"Do not go gentle into that good night.

Old age should burn and rave at close of day.

Rage. Rage against the dying of the light" – Michael Cane, Interstellar.

Mr. and Mrs. Loud, and special agent Ryan, were searching the Loud house, in hopes of finding a clue, leading to the whereabouts of the Loud children.

"Hey guys, I found something" Ryan's voice came from the basement.

The couple went to meet Ryan in the basement.

"Do you think they could have gotten through here?" Said Ryan pointing to a hole in the wall leading outside.

Back at the school, Lincoln, Lori, Leni, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne had locked themselves in the shop class.

Lori was holding Leni trying to comfort her, but they were both crying. Clyde sat by one of the desks with a shocked and disturbed look on his face.

Ronnie Anne walked over to Lincoln "Hey Linc" She said, "You know I'm, really glad to see you're okay."

Lincoln gave Ronnie Anne a hug "I'm glad you're ok too Ronnie Anne".

The two kids stood there for a while holding each other, they both were starting to cry.

Lincoln walked over to Clyde, his eyes still filled with tears. He knelt down to look his best friend in the eye. "Y-you gonna be okay Clyde?" he said wiping tears from his face. Clyde leapt into Lincoln's arms and wrapped his arms around him.

"I don't wanna die Lincoln!" cried Clyde. "I'm scared!"

"We're all scared" Said Lincoln "but we're going to be okay, help will come soon, and everything's going to be all right"

"Lincoln, you're all I have left" Said Clyde, "Promise you won't leave me"

"I promise" Said Lincoln, patting his friends back.

"Leni, we're going to be okay" Lori said as Leni cried into her blue sweater. "I'll never let anything bad happen to you or Lincoln. As long as I'm here you'll be safe."

"But what if something happens to you?" Leni asked through her tears "I... I don't know that I can go on without you Lori. I... I don't want to live without you."

"Sssshh it's ok Leni, it's ok" Lori kissed her little sister on the forehead, she clenched her eyes shut as hot tears rolled down her face.

Just then they heard a knock on the door.

The whole room went silent.

The door knob started to jiggle.

"Wh-who's there?" Lori asked cautiously.

"Babe?" Said a familiar voice from the other side of the door, "It's me, Bobby"

"Bo bo bear?" Lori was still cautious but she was happy to hear her boyfriends voice. She had not even talked to him the whole weekend. She thought she would never hear his voice again. Now that she was hearing him again, it was perhaps the sweetest sound she had heard all weekend.

She slowly walked over to the door, but Lincoln stopped her before she reached the door.

"Lori wait" he said "How do we know that's really Bobby?"

"What?"

"We've seen this thing take the form of every one of our sisters, how do we know it hasn't taken Bobby's form?"

"How do we know it hasn't taken the form of anyone else in this room?" Lori said, "Why didn't you say anything when we first got into the school"

"Well I uh..." Lincoln was puzzled. Why hadn't he been suspicious of Clyde, or Ronnie Anne, Either one of them could be The Thing.

"Well I'm letting him in." Said Lori, moving past her little brother to open the door and greet her boyfriend.

She opened the door to see Bobby on the other side smiling.

"Hey babe" He said as he stretched out his arms to give his girlfriend a hug. The two hugged and kissed each other for a few moments.

Bobby closed and locked the door behind him and once again wrapped his arms around Lori.

Lori snuggled up close to him, tears once again rolling down her face. However this time they were tears of joy. "I didn't think I would ever see you again." She started "I love you bo bo bear" She called him by the cute nickname she gave him when they started dating.

"I love you too babe" He again kissed her on the lips.

"Bobby! My man!" Said Lincoln with a great amount of cheer in his voice "You made it!" He walked over to Bobby, his arms outstretched to give him a hug. But Bobby stopped Lincoln in his tracks by shoving his hand in his face.

"Whoa dude, what's the deal" Bobby said with rage in his voice and a dark look on his face. "You trying to get between me and my girlfriend?"

"Wha" Lincoln became confused. As long as he had been dating Lori, Bobby had been like a brother to Lincoln, he was as much a part of the family as any of his sisters. Even through his skepticism, Lincoln was just as happy to see Bobby as Lori was. But for Bobby to push Lincoln away, in such a rude and frightening way, was not like him at all.

"BOBBY!" lori snapped "What the hell is wrong with you?!?! Why are you being so mean to my brother?!?."

Bobby looked puzzled for a moment, then he smiled and turned toward Lincoln "aw Lincoln, I'm sorry bro, I'm just so stressed from everything that's been happening. I... I'm really sorry can you ever forgive me?"

Lincoln sighed "Yeah I guess" He walked over to Bobby and gave him a hug. Bobby hugged him back for a few moments.

Lincoln walked over to the other side of the room.

Ronnie Anne ran up to Bobby and hugged him harder than she ever had. "Bobby!" She sobbed, "I thought you were dead!"

"Don't worry sis, I'm still here" He said stroking her hair. "That thing may have gotten mom and dad, but at least we'll always have each other"

Ronnie Anne moved away from him, "Wait how did you know it got our parents? I never told you that"

"Oh my precious little sister" He said in a calm soothing voice, "I have my ways"

Lincoln found something in a bucket of tools, he turned toward Bobby with the object he found hidden behind his back.

"Hey Bobby" He said with a smile, quickly walking toward Bobby. "How about a high five for surviving the apocalypse?" Lincoln raised his left hand to give Bobby a high five.

"Sure thing bro" said Bobby as he raised his hand.

With his right hand, Lincoln pulled out the nail gun he had found in the bucket of tools. In an instant Lincoln aimed the nail gun at Bobby and pulled the trigger. A long stainless steel nail shot out of the gun, and logged itself in the center of Bobby's right palm.

The entire room gasped.

"FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!" Bobby screamed.

Everyone stared at Lincoln with the same look of shock and horror he saw when he stabbed his own sister to death.

Bobby on the other hand, seemed shockingly calm. "It's alright" Said Bobby as blood trickled down his hand. "Tensions are high, I'm sure Lincoln was just not thinking straight. It's all cool"

"Maybe you should pull that nail out of your hand" Said Lincoln.

Bobby looked at his hand for a moment."No way dude" He said, "I can see why you would think I should pull this nail out, but trust me that will only make me bleed more"

Lincoln narrowed his eye, and aimed the nail gun directly in Bobby's face, "PULL... IT.... OUT!" he said in a dark voice.

Bobby sighed, with an annoyed look on his face. He grabbed the nail that was logged in his hand and slowly yanked it out. More and more blood started to ooze out of his hand as he slowly inched the nail out.

He threw the nail on the floor, he held his hand to his face so everyone can see the hole left in it. Everyone's jaws dropped as the hole in Bobby's hand closed completely, within a matter of seconds.

"Well you little fucking white haired brat" He said "you found me out"

His right arm then morphed into a long sword-like spike.

"So" Said the Thing, "Who dies first?" The Thing pointed its sword-like arm at Lincoln "How about the white haired little freak who tried to kill me with acid"

Lincoln had a shocked look on his face.

"Oh yeah Lincoln" Said the Thing, in Bobby's voice "I remember that, remember I'm a hive mind. All you did was just destroy a small part of me. I am beyond the means of life and death, Lincoln. You can't kill me"

The Thing raised its sword arm to strike at Lincoln, but Clyde came in and hit it in the head with a chair. The Thing turned its head to look at Clyde, with rage in its eyes.

