by John O'Brien
The brightness of the morning sun couldn’t hide the opaque aura that hung adjacent. The phantasm vanished, seemingly sucked inside the woman. She squatted in place and leaned forward, her hands grabbing her head. It was quiet enough that Sam heard very faint whimpers. The specter reappeared, the woman issuing a cry.
“See, Daddy, it’s real,” Erin stated by his side.
“Shhh,” Sam responded. “Don’t move.”
Even drawing breaths felt like too much movement. Very slowly, he reached behind his back to his handgun. The distance was short and he wanted to be ready for anything. The last thing he needed was for the woman to discover them and come running, with him grasping frantically for his weapon, only to have it get hung up on his belt. He drew it from his waistband and held it hidden.
The woman’s head snapped toward them, the apparition hanging partially in and out of her body, copying her actions a split-second later. Without pause, she screamed, a second hollow echo of the shriek following. She turned on a dime and began running toward them for all she was worth, her shrieks filling the once silent fields.
Erin gave a shriek of her own.
“Run,” Sam said, turning Erin around and giving her a soft push on the shoulder.
“Where to, Daddy?”
“Just run,” Sam answered.
Erin ran alongside the road, her pack bobbing up and down on her back. Sam kept his stride to stay between Erin and the woman chasing behind. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the woman enter the highway at a full run, rounding the corner without slowing. The specter at her side was keeping pace. Although it didn’t seem possible, the woman had almost closed the distance.
“On the pavement. Run on the pavement,” Sam yelled to Erin.
Erin slightly altered her path and the crunch of gravel turned into the hammering of her feet on the hard surface, mixing with the thump of her backpack. Sam turned to check their distance. The interval had closed even more. To Sam, that seemed impossible as he judged the woman’s current speed and mentally compared it with their own. They weren’t setting land-speed records, but their adrenaline-fueled run seemed to be on par with the woman’s. He watched as the phantasm seemed to leap forward, almost separating from the body. The woman blurred and both she and the phantasm were pulled forward, the woman rematerializing into a defined shape fifteen feet farther ahead. In a blink, they had shrunk the distance considerably.
Oh, hell no! Sam thought, his mind reeling from what he had just witnessed.
Reflexes took over: This was not a situation requiring great thought. With the vast amounts of adrenaline pumping through his body, and his fear for Erin, it was a matter of instinct and survival.
“Keep running,” Sam called. “Don’t stop for anything. Head back to the house and wait for me there.”
Without waiting for Erin to acknowledge, the continued sound of her running feet the only response he needed, he stopped and quickly turned, whipping the 9mm up toward the woman.
“You get one warning…stop!” Sam called.
The woman kept coming. The phantasm lurched forward, then snapped back inside the woman, completely vanishing. The woman sank to her knees.
“Oh God! Help me. Please help me. It hurts so bad,” the woman hoarsely whispered.
“Don’t move,” Sam said, keeping his weapon aimed at her head, fifteen feet away.
He felt for the woman and her obvious agony. The pain etched into her face was clearly overwhelming. She stared at him, her eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot, the color washed out by the continual pain.
“What happened?” Sam asked, the woman’s hands shooting to her temples.
The ghostly image shot outward. The woman looked up with pleading eyes.
“Help me.”
“Help me,” the apparition copied.
The pain written in her eyes was accompanied by an abiding hunger. The woman screamed, so piercing that it penetrated Sam’s mind and vibrated his skull. The shriek became a physical presence. The woman shot to her feet and lunged forward, her arms outstretched. Sam fired.
Blood splattered across both cheeks and forehead as the bullet struck alongside her nose. A chunky mist exploded from behind her ear, the air filling with meaty tissue and bone. Sam backed up a step as the woman fell forward, the side of her face smacking the pavement. Her eyes, once wracked with pain, faded as her life left. The same ghostly phantom he saw with the three men rose and vanished like a fast-drying fog.
Smoke drifted lazily from the barrel as he lowered it. Blood pooled beside the woman’s head, the thick liquid slowly running between the raised lumps of the pavement’s surface. Any doubt he had about what he’d seen the prior day was resolved. However much he couldn’t explain what he’d witnessed, he couldn’t deny the reality of it. Unless the drug was long-lasting, or a continued presence in the air, there was no way he could be hallucinating. He came to terms with the fact that he didn’t have to understand the why of something, he just had to believe that it existed. The warping nature of the woman, the phantasms, they were now a part of his reality. Now he needed to figure out how extensive the problem was. If it were regional, then they’d just need to get out of the affected area. If it were larger, then that was a whole different can of worms.
Sam listened for any others who might respond to the sound of the screams and gunshot, but heard only the diminishing sound of Erin’s footfalls.
“Erin,” Sam shouted.
She continued running, not even looking back.
“Erin! Stop!”
Erin looked over her shoulder, then slowed. Sam waved and began walking toward his daughter. Catching up with her, he saw the streak of tears on her cheeks and wrapped her in his arms.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” he whispered.
“What is wrong with them?” Erin sobbed.
“I don’t know, sweetie. I don’t know. But, I think it’s best if we avoid any more houses,” Sam replied.
