The Reaper

by S E Lunsford

  “What about the other?”

  “Don't know.”

  “Well, that is interesting,” John looked us over again. “Well, we’ll make you comfortable and full for as long as we can,” his voice trailed off.

  “I know,” Chris replied.

  Not much later, I was making my way down one of the hallways three levels below that of the cafeteria. I trailed my hand along the cold concrete wall carefully counting doors to let me know which one opened to the medical wing. I’d run into Robert as we finished eating, and he had told me where they had taken Cassie giving me very explicit instructions as to how to get here, and to not under any circumstances open any other door in the hallway. From the muffled sounds that came from behind some of them, I wasn’t sure I wanted to. My mind ran away with the thoughts of this group trying to find a cure for the virus and having to use live test subjects to do so.

  Stopping in front of the correct doorway, I paused next to it listening. No sounds came from inside. Carefully, I opened the door, pushing it inwards and stepping into a surprisingly well lit room. A woman dressed in fatigues sat on a folding chair looking at a manual in her lap.

  “Can I help you?” She asked as she looked up at me trying not to wrinkle her nose.

  As I stood there, I realized I was still in the blood, dirt and just plain grossness covered clothes that I’d had on for days. Add to that my hair was filled with creeper goo that had dried, I knew that I not only looked like a character in a slasher movie, but my stench could raise the dead too. I could actually smell myself. In my haste to come down and see Cassie I had totally forgot that I might encounter other, well, clean people.

  “Uh,” I murmured.

  Putting down her manual, the woman chuckled.

  “You know you can’t see her like that right?”

  Looking at the woman, I wondered how seeing her looking like I did was any different than hauling her from rooftop to rooftop not to mention the close quarters of the attic. All of them were far from sterile.

  “I’m not leaving until I see her,” I replied.

  “John thought you might come down here, so,” she got up from her chair and went to a chest of drawers. Opening it up she pulled out a pile of clean clothes and handed them to me. “There’s a shower over there. You can take your time, she’s not quite awake yet.”

  There was a small bathroom behind the door she pointed towards.

  “She’ll wake up?”

  “Yes,” she said, laughing. “It’s not anything we haven't seen before.”

  “That’s what I keep hearing,” I muttered as I headed for the bathroom.

  Just a short time later, I was trying to make sure my hair didn’t drip on the camo pants and t-shirt she had given me as I stepped out of the bathroom. Taking a deep breath in, I relished the scent of the coconut shampoo that still clung to my hair. I had done the best I could finger combing it, but with my pack gone, I didn't have anything to tie it back.

  “Better?” The woman looked up at me as I came out.

  “Better,” I breathed, deciding I’d better just braid my hair. I made quick work of it letting the thick rope of brown hang down my back. Water that came off of it made a small puddle at the back of my heels.

  “Here,” she said smiling and handing me a small facecloth. “You can use this to dry the excess.”

  Taking it from her, I quickly mopped up the extra water before folding it carefully and putting it on the chest of drawers.

  “Is she through there?” I nodded my head towards an interior door.

  “Yes, go ahead,” she said going back to her manual.

  Carefully opening the door, I stepped through finding myself in a long room with beds lined up on either side. They were all empty except the one nearest the door where Cassie lay, her blond hair shimmering in the grayness of the room. I took a deep breath of clean air relieved to find there was no more smell of sickness coming from her. All I could smell was antiseptic and bleach, lightly making wonder how they got those things.

  Gingerly, I walked towards the bed. Settling down next to her, I reached out to gently touch her arm. Her eyes fluttered open, as mine filled making the sight of her blurry. She smiled then took in the room, the beds and me.

  “You’re clean,” she whispered.

  “You’re awake,” I said back, wiping at the corners of my eyes as if I had something in them.

  “Oh wow,” she shuddered as she tried to move.

  “I’ll get someone, maybe they can give you something for the pain,” I stood up quickly my feet already moving towards the door.

  “No,” she reached out for me. “Tell me what happened, all I remember is that, that bird thing coming down and,” she grimaced as the memory resurfaced.

  “Yeah,” I sat down again. “That thing, that bioengineered thing, did a number on you.”

  She nodded. “Where are we?”

  I looked at the cement ceiling. “In some sort of bunker complex,” I exhaled before I went on, not quite sure how to tell her how our numbers had grown in just a couple of days.

  “Tell me,” she rested her hand on mine. My eyes swept the room again, this time more pointedly looking for telltale signs of recording devices. Cassie's eyes followed mine. “There's nothing here,” she whispered.

  “That’s what I thought,” I whispered back, trusting Cassie’s assessment of the situation.

  “Long or short?” I laughed.

  “Short,” she said. “I don’t think I could deal with the long version right now, but when I can, you have to tell me everything. Every little detail, got it Dani?”

  Nodding, I smiled down at her before giving her the abbreviated version of what happened. Her blue eyes were thoughtful when I’d finished.

  “Did you tell him, them?” she corrected herself.

  “Tell him what?”

  “About Sanctuary,” she whispered. We both glanced towards the door as the word evaporated in the space between us.

  Sanctuary. Whispers about a place free of creepers, bioengineereds and whatever else the creators could throw at us had become more frequent as we traveled. The first time we’d seen any mention of it was when we had walked through Palm Springs relishing in the fact that it wasn’t quite as hot as Arizona, not to mention the fact that we had finally gotten out of the Grand Canyon State. The word had been scrawled in blue with a white outline on more than one building as we carefully walked through the streets, trying not to catch the attention of nearby creepers, or humans, because there was evidence of both in the area.

  “Look,” Cassie had barely breathed the word as she caught sight of a more artistic version of the word on the side of a commercial building. We’d stood there in awe of the fact that someone could have taken so much time to make the word with its two colors and artistic slant without being caught by the creepers. Not only had the paint looked like it had barely dried by the time we happened upon it, but the acrid sweet smell of the paint still hung in the air. Mixed in with it was the very faint smell of a guy and a girl, that told me they had been there within a day or two of our finding the word.

  During our subsequent travels, we had come across the word again and again, with some of the artwork seeming very old like it had been there from the time before, while others were brand new just like the first one we’d seen. Every once in a while we came across other humans who had seen the word too. One couple had told us from afar that they heard it was up in the northwest near the Canadian border, or even over it.

  Cassie and I had agreed that if finding my aunt didn’t pan out, and obviously it hadn't, that we’d work our way towards Sanctuary.

  I shook my head. She nodded in agreement looking me over.

  “But, you think we should?” It was a statement more than a question.

  “The young ones yes,” I replied slowly. “But, I’m still not sure about Chris.”

  “You’ll figure it out.” She shifted uncomfortably.

  “I’ll go see if they have an
ything for the pain,” I got up carefully making sure not to jostle her, but she caught my hand before I could go very far.

  “Dani,” she whispered making me lean down to hear her. “Trust your instincts, they’ve kept us alive so far.”

  Nodding down at her, I smiled before pushing a damp curl off of her forehead. “You need to get some rest.”

  Nodding, she smiled back at me before her eyes fluttered closed. Chewing my lip, I watched her for a while as her breathing leveled out making sure she was fast asleep before I made my way out of the room.

  I made my way back up the stairs taking them two at a time. Passing the floor where the sleeping quarters were, I figured out my way to the door that led out into the main level of the parking garage. Stepping out into the concrete walled space, I immediately gagged on the rancid smoke that sat heavily there. Quickly pulling up my t-shirt, I covered my mouth and my nose holding it up with both my hands, so my stomach wouldn’t revolt in protest at the smell. I made my way over to a knot of men standing at the ramp.

  Coming to a standstill next to them, I looked out at the plumes of black smoke that rose up from what looked like endless piles of creepers.

  “The only thing that stinks worse than a live creeper is a dead one,” I murmured.

  “You got that right,” Robert turned to look at me. “You decided to play nice?”

  I shrugged, looking at each of the men that stood there. Even though it looked like the creepers were taken care of, none of them were relaxed. Their shoulder muscles were bunched up tight, and they held their guns at the ready, just in case. John came walking down the ramp, his eyes ranging over his men before he stopped with a small shake of his head.

  “You did a good job today,” he said, his eyes resting on each of the them individually before they rested on me. His mouth quirked up into a half smile.

  “Dani,” he said walking over to me and stopping so he could study my face, or what he could see of it, for a moment before he turned to look out at the rising smoke.

  “Thanks Bossman,” Robert looked over me to John who nodded. “You know one day they just might get pissed off enough to take you down,” he continued.

  “They don’t have the authority,” John replied with the quiet assurance of someone who knew the rules of this new world we found ourselves in.

  I looked from one to the other, wondering what in the world they were talking about.

  “Tell them that,” came another voice from a man on the other side of Robert. “They’re getting closer and closer.”

  John shrugged and crossed his arms. “Doesn’t matter,” he said finality in his voice. “They know they can’t touch me until it’s time, they’re still answerable, just like the rest of us.”

  “They don’t believe that,” Robert replied. “I’ve heard they think they’re on their own.”

  “Doesn’t matter what they think,” Chris’ voice came from behind us.

  The weight of his words settled on the rest of the men. Turning to look at him, I saw that he and John exchanged a glance before looking out onto the smoldering piles of bodies with legs and arms sticking out at odd angles.

  “Let’s go,” John motioned to me and Chris as he walked deeper into the parking garage. Glancing over at Chris, I waited to see if he would follow before I did. With a narrowed glance at the piles, he followed his cousin. Stopping close to the door, John looked at both of us before glancing to the ramp again as if to ensure we couldn't be overheard.

  “Well cousin,” he said grimly, his voice dropping to just above a whisper. “The longer it goes, the bolder they’re getting.”

  “I’ve noticed,” Chris replied. “But, there’s nothing to be done for it, we have to keep moving. There are others out there that need to be found.”

  “What about you?” John turned to me. “What do you intend to do?”

  Without even thinking my mouth opened. “We’ll leave with Chris and go as far as we can with him, then move on.”

  Chris’ eyes narrowed slightly as a hint of what looked like concern passed over his features before the expression on his face smoothed out.

  “I guess you’re just not that interesting to travel with cousin,” John said, slapping Chris on the shoulder and laughing. Chris hesitated for a moment before joining in.

  “I guess not,” he replied with a shrug.

  “Cassandra has to heal first,” John said, suddenly becoming serious, his eyes narrowing as he looked at me.

  “Of course,” I replied meeting his look with one of my own.

  “It won't be long,” he said. “The sooner you’re on your way, the better. I can tell you what areas to avoid near here, but not much further out than that because I hear that there are coalitions forming.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard that too. Have you heard what kind?” Chris asked.

  “What other kind but those of abominations,” John said.

  Chris nodded as if he understood exactly what his cousin was talking about before he turned and headed towards the door that took us all inside. Making our way down the stairs, I looked at the back of their heads wondering what kind of coalitions were abominations. Cassie and I had managed to steer clear of a handful of groups that were forming, but none of them seemed like they would bear the title abomination. My thoughts began to tangle in on themselves as I wondered what kind of relationships those would be.

  Later, Chris and I sat alone in the room that all of us had been assigned to. Silence rested heavily in the room, as I sat on my cot and Chris read from a book he took out of his pack. I’d been surprised to see that my own pack was underneath a cot when I walked in. Not only that, but there were clean sleeping bags and pillows for each of us on the six cots that lined the walls.

  Glancing over at him, I felt my stomach contract with the amount of questions I had for him, but hadn’t decided if I wanted to ask. He glanced over at me as if he sensed my indecision before looking back down and turning the page. The silence stretched even further between us even as the softness of the blanket shifted against me as I restlessly shifted my legs and arms.

  “You have something you want to talk about?” Chris asked without taking his eyes off his book. “If we were on the outside, the creepers would be on us for sure, you’re so loud.”

  “What did John mean by abominations?”

  “That’s the question?” He looked over at me. “Of all the questions you have brewing in your mind, you ask that one?”

  “First, you don’t know how many questions I have in my mind,” I huffed at him. “And, second,”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he waved his hand at me dismissing my second thought. Setting his book aside, he sat up straighter.

  “Look,” he continued. “I’m here. You’re here. Ask me anything you want, and I’ll answer it.”

  Taking a deep breath, I sorted through other questions that seemed to coalesce out of nowhere in my mind, before going back to my original question.

  “When Cassie and I came out, when we walked out West, all we saw were creepers, a few humans and some bioengineereds, those all seemed nasty enough. What does John mean by alliances of abominations?”

  “I haven't come across them myself,” he said, running a hand through his dark hair. “But, I’ve heard of them. There are a lot more, should we say, made beings out there now. They’re forming alliances with some humans and some not so humans, as well as the angels themselves, which makes for some pretty dicey situations if you happen to be traveling near them. When you and Cassie came out, the creepers and some bioengineereds were the worst things out there. The angels started to get really busy recently, then there came more abominations. We saw them in that house, remember?”

  I nodded, a shiver running down my spine at the thought of their sharp teeth and ultra-fast movements.

  “That was just a taste of what's out there now.”

  “Why are they doing it?” I whispered. “Why are they making those things? I mean, everyone thought that they were going
to usher in some sort of Utopia or something, then, then it just went really bad.”

  Staring at me, he held my eyes with his own before taking a deep breath and coming over to settle himself next to me. I scooted over to give him a little bit of room, taking a deep breath of his unique scent at the same time. Carefully, he took hold of my hand. For the first time, I saw his hands were lined with callous’ making me wonder what he did before all this happened. His scent and nearness caused the sudden appearance of butterflies in my stomach that began to compete with the feeling of nausea that had taken up residence there at the thought of more of those creatures. I took another deep breath letting the scent of him wash over me, which instantly settled me.

  “Maybe it’s because this is their idea of Utopia,” he said flatly.

  “But,” I searched around my mind for what I wanted to say. “But, what about the humans? The people?”

  “Dani,” he said, his tone becoming even more serious. “They hate humans.”

  Grasping his hand, I absorbed that information. Looking down, I was surprised to see that I was gripping his hand so hard, that my knuckles were white.

  “They want us all dead?” I asked slowly.

  “Not dead,” he said, measuring my reaction. “Changed, altered, made to be less than what we were created to be.”

  The picture of my mom and dad watching the nightly news came to mind. My dad would say so many times that the world was going to ‘hell in a handbasket’. At the time, I was hanging out with Cassie, going to ball games and studying for college boards, so I thought my dad was overreacting just a little bit. Now I wondered if I just wasn’t paying attention to all the horrible things happening in the world.

  I realized that right now I didn’t have an inkling about the people out there who were still alive, how they were doing and what they were doing. Walking out here, there were a few people we’d directly encountered that were by and large helpful if nothing else, but the rest of them had been questionable and could be doing horrible things. The thought made me shudder.

  Of course, anytime my gut told me to stay away from a place or far off person, we did. Relying on my instincts had saved us more than once, and right now, my instincts told me that there was no duplicity in Chris. He was telling me the truth, and my instincts also told me we should travel with him as long as we possibly could. Not only that, but it was important to keep the kids together.