by Sharp, Tracy
“That’s a good plan.” Mina crossed her arms over her chest. “Especially the not getting killed part.”
“We can see where the women are,” I said. I shivered. The air was frigid. This seemed like the coldest winter I could remember in a long time. When it wasn’t freezing out, it was snowing. At least another six inches of snow had fallen overnight. I wondered if the freezing weather came with the invasion. Maybe it would never be warm again.
The hole was covered, so Ozzie carefully brushed a thick layer of it away. “Okay. Here goes nothing.”
We all watched as if spellbound as he pushed the camera though the snow, slowly feeding the length of the cord further and further down. He looked at the laptop positioned in front of him, near my feet. I couldn’t see what was on the screen, and I wanted to, so I took a step away from the others and began walking toward him.
“No, Zoe.” Kyle said.
I stopped. Shot him a look. “I want to see if my sister is down there.”
“You will, but just let and Ozzie and I see what’s down there first. We don’t know what shape the women are in.”
Dread crept over me, freezing the blood in my veins. I stepped back.
The others also took a step back. Nobody wanted to see it if it was bad.
“Watch for Zekes,” Kyle said.
We lifted our gaze to the woods surrounding us. Once again, I was struck by how stunningly gorgeous it was. This was a scene I would’ve downloaded from a royalty free photo site to use as background on my laptop. Pure white snow coated the woods and shimmered on the branches of all the trees. The sun filtered through the trees and dappled the snow. It all looked so inviting.
I giggled.
All eyes shifted to me.
“What’s so funny?” Ryder asked me, his face quizzical.
“Good day for skiing.” I grinned. Then giggled again.
It broke the tension, and everyone chuckled.
“Or snowshoeing,” Mina added. “Ever do that?”
I shook my head. “No. Is it fun?”
“I don’t know. Never done it,” she said.
We all snickered again.
But our gazes kept flicking to Ozzie and Kyle, who were watching the laptop screen intently.
“How about sledding?” Ryder asked. “That hill over there. All you have to do is avoid the trees.”
“And the deadies,” I said.
“And the holes in the ground,” Mina said. “Talk about thrill seeking.”
And we all laughed quietly at that. The image in my mind was hysterical for some reason.
Apparently the others thought it was hilarious, too, because they all laughed harder, but without making much sound. Our shoulders shook with the effort of keeping in our laughter.
We kept glancing at Kyle and Ozzie and suddenly we all stopped laughing.
They both stared at the screen, twin looks of abject horror on their faces.
I stepped over to stand behind Ozzie.
“No, Zoe!” Kyle hissed.
But it was too late. I wanted to see what was so awful. I looked at the screen.
The scope camera was apparently hanging about a foot into one of the travel-ways of the crawlers. It lit what looked to be a dug out track where they moved from one area to the other. The tunnel seemed winding and endless, about three feet wide and about as deep from top to bottom. The entire space was covered in a transparent, yellowish, shiny substance.
The bright LED light swung slightly, and cast shadows on the area around it, but it wasn’t hard to see the space directly around the camera.
It looked like an underground hive, with holes; pockets dug into the walls, like the cells of a hive.
Inside the pockets were bodies.
They’d been tucked into the cells, and what was visible in the light looked to be jammed unnaturally into the holes. The head of an older man was lying on his feet, his arms stretched outward, fingers poking out of the cell.
Beneath that pocket was a younger man, jammed into the hole sideways. His arms and legs were missing. Only gaping, bloody gouges remained where his legs once were. He squinted up at the light, and blinked. His mouth opened and closed.
Both men were shellacked in a clear, shining substance.
I gagged, turned and fell to my knees, retching in the snow.
Chapter 9
I ran. I ran out into the woods, as far away from the images on Ozzie’s laptop screen as I could get. The scene was burned into my mind, and I knew that I’d never, ever be able to erase it from my memory.
