The Chaos

by Sergio Gomez

  “You would be correct about that, but we have means to deal with them if they come around this way.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like heavy weaponry,” Will interjected.

  Howard nodded his head. “That’s right, we found a military base not far from here stocked with weapons and explosives.”

  Alejandro raised his eyebrows. This was even better than he had anticipated, and wondered if maybe Bill Goldenburg and his group being dead wasn’t some twisted form of a blessing for him and Charlie.

  “You have weapons of your own?—Besides the pistol on your hip, I mean.” Howard asked.

  “Yeah, I’ve got a rifle in my truck.”

  Howard and Will exchanged a look, the fact that this man had a vehicle was alarming. It meant he had lucked out and found a working vehicle (unlikely) or had killed someone for it (likely). Then they both looked at Paul.

  Alejandro knew what the looks were for. “You’re wondering about the truck?”

  “Mhm,” Howard said, pursing his lips.

  “I got it from a friend who unfortunately died.”

  Howard and Will exchanged yet another look, and when his gaze returned to Alejandro there was an accusatory look in his eyes. “From a friend, you say?”

  “That’ right.”

  Howard started reaching under the table. The motion of his arm was subtle, but Alejandro knew what it was his fingers were curling around.

  To Claire, Howard said: “Sweetheart, do you want to show our little friend upstairs? If that’s fine with you, Alejandro.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine with me,” Alejandro said. The sensation in the room had taken on a dark complexion, and if these people were about to shoot him dead he’d rather Charlie not see.

  Claire got up and grabbed Charlie by the shoulders. She looked at Paul, who gave her approval.

  “Pa?” Charlie asked.

  Alejandro nodded. “Puedes confiar en ella.”

  Claire led Charlie up the stairs to the second floor of the bar. Once their footsteps were inaudible the conversation continued where it had left off

  Howard’s hand was still reaching under the table.

  “It’s not what you’re thinking.” Alejandro said.

  “And what is it I’m thinking?” And before Alejandro could answer, Howard said to Paul: “Paul, I hope you made sure our guest was trustworthy before bringing him to base.”

  “I’m just a man looking to survive—looking for safety for Charlie more than my own, Howard. I’m not here to cause trouble.”

  “Tell where you got the truck from.”

  “Jesus, if you weren’t so on edge—” the words got lost in his mouth as he remembered just minutes ago he had a gun in Paul’s face. “I got it from a friend I met a couple of days ago. I didn’t murder someone for their vehicle.”

  Alejandro looked at Paul to see if he believed him. “Come on, Paul, you believe me, right?”

  The room turned to look at Paul.

  “Let’s all just relax for a bit, jeez.” He said, wiping sweat from his brow.

  This seemed to wind Howard down a little bit and the hand reaching for the gun relaxed. “Where did you meet him, Paul?”

  “By the Wall, he was heading that way and was stopped by it.” He said, conveniently leaving out the part where Alejandro held a gun at him point-blank.

  “They closed up the highway?” Howard asked, his attention diverted to bigger manners.

  “Yeah.”

  Howard slammed his fist on the table. “Damnit.”

  Felicia drew closer to him and rubbed his back up and down.

  “What’s on that side?” Alejandro asked. It seemed out of turn to ask, but his curiosity got the best of him.

  “We’re not sure,” Howard said. The look of mistrust seemed to have vanished. “That’s what we were discussing before you and Paul came, actually.”

  “I can help,” Alejandro said. “Like I mentioned, I have a truck and weapons of my own. And there’s two of us. Charlie knows how to use a gun.”

  “Strength in numbers, Howard.” Will said from behind him.

  Now Alejandro felt the momentum shifting in his favor, so he struck while the moment hung in the air.

  “I got the truck from a fellow survivor I met a few days ago. He was a farmer, and unfortunately Los Noches—“

  “Who?” The blond guy at the end of table said, finally looking up from inspecting his scab.

  “That’s what we call the night creatures—anyway, they got my friend the farmer.”

  Howard wasn’t looking at him. He was staring at a puddle on the table formed from one of the beer cans and trying to decide if he believed him.

  Alejandro continued, “Look, you don’t have to believe that story, but believe this, Howard. I want to help you guys. I’ve been traveling for months looking for other survivors, for a safe shelter for me and my son. I’m not going to double-cross you, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  After a few seconds of silence, Howard nodded his head. “You said your boy can shoot?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How does the truck run?”

  “Brand new compared to all of the other vehicles out there.”

  Howard tried not to smile, but the humor won over. “Touché.”

  “What do you say, Howard, will you let me be a part of this group?” Alejandro stuck his hand out.

  Howard’s hand came out from underneath the table, and for a second Alejandro imagined the gun in it, and then a bullet shooting his head off. But to his relief, the hand came out empty handed and grabbed his.

  “Let’s make this your official welcome.” He smiled.

  “Thanks again,” Alejandro said, returning the smile.

  He realized for the first time that his heart had been thumping like a marching band in his chest during this whole exchange and said, “Hey, if you don’t mind, I’ll take you up on that drink.”

  Howard slid the can of beer over to Alejandro and he took a big gulp.

