that even mean?!?!" Lori snapped back.

"The flamethrowers are out of gas"

"Well can't you just refuel them?"

"Negative, the gas is in the garage, outside the house"

"Guys, Lynn's hurt really badly" Lincoln worriedly said, holding her head close to his chest. He was running his hand through her red-brown hair, trying to comfort her as she continued to moan in pain. "If we don't get any help she could die"

"I have some medical equipment in my room" Lisa assured Lincoln "I could probably stabilize her until help arrives"

Luan sat on a recliner next to the couch "Ooooohh" She moaned, clenching her stomach.

Luna walked over to her, "You okay sis?" She asked, concerned.

"She said she has food poisoning" Lincoln stated.

Lisa narrowed her eyes at Luan "hmmm"

Lincoln turned his attention back to Lynn

"Lincoln... I'm... I'm sorry" Lynn said, feeling very weak. "It's my fault, I, I could have saved her"

"Sh sh sh, Lynn it's fine, save your strength" He assured her.

"I went after the monster I should have gone to save Lana"

"You did all you could" Lincoln caressed Lynn's cheek.

Lisa came over to them, she started to stitch up Lynn's arm.

"you should try to get some rest" Lincoln told Lynn

"Hey linc" She said with a smile "I still think you're the sidekick" She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Lisa took a scalpel and cut out a small piece of Lynn's flesh, and put it in a test tube she finished stitching up Lynn's arm, and bandaged it. "Lincoln, I want you to keep a VERY close eye on her, I need to run some tests"

Lincoln was confused, but he did as he was told. The last thing he wanted was for another one of his sisters to die.

As Lisa started to go upstairs she turned back toward Lincoln "Keep an eye on Luan too, I got a bad feeling about the so called food poisoning"

Lori had gotten an ice pick from the kitchen and started to pick at the ice that was trapping them inside.

Lincoln, sat on the couch with Lynn's head resting in his lap, while she slept. Lucy put a log in the fireplace and started a fire, then started playing with Lilly.

It was getting to be night time, the power had gone out, the room had gone completely dark aside from the glowing of the fireplace.

The Loud house was completely silent, aside from the crackling of the fireplace.

"Poor Lana" Said Leni, "She didn't deserve any of that"

"What do you think happened to Lola?" Lucy asked.

"Lynn and I found one of her dresses hidden in the closet" Lincoln told her "It was shredded and covered in blood! I think that thing got her, It killed her and took her form. That's what it does, I think. It kills you, and eats you, then... it becomes you"

"Dude, You think one of us could be one of those things?" Luna was suddenly panicked.

Lori turned around "You know Lisa's been studying the corpse of the first creature we saw"

"Dude, You don't think..." Luna said.

Lincoln started to feel that dark hateful feeling again. He got up, and walked over to Lori. "Give me that axe!" He commanded her.

Lori held the axe close to her chest. "No way I'm not giving you this thing"

Lincoln grabbed onto the axe, and tried to pry it from Lori's grasp. He smacked the blunt end of the axe into Lori's forehead causing her to let go of the axe.

"Hey that hurt you little twerp!"

"Oh cry me a river Lori" Lincoln said, turning toward the stairs.

"Lincoln?" Lori started to get a little confused at Lincolns attitude. Most days Lincoln was as sweet as Leni, probably one the nicest boys you could ever meet, but something seemed, darker about her little brother that night.

Lincoln saw Lisa coming down the stairs, he angrily walked toward her, holding his axe with both hands, and he had a look of fire in his eyes.

"LISA!" he yelled

"Something wrong?" Lisa asked.

Lincoln quickly walked over to her, he shoved the end of the axe into her, pushing her to the ground. "What have you been up to Lisa Loud" He questioned "ANSWER ME!"

"I told you I had to run some tests"

"How do we know you're not one of those things"

"What?"

"You told us that that thing can copy its prey! And you've been spending a lot of time with what was left of that thing we thought we killed yesterday! How do we know it didn't get you, and I'm talking to an alien right now?"

"Well I uh"

"Well maybe I should just gut you and find out" Lincoln threatened.

"Bahahaahah!" Lisa burst out laughing "Lincoln, if I WAS one of those things, that axe wouldn't do jack shit! If I was an alien, I could just kill every last one of you people, and you couldn't do a damn thing about it. Each cell of this creature is its own organism, it's essentially living silly putty. The only way to kill it is with fire, or some sort of acid, something that will destroy every cell of the creature, otherwise it'll just heal like it was nothing. As I have pointed out earlier to Lori, we no longer have any flame throwers, so were utterly defenseless. If any of us were the creature, it would have no reason to hide from us. We have nothing to fight it with"

Lisa got up and walked toward her family "If any of you are one of those things, reveal yourself now! We can't do anything to stop you! COME ON KILL ME! DO IT NOW!"

The family starred at Lisa in shock, nothing else happened. "See Lincoln, nothing. Now come with me I need to show you something"

"Sure, but I have my eye on you"

Lisa led Lincoln upstairs to her room.

"This is what became of the first creature we've encountered" She motioned to a large oil drum in the center of her room. Lincoln walked over to it and looked inside.

It was filled with a bubbling green goo, that had chunks of some sort of flesh floating in it.

"What is it?" Lincoln asked.

"It's a highly corrosive acid, If you've ever seen the movie 10 Cloverfield, which I know you have Lincoln you've probably seen every movie under the sun, you'd know what I'm talking about. I've been soaking the remains of the creature in it, to completely dissolve it. Do you trust me now Lincoln?"

"I... I guess. I'm sorry Lisa. I'm sorry I almost killed you with an axe. I'm just really scared you know"

"I understand. And I understand that this next part is going to be very hard for you"

"Huh?"

"I need to get rid of the remains of the second creature, as well as those of..."

Lincoln felt a not forming in his throat. He knew what she was going to say, but he didn't know if he was ready for it.

"Lana"

Lincoln's heart sank.