The swishing sound of someone’s jacket arms moving as they ran after me sounded behind me, beneath the sound of my own choked sobbing.
Finally I stopped at a tree and leaned my arm against it, resting my forehead against the cool, soft material of the ski jacket. Hot tears spilled from my eyes and I couldn’t seem to stop crying. I stood there for a long time, not even caring if a deadie got me or not.
I heard somebody breathing behind me, and knew that they were keeping an eye out for the dead.
Slowly, the tears subsided, but I didn’t want to uncover my eyes. I didn’t want to see any more horrible things. Though continuing to live meant that seeing horrible things was an unavoidable certainty.
This was what living is now.
Sniffling, I lifted my head from my arms and looked behind me.
Ryder stood a few feet back, looking around the woods, then back at me. His eyes were sympathetic and uncertain. “I’m afraid to ask you what you saw.”
“Then don’t.” I took a shuddering breath. “It’s horrible.”
He dug into his jacket pocket and handed me a tissue. “That one’s clean.”
I smiled. “You carry tissue in your pocket?”
“Yeah. My mom used to put it in my pocket when I was little. It’s just a habit that I picked up as a kid and continued doing. I don’t know why. Makes me feel better, in some small way, I guess.”
I nodded. “I know what you mean. It’s the little things like that. Putting tissue in your pocket or wearing your mother’s winter hat,” I gestured to my hat. “That make us who we are. We’ll all change because of what’s happened. But we can keep a tiny part of ourselves. The things that mean something to us. Things that make us human.”
He nodded and gave me a uncertain smile. “It’ll be okay, Zoe. Right? If we’re careful.”
I hesitated, then nodded. As much for me as for him. “Yeah.”
Kyle was standing beside Ozzie when we walked back, but he stepped in between us and Ozzie as we approached. His face looked sickened. “Don’t look at the screen, guys. Okay? Let us gather the data, and then decide what action to take from there. I know it’s horrifying, what that camera is picking up down there. But we have to try to remain rational. We have to keep cool heads. You understand?”
Ryder and I both nodded.
“Keep busy. Watch for Zekes. Help keep us safe.”
We each gave a single nod and turned our backs from the screen, keeping our eyes on the woods around us.
“And guys,” Kyle said.
We turned back to him.
“Watch for holes.”
* * *
“I could’ve fallen into one of them running off like that. You could’ve, and it would’ve been my fault.” I washed a dish and handed it to Ryder. We’d finished eating. Dinner had been spaghetti and salad. We’d skipped lunch to cover as much ground as possible, so we’d all been famished. My belly was full, now, but dinner sat like a stone inside of me.
The hot water on my hands felt good. I was having trouble warming up. The realization that emotions could really kill me was sinking in. Emotions distracted you and made you reckless.
“I was watching.” Ryder grinned at me, drying the plate and putting it away in the cupboard.
“But you couldn’t have stopped me.”
“If I’d yelled I think you would’ve stopped.”
“How many did they find?” There had been several more
spray painted trees by the time we’d gone back into the compound.
“I counted five surrounding the building.” His face paled as he said this.
A chill moved up my spine. The fear was hard to control. How the hell would I find a way to work through it?
His hand warmed my back, and he looked at me from under dark hair. “I know. It seems impossible, doesn’t it? Inevitable that if the deadies don’t get us, the crawlers will.”
I nodded. My throat tightening. “Yeah.”
“I know.”
“How are we going to go down there, Ryder? We’re all scared shitless. Those things are counting on it. They’ll use our fear against us and pick us off like fish in a barrel.”
He frowned. “You think they know we’re planning to go down there?”
“They know. They’re smart. Look at what they’ve managed to do so far.”
“We have to go down there, Zoe. There’s a chance the women are still alive. Your sister may be alive down there. My sister. They may all be.”
“I can’t believe I thought we could all just go down there without knowing what was awaiting us. But then, I kind of wish we hadn’t seen it. Now we know what could happen if they get us.”
