“So we will train, and we will grow strong and those that are uncivilized will pay. There are those among us humans, elements that are uncivilized and therefore a detriment to our very survival. They have blood on their hands and they only want more. Yale knows of our existence and they want what we have. They are amassing weapons and are training to attack us. They want the town and they want to destroy us. The once proud and mighty Yale has fallen into a state of decay, lead by savages. So it is up to us to liberate those captive in Yale by replacing their leadership and saving the town!”
Peter was wearing his West Point uniform, Olivia told him and Lee to wear their old uniforms to show that we were in charge.
“I will give you order against the chaos, a future and more importantly hope!” He finished.
Olivia and his cadre started clapping, the rest of the assembly joined in, louder and louder. He think they all realized the truth of the situation or it was just mob controlled frenzy, either way, whatever works.
Olivia walked over and Peter took his seat. Lee clapped him on his back.
“I, I, I,” he said. “What about we?” Lee asked with a smile.
Peter shrugged, “You know,” he replied grinning.
Olivia was done up like business woman. Her hair was tied up. She looked gorgeous as usual. He looked over at Sophie. He invited her to join the council. She looked so lost. She didn’t dress the way she use to or put on as much make-up. But she was still there, and alert.
“I have gathered all the survivor’s names and the council has assigned everyone a role. If anyone has a problem please feel free to come talk to me. We are currently arming our first platoon. So don’t feel bad if you’re not assigned field duty right away, everyone will get a chance to contribute.”
Olivia seemed to fall into the structure so easily. You’d almost think she was military.
Peter looked down at the front row of the auditorium at the first platoon. They were dressed in the newly designed military uniforms. Sophie suggested that the home-ec class could carry out her design. She found volunteers and laid out the pattern. Soon thirty outfits were cranked out. Nowhere near the quality of real uniforms, but not bad for amateurs. Olivia decided that the costumes should incorporate the colors of black, red and white only. She said that those three colors were the strongest mix. Personally Peter thought of the Nazis.
The new soldiers were waved onto stage. They walked up. The lights dimmed.
People cheered and clapped. The spot-light lit up the soldiers.
The gymnasium went dark, and in the darkness was the sound of the large projection screen coming down. Then video. They had a digital projector, state of the art.
It started up. It was a picture of the town on fire and of dead Night Crawlers and dead bodies.
“We know the enemy,” Olivia narrated, “And they know us. The Night Crawlers and the Night Dragons are essentially the same. But of course the Night Dragons have the unfortunate ability to fly and to… shoot fire. The Night Crawlers are just foot soldiers. The foot soldiers are the ones we should fear the most, they’ll be the ones we’ll meet the most.”
The footage turned to several Night Dragons flying around.
“This is footage that we picked up from the internet before it went down. Now the Night Dragons will only be produced in small numbers. It takes too much effort and energy to create the perpetual flying type. All of them can actually fly technically. The Night Crawlers do have wings, but usually don’t take to the air. These things are Praying Mantis like creatures. They have razor-sharp forearms with barbs to rip and tear at their prey and once you’re ensnarled, good luck. They have two sets of teeth. One over another, one up and down, the other sideways. They’ll immediately go for your throat. They also have a kind of venom; it’s more of a bacterium though. If you’re bitten, you will die. They contain many different kinds of bacteria that even if you find one kind of antibiotic, another one will kill you, a trait not commonly found, but certainly not unheard of.”
Olivia looked over at Peter while talking. Peter thought of Maddie. He tried to push her out of his mind, it wasn’t easy. But he had to for awhile. He was doing this all for her and so others didn’t suffer needlessly.
“So we put a certain amount of armor on the uniform, hopefully to protect the exposed area. We modified football helmets to wear and reinforced the chest area for certain forearm attacks. And while they have an exo-skeleton, they probably have no natural enemies…”
“And God help us if they do,” Peter whispered to Lee.
The thought was terrifying. But having no natural enemies certainly explained why they burst up, they had nowhere else to go, their population was just too big. A chill went down his spine.
“So hopefully they shouldn’t be too battle-ready, but they won’t be push over’s regardless. Hopefully a sharp weapon or a gun will pierce their shell. Now with the summer coming we should be prepared for the idea of a full scale occupation. That is why securing the city is so important now during this late season snow storm.”
Olivia had established firm control over the council, and by proxy the school.
“We will train until Peter thinks we are ready and then we will slowly move against New Haven and take Yale by any means necessary.”
The students cheered. They were given hope against rumors of certain death.
Olivia smiled and waved at the crowd and walked off. The movie continued showing the carnage of the creatures. He looked up at it and wondered how many people he knew were already dead, family, old friends…
And all the poor people He didn’t know. What kind of struggles were they having?
He was seeing red again… Slow deep breaths.
Chapter 7
Lee walked into his room and threw off his gear and stripped down to his boxers and grabbed a portable gaming machine and threw himself on his bed.
He played for a little while, but knew he had to jump in the shower.