"I suppose we could start with the creature, that will be much easier for you" Lisa went to her closet and pulled out the remains of the charred creature. It looked grotesque; completely burned, Its body was twisted and mangled, just a mass of burned flesh and teeth. It's head no longer looked anything like Lola, instead it looked almost insect like, with long mandibles coming out of its mouth. Lincoln looked at the two longest mandibles and remembered how they were used to rip Lana's eyes out.

The two slowly dunked the creature into the acid. They watched as it slowly sank into the acidic goo, never to be seen again.

"Lincoln, now comes the hard part. Now Lincoln, I hope you know, this is going to be as hard for me as it is for you"

Lisa walked back to the closet. She closed her eyes, and breathed heavily, holding back her tears. She opened her eyes and pulled out Lana's body.

Lincoln fell to his knees, his hand over his mouth, tears flowing down his face.

"I'm sorry Lincoln, but she could still be contaminated, and I don't want to take any chances" Lisa's voice was starting to crack a little.

"You think maybe we should say a few words first" Lincoln asked.

Lisa nodded, she placed Lana on her table, with her arms folded over her chest.

Lana's skin had turned black and started to flake away, her stomach was torn open, her hair was singed black as well as white at the ends, and her clothes were ripped up too. But her eye lids (now with nothing behind the) were closed. Despite the damage she looked strangely peaceful.

"Wait something's missing" Lincoln said through his tears. He walked out of the room, and came back with one of Lana's red baseball caps, and placed it on her head.

Lisa decided to start "Lana, we were going to great things together. Wherever science may take me, you will always be in my memories and my heart"

Lincoln went next "Lana, you deserved better than this. You always brought so much joy to this family you were always full of energy. I'll always miss they way you always came home with a new pet, and how you always wanted to make mud pies with me. I love you Lana" He looked over at the oil drum of acid, then at the floor, then at Lana again "And Lola, you were so beautiful, and confidant. I know you could get on peoples nerves, and you even got on my nerves at times, but I still love you. I'll always miss going to your tea parties, and seeing your beauty pageants, even though I don't really care for beauty pageants, but I'll miss seeing you" He wiped his eyes "I was never a very religious man, but I like to think that somewhere out there you two are together again, making mud pies, and having tea parties" Lincoln started crying again.

Lincoln and Lisa sat there for a bit, even Lisa was starting to weep.

After a while Lisa finally said "I... I think it's time" the two picked Lana's body up and slowly placed her in the acid. They watched as their beloved sister disappeared forever. Lisa gave a military style salute.

"So it really is all over now?" Lincoln finally said.

"Nnnnnnooooootttt exactly" Lisa said nervously. "I think the whole family needs to know what I have found"

They both walked downstairs.

Lincoln rushed over to Lynn. "Hey Lynn" He said with a soft voice as he held her hand.

Lynn's face was as pale as Lincoln's hair, her left arm was starting to turn black he could see puss oozing from under her bandages. He placed his hand on her forehead; it was hot to the touch. He could tell she was having a hard time breathing too.

"Lincoln" Lynn said in a very soft and weak voice. "Is that really you?"

Lincoln had never seen Lynn this weak or vulnerable, it scared him.

"Yes it's me Lynn, I'm here for you" Lincoln reassured her, stroking her red-brown hair "Everything's going to be alright, I promise."

"Yeah about that" Said Lisa "That's what I wanted to talk about. Lynn's... um... Lynn's NOT going to be alright."

Lincoln looked at her with a shocked expression, and Lynn looked at her with tired, sad eyes.

"I did some tests on a tissue sample of Lynn" Lisa explained "When that creature cut into her arm, some of it must have gotten into her system. Lynn's infected, that thing is in her now, and it's going to slowly eat her alive from the inside out. She's going to die, slowly and painfully. The creature will consume her, and become her. And as I have stated before, we have absolutely no way of hurting it. Once it has killed and consumed Lynn, it will likely go on the attack just like the last couple of times. This time we will be powerless to stop it, and it will kill every last one of us. Unless"

"Unless what" Lincoln asked

"Unless we um... how do I put this lightly... we dissolve her in the vat of boiling acid I have in my room"

Lynn Shrieked and sat up a bit.

"WHAT?!?!" Said Lincoln with a mix of shock and anger.

"I... I don't wanna die!" Lynn said with a mix of sadness and fear.

"Yeah we're not going to kill our own sister with acid" Said Lori.

"That is just messed up!" Said Leni.

"Why do you have a vat of acid in your room" asked Lucy.

"Poo poo" Said Lilly.

"That just sounds really painful" Said Lynn.

"Oh incredibly painful" Said Lisa, "It won't be at all pleasant for you, but it may increase the chances of survival for the rest of us"

"I can't believe you would even say something so awful" Said Leni, with rage in her voice "I thought we knew you"

"All you ever care about is science dude" Said Luna.

"You're just a heartless monster" Said Leni.

"What's wrong with you Lisa?" Said Luan.

"I still don't understand why you have acid in your room" Said Lucy.

"I'm not going to let you hurt Lynn" Said Lincoln.

"You know, maybe she has a point" Said Lori.

"How could you say that?!?!" Said Leni

"I mean, you must have had the acid before all this happened, how else would you have gotten it?" Said Lucy.

"Well I know it sounds awful, but if it's her or us..." Said Lori.

"I mean what have you been using it for? Do your experiments usually need to be disposed of in such a manor" Lucy said.

"SHE'S OUR SISTER!!" Leni screamed

As the sisters started to argue, and Lucy kept being confused about the acid, Lynn turned to Lincoln, who was now sitting by her side, with his arm around her shoulder.

"Lincoln?" She said with her eyes wide, she looked like a lost puppy. "Are they really going to kill me?"

"No of course not" Lincoln assured her.

"Maybe I deserve it"

"What? Don't say that!"

"I pick on you a lot, I couldn't save Lana"

"Hey, no one could have saved her, and siblings pick on each other all the time" Lincoln wiped a tear from Lynn's face.

