by Greg Dragon
“Pity these things can only hover and not fly,” she said.
“But then we’d have to deal with the flying monsters up there,” Alysia said, pointing her chin up at the numerous shadows that circled the skies above the city.
“What do you think is behind all of this?” Tracy asked as they cruised down the narrow two-lane road.
“I don’t know. I was trying to think of what the dino-things reminded me of, but the only thing that comes to mind is a video game.”
“Which one?”
Alysia looked over at Tracy, happy and surprised. She couldn’t believe that she, too, was a gamer.
“Uhm, Blue Fantasy… part six, Soula’s Blessing. When you run around gaining your experience on the game, you have these annoying little lizard things that charge you.”
“The kreples!” Tracy said as she thought on it, and it dawned on her that Alysia was correct. “Wait, those things look exactly like kreples!”
“Yeah, so technically you should have leveled up by now.” Alysia giggled. “Being that you killed like four of them back there.”
“That’s because I’m the high level archer of the group and you’re an injured monk class.”
“Call me a lowbie and I swear I will crash this car,” Alysia mumbled under her breath.
“No girl, you aren’t a lowbie. Just unlucky, but we’ll get you healed so you can level up, too.”
The banter was silly but necessary for their morale as they began to see more of the flying creatures circling the city in the distance. Periodically, there would be a giant’s head poking above the buildings, but it seemed like the military was trying to hold them off.
“The kreples are mutants,” Alysia finally said after there had been a block of silence between the two of them. “I think these are mutants too, considering their skin reminds me of a snake and they only have two legs. They’re so freaky looking.”
“I can accept that those little monsters are the results of an experiment gone wrong, but if you look over there, we have giant men walking around.”
“What’s to say that they aren’t an experiment, too?” Alysia said, and she looked over at Tracy and shrugged.
“Where are we going, CeeCee?” Tracy asked.
“What do you mean? We are going … well, I don’t know. I wanted to meet up with my parents.” Her voice trailed off and she thought on the question longer before looking over at Tracy. “You haven’t mentioned any family to me, or any concern for a husband, boyfriend, anything. I’ve just been talking and driving to my house but where do you want to go? Where are your people?”
“It’s just me, but I’d love to get some things from my apartment. I want to check in at the station, too – see what the situation is and why my guys are offline.”
It made Alysia sad; the pretty police officer had no family or loved ones. Still, she found this hard to believe, and she wondered if Tracy was being truthful or if she was too embarrassed to tell her the truth.
“So you mean to tell me, as cool as you are, and beautiful, that you don’t have anyone in your life?”
“Did you just call me beautiful?” Tracy grinned and Alysia glanced at her and smiled.
“What? Is this the first time you’re hearing it?”
“No, it’s just a little odd, considering—never mind. I mean, right back at you, girlfriend. I’m sure you have them lined up at the University, but look, can we not discuss my personal life right now? Like I said, I just need to go to my apartment and check in with my job, and then if your folks are cool with it, I can come with you to see them.”
“Of course, of course, I didn’t mean anything by it. Just surprised is all,” Alysia said.
She felt embarrassed by the exchange and wished she could take it back. Tracy could see that Alysia was uncomfortable after their conversation so she thumped her on the shoulder and smiled at her to let her know they were good.
“Are we ever going to wake up?” Alysia asked. “I keep telling myself that this is a dream, that at any moment now I’m going to wake up and find I was just dozing off in class. This nightmare or whatever it is it just can’t be real; I mean, look at that.” She pointed at the flying creatures having dogfights with what seemed to be fighter jets. The city was in turmoil and there was open war against the supernatural creatures.
“Maybe driving into town isn’t a good idea. We’re bound to get caught up in the crossfire and it looks like everyone evacuated the city,” Tracy said.