  Everyone laughed. It was the kind of laughter that brings strangers together, the kind that stitches friendships.

  Here in this rundown, cockroach infested bar with a poor excuse of a dancefloor, Alejandro felt warmth and safety envelope him. Something he had been searching for, whether he knew it at the time or not, he had been looking for it, and finally found it here.

  For the time being, anyway.

  4

  Claire opened the door to the room where the new kid and his psychotic dad were presumably going to stay. The kid seemed nice enough, but the dad…she wouldn’t mind if the Night Monsters got him, that’s for sure. Not after the way he had pointed the gun at them with no remorse.

  “Ta-da,” she said, revealing the dusty room that smelled like must and mud. “Pretty great, huh?”

  There were only two pieces of furniture in what used to be a storage closet for the bar, and they were as beaten down as the rest of the place. One was a parlor with a mirror that failed to do the one job a mirror was supposed to do because the layer of dirt on it was so thick. The second piece of furniture was a drawer that seemed to be collapsing on itself and housed a city of spider webs underneath it.

  “Considering the places we’ve been staying, this looks great.” Charlie replied.

  Claire walked across the room and leaned against the parlor. Charlie followed behind her, and put his bags next to the parlor and then sat down on his sleeping bag.

  “Where did you guys come from?”

  “Nowhere, really. We were just kind of…walking around. Trying to find people like you guys.”

  “Sounds scary.”

  Charlie saw the blood shooting out from the Noche he killed in the barn as clear as day in his mind’s eyes. “Yeah, it is.”

  “Well, we have lots of food and stuff here, so you guys will be fine.”

  “How did you guys come together? I mean, you and your dad are obviously family, but I mean everyone else.”

  “By pure luck. H
owie and Will were raiding a meat factory on the other side of town—me and dad are from Trexlerville—and they found us and took us with them. Simple as that.”

  “They didn’t try to kill you?”

  “No…At least, I don’t think. Will saw me, he saw how scared and dirty and skinny I was, and I think he felt sorry for me. Me and Dad had bundled ourselves up in the meat shop after our house was set on fire.”

  “How’d you end up at the meatshop?”

  Claire shrugged. “I think Dad picked it cause he said it would have food and would be left alone.”

  “Did it have food?”

  “Yeah, but it’s too bad neither me nor dad know how to start a fire without a stove.” She laughed, but there was pain behind the laugh. “Turns out the only food we had was some oatmeal cups left by the staff that used to work there. We found it in the lunch room. And some peanuts and chips, but that’s about it. I was skin and bones when they found us.”

  Charlie looked her up and down. She was wearing cut off jean shorts that showed her slender legs from mid-thigh down, and for the first time he felt a true attraction to a girl. More than just the school crushes he had on girls in his classes in the 8th grade, this was different. More mature somehow, he wanted to grab her and kiss her and tell her she was perfect.

  “Well, you don’t look like skin and bones now. You look great.”

  Claire laughed, then rubbed his head. The response to treat him like a child made Charlie blush and feel stupid. “Thanks, that’s sweet of you to say. We’ve been getting real food since we came back to base months ago.”

  Charlie was about to respond when the door to the room burst open. Boris came barging in, and laughed. “Interrupting something?”

  “Shut up Boris. What do you want?” Claire asked.

  “Hey, hey, lighten up Queen Bee.” He smirked at this quick witted insult. “Howie sent me up here to ask you guys if you’re hungry.”

  “We are. Now go tell him and leave.”

  Instead of leaving, Boris leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Aw, come on, Clairebear, you never want to have fun with me.”

  She rolled her eyes and heaved.

  “The adults are too distracted discussing the rock wall and theorizing and all that shit to notice how long I’m gone anyway. Hey, I have an idea! Charlie, that’s your name, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  Boris stuck his index finger up in the air. “How about me and Clairebear—“

  “I told you to stop calling me that you twerp!”

  Boris flinched at the sudden change in volume. “Sheesh, someone is grouchy…Anyway, Charlie, how about me and Clairebear go show you something cool?”

  Charlie looked at Claire for guidance. She shrugged her shoulders, which suggested to him that maybe this weird guy did have something cool he could show him.

  “Okay.” He finally responded.

  “Great! You won’t be disappointed. Just follow me for the mind-blowing exhibition.” He turned and left.

  Claire started after him.

  Charlie got off the floor and followed Claire out of the room.

  “Why do you always have to be so obnoxious?” Claire yelled from behind Boris.

  “Oh, my dearest, you call it obnoxious, I call it charm.”

  At this even Charlie knitted his brows. Claire looked behind her shoulders and saw him, and they both started giggling.

  5

  “You guys never ventured out past the wall before its completion?” Alejandro asked, taking another drink of his beer. It was still cold and felt great.

  “We did, but not very far. We only went about a mile out.” Howard said. “It’s been a rough couple of months out here.”

  “How so?”

  “More of them—what did you call them?”

  “Los Noches.”

  “Right, more of them Los Noches are showing up in town. We’ve mainly stayed near base.”

