Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon)

by A. M. Griffin

  The survivalists let us know they are moving out and suggest we do the same. By my watch, I only got six hours of sleep, but it was six nightmare-free hours and I’m feeling more refreshed than I have for a while.

  We spend the morning like the one before. We keep up a steady pace and run into more people. But, as the day wears into late afternoon and the trees become sparse, so does the amount of people we encounter. At one point, we start to wonder if we’re the only ones traveling through this area. We haven’t seen or heard from anyone else in the last hour. It’s only when we near what used to be an RV park that we begin to hear light murmurings. Wade stops us with a hand up and places a finger across his lips, the signal to be quiet. He motions for MJ follow him.

  We wait patiently and watch them as they disappear between the RVs. We have no reason to fear anyone, but since we don’t know what’s going on I don’t mind that Wade and MJ check everything out first. They’re not gone for more than a couple of minutes before they return.

  “They’re all good,” MJ says. “They have some room and offered to let us rest with them for a little while.”

  My feet are tired and sitting, if only for a couple of minutes, doesn’t sound like a bad idea. “Do they have any meat?” I ask MJ, as I follow him back to the abandoned RV.

  “I doubt it,” he says, as he holds open the door for us.

  Great. I haven’t had meat in forever. The crackers just aren’t doing it anymore. This impromptu diet might be working for Wade, but I can barely keep my sweatpants up.

  I enter through the narrow door and move to a seat in the back, saying my hellos to all five people I pass. They’ve got a stash of junk food, pop and bottles of water piled off to one side. The smell of sugar, the really good kind, fills the cramped space. I settle into a spot, letting everyone else enter behind me. As they do, I look around. There’s an elderly couple, two middle-aged men, and a younger woman nursing an infant.

  I settle into a seat and Shayla sits down next to me, on my right. The woman with the baby catches me staring at her. My first impulse is to turn away, to give her some privacy, but I don’t want it to appear that I’m freaked out, so I don’t. I smile. “How old is your baby?”

  She peers down at the infant and then back to me. “Missy will be coming up on three months this week.”

  It must be hard to travel with an infant. How can she tell her baby to stop crying and be quiet? She couldn’t. If the baby cried when the aliens were around that would be capture for all.

  “I’m Harry,” the older man says, yanking me away from my train of thought. “This is my wife Angel.” He points to an older lady with a warm smile and sad eyes. Then he points to one of the men. “That’s Jacob.” And then he points to the other man. “That’s Kevin, his wife Mandy and their daughter Missy.”

  Wade, the last to enter, secures the door and comes to the back. He says, “Excuse me,” as he steps over everyone’s feet to take a seat on my left, squeezing into a spot that, in my opinion, isn’t big enough for him. I move over, pressing against Shayla so he can wiggle next to me.

  Shayla peers around me to him. “Really dude? You couldn’t sit up front?”

  Wade’s gaze flicks from Shayla to me. “MJ and Ian are covering the front.”

  Shayla rolls her eyes and sits back. “Sure.”

  One by one, we all take turns giving our names, with Ms. Burgess going last. “Thank you for letting us in,” she says after she tells them her name. “I have to admit that my feet are on fire. The kids keep up a strong pace.”

  “Where are ya’ll headed?” Jacob asks.

  “Michigan. We were on a band trip in Tallahassee when the invasion happened. We’re just trying to get back home.”

  Harry shakes his head. “That’s dangerous. You alone, traveling with kids that far north. Dangerous.”

  “They’re trying to get home,” Angel says. She watches us with sad eyes and reaches for her husband’s hand. “They want to go home to their mothers and fathers.”

  “Do they have mothers and fathers to go home to?” Jacob mutters.

  I gasp.

  “Don’t you dare say anything like that in front of these children,” Angel snaps.

  I’m not the only one surprised at what Jacob said. Shayla places her hand on my wrist and squeezes. It’s something I think each of us has wondered more than once but have never voiced out loud. Hearing it from Jacob, this stranger, doesn’t feel right.