"Uh oh." Said Clyde.

Within a matter of seconds, The Thing shoved its blade arm down Clyde's throat. Somehow Clyde was still alive as acid seeped out of the blade, and onto his face and in his mouth. All he could do was make a series of pain filled gurgling noises as the acid melted his face, and innards. In minutes Clyde had become a puddle, tentacle slithered out of the back of the Bobby imitation to soak up Clyde's liquefied body.

The Thing turned back toward the rest of the group, long spider-like limbs grew out of its back.

Lincoln, Leni, Lori, and Ronnie Anne made a dash for the door.

"Its locked" Screamed Lori.

"Wait a sec'" Said Leni, "I can pick that lock" Leni knelt down, took a barrette from her hair, and stuck it in the lock. She fiddled with it for a second, and the door opened.

"Wow Leni" Said Ronnie Anne, "that was amazing!"

The four kids ran out into the hallway. The Thing fallowed, still resembling Bobby, but its arms had turned to long bony blades, and tentacles and spider legs grew from its back. And its eyes had become black and empty, as if devoid of a soul.

"You think you can hide Lincoln?" It said "I am everywhere, I am eternal!" as it moved, its spider legs smashed into the walls. Bang! Bang! Bang!

The kids ducked behind a wall. They sat there, helpless as that horrible banging sound drew closer and closer.

"How did you know Bobby was one of those things?" Leni asked.

"I didn't" Lincoln replied.

"Then why would you shoot my brother!" Ronnie Anne asked angrily.

"I didn't want hurt him, not if it was the real Bobby" Said Lincoln, "That's why I shot him in the hand. I figured The Thing had healing abilities, so if he was the Thing he would heal, and he did. But if it WAS the real Bobby well, it's just his hand, and we could treat the wound"

Ronnie Anne grew silent for a moment, then spoke with sorrow and concern in her voice "So do you think the REAL Bobby is still out there? Do you think my brother is still alive?" She asked, even though she knew the answer.

"The Thing completely consumes its victims before assimilating them" Lincoln looked at his friend with sad eyes "Your brother is dead Ronnie Anne. I'm... I'm sorry for your loss, I really am"

Ronnie Anne hugged her knees close to her chest, buried hey face in her arms and started to cry heavily. She felt like she was being stabbed with a cold knife. Her parents and her brother were dead; she never really had any friends aside from Lincoln. She was alone.

Just then they could see the large spider legs and tentacles reaching around the corner.

"Come on we have to go!" Said Lincoln as he picked Ronnie Anne up onto her feet. As the four kids ran from the monster, a tentacle caught Lori's leg, and she tripped.

"LORI!" Leni rushed over to help her older sister. She grabbed Lori's hand to help her back up, but The Thing yanked her to the floor, and Leni too fell to the cold hard ground.

The Bobby imitation rounded the corner and the tentacle tightened its grip on Lori's leg, and started to pull her toward the rest of the creature so it could eat her. However Leni held her grip on Lori's hand.

"I'm not letting you go!" Leni proclaimed.

Then Lincoln and Ronne Anne came and grabbed Leni to help her pull Lori to safety. The Thing continued to pull at Lori's Leg, and her fingers started to slip from Leni's grasp. Lori looked back at the creature, then at her leg. The tentacle started to quickly move its way up her leg. She looked at her younger sister. Leni was crying as she desperately held Lori's hand.

Lori's eye filled with tears, "Leni" She said, "you have to let go"

"What? No no no. I can't do that!" Leni pleaded. "Please don't make me do that Lori, don't leave me. PLEASE!" Tears rolled down Leni's face and hit the floor.

"If you don't let go" Lori said "This thing will reach you too, and it'll kill you. I'm not afraid to die Leni. But I don't want you to die. Leni, promise me you'll carry on, and that you'll look after Lincoln"

"I... I promise" Leni said through her sobs "p-please don't go."

The two girls were only holding on to each other by the finger tips now, "I love you guys" Lori said to her two younger siblings.

Lori's hands slipped from Leni's grasp and she was pulled toward the monster that had taken her boyfriends form.

"LLLLLOOOOOORRRRRRRIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!" Leni screamed "NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Lori closed her eyes as she reached the monster and waited for her death. The creatures chest opened up raveling a gaping maw of teeth and pinchers. The tentacles wrapped around Lori's body squeezing her tight as she instinctively struggled, even though she knew it was pointless.

Burning acid oozed from the tentacles. Her blue sweater soaked up the acid like a sponge. With her cloths soaked with acid, it felt like they were on fire.

A thin, yet strong membrane reached out of The Thing and wrapped around Lori, creating a smooth stomach-like sack. The membrane was transparent enough that the others could see Lori inside thrashing around like a caged animal. The air inside the Thing's stomach had become acidic from the fumes. As Lori breathed, the fumes burned her lungs, she started coughing up blood. The large organ filled with Lori's blood as her skin started to dissolve and fall from her body. Everything went black as her eyes melted. Somehow she was still alive yet, and could feel the acid burning into her bones.

After a few more moments of agonizing pain, poor Lori eventually died once the acid ate through her rib cage and reached her heart.

Lincoln, Leni, and Ronnie Anne ran through the dark hallway trying to get away from the terrifying monster that had just eaten poor Lori.

It looked like they had lost the creature. They entered the nearest class room, and locked the door.

The windows were boarded up, and broken glass littered the floor. Leni sat on the floor with her back against the wall. She held her knees to her chest and cried. Lincoln knelt down to comfort his older sister.

"It'll be ok Leni" He said as he ran his hand through her long blond hair. "We'll get through this"

"Lori said the same thing" Said Leni.

As Lincoln and Leni talked, Ronnie Anne walked over to the boarded up window. She looked down at the pile of broken glass on the floor. She found a long sharp piece of glass and picked it up.

She held the glass tightly in her hand. As she squeezed the glass, the sharp edges cut into her hand and blood trickled down her arm.

She looked over at Lincoln, with the glass firmly clenched in her fist. Lincoln was busy comforting his sister and didn't notice what Ronnie Anne was doing.

"I'm really sorry Lincoln" She said under her breath.

She then walked over to the teachers desk, she hid behind it so Lincoln couldn't see her.

She sat under the desk as tears rolled down her face. She looked at the piece of glass in her hand. She rolled up the sleeve of her soft purple sweatshirt. For a few moments, she stared at the veins in her wrist, then again at the piece of glass. She took a deep breath her heart was racing it felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest.

Lincoln was tightly holding Leni as they both grieved over Lori's death.

"Lori" Leni cried softly.

"I miss her too Leni" Said Lincoln, "But she would want us to move on. We'll get through this, you me and Ronnie Anne"

"Hey were is Ronnie Anne anyway?" Leni asked.

Lincoln looked around the room. He noticed a puddle of crimson red blood oozing out from under the teachers desk.

"That can't be good" He said as he got up and walked to the desk. He reached the desk to see what was under it. "OH MY GOD!!!!" He yelled when he saw Ronnie Anne.

She was sitting under the desk, a blood covered piece of glass in her limp hand. Her wrist was cut open and blood was oozing out. She was still breathing, but just barely. She stared blankly at the floor, and her face had gotten pale.

