by Phil Maxey
“What shots? Over,” replied Zach.
They both left the house, closing the door quietly behind them. Moving quickly across gardens and sidewalks, Cal told Zach about the shots and that they couldn’t get Fiona on the radio.
CHAPTER TWO
Fiona lay on the ground, breathing heavily, behind a small wall. Looking down at her leg she could feel a patch on her calf becoming warm and wet. The Calgorian had knocked her clean off her bike, throwing her against a car, luckily for a few seconds it became more interested in the bike than her and that was all she needed to fire repeated shots into its side, dropping it instantly. Her radio skidded across the ice on the road and came to rest in front of a recycling bin.
Cal’s voice burst out of it like a beacon to any other creatures nearby. She swore under her breath and tried to stand when she caught sight of two more of the creatures about two hundred yards away down the road. They didn’t seem to be paying particular attention in her direction, but she needed to get that radio. Slowly she climbed to her feet. Her calf hurt, but it wasn’t stopping her from putting weight on that foot. As she crept forward across the frost-covered road she kept her gaze glued to the scene of the creatures in the distance. Are they looking my way? She hesitated trying to squint in the gloom to see if their forms were growing or shrinking in size, to try to get an indication which direction they were moving. One of the forms seemed to be getting bigger. Shit. Moving as quickly as she could she crossed the road and grabbed the radio, turning the volume down.
The creature was now one hundred yards away, it seemed to stop every few yards and look around. Fiona looked back at her bicycle, its front wheel was buckled. She then looked at the houses closest to her. The one to her left had large windows at the front but the one to her right had smaller windows and a large tree out front, which provided some cover. That was enough for her to lurch forward, and run down the alleyway to its left side.
Running around the back of the property she found an old wooden door, which opened when she tried it. Her surprise of finding the rear door unlocked lasted as long as it took her to move into the gloom of a small back room and face the long barrel of a shotgun that was pointed straight at her. There were no lights on in the room and her eyes were taking longer than she wanted to adjust.
“Hello? I’m Fiona, Sorry I didn’t know…”
The end of the barrel wobbled and the figure of an old man wearing a light checkered shirt began to reveal itself.
“You go on now, leave here.”
“There’s an E… there’s a monster outside.” Just as she finished the sentence the sound of snorting and a dull thud came through a side window, which looked onto the alley she just ran down. The old man hesitated, looking confused as to what to do next. “I’m not here to harm you or take anything, I just need to wait in here for the monster to move off, is that okay? What’s your name?”
“Joe. That rifle, take it off and put it on the ground. I’m the only one who’s going to be holding a gun in this house.”
Fiona reluctantly took her gun off her back and laid it on the threadbare rug in front of her. “Look, there’s one of those creatures just outside, can’t you hear it?” The sound of snorting grew louder and the recycling bin she was close too could be heard being pushed and slid across the dirt. Joe’s eyes flickered to his left at the sound coming from the window.
“You brought it here!” said Joe.
“I know I’m sorry, I can kill it, just let me…” Fiona started to reach for the assault rifle.
“No, we just gotta be quiet, it will go, they always do eventually,” said Joe waving his shotgun in a way that made Fiona feel he didn’t have complete control over it. It would just be her luck to be shot by some old coot she thought.
A heavy plodding noise, with snorting came from the alleyway just outside the window. There was only a light dirty looking curtain draped across it, and Fiona was sure that if the creature came closer it would definitely know they were inside. Joe beckoned Fiona to crouch down as he uneasily felt behind him for the arm of a worn looking chair. He sat heavily, the barrel of the shotgun waving around in Fiona’s direction making her duck even lower. She looked at her gun, just a few feet away.
“Don’t think I can’t shoot you before you reach that gun young lady.” Joe’s voice was too loud for the situation, Fiona thought he seemed to not be fully aware of what was investigating his alleyway just a few feet away. Suddenly a large fur lined skull appeared at the window, its snout pushing up against the glass making the frame creak. Fiona froze and looked at Joe who was still looking at her and not the creature. She tried indicating with her eyes towards the creature that could easily smash through the window, but Joe seemed to be staring through her, his mouth muttering something to himself. She suddenly realized the back door was still unlocked behind her. If the creature just ventured a further few feet into the alley it would know where its prey was.
Like it had heard a silent call, the creature’s head turned to the sky, and it turned and scampered out of the alleyway to the front yard of the house. Fiona let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in and looked back at Joe.
“Didn’t I tell ya, you leave them alone, they leave you alone,” said Joe. “I oughta shoot you right here…” His voice trailed off.
“Why didn’t you go to a camp?” said Fiona.
“Thirty-five years I’ve been in this house, and no one is making me leave, you be off now, and leave that fancy looking rifle where it is.”
Fiona hesitated. The M4 was not something you lost. “I need that gun, I need it to protect myself, and you already have a gun.” Joe raised the barrel so it was pointing directly at Fiona’s face.
“I reckon I just kill you and take it anyway.”
“You fire that old shotgun and that creature will be back here, you want to risk that?” The old man looked unsure. “Look, you need food? I got some in my backpack.”