"You also stick up for me whenever someone at school is picking on me, you're always there for me" Lincoln put a hand on Lynn's shoulder "You're a good person Lynn, and I won't let anyone hurt you"

"Do... do you remember that time I thought you were bad luck, and I got the whole family to believe it too" Lynn's eye's were filling up with tears, "we kicked you out of the house... and... and... I should have never treated you like that Linky. You're my brother and I love you"

"Lynn, don't worry about that," Lincoln said "It was partially my fault too"

"No it..."

Lynn started to moan in agony.

Lincoln tenderly held Lynn.

"My arm feels like it's on fire" Lynn said. "I can't feel my legs" She looked up at him with her big brown eyes "Linky?"

Lincoln knew his sister was in pain, and the pain was only going to get worse until she died.

"fuck" Lincoln muttered under his breath.

He got up and walked into the kitchen. Once there he walked over to the counter and grabbed a large kitchen knife.

Knife in hand, he turned around and walked back to the living room. With the knife behind his back, he walked past his arguing sisters and over to Lynn.

He sat beside Lynn, he smiled and put his hand on her cheek. She placed her hand on his and held it there. Part of her knew what was going to happen, part of her didn't want it to she just wanted to stay in that moment forever.

"Everything's going to be okay Lynn" Lincoln assured her with a warm smile.

Lincoln then took the knife, and thrust it into Lynn's chest.

The whole room fell silent. Lynn coughed up blood, blood gushed out of the wound, turning her red and white log sleeve t-shirt solid red.

Lincoln pulled the knife out, and stabbed her again, and again. He wanted to give her a quick death, but he didn't quite know where the heart was, he knew the general area, so he just started stabbing her in the chest over and over, hoping to hit the aorta, and kill her instantly.

It was a lot messier than he thought it would be.

His sister was still alive, with multiple stab wounds, blood purring out of her chest and mouth as she struggled to breath.

He embraced her in one last hug, and shoved the knife so deep into her, it came out her back leaking red blood onto the white of the back of her shirt.

With her final breath, Lynn whispered in his ear "I forgive you Lincoln Loud, I love you" she fell to the floor, dead.

Lincoln knelt down to Lynn's body.

Her face blank, her eyes staring at the ceiling.

He ran his fingers down her face, to close her eyes.

"Murderer!" Came a voice from behind.

He got up and spun around, to see Lucy.

Lucy's teeth were clenched, and her hands were balled up into fists.

"Now Lucy" He said "I know this may have been shocking but..."

Just then Lucy's fist slammed into Lincoln's face with full force.

Lincoln wiped the blood from his nose, he looked at the blood and a smirk formed on his face "So that's how you wanna play it huh?"

He swung his fist and nailed Lucy in the jaw, knocking out a couple of her teeth. Lucy got angrier and swung at Lincoln, he dodged it and struck her in the gut with his fist.

Lucy coughed up a bit of blood, and wiped it from her mouth. She threw an uppercut nailing Lincoln in the lower jaw, sending him flying a bit, and landing on his butt. He got up, he jumped in the air and kicked Lucy in the face while in mid air.

Lucy recovered, Lincoln threw another kick at her, she dodged it. She grabbed him by the shoulders and kicked him in the balls as hard as she could.

"Yaaaaahhh!!!!"

Lincoln doubled over in pain, tears of pain running down his cheeks. He looked to his side and saw the bloody knife he used to kill Lynn. He picked it up, and with a surge of adrenaline he got up and started slashing the knife in Lucy's direction flinging Lynn's blood everywhere.

Lucy backed away trying to avoid Lincoln's ferocious slashes. Lincoln slashed the knife towards Lucy with a wild look in his eyes.

"Lincoln have you gone insane!?!?" Lucy's normally monotone voice was now filled with panic and fear.

"The whole world has gone insane Lucy!" Lincoln's face started to look darker and crazier. He even seemed to be drooling a bit.

"Just put the knife down Linc" Lucy begged "We can talk this out"

Lincoln slowly put the knife down.

"Good good, easy, GAHK!"

Lincoln grabbed Lucy by the throat squeezing tightly. He lifted her by the throat, and slammed her into the coffee table, breaking it.

He got onto Lucy pinning her down, he raised his fist in the air getting ready to deliver a fast series of hard punches.

But then he realized in all the chaos, Lucy's bangs had moved away from her eyes.

Lucy always had her bangs covering her eyes, so most people never saw them. But in this moment he could see the intense fear in her sky blue eyes. Lucy looked like a dear in headlights, like a small helpless animal that was sure it was going to die.

Lincoln Loud had just murdered his own sister; there was no reason for Lucy to believe he wouldn't kill her too.

He looked at his fist, and at Lynn's bloody copse. He looked back at his sister's who all (even Lilly) had a look shock and horror on their faces. Lincoln's insane look quickly vanished. "I'm... I'm Sorry Lucy. I don't know what... I'm sorry"

He got up, walked over to the couch and sat down, he buried his face in his hands.

He saw movement in the corner of his eye, he looked back at Lynn's body. Most of her body was still motionless, except her left arm, the infected one.

The arm started to twitch then the fingers started to move.

Then the fingers bent backwards with a cracking sound, then returned to their original position. The entire arm started to wave around wildly. The arm soon detached from Lynn's body at the shoulder. Tentacles grew from the arm were it used to be attached to Lynn.

The creature scampered all over the living room.

The girls screamed!

"eww gross!" Leni screamed

The creature scurried in one of the vents and was gone... for now.

"See, I told you!" Lisa lectured "But you didn't listen did you? Now let's dispose of the body, in case there's more of that thing in it"

"Her!" Lincoln said, holding Lynn's head to his chest. "Lynn's not an object Lisa"

"Well Lincoln, you are the one who killed her" Lisa reminded him.

"Oh go fuck yourself, Lisa" Lincoln shot back.

Lincoln stood in front of the vat of green acid in Lisa's room. He was holding Lynn's body in his arms, tears running down his face, and his remaining sisters behind him.

"Lynn I..." Lincoln started

"Lincoln, if you're going to do this every time one of us dies, this is going to be a very long night" Said Lisa.

Lincoln shot her a look of rage that made Lana's look of anger from the first contact with the Thing, look like mild irritation in comparison.