“Evacuated? They gave us no warning at school when it began. Normally, the intercom would go off and we would at least have some sort of warning to seek safety. It just happened and a lot of students lost their lives. I keep thinking about Lisa and—” Alysia caught herself as she felt a lump in her throat from the thought of her friend not making it out.
“Hey, it’s okay, CeeCee. I’m sure your friend made it out okay. We just need to—wait, slow down!”
They came to the last traffic light leading into the downtown area but a massive pileup of cars blocked the road. Injured people lay everywhere, and a crowd of panicked citizens ran towards them. As if anticipating the danger that was to come, Tracy stepped out of the car with her hand on her pistol. The mob didn’t seem to notice or care that the women were in the way, and they pushed past Tracy, almost knocking her down, in their mad dash to get out of the city.
Tracy jumped back into the car to wait it out, as they couldn’t move now that people were in the way. Some banged on the hood and screamed at them to run, but none stayed to see if they would listen. The entire town wanted away from the danger and to a man, they ran as if their lives depended on it.
“What’s in your apartment that you need to get?” Alysia asked.
“I have a cat, and I have some extra guns and ammo. My apartment is a few blocks up there; I’ll go get my things and meet you back here.”
Tracy didn’t hesitate in her departure and was running through the crowd by the time Alysia thought to say something to her. In a manner of minutes, she was gone, and it took everything within Alysia to keep her cool and to not panic. I have to call my parents, she thought, and pulled out her phone to make the call. Her charge was at 15% and she realized that she and Tracy hadn’t swapped numbers.
What if she gets in trouble and needs my help? Alysia thought to herself. How could I be so stupid and scatterbrained? Always get the contact information for people you’re responsible for, girl. Ugh, you know better! She dialed the number but the phone went straight to voicemail. She hung it up and called her mother, praying with every ring that her voice would come on the other line, sweet and worried, the way she always sounded. The phone kept on ringing and she tried several more times before putting it away.
The skies were starting to darken from what appeared to be an incoming storm and the crowd running by her began to thin. Tracy will expect me to stay here, she thought, but moved the car to a curb and parked it to get out of the road.
~ * ~ * ~
Two long hours passed and there was no sign of Tracy. Alysia knew something was wrong. It wasn’t just because of the amount of time Tracy was taking, but because of the sinking feeling in her gut. She got out of the car, using the stick to support her foot, and limped towards where she had seen Tracy run. The empty streets reminded her of those old, post-apocalyptic movies. It almost looked like an old Western where the town emptied out before the good guy and the bad guy squared off. But there were no tumbleweeds blowing down their empty road. Just injured people and … Tracy.
At first, Alysia assumed that she had fallen and was catching her breath, based on the way she was laying. But as she got closer, she noticed there was blood.
“TRACY!” she screamed and her friend turned her face to look at her.
She could see tears streaming down Tracy's face as she hustled to her side to help her out. She saw that the wounds from the day before were open and there were visible boot marks all over her body. It was as if she had fallen and the escaping citizen
s had run her over.
“What happened to you? Can you talk?” Alysia asked, feeling helpless and worried for her friend, who seemed to be in immense pain.
“Those bastards. They saw me leaving the apartment with the weapons and they jumped me,” she managed to say. “CeeCee, we needed those weapons. We can’t survive without them. Those thugs don’t care about anything that is going on. They’ll just prey on the weak, and with my guns a lot of innocent people will be hurt.”
“What about your cat?” Alysia asked as she knelt to help her up.
“He’s right here,” Tracy said as she shifted her weight and brought up her hand that held the kitten. “His name is Luciano.”
“That’s an odd name for cat, but it’s kind of cool. Come on, Luciano, we need to get you and your mama back to the car.”
It was hard for Alysia to tell the amount of pain that Tracy was in but she knew that it was significant. This athletic woman had run with her on her shoulders but could now only walk a few steps before stopping for air. They were both damaged and needed time to heal from their wounds. But by the time they made it to where she had parked, Alysia realized her mistake.
