Silence the Living

by Brian Bandell

  “Ah, bebe! Encantador!” Ramona released Aaron’s hand and reached out to the baby.

  The woman let Ramona kiss the infant boy, whose blue eyes sparkled with glee. She glared at Aaron suspiciously. In her night robe, she backed away from the door, creating enough space so the armed woman could jump in his face.

  With straight black hair with red highlights and tattoos up and down her lithe body, the woman with the shotgun wore a sleeveless t-shirt and short pants. This knockout aimed the shotgun right at Aaron’s head with her expression as cool as a crocodile.

  “I can spot a gringo, even in the dark,” the thin woman said. “This girl isn’t yours. Where’d you get her?”

  “You must be Patty.”

  “Wrong. I’m Iña. That’s Patty, my wife.” She tilted her heard toward the larger woman cradling the baby. Fortunately, Ramona was so focused on the little guy that she hadn’t noticed the double-barreled gun. “Now answer my question.”

  “Okay, okay.” Aaron nodded his head and managed a nervous grin. “I found her stranded in the desert while off-roading near the border. Her mother and the whole group of migrants didn’t make it.”

  “You went off-roading near the border? You trying to get shot?” Patty’s hands gently soothed the baby as her mouth snarled with criticism.

  “What’s crossing that border is the least of our worries tonight.” Aaron peered over his shoulder into the darkness. He heard a rock fall in the sand. “Can we come inside?”

  “We don’t want to let any scorpions in with the kids asleep. Come on.” Patty waved him in.

  Iña stepped aside so he could enter, but no sooner than his toes hit the tile, she forcefully spread his arms out at his sides and patted him down. Knowing this was coming, he’d left his gun in the truck so they didn’t view him as a threat. She inspected his junk, but not with her palm. She pressed her knee into his groin and made sure it was squishy, not hard and packing something dangerous. If she did that too many times, he wouldn’t remain soft down there.

  They finally let him through the doorway. The living room had toys strewn all over the floor, from infant bouncers and chew rings to dress-up dolls and dump trucks. They had two couches, a flawless leather one and an old cloth four-seater with kid graffiti of marker stains. Pocket-sized photo frames dotted the wall, each one a picture of Patty and Iña with a different child. There must have been over 40 of them.

  “How do all those kids live in this house?” Aaron asked.

  “They don’t. We’re a temporary stop,” Patty said. “At least, as temporary as we can be. We help angels like this.”

  While Patty spoke in Spanish with Ramona, who seemed at ease by the woman’s motherly nature, Iña explained their mission. The impromptu orphanage took in abandoned children without legal status. It sought to reunite them with family, whether in the United States, or in Latin American counties – as tens of thousands of lone children used Mexico as a gateway to the U.S. every year, many of them originating in Central America. When Patty and Iña couldn’t find their relatives, they sought a family in the United States to shelter them. In some cases, a child had stayed here until 18, but that has only happened twice, she said.

  “The nationalists want to ship these kids away, calling them a burden on society,’” Iña said in a mocking voice. “Well, we’ve raised plenty of kids and they work twice as hard as American-born children. None of them have gotten in any serious trouble.”

  If Aaron’s mom had wielded a shotgun when he got rowdy, he would have been a model citizen too.

  “Take good care of Ramona, please.” Aaron’s eyes welled up a bit as he watched the girl play with the baby. The sweet girl didn’t deserve such a tragic life. “She saw horrible things today. I can’t even begin to imagine how she’s dealing with it. Let me have your number so I can check in on her from time to time.”

  “We can do that, but I hope you don’t think you can just drop her off and drive away like that. Caring for all these kids takes money.” Patty raised her eyebrows expectantly. “Not just for them, but to pay border patrol off so they stay away.”

  “Uh-huh. You’re looking for a donation?” Aaron asked.

  “That’s the nice way to say it.” Patty wiped the chocolate drink off Ramona’s lips. “We’re both working women, but we can only feed so many mouths. Ramona here is number seven.”

  “This should cover her for a while.” Aaron dug into his wallet and handed Patty $2,000 in cash.

  Iña snatched the money. Neither woman thanked him.