"Proceed" Lisa said, suddenly backing away like a scared puppy with its tail between its legs, knowing very well what Lincoln was capable of.

Lincoln Looked back at Lynn. "Lynn, I am so sorry for what I did. You said you forgive me, but I'll never be able to forgive myself. I just couldn't stand to see you in so much pain. I love you Lynn, I..." Lincoln could barely talk through his tears. "I... why did this happen? Why you?" He continued through his sobs "It should have been me, It should have been me"

He knelt down holding Lynn closer to him. Lucy came up behind him, and placed her hand on his shoulder, and she started crying too.

None of the Louds liked to admit they had favorites, but truth was, even though they all loved and respected each other, the kids did tend to pair off. You had Lori and Leni; Luna and Luan, the twins Lola and Lana, Even Lisa usually took good care of Lilly whenever she could. Then you had the group of three in the middle of the family, Lincoln, Lucy, and Lynn.

Lincoln and Lucy cried over their dead sibling for what seemed to be an hour or more. Eventually Lincoln, his eyes beat red from crying took a deep breath. He got up and carried Lynn over to the acid. He lowered her in feet first, legs, waste, belly, chest. He paused once he had lowered her in to her head. He looked at her, while holding her hand. This was the last time he would ever see his older sister's face again. With his free hand, he stroked her hair, "I Love you sis, and I'm sure gonna miss ya" He then let her slowly sink away from his life forever.

Bobby's Parent's were almost never around. His family was a bit poor, and both of his parents had to work two jobs. Even he has had to get multiple jobs to provide for his family.

He often had to be the one to care for his younger sister Ronnie Anne. He barely had enough time to hang out with his girlfriend Lori Loud, which was why he had to keep texting her, just so he could talk to her.

Surely Roberto Alejandro Martinez-Millan Luis Santiago Jr (Bobby) would have fallen into a deep depression if it wasn't for his sweet Lori. He and her shared the same pain, (as well as the many other, more positive things they had in common) Lori came from a family of 11 kids including her, and her parents were hardly around either. He knew that he could always go to her with any problems.

He was returning home from one of his many jobs that Saturday evening. It was the worst blizzard he had ever seen, he had not gotten any texts from Lori since Friday, which had him worried.

On top of that, Rumors have been spreading around the work place.

Now these weren't your ordinary rumors of "so and so has been cheating on such and such" which is something he usually doesn't give two shits about, unless it somehow involved him or someone he cared about. Bobby didn't really like getting into other people's business, he respected others privacy and whatever was going on in various stranger's lives was none of his business.

However the rumors going around this very cold and dark weekend were, for lack of a better word, a little insane, and even farfetched. The absolute oddity of the rumors is what caught his attention. At his workplace (The mall in this case) there were whispers of sighting of a terrifying creature roaming royal woods.

Earlier that day he had walked up to his co-worker "What are you guys talking about?" He had asked. His co-worker, Jim, was an older man, with a long grey beard, scars on his face, and was often seen smoking a pipe.

Jim reminded Bobby of an old sea captain type of character. You know, the kind of guy you'd see in a horror movie that would tell the hero of the story a legend of some terrifying beast. Then the hero would just shrug him off, and think he's crazy. Until of course the hero encounters the beast the old man warned him about, and realizes the error in his ways. In the end of the story the hero would remember what the old man said was the only way to defeat the monster, and at the last minute he would beat the monster, get the girl, and live happily ever after.

But this wasn't a movie, or kid's T.V show, or some sort of weird fanfiction of a kid's T.V show, this was reality, so Bobby was a bit skeptical.

"Eye" Said Jim, "'tis a perfect storm out there, and she brought with 'er the beast"

"Beast?" Bobby was sure this guy was a nut job, but something made him feel on edge.

"Eye, a beast, a monster from the depths of Hell, come to feed on living flesh" Jim took a puff of his pipe ""tis a clever beast, with sharp teeth and hideous tentacles to pull ye into it cursed stomach. And it can hide within ye loved ones after it has consumed their souls"

"Wha?" Bobby was a bit confused, but starting to get pretty scared too.

"Though I be not sure why it would want a person's soul, I know if I be a demonic beast, the last thing I would want to eat, is someone's dirty sweaty feet"

Bobby's face grew even more confused.

"That be a joke lad" Jim assured Bobby. "See soul can mean your spiritual self, or it can also mean the bottoms of ye feet"

"Oh ha ha, that's good one man. I'll have to tell that to Lori's little sister Luan, she loves puns" Bobby laughed "So there's no monster then huh?"

"Oh I be not kiddin' about the beast though" Jim's voice got darker. "He be as real as you and me. Didn't you say the fair maiden Lori, has stopped contacting ye since yesterday?"

"Y-yeah" Said Bobby, growing worried again.

"Hmm, then perhaps the Beast has already got her"

"Yeah, well I gotta get going, take care man!" Bobby left to go home.

He didn't really believe Jim, so he just shrugged him off, and thought he was kind of crazy.

When Bobby walked in his door, Ronnie Ann rushed over to give him a hug. Usually Ronnie and wasn't anywhere near this affectionate. She was known as the toughest girl in school and liked it that way, as much as she loved him she hardly ever showed her brother much attention in order to keep up appearances. However in this storm Ronnie was incredibly worried about her older brother. The snow was falling so fast outside you could barely see two feet past your own nose.

"Why didn't you take off from work?" Ronnie asked "Don't you still have some sick days you could use?"
"Aw, were you worried about me?" Bobby asked, patting her head "Are mom and dad back yet?"

"No I've been home alone all day" Ronnie Anne stated, sounding irritated.

"Aw I'm really sorry sis" Bobby apologized. "But I'm here now. Everything's going to be all right, I promise" He knelt down to eye level and gave her a hug. "You want me to make you a something to eat? I bet you're hungry"

"Sure whatever" Ronnie Anne responded with her hands tucked into the pocket of her purple sweatshirt trying to look cool.

