9 Tales From Elsewhere 3

by 9 Tales From Elsewhere

  My sentence drifted into silence.

  But Forest picked up where I left off. “Is running out.”

  “Yeah.”

  I placed my fingers against the cool glass, trying to touch Angel with my thoughts. My baby turned and waved at me, and then disappeared into a patch of weeds that stood taller than she.

  I could hear her laughing and Scruffy barking. “Were you able to get the computer you found in the small bedroom working?”

  “Yes.” “And what did you find about these creatures that have plagued our existence?”

  “They have many weaknesses.”

  “Such as?”

  “Well, for one, not to sound redundant, but they are very weak. Their bodies are frail and susceptible to many diseases.”

  Doc walked into the kitchen, holding a large leather brown bag, and wearing black fatigues. “Sounds like my cue.”

  In a quick and graceful movement, our medical officer pulled out a large needle and stabbed Forest in the neck.

  Forest didn’t flinch, but he seemed annoyed. “You just gave us a vaccination shot two days ago, Doctor.”

  “And I’ll keep giving them to you as much as I think is necessary,” he snapped. “Understand?”

  Forest sighed. “Affirmative.”

  Doc pulled the needle out of Forest’s neck and tapped it on his shoulder. “Besides, no one’s getting sick on my watch. The bigger they stand the harder they fall, big guy.”

  Forest knocked his hand away, laughing. “Okay, but perhaps you should be saving a batch for when we may really need it.”

  Doc pulled out a cloth and a bottle in a brown container. He dabbed the cloth and walked toward me. “Vaccinations are preventive medicine, son. I don’t know what kind of crap They can give us, so let’s not take any chances. Does that make sense?”

  I hated needles probably more than anything in the world but I held out my arm. “Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Forest is just giving you a hard time.”

  Doc cleaned an area on my upper arm. “You ready, my dear Captain?”

  Sighing, I turned my head, and searched for Angel. “Just get it over with.”

  He tapped a vein in my arm and stuck it in. “So, uh, any news from the others?”

  I faced him and was about to say something but Forest beat me to it.

  “The others are dead,” Forest said. “I don’t know why you persist in believing otherwise, Doctor.”

  Doc’s eyebrows rose. “You’re the one that’s always preaching hope. Hope—hope—hope! Why can’t I believe that there are more of us out there, somewhere?”

  Forest nodded. “Doctor, us believing that we six can survive, and doing so, is only proving that together we can beat the odds.”

  Doc finished administering the shot.

  I gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Thank you, sir.”

  Forest continued. “That fact that we are still alive is the basis of our hope, but we were unprepared.” He shot a look of disapproval at me and I matched that look with one of my own, making him look away, toward Doc.

  Doc shrugged. “He is right, Captain.”

  Forest nodded. “Captain, I warned you that we should have used our weapons.”

  “And prove what, Forest? Doc?" I asked. "That we were just as savage as They?”

  Doc shrugged.

  Forest crossed his arms. “We were fools to believe they were capable of peace.” I tried really hard not to, but air of irritation blew out of my nose in a long sigh. “You’ve said that numerous times, already, Forest. Duly noted.” Slowly, I shook my head. “What else did you find out about them?”

  “Yes,” Doc said. “I’m curious to learn how They operate. No pun intended.” “Hold that thought,” Forest said.

  He pushed the screen door open and walked outside. Doc and I traded glances. That’s when Nana and Sandy came strolling into the kitchen both wearing black fatigues—Angel and I were the only ones breaking protocol. Nana was the oldest of us survivors, and had become not only the mother of the group, but also our conscience. Sandy was the skeptic. She didn’t believe in hope, only proof.

  “Hey, everybody,” Sandy said.

  Doc and I replied, and then Doc went back into his bag. He pulled out a clean needle, and more vaccination.

  “You fix breakfast, yet, sweetie?” Nana asked.

  “Not yet,” I said. She sat down at the kitchen table, in front of the walk-in closet, and started fanning herself with her pudgy hands. “It sure gets hot here, in the mornings.”