She slowly looked up at Lincoln "L-Lincoln?" She said, sounding very week.

"Ronnie Anne what? What have you done?" Said Lincoln. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!?!"

"I... I have nothing left" She said. "I... just wanted to see my family again."

"But you still have me. Please don't do this, don't do this to me Ronnie Anne"

"I... I'm sorry Lincoln... I'm so...." At that moment Ronnie Anne stopped breathing, and died.

"NO!" Lincoln Screamed "YOU CAN"T DO THIS TO ME!!!! AFTER EVERYTHING THAT I LOST!!" he tightly held Ronnie Annne's body to his, and cried heavily. "Please no, this can't be happening! What did I do? Why is this happening to us?" He picked up the glass that his friend had used to kill herself. He took the glass to his own wrists.

Before he could do anything, Leni grabbed the glass from Lincoln's hand, and threw it against the wall, and it shattered.

"LINCOLN!" She yelled "What the HELL do you think you're doing!?!?"

"I... I uh" He said as he continued to cry.

Leni sat down and hugged her little brother lovingly. "I know it's hard, but you need to keep fighting. Lincoln we can't give up"

"Why... what's... what's the point?"

Leni looked Lincoln in the eye "Lincoln" She said "I made a promise that I would take care of you. As long as I am still alive, I won't let anything bad happen to you. No matter what, we still have each other."

They hugged each other once again. They both cried like they never cried before.

Just then one of the Thing's spider-like legs smashed through the door. The door exploded into a million pieces. The Thing was standing on the other side.

It still had some of Bobby's characteristics, his hair, his dark skin, and his cloths. However its mouth was full of razor sharp teeth, its shirt was shredded, its chest had become a hole full of teeth and pinchers. Its arms had formed into long bony blades, six foot long spider legs, and a bunch of tentacles had grown out of its back, and its eyes were black and soulless.

Leni held Lincoln close to her. She frantically looked around the room for a way out but couldn't find one.

The Thing Looked Leni in the eyes.

Leni's eyes filled with tears. She held Lincoln tighter, and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry Linky" She said softly.

Just then a burst of blue flames nailed the creature in the side, and vaporized it. Leni opened her eyes. A man walked in dressed in a black tactical spec ops suit. He was wearing some sort of high tech goggles.

He took his goggles off to reveal his face. He had short wavy brown hair, brown eyes and a five o clock shadow.

"Call me crazy" He said "but something tells me you guys could use some help."

Ordinarily Leni would gush over a dreamy guy like that, and immediately start flirting. But know all she felt was a deep and dark depression. At this point she didn't care what her rescuer looked like, he could be Peter Griffin for all she cared. All she cared about was that she and her brother were safe.

"th-thanks" she said. She and Lincoln both stood up. Leni looked at Lincoln and gave him a warm smile.

Lincoln returned his sister's smile. The two children had become filled with joy, when they saw that the man who had saved their lives, was followed by their parents.

"Mom! Dad!" Leni and Lincoln both said at once. The two ran into the hallway to hug their parents.

"We thought we'd never see you again!" Said Lincoln.

"We missed you so much!" Said Leni.

"Oh we missed you too" the parents both said as they hugged their kids.

"Lincoln, Leni" Said Mr. Loud he then pointed to the mysterious man, "We'd like you to meet Ryan. He saved our lives, and he's here to help us"

"Nice to meet you Ryan" Leni walked over to Ryan and shook his hand.

"What up Ryan?" Lincoln extended his fist and Ryan bumped it.

"Hey guys" Said Mr. Loud, "where are the rest of you sisters?"

Lincoln and Leni started to cry.

"Oh" Said the parents, their hearts sank when they realized what had happened to 9 out of their 11 children. The parents and the kids hugged each other, all four of them started to cry.

"I'm so sorry" Said Mr. Loud.

"We should have been there for you." Said Mrs. Loud.

"It's ok" Said Lincoln.

"We're not mad" Said Leni, "We could never be mad. We love you Mom and Dad"

"Mom! Dad! Get away from them!" Said a voice from down the hallway.

They looked and they saw what looked like... Lori.

"Those are not your kids" Lori said "That Thing took their forms"

The parents backed away from the kids.

"What?" Said Leni, confused, and angry.

"Dad, she's lying!" Said Lincoln.

"Yeah, we saw that thing eat her, SHE'S the monster" Leni added.

"That' funny" said Lori, "Because I remember it eating you two"

Ryan rolled his eyes "OH MY FUCKING GOD!" He said, "Are we really fucking doing this!?!? This is such a fucking cliché! You're just going to go back and forth with you're the monster, no you're the monster. Blah blah blah blah fucking blah!" Ryan put his High tech goggles back on "Let's just cut out the fucking middle man ok"

Ryan looked and Leni and Lincoln, his goggles continued to glow green. "Ok you're good" he said.

Then he looked at Lori and the lights on his goggles started to glow bright red. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Lori. "The female human equivalent of Squidward over there is the monster"

Lincoln and Leni looked at each other "Female human equivalent of Squidward?"

"Well yeah" Said Ryan "Just the way she presents herself. With on hand on her hip, one eyebrow raised. Just this whole 'whatever I don't give a fuck' thing she has going on. It's very reminiscent of Squidward Tentacles from Spongebob Squarpants." He looked back and saw the entire family speechless.

"Whatever" He said, Taking out a pair of swords.

"So" Said the creature disguised as Lori as its eyes turned black "those fancy goggles of yours can tell you who I am. I see"

Ryan pressed a button on his swords, causing them to ignite in blue flames.

Within a flash, the Lori imitation dashed out of site.

"Hive mind" Said Ryan. "that fucker remembers what these babies can do"

He turned toward the group, "See now wasn't that much easier?"

The Loud family was stunned.

"Now we need to get you guys to the extraction point before dawn" Ryan instructed them.

"What happens at dawn?" Lincoln asked.

"If this thing gets out of the city it could wipe out all of human civilization in less than a month" Said Ryan, "The government's biggest priority right now is containment. At the crack of dawn, the military will drop a nuke on this town to completely destroy the Thing."

"Well then we gotta get out of here!" Said Mr. Loud.

"And that's why I'm here" Said Ryan.

They walked down the dark hallway, heading to the exit.

"Hold up" said Ryan as they past the gym. He looked at the gym doors and his goggles turned red. "Readings are off the charts"

The doors opened by themselves. Inside the enormous gymnasium stood what looked to be the entire student body and the entire staff of Royal Woods High. All the people in the gym stood there motionless staring at the Loud family, and agent Ryan with black soulless eyes.

"There is no escape" every one of the figures in the gym said at once. "I am everywhere." The hundreds of people in the gym all spoke at one as if they were one being.

"Yeah let's get the hell out of here" Said Ryan.

The Loud family and Ryan made a dash for the door. They made it out into the dark cold blizzard.

They could see movement in the falling snow and darkness. Ryan's goggles continued to glow red sensing the Thing's alien DNA all around them. They were surrounded. Suddenly they heard loud thumping coming from behind them. They turned around to see the huge beast that the children had encountered back in the woods. The monster that resembled a cross between a gorilla and a T-Rex, with a long reptilian snout filled with dagger like teeth, and huge muscular ape-like arms and huge claws coming from its finger tips. This time this thing seemed to have quadrupled in size. Its dinosaur like snout was the size of a city bus, and its gigantic paws were so big that it nearly crushed the entire school with it. The tentacles growing out of its back, as thick as sky scrapers seemed to reach up to infinity.

The beast let out a loud roar that shook the earth.

Ryan and the Loud family looked around them, they were surrounded by The Thing as it had assimilated every citizen in the Royal Woods aside from them.

Just then a couple of missiles hit the large monster, as military jets flew by. An armored truck drove in running over a group of imitations.

A few tanks, and ground troops moved in to fight the many horrific forms The Thing could take on.

Ryan and the Loud family got in the truck, which then drove away as the creatures were distracted by the military.

The five survivors sat in silence as they rolled past the chaos outside. Leni looked out the window deep in thought. She watched the military desperately try to fight of the nightmares that had plagued her and Lincoln for the past few days.

This all started just a few days ago, She thought, Feels like it's been years.

"You know I have some kids of my own" Ryan said with a warm smile. He pulled out his wallet and showed Lincoln and Leni a picture of him with his wife and two young daughters. He looked at the picture himself. "This picture helps me get through my tougher missions. I just tell myself that I need to make it, for my little girls"

The truck fell silent again. Outside they could hear the screams of the soldiers as they were torn to shreds by The Thing.

The truck drove past the Loud House. The family looked at the building that they had lived in for so many years.

The house that was once full of life was now a dark hallow shell. As the truck drove past the house, the large hand of the Things giant dinosaur form emerged from the snowy grey darkness and wrapped its hands around the building.

The Thing lifted up the entire house, and hurled it into the sky, toward a group of fighter jets.

"Well there goes our house" Said Mrs. Loud.

"Man" Said Mr. Loud. "I still had payments on that house"

Leni and Lincoln started to tear up.

"W-what happens now?" Asked Lincoln.

"Where will we go?" Leni added.

"Don't worry" Said Ryan in a calm soothing voice. "We will make sure you guys are taken care of. Everything will be alright. You're safe now"

The truck rolled up to a group of helicopters waiting to carry any survivors to safety.

Ryan's commanding officer, General Steve was waiting for him in front of the helicopters.

Ryan and the four survivors got out of the truck.

"Is this all that made it?" The General asked.

"Unfortunately yes," Said Ryan. "I have searched this town from top to bottom, and battled monsters beyond comprehension" He started to explain "I was even swallowed by Rodan" He said, referring to the bird-like monster he fought upon landing in the town.

"You did good Ryan" Said the General "You did good. I'm proud of you"

General Steve, Agent Ryan, and what remained of the Loud family got on the helicopter as it rose up into the stormy sky.

As they reached the clouds the ground disappeared from view. The helicopter was flying through an endless grey void.

"Uh sir?" Ryan asked his commanding officer, he had a nervous look on his face. "If it's all the same to you, after this mission I would like to start my retirement. After seeing what this family here has been through, I would like to spend more time with my kids."

"Ryan" Said the general, "After all you've done for your country, you've more than earned that."

The General looked at Lincoln and Leni with a smile, "You know after we get you guys all settled in a new home, how about the United States government buys you two some ice cream"

Lincoln and Leni smiled.

"You know I'd kind of like some ice cream too" Said Mr. Loud.

"Me too" Said Ryan, "Mint chocolate chip"

"Wait a minute" Said Leni, "Make mine a chocolate!" She said with a smile.

"Well" Said Lincoln, "looks like this story might have a happy ending after all"

"INCOMING!" Screamed one of the pilots as a huge red tentacle the size of a sky scraper emerged from the snowy darkness and struck the helicopter.

Everyone on the helicopter screamed as they fell into the dark grey void.

For a while it was just darkness. As he started to become more aware, he noticed how cold he felt. He could hear the faint sound of gunshots and screaming in the distance.

As Lincoln opened his eyes everything seemed blurry and confusing at first. His vision soon became clearer. He tried to move his arms. Pain shot through his entire body. He could hear the crackling of a fire.

He managed to sit up, he looked around him, surveying his surroundings. He looked behind him to see the wreckage of the helicopter. The ground around him was covered in snow, ashes and blood. Next to him he saw the body of the general he met in the helicopter.

The man had been sliced in half by the debris from the helicopter as it crashed. His face was charred from the explosion, and his guts covered the ground. Lincoln then heard the sobs of his older sister Leni. Snow was falling hard around him, so he could barely see what was around him. He brought himself to his feet. An intense pain instantly shot through his legs, he wondered if they were broken. He limped to the sound of his sister weeping. After a few feet he found her.

She was covered in cuts and scrapes from head to toe her sweater was torn all over and starting to get soaked in her blood. She had her face buried in her hands as she cried, kneeling over the mangled bodies of their parents.

"Linky?" She looked up at her little brother, tears rolled down her face. "Oh Linky! You're OK!" she grabbed Lincoln and pulled him toward her to give him a hug.

As she embraced him, Lincoln looked down at his parent's bodies and started to panic. "MOM! DAD!" he yelled in terror.

"I'm so sorry Linky, I'm so sorry" Leni cried holding Lincoln closer.

"Why is this happening?!?!" Lincoln cried.

"I don't know" Said Leni " But don't worry Linky, I won't let anything bad happen to you. As long as I'm here you'll be safe."

Just then they heard a moaning sound in the distance. They both got up and walked to the sound. They found Ryan lying on the ground. He was still alive, but he had a metal spike jammed through his stomach, and he was coughing up blood.

"Ryan?" said Lincoln.

"Are you OK?" Leni added.

"Well I've been better" Said Ryan, coughing up more blood.

"We gotta get you out of here" Said Lincoln.

"Yeah" Leni said. "we gotta get you beck to your family"

"Kids I..." Said Ryan "I don't think I'm gonna make it" He took out the picture of his family and gave it to Lincoln. "Make sure my kids get this. Tell them that their daddy loves them more than anything in the world"

"Oh come on man" Said Lincoln "We can get through this, you'll see your family again, and you can tell them yourself"

"You saved us back at the school" Said Leni "Now it's our turn to save you"

"I'm bleeding out" Said Ryan "this is the end for me"

"No you can't" Said Leni

"Hey, look at the bright side" Said Ryan, "At least I didn't die in the first act, like Ryan Reynolds in that movie Life. I mean what the fuck were they thinking Reynolds was the biggest name in that movie, most movie goers went to that movie to see Deadpool take on an alien, and you kill him off as soon as the alien starts attacking, I mean what the fuck right? It's like when they killed off Brian Chranston in Godzilla. I mean who wouldn't want to see the Heisenberg take on Godzilla. But instead we get the worst performance of Aaron Taylor Johnson's carrier, and Godzilla is barely even shown. Sorry, spoiler alert"

Ryan then let out a final breath and died.

Immediately Lincoln started searching Ryan's corps.

"What are you doing?" Asked Leni.

"Looting" Said Lincoln.

"That seems a bit disrespectful Link, the man saved our lives"

"Yeah, and those bad ass fire weapons he had can continue to save our lives" He grabbed Ryan's swords, plasma launchers, and a few plasma grenades.