  As Aaron began to leave, he glanced back at Ramona. He simply couldn’t walk away from her pleading eyes. Everyone she’d trusted today handed her off. She must have felt nobody wanted her, that she was a burden. He knelt down and placed his hands on her shoulders. As he absorbed the sorrow on her doe-eyed face, Aaron thought of all the other children who had lost loved ones in the invasion. He wished he could comfort all of them.

  “Patty, please translate for me. I need to say goodbye,” Aaron said.

  The woman nodded her head with a newly-won sliver of respect for him.

  “Ramona, I’ve only known you for a short time tonight but I’ll never forget you. You’ll always be in my heart and my thoughts. We will honor your mother’s wish that you live in the United States. The people around you now, they’ll do everything they can to give you a better life. And if things ever get real bad, me and my—”

  The porch light flashed on. The door shook with a pounding knock. “FBI, open up!”

  54

  When the people in Patty Estevez’s house sheltering the fugitive Aaron didn’t quickly open the door at their commend, Nina Skillings grabbed the battering ram and smashed through it with two swings. She let Carter barge in first so her man could flash his badge. That was the last obstacle before she could have her fun. Pistol drawn, she charged through the broken door frame and found that skinny surf rat kneeling before the kidnapped girl. Perfect target. Skillings thrust her boot into his ribcage, knocking him down on his side. She whipped her leg around for a kick to his head. Aaron scooted just out of range.

  “You can’t run from me anymore!” Thinking about how this man had led her fellow officers in Florida into Moni’s death trap, it took all of Nina’s willpower not to pull the trigger.

  The girl wailed. The baby in Patty’s arms cried. The report hadn’t listed any children in this house. It didn’t matter now. Better they witness this than suffer what Aaron and Moni had in store for them.

  “You can’t do this! Show me your search warrant,” Patty demanded.

  Her partner Iña Rodriguez kept her shotgun at ready but didn’t dare point it at the officers. By the look in her eyes, she would have done so in a second had her lover ordered it. Now that’s devotion, suicidal devotion.

  “We don’t need a warrant. We’re hunting a terrorist organization that’s at war with the United States, and this man is an accomplice.” Carter eyed Aaron fiercely. He directed his pistol at the skinny chick. “Put your weapons on the sofa there or I’ll consider you as harboring a dangerous fugitive.”

  “Terrorism?” Iña gasped as she turned to Aaron. She placed her shotgun on the old sofa. “What the fuck are you in to?”

  “And why would you bring it into our home?” Patty exclaimed as a little girl upstairs started shouting questions about what’s happening. “There are small children here. Officers please, handle this somewhere else.”

  “Patty, I’m sorry.” Aaron hesitantly stood up and bit his lower lip. “This is a mistake. I’m not involved in terrorism.”

  Skillings backhanded Aaron across the mouth. He rubbed his bleeding gums like a pussy who couldn’t take a punch. She could break him, and with him, Moni’s foul heart. Skillings pressed the barrel of her gun to his forehead. The kidnapped girl screamed and covered her eyes.

  “One more lie and I shoot you dead. Understand?” Nina asked.

  Aaron meekly nodded.

  “Don’t you dare disrespect all the goo
d men and women who died because of what you did.” Nina recalled the widow of a fallen Florida officer as she stood by his gravesite with an infant in stroller.

  He flinched at that remark but didn’t object. Aaron knew the consequences.

  “I know you,” Aaron said. “You’re the Brevard County cop Skillings. What are you doing all the way out here?”

  “Is that really your question? You’re stupid kid, but I know you’re not a complete idiot. I’m chasing your girlfriend, Moni Williams the murderer.”

  Aaron didn’t look the least bit surprised at the accusation.

  “And you’re an accessory to murder because you’re helping a fugitive evade capture.” Carter spoke with a severity in his tone that made the young man shudder without laying a finger on him. Skillings took note. “I’ll admit; she was a nice piece of ass when she was human. But she’s one of them now. She’s helping them destroy our country, starting with our children.”

  Keeping an eye on the kidnapped girl, Carter handcuffed Aaron’s wrists behind his back.