  Doc went to her first and gave her a shot, got another needle, and stuck Sandy in the arm. Forest came back inside the kitchen with two desert cottontail rabbits (Angel found pictures of them in some books that were in the small bedroom—she’s so smart) in each hand, nodding at Nana and Sandy. Nana just waved, as if she was too hot to speak, and Sandy said hello.

  “Good morning. Good morning,” Forest said, heartily; full of pride.

  The rabbits Forest held were both very much alive, kicking their hind legs wildly. Forest knocked their little brown heads together and the rabbits went limp—a trick he had learned very well over the past few weeks to knock them out without killing them. He went to the kitchen sink and plopped the rabbits in.

  “Ahh,” Doc said. “So that’s why you suddenly walked out of our conversation—breakfast. You kept them in that poor excuse for a wiry entrapment outside all this time?”

  “Yes,” Forest said. “I wanted to surprise you all and have it prepared before you came down, but I got distracted.”

  “You fell asleep,” I said.

  “After I foraged the entire area, this morning," he said. "Hunting for those rabbits.” Sandy sat at the kitchen table. “Which reminds me; I studied the samples I took from the land by the barn. This land is very fertile. And thanks to our little helper, Angel, finding the well, we can plant the seeds found from the bags in the barn. We’ll have a good crop, and a healthy source of sustenance, within weeks—if we survive that long.”

  “Sweetie, you must have hope,” Nana said. “Without that, we are truly nothing but matter with a heartbeat and a brain.”

  Forest turned the water on to prepare the rabbits. “Do you know that They have a brain capacity which, at best, seems minimal?”

  “Really?” I tried to remember where I put the twine, and then it came to me, it was in the walk-in closet.

  Angel put it in there for me, next to the boxes of grain and cans of food so I would remember the next time I needed it—and I did—my precious angel. I squeezed by Nana, rubbing my nose on her head, smelling the fruity smell of shampoo she used from one of the bathrooms.

  She put her warm pudgy hand on mine and tapped it, gently. “Nana loves you, too, baby.” I slid into the dark closet, which was lit only by the light spilling in from the kitchen. “That’s no surprise about them not using their full brainpower,” Doc said. “Look at how violent they are? All brawn and no brains.”

  I came out of the closet with a roll of twine. “Nonsense. They are obviously technologically advanced: computers, aircraft, and weapons like I’ve never seen before.”

  “They’re barbaric,” Forest said. “Trust me, and They’re not like real warriors. They have puny weak bodies, and so they have to hide behind weapons of destruction. The pure sign of a coward.”

  “Coward or not,” Nana said, grunting, as she rose from the table. “They mean to kill us all, and They will if we don’t do something about it."

  She went to the sink, nudging Forest out of the way.

  “I’ll do it,” Forest insisted.

  Nana shook her head. “Move, son. I’m already up, and got my old bones over here. Now, let’s not forget Nana’s rule of dictatorship, around here—you catch, I prepare. Now go on, before I have to knock you out of my way.”

  Forest chuckled. “Sure thing, Nana.” He went to the door and secured it shut. “Like I was saying, I’ve seen no sign of Them reaching even ten percent of their mental capacity.”

 
; “And yet,” Sandy said, “we are the beings facing extinction.”

  I handed the twine to Nana and she snapped a few strings off, and then tied each rabbit’s feet together.

  “Where’s Angel?” She asked.

  “Outside playing with Scruffy.” My eyes floated back toward the picture window. “She’s over by the—oh, now she’s gone.”

  The sun had hidden within the dark clouds, which were almost above the farmland. Nana shifted her feet. “You think she’s safe out there by herself? I don’t like that at all.”

  “It’s not like we can’t hear them if They come,” Sandy said.

  “Right, right,” Doc said, chiming in. “They’re obnoxiously noisy savages.”

  Forest shook his head, his eyes narrowed. “I think perhaps, as usual, Doctor, you’re being overly-dramatic. Even the most mindless beasts possess instinctual strategies when stalking their prey.”

  He walked over and looked over Nana’s wide frame, into the sink. “They have mouths like the animals that give us sustenance. The true danger we face is being subjected to the ridiculous sounds that spew from those mouths and the beastly odors which leak from it and make my stomach churn.”