He handed a sword and a gun to Leni. She took them both "uh okay?" She said a little awkwardly.

Lincoln pointed the gun away from him and Leni. He pulled the trigger and blue flames shot out of the gun.

"Nice!" He said. He then looked at one of the plasma grenades, and pressed a button on it. The device started to beep. He panicked and threw it into the darkness. It exploded into white flames far away from them. "That will be helpful"

"Okay" He continued, looking at the digital watch on Ryan's arm, ""It's going on five in the morning. Ryan said the government was going to nuke the town at dawn. Meaning we've just got a few hours to get the hell out of Royal Woods"

"Ooooh!" Said Leni, "Maybe we can go to the mall!" She said with excitement.

"LENI!" Lincoln was starting get irritated."This is NOT the time to go shopping!"

Leni looked at him with a sour look "there's a helicopter landing pad on the roof of the mall. What I was saying is that if we can get to the roof of the mall, we can use that fire gun thingy to signal for help."

"Oh" said Lincoln, "That... that's actually a great idea."

Leni smiled.

Having collected some of Ryan's gear, the two slowly walked away from the wreck.

"So which way is the mall?" Asked Lincoln as they drudged through the dark snowy streets of the Royal Woods ducking behind any sort of cove they could find, to stay out of the Thing's sight.

"I don't know" Said Leni, "The snow is falling so fast I can't see anything"

They hid behind a car as a creature that resembled a tall skinny man, with long spikes for fingers and tentacles coming out of its back, walked by.

Lincoln and Leni slowly snuck away to the next street.

Their hearts skipped a beat as they saw a crowd of what looked like the citizens of Royal Woods. Hundreds of them filled the streets. The all stared at Lincoln and Leni, motionless, their eyes a black void of nothingness.

"And then there were two" the whole group said in unison.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?!?" Lincoln yelled.

The group stared at Lincoln, and once again spoke as one. "I am much older than time itself. I heave been roaming the cosmos for all of eternity consuming worlds and civilizations, Assimilating them into my own being. Soon I will be all there is. Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

Lincoln took out a plasma grenade, and pressed the button to arm it. "Yeah, FUCK YOU TOO!" he screamed as he threw the grenade into the crowd. He and Leni ran out of the way as the imitations were turned to ash. The two of them limped into a nearby ally.

"Oh man" Said Leni, "we really shouldn't be moving around this much, right after surviving a helicopter crash."

"You may be right," Said Lincoln holding his aching back, "But we need to push on"

The two slowly limped through the back allies of the town trying to stay out of the main streets were the embodiments of the Thing were roaming.

They eventually made it to the mall parking lot. "There it is!" Leni said, and they both ran to the front door.

They got to the door, but it was locked, but Leni was able to pick the lock.

They got into the mall, and shut the door tight behind them.

"Ok so how do we get to the roof?" Lincoln asked.

"Uhm, I don't Know" Leni replied.

They looked back outside to see that an army of imitations had formed in the parking lot of the mall. In front of the army was the imitation of Lori. It was wearing the military uniform Lori would sometimes wear while babysitting (even though Lori was only 17, and not even in the military), it had her green jacket, green tank top, and brown sorts, and her red whistle hung around its neck. Its eyes were covered by dark sunglasses. It was holding a military style baton which it pointed toward the mall, signaling the other imitations to march toward the building.

Lincoln and Leni ran into the mall, down into the maze of hallways, and abandoned shops. The imitations broke through the front door and flooded into the mall.

Lincoln and Leni ducked into a nearby Hot Topic.

"What do we do now?" Asked Leni.

"I don't know" Said Lincoln. "I'm not sure how much ammo these mini blue flamethrowers have." He looked at the plasma Launcher in his hand. He and Leni both had one, as well as a sword. Lincoln had one plasma grenade left.

"Welcome to my domain" Said a familiar monotone voice from behind them. "So glad you could make it"

They turned around to see one of the imitations that had taken the form of Lucy.

It stepped out of the shadows with an evil grin on its face. It opened its mouth revealing rows of razor sharp teeth. It raised its arms as bat wings grew out of its back. The wings were at least twice as long as its arms.

"Lucy always wanted to be a vampire didn't she?" The creature said in Lucy's monotone voice.

"Run" Said Lincoln. Lincoln and Leni made a move for the door, but the Lucy imitation was too fast, and had gotten in front of them in a matter of seconds.

"You two aren't going anywhere" It said.

Lincoln and Leni aimed their plasma guns at the creature, they each pulled the trigger shooting blue flames at the monster.

Before the flames could reach it, the Lucy imitation flapped its wings, propelling itself to the ceiling. It grabbed onto the ceiling. It then leaped down onto Leni. With Leni pinned on the ground the creature raised its right hand and sharp claws grew out of its finger tips.

Just before The Thing could slash Leni's face open, Lincoln pressed the button on his sword, causing the metal blade to be engulfed in blue flames. He sliced the thing's hand clean off, just in time to save Leni. The Thing's hand fell to the floor and crumbed into ashes. The imitation of Lucy got up, turned toward Lincoln and let out a deep animal-like growl. As it started toward Lincoln, Leni got up, pressed the button to ignite her sword and lobbed imitation Lucy's head clean off. The head fell to the floor, it was engulfed in blue flames, and quickly turned to ash.

The now headless creature grew long tentacles out of the hole were its head used to be.

Lincoln and Leni both stabbed their swords into the creature's body. The flames from the swords vaporized the beast.

"Thanks for having my back" Said Lincoln.

"Wait I thought I had my back." Leni was confused. "Why would I take your back? Wouldn't that hurt you?"

"It's a figure of speech Leni." Lincoln informed her, "It means thank for watching out for me"

"Oh" Said Leni, "Yeah I'll always watch out for you. And thanks for having my back too"

The two cautiously exited the Hot Topic. They could hear the mob of The Thing's imitations moving toward them. They ran down the hallway until they reached some sort of prank store that sold props, and other comedic items.

The store had a staircase in the back that could lead to the roof, or just another store. With the army of assimilated citizens gaining on them, the two siblings decided to take the chance. They entered the comedy store and closed the door behind them. As they crept through whoopee cushions, joke books, and those fake glasses with the big nose and mustache. They could hear laughter coming from somewhere in the store. They were not alone.

Just before they reached the stairs a figure blocked their path.

It was Luan, or at least one of The Things imitations of Luan.

"Where do you think you're going" the creature said in Luan's voice. "Are you trying to get to the roof?'

The creature's eyes turned black, claws grew out of its finger tips, and tentacles grew from its back, "Looks like I'm going to have to maul you to death" It chuckled "get it? We're in a mall"

The two Loud siblings lit up their swords and swung them at the creature. The creature dodged the attack "Using Ryan's swords I see" said the creature "I thought you'd be a little sharper than that" Lincoln and Leni kept swing their swords at the creature, but it kept dodging. "Do you even know how to use those things?" the creature continued laughing.

"Fuck this" Lincoln aimed the plasma gun at the creature and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.

Once again the Luan imitation laughed "you know that plasma gun needs ammo right? Gee I thought you'd be a little more bright."

Lincoln looked at the side of his gun, just then he noticed the bar on the gun, which had just a tiny red light that only took up a sliver on one side of the bar. It must be empty. He looked at the gun Leni had. The bar on the side of her gun was half way filled with a yellow light. Her gun was half full, but they needed that energy to signal for help. He looked around the room.

