2

Restlessness was beginning to get the best of Manon as she sat next to Jaques while he slept. There was a maintenance door that led to the roof on the other side of the room. Manon eyed it in thought of trying her radio outside tonight. She looked to the sleeping child then back to the door, he was so tired, surely he wouldn't wake up if she was only gone for ten minutes. Quietly she pulled on her coat and put up her hood, exiting the warmth and peacefulness of the grocery.

Wind howled through the night, whistling through alleyways and between buildings in the dark, Manon hated the night because of that lonely and terrifying sound. She clicked the switch of the radio that was clipped to her pocket and began twisting the dial. The antenna on this particular radio was long, stretching past her shoulder and wobbled considerably in the wind. She walked the rooftop slowly, hoping for any sign of life to call out to her and beckon her and the child now in her care to safety.

Only static.

Dead air.

Sighing, she began to walk the perimeter once more, maybe the wind had interfered with the antenna, it was all she could hope. As Manon approached the north side of the roof she heard low rumbles, and the sound of scratching on glass. Dropping to her behind and pressing her back against the wall, Manon shut the radio off, clasping a hand over her mouth desperately, t. She waited for her heartbeat to slow down and slowly peeked over the edge of the roof.

Across the street and up a few blocks Manon saw it. Long, thin arms, torso and legs, it's body looked like an ashy gray. The creatures had no eyes, or none that were visible, only a mouth and small slits on the sides of its head that must have been ears. Manon had no idea what it really was, but remembered how her father and the man they had traveled with spoke of the creatures with fear. There wasn't a formal name for them, but her father had called them "Jumpers". There were all sorts of nasty things that roamed the street, and Jumpers were among some of the nastiest. Much to Manon's luck and mostly her father's survival tactics, they hadn't had to tangle with any particularly awful beasts. Manon felt panicked, her mouth was dry and her hands shook. She had to get back in the store without drawing the Jumper's attention or it would surely kill her.

Manon ducked down again and as quietly as she could crawled back to the door. She had left it jammed open with a stray brick, and it felt like it was going to take an eternity to pull the stop to get back in. Hot tears welled in her eyes and then become cool in the night. She had been told the Jumpers had excellent hearing, and the door was not quiet. She lifted the brick and moved it out of the way, and opened the door as fast as she could, slipping in and pressing her hands to the weight of the metal, letting it drift closed. When the door fell into place it did so with a loud THUD that made her gasp and stiffen. She slid the bolt and pushed down the metal bar that added weight to the door and took a few steps back. It was quiet for a moment before a crunch and scratching of gravel.

It had heard the door close.

Manon covered her mouth with her hand again as if she hoped to stifle the sound of her breathing, not daring to make a move, and desperate to avoid make any sound before she heard the Jumper pawing at the metal. A few slams of whatever kind of hand or hoof it possessed against the door that made Manon want to cry. More sounds of gravel moving and the sound of a heavy metal sounding rattle- Thing had jumped off of the grocery and onto the roof of a car. Manon was not bold enough to race back to Jaques. Instead she tip toed all the way down the stairs and crept low and quiet back to the desk where she crawled under and stared out from beneath and into the darkness until finally falling into an uncomfortable sleep wracked with nightmares.