“I thought…I thought you were going to die.”
“I’m fine. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I won’t leave you alone in this world.”
She pulled away, wiping at her eyes. Sam looked along the line of pavement that stretched in both directions, telephone lines marching in tandem. Sam noticed the charring of a nearby transformer affixed to one of the poles. That and the electronics were definite indicators of some kind of a large-scale EMP blast, but that couldn’t have caused the phantasms. There had to have been enough tests with EMP blasts for it to be known as one of the results.
No, something else happened. Or, perhaps several somethings.
The woman lying in the road reminded him that he didn’t need to know why, just that it was. He knew, though, that it would continue to bother him until he was able to figure it out. And, he still felt the need to head to the distant town. However, he didn’t want to leave a string of bodies in his wake and he didn’t have an unlimited supply of ammo. If this was regional and he did manage to reach law enforcement, the trail of corpses was going to be difficult to explain. No one was going to believe that an entire neighborhood of people attacked him. But, at the moment, he was just interested in getting out of this current mess. Whatever followed would be dealt with later.
Looking along the thin line of gray vanishing in the distance, Sam noted that the residences were on the river side of the road. The only things on the opposite side were fences and a scattering of small cow herds. The sun hadn’t climbed much higher, giving them plenty of time to reach the town. He reached over to tighten Erin’s pack should they need to make another run for it.
“I know it’s uncomfortable, but you need to keep it tight. It’ll slow you down otherwise,” he said, pulling one of the straps.
Walking across the dusty landscape slowed their progress as they had to work their way around tall bushes and cross through a multitude of barbed wire fences. But, it kept them away from the houses and out of sight, the raised highway providing a visual obstruction. The sun climbed highe
r, warming the land even more. The two stopped frequently for drinks of water, their supply dwindling. Sam knew he should have filled them at the house, but had been hesitant to touch or use anything. Under the heat with a shrinking water supply, he had a much different opinion.
They passed through the fields, the smell of pines and juniper strong in the air. Several times, he heard faint screams. Each time he froze in place, expecting someone to crest the ridge of the highway in pursuit. And each time, they waited for several minutes before moving on. The nature of the landscape changed little: the tall ridges, the fence lines, the highway with the rise of mountains further in the distance.
Not a single vehicle passed, nor did he hear a single sound of normal humanity, only occasional distant shrieks. There was only the next step, dust swirling out from underneath their boots, and the next fence to clamber through. Sam thought on how their fun trip had taken such a sudden left-hand turn. They should be driving through the national park, amazed at the wonders, and enjoying sharing the sights with each other. Eating overpriced food and purchasing knick-knacks that would be set aside and forgotten. The thought of what could have been, what should have been, gave Sam a very sad feeling.
“I’m sorry, Erin,” Sam said, pulling a length of fence wire up and pressing on the lower strand with a foot.
“For what?” Erin asked, climbing through the gap and standing on the other side.
“For this. For our vacation getting messed up,” Sam replied.
“You didn’t do this.”
“If we hadn’t stopped at the cave, this might not have happened. And, that was my idea,” Sam said.
“Or, we might have become one of those,” Erin stated, her head nodding toward where they left the bodies. “I think being in the cave kinda saved us.”
Although Sam had the same thought, hearing it stated out loud somehow made it more real. Perhaps being underground had protected them from whatever happened. That was why missile silos were buried so deep, why backup systems for major banks were underground, why facilities such as NORAD were buried in mountains. If whatever happened was more than regional, then that would leave very few who would have been protected. Miners, missile crews, clerks buried in underground basements, perhaps a few other situations that he hadn’t thought of. The part that struck a deeper fear was that it meant that millions, billions, could have been turned into whatever they’d seen here. Basically, it was an impossible scenario to live through.
“Maybe you’re right,” Sam said, stepping through the fence.
He kept his thoughts from Erin, not wanting to worry her. But, the land took on a much more sinister aspect. Every nook, every bush could hide one of those things. Regardless of his fears, he had to get to the town to see what he was up against. However, he wasn’t sure which situation he’d rather deal with. If the town was normal, then he’d have to face an investigation into the deaths. If it wasn’t, then the bodies became a moot point, but he’d be facing something far more drastic. He’d thought a lot about apocalypse scenarios and imagined that it would be a difficult process to come to grips with the end of the world. It would be hard to believe if the event weren’t directly witnessed, and now he could be experiencing that very thing. Even knowing that, his mind hung back from acceptance. However, with Erin to protect, he knew that he would have to come to terms with it quickly.
Hours later, the sun having moved into the western part of the sky, Sam spotted houses in the distance on both sides of the highway. Without GPS or any way to verify his position, he wasn’t exactly sure how close to the town he and Erin were. However, the more densely packed nature of the residences ahead suggested that they were drawing close.
Rising above the valley was a higher plain of dirt with steep vertical edges, giving it a look like it had spilled from a volcano, only dirt instead of lava. The runoff from the peaks created deep ravines, the chasms widening as they emptied into the valley. Sam altered their path to scale the steep sides, their feet slipping on the gritty slopes. For every three steps they climbed, they only ascended a step or two.