He locked his door and pulled out a porn mag and opened it on a bust blonde with her legs spread and her pussy open wide. He thought about going and seeing Evelyn, but figured it was too far away.
He started jerking off looking at the hot girl.
Then there was a knock at the door.
“Shit,” he swore and threw the magazine under his blanket and looked around for a pair of pants.
“Hold on,” Lee said trying to fold his hard on in his pants. He threw a shirt on and answered the door.
“Olivia! Hi.”
“Hi, can I come in?”
“Sure,” Lee said and opened the door.
Olivia looked around, “Nice room. What’s up. Heard you came back from training. Have fun?”
“Yeah it’s going good.”
“And we’re going to be ready to strike out soon?”
“Yes.”
Olivia nodded and there was an odd silence. Olivia walked around looking at the room.
“Cool stuff.”
“Thanks.”
“Lee, I know… well we’ve had our thing or whatever, I guess. Okay…” Olivia turned to him and sat on his bed.
“Are you and that chick going out?”
“Who?”
“That Yale chick, I’ve seen you two around.”
“Oh here, no we’re just… friends.”
“With benefits?”
Lee shrugged a little, “I guess, she’s been traumatized.”
“Oh,” Olivia felt the magazine under the blankets and pulled it out.
“I’ll take that,” Lee said and grabbed it and threw it into a drawer.
“Sorry, I didn’t know I was interrupting things,” she laughed.
“Geez,” Lee said embarrassed.
Olivia stood up.
“Listen, it’s cool if you’re dating that chick, I’ll go.”
Olivia walked to the door.
“Hold on, is that all you came here for?”
“I just wanted clarity.”
“Wh
y?”
“Lee… you know why.”
“I’m not seeing her.”
“Ok, whatever. I’m not really looking for a guy that does things like that, so…”
“Neither am I.”
“What looking for a guy?”
“No, I’m not like that, it’s the… the times you know. I know how lame that sounds,” Lee grabbed her hands, “Olivia, if you… want. I’m not like that. I… I’ve only ever wanted you.”
“Oh, Lee, I’d love to believe that, but…”
“If you’re willing to give us a chance, I’ll do anything. You have to let me show you that I’m the guy you want.”
“You don’t have to do that, I’m just a girl…”
“You are the most amazing and gorgeous girl here.”
“Well, we both know that’s not true, look at Sophie and clearly you’ve got a thing for blondes.”
“No. Sophie is nothing compared to you.”
“Really?”
“Swear to God.”
“Well, I guess we could try it.”
“Really?”
Olivia nodded and reached in and kissed him. She pushed him back to the bed and pushed him down.
“I’m not very good with this stuff,” Olivia said and pulled down his pants. She grabbed his dick and started jerking him off.
She slowly and awkwardly ran her tongue up and down his shaft and then engulfed it in her mouth she started bobbing up and down.
She leaned back and started stroking him off again.
She went back down on him, “Fuck my mouth,” Olivia said to him.
Lee thrust his hips and his cock rammed her mouth as she went down on him.
“Don’t cum in my mouth though,” Olivia said.
Olivia grabbed him with both hands and stroked him harder.
“Ok,” Lee said as he started shooting cum out.
Olivia jumped back as Lee started cumming, he grabbed his dick and jerked off as he came.
“It’s a start,” Olivia said and walked out of the room.
Chapter 8
In the next few days they moved against the city and within a week they were engaging citizens that attacked back. The snow continued, giving them an amazing opportunity to train. Peter lead a force and Lee lead another. Peter didn’t lose a single person. Lee was a bit vicious though, attacking people that we maybe could have saved instead.
After a week of fighting Peter was strained and worn out. He sat down in the jungle room. That was the underground greenhouse that they had re-named. The snow had stopped coming down and Peter stopped all training exercises and retreated back to the school. He had also stopped receiving messages from his brother, all communication were now down.
Sophie had the idea of turning all and any underground or basement into plant rooms. Peter sat with Sophie and sat admiring a waterfall that someone had rigged up. They also set up a few tanning beds that an expedition had found in town. Olivia thought it would be a good idea for people to get some color before they all started looking like vampires.
And all the while; no one had raised a single voice in protest to him.
Sophie had asked him to meet him here. He hadn’t talked to her a lot lately. Not a surprise though really.
He basked in the warmth and the light. He even changed into a short sleeve shirt. The first he’d warn since the sun went down seemingly a lifetime ago.
“Do you think Madison would be proud of you?” Sophie asked him.
He had thought about Maddie, but he mostly tried to make himself too busy to think about her. It hurt too much. He visited her grave whenever possible.
“I’d like to think so.”
“Do you ever wonder if you misunderstood her?
He shook his head.
“No, I think I heard her quite clearly.”
Sophie nodded and looked away. She wasn’t as dark as she used to be. He used to think she had a perma-tan, but it was slowly fading.
“It’s just some of us question the wisdom of attacking Yale.”