He swung his sword at a shelf next to him, striking it on the bottom.

The shelf collapsed onto the Luan imitation, pinning it to the ground. Lincoln walked over to the shelf and stabbed his sword though the shelf and into the Things back.

The entire shelf burned to smoldering coals, along with the Luan imitation, As Lincoln and Leni walked up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs was some sort of music shop. The store was littered with guitars, amps and other musical equipment.

"Gee, three guesses who we'll find here" Lincoln whispered to Leni. "Buy the way, careful with your gun. Apparently it only has limited ammo, and we need it to signal for help."

"Oh really?" Leni looked at her gun. "Ok, I'll be careful"

Just then they heard the strum of a guitar.

"Right on cue" Said Lincoln. They turned around to see an imitation of Luna sitting in a chair, picking away at a guitar.

The creature looked at them with dark black eyes.

In Luna's voice it said "it ain't easy livin' free dudes" It got up and slowly walked toward them "no stop signs, speed limits. No ones gonna slow me down" It pointed its guitar at Lincoln and Leni "You ass holes are on a highway to Hell!" It once again grabbed its guitar with both hand. Blood oozed out of its hands. The blood flowed around the guitar as if it had a mind of its own, completely covering it turning it red. Long bony spikes grew out of the large end of the guitar.

The Luna imitation swung its guitar into a nearby shelf. The steel shelf shattered into a thousand pieces. The Things flesh that had wrapped around the guitar had strengthened it, turning it into a deadly weapon.

The imitation of Luna swung the guitar down like an axe. Lincoln and Leni jumped out of the way as the guitar smashed into the ground and got stuck. As the creature tried to pull its guitar from the ground, Lincoln slashed his sword at it, and cut off its arms. The monster shrieked in pain as blood sprayed from its arms.

Tentacles grew from the stubs ware its arms were cut off, and waved about attempting to slash at one of the loud siblings.

Tentacles shot out of the guitar stuck in the ground and wrapped around Lincoln, and pulled him to the ground.

Leni ran her sword through Imitation Luna's body. The creature turned its head back 180 degrees to look at Leni. Leni ignited her sword and the Thing was engulfed in blue flames.

Lincoln used his sword to cut himself free, and stabbed it into the guitar. He turned the sword on, sending the blue plasma into the guitar, turning it to ash.

Lincoln and Leni walked out of the music store. They were dragging their feet, and had exhausted looks on their faces.

"Man" said Leni "When this is over, I'm totes going to need a nap."

"If we're still alive when this is over" Said Lincoln.

"Hey don't say that" said Leni, "we're going to get out of here, I promise. Just stay positive"

"Well, what's the point? Everyone we know is dead! What's left to fight for?"

"Lincoln, I... I think are friends and family would want us to live on. Their memories will live on through us, that's what we fight for."

"Wow, that's very um... wise of you Leni"

"Besides" Said Leni with a smile, "I made a promise that I would keep you safe, I intend to keep that promise no matter what"

"Thanks Leni" Lincoln returned his older sister's smile "hey. I'll protect you too, that's what families are for"

"That's what families are for"

Suddenly, Lincoln stopped in his tracks and gulped. The next store in their path was a sporting goods store.

An imitation of Lucy was in Hot Topic, one of Luan was in a comedy store, and one of Luna was in a music store.

He knew what they would find in that sporting goods store. That was something he was not ready to face. Not at that moment, perhaps not ever.

Lincoln stood there stunned. Leni looked at her little brother with a look of sympathy.

"You ok Linky?" She asked. She looked at the sign for the sporting goods store, then back at the music store. She was not very bright, she was pretty stupid in fact, but even she could tell what was going on in her brother's head at that moment. "Linky, we don't know for sure we'll see her in there."

"Of course we will." Said Lincoln, "Lucy likes the dark, so she was in Hot Topic, Luan is a wannabe comedian and we saw her in the comedy store, and Luna is an amateur rock star, so she was in the music store. Who the fuck do you think we'll find in a SPORTING GOODS store!?!?"

"Well we don't even know we'll find anybody in there" Said Leni.

"Open your eyes Leni, this fucking thing is using the damn mall to mess with our heads!" Lincoln shouted, "It's trying to get us were it wants us and I don't want to face what's waiting for me in that store!" He was now starting to tear up.

"Ok Linky" Leni said in a soft voice "we'll find another way" She looked around her. "Let's head down this hallway".

They walked down a hallway leading away from the Sporting goods store. They eventually came to a doorway. On the other side of the doorway was a staircase leading to the roof.

"See Linky" Said Leni "everything is going to be ok" she opened the door and they both walked up the stairs.

They got to the roof, they looked out at the town before them. It was still snowing, but they could see that most of the buildings of the Royal Woods were on fire. Military jets circled the skies above, shooting at the giant indescribable forms the Thing was taking.

"Man" Said Leni.

"Ok Leni, do it." Lincoln instructed her.

Leni aimed her gun in the air, and fired a tall stream of blue plasma into the skies.

Nothing happened.

Leni stopped firing "I don't think they see us." She said defeated.

They heard laughter from behind them.

They turned around to see the Lori Imitation, still wearing that military outfit.

"You seriously think the military is going to take the risk, to help a couple of nobodies like you?"

Lincoln and Leni looked at each other.

"Oh Lincoln, you naïve fool" Said the Thing in Lori's voice. It pointed at the burning town they once called home, "Look down there Lincoln and Leni Loud. I have completely taken over this town. And soon, I will be literally everywhare. Face it Louds, I won the moment I set foot in your house. Huh actually I won the moment I literally crashed on this backwater planet."

Lincoln and Leni drew their swords and activated them.

"HA!" The Thing laughed, "What are you gonna do. Even if you destroy this form, I am still everywhere, I am literally eternal. Even if one cell of me is left I can still come back"

The Things arms morphed into long bony swords, "But if you really wanna fight"

The Thing slashed at Lincoln and Leni, and they both dodged it.

Lincoln swung his sword at the Thing, it rolled out of the way. The Thing sliced at Leni. Leni blocked the attack. One of the Thing's spiked arms got cut in half by Leni's flaming sword. The severed appendage fell to the ground and burst into flames. Leni aimed her gun at the Thing, but it kicked it out of her hand, and it fell to the ground.

Lincoln came up from behind and cut the Things other arm off.

The Thing stumbled a bit at first. Then it regained its footing. Its arms grew back. This time its left arm grew into savage looking claws, like that of a bear, or a tiger, accept it didn't have fur. Instead sharp spikes ran down its left arm. Its right arm grew into a massive blade, as long as its body and twice as thick.

The Thing swung its massive blade at Lincoln.

He tried to block it with his sword, but the Things blade was so large it snapped Lincoln's sword like it was a twig.

Lincoln looked down at the broken sword with a look of shock.

"Oh Lincoln." The Thing mocked, "it's so cute how you, an 11 year old boy, think you can beat me. A cosmic entity as old as time itself."

As the Thing was distracted, mocking Lincoln, Leni ran up and drove her sword through the Things chest.

