Give me a moment to explain.

My name is Clay Thompson. I live with my sister and brother-in-law in a large house that sits outside of Snyder, Texas. I've been doing remote work ever since the pandemic hit, and have grown accustom to spending most of my time alone. Ever since I went through a bad break-up, I've preferred things this way. For the last few years everything has remained the same for me. I get up, shower, work, and play video games until I fall asleep.

At least, until a few days ago.

"Clay?" My sister called my name as I left my bedroom, right after my shift had ended. "Yeah, what's up?" I recall looking at her with a bit of grogginess, tired from dealing with irate customers all day. "The kids are up here, and I've been hearing some strange noises downstairs. Mind checking it out?" She asked with a bit of concern, and I rolled my eyes.

As we'd gotten older, Beck's anxiety had only gotten worse. I'd often hear her husbands footsteps in the middle of the night, stomping down the stairs, to investigate the current nights mystery. It was often the wind forcing a few of the bushes outside to rub against the house. Sometimes, it was a racoon or a stray in the trash. Other times, it was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"C'mon, Rose." I called out to their half-pit half-something-another. After reaching down to give the mutt a few pats on the head, I began to walk downstairs. I remember wishing her husband, Sam, was home. I've always hated minor inconveniences, and her little fits always ate away at my free time whenever he was working late.

Once I'd done a sweep of the house I reached down to rub one of the dogs ears. "Yeah, this seems about right-" Yet as I began my usual complaining, she began to snarl. She turned her head towards the kitchen began creeping closer. "Aha. Yeah. Go get 'em." Like her owner, she was a bit jumpy. Often did she bark at nothingness, stray animals, and the occasional delivery person. So, I often sent her to bark at the windows for a few moments if only to give myself a bit of entertainment.

Nothing seemed off to me until she went into the kitchen and approached the window. She stood their with the hair on the back of her neck raised, and barked with a bit of unusual ferocity. Grinding my teeth, I reached for the nearest kitchen knife and moved towards the window. It was about this time that I regret getting used to my sisters paranoia, as I saw something moving outside.

I'd left my guns upstairs, as, almost always, she and her dog were afraid of little nothings.

This wasn't a little nothing.

When I peeked out the window I saw something strange. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but as I got a closer look, I knew this wasn't a trick of the mind. There were five of them. Five grey humanoid creatures were walking around, adjacent to the tree line that was an acre away from the house. "What the fuck?" I mumbled to myself, staring at them with a wide-eyed expression. They were humanoid in shape, not quite like the little grey or green aliens shown in most media. If it weren't for a bit of prolonged observation, it could been assumed that they were adorning grey jumpsuits.

Before I could back away one of them turned their heads and noticed me. Despite being human shaped and far away, I could see that their eyes were black. I felt my heart jump in my chest as it began to walk away from the trees and towards the house. When my mouth opened to cry out my sisters name, her husband began to pull up through the driveway.

As soon as his headlights were in view, the grey things began to scurry back into the woods. The one I locked eyes with stared at me until it crept away out of view. When Sam got inside I explained the situation to him, and he didn't seem to believe me. He shrugged and went, "You have guns, and know where the keys to my gun cabinet are," before heading upstairs to rest. It was frustrating, but after years of hunting her fabrications every night, I couldn't blame him.

Once the dog settled down I went upstairs and back to my room. I loaded up my guns, my Black Ares semi-automatic 12-gauge, and my Glock-19. I'm unsure of whether or not a gun can handle these things, but I was too shaken to care. Once they were loaded and spare ammo was set across my desk, I laid down and tried to sleep. After a few hours of laying in bed with my heart racing and my eyes wide open, I began to hear a knocking outside.

A beeline was made for my guns. I put on my holster and slid in my glock, grabbed my shotgun, and moved towards my door. Now, let me make a few things clear. I don't have any military or police training. While I used to frequent shooting ranges, and hunted when I was younger, it's been several years since I felt the need to grab one of these things. I'm no soldier, or any kind of badass for that matter. Hell, at this point it's rare that I even go outside these days. But, I'll be damned if I sit around and wait to be eaten or abducted or whatever these things want to do to us.

Once I heard Sam's door open I opened mine and gave him a nod. He looked at me funny, but he had the dogs leash and a flashlight in one hand, and a Berreta M9 in the other. Despite how often he went on these little hunts for his wife, it relieved me to see that he didn't go on his nightly patrols unarmed. Especially after what I'd witnessed earlier.

In silence we went downstairs, did a sweep of the house, and began to move outside. He raised his flashlight and swept the light across the front porch. Once it was cleared, he shined it on the front yard. Nothing. Dirt, rocks, and grass being blown by the wind. An annoyed sigh escaped him, but just before he started to head back inside, Rose began to growl. She snarled and bared her teeth, the hair on the back of her neck rose, and she looked towards the right side of the house. Sam looked at me, and I whispered low, "She did this earlier, right before I saw those grey things."

He grunted before speaking, "Now isn't the time for this shit. I deal with her nonsense, but I'm not about to deal with-" Before he could finish the dog snatched the leash out of his hand. She bolted towards the right side of the house and we took off after her. Before either of us could catch up we heard a loud bark, some hissing, and something hitting the ground. When we turned the corner with guns raised, we saw Rose atop something inhuman.

Her fangs were embedded into it's throat, and it was squirming and hissing beneath her. She continued to snarl and gnaw at it's flesh as it struggled to get her off of it. With a rough shove it managed to free itself from her and began to take off, running towards the woods. Rose started to chase after it, but she paused and remained frozen a few steps away from us. My hands were shaking as I raised my shotgun and placed my index around the trigger. Before I could shoot, a loud deafening boom echoed, and lead was fired directly into the creatures back. Several gunshots followed, and the creature bucked each time it was shot. But, this didn't slow it down any. Despite Sam emptying an entire clip, It continued to scamper away.

"What the fuck was that?" He asked, while my eyes didn't dare move away from the direction of the creature. Right before it entered the woods, I could've sworn it turned and looked at me again. Looked me in the eyes with those cold, black things that could've been mistaken for our very own windows to the soul. Far too shaken to respond, I lowered my gun and stared off, dumbfounded. I don't know how to explain it, but this time when it looked at me, I felt stupefied. It didn't take long for Sam to grab Rose's leash, and it wasn't until he gripped my shoulder that I felt as if I could think almost clearly again.

"I'm going to take her outside and clean her off. I'll stop by the police station tomorrow to report this, doubt they'll take this seriously, though." All I could muster was a nod before I headed back inside. Once I recovered just enough to process the events, I began to research various forums and websites. From anything to SCP's, to extraterrestrials. So far, I haven't found anything that describes the creatures lurking around within our woods.

It's been a few days since then. I haven't talked to my sister about it yet. She isn't in the best of health and was a bit jumpy even before these things started creeping around the house. The last thing I need is her bugging me while I'm clocked in, or having a panic attack each time the house creaks. I doubt Sam has said anything to her with how she is, but now whenever my sister thinks something is off, he knocks on my door and makes sure I investigate with him. While we haven't come across anything again, I know they're still there.

I've been peeking out the windows during my work breaks and in-between gaming sessions. Sometimes I'll see them right before the sun begins to set. So far, they haven't seemed to notice me again.

And now, I only see four of them creeping about.

Do any of you have any idea for what these things might be?

I'll keep you updated on their activity if anything occurs before I have answers.