“What you got?”
Fiona moved slowly towards the side of the room, trying not to step on cans and cartons that lay scattered across the floor, and had a quick look into the alley to see if the creature was still there, it wasn’t. She then pulled her backpack off her back, opened it and pulled out two cans of tuna. Placing them on the floor, she reached for her rifle and picked it up making sure to keep the barrel facing down. Joe’s expression did not change during the entire transaction. She then backed out, keeping her eyes fixed on the old man with the gun, until she was outside again.
She breathed in a lungful of the winter air, and walked down the alley, pausing at the end of it to make sure there were no more creatures nearby, there were none. She then ran forward, crouching down behind the recycling bin that was now lying on its side. Turning the volume up slowly on her radio she could immediately hear Michael’s agitated voice asking for her.
“I’m here. Over,” she said as quietly as she could.
CHAPTER THREE
Zach and Abbey had opted to explore the northern reaches of the town. They drove the truck along the overpass and out onto a wide road opposite a large dark brown building. Utility poles and street lamps lay strewn like matchsticks across the street, which caused Zach to zigzag.
“We need to start thinking about a place to hold up, that university building over there might be a good bet,” said Zach “Seems to be one of the taller buildings around here, and has good line of sight in most directions.”
“It’s a pretty big building, we don’t know what could be in there,” said Abbey.
“We will scout it out after we searched a few miles of these roads,” said Zach driving the truck slow along the road, and then stopping at a junction.
Across from them was a fire station with a few fire trucks still parked inside. “That station might be worth checking out as well, might be useful equipment in there,” Zach turned into the fire station road and drove on for a few hundred yards before noticing a storage facility “And another place we need to look at, l
ooks like most of the storage doors are still locked, could be all…” Zach was interrupted by Cal on the radio asking about gunshots and that he couldn’t reach Fiona.
“Should we turn back?” said Abbey.
“Not yet, suns going down, we need to search some more then we will see if they found her or not.” After a few minutes the road around them had started to widen out. Zach stopped, turned the truck around and headed back to the University building. He drove the truck over the curb of the parking lot avoiding a few vehicles and then up close to the building’s side entrance, which also had a fire escape winding down the side.
“This is a large complex,” said Abbey looking at the expanse of other buildings of varying sizes a few hundred yards from them.
The sun hung low on the horizon. The buildings and trees cast long black shadows, one of which enveloped the truck. Zach and Abbey both looked up at the four-story building for any signs of movement.
The radio suddenly came to life and Fiona’s voice streamed out informing them she was safe, and Cal and Michael were picking her up. Zach told them to head north on Main Street and they should spot the university building where they are parked. He did the same for Jacob who also hadn’t seen anyone when searching to the south.
Zach turned the engine and lights off, which suddenly made both of them aware just how dark it was now getting around them. The intense black beyond the windows of the building close by didn’t help.
“You got all the supplies we need in your pack?” said Zach.
“Yes, fair bit of food in mine.”
“Good, we will get inside quickly, but then we need to go slow, and stay close together, it’s probably like a maze in there in the dark.”
They both got out of the truck, Abbey touching her chest pocket to make sure Rays’ notebook was still there and ran for the nearby door. The door opened with a creaking sound and a musky smell escaped out into the winter evening. Their flashlight’s scanned the walls of a small corridor, the light bouncing off the smooth glossy floor. The confined space kept any of the remaining light out and both of them felt uneasy about moving forward.
“Keep your gun raised,” said Zach walking forward slowly, his words taking form in the cold air around them. The corridor turned a corner and opened up into a larger room with faded patterned carpeting and leather sofa’s. A sideboard had fallen onto the floor scattering a vase, which contained flowers that had become dry black crumbs, but apart from that the room looked like it had not been effected by the outside world. They both stood in the darkness waiting for something to appear but nothing did.
“Let’s head up the stairs to one of the dorm floors, see if we can find a few rooms to sleep in,” said Zach, but then stopped. The sound of a vehicle pulling up outside resonated around the room they were standing in. “Wait here, I need to see who it is. Keep your eyes fixed on that direction, it’s where the stairs are.” Zach then turned and walked back to the side entrance, peering as best he could through the glass of the door. Cal, Zach and Michael were standing outside of the pickup.
“In here.” Zach said opening the door. He noticed Fiona was limping. “What happened?”
“Had a run in with some cat like thing, I took it down but hurt my leg doing so, it’s fine.”
They all filed into the small corridor and Zach led them into the communal room. Abbey was reading a magazine on Pacific islands, her flashlight perched on the sofa’s arm pointing towards the stairs entrance.
“Jacob said he’s about twenty minutes out,” said Cal.
“We need to check out the rooms upstairs, Cal you okay staying down here to show Jacob and Jacks the way in?” said Zach, Cal nodded. Zach led them up a narrow staircase, past the exits to floors one and two, until they got to the third floor. He pointed his flashlight’s beam through the small glass window and looked down the hallway of the dorm. Some clothes lay scattered on the floor, but there was no sign of humans or creatures. He opened the door and they all walked slowly into the hallway made up of eight doors, four on each side, and a window at the far end with connected with another fire escape. The first door on their left was open, the others were closed.