"This is for Lori" Leni said "and for Luna, and Luan and... hey wait why aren't you bursting into flames?" Leni looked down to see that the flames in her sword had gone out. She frantically pressed the button at the base of the handle again and again, trying desperately to turn it back on.

"Aww" Said the Thing "Out of gas?"

The Thing's arms changed back to normal human arms, and it pushed Leni to the ground with its palm.

"Psh" It Said "Pathetic" It pulled the sword from its chest, it held the sword in its hand like a spear. It turned its head toward Lincoln, "Goodbye Lincoln, I must say it's been swell."

It then chucked the sword at Lincoln.

Just before the sharp point of the sword was able to pierce into Lincoln's face, Leni jumped in front of him and the steel blade instead stabbed into her stomach and she hit the ground with a thud.

"LENI NO!" Lincoln screamed. He knelt beside her. "Leni, why did you do that?"

"I told you linky," She coughed up some blood "I promised I would protect you at any cost. Even if that means I have to die"

"No Leni, please don't die" Lincoln pleaded, "you're all I have left please don't leave me like this!"

Leni, tenderly placed a hand on Lincoln's shoulder, "It's ok Linky, I'm going to a better place," she placed her hand on his chest, "I'll always be with you in your heart."

"Well Lincoln" said The Thing "looks like you're all alone now. Or at least once dumb dumb here bleeds out you will be"

Lincoln's face grew red with rage. He got up and turned toward the monster that had fatally injured his deer sister, and was now mocking her as she slowly died.

He had one plasma grenade left. He pressed the button on it, the canister started to beep as it got ready to explode.

"Yyyyyaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!" With the explosive in hand he leapt at the Thing. With his fist clenched tightly around the explosive, he shoved it into the Thing's mouth, and down its throat.

The inside of The Thing's throat was warm and gooey, it was full of thick sticky mucus.

The throat instantly tightened, holding on to Lincoln's arm. The Thing bit down on Lincoln's arm with the bite force of a crocodile. The bone in Lincoln's arm shattered instantly as the Thing's razor toothed jaws slammed shut. His arm tore in half and he fell to the ground. He writhed in pain for a few seconds as blood shot out of what was left of his right arm, he then desperately crawled away from the creature that had taken his arm, and swallowed the grenade.

The Thing, blood dripping from its teeth looked down at its stomach to see the flashing light from the high tech explosive shining through its flesh. It looked back up, in a flash it exploded into ashes.

Lincoln, his body filled with pain, crawled over to his wounded sister. Once he reached her, he used his remaining hand to tenderly lift up her head.

"Leni" He said through his tears "Speak to me Leni"

She was still breathing, but she was barely conscious. Her blood had turned her purple sweater red, as well as her green dress under it, and formed a scarlet pool around her body. Her face was as pale as the snow around them, and her lips were grey. She was breathing very softly, still clinging on to a thread of life, but it was easy to tell, she was going to be dead in a matter of minutes.

Lincoln held Leni's face close to his chest as he started to sob.

"Leni, please don't leave me like this" he cried, "Don't leave me alone Leni... I... I love you Leni, please, you can't die." He started to cry more heavily.

Just then a familiar voice came from behind him "Lincoln?" said the voice.

Lincoln's eyes open wide, and his heart felt like it had dropped to the floor. That voice, he knew who it was, or at least who it was trying to imitate.

"Lincoln?" It repeated. He knew what he would find if he turned around, the original owner of that voice had been gone for some time. He knew if he turned around he would need to face the sins of his past.

"Why Lincoln?" It said, "why did you do this to me?"

"It's not real" he told himself "It can't be real. That thing is playing tricks with you Lincoln, it can't be her"

"How could you do this to me Lincoln?" it said.

Lincoln gulped, he knew he would find it, find her back in that sporting goods store. He tried to avoid it, he did not want to face what he had done. But it seemed that it, that she had found him. He knew he had to face it.

He took a big gulp, stood up, closed his eyes and turned around.

He opened his eyes back up again, and sure enough he saw her, or at least the image of her.

It was Lynn Loud Jr. the sister whom he was forced to murder some time ago.

"Why did you kill me Lincoln?" she said, "I thought you loved me Lincoln?"

Lincoln collapsed to his knees. "Lynn" he said in a defeated voice. "I'm, I'm... I'M SO SORRY LYNN!" he fell to the ground crying, "I'M SORRY!!!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs "WHAT HAVE I BECOME!?!? WHAT AM I TURNING INTO!?!?" his face was now red, not from anger but from the tears. Snot dripped down his nose into his mouth and on the ground, Drool oozed from his lips to the ground as well. "I do love you Lynn, I love all of you. I never wanted to hurt you I never wanted to hurt anyone"

"I love you too Lincoln" She said "More than anyone else in the family I love you. You are so much better than them in every way Lincoln. You're smarter than Lisa, and stronger than me" She reached out a hand to Lincoln, "Grab my hand little brother, so we can be together for all eternity. We are better than anyone on this planet. Together we can shape the world in our image."

Without saying a word, Lincoln crawled to Lynn like a lost puppy.

He reached out his blood covered, trembling hand to Lynn's.

Lynn grasped his hand tightly, and gave him a warm smile.

"I deserve to die don't I" Lincoln said.

"Yes you do" Said Lynn. "But once you do, we will be one, we will be a god."

Lynn (or what appeared to be Lynn) tightened her grasp on Lincoln's hand. Blood red tentacles slithered from under the red sleeve of her t-shirt, wrapped around Lincoln's hand, down his arm, and under the sleeve of his black leather jacket.

He closed his eyes, as the tentacles wrapped around his body. For a moment he smiled, the tentacles felt warm against his body.

He fell to the ground, as the Thing still held his hand, "Ssshhhh, Lincoln Loud, it will be all over soon." It said.

It tightened its grip around him. He felt that burning sensation his fallen siblings had felt, as the acid started to ooze from the tentacles. Smaller tentacles grew from the larger ones wrapped around his body, and dug into his skin, injecting digestive acid into his body.

Lincoln was not scared though, he felt a wave of peace wash over him, as the tentacles tightened their embrace.

He opened his eyes and looked to the sky. It had finally stopped snowing and the clouds had cleared away.

The night sky had never looked so beautiful. The fires in the town had started to die down, and none of the lights were on. He could see billions of stars in the sky. He could see the arm of the Milky Way streaked across the sky like a river of stars. He thought about how vast the universe was. He thought about this thing that was literally consuming him. This being, that was trillions of years old, older than he could even hope to comprehend. It had traveled distances he couldn't even imagine, across the endless void of space to find him and his sisters. If only things had turned out different, if mankind could have somehow found a way to coexist with the Thing, what it could have taught them. Unfortunately the Thing was not here to make friends.

He then thought about his own life, the life that was about to end. He thought about the love he felt for his family and for his friends, the love that his family and friends felt for him. He remembered all the crazy misadventure he had gotten into with his sisters. He thought about his best friend Clyde who was always there for him. He thought about Ronnie Anne, the girl he had started to fall for as the years went on. Had none of this happened would they have become more than friends?

He then thought again of the Thing. The Thing had never known these feelings, it had never known love, or friendship, or compassion. It has also never known hate, or vengeance, or depression, or war. It had no prejudices it would never single out anyone for any reason. It had never felt love, or hate for any living being in existence. All it has ever known was hunger, and all it ever wanted was to consume, it was a true neutral force. The Thing may be the perfect being. Perhaps the Thing was more deserving of the planet than man.