“Interesting. But it’s not like Yale itself is full of scared kids. They knew what they were doing. Besides, it’s not like I’m going to kill them all, it’s not going to be a massive bombing campaign. I don’t have F-15’s. But what some of them did was cold and calculated and that I can’t let go unpunished.”
“And you’re willing to accept the collateral damage? And besides you literally don’t have a clue as to who said no to you.”
“Sophie it’s not just about Yale itself. It’s also about New Haven. If we don’t control Yale, we don’t control New Haven! It’s simple economics: I’m willing to lose a few for a lot. And yes I do.”
“Peter, you don’t even know if she could have survived. You heard Jack, she may not have survived anyhow with that weird bacteria stuff, even Olivia said it during her little rally. In fact… she really wouldn’t have. No one would have, not this early in the game.”
“She would have.”
“Or how we would have even got her there.”
“We would have.”
“Maybe. But you’re still planning to attack all the same?” she asked him.
This wasn’t like her. He thought she’d be a pit bull. When He first met, heck up until Maddie’s and Alessandro’s deaths, she was still vicious. She was being weird… soft.
“Sophie, I will march into Yale with my army and I will ask for the ones that killed Maddie and I will shoot them. Now if Yale decides not to give them to me, or they don’t want to follow us, well that’s their decisions and we all have to live with our decisions, some a little longer, some a little less.”
“Right, there needs to be order? Isn’t that what we did to Afghanistan?”
“Bingo!” He smiled at her.
“And did that work out for the average Afghani?”
He shrugged, “Well not now, they’ve probably been eaten. But hey at least they have tons of weapons and soldiers all over the place! Do you know what I would do for that kind of training?”
She sighed and shook her head.
“You know Rachel right?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Well her, Jack, and Wendham have been busy making a hospital helping people instead of killing them. She was best friends with Madison, but she doesn’t want to kill.”
“Sophie, do you not want revenge?”
“What I want is different than revenge.”
“It’s all the same. You saw Alessandro killed in front of you, you can’t tell me that even a tiny part of you doesn’t want revenge. Watching him butchered like that. Take away your emotional connection and just relate on a human level and tell me that you don’t want retribution for what has happened to our world?”
Sophie shook her head and took off her shirt. She had a bikini top on.
“Sorry, just wanted to tan a bit.”
”It’s okay.”
She sighed.
“What happened to me and you that day was horrible. No one should have to go what we went through, but we did and we have to deal. I know I’ve been a bit of a bitch through my life, but I know the difference between a human acting on its own accord and a soulless insect, created to kill.”
“And do you know the difference between living and dying?”
“How can you even ask me that? You know I do, and don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what you’ve done, everyone does. I thank you for that, and I know we’ll always look out for each other. I’m just trying to appeal to your common sense,” she looked at him with real emotion. He only ever saw her have real emotion when she was around Maddie.
He reached out and touched her leg.
“Sophie, we have to. It’ll be good for me, it’ll be good for you, and it’ll be good for the school.”
Sophie grabbed his hand and held it tight.
“I wish Madison was alive.”
He nodded at her.
“But if you prefer illusion over despair?” She asked softly.
He shook his head and smiled.
“Nice try you. But I’m not biting. And you hung around Maddie way too long. Anyways what do you think of Olivia?” He asked.
“She’s smart, loyal, I don’t like her, but she would have been extremely useful in Nazi Germany as a propagandist, so you seem to making the best use of her.”
“I think I liked it more when we didn’t talk. Do you think I’m acting like Hitler? ‘Cause that kind of hurts and I thought I was immune from your barbs.”
She shook her head at him and smiled the smile that probably made Alessandro fall in love with her. “No. I’m sorry.”
“And what do you know about her?” He asked.
She leaned back taking in the light. He was use to this. I’d come down here often and the girls wore as little as humanly possible. But He still noticed Sophie’s skin.
“Well, she’s dating your best friend Lee. And she’s rather well informed.”
“But have you known her for long?”
Sophie shook her head, “Not really she only arrived here a week before you and Lee got here.”
“Really?” He asked crinkling his forehead.
“Yeah, how weird hey, all three of you arriving here at almost the same time and you’re all friends and you three rule the school. Thank God you guys showed hey.”
“I didn’t know that, I always just assumed I suppose that she’d been here for a long time. She had a lot of friends.”
“Nope. But she’s pretty, it’s easy to make friends when you’re pretty.”
He nodded his head in agreement.
“Are we done here? And if your mind is made up I hope you’ll be happy.”
“Happy?” He tasted the word; it seemed to have lost all meaning. He shook his head at her, his smile surely dropped from his face into a horrible grimace, at least that’s how it felt, “I’ve given up on happiness, only survival now. Happiness is for good people, I’m just the guy that has to do what’s placed before him.”
“Oh Peter, sounds like someone’s getting a little full of themselves. Too many people have thought that, what the bearing of your cross and all. And it’s a long and dangerous path.”
He stood up and let out a long breath.
“And yet I’ll bear it all the same Sophie.”
The Complete Creeping Darkness Page 12
