“I feel disgusting, I want to clean up,” Maddie said. She saw black filth in the crevasses of her fingers and hands. “Where’s the washroom?” she asked.
“Through there and the second door on the left, but—” Mac said, as he pointed outside of the room. Maddie started for the door before he could get out the rest of his sentence, “you should know that you probably look different,” Mac said as if she was still there.
Barron had already started bustling before Mac could tell him to clean up the monitoring equipment lying on the bed. With a serving heart, Barron was the best assistant Mac ever had the pleasure of working with. Mac thought it was because he had a fresh outlook to being in medicine and cared more about the people around him. Barron never thought about what was best for himself.
“Take a look at this,” Barron said, as he held up the IV that had been in Maddie’s arm. Something had chewed away at the needle. It appeared that something acidic had dissolved the needle along the length. It looked like a long crescent moon shape burrowed down the side.
“Bag it,” Mac directed Barron.
As soon as Mac finished telling Barron to preserve the needle, an angry yell was heard down the hall.
“What the HELL!” Maddie yelled.
Mac and Barron ran through the door to the washroom. Barron opened the door to see Maddie with a towel wrapped around her head and her body dripping wet from the shower. Her hands clutched the lip of the sink. She was staring at herself in the mirror, angling her face to view her red eye.
“What did you asses do to me?” she demanded.
“You’ve only been here for two days and you’re exactly the same as when you got here!” Barron raised his voice. He hadn’t done that to her and he was upset with the implication.
Mac put his hand on Barron’s shoulder, “Maddie, I don’t know how long you’ve been out but we haven’t had snow for six months. We need to figure out what happened from when you went skiing until now.”
“Fine, leave me alone and let me get dressed. I’ll be out in a few minutes,” she stood staring down into the sink and shook her head. Barron grabbed some clothes off of the linen shelf. He handed her a pair of gray sweatpants with a rip in each of the knees and an XXL shirt with ‘Loser’ written on the front. She looked down at the tattered clothing.
“Thanks,” she said, and she pushed Barron out the doorway and slammed the door. Mac and Barron just stood there until they heard the lock click. Barron went back to clean up the monitoring equipment in the room. Mac went back to his office and started writing notes on a sheet of paper. He had to make sure he had her reaction documented.
DAY 34
SUMMERWHITE SKI RESORT
NELLYSFORD, VIRGINIA
She looked up, without regard to what was coming down. Such are the actions of someone naïve to worldly matters. Sheltered for all of her life from the vagrants and villains of this world, Maddie was no better than a toddler wondering what a red element on a stove feels like.
A thousand microscopic ice pellets spread a freezing pain across her forehead. The thought of frowning crossed her mind, but it was a fleeting thought as her eyes met Bryce. Finally, after the stories of love and happiness she heard from her friends, that she read in books, love had stumbled on her in the form of Bryce. She threw him a smile. It wasn’t hard, she loved him. With her skis strapped on her feet, she hopped as she turned to her love.
“Bryce, when are you going to come over here and teach me how to ski?”
Even though she had been skiing since she was three years old, she wanted Bryce to feel like her one and only. Her first semester of college was finally over. Winter break had arrived, the time to relax. She decided not to celebrate the holiday with her parents and sister as she had done for the past 18 years. The past four months of freedom overshadowed any desire to reconnect with home. Her parents were very strict, overbearing. No dating, no late nights. It was school, study, sleep, in that order. The only break she had from the routine was gymnastics and skiing. When she had graduated high school, Maddie did not waste a moment and entered University to escape her parents.
Bryce was the same age as Maddie. They were freshmen and classmates, and he sat next to her in English. Professor Snyder didn’t pay any attention to his students. But Bryce, he paid attention to Maddie and she loved it. They started dating when he wrote her a text, after taking her phone. “Wanna go out tonight?” he asked.
“If you give that back to me,” she said as she grabbed at her phone.
He turned the face of the phone and showed her the text “Yes,” and said, “That’s what you were supposed to say.” After that day, they dated and decided to take the same classes in the Spring.
Bryce came from behind Maddie and grabbed her hips. He stood four inches over Maddie, who was tall herself at 5’ 10”. He placed his chin on her shoulder and went to kiss her. She closed her eyes to return the kiss. Then her feet slipped from under her and she fell to the ground. Bryce stood uphill laughing at her. She scrambled to get to her feet but her skis got crossed and she tripped, falling face down into the snow. She felt the pulling of her coat and was lifted to her feet as Bryce laughed. She was turned around, “You—” before she could say another word Bryce kissed her. Maddie felt warm from head to toe. She smiled. It was the best day of her life.
Maddie stared into Bryce’s eyes. In her mind, he was the epitome of perