They Came With The Storm (The Effacing)

by Clark, T. Anwar

  “We need to find someplace to camp for a while.” I said.

  “I agree.” said Maria.

  The deafening 3 second sound of Sworn’s emergency siren was rupturing in different areas all around us from time-to-time; he had help with his dirty work. Knowing that his troops were slowly but surely working their way to the center of the city. They probably didn't suspect anyone making it to the docks since it was behind Warwick City Hospital. But what if they did? We agreed to disagree it would be best if we laid low and camped out in the hummer for a while, until things calmed down.

  “What are we going to eat?” Maria asked.

  I said, “You’re actually hungry?”

  “I could go for something to eat.” Mike added.

  “I got a ration.” I answered, snatching it out of my backpack.

  “Ewww.” Maria scalped.

  Mike’s teeth were showing, “Right on time.”

  “How are we going to get out of this?” Ann whispered, sunk deep into her seat with her eyes closed.

  “How can you relax right now?” Maria asked her.

  “I’m not… I’m searching for a reason behind this madness.”

  For what I thought was the reason of decimating the population, I was being consumed in the shadows of the darkness that infested our city, being pushed to the brink of insanity by adversaries I had no idea existed. Another day had come to an end, and we already knew what the night held for us.

  As the night began to take over, we decided to pick a home at random to take refuge, and came across a boarded up two level family home. We parked in the back, underneath an open garage, throwing an old car cover that Mike spotted over top of the Hummer for camouflage.

  Mike went into the duffle bag and came back out with a set of night-vision goggles and said, "I guess this is where these come into play..." as he put them on. Then he said, "I'm going to head in first and check out the place. Watch my back." and ripped the wet and weakened wood from its place.

  The window was unlocked. Mike lifted it, and as he entered into the darkness, we stood attentive to the moans of Bleeders that were heard in the darkness, not that far away.

  Ann and Maria looked to each other. Rebekah stood guard with her semi-auto firmly gripped, and I walked to the corner of the house to get a better view of how many walking corpses might have been headed in our direction.

  Ann left from Maria's side and went into the duffle bag, grabbed the other set of night goggles, put them on and scanned the dark perimeter of the house.

  "What do you see?" asked Maria.

  "Nothing," Ann quietly answered, trying not to raise her voice any louder than a whisper.

  As I looked up the block, a street light flickered. I didn't say anything about it, but at least I knew there was power somewhere nearby.

  Ann went to the window Mike jumped in and rustled, "Mike... Mike..."

  She was becoming irritable by the minute, and her clinging on to Mike was only adding to the problem. I thought I was the only one thinking that until Rebekah had something to share.

  "He's a big boy." Rebekah managed to spread the news to Ann in a hardened tone. "It hasn't even been two minutes yet."

  Ann flipped Rebekah the birdie without even turning to look, and began to climb in the window. Maria grabbed onto Ann's ankle just before she was inside, and said, "Don't leave me out here."

  Ann reported, "I'm not going far."

  "Please..." Maria begged. "Don't go in there."

  Ann looked back at Maria through the goggles and said, "I promise." ignoring her plea.

  Maria slowly released her cousin’s ankle and let her enter the house, and then turned to Rebekah and said, "What's your problem?"

  Rebekah said, "Why are you so in love with her?"

  "What?" Maria walked up to Rebekah right fast and dangerously angered, face-to-face. "What did you say to me?"

  Rebekah put her firearm in her lower back. "I said... are you kissing cousins?" without holding back.

  I love cat fights, and I could tell one was brewing with the ladies. Maria may have been a scared cat when it came to Bleeders and Trackers, but she was clearly no push over when it came to getting the respect she thought she deserved from someone that wasn't infected. I really didn't know Rebekah or Maria that well, but Rebekah may have seen something in Ann and Maria that I missed.

  "We don't have time for this." I was just in time, getting over to the quietly feuding women and grabbing Maria's wrist in mid-swing, just as she was about to molly-wop Rebekah's pretty little face into ugly town.

  It began raining cats and dogs, followed by thunder and lightning.

  Rebekah smiled as the rain wet her hair and trickled down her face.

  Maria snatched away from my grip and stormed back toward the window without saying a word.

  Rebekah looked me directly in the eye, came closer and hugged me while droning in my ear, "I could of handled her, honey." patted me on the ass like I was her bitch, backed up and winked.

  It happened so suddenly that I didn't have a chance to reciprocate the affection.

  It was something about Rebekah that I liked and disliked. She walked past me headed toward the window. I had to get a good look at her from behind; and I thought to myself, beautiful with an attitude, strange but yet seducing and in control. Wow! She's my type of woman, before Mike appeared in the window.

  Mike helped Maria into the window, Rebekah was next. I was the last to enter, shutting and locking the window behind me. When I finished, I hit the flashlight on my rifle and spotted a six foot tall Oak wood cabinet full of liquor that I immediately fell in love with, stashing a couple of fifths in my backpack.

  "The house is clear and fully furnished," Mike informed the rest of the group. "I guess we'll camp here until daylight, and then make our way into Centre City. Dale, help me push the liquor cabinet in front of the window."

  “Is there any food in here?” Maria asked.

  I told her, “Go look for yourself.”

  “Up yours, asshole.”

  Ann used her goggles to find some candles. She lit them in the dining room where we had all gathered. Mike went into the kitchen and came back with dark green pouches of dry food, passing them out to each of us. Then, everyone took a seat at the dining room table.

  Everyone gathered except Rebekah.

  I tried to break the ice between the girls. I jumped up and grabbed five shot glasses and a liter of cognac, put the glasses on the table, filled them up and said, "This is for everyone to relax a bit." knowing I also needed a drink to calm my nerves.

  Mike grabbed a shot glass. Ann picked up a glass next. Next, Maria. Rebekah refused.

  "You don't drink?" I asked her.

  "Someone else asked me that a few years ago." she responded.

  "Okay..." I said, "And what did you say then?"

  She didn't respond.

  I picked up her glass in held it out to her. She smiled and pleasantly and said, "No, thank you."

  I downed her shot, and then my own. Everyone else drank after me.

  "Are you sure that cabinet will stop the infected?" Maria threw the open question.

  "I doubt it." Mike answered, "But it should slow 'em down."

  I poured another shot for everyone and said, "They won't know we're here unless we're loud, right?"

  Rebekah said, "I don't think they'll find us in here. We need to be more worried about those soldiers, or maybe the local hoods."

  Mike gunned down his second shot, "Yeah... we also need to group up with more people!"

  Maria stared at the liquor cabinet. She looked to be in a day dreaming state and said, "We shouldn't sleep in this room." as if she had bad thoughts run through her head of our slaughter.

  Rebekah said, "She's right. We should move upstairs."

  Ann had too much to drink. She angered quickly with Rebekah's sarcasm and said, "What is it with you? One minute you're giving all this advice and being really helpful... and the next minute you're a bitch
!" then stood up. "So what's your problem, bitch? Daddy spoiled you to the point you don't think you can't get your ass whooped?"

  Maria stood up. Rebekah just smiled at her, no blinking or movement.

  The storm outside started to settle.

  "Hey, Ann," Mike grabbed Ann's hand, "Hey, slow down. We should move it upstairs. We'll have a better advantage from up there."

  I thought something different and added, "I think we have a better advantage staying right here. If they even howl at the liquor cabinet we can put a hole right through their head and get outta here before we get trapped in here."

  Maria added, "We can break open an upstairs window and escape that way too. If the soldiers come in thru the window and we're right here, they'll have the advantage over us."

  Mike grinned, "Looks like it's three to two."

  Ann frowned at Rebekah, hating to agree with her, looked to Mike and said, "Four to one." and then folded her arms.

  "You're welcome to stay down here, lil' bro." Mike said before grabbing a bottle of bubbly for himself. "But I suggest you come along." He headed upstairs.

  Ann and Maria grabbed their dried food and followed Mike. Rebekah followed them. I stayed downstairs in the dining room trying to drink myself asleep while quietly singing the vocals to the local rock band, Evolution's, song, Netherworld Order, when I recognized the distant sounds of footsteps swishing through the puddles outside, slowly moving through the grass, then the sounds of feet being dragged across the concrete. The only thing missing was the howls, moans, and the stench of their rotting, flesh-eating corpses. Was it the soldiers, putting out severed ligaments to attract the Bleeders in our direction? I wondered if they had seen us pull up to the house, and now they were surrounding us, thinking we were either infected or a threat, which a threat we were. I put the bottle down, held onto my rifle, and slowly stood up, staggering as I tried to shake the thoughts of being intoxicated from my head, and focus on my life as a computer being at high risk of a virus. I found out how Norton Internet Protection felt; I stayed alert, keeping my eyes and ears open to a security threat.

  The footsteps began to gather. I walked up beside the cabinet and put my ear closer to the wall to listen. The wind blew incredibly hard. And when the screaming winds abruptly discontinued, so did the gathering footsteps.

  I waited, hand on the trigger and ready to shoot on sight, but nothing happened. I listened for anything outside the ordinary and caught the familiar sound of someone's footsteps coming from upstairs, and then relaxed, thankful nothing was lurking outside. I laughed it off, clicked the flashlight on on my rifle, and headed upstairs with the rest of the group.

  Everyone was in a bedroom lit by only one candle. Ann and Maria were sleep, cuddled up next to the window in a twin size bed with each other, their backpacks and the duffle bag full of weaponry at the foot of the bed. Rebekah stood behind the room door, only her silhouette reflecting from the light of Mike's burning candle. And Mike sat in a folding chair by the candle, nursing a half empty bottle of cognac.

  "What's the matter lil' bro... scared of being alone in the dark?" Mike said with a drunken grin, his eyes sparkling. "I was just telling Rebekah how I've had to watch your ass over the years."

  "Mike, we need to talk." I said, overly intoxicated but trying to stay focused. "I heard footsteps just a second ago."

  "Do ya hear voices, too?" Mike drunkenly laughed.

  Rebekah appeared from the darkness. She startled me at first, but I was already jumpy.

  "I'm serious, man..." I tried to explain, "I heard someone or something outside, around back. Then I heard you guys moving around and came up here."

  Rebekah assured me, pointing to Ann and Maria, "No one was walking around. They've been sleep for the past hour. Mike’s been sitting in the same spot, and I haven't heard a thing." as if she didn't believe me.

  "Well, then you're not listening." I said with a drunken swagger and the point of a wavy finger.

  The ceiling creaked. Mike, Rebekah, and I looked above us.

  "It's the house," Rebekah said. "It's old."

  Mike took a swig of his cognac.

  I looked at Mike and said, "You don't need any more of that, man. You're not even a drinker."

  The ceiling creaked.

  Mike let go of the bottle, picked up his battle rifle and said, "Someone's in the attic." raising his rifle to the ceiling where the steps ended.

  Rebekah reached into her lower back and retrieved her pistol, "Yeah, some-one or some-thing is up there."

  Mike made it over to Ann and Maria and gently tapped their asses, "Get up, girls, we got company." he told them.

  The girls lunged up on the first tap. They grabbed their firearms, ready to preserve their lives. I moved closer to where mike had sat and seen the dry food pack, taking more notice to what it said on the label (U.S. Army). I looked around for pictures but didn't see any, so I breathed to Mike, "Do you know whose house this is?"

  Mike looked at me and said, "It's the house we're hiding out in." then put a hushing finger over his lip before pointing to the ceiling.

  Thunder rumbled and the house shook.

  Rebekah questioned, "I should have heard that earlier. Is there an attic?"