  Skillings heard scratching up above, like it came from the second floor. Must be more children waking up from the commotion.

  “They took over Moni’s body but they never conquered her mind,” Aaron said. “She’s fighting them. Moni’s the only reason they haven’t overrun you already.”

  She should have snapped his spinal cord for spewing such garbage. In due time.

  A window at the back of the house rattled. Iña jumped and peered into the kitchen for a second.

  “I’d have killed you for lying to me,” Skillings said, “but I actually think you’re buying that bullshit. Moni manipulated you. Couldn’t have been all that hard given your walnut brain. She’s been using you this whole time to spread the infection.”

  For the first time, Aaron appeared a bit conflicted. It didn’t last long. He shook his head resolutely. “I know what I’ve seen. There’s another host that’s causing this.”

  “If that’s so, then why’d Moni take this girl?” Carter asked. “Looking for another alien-possessed child to replace the one she lost?”

  “Aliens!” Patty exclaimed. “You brought that into my house?” She skirted away from Ramona and cradled the baby high in her arms.

  Ramona recoiled, insult written all over her face. Iña reached down, grabbed her cheeks and stared into the girl’s eyes. Then she pinched Ramona’s lips and examined them like a horse’s. “She’s not infected. Not only can she talk, she doesn’t have a purple mark on her.”

  “That’s one less bullet I have to use today,” Carter said.

  Patty sneered at the FBI man and then looked at her partner curiously.

  “I saw it online,” Iña said. “They’re rumors the aliens made it all the way out here.”

  “They’re more than rumors,” Skillings said. “The aliens are here because Aaron and his girlfriend brought them.” She faced Aaron with a fierce sneer. “We heard she escaped from the military. Where is she?”

  His eyes shifted slowly between the two officers. A grin spread across his face. Skillings realized what she’d just done. She’d informed Aaron that Moni had survived the military attack, and he rejoiced in the alien’s triumph over his own country.

  “You think it’s fucking funny that she got away?” Skillings shouted. “Is this where you arranged to meet her?”

  A kid started sobbing from upstairs. The scratching got louder, clacking against the glass. Aaron glanced up towards the sounds, sweat flying off his brow.

  “Do you realize how many soldiers she killed in cold blood tonight?” Skillings asked. “And you still stand by her!”

  Skillings socked him in the stomach. As he hunched over, she brought the side of her pistol down towards the back of his head. Carter caught her forearm before she flattened the bastard. They exchanged an intense stare. She melted before his eyes. The only other man who could disarm her like that had been her father.

  “Moni made you bring the girl here. Why?” Carter asked.

  The porch light flickered on for a second. Then everything outside the open doorway turned dark again. Must be a bird or a bat, Skillings thought.

  “Her name’s Ramona. Her mother was killed by the other host and the girl escaped.” Aaron looked Carter straight in the eyes as he talked. “Moni couldn’t care for her so she had me take her to this orphanage. If she wanted to infect her, she’d be possessed right now. I’m not possessed either, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  Carter reached for Aaron’s jacket and, by his wide-eyed expression and the way his body jerked, that was the cookie he’d been guarding. The FBI agent retrieved a container with an “infectious substance” label.

  “Don’t open it!” Aaron shouted.

  Strapping on a glove, Carter unscrewed the container as Aaron’s jaw trembled. He lifted the vial up just enough to reveal the purple blood. The agent gasped and quickly resealed it.

  “Holy shit. Is that what I think it is?” Iña asked. “Alien blood.”

  “What? Get that the hell out of here!” Patty shouted.

  The woman reached for Ramona to shelter her. The girl scampered towards Aaron instead. It was a real shame that she must witness what would happen to her supposed savior.

  “So one child wasn’t enough,” Skillings said as Carter sealed the container in an evidence bag. “You wanted to infect a whole orphanage. Was that your perverse way of starting a ‘family’ with Moni?”

  “No. You’ve got it all wrong!” Aaron shook his head as his cheeks flushed red. “I’m trying to cure her. Moni wants to be human again. I can’t figure out how unless I experiment on her blood.”

  “Experiment on her blood, like you’re a real scientist? Bullshit,” Carter said. “I’ve seen your resume. The only thing you’re qualified to experiment with is the best kind of weed for your bong.”