With that many people running to escape the city, why did she think it was a good idea to leave a functional car in the open? She stopped on the sidewalk, looking this way and that, knowing that someone had taken her car but hoping that she was wrong.
“As if anything more could happen to us,” Tracy said, then sighed and sat on the sidewalk as if in surrender. “We can go back up to my place. I have food and water, and we can rest up until we have the energy to go looking for another car.”
“I can’t believe I was so stupid,” Alysia said under her breath.
“Don’t beat yourself up, girl. You’re worried about me and I appreciate it, so don’t dwell on it. We'll adjust and get through this, then we’ll go find your parents. I can’t tell what everyone’s running away from, besides all the fighting that’s going on above us, but we need to stay put for a day or so.”
“A day or so? What if another one of those giants comes through and smashes the apartment?”
“Look, CeeCee, we’re out of options. It has taken everything within me to walk, so forgive me if I can’t pick out a nice safe spot away from the giants. We’re going to have to take our chances here, make you a proper splint, and get my wounds cleaned. Plus, I got a couple more guns that I’ll be damned if I let get stolen by a bunch of hoodlums.”
Alysia agreed, and they limped to the tall building where Tracy lived and pushed open the glass sliding door to enter. The lobby looked ransacked, as if looters had found their way inside, but Tracey led them past it and towards a flight of stairs. She stayed on the fifth floor, but to Alysia and her aching ankle, it felt like the twenty-fifth.
When they got inside and locked the door, she fell to the ground, exhausted. Luciano was happy enough to be back in his familiar home, so he leapt from Alysia’s hands unto the couch, and made his way back into the bedroom.
“Are your parents expecting you, CeeCee? You may want to call them,” Tracy said after pouring herself a shot of vodka and knocking it back as if it was a painkiller.
“They aren’t answering their phones,” Alysia said, feeling even more worried when she heard the words come from her mouth. Why are they not answering their phones?
~ * ~ * ~
Tracy’s place was like a bunker that had everything stocked for the end of the world. She had a refrigerator full of food, a pantry stocked with hard rations, and her guest bedroom had the most comfortable bed Alysia had ever felt. As the days went by, they watched the television to keep up with the efforts to combat the invaders. They joked, argued, and told each other stories, but most important of all, they healed. It was on the sixth day, after many more failed attempts, that Alysia finally got a call back from her parents.
“Hey, baby girl, you okay?” Alysia’s dad said when the call connected.
“DAD, why haven’t you guys been answering my calls? I was so worried! You have no idea.”
“Alysia, your mom … She … I’m sorry, baby. Mom didn’t make it. She …” His voice cracked as he spoke but he kept his composure, though she could barely hear him because his voice was so low. “Your mom is dead. She passed a few days ago. I—I just couldn’t talk—”
“Oh no,” Alysia said as the words took time to register in her mind as reality. It felt as if time slowed down inside a bubble around her and the only thing moving was her brain. Quick flashes of memory tried to profile a vision of her mother. Her mind conjured up an image of her, watching television and laughing, or singing loudly to one of her old songs. When the memory was established and the sense of loss took over, Alysia found that she could talk again. “Mom died and you didn’t call to tell me?”
Alysia dropped the phone, put her hands up to her face and cried. She didn’t want Tracy to see her so she faced the wall away from the entrance to the bedroom. She cried hot, painful tears that knew no end, the pain of her loss too much to overcome. She understood why her father couldn’t call her but she had to lash out at him, anyway. It was too surprising, too much of a shock to lose her one and only mother.
She felt numb; now everything that was going on meant nothing. The concern for her safety, the wondering at why their world had turned upside down … nothing mattered but the fact that she would never be able to see her mother again.
She could hear her father’s voice through the fallen phone as she stared at the wall in disbelief. He was calling her name, begging her to pick it up and talk to him. She couldn’t move; she didn’t want to move. What was the point? Why bother?