  As Angel implied, it’s rude. Jacob doesn’t know me, he doesn’t know any of us. And he definitely doesn’t know that my mother grew up on the east side of Detroit—she’s a survivor. Or that Wade comes from a family of hunters, who’ll be hiding out for sure. He doesn’t know what our families are made of.

  I put my hand over Shayla’s, comforting her. I want to tell her to screw this asshole but I bite my tongue.

  “Sorry,” Jacob says. “I didn’t mean to say that.” His apology sounds a bit half-assed to me but, unlike me, Ms. Burgess seems all too agreeable and accepts his apology.

  Angel is still peering at Jacob through the slits of her eyes.

  “Are you all hungry?” Mandy asks. “We don’t have much, but what we do have helps to keep the hunger pains away.”

  “I think we might have more to offer you,” Ms. Burgess says, trying to sound as if Jacob didn’t just tell us all that our families are dead. She indicates to the bags Wade, MJ and Ian are holding. “We have some canned goods. We only have the one can opener so we can’t leave that behind.”

  “Thank God,” Mandy exclaims. “We’ve been living off of junk food for a while now. The baby needs a little more sustenance.”

  MJ reaches into his bag and gives Mandy three of our canned goods. “Here you go.”

  “Fair trade,” Harry declares.

  “Honey, can you get them something to eat?” Mandy says to Kevin.

  Kevin grabs a handful of snacks from their stash and throws us each one. I catch my sour cream and onion potato chips like it’s the homerun ball from a major league baseball game. Opening it I savor the smell.

  It’s wonderful.

  My mouth waters and my eyes roll back in my head. Mia squeals as she opens her candy bar. Everyone is in their own little world as we snack on our goodies.

  The first chip that lands on my tongue ignites my taste buds. I can’t remember chips ever tasting this good. I chew very slowly and thoroughly, trying to make each chip last as long as I can. Between each one I take a swig of the bottled water I’ve been nursing since yesterday. Half-way into the bag, I roll it up and stuff it and the bottle into my bag.

  I can save this for later.

  “How long have you guys been in here?” Ms. Burgess asks between bites of her cupcake.

  “Since yesterday,” Kevin replies. “We came down from New York. We’re on our way to Mexico.”

  “Mexico? What’s there?”

  “Undeveloped land. If we can make it to Mexico, we can keep going until we reach South America. We’d rather take our chances hiding in the jungle.”

  I eye the baby again. It’s a wonder that they made it this far with her. I can’t imagine trying to get to South America.

  “We don’t stay in one place for very long, but we found this RV Park.” Harry beats against the wall. “It’s not home but it’ll do for now. We’re just regrouping.”

  “That’s smart,” Ms. Burgess says.

  “Where did you get the candy?” MJ asks. He’s licking chocolate from the empty wrapper.

  “There’s a convenience store up the road some. There’s not much in there, but plenty for you all.”

  “Sweet,” Ian says.

  Wade shakes his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. The lizards could be hanging out there.”

  Ian nods in Harry and Kevin’s direction. “They didn’t get caught.”

  “I don’t want to risk it,” Wade replies.

  “Good thing nobody put you in charge of me,” Ian says smartly.

&nbs
p; Ms. Burgess puts up her hand. “Enough guys. We don’t want our hosts to regret ever letting us in. I agree with Wade. I don’t want to risk our lives for some snacks. As long as we ration what we have, we’ll have enough food to get us home. If we do have to get more, we’ll do like we did the first time, find a house.”

  Even though my stomach has a mind of its own and right now doesn’t mind risking my life for snacks, the practical side agrees with Ms. Burgess.

  “This tastes good, but I don’t want to die for it,” Mia says.

  “I don’t either,” I add.

  Shayla takes a deep breath. “I should also agree but my stomach is screaming out for candy.”

  MJ licks one side of the inside of his wrapper clean. I think he’s going to finish off the other side, but he folds the wrapper and places it in the pocket of his jeans. It seems stupid to save it, but maybe he wants to finish it later. “You’re right, Ms. B. If we come across snacks we’ll get them. I don’t want to die over them.” He shrugs. “Besides, we still have a while to go. We’re sure to pass some other stores on the way.”

