[ WP ] Humanity is no longer Earth 's Apex Predator .

Carol went to work anyway. What else was she going to do? 
 
 She put her travel mug in the cupholder, tossed bag in the passenger seat and started her little Honda Civic. Resident parking was on the bottom level of the parking garage beneath her building. She drove up and up, past the empty parking spaces. She stopped, as she did every day, waiting for the gate to go up and let her out. 
 
 Duh, she thought, rolling her eyes at herself. She got out of the car, stepped into the parking attendant's empty booth and hit the button to open the gate. 
 
 It would take some getting used to. She pulled out of the garage, stopping and looking both ways for traffic she knew would n't be there. 
 
 Cruising through downtown, she kept finding herself stopping at red lights. Just in case, right? 
 
 With her luck she'd be one of the last people in the city and end up getting t-boned by some other asshole running all the red lights. 
 
 She turned on the radio to drown out the quiet. That was the worst part. Back before it all started, or well, before anyone knew what the fuck was going on, she'd moved downtown to be surrounded by city noise. She loved it. Silence set her teeth on edge, made her nervous. Now, just like everywhere else it was dead quiet, empty. 
 
 The radio host started chattering about the weather. She smiled to herself. It was amazing how nobody talked about it. People disappearing, dragged out of their beds at night, never to be seen again. Not a peep from the news. Then again, what would they say? 
 
 The only place anyone talked about it was online, and not on Facebook or Twitter. Well it was there if you really looked, lots of messages like `` stay safe honey,'' and photos of empty city streets. The real speculation, the pointed discussion happened in person or in private messages. Even conspiracy theorists in the seediest corners of the internet had gone dark. Even they were afraid. Because this thing, whatever it was, it did n't have a face, did n't have a name. Nobody knew what the fuck was happening. 
 
 Probably the illuminati though, right? Maybe the Rapture? Even the religious nutjobs did n't like that one. Jesus was supposed to lift true believers into Heaven, not rip them out of the beds at night, kicking and screaming. 
 
 Still, she thought, pulling into her parking spot, it was surprising nobody got a picture of one. Whatever they were. Well, not yet. 
 
 She grabbed her bag and coffee and headed toward a nondescript black building. She clipped her ID badge to her chest and walked right through security, waving at the one security guard who even bothered to show up. Back in the day there were armed guards, but these days nobody really gave a fuck about national security. 
 
 `` Morning,'' she said. 
 
 Up to the fourteenth floor, and past rows and rows of empty cubicles, only a handful of heads popping up as she passed. Tired, red-rimmed eyes followed her into her office. Of course her analysts came in every day, it was their job to be curious, even before people started disappearing. Hours and hours poring over radio chatter and satellite photos of some sandy campsites in Bumfuck-istan had little relevance in today's world though. Instead, they had a new job. 
 
 Something was up. She set her bag down and turned to head back out into the cube farm. Her assistant Marty was weaving through the cubicles, clutching a red manila folder to his chest. He'd been up all night, she could tell from his stubble and greasy hair. 
 
 `` We need to talk,'' he whispered. 
 
 Carol shut the door behind him, pulled the blinds, shutting out the whole office. 
 
 `` Is that what I think it is?'' she asked, holding out a hand for the folder. 
 
 Marty nodded, `` Maybe?'' he handed her the folder and looked away. 
 
 She opened it, inside was a single photograph, blurry, gray, 
 
 `` What am I looking at?'' she asked 
 
 `` Right there,'' he said, pointing to the bottom corner of the photo. 
 
 `` Holy shit,'' Carol said. 
 
 They finally caught one on camera. A screencap from an infrared security cam somewhere in Argentina. Six gleaming eyes and a vague silhouette.
