Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon)

by A. M. Griffin

  My knife isn’t hanging from the string of my sweats anymore since, thanks to Jason, I have a handy-dandy carrying case for it. It didn’t take much to cut the bottom of my t-shirt off and use the material to strap the case under my sweats and around my thigh. My shirt is so long that no one will notice the missing material and my sweats are so baggy that there’s not even a bulge where the knife is hidden. I almost giggle out loud at the thought of another ambush. The very next time someone sneaks up on me I’ll have a surprise of my own.

  Score one for me.

  There’s something comforting in the feel of the case pressed against my thigh. Not the same way I felt when Jason put his arm around me, but a different kind of comfort. I feel as though I can take care of myself, I’m not a weakling.

  This morning, Ms. Burgess is walking on her own. I have hope that she’s going to be okay. She still hasn’t talked much, except to mutter curses under her breath while she sharpened a walking stick into a fine point this morning. Ken is still protecting her, keeping her under his watch and everyone else away.

  But somehow Shayla had muscled her way to Ms. Burgess’ side. She ignored Ken when he tried to tell her to go with Mia and me. Instead of listening to him, she puts an arm around Ms. Burgess’ waist and helps her down the path. They lumber in front of Mia and I, sometimes tripping over stones or tree roots and other times tripping over each other’s feet.

  After nearly falling again, Ms. Burgess gives Shayla a light push away. “Good Lord. You’ll make us both fall.”

  “I’m trying to help you walk, Ms. B.”

  Ms. Burgess’ hand goes up, shooing Shayla’s outstretched hands away. “Thank you, but I can walk on my own.”

  “But, Ms. Burgess—” Mia begins.

  Ms. Burgess tsked. “I don’t want to hear it from you either, Mia. I can walk on my own.”

  “I don’t want you to hurt yourself,” Shayla says.

  “By what? Falling?” Ms. Burgess states. She does her best to straighten her clothes. “I’m not some fragile flower. I will survive.” She glances over to Shayla and then to Mia and I. “I know that I can survive anything now.”

  She’s going to be just fine.

  Shayla nods.

  Ms. Burgess sticks out her hand, reaching for Shayla’s. “But what I do need is a hand to hold.”

  Shayla accepts the hand Ms. Burgess offers. “Thank you, Ms. B.” Mia slips her hand in mine. We all need a hand to hold, especially after what we’ve been through.

  “Halt!”

  I startle at the baritone voice that gives the order. Everyone does. The guys raise their guns. Mia yelps and smashes herself to my side and Ms. Burgess screams, falling to her knees, while Shayla hovers over her in a panic.

  This is it. The Tanners found us.

  My heart crashes against my chest. Air ceases to flow through my lungs.

  Run far, far away.

  Where would I go? If I leave the circle of guns I’m good as caught. But I need to get away. I can’t go back there again. I just can’t.

  I try desperately to pull my hand out of Mia’s grasp. Holding her hand seems to root me in place. Blood rushes through my veins, its course passing by my ears so that I can’t hear anything else. It even drowns out the voice in my head that’s telling me run, leave this place.

  I look down at my hand. Mia’s hand is wrapped so tight around mine that I feel the pain from it. Her other hand grips my forearm just as hard.

  “Let me go,” I choke out. “It’s the Tanners, we’ll have to make a run for it.”

  “Sin, it’s not them.”

  Mia doesn’t know anything. I sweep my gaze to the guys. Weapons up, aimed and ready. Shayla has her knife drawn out, protecting Ms. Burgess.

  My knife.

  I reach for it with my free hand. It feels awkward in my left hand but I’ll have to make do.

  “Put the weapons down,” the voice commands.

  The voice doesn’t have that same mountain twang as the Tanners had, but I can’t trust my ears. My only hope is that the Tanners take a step out into the open and one of the guys pick them off. They’re just that stupid. I hold my breath.

  Come on Tanners, show yourselves.

  “Can’t do that,” Ken replies. He’s peering through the scope of his gun, one eye open and the other eye closed. “I have women and children with me.”

  “Put down your weapons and I’ll guarantee your safety.”