Bobby went to the kitchen to make his little sister a sandwich. The power was out, but some light came in through the window, and Ronnie Anne had lit some candles all over the house, Plus Bobby has worked multiple night shifts, so he had pretty good night vision.

As he was making a couple of sandwiches, one for Ronnie, and one for him he was pretty hungry too. What Jim had said raced through his mind.

"That guy was just a loon, right?" he thought "Some kind of unimaginable monster, that kind of thing only happens in the movies, right?"

"But what if there was some truth to it?" He thought as he was starting to get a little worried.

He walked into the living room and gave his sister a sandwich and a glass of milk.

"Hey uh Ronnie?" He said, feeling nervous "I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to quickly go over to the Loud house and see if everything's ok."

"Why?"

"I just have this really bad feeling, I can't explain it. It's probably nothing, one of my co-workers just told me something weird that's kind of making me feel on edge lately"

"What'd he say?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. Like I said, it's probably nothing but it doesn't hurt to check"

"Well take me with you then" Ronnie Anne was starting to get agitated. "I can hang with Lincoln for a bit"

"No Ronnie Anne, I'd rather you stay here" Bobby ordered "It's not safe out there right now, and if anything happened to you I'd never be able to forgive myself, Just keep all the doors locked, you'll be fine"

"Please Bobby, don't leave" Ronne Anne was getting a little more worried, her eyes starting to tear up "I'm... I'm scared"

"I'll be back before you know it sis" Bobby left and closed the door behind him.

Once Bobby got to the Loud house, he was shocked to find it covered in ice. He saw no way in or out of the house.

He could see some movement inside, his heart sank. His precious Lori was trapped inside.

The ice was extremely thick, he looked for something he could use to break through the ice. He walked over to the garage and found it was open. Inside he saw one of those big drills ice fishermen use to drill holes through the ice.

"Perfect" He thought. He walked into the garage and picked up the drill. "I'm coming to save you Lori" he thought.

Just then, he heard an almost unearthly growl coming from behind him. He looked out the garage door.

In the dark gray, snowy blizzard, Bobby could make out a dark shape moving toward him. It resembled a dog, but it was the size of a bear.

Bobby gasped as the creature stepped out of the blizzard into the garage, and he could see it more clearly.

The creature had no fur, it's skin was blood red, Its teeth were longer than Bobby's fingers, Its paws were bigger than Bobby's head, and had four shard bony claws growing out of them. Its eyes, black eyes like a doll's eyes (seriously if you don't get that reference, you've been living under a rock).

Whatever that thing was, it was no dog.

"Easy doggy" Bobby said.

The creature slowly moved toward him, snarling, and drool dripping from its teeth.

"GET BACK!" Bobby cried raising the drill up and pointing it at the creature. The creature lunged toward him, Bobby turned the drill on and stuck it in the creature's mouth, mulching its head. Blood and chunks of the things head flew all over the garage. The creature dropped to the ground, headless and dead.

"YEAH! WHOO!" Bobby yelled triumphantly "You don't mess with Roberto Alejandro Martinez-Millan Luis Santiago Jr! Ha ha! Yeah!"

Just then, the creature Bobby once thought was dead got up, and its head grew back.

"Dangit"

To his horror, the creature then split in half, the two halves each formed into an entire giant dog-like creature.

"Oh come on!" Bobby exclaimed

One of the creature knocked Bobby to the ground and he blacked out. The other creature dragged Bobby's unconscious body out into the snow.

When Bobby awoke, he had no idea where he was. He was lying in the snow, freezing cold. All he could see around him was the dark grey of the blizzard. He couldn't see any houses or anything else for miles, just snow and darkness.

Chills went down his spine as he once again heard the demonic growl of the Thing.

He could make out now, four of the creatures circling him in the snow.

He tried to get up, but one of the creature slashed at him with its huge claws, leaving large gashes in his face, that gushed blood.

Bobby screamed in pain, he looked up and saw the creatures closing in on him. He closed his eyes and prayed for his death to be quick.

His prayers went unanswered.

One of the beasts bit into his knee cap severing the lower half of his right leg.

Another one bit into his belly and ripped out the skin, fat, and muscle covering his guts. The creature swallowed Bobby's flesh, and then went back in to eat his intestines.

Two of the monsters each grabbed one of his arms and pulled in opposite directions swiftly ripping poor Bobby's arms off.

Bobby coughed up some blood. The pool of his own blood he was lying in, felt warm against the cold winter winds.

His last thought was on his poor little sister, sitting all alone, scared, and waiting for her brother to come home, but he never will.

One of the creatures looked him in the eye, it opened its mouth, and red fleshy tentacles slithered out. The tentacles grabbed Bobby's face, acid seeped out of the tentacles, melting the skin from Bobby's face and skull. The tentacles pulled Bobby's head into its mouth, and it bit down crushing his head, spraying brain matter on the snow and blood covered ground.

The Loud kids were silent. They all sat in the living room, just staring into space.

"I... I can't believe you killed Lynn" Leni said to Lincoln. "Your own sister"

Lincoln said nothing.

"At least she's no longer suffering" Lori assured Leni "She's in a better place now"

"If you wanna believe that..." Lincoln said, as he took a drink from a can of soda.

Luan's stomach ache was getting worse and worse. It felt as though her stomach was on fire.

"What do we do now?" Lori asked, "Isn't there any way we can fight that thing."

"Yeah" Said Luna, "It's just an arm, we can take that thing. I say we grab the little fucker and shove in that vat of acid in Lisa's room! Who's with me?!?!"

"Negative" Said Lisa "Chances are that by now the creature would have grown much bigger, and taken on some new form. It's a shapeshifter, so it can take any form it needs to, to survive. Also the fact that, as I have stated before, every cell of this organism is alive and can form into a whole new organism. This thing is like a virus, by now it's probably gotten into the water, the food, and even the air. It's very likely that we're all infected it's only a matter of time. The only thing we can do, is sit and wait for our demise"

Leni buried her face in her hands and started to cry. Luna huffed and sat back down in her chair.

"Is it going to hurt?" Leni asked through her tears "When we die, will it hurt?"