  Mike made it known to Ann and Maria that we were on the move again, and ordered, "Grab the bags."

  And they did.

  Mike switched the flashlight on on his rifle and blew out the candle, and we all crept our way into the hallway. More movement was above us. We shined our flashlights at the ceiling. The attic door was at the far end of the hallway, a string dangling from the latch. And by the time we got there, the thuds had discontinued.

  Mike looked to me and said, "Pull the latch open and I'll go up."

  Ann motioned, "You should just tell 'em to come out."

  It took a few seconds, but Mike ended up doing as Ann asked. "Whoever's up there just say you're not infected..." he kept his flashlight aimed at the hatch. He raised his voice, "Hey, anybody up there? Let us know, man... we're on your side."

  I held on to the string that separated us from whoever or whatever was up there. The house rumbled from the thunder outside, then, two more footsteps were heard from the attic.

  "We can hear you up there..." I said.

  Just then, dust fell from the attic door, and as the latch cracked open, a shaky, male's voice came from the other side. "Don't shoot!" the man said. "Don't shoot. I'm unarmed."

  "Is he infected?" Maria demanded answers to Mike. "Ask him..." she insisted.

  Mike asked him.

  The man said, "Are you all with Sworn?"

  "No." Rebekah assured him. "We're all citizens."

  The hatch extended and the ladder fell.

  "Come up... quick." the man ordered, nodding his head and fanning us in.

  "Are you bit?" Mike asked.

  He furiously shook his head from side-to-side, “No... no, I'm not bit. I've been up here ever since I realized what was going on. Hurry, come up."

  We all ascended the ladder into the attic, closing the hatch behind us.

  The guy introduced himself as Jack Mitchum. He was a frail-body guy appearing to be in his mid-thirties, crew haircut and stood about 5 foot 9 inches tall with a thick imperial beard. He had sought his retreat and imprisoned himself within his own attic. His source light was a soft-white 60 watt bulb that dangled over a crate near some canned goods, ready-to-eat meals and firearms. A lot of trash, old newspapers and magazines were piled up in another area, and in a darkened end across from it all, I had a slight indication that he hid something else.

  "Sorry I lied about the guns." Jack said, nodding his light bulb shaped cranium like he was an android that was malfunctioning. "If you were them soldiers I know they woulda shot me if I was armed. They call that a threat, ya know?" then he paused, “How did you get in?” and stopped nodding.

  "Sorry about that. We needed a place to hide. We’re not the enemy." Rebekah stepped forward.

  Jack shook it off and
bopped his head again, “I needed someone to talk to after being in here for the last two months.” His head stopped.

  “Two months?” I asked.

  “I knew it was coming before it got here.” His head shook continuously. “It was just a matter of time before it got here. Yes indeed and now it’s here like I knew it. I tell you I knew it.” His head stopped again.

  After what seemed like hours of softly chatting it up and waiting for the sun to rise, I noticed something wasn't right with his competence. He began to vigorously rub his hands together close by his chest, blink rapidly toward the darkened far end of the roof where I heard the sounds of water dripping from what could have been a leak from years of no maintenance, and then he began rambling about what he thought was taking place throughout the city; and across the world. His head bobbed again and he rapidly spat, "The city population is two-hundred-thousand, and two-thirds evacuated the before the storm. That leaves sixty-six-thousand, six-hundred and sixty-six with a remainder of two.” He briefly stopped rubbing his hands to raise two fingers. “If you multiply 66,666 by the remainder, the sum comes out one-hundred and thirty-three-thousand. Three-hundred and thirty-two equals fifteen, equals six! The sixth six in the original number." he finished, before pointing to my bottle, asking me for some of his own liquor that I'd boosted out of his cabinet. “Hey… you, kid, lemme get just a little bit of that.” and his head froze.

  No one entertained his idiotism, only Ann and Maria snickered from behind mike and me. Mike gave out a sigh as if to suggest, here we go with this guy, while Rebekah took a look around. I was looking at him; but straight through him.