  “Don’t believe him!” I yell out. The knife in my weak hand suddenly doesn’t feel too strange. I rotate my wrist, gaining strength as I do.

  “Sinta, shut up,” Ken says to me. “As I said, whoever you are, that won’t be happening.”

  “Sinta,” Mia whispers. She finally releases my arm, only to put a hand on the one that’s wrapped around the knife. “Let Ken handle it.”

  I should. He’s a man and I’m just a girl. I know this. But reason can’t penetrate the screams in my head. “Screw that,” I yell out.

  “Someone shut her up,” Ken growls.

  Before I know what’s happening, MJ is twisting the knife out of my hand. I fight against him. He can’t take the only weapon I have. That’ll make me…vulnerable. “Don’t,” I cry. “I need that.”

  Forcing it from my grasp, MJ holds the knife out of my reach. “You’ll get it back when the crazy wears off.”

  “But…” I need it.

  Chapter Eleven

  An older Black man, wearing fatigues, matching hat and combat boots, steps out from the shadows. He has his hands up in surrender, but everything about him screams dangerous. “I’m unarmed. Put your guns down.”

  “And you think I’m stupid enough to believe that you’re traveling solo?” Ken asks.

  The man puts his hands down and crosses his arms over his chest. “I expect you to be smart enough to know when you’re out gunned and out manned.”

  I’m not the only one who peers past him, into the woods beyond.

  “Captain Page, of the U.S. Marine Corps. We’ve got a double lock on everyone here.”

  Ken gives Captain Page his full attention. “How do I know you aren’t bullshitting me?”

  The Captain exudes confidence, authority and command. “Is that a chance you’re willing to take?”

  Ken and Wade exchange glances, then Ken looks over my shoulder to where Jason stands behind me. I want to turn around, to see what Jason thinks of all of this but I can’t take my eyes off Captain Page and Ken. Ken lowers his weapon and indicates for everyone to do the same.

  Captain Page acts as though he was expecting this reaction. He doesn’t take a deep breath or a sigh of relief. “Where are you all headed?”

  Reluctantly, Ken takes a couple of steps backward, his eyes never leaving Captain Page. His steps are measured and sure as he keeps moving until he reaches to where Shayla and Ms. Burgess have cowered. Once there, he uses his left hand to lift Shayla up and hand her off to MJ.

  “Up north,” Ken says.

  Ken hooks his arm around Ms. Burgess and hauls her to her feet. He snakes an arm around her waist, supporting her shaking body. “You’ll have to excuse us. We’ve been through a lot.” He indicates Ms. Burgess. “They’ve been through the worst of it.”

  Ms. Burgess whimpers softly on Ken’s shoulder. “I’m fine. I thought… I’m fine.”

  “I understand,” Kens answers. “Wade, do you mind seeing to your teacher?”

  Wade doesn’t waste any time. He’s at Ms. Burgess’ side, coaxing her away from Ken. “It’s going to be okay Ms. B. They’re the good guys.”

  She wipes her cheeks on the sleeve of her shirt. “I know.”

  Captain Page nods once. “Understandable. Everyone has their own story to tell.”

  “Or one they’d rather forget,” Ken says.

  “True enough,” Captain Page says. “That’s a good idea to head up north. The aliens are there, but they aren’t as active as they are in the warmer climates. They’re reptiles. They don’t seem to like the cold we
ather. It’ll be getting quite chilly up there in about five months.”

  Mia finally releases my hand. When she does, a prickle of needle-like pain begins to spread across my palm as the feeling returns. “Did you hear that?” she says with a sob.

  “I never thought I’d be saying this, but I want an early and hard winter,” MJ says.

  “I want ice storms,” I add.

  “What about D.C.? That’s my final destination.”

  Captain Page cringes, showing emotion for the first time. “D.C. is no place for anyone now. Damn aliens have blown the capital to pieces.”

  “Ah, fuck,” Ian curses. “That sucks monkey-balls.” And this time Ms. Burgess doesn’t even ask him to correct his language. I want to do a little cursing myself.