"Probably" Lisa answered.

Leni started crying some more.

"I've spent my whole life collecting coffins" Said Lucy "Now I'm going to be in one"

"Actually Lucy" Lisa said "I doubt there will be much of us left to berry"

"I was being poetic" Said Lucy.

"Oh, well in that case" Said Lisa "That was a lovely bit of poetry Lucy"

Lucy held her knees close to her chest, "as much as I obsess about death" She said "I really don't want to die" She started to sob.

Luan felt some vomit oozing up her throat. She quickly ran upstairs to the bathroom.

Luna grabbed her guitar, she strung a few sad notes. She then started to sing a sad and dark song.

"I walk, through the valley, of the shadow of death.

And I fear no evil because I'm blind to it all.

My mind and my gun they comfort me,

because I know I'll kill my enemies when they come"

She was singing Through the Valley by Shawn James, that was latter sung by Ashley Johnson in the announcement trailer for The Last Of Us Part 2 (from Naughty Dog Entertainment, and Sony). Luna's singing was much closer to the Ashley Johnson version than the Shawn James version.

Her voice was melancholic, and haunting.

It's funny, before that game was announced, no one had even heard of that song, now Though The Valley is a house hold name for gamers everywhere. (The game looks fuckin' awesome too).

As Luna sang, Lincoln (the gamer of the family) Thought back to that trailer. He was reminded of the last line of the trailer, when the character Ellie (played by Ashley Johnson) had said "I'm gonna find, and I'm gonna kill, every last one of them" her words repeated in his head, over and over again. "Every... last... one of them."

BLAAHHHH!!!!, Luan puked into the toilet. She went to the sink to splash water in her face. She looked at her face it was pale, and her eyes were bloodshot. She suddenly felt sick again and puked into the sink. Luan looked down and gasped as she realized she was puking up blood. She puked up more of the crimson fluid. She kept throwing up blood until the sink was over flowing with it. She looked in the mirror, and saw bits of flesh, possibly part of her stomach lining stuck in her braces. She started to panic, She could feel the Thing moving inside of her. Her vision started to blur, and the room started to spin.

She walked out into the hall way, stumbling as she went. She got to the stairs, he legs gave out, and she fell down the stairs.

The Loud siblings gasped as there sister Luan came tumbling down the stairs.

"LUAN!!!" Luna shrieked. She ran over to try and help her sister, and best friend.

"No, no no no no" Luna cried as she tried shake Luan awake. "Don't do this to me Luan, please no!" tears started to roll down Luna's face.

"Clear!" Lisa came in with a couple of defibrillators. She pressed them to Luan's chest and shocked her. Nothing.

She charged them up again and pressed them against Luan's chest once more, only this time, Luan's chest split open revealing rows of razor sharp teeth. Lisa's hands fell into the gaping maw that was once Luan chest and stomach.

"Should have seen that coming" Lisa said.

The teeth clamped down on Lisa's arms, as she let out a scream of pain. As Lisa fell backward her arms tore apart halfway between her hands, and elbows. She lay on the ground screaming in pain as blood spewed out of her arms. Red blood started to stain her green sweater.

A mass of tentacles exploded from Luan. A tall plant like being grew from Luan's corpse, to the ceiling. The top of the Thing had claws that gripped onto the ceiling, as well as a copy of Luan's head. On the copy of Luan's head, her cute buck teeth were replaced by gruesome fangs.

Lincoln ran into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and found four bottles of bear. He went into the downstairs bathroom, and looked in the medicine cabinet to find some rags and rubbing alcohol. I'll spare you the details, but he used those ingredients to make some Molotov cocktails.

He lit one of the cocktails and threw it at the creature, and it burst into flames.

"Holy shit, why didn't I think of this earlier?!?!" He thought.

The creature burned and withered away.

Leni went over and picked up Lisa who's arms were purring blood.

"Lisa are you gonna be okay?" Leni asked.

All Lisa could do at that moment was blabber incoherently.

"Lisa" Leni's eyes started to fill with tears "I... I'm sorry I called you a heartless monster earlier today, I didn't mean it. Please don't die"

Luna was lying on the ground screaming "Nnnnnnnooooooooooo!!!!!" as tear seeped from her clenched eyes.

Lisa eventually bleed out and died in Leni's arms.

Leni sadly placed Lisa back on the ground. She walked over to Lilly, who was surprisingly the only one in the room not crying.

" You okay Lilly?" Leni asked

Lilly looked up at her, she raised her hands in the air, and claws started to grow from her fingers.

"Uh guys" Leni said.

The rest of the family watched in horror as Lilly started to change. She started to grow rows of sharp teeth in her mouth. And spikes grew out of her back.

The little creature leapt onto the ceiling and started to crawl around like a spider. It crawled into an air duct.

The family could hear it crawling in the walls and into the ceiling.

Luna quietly got up. She wiped away some tears from her eyes.

Luna motioned to Lincoln "It may not be much" She said "But we have a way to fight that thing now and it's better than nothing" She continued, "I don't know about you, but I'm not going to just sit around and wait to die! I say we hunt that little E.T fucker down and kill the little turd, before it kills us, WHO WITH ME?!?!"

"Hell yeah" Said Lincoln "Let's fuck that thing up!" He rose one of his cocktails into the air in a cry to battle.

"Let's do this" Lucy said.

"It's time we fight back!" Cried Lori.

"I can't believe it got Lilly" Leni said with tears running down her face. "I promised her I wouldn't let anything happen to her, and I couldn't keep that promise" Her face then filled with anger. In a low voice Leni continued "I'm in, for Lilly, for Lana, for Lola, for Lisa, for Lynn, for everyone that thing has hurt! Let's show that little thing that IT FUCKED WITH THE WRONG FAMILY!!!!"

"Time to put operation, Kill the Thing, and that's actually a pretty good name for this operation, into action" Lincoln announced.

The kids formed into a tight group, so they none of them could get infected without the others knowing. They first searched the ground floor, and found nothing. They headed upstairs.