“Forewarned is forearmed.”
I stared at the cooling, sudsy water. I was so terrified thinking of what we saw on Ozzie’s screen that a pleasant numbness began to spread over me. “It’s like, every time I get my courage up, something worse happens and I think we’re all going to die, and then I wonder if it matters to even try.”
Hank nudged me in the leg with his head. He’d been lying on the kitchen floor, and was sensitive to the tone of my voice and my body language. I patted his head and he rubbed the top of his nose into my hand.
“Well, Hank is still up for fighting. If he can do it, so can we.” Ryder bent down and stroked Hank’s back.
I managed a small laugh.
We had no choice. We’d go down into the ground and find the loved ones that had been snatched from us, and get them out of there. And if we failed, we’d go down fighting, not cowering.
Only now we had another long night ahead of us, knowing what was waiting for us when we did venture down into the ground.
* * *
We took turns keeping watch again. When my turn came, Ryder sat up with me. Having him beside me helped to keep the fear just a notch down from paralyzing.
There were more of them now. The sounds of clawing, scratching, thudding and thumping were everywhere. They were covering more of the compound. I could picture them, crawling all around, their reptilian, greenish grey bodies, dome-like heads and insect-like arms and legs.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to will the images away.
Huddled close together, we listened to the nightmare outside until dawn.
* * *
At first light we headed toward the woods. I crouched and kissed Hank on the head. “Take care of things here, buddy. Okay? I’ll see you soon.”
He didn’t look happy about it, but he didn’t complain.
As we stood around a hole my entire body trembled. I gripped a handheld UV light in one hand. I moved my hand over the belt tied around my waist to make sure the screwdriver was still tucked into it. I’d already checked several times, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself checking again.
Thick, fat snowflakes floated down on chilled wind, and we were all looking grim as we watched Ozzie and Kyle get ready for our first expedition into hell.
“I’ll go down first,” Ozzie said. “The holes have a steep but definite angle to them. They don’t go straight downward. They slope for a few yards, then even out. They’re like underground caves. So if we’re careful, nobody will get hurt going down. We can’t afford to have our focus on anything but what’s in that hole. Got it?”
We all nodded.
“Okay,” Kyle said. “Ozzie, then me, then Zoe, then Ryder, Mina, then Wilson. Okay?”
I understood. If Wilson was going to turn tail and run, he’d have a clear path out, instead of knocking anyone down and trampling over them to get away.
“Got it,” Ryder said.
Everyone followed suit.
“Okay. Here goes.” Ozzie lowered himself into the hole, slowly crawling backwards on hands and knees. He wore a hard hat with a light on it. We all did, courtesy of Ozzie’s plumbing and sewer business. It kept our hands free for weapons and UV lights.
My nerves jangled, and the fight or flight instinct made my heart thump crazily in my chest. My breaths came in little pants, and although it was cold out, my back felt slick with sweat.
I didn’t think any of us would make it out of that hole.
But we couldn’t live with ourselves if we didn’t try.
I glanced up at Wilson, whose eyes were huge with fear. The hand holding his UV light shook visibly and he kept taking a step back, realizing it, and stepping forward again.
Although he’d saved my life when the deadie had fallen on top of me, I didn’t trust him. He made me nervous. I looked up at Ryder, whose eyes were also shifting from the hole to Wilson.
When Ozzie’s hard hat vanished into the hole, Kyle positioned himself on his hands and knees and began crawling down into the depths.
“You okay, Oz?” he asked.
“Right as rain,” Ozzie’s slightly echoed voice floated up.
We all snickered nervously. It couldn’t be less right, going down into the ground, serving ourselves up as snacks to those things.
Our smiles vanished as Kyle’s hard hat disappeared into the hole.
“You’re up,” Ryder said, patting the back of my ski jacket. “I’ll be right behind you.”
I turned and got down on my hands and knees as Ozzie and Kyle had, and slowly began moving backwards, down into the depths.