  Yeah right, I want to say. Not with the routes we’ve been taking. No one builds stores in the middle of trails and wooded areas.

  “Sure,” Shayla says, sounding just as doubtful as I’m feeling.

  “We’d love to have you come with us,” Harry says.

  “Thanks, but no thank you,” Ms. Burgess says. “But if you don’t mind we’d like to hang out here for another hour or so to rest our feet.”

  “No problem,” Harry says.

  And true to Ms. Burgess’ words, we leave at the hour mark. Everyone is more than anxious to keep moving. We still have a long way to go and the most treacherous part of the trip is still ahead of us. The mountains are a hop, skip and jump away. We’ll have to get through the western tip of North Carolina first. According to Wade, we’ll need about two days to get through both areas and to Maryville, Tennessee.

  As soon as the woods begin to thicken again, we start to run into more people. With more people comes more stories about the aliens. When we get closer to North Carolina we run into a couple who tell us the aliens have swept through Asheville. Everyone who hasn’t been caught is fleeing toward the mountains. All the more reason we need to get through the area as quickly as possible.

  We all know the consequences of being around a lot people. The more people, the more aliens. It’s just a matter of time before the aliens move their hunting ground from the residential areas to the mountains.

  And, when that happens, we plan to be as far away from these parts as we can possibly get.

  Chapter Six

  Near Robbinsville, North Carolina

  April 18th, 2012: Day 27

  Slap. “Shit,” MJ mutters under his breath.

  I don’t stir from my spot, or even give him a glance, but continue my game with Shayla. MJ has been battling bugs for the past hour. When we first found this place, hidden beneath the trees, with an area that would accommodate all of us, everyone could clearly see the mosquitoes and other flying things had gravitated to a few of the bushes outlining the perimeter. Shayla and I warned him not to sit or lie down so close to the bushes where, under the moonlight, a million little bugs hovered. But I think because the “girls”, told him to move, he’s trying to prove us wrong and stay anyway.

  “Serves him right,” Shayla murmurs, under her breath. Although I’m not bothered by MJ’s refusal to find somewhere else to bed down for the night, Shayla clearly is. Every now and then she peeks at him from the corner of her eye and murmurs curses at him, agitation lacing every word.

  Shayla and I are sitting cross-legged, facing each other, with a pile of twigs between us. To pass the time, we’ve collected them, deciding to play our own version of pick-up sticks. It’s not the same as the actual game, but it’s working out for us just the same—we’d do just about anything to pass the time.

  “Man,” Wade says to MJ, with a low chuckle. “Do you want some of this bug spray?” The spray was a luxury item we traded for water earlier in the day. We could have lived with the bug bites, but we took a vote on it. Trading one bottle of water meant we would have to tighten up our water rations until we could find another source. And seeing how MJ was struggling and we weren’t, I quickly decided we had made the right decision.

  Slap.

  “I don’t need anything. Nothing is bothering me.”

  Shayla and I meet each other’s eyes. She rolls her eyes in exasperation. “Really?”

  “Lucky for him it’s so chilly out. I’m sure if it was any warmer this whole area would be covered with bugs.”

  “And I bet you he still wouldn’t put on the spray, just because I suggested it.”

  I shake my head and smile. It’s so obvious she cares for him and the fact that he’s getting torn up by bugs is hurting her just as much as it’s hurting him. “That’s your man. You deal with him.”

  She lowers her head and peers from out the corner of her eyes to where MJ stays, defiantly, by that bush. He has his jacket zipped all the way up, the hood pulled over his head with the drawstrings tightened around his face. His feeble attempts to keep the bugs off of him are clearly not working, because even from here I can see how miserable he looks. I also see Wade rolling the can of bug spray MJ’s way.