She stood like that for a long time until a tremor shook the apartment and she heard Tracy curse in the background. She wanted to be okay, to move on and find her father so that they could mourn her mother together, but she could not move. Why me? she asked herself. Why is this happening to me?
Throughout her entire life, Alysia had heard her mother refer to her as the best thing that had ever happened to her. She was a gift in the form of an early pregnancy that had slowed her mother’s rise in the corporate sector. She went through abuse, poverty, and shame as a single mother before she started her own business.
When Alysia would hear the stories of her mother’s struggles, she would always feel a pinch of guilt. She used to wonder if her mother held any resentment towards her because of her birth, but Kendra loved her more than life itself.
There were rough patches in grade school and Alysia got into many fights. It felt as if her mother had a permanent seat in the principal’s office. Like many children in her position, she lashed out for attention.
When James Knight came into Kendra’s life, he claimed the entire package. Alysia was his daughter: no step, and no veiled titles. She was his, and he loved her to the point where she had to accept him, too. Her grades picked up and her behavior got better. He was there day and night, doting on her, loving her, and training her. The fractured Bell family became the Knights and when Alysia became a woman, love was the only thing that she remembered.
These memories of the past took over the young woman’s mind as she sat, frozen. James was still calling for her on the phone, the tremor of a giant still shook the ground, and Tracy was still screaming out expletives in the background. James Knight loved her, he loved her as his own, he was trying to talk to her, and she was ignoring him.
She realized what she was doing and picked up the phone and spoke into it. “Sorry, Daddy.”
She could hear him sobbing in the background when she did this. He didn’t want to lose her, too, and to hear the noises in the background and her silent on the other end had been torture.
“CeeCee, you okay? I know it hurts, baby. Your mother loved you more than life itself, you hear? So what I’m about to say to you is important.”
“What is it, Dad?”
“You need to survive and keep on living, no matter what comes in the next few days. Don’t let grief and car
elessness squander your life. It’s what Kendra would ask of you. Live, so that you can tell your children about her. Look out for yourself, and don’t be a stranger.” He was speaking as if it was his last words and Alysia noticed this and panicked.
“Wait, where are you going, Dad?” she asked.
“I love you, baby girl. I need to handle something here, but when it’s done, I’m coming to get you.”
Alysia collapsed upon herself and bawled aloud when this happened, which prompted Tracy to run inside the room to see about her. She kept on asking her what was wrong, but Alysia was screaming and crying, so she ran over and held her close.
~ * ~ * ~
Two weeks passed before the power went out. The helicopters in the sky had disappeared and the streets were empty, save for looters and random creatures. The days held no sunlight, due to the thick black clouds that wouldn’t break, and the tremors had stopped completely. Alysia’s ankle was better but still a little sore, and Tracy was preparing for war.
When she wasn’t playing with Luciano, the policewoman was cleaning guns, stockpiling ammunition, and speaking violently about her plans for the creatures. Every other day they would leave the apartment to collect supplies. Tracy did not feel it was a good idea to travel until Alysia was “war ready,” as she put it, so they kept food stocked and she readied their weapons.
“How you doing, kid?” she asked Alysia one day as the young woman stared out through the glass door at a number of atrocities happening in the streets.
“That’s a good question,” Alysia replied. She was still numb and hurt from the loss of her parents, but she had gotten good at going through the motions.
“I bet you miss school,” Tracy joked, and Alysia looked at her to see if she was being serious.
“Do you know what I miss? I miss … control. I miss the ability to wake up, decide what I want to wear and then run with it. Whether I would take the bus or hover-lift to campus, skip a day, cram for a test, and attend a party. I miss all of it. Right now, we’re two fireflies stuck in some kid’s jar. We make plans as if we can get out, but in reality, we’re doomed, aren’t we? Any day now, something can come through that door and eat us, or some other thing can knock the building down. We—” She was crying again and screaming at Tracy and the police officer let her vent her frustration.