“Anyone in here?” said Zach into the hallway, the milky white walls lit by the beams of the groups flashlights. “Fiona, Abbey, you check out the right side, we’ll take the left.” Zach peered around the edge of the first door numbered seventeen, into a small room with two unmade beds. A desk with an overturned lamp was on the far wall under a small window and solid looking books lay on the floor. Michael tried the next door, which was locked. Fiona and Abbey had better luck on their side, and opened all but one of the doors. Michael and Zach faced their locked door, then both kicked forward near the handle causing it to fly open. This room was typical of the others apart from walls adjourned with some astronomy posters. A noise came from the staircase behind them. Cal, Jacob and Jacks emerged from behind their flashlight’s beams.
“Any sign of human life out there?” said Zach to Jacob. Jacks spoke first.
“None that we could see, but Jacob here drives a bit slow so we didn’t cover as much ground as we should of.” Jacob remained emotionless and then spoke.
“Nope, we did see some of the E.L.F’s that Fiona ran into, looked liked the kind of thing I would see in those fancy New York museums as a kid.”
“Fiona took care of one of them, but she saw another two, there’s probably a lair around here somewhere, but first we need to find out if the intel that Ops gave us about survivors is true,” said Zach.
“If we hadn’t gone on that little sightseeing tour of yours, we would have had more time to find them,” said Jacks. An awkward silence started to grow in the flashlight lit hallway.
“My whole life I dreamed about being in a girls dorm, and now I’m here the worlds ended,” said Michael. Fiona and Cal started laughing.
“Yeah that’s tough luck,” said Zach smiling and patting Michael on the back. “Let’s get that other door open, then we all need to choose a room to bed down in for the night.”
“Might be a good idea to barricade the stairs door,” said Cal.
“Good idea.”
“I’m going to do a perimeter check,” said Jacks.
“Cal will go with you.”
“Nah, I’m good, prefer to work alone. If I’m not back in thirty send a search party,” said Jacks smiling, who then walked to the end of the corridor and left by the fire exit.
After a short time, they had kicked in the remaining locked door, and piled up a sofa against the stairs entrance. The darkness outside made it feel later than it was, and after agreeing to be up at 6 am and going over a rough plan for the next day, they each retired to dorm room to sleep in. Zach and Abbey picked room seventeen with the two beds.
“We really in separate beds?” said Abbey closing the door and then sitting heavily on the left bed.
Zach smiled. “Not unless you want too.” He walked over to the window and picked up the lamp, then took a candle from his backpack, lit it and placed it on the desk. Looking out through the glass, there was just enough light left to make out the city’s buildings. Small specks of rain started to hit the window. “I wonder if it’s going to affect the weather.”
“The death of animal life?”
“Yes, but also what affected all of them.” Zach stared off into the uniformity of the night sky.
Abbey sighed. “I don’t think anyone knows anything at this point, not even those back at the camp. Everyone’s making it up as they go along,” she looked straight ahead and briefly touched her chest pocket. “What do you think of Jacob?”
“What do you mean?” said Zach, Abbey’s question bringing him back from the far off place his mind was.
“Do you trust him?” Abbey was now looking straight at Zach.
“Yeah of course, why wouldn’t I?”
“No particular reason, just wondered if you had seen him do anything strange?”
“Where’s all this coming from?” Zac
h turned and sat on a small chair close to the window, the candle lighting his expression of confusion.
“Just something Ray said to me a few days back. He thought he’d recognized him.”
“He probably just thought he had. He had been confined in that cell for longer than any of us.”
Abbey smiled. “Yeah.”
“My concern is more with Jacks.”
“He’s not one of us,” said Abbey.
“It’s more than that, anyway hopefully he will come in useful in the days ahead.”
“So any idea where these survivors might be hold up?”
“Brownstone covers a wide area, they are probably staying away from the main streets. Tomorrow we’ll check out the fire station and the storage units, grab what we can then split up again.” As Zach finished speaking he picked up his radio and gave Ops their final status for the night.
Lying in the bed next to Abbey, he felt an emotion that felt alien to him, happiness. At least he thought that’s what the emotion was, because it was something he had not felt since June fourteen 2004. He jumped a little as flashes of that day played out in his mind, and Abbey stirred in her sleep next to him. For the first two years of his incarceration he had no memory of the day when he had returned home and found a scene of carnage. Then slowly like a damn breaking during the years following, memories started coming back to him, even if he didn’t want them. The first thing that came back, was him pulling up in the Humvee after a day on patrol. He had agreed with Jaclyn that he would bring home dinner for the family and was holding the bag of Chinese food when he strode up the pathway oblivious to what was lying in black plastic sacks just a few feet from him. When he entered his home, the smell hit him before the visuals and the visuals even to this day are hazy. He remembered checking his wife’s and child’s pulse even though it was obvious there was no need too and then nothing until his military police colleagues were putting the cuffs on him.