  Doing as Shayla does, I pretend to not even notice him as he quickly picks up the bug spray and hides it behind his back. When he’s confident that we aren’t watching him, he turns away from us and it isn’t long before I can hear the faint burst of aerosol as he coats himself.

  “He’s not my man,” she says in a whisper, turning her attention back to our game. “He thinks of me as his little sister.”

  I carefully slide one of the middle sticks out from the stack. “You guys could have fooled me.”

  “He’s with Kiera.” Shayla chews on her bottom lip and selects a stick. “That’s all he talks about is going back home and finding her.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah, I know.” She takes a deep, steadying breath. “Our parents are good friends, so he thinks he’s responsible for me. He wants to get me home safe. He likes me, but he doesn’t like-like me.” She quickly glances up at me then back down to the sticks. “It’s not what you think.”

  I shrug. “It’s none of my business. But if you ask me, I think you guys make a good couple.”

  I was used to seeing gorgeous Kiera and handsome MJ walking the halls of school, hand-in-hand. They were pretty much inseparable. They seemed to make the perfect couple. But now, seeing him with Shayla, it seemed more natural, not at all forced. With Kiera, it felt like they were some kind of power couple. He’d be behind the steering wheel of her BMW and they’d pull up to the school parking lot, where their entourage would be waiting for them. I guess to everyone, not just me, it was expected that when MJ made it big in football, Kiera would become his trophy wife.

  Shayla doesn’t have the model good looks Kiera has. She’s a lot shorter than MJ, probably around five-foot-five, and she’s curvier than Kiera’s long, lithe frame. Before she began wearing her hair in braids it was cut in a short bob, whereas Kiera always had a long, flowing, super-diva weave in at all times.

  “You would be the only one. Everyone adored MJ and Kiera as a couple. The golden boy and girl.” She lets out a light laugh. “Hell, I even thought they were perfect together. Sometimes I thought about it though…us…as a couple. ”

  “Sounds like you would have changed that if you had gotten the chance.”

  “Maybe, I would have.”

  I lean over to whisper to her. “Pst. Now’s your chance.”

  She clears her stick from the pile. “Your turn. You don’t understand. MJ and I have known each other our entire lives. That’s why he sees me as a sister. I can’t make a move and pounce on him.” She shakes her head and the waves of braids bounce on her shoulders. “It would be too weird.”

  I work on pulling out my next stick. “I knew the two of you were close. I
used to see you and your clique all the time. I admired the awesomeness from afar.”

  “We were not awesome. Well, maybe just a little bit.” She says the last sentence with a smirk.

  I clear my stick from the pile without it toppling over. “To me, you and MJ were part of the cool kid’s clique.”

  She nods up to me. “What about you and Mia. I’ve seen you hanging around Ian and his crew. You’ve been hanging out with the rich boys so much I thought you would have snagged you one by now.”

  “Uh, no. I only hang out with them because of Mia. If I wasn’t with her, and if she wasn’t with Ian, they wouldn’t be caught near me. In case you haven’t noticed I’m a nerd. Hanging out with the rich kids could never change that. And I wouldn’t change what I am or who I am to try and fit in with them. I really don’t see any of them paying my college tuition.”

  “But still, if it were me, I would have hooked up with one of them. I’ve never dated a rich kid before.”

  “Neither have I.”

  She straightens a little and eyes me. “Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you with a boyfriend. I always wondered why you never dated anyone. Getting good grades can’t be so important that you kill your social life over it.”

  I point one of my twigs at her. “It is when you want to get into a good school.” I snap the twig in half. “Plus…guys were never interested in me that way. If they needed a calculus tutor, then I was the girl to call. If they wanted a date…well, they called someone else, which was fine with me.”

  “I don’t think you gave anyone a chance to get to know you.”

  “Pft. I’m glad I didn’t. I wanted to get into Michigan and do something other with my life than follow guys around and end up pregnant.”

  “Whoa. I said a boyfriend. I didn’t say go down the unwanted pregnancy road.”

  “Yeah, but I see it all as one. I thought—still think—that I can worry about boys later. I just wanted to concentrate on college and a career.”