  “Yeah, it wasn’t until you found us today by the wall that any of us had even gone by there. It’s why we didn’t know that they were going to close off the highway.”

  Alejandro rested his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand. “What do you guys think is over on that side of the wall?”

  “Some sort of breeding grounds. More and more of them have started to show up at night.” Howard said.

  “How many are we talking?”

  “Three groups of fifteen. It’s fifteen different ones each night. They’re sent to town on a specific rotation, I can show you the charts if you’d like, Alejandro.”

  “What charts?” Paul stammered. “What are you talking about?”

  “Me and Boris have been going out every night and observing the night creatures, Paul.”

  “Jesus, Howie! What happened to protocol to stay in at nights?”

  “We broke it.” He said, almost biting the air. “I’m fed up, fed up, with having to hide from those monsters.”

  Felicia stepped in to rub his back, but Howie put his arm out to stop her.

  “No, let me let this out.” His eyes had taken on a different look, the blue eyes of a sweet, but hardened old man looked intently at nothing in particular. “They used to only send two groups of ten out a night, but that’s recently changed because their numbers increased.”

  “Hold on, how do you know that they’re not the same ones?” Alejandro asked. As far as he knew, all of Los Noches looked the same with the only difference being the “classes” of sizes and claw-length.

  Howard pointed upstairs. “Boris studied zoology in college, that’s why I took him with me on these recons. He has notebooks full of hours of observing behavioral patterns and all that.”

  “Okay, so more and more are coming in to town, go on.”

  “That’s what makes me think that the wall they built is meant to keep us out of their breeding grounds.”

  “How do you know these Noches aren’t coming from somewhere else?”

  “Well, that’s certainly possible, but that’s why we need to crossover to the other side and find out. If I’m correct—which I’m positive I am—then we’ll be able attack them right in the gonads, so to speak.”

  Alejandro leaned back in his stool and let out a deep sigh. “What if we don’t find anything on that other side? Or, what if we find out they’re coming out from the center of the earth or something crazy like that?”

  “Then we’ll patch that hellhole up or do whatever is necessary. Alejandro, imagine no more Noches. Imagine not having to hide at nights anymore, imagine how much more time we’ll have to rebuild our society.”

  Alejandro looked at the rest of the group, and the gazes that met him back said they were all for this plan.

  “So how do we get to the other side now that the wall is completed? Do you know where it stops?”

  Howard shook his head. “No, and I think that would be a waste of time, to try to find where the wall ends. We’re going to blow a hole through that damn thing and drive through it.”

  “Blow a hole through it? How do you plan on doing that?”

  Howard smiled. “There’s a naval base across town with a boat load of dynamite in it. We were going to load the SUV with it and then drive to the wall and blast through it. Now, we have double the number of vehicles.”

  “Which means double the ka-boom,” Will added.

  Alejandro was staring down at his hands, realizing that he had been thinking too small, and too short-term. “So we get rid of Los Noches, at least the ones around here, and for the time being, and then what?”

  “We start to rebuild society, Alejandro. We reinforce our little town with a wall of our own, we explore nearby areas for more resources—although we have plenty here, enough to last us all at least a year, more if we ration it out correctly—we find other survivors and form alliances

  Sure, some might be hostile and resistant to joining forces with us, but I think there will be some that are willing. Our numbers will increase, and with that our strength. Then
we’ll find more of these breeding grounds and take out more of Los Noches. Extinct the damn bastards, rid them of our world, and take back the nights.

  No more hiding, no more fear of the darkness.”

  A few moments of silence, and then Alejandro looked up at the group. “You’re all for this?”

  They all nodded. Howard’s smile broadened.

  “It is dangerous, Alejandro, that much we know. But I think we can both agree that the risk is worth the reward.”

  “Can I add a condition to this?”

  Howard held his hands open in a gesture that told Alejandro to let it out.

  “If I don’t like what we find on that side of the wall, I want the condition to pull out of this before it gets too dangerous.”

  Howard shrugged. “Let me put that option out there for any of you. If at any point you decide to abort the mission, that is your choice. However, I’m going to ask that person to leave base for good. I also will expect those that don’t abort to help me enforce this regulation. Is this fair?”

  A murmur of agreement went through the group.

  “Count us in, then,” Alejandro said.

  Howard put his beer can up in the air for a toast. “Glad you decided to stay on our side, Alejandro.”

  6

  The basement was unfinished and had jail-cell gray walls. It was sectioned off into rooms by bare walls that must have been a forgotten project. A washing machine, broken and rusting, sat forgotten in the corner of the room they were walking through. Its trusty sidekick was missing, and where the dryer once was, just a patch of dust and a black hose sticking out of the wall like a tongue remained. Past the laundry room was the biggest room in the basement.

  Boris had been teasing him about how mind-blowing what they were going to show him would be, and Claire had surprisingly joined in on it. As they drew closer to the backroom Charlie found himself getting anxious.

  “It’s creepy, I know, but trust me, it’ll be worth it.” Claire said over her shoulder.

  Boris was leading the lineup, and he got into the room first. He hit a touch light attached to the wall, which did little to illuminate the room, but it was enough for him to find the next touch light.