  Ken shakes his head, as if he doesn’t want to believe what he has just heard. “What about the President? Vice President? Cabinet?”

  “The President and Vice President have been moved to secure places. Some of the members of congress are secured as well.”

  Ken exhales deeply and runs a hand through his hair, and for the first time since meeting him, his hair is out of place. “That’s what I was hoping. I’m Senator Kenneth Chamberlain, Republican from Georgia. I belong in D.C. with the rest of my family and my peers.”

  Captain Page pulls his bushy white brows together. “I still don’t think that’s a good idea, Senator. No one will be able to guarantee your safety.”

  “We have guns. We can take care of ourselves.”

  Captain Page steps closer and puts out his hand. “Let me see what you’re working with.”

  Against any advice that I would have given him, Ken gives up his weapon. The Captain turns the rifle up and around, inspecting it. “Have you seen those motherfuckers?”

  “We’ve run into a couple of them.”

  Captain Page let out a coarse chuckle and hands the rifle back to Ken. “No, you haven’t run into them. If you had, then we wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation. You’d be off in one of their space ships.”

  “So is that what they’re doing? We heard rumors, but everything we hear is so far-fetched that I can’t figure out what’s real.”

  “They’re taking anyone they can capture away in space ships. Intel says they’re taking them up to one of the big ones.” Captain Page looks up for emphasis, but we all know what the “big ones” are. “Our guess is that once they get everyone they need, they’ll take them away.”

  “And the rest of us?” Ken asks. “You think they’ll just leave?”

  “Wouldn’t that be ideal? They’ll take off after they get their fill of humans?”

  “That’s messed up,” Jason mutters.

  “Son, it may be messed up, but that’s what you better be hoping for.” Captain Page glances around at all of us. “If those aliens leave some humans here, then there’s hope that the human race can survive. Yes, we’ll be a few billion less, but we’ll survive and that’s all that counts.” He hooks his thumbs in the waistband of his fatigues. “Now if they decide to stay and set up roots, then that’s when we can kiss the human race goodbye.”

  “We won’t ever stop fighting,” Ken declares.

  “They’ve got technology that we’re not even close to developing.” He leans in a little closer. “These things talk. I’m not just talking about only English, but we have information that they know all the languages.”

  “How can they do that?”

  “Technology. They must have something that helps them to know how to communicate with us. So this is just one of the legs up they have on us. What they’re doing right now is child’s play. They’re attacking buildings to flush people out into the open. We’re easier to spot and pick up if we don’t have anywhere to hide. Now imagine if they really wanted to exterminate us.”

  Just then, the sound of one of their ships pierces the air. Like second nature, we all melt back against a tree, using the limbs and leaves as cover.

  Even as it passes over our heads, Ken lets out a string of curses. “That might be so, but we do have weapons, maybe not on their scale.” After the sound of the ship faded away, he holds up his gun. “We’re armed.”

  “We can kill them. They bleed, just like us. It’s green and it smells like rotting shit, but they do bleed.”

  “Well then, we’ll be fine.”

  Captain Page reaches into his pocket and tosses something at Ken. Catching it mid-air, Ken inspects it, rolling it around in his hand. “What is this?”

  Wade steps up and peers over Ken’s shoulder. After Ken finishes inspecting it, he hands it over to Wade. “Is this a fifty caliber bullet?”

  Captain Page nods. “Yep.”

  “What are you using to shoot these?” Wade asks, handing the bullet back to Ken.

  “Fifty rifle.”

  Ken, Jason and Wade whistle low.

  “What does that mean?’ Ian asks.

  “It means the guns we have won’t do anything to the aliens but give them a wicked itch,” Ken says in disgust.

  “Well, that sucks,” MJ says.

  A low whimper comes from Ms. Burgess. Like the rest of us, we had thought the guns and knives would provide us with some protection from the aliens and from anyone else who wanted to do us any harm.

  That’s shot to all hell, I think, with pun intended.

  Not only did we just find out that we couldn’t defend ourselves against the aliens, but that there were men roaming around with weapons larger and better than ours. My knees are so shaky I have to hold onto Mia for support.

  “How do we get weapons like yours?” I blurt out.

  Captain Page and Ken turn to peer at me, as if they’ve forgotten there were other people in the group. Neither of them immediately answers. I think I’ve asked a valid question. I don’t know why he hasn’t answered me yet.

  “The rifle…like yours,” I say. “We need one…or two if we’re going to survive.”

  “Sorry, little lady but we don’t have any to spare,” Captain Page says regretfully, looking at me as if he’s pitying me. As if he’s guessing we’ll all be dead or caught within the hour.

  Great. Tell us what we need and don’t give it to us.

  “So we just walk around, hoping the aliens don’t get to us?” I ask, my eyes darting back and forth between the Captain and Ken.

  “Sinta,” Jason says, coming to my side. “Calm down. We’re going to figure something out.”

  “But…” I tear my gaze from Ken and the Captain to try to focus on Jason. I know I’m acting a little crazy right now, but I’m so close to home I can almost feel it. But how can I get there with only this stupid knife and guns that’ll just give the aliens a “wicked itch”? “I just want to go home,” I cry out.

  He gathers me into his arms and holds me there. “Shh…don’t worry. You’ll get there.”

  “Sinta,” Mia says, rubbing a hand across my back. “We’re going to make it.”

  I don’t know if it’s the stress over the invasion, losing our friends and teachers, the endless walking, running into the Tanners, hunger, thirst, homesickness or not, but I feel as though my world has just splintered into a million pieces around me and there’s nothing I can do about it. The knife and guns had been the tape holding it all together. Now, without protection, I feel hopelessness and it feels like utter shit.

  My legs are so weak that I can barely stand. I know I should step away from him or push him off, but I can’t. I can give a million reasons why, but the most important reason is because I don’t want to be alone right now. So I let him keep his arms around me.

  I half-listen as Captain Page talks about how our best bet is getting high caliber weapons and, he points out, for those we need to find a gun store. He says that like it’s an easy thing to do. We’ve been traveling this long and haven’t run into one yet and if we do I’m not sure we know what to even get.

  He goes on to say that whenever he and his men get into a new town, that’s the first place they hit up to re-
up on supplies. He can’t promise we’ll even find a store that’s standing or, if we do, it would have the supplies we need. But Ken is thankful for the information anyway.

  I try to pay attention to what they’re saying but being this close to Jason is making my mind foggy, hazy. Not only is his body surrounding me, but so is his scent. In my head, I know he should smell awful, since he’s rotating his changes of clothes and we aren’t bathing regularly, but he doesn’t. He smells of the outdoors and of man.

  What exactly does man smell like?

  I take a deep breath in.

  Good.

  My hands tense, grasping his shirt.

  Crap.

  He’s trying to calm me down and I’m practically fawning all over him. MJ is right. I must be crazy. I’m going from hysterical to goo-goo-ga-ga in a heartbeat.

  “Sorry,” I say. “I didn’t mean to freak out.” I move to push away from him.

  He tightens his arms around me. “It’s fine, stay here,” he whispers in my ear. And those four little caressing words send out an impulse so strong that it travels from the side of my face, to my neck and down my back. I clench my jaw tight, but that does nothing to stop my spine from shuddering.

  “You’re still shaking a lot.”

  The embarrassment of shuddering in his arms causes heat to rush across my face. But it’s not just my spine that’s reacting to him. I look down at my hands to find that they’re trembling.

  I’m a hot mess.

  I’m behaving like a kid who has never had a guy hold her before.

  “What he said about the guns upset me. I probably need to just sit down for a minute and re-group.” I begin to lower myself to the ground, but he keeps me on my feet.

  “If you sit it might be harder to get you back up. This isn’t a resting spot.”

  No matter how hard I try to get away from him, he’s not going to let me. Not until he’s sure all the crazy has left my system. I nod in agreement, but then say, “I won’t sit down. I’ll keep standing. Here,” I try to wiggle away from him, turning in his arms so my back is against his chest, but to no avail. He refuses to release me, hanging on by clasping his hands around his forearms. “I’ll just let you go to your dad,” I grunt the last sentence out.