  “Son, shut your mouth,” Nana said, chuckling.

  Forest let out a little chuckle himself, and continued. “If we lure them into a trap, and then strip them of their weapons, I’m sure I’d be able to figure out how to use the weapons and They would be harmless. That should be our plan going forward.”

  He squeezed his large hand on Nana’s broad shoulder, and she brought hers up to lovingly rub his. “Besides, Nana has total control of the kitchen so I’m not needed here. It’s nearly time for breakfast. I will check on Angel—”

  “Wait-a-minute,” I said. “How would you know something like that unless you encountered one first hand? And as far as I know, we’ve all been too busy ducking and staying clear of attacks to smell the odor on Their—”

  The screen door slammed open and Angel rushed into the kitchen from outside with sprinkles of wetness on her face. “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

  Her eyes widened when she realized the kitchen was full. “Hey everybody! Hey Nana!”

  “Hello Angel,” Nana said.

  “Is it raining outside, sweetie?” I asked.

  “Only a little,” she said. “But it feels good. It’s hot, Mommy.”

  Nana chuckled. “Breakfast will be ready for your total absorption, very soon.”

  “Good,” Angel said. “Yum—yummy.”

  “Would you like to be Nana’s little helper and clean the kitchen table?”

  My little baby nodded, but skipped toward the walk-in closet. “Uh-huh, in a minute.”

  She ran into the closet and came out with a red box of grain or some type of food that rattled inside. I grabbed one of her tiny arms, gently.

  “Now where do you think you’re going, young lady?”

  Puppy eyes. “Nowhere, Mommy.”

  Just then, as if her partner-in-crime came to aid with her escape, Scruffy stood at the open door and barked.

  “I was almost finished playing house with my friends,”

  Angel said, whining. “What friends?” I asked, kneeling down to her eye level.

  “Mr. Bug, Mrs. Bug, and Space Boy.”

  I felt Forest tense up, but didn’t think it was for any particular reason. Being our security officer, he was always tensing up—ready to serve and protect. I cocked my head a little.

  “Space Boy?” Nana laughed.

  “That child has more imaginary friends than she can count on her hands.”

  Forest let out a light sigh.

  Before I could protest about Angel leaving, she reached out and tugged on one of Forest’s hulking fingers. “Will you take me, Forest? That way, I can ride back on your shoulders and we’d be back quicker.”

  Forest turned to me, his face full of indifference, and if I didn’t know better, guilt. The sound of thunder rumbled, and the sky flashed with lightning.

  “Go ahead, Forest. But it looks like a storm is nearly upon us. I wouldn’t want either of you to get caught—”

  “We won’t, Mommy,” Angel insisted. I’m just being over-protective, I told myself, and then three words—the exact same three words I spoke to Hunter the last time I saw him alive, I said to Angel and Forest: “Just be careful.”

  She and Foster went out the screen door, and he closed it shut. Scruffy followed lazily behind them, stopping every few feet to mark his territory, shaking the drizzle of rain from his floppy ears. I sidestepped to the picture window and watched them walk toward the barn.

  Nana came and stood beside me. “Hmm, looks like a storm is brewing, and intends on having us for breakfast.”

  I didn’t look up but kept my eyes on my baby and Forest, who kept throwing suspicious glances over his shoulder.

  Nana leaned closer to the window. “What are those two up to? Forest looks as guilty as Scruffy did the time he jumped up on the table and ate my late night snack while I was washing my hands.”

  Like finding a lost piece of a puzzle, it all clicked. That’s how he knew how so much about Them. I bolted out the door. Thundered boomed and lightning flashed, creating yellow veins in the sky. Heat flushed against my cheeks and tiny pellets of coolness braised my face and body, as the rain fell from the darkened sky. The scent of rain was thick in the air and my patience with Forest became thin, and sharp as a razor.

  My daughter, always the little helper pulled the wool over my eyes that time. It was my job to lead everyone, and to protect our interests but lately, all I’ve been is distracted—being Mommy. No wonder Forest volunteered to look for Angel in the barn, even those times when I was half-way across the field, almost there: They had a secret—in the barn.

  Doc and Sandy called after me. Their footfalls soon trailed behind, sweeping against the tall weeds. The rain started to fall harder. My hair clung to my forehead getting soaked by the wetness. I didn’t have to look back to know that Nana was still in the house. She was the reason why it all made sense to find one good place to hide in, and stop running—until we could come up with a better plan for survival.

  I still kicked myself for letting her come with us, I just couldn’t say no to the woman who practically raised me, on the force. She had once been a good captain, but was now too old and stayed on to be a mentor. I would die if anything happened to her. I loved her—hell, I’d grown to love them all. They were my family now, and I’d be damned if I’d let anything happen to any of them.

  Too many lives had been lost already. There would be no more on my watch—no more. When I reached the dilapidated barn door, I pushed but it was bolted lock from the inside; as if that could stop me. I took a few steps back, and rammed my shoulder into the door. A pang of pain rippled down my shoulder.

  Both the door and I went tumbling awkwardly down, crashing to the ground. A cloud of dust rose around me as I rolled into strands of hay and dirt. Quickly, I rolled to my feet. When my eyes fell upon what lay before me, I felt completely disappointed in Forest and Angel. How could they? Sandy and Doc ran into the barn, and stopped a few feet behind.

  “You—you caught one of Them?” Doc asked.

  My head had become a lamp burning, and the heat it produced hurled fire at Forest.

  I wanted to burn him with my rage. “How could you be so reckless, Forest! You put my daughter and the last of our own kind in danger? And for what reason?”

  I lunged for him and slapped him, feeling my hand burn with satisfaction. His head moved to the side but Forest remained calm, unfazed. That infuriated me more. “How dare you take a matter like this into your own hands? They are dangerous!”

  “No, Mommy. Look, he’s not dangerous.” Before I could take another step, Angel, still holding the red box with a cartoonish picture of a white rabbit on the box, dug her hand into the box and lifted out a handful of colorful round puffy seeds of grain, maybe a half inch in diameter. “Angel, no!”

  It was too l
ate.

  It was the first time I saw one up close. They were quite difficult to look at, frankly—so ugly. I realized also that They had skin in a variety of colors. I’d seen many of them from afar, hiding behind their big machines—their skin was so different from ours and in different hues. This one’s complexion was as dark as the night. Not quite as black but more brown. His hair was wooly and dark, too, and he had puffy red eyes like a beast that never slept.

  “See, Mommy?” Angel, our little helper, lifted her hand to his mouth.

  I took a step forward, glancing at Forest and he gestured for me to remain still. My heart hammered as bursts of fire spread throughout my body and beads of sweat formed on my head. “Baby, No!”

  It was only then that I noticed that he had not been restrained by twine or rope. He leaned against a stack of hay and lifted his head and touched my baby’s hand, helping her guide it toward his mouth. A moaning sound came from his mouth, and he began to chew. His mouth was like that of an animal with sharp teeth, and jaws that opened and closed shut when he ate, the grain making a crunchy sound. I noticed a book, maybe eight-by-eleven inches, with a blue covering on the stack of hay.

  “There you go, Space Boy, yummy food,” Angel said, but he seemed too busy eating to respond.

  Suddenly, he looked at me and started making sounds with his mouth. Doc and Sandy gasped.

  “I believe he is trying to communicate with us,” Forest said. “I’ve been trying to decipher his language but it is our decipherer, Angel, who has made the most progress communicating with him.”

  The creature made some kind of gesture with his hands and nodded his head.

  Angel stuck her tiny hands back into the box and fed him more food. “He’s saying, thank you.”

  He laughed. Angel laughed with him, as if they were siblings, or best friends, enjoying a joke.

  Forest had been standing behind them the whole time but now he walked up beside the alien, gesturing toward him. “You see. It has no weapon. And this one is a harmless child—smaller, weaker.”

  “What is he wearing?” Sandy asked. Doc walked forward, finally joining the rest of us, from the rear. “Yeah, he doesn’t look like the others.”