by Rick Kueber
Fortunately, Elle grabbed my arm and pulled me with her to the back door. She drew back the corner of the curtain. Maybe the coast was clear, or maybe not, because she shoved a pistol in my hand, and drug over a backpack and pushed it to me. As I slid my arms into the straps and adjusted it on my shoulders, Elle slowly opened the door. I breathed a silent sigh of relief when it opened without a sound.
We were both hunkered down just inside the door that Elle held open with one hand. With the other hand, she reached over to me, placed her warm hand on the nape of my neck and pulled me to her. Her lips met mine in a flash of electricity and passion. As she pulled back from the kiss, my lower lip was caught as she sucked it between her lips, biting it gently and then broke the spell. “I just didn't want to have never done that... just in case,” she whispered silently.
“Why didn't you just say it was for luck?” I winked back at her, though in this darkness, I wasn't sure if she could see my gesture. We slid silently from the back door, closing it as painstakingly as we had opened it. Like two untrained Navy Seals, we averted being seen by our predators, though we could hear the rustling of their purposeful strides not far behind us. Though we moved swiftly, we were overly careful, and I hoped we were, at least, moving swifter that the Takers behind us.
The sun had abandoned us, and the crescent sliver of a moon mocked us in the darkness of this unfamiliar territory as we climbed higher and higher into the mountainous terrain. When we came upon a washout, a place that appeared as if a giant had descended the beanstalk and scooped up a spoonful of the earth, we gathered ourselves within it. The hollowed area was only about eight feet across and three feet deep or so, but its rim was surrounded by the brush which gave us better cover.
The trees and sparse growth near the cabins had quickly evolved into a much denser forest as we had climbed, yet even in the arid darkness that surrounded us, we could see the geometric shapes of the cabins below. Through the protective cover of the surrounding brush, we studied the movement below.
“Look.” Elle pointed towards the cabins, and though she didn't point to any one thing, in particular, I knew what she meant.
“I see them.” It was a dizzying sight to behold as obvious clusters of the Takers meandered through the wooded area surrounding our last refuge, and the hiding place of the only other humans we knew in existence. I mean, seriously, we had no idea if these few Titans had accidentally crash landed here, or if it had been on purpose, much like we didn't know if there were others, in more populated places that had landed either. If Elle's tales had been accurate, I did understand more than a few things. Something like this would have immediately grabbed the attention of the NSA, and the government and military would have responded within minutes. It had been weeks. If they had attempted to respond, wouldn't Elle had experienced some kind of a fight? At least, there would have been explosions, gunfire, and fighter jets, maybe even stealth bombers trying to 'secure the area' as it was usually explained.
My heart sank to the depth that I felt nauseous when my stare fixed on one of the clusters entering the first cabin, followed by the second cabin being breached. I didn't close my eyes, but I did pray. I tucked the pistol into the waistband of my pants and slipped the pack off of my shoulders, setting it on the edge of our safe 'crater'.
“What do we do if they find the hiding place?” I couldn't help but ask.
“I wish I had all of the answers, but I don't,” Elle grumbled in my ear.
“Well, what I'm asking is, do we hide and watch as they are taken and save ourselves, or do we go back and try to save them?” It was a stupid question, but I didn't want to be the one who answered it.
“We just do what we feel we have to do when we have to do it.” It wasn't really an answer, but deep in my heart, I knew what she meant.
I looked over to see the silver of the crescent moon and starlight glimmering in her beautifully round eyes. Even in this moment of terror, and panic, I was falling for her. The memory of her kiss at the back door of the cabin was suddenly replaying in my mind, and I was glad there was darkness to hide the reddening of my face, as I felt the heat of my desire coming to the surface. I wanted to kiss her again, I wanted her, all of her. Though death knocked on our door, and newly made friendships may be meeting a horrifying demise... I wanted.
I was snapped back to reality with another hard, wet kiss and the sudden jerk of Elle's hand on my arm. “We gotta freakin' go!” It was far from a whisper and I felt confused until I saw them. A whisper wouldn't have helped, not when there were six Takers somehow only a few short yards away.
We jumped from our hiding spots and bolted up the hillside. The adrenaline was overpowering my pain, and I was truly in a dead run, and still barely able to keep up with Elle. My heart pounded like it could explode from my chest at any moment, when Elle slipped, falling hard, face first to the ground. I stopped abruptly in my tracks to help her up and the earth itself seemed to be abuzz with our escape. I reached down and as I helped her up, I froze. Lights flickered above us and the ground buzzed again. Elle stood next to me, and I cradled her in my arms checking to see if she was alright. BOOM, the earth shook hard beneath us. Could it finally be the armed forces coming to save us, to save the planet? I thought in my comic book based thoughts. BOOM! The exploding sound thundered in the sky and shook the rocky earth beneath us. I looked up to see the lights, just like the night Elle had found me, scanning the mountaintop. BOOM! We fell as the ground shook so hard that the rocks and boulders broke free and tumbled aimlessly downward.
The lights swept down the mountainside and we couldn't keep ourselves from looking to see how close our pursuers had come when we were astonished to see that they had stopped their hunt for us and were retreating down the mountainside. As we looked on, BOOM, the methodical rhythm of the tremors became obvious, even to me. Elle pulled away and tried to pull me along with her, but I was caught in this surreal experience. I watched while the scanning lights grew brighter, and the scene surrounding the cabins became clear. The Takers were grouped in masses of three or four, each mass surrounding one of our friends. I felt not only helpless but hopeless. BOOM!!
Elle had no choice but to abandon me and pulled herself tight against the back wall of a washout, where earth and roots had formed an outcropping under which she had hidden from the approaching lights. It was then that I saw it for the first time. BOOM! The mass of the thing that impacted the ground was beyond anything my wildest imagination could have dreamed. I watched voiceless and incapable of movement as this Titan cleared the mountaintop perhaps a half mile from where we stood.
The front 'legs' of the Titans were considerably longer than the two in the rear. The massive body of the beast was unequaled to any moving thing I could have ever imagined. The possibilities of what it held within its metallic blue, geometric skin fluttered through my mind. Aside from frameworks and mechanics, there was most likely enough room to house an army or a prison…neither thought was comforting. Atop of the trapezoid body sat the headpiece. Similar to the turret of a tank without the barrel, it held one large ‘eye’ which shone like a spotlight into the emptiness of the desert night. Below its all-seeing eye was a series of seven much smaller red glowing lenses. Perhaps they were viewing points, or infrared lenses to see in the darkness that had not been illuminated by the light…or it could be some form of thermal imaging sensors, to pick up on the heat signatures of a generator, vehicle motor, or a life form, like myself.
I stood frozen in the blinding white of the ever-searching eye lights of the towering Titan. It halted less than 1000 yards from where I stood, hunkered over in its cyborg gorilla way, with its massive turret head swiveling side to side, sweeping the cliff walls and canyon floor for signs of life. With a thunderous boom and an earthshaking impact, the right front appendage moved forward. The movement mechanisms and pivoting points were filled with the blowing sand and had begun to rust causing the ‘legs’ of this mechanical giant to trill and groan as it moved in a stuttered wa
y that only added to its eerie appearance.
The skin of the Titan was dark in color, but metallic and reflected the stars and the moon as it continued to pound away at the earth, trekking across a few miles in a short, dozen steps or so. As it passed the area that was once a serene and relaxing getaway where families would go to get away from the chaos of life and the horrors of everyday media, I realized that life, for me, would never, could never, be the same. I was sure that for those who survived this and still had their memories, it would leave them in post trauma.
I watched as the groups of Takers and our friends began trudging down the paved road to the flat desert area where the Titan had stopped. I began to feel that we had escaped a certain doom, if not death. I turned to find Elle still plastered up against the sandy dirt, tucked up under the outcropping. I reached out to her taking her hand. She opened her eyes and looking around stood up.
“We're alive,” she said exuberantly, but no smile for me this time.
“Yes we are, but I can't say as much for our friends.” I felt a guilt that was overwhelming.
“Oh, they are probably still alive, but they may not be our 'friends' for much longer. Soon they'll be Takers too.”
“Awww, Elle... I'm sorry.” I reached up to tuck her long hair behind her ear so I could see her beautiful face before I could complete my desire, my arm was jerked away from her, and she screamed. It was the loudest voice I could remember hearing. I was spun around like a toy and flung to the ground. It was a Taker! But where had he come from, and why hadn't he followed along with the others toward the Titan? He had tossed me aside like I was nothing to him. I felt like the geeky kid in school being pushed aside by the star football player, trying to get at the cheerleader, and I just happened to be in the way, like a piece of useless furniture. Elle's voice cut through me like a razor blade, deep and precise. My mind whirled with confusion, and I could only imagine her horror at the macabre reality before her.
She sobbed loudly, “OH Bobby... no-o-o!”
Chapter 5
UNINTENDED EVOLUTION
The Taker staggered closer reaching with open hands for Elle. She cowered, falling down on her butt, hands up in defense with her palms towards what was once her older brother, Bobby.
With a swift and muffled thud, the taker fell forward on top of her. She scrambled out from under him, as he lay lifeless face down in the sandy dirt. Elle peered up with tears streaming down her cheeks to see me standing over Bobby, still holding the blood stained rock in my hand. Nausea swept over me for a brief moment. This was the first life I had taken, and it probably would not be the last. I stepped to Elle, hoping to comfort her, and not become the monster who had just killed her brother when we both were stopped dead where we were. We were awestruck and bewildered as we watched an alien being separate itself from Bobby in a matter of seconds. The illuminated pale gray figure pulled its form directly from the still mass of the body that lay before us. It seemed fixated on Elle, and I couldn't have that.
In a few short steps, I burst forward and made my feeble attempt to slow or distract this thing. I was ready and willing to sacrifice myself to give Elle a running chance to save herself. I dove, wrapping my arms around its torso in a high school football style tackle. There was a jolt, like an electrical shock when you touch your tongue to a 9-volt battery, over the entirety of my body when I made contact. I slammed into the ground on top of it and much like it had been made of gelatin, I hit the ground hard as the form squished out from underneath me. It splattered and separated, and I found myself covered in the tingling, numbing “goo” that was the Ahsusha. I could not move, but watched and felt the entirety of its form quickly absorb into me, like water into a sponge until it could not be seen. The pain was like the uncomfortable pins and needles when one's leg falls asleep, not that slight tingling, but the intense feeling when the blood is rushing back to a limb that is completely asleep, dead weight, and you have to use another limb just to move it. Then suddenly everything went white and I imagined that this must be the feeling of being struck by lightning, or dying... or both.
Something inside of me caused my body to seize and convulse uncontrollably. As I spasmed, I threw myself onto my back, arching it in such an unnatural way that Elle was sure it would snap. She knew she should run, but after watching her brother attack her, and now seeing what appeared to be my obvious death, she felt helpless. It seemed pointless to run now. Let the inevitable happen she thought, remembering how everyone she had tried to save over the past couple of weeks was surely experiencing what I was. She was the only one left, and the solitude was overwhelming.
She stared at my inhumanly arched position, my face inverted towards hers. My silent mouth opened wide, when suddenly my eyes shot open, and glared in her direction, with a faint green glow. My body collapsed and the Ahsusha poured out of me like my body had vomited it up from every pore. It had gathered into a formless massive blob, stretching tall and thin, and then falling over and back into itself repeatedly. Like a slinky made of gray jelly, it awkwardly retreated from us. Having stretched itself and moved fifteen feet away, or so, it stopped and lay there mostly still, except for a shuddering, pulsing, movement that slowed as the seconds past. Finally, it completely stopped and as it flattened out across the dirt and rocks like a melting popsicle, the dim gray luminosity faded from its being.
Elle's voice shook as she wept, “Please no, don't leave me all alone.” I heard her plea and came to the realization that I was not, in fact, dead, which pleased me.
Every muscle and every inch of my body ached. This must be the feeling of being tasered...repeatedly, I thought. Struggling to regain control of my body, I attempted to roll onto my side and get up, a task that proved to be impossible at this point, but I did manage to roll onto my side and raise my upper body up, supporting myself under my wobbly arms. My movements were slow and unnatural, and my eyesight was still a bit blurred. Everything had gone white, but now it was slowly starting to dim, though it was pitch black outside, it felt like driving west as the sun was going down. I could see, but I couldn't focus well because of the blindingly bright glare.
I squinted up at Elle, thrilled and amazed that we were still alive when suddenly she screamed like a banshee and thrust herself on top of me in a fit of rage. Straddling my midsection, she began pummeling my head and chest with her fists, not as if she thought she would beat me to death, but in anger and frustration, almost as if she were provoking a fight. I pained myself to squeak out a few words from my dried throat.
“Elle, please...” I tried to swallow. Her fists hammered my head so hard it literally bounced off of the ground. “Elle, don't kill me...I..I'm sorry.”
Elle stopped instinctively when she heard the words and stood up, stammering backward. “You... you're alive? For real?” she quizzed me, sounding more puzzled with each word that escaped her lips. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and chin and stepped back so she could catch herself and lean against the outcropping.
“Yeah...I'm alive.” I collected myself and found myself more confused with each passing moment. “What happened here?” I said looking around, but before she could answer I blurted out, “Oh My God Who is that? Is he alright?”
“That's my brother....Bobby!” she spoke with obvious anger and frustration in her voice as she over-emphasized his name. “Alright? I doubt it! What's wrong with you, you freak!?!?”
“I don't know what's wrong with me. I hurt all over, and I can't see right.” I paused afraid to admit to Elle, and to myself, the whole truth. “How did we get here? And... please, please, please don't take this wrong...” my voice was as weak as I was, but I pleaded as best as I could, “how do we know each other? I mean, I know you... you are Elle, right?” I was sadly lost.
“Um, yeah... remember when we ran up here from the cabin to get away from the takers?...that's how we got here.” I couldn't tell if there was more frustration or concern in Elle's voice now.
“Wow... I'm kinda woozy feelin
'... can we go back to that cabin you were talkin' about and maybe just lay down for a while... I don't feel so good.” I drew a deep breath. “I feel...wrong.”
“Aw, hell!” Elle muttered. I think we had better stay here for now. That Titan isn't far enough away for me to feel comfortable taking you back down there right now...besides, I need to do something with Bobby. I can't just leave my own brother lying dead, face down like that.” Elle had decided that when it was safe to move, we would take Bobby back down near the cabin, try to find a shovel or something to dig with, and bury him...maybe, she thought, she would even say a prayer or something, though she wasn't particularly religious, and the arrival of the Ahsusha had shaken what little faith she did have.
For the time being, Elle decided to roll him over on his back. Face down seemed to remove all dignity from the thing laying there that she once called family. When she had done that, she scooted his legs together in a normal position and folded his hands across his chest. The last thing she chose to do was to ask me to remove my shirt to cover his face.
She sat down a few feet from where her brother laid, and invited me to sit with her. The air was growing quite cool on my bare upper body. Elle sat there staring off into the dark nothingness of the night, listening to the far-off hum and occasional vibrato of the Titan's movements. It did seem to be moving away from us, which, I guessed accurately, was a good thing. Her hair was a tasseled mess, the sundress was dirt stained and torn, and Elle reminded me of an orphan child from a third world 'help the starving and homeless for only $0.37 a day' advertisement. She looked broken, and I reached my arm out and gathered her into me, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and combing my fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes to forget the tragedies of the day and take a brief moment to enjoy. We became momentarily lost in the now.