Finally reaching the crest, feeling the grit in his boots, Sam carefully looked over the surroundings. Screams still periodically rose and fell in the distance, but the area around them was clear of any structures and people. He directed Erin to stay low to the ground as they crept along one of the fingers stretching toward what Sam assumed was the town. With each step forward, more of the land beyond was revealed. The stark terrain in the distance gave way to more greenery and trees along the river. As they drew closer to the edge, buildings became visible. Not wanting to draw attention, Sam and Erin dropped to their knees and crawled toward the edge, going to their stomachs at the crest.
Sam looked at the town, barely able to make out people within the city streets. Some were meandering along the roads and sidewalks, others standing in front of doorways. There wasn’t much to indicate that something was wrong, but he couldn’t clearly see enough to be sure. Erin shuffled beside him, digging into her pack. She pulled out a set of binoculars from within the compartment.
“Where’d you get those?” Sam asked.
“From the man’s house,” Erin answered.
“Erin?! What did I say about taking anything from there?”
“I just thought that we’d need them,” Erin responded.
With a sigh, Sam took the glasses and put them to his eyes. Twisting the adjustment knobs, the town came into view with more clarity.
Those he took for standing still were actually moving, but their behavior seemed random and pointless. One woman stood at the doorway to one of the shops lining the main road, her hand reaching out for the handle and then retracting. She reached out again and then turned as if to walk away. Returning to her original position, she reached out again. A man stood at the side of a building, his arm repeatedly moving up and down as if he were painting the side. Another on a nearby sidewalk walked forward into the side of a vehicle. He stumbled back a couple of steps and then resumed his forward motion, over and over.
Sam was reminded of the man in the vehicle they’d passed, whose hands kept going through the motions of driving. He switched to another part of the small town, only to see other people going through similar repetitive motions. A policeman next to his car put on his hat and reached toward his back pocket. He pulled out a pretend pad and began writing without a pen in hand. All across the city, people were engaged in senseless actions.
Glassing back to the downtown area, Sam saw several begin to get restless, as if agitated. Others walked away as if they were being pushed, like waves rolling outward from a dropped stone. From a side street, a woman arrived, her actions awkward. The phantasm at her side was unmistakable. She looked down both sides of the avenue and seemed to be searching for something. The ghostly outline followed her actions a moment later. The specter was in constant motion, pushing outward and then wavering partially back inside the woman. But, even in its fluctuating motions, it still copied everything the woman did.
Like the ones Sam had witnessed previously, the white shadow vanished and the woman leaned over, rubbing at the sides of her head. As expected, the ghostly image returned, shooting out from inside the woman. It lunged repeatedly as the faint shriek of the woman reached the hills where Sam and Erin lay on the dusty soil. The woman stumbled down the sidewalk. As she passed the wall of a building, the specter lunged through the wall. The woman then blurred and then vanished through the same wall.
“What in the fuck?!” Sam whispered, his voice barely audible.
The ghostly image reappeared, coming back through the wall. A blur of color appeared, the woman was again standing in the street.
Fuck me! Sam thought, wondering how he and Erin were going to be able to live with shit like that.
Turning his attention elsewhere, Sam focused on a small cluster of people gathered in the playground of a small park. He was taken aback at the sight of children, one running in circles until he fell down, only to get back up af
ter a several seconds and continue, this time running into a tree. One child stood behind a swing and made pushing movements. At the edge of the playground, one had an accompanying apparition and was lifting her head with apparent screams. After noticing a few dark lumps among the swings and slides, Sam turned his gaze elsewhere, sickened.
Movement along the highway on the opposite side of town caught Sam’s attention. Refocusing there, he spied two people, a man and woman, approaching the outskirts on bicycles. They didn’t appear to have the same erratic movement of the others, nor did they have the ghostly shadows at their sides. Anxiety gripped him deeply, sitting in the pit of his stomach. He saw disaster approaching at high speed—well, at the speed of a bike—and there was nothing he could do. He wished that he could signal for the two to turn around, but that would only give away his position and probably wouldn’t do any good. A signal mirror might work, but he didn’t have anything that could work as one. Instead, he could only watch as they neared the town.
Unable to pull his eyes away, he continued watching. In his magnified view, the two halted and stood astride their bikes as a scream erupted from amid the outlying buildings. One of the townspeople streaked into the open ground, racing toward the two. From the movements of the cyclers’ mouths, they were calling out to the one running directly for them. One even raised their hand in a friendly wave.
Sam gazed as the two suddenly realized that they were in danger, quickly attempting to turn their bikes in increments while still astride them. The impediment slowed them too much.
“Ride, you fools. Don’t fuck around…ride.”
The man running for them blurred and then appeared almost directly behind them. The phantasm lunged forward, seeming to dip inside the woman. To Sam, it appeared as if the ghost reached around to the front and dove into the woman’s open mouth and nostrils. The woman froze, her mouth opening impossibly wide. The ghostly shape completely detached from the man who was chasing after the two, vanishing into the woman. The man who was chasing slumped straight to the ground, like he was suddenly riven of his skeletal structure.