Lincoln's vision started to fade, it was becoming harder and harder to breath. He was going to die, and he was ready for it.

Just then a blast of blue flames nailed the Thing in the back, launching it toward the wall of the building they came out of. The force of the blast caused the Thing to loosen its grip on Lincoln. The Thing's tentacles were ripped away from Lincoln, and his black leather jacket was torn to pieces. The Thing was completely torched by the blue flames and had become ashes.

The cold hit Lincoln like a bus, his jacket had been torn off, and now he was only wearing his orange t-shirt (which was now full of rips and tears), blue jeans, and red and white sneakers. He immediately held his body tight and started to shiver.

The stream of blue fire died down, and he looked over to where the flames had come from.

Leni, had regained consciousness in time to see the Thing trying to consume Lincoln. Throughout the weekend, she had been beaten, attacked, terrified, and she had lost almost everyone she had ever cared about. The only thing she had left in this world was her little brother Lincoln, and the promise she made to her now dead Sister Lori, that she would protect Lincoln at all cost.

She was not about to let that thing take away her last bit of happiness. Even with her stomach ripped open and her guts spilling out, she managed to pick herself back up, fueled by both the love for her brother, and the hatred for that monster about to kill him. She found the plasma launcher on the ground. With every last ounce of strength she had, she picked up the gun aimed it at the Thing and fired. A burst of blue flames blasted the Thing away from Lincoln, and burned it to a crisp.

She continued to hold the trigger down until the gun completely ran out of fuel. Then she still held that trigger down, the only thing that came out of the gun now was smoke.

"Stay the FUCK AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!!!" she yelled with rage in her voice.

Her face too had a look of pure rage she had never show in her life.

After a few seconds the look of rage disappeared, and she calmed down. She let her arm go limp and dropped the gun in the snow. She stood up, and pain coursed through her body. She saw Lincoln shivering on the ground, he was cold, but he was alive. She breathed a sigh of relief.

She looked up at the starry night sky. She never thought she would ever see something so beautiful ever again. She struggled to walk over to her little brother, who was shivering in the cold. Every step was full of pain, but her brother needed her.

She knelt down beside Lincoln as he shivered. She picked him up and held him tightly in her arms.

"Linky?" she said with a warm and loving voice "are you alright?"

He buried his face into her warm body. Leni noticed that Lincoln was missing an arm.

"Oh my gosh" she said with a soft and sad voice, "Your arm. Oh don't worry Linky, it'll be ok." She started to run her hand through his white hair.

"I don't disserve to live" Said Lincoln.

"What?!?!" Leni was shocked at what her brother had just said "How could you say that?"

"This whole weekend" Lincoln started to explain, "I've done terrible things nonstop. I've threatened people, hurt people, left people to die, robbed people, and I even killed my own sister"

"Lynn?"

"Yeah, I killed Lynn, Leni!"

"Lincoln" Said Leni, "I miss Lynn too, but she was in so much pain before she died. She was going to die no matter what. The rest of us were debating dunking her in acid, which would have been excruciating for her. And if we didn't do that, that thing was going to eat her from the inside out, and that would have hurt her even worse. You eased her pain Lincoln"

"I... I... I wanted to make it as quick as I could. I didn't want her to die, but I couldn't just watch her suffer like that. Her last words to me were that she forgave me, and that she loves me."

"Well there you go Linky," Leni assured him, "now you just need to learn to forgive yourself"

"I don't know if I can"

"Linky, everything you've done this weekend was to protect the ones you love" Leni said, "And it's not just this weekend. Your whole life you've given up so much, and given so much of yourself just to help us"

Lincoln sniffled a bit, tears continued to roll down his face.

"Remember when you made that embarrassing video of us, and to make up for it you made an even more embarrassing video of yourself, or when the power went out and you volunteered to go into the basement first, or when you helped me learn to drive." Leni wiped a tear from Lincoln's face, "you're a hero Lincoln Loud, or at least you're my hero"

Lincoln remained silent.

"Do you really think the world would be better off without you?" Leni said, "Because it won't. Lincoln Loud, you've brought so much joy, and love to the world, without you, the Loud House, just wouldn't have been The Loud House"

"Well The Loud House is just rubble now" Said Lincoln, "It was smashed to pieces by what looked like the love child of Godzilla, King Kong, and Cthulu"

"Lincoln" Leni said, looking her little brother in the eyes, "You know, the thing about the loud house..." She thought for a moment, "the thing about the loud house is that the loud house isn't just the building we all live in. We are the loud house Lincoln. You, me, all our sisters who will live on through us, our parents our friends everyone we care about, that's what the loud house is Lincoln."

Lincoln looked at Leni and smiled. "The blizzard finally stopped." He said with a warm smile.

"It did, didn't it?" Leni smiled back.

Suddenly they felt a warm glow. They looked over the horizon to see that the sun was rising.

"Aw look the sun's coming up." Said Leni with a smile.

"That it is" Said Lincoln, "Wait a minute" his eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.

Leni looked at him, and gave him a sympathetic, yet somehow sad smile. She too knew what was about to happen, and she knew they couldn't do anything about it. "Wanna go watch the sunrise Linky?"

"Sure"

They both got up, and limped over to the edge of the roof. The sat down with their legs dangling over the edge.

At that moment they both thought of the lives they could have lived. They thought about how they could have grown old together. They pictured what their lives would be like if that thing hadn't come around. They pictured all of their siblings, parents and friends still alive, on a hot summer day at some point in the future. They would all be having a nice picnic in the park. They pictured an older Lincoln who had hooked up with Ronnie Anne, who was sitting next to him as they both smiled at each other. They Pictured Lori and Bobby married and with a few kids of their own. They thought of them all laughing at one of Luan's jokes, or jamming out to Luna's tunes. They figured Clyde would have found a girl of his own and stopped obsessing over Lori. Nonetheless he would have been accepted as an honorary Loud. They pictured Lilly a little older running around and playing with the twins. They thought of Lisa showing off another Nobel Prize. They thought of Leni having graduated from high school, and about to live a productive and happy life. They pictured Leni giving Lori a big warm hug. Then they thought of themselves Lincoln and Leni, strolling through the park talking about the happy lives they have been living. Oh what could have been.

They sat on the roof of the royal woods mall. The military jets had gone, the fires had died down, and the screaming had stopped. They couldn't see the Things forms roaming around, but they knew it was still there. The town was quiet as the gold, orange, and yellow light of the sun flooded the land. For a moment it looked beautiful.

"Leni" Said Lincoln as a tear fell down his face, "I don't wanna die"

"I know Linky" Said Leni, as she too started to cry, "I don't wanna die either"

Just then there was a blinding flash. The flash was gone in an instant, and they could see the mushroom cloud in the distance. Just as the shock wave raced toward them, Lincoln turned to look at Leni.

"Leni" he said, "I love you"

"I love you too Linky" Leni replied with a warm smile. Then they both held each other as tight as they could.

Lincoln and Leni Loud felt no pain at the moment of death. Their bodies were entirely vaporized before their brains could register it.

Yes Lincoln Loud, it's all over now.    

https://youtu.be/ahWmkV0mtvk