  Carter circled Aaron like a shark. Something rustled in the scrubs in the yard but even that didn’t break his concentration. The FBI man came swiftly from over his shoulder and pressed his thumb at a nerve point on Aaron’s neck. The young man cringed and crumpled to one knee. Ramona sobbed and clung to his hand.

  “I know you’ve been meeting her in the desert. You tell me where I can find her.” Carter spoke firmly, cleansed of emotions.

  People anticipated anger. Indifference to suffering, that’s what scared them.

  Gasping for air, Aaron could barely get any words out. “Another person is infected. That’s who you want.”

  Of course he’d want them chasing an illusion so Moni had more time to raise her mutant army. Skillings had seen that game before. They wouldn’t deceive her this time.

  “Moni can read your mind, right?” Skillings spoke louder so he could hear her over the scratching upstairs. Must have raccoons in the attic. “What if we make you beg for your life, would she hear that? That’s one way to make her show.”

  “Believe me, you wouldn’t want to meet Moni now,” Aaron said. “She’s not the same woman you knew in Florida.”

  “That’s right. She’s a monster,” Skillings said. “But last I heard, she wasn’t bullet proof. And neither are you.”

  She aimed the gun at his kneecap. Ramona covered her eyes with both hands.

  Carter released his nerve hold and placed his hand on Skillings’ shoulder. “Not here. There are kids around.”

  Skillings sent Aaron a threatening glare, making sure he understood what he had coming. She started dragging him toward the front door. Then she remembered. “What about the kidnapping victim?”

  “We’ll need the girl as a witness. She may remember something from her time with Moni.” Carter eyed the child and the sugary treats in her pockets. She clung to Aaron’s leg. “Looks like this dipshit bought her love with a bag of snacks. Come on, candy girl. Your next meal will be in an ICE detention center.”

  Carter peeled Ramona away and clamped down on her forearm. Patty and Iña surrounded him, not making any contact, but cutting off his exit.

&
nbsp; “You can’t take her,” Patty said. “She’s under my protection.”

  “The girl just lost her mother. You can’t stick her in a holding cell for months and then deport her to the streets,” Iña said. “Talk to her whenever you want, but let her stay with us.”

  “If you don’t stand down, I’ll make sure ICE turns this shoebox inside out tomorrow.” Carter wore a stone-cold glare.

  They stepped away. With Carter handling the girl behind her, Skillings jabbed her elbow into Aaron’s kidney and made him march toward the busted doorway. The moment he stepped on the porch, he stopped.

  “Crap. Do you see that?”

  Skillings shoved the small of his back but he wouldn’t budge. “Don’t fuck with me.”

  “I’m not. Look!”

  She peered around his shoulder. A single pair of purple eyes watched them from the center of the desert yard. Then another. And another. Skillings’ breath froze in her lungs. The beings swayed back and forth like poisonous flowers blowing in the breeze. Before Skillings’ mind could process what this meant, the night was full of them, purple eyes stretching from the porch steps out into the desert, nearly as numerous as the stars. They made no sound except for the parting of the sand they writhed in.

  The motion-detecting porch light flickered on. The desert was full of snakes, coiled atop each other as thick as spaghetti. Their purple eyes fixated on Aaron and Skillings in the doorway.

  55

  Ranger Blake didn’t need pavement to guide him to Columbus. He drove through dirt roads and unmarked trails so adeptly that Moni reckoned he could do it with the headlights off and only the moonbeams lighting the way. Voluntarily shackled in the back of his pickup, she bounced around as the truck grappled with the untamed earth. That didn’t bother her so much, at least, not as much as the way Blake peered back at her suspiciously.

  Don’t meet his eyes, Moni told herself, that’ll only make it worse.

  She concentrated on reaching out to all of the minds around them. Three or four possessed creatures were stalking them at all times. She couldn’t tell what they were but they had no trouble maintaining pace with the truck. Out ahead of them, Moni felt hundreds of human minds pulsating, most of them dreaming. A few were restless, kept awake by paranoia. She opened her eyes and saw a cluster of lights on the horizon.