The upstairs hallway was dark and cold, it was like the most terrifying haunted house in the world, one were you could actually die.

As the group walked forward Lucy was slowed and cut off from the group when she walked into some cob webs.

She stopped to wipe them off her face, and was shocked to see that the cob webs were red. These were not cob webs.

She looked up and saw a mass of tentacles hanging from the ceiling.

Before she could scream and alert the others, one of the tentacles shot down, into Lucy's mouth.

The tentacle then proceeded to rip Lucy's esophagus, stomach, and intestines out through her mouth. It dragged her up into the ceiling to consume her.

Not noticing one of them was missing, the remaining four Louds continued down the dark hallway.

Lori, Leni, and Lincoln each carrying one of Lincoln's Molotov cocktails, and Luna carrying her guitar like a bat, ready to smash some alien scum with it.

They checked each of their rooms looking for the Thing, until they got to Luna and Luan's room. They gasped in horror at what they saw. At the far end of the room was the creature. It had taken the form of a gelatinous blob that covered the entire back wall. It had pulsating veins covering it, a huge eye in it's center, bigger than their heads, and the shredded remains of Lucy were slowly absorbing into its squishy body.

The eye looked at straight at the loud kids. Tentacles shot out of the Thing, and grabbed the fire bottles from their hands and threw them on the ground.

"Dangit!" Said Lincoln "These bastards are always on a learning curve"

"You guys go," Said Luna, "I'll hold it off"

"But..."

"JUST GO!" Luna yelled, pushing her three remaining siblings out the door.

She closed the door and locked it.

She turned to the creature and looked it in its enormous hideous eye. The creature emitted a low sound that sounded like a mix of gurgling and growling. She narrowed her eyes at the creature. She raised her guitar with rage in her eyes. She looked at her guitar once more.

She let out a sigh and started to relax. Her look of rage turned into a look of sorrow, and defeat.

She walked over to her speakers and plugged her guitar in, then she pulled out her bean bag chair and sat in it, her back toward the creature.

She tuned her guitar and strung the first notes of Spirit in The Sky by Norman Greenbaum.

"When I die and they lay me to rest, gonna go to the place that's the best

When I lay me down to die, going up to the spirit in the sky"

As she played what was perhaps one of the most popular religious songs out there, the creature's tendrils slithered over Luna's beanbag chair to wrap round Luna's arms and legs.

"Prepare yourself you know it's a must,

Gotta have a friend in Jesus"

As the tendrils tightened their grasp on Luna's wrists, blood started to run down her hands. As she played, her guitar started to get soaked in her blood.

"When I die and they lay me to rest, gonna go to the pace that's the best

Go to the place that's the best."

As Luna finished the song, the creature wrapped it's tendrils around her neck.

It pulled her off her bean bag chain and she landed on the floor with a thud. The creature grabbed her guitar and broke it in half.

It then dragged Luna into its gooey body to be digested. The creature's body felt like hot gooey mud. It was like sinking into a swamp, only it was alive. Luna could feel its veins pulsating against her body. Her skin started to burn as the creatures digestive enzymes started to dissolve her alive. She looked at the creature's gigantic eye, she raised her hand and stuck her middle finger in its face.

A tendril wrapped around her middle finger, that was pointed so rebelliously in the Thing's face and snapped it in half. Luna screamed as it ripped her finger off, and blood shot out of her hand in a red fountain.

As she sank into the living goo, Luna could no longer feel her legs, she figured that meant they were gone.

She sank up to her head, and the goo inched its way up her face and into her screaming mouth. It oozed down her throat burning as it went.

Tendrils dug into her eye sockets and wrapped around her eyes. The tendrils squeezed her eyes until they both popped, squirting out blood.

Everything went dark for poor Luna, as she sank into the fleshy pink goo, and dissolved completely.

Lori, Leni and Lincoln had made it to the bottom of the stairs.

"Now what" Asked Lori.

"I'll think of something" Said Lincoln.

"Poor Luna" Said Leni "You think she's going to be ok?"

Just then a figure appeared at the top of the stairs that resembled Luna.

"L-Luna" Said Lincoln, nervously.

The figure's voice sounded like Luna's, but something about it was off, it sounded darker as it said "I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin, I must confess that I feel like a monster"

The figure that resembled Luna slowly walked down the stairs. As it came closer the Loud siblings could tell, it was not Luna. It's fingers had 3 inch long claws growing out of them, it's eyes were pitch black, and its mouth was twisted into a psychotic smile, literally from ear to ear, with rows of jagged shark-like teeth.

Once it got to the bottom of the stairs it looked at each one of them and started to laugh.

"You really thought you could kill me" It asked in Luna's voice "Do you have any idea what the fuck I am? I have traveled the cosmos for endless millennia, world after world, assimilating countless races into my hive mind. Did you seriously think I would be defeated by a bunch of children? Did you really think I could be brought down by an emo little punk, a wanna be rock star, some bitch whose always texting, a retarded blond, and a little dork with white hair?"

"Hey don't call Leni retarded!" Lori snapped "You have no idea what she struggles with every day! It's not her fault she's disabled, and she's not stupid, or dumb, or retarded! Her brain just works differently is all!" Lori ranted "And how dare you call Lincoln a dork! He's not a dork! He's just passionate about the things he likes, and..."

"And you can come up with a wwwaaaaayyyy better insult than that, dude!" Said Lincoln, laughing. "I mean 'dork' really, that's the best you can come up with? HA! My baby sister could think of a better insult than that. I've had kids on the playground say meaner things than that, things like Casper the ugly ghost, or hey grandpa called he wants his hair color back, or call me jofrey from Game of Thrones, Or they call me Alblonco the giant man eating worm from Tremors 3, and that's not even one of the good Tremors movies, it had too much CGI! I mean you're a FUCKING ALIEN! You'd think you could come up with something better than dork. You know I killed my own sister just moments before, that's a guilt I'll never be able to live with, why didn't you point that out? I mean dork? That's just pathetic"

The Thing raised an eyebrow, then round house kicked Lincoln across the room.

"You son of bitch!" Lori screamed, she threw a punch at the creature, it grabbed her fist before it reached its face. The Thing then flipped Lori into the air. While she was in mid air it kicked her into the center of the living room.

It walked toward Lori and Lincoln who were on the ground writhing in pain.

Leni came up behind it with a wooden stick to strike it with. The Thing turned around and grabbed Leni's arm as she swung, and flipped her on her back.

"Oh no" Leni moaned "The alien know karate"

The creature got into a ninja like pose, "Bitch, I know fighting styles, no one on this pitiful rock have ever seen."

Lincoln got up and ran at the Thing with his fists in the air. Just before he reached it, it kicked him in the face.

Leni got back up and moved toward it, but the creature jumped up, spun in mid air and nailed Leni in the face with its heal. Lori picked up a wooden leg of the destroyed coffee table. Lori swung at the monster, but it grabbed her arm, took the hard club shaped piece of wood, and shattered it across Lori's face.

Lincoln walked over to his parents room. "Hey over here ass hole!" he yelled. The Thing lunged at him, he dodged it, and the Thing stumbled into his parents room. Lincoln closed the door, and his remaining sisters helped him push as much furniture in front of the door as they could.

The couch, the recliner, what was left of the coffee table, the dining room table the kitchen table, all the chairs from the kitchen and dining room, some spare pieces of wood lying around, and even the refrigerator, were stacked in front of the door, trapping the thing inside.

"What do we do now, this can't hold forever" Asked Lori.

"Don't worry" Said Lincoln "I have a plan"

He and his sisters huddled up as he told them his brilliant pan.

Lincoln had broken the legs off a few chairs and used a knife to sharpen the ends to a point. He glued his homemade spikes on the ground facing upward.

His two older sisters very carefully carried the vat of acid from Lisa's room, into the upstairs bathroom.

They placed it in the shower and hid it with the shower curtain.

They then placed a blanket over the hole in the bathroom floor, hiding it from view.

The Thing had managed to open the blocked bedroom door just enough to squeeze out.

Once it was back in the living room, it looked at the large pile leaning against the door "damn, these kids are resourceful" it said.

"Hey E.T!" came a voice from behind it. It turned around to see the little white haired boy, standing on the staircase with an angry look on his face. He quickly scurried up the stairs and the Thing fallowed.

The Thing reached the top of the stairs, and saw the white haired boy standing in the bathroom. The Thing entered the bathroom and closed the door.

"All alone now" Said the Thing.

"Yep, just you and me" Said Lincoln.

"You know" Said the Thing, "I think I may just stay I your sister's form as I kill you."

"oh really" Said Lincoln, stepping to his right.

The Thing steppe to its left "Yeah, I'd like to see the look on your face, as your own sister rips out your guts"

"You may look like Luna" Said Lincoln continuing to move to the right"But you're not her, you're just an imitation. You may be able to mimic her looks, her anatomy, and even her voice. But you will never match her personality, her energy, her charm, her spirit. No matter how hard you try, you will never be Luna Loud."

"Well I... WHAT THE FUCK!!!!" The Thing yelled in shock and surprise as the floor seemed to give out from under it, and it fell onto the spiked trap Lincoln had laid out for his little extra terrestrial friend.

Lincoln looked down through the hole in the floor "You'll also never be able to imitate Luna's knowledge of everything falling apart In this house!" He gloated "Like for instance, the hole in the bathroom floor!"

The Thing had been impaled through its legs, arms, stomach, and even an eyeball.

"You know I can just heal right?" Said The Thing.

"Not for long" Said Lincoln with a smug smirk on his face. "Ladies"

Leni and Lori threw open the shower curtain they were hiding behind, and dumped the vat of acid down the hole.

The Thing screeched as it was drenched in the highly corrosive acid.

Lori, Leni, and Lincoln watched, expressionless as the thing melted into a pile of green bubbling goo.

There was no more movement from the green puddle.

The Thing... was dead.

Leni wrapped her arms around Lori and started crying into her blue tank top. "It's over" She said with tears of joy "It's finally over"

Lincoln Jumped into the air with excitement and triumph "YES!" he yelled as he started to do a victory dance.

Lori looked at him with a warm smile, "You really are, the man with a plan"

"Hey," Lincoln said "we all did this"

"You know" Said Lori "Once we're able to get out of here, we should all go get some ice cream to celebrate. Maybe I can buy you another comic book"

"I'd like that" Lincoln said warmly "But that raises a good question, how are we going to get out of here?"

"Well" Said Lori "I'm sure that once our parents get home, they'll find a way to dig us out. Pretty sure we got one of those Ice fishing drills in the garage, they could probably use that"

"Man" Said Leni "our parents." She started to cry some more "What are our parents going to think when they find out that... when they find that most of their own children are dead"

"Who's even going to believe us?" Lincoln asked.

"They... they'll have to believe us." Said Lori.

The three went downstairs. They moved everything back to where it was.

Once all the furniture and the refrigerator were placed in their original positions. The two girls sat on the couch, and Lincoln went into the kitchen to get a soda.

Soda in hand, he decided to just walk around the house for a bit, to clear his head. As he walked, he thought about what had happened, he wondered if anyone would believe them. His thoughts trailed off to his dead sisters. Tears fell from his eyes as he mourned. As he passed the doorway to the basement, he noticed something strange.

There was a small light coming from the basement. He slowly walked down the stairs. He cautiously moved toward the source of the strange blue light.

There in the farthest wall in the basement was... a hole.

Lincoln moved toward the hole in the wall. He looked through it, and was surprised to see that it lead... Outside.

"Lori, Leni, get down here!" he yelled

"What is it" Lori asked as the two girls walked down the stairs.

"I think" Said Lincoln

"I think it's a way out" 

Well, that's the end of this chapter. Don't worry though, this story is far from over! The Hive mind that is, The Thing is not gone yet. 

The three songs I have quoted i this story are, Through The Valley by Shawn James, Spirit in The Sky by Norman Greenbaum, and one quote from Monster, by Skillet.