The light from my hard hat threw eerie shadows around me, and the smell was sickly sweet and strange. Shiny, yellowish brown goo coated the ground all around me, and I had the horrifying sensation of being swallowed by some strange, giant creature.
“Go easy, Zoe.” Kyle’s voice was close. He was only a few feet down from me. “Things level off here, but the nightmare begins. Okay?”
I nodded, so afraid I could barely think, but then realized that he couldn’t see me nodding. “Okay.”
Moving slowly and carefully, I followed Kyle deeper into the tunnel. My skin crawled beneath my clothes, and sweat beaded my chest and back. Fear screamed at me to scramble back up and out of the cave, but I fought against it.
My sister was down here, somewhere.
Ryder moved above me, moving slowly downward, and then I heard Mina. They were shapes against the bright shine of the UV light. I was too far down to see daylight above me anymore. I may never see it again.
We kept moving downward.
A shout from above, a startled scream.
Wilson.
Kyle used his walkie-talkie. “What’s going on?”
Mina responded. “Wilson slipped. It freaked him out. He’s a little jumpy, but he’s okay.”
“He’s gonna give me a damned heart attack!” Kyle said.
I heard Ozzie swear below me. Another reason for him to dislike Wilson. He might just get us all killed.
I heard Kyle’s quick, terrified gasps, and the horrified curses under his breath.
A moment later the cells in the hive-like walls were on either side of me.
I didn’t want to look. What I’d seen on Ozzie’s laptop screen was so horrific, I never wanted to see it again. But having it come alive all around me was blood-curdling.
I kept telling myself I was dreaming. I’d wake up in my own bed, and it would be Sunday morning. I’d make pancakes for me and Jessica and let Kelly and Derek sleep in. We’d watch cartoons together, bundled up on the couch with a blanket. . .
I heard a sound from my left. Instinct made me turn to look.
My light fell on the face of a man, still wearing his thick framed Buddy Holly glasses. He stared at me, his eyes wid
e with abject terror. His mouth was working, but only moans coming out.
Only the top half of him remained, one arm missing. The button-down shirt he wore on the day he was snatched stuck to his skin. What was left of him was covered in the shiny, transparent yellowy substance.
“Oh, my God.” I sobbed into the back of my ski glove.
Kyle came up close. “Don’t stop, Zoe.”
“But he’s trying to tell us something. We can’t just ignore him.”
Kyle hesitated, crawled up beside me and looked at the man, his face betraying the sympathy he felt for him.
The man continued trying to talk, making guttural, liquid noises deep in his throat. He began coughing and gagging.
Kyle began to move backward again. “I can’t. I can’t.”
Again, the man’s mouth moved, forming silent words.
“Wait!” I whispered. “He’s trying to say something again. He might know where the women are, Kyle.”
Kyle hesitated, and then moved back upward again. He watched as the man’s fingers moved. His arm was jammed underneath him, but he managed to move his fingers in a ‘come closer’ gesture.
Kyle leaned in, watched the man’s face closely.
“Paw-ket,” the man’s voice was barely audible. “Paw-ket.”
“Pocket,” I said. “Look in his pocket.”
Kyle slowly moved his hand toward the man’s shirt pocket. It was flattened with sticky substance. “Here?”
The man nodded his head as best he could.
Kyle worked his fingers into the pocket, causing a ripping sound as the dried substance gave and the top of the pocket opened. He pulled out a flash drive.
The man blinked a ‘yes.’ Then mouthed, “G-Go,” over and over.
His eyes fluttered and closed.
I cried, silently, my nose running, tears spilling from my eyes. My chest hitched and constricted and I suddenly could barely breathe.
This was too much. Humans weren’t meant to see such terrible things.
If the crawlers woke up, we’d be dragged down into the depths, partially eaten, and coated in that shiny substance. We’d be tucked away in cells of our own, every one of us. Until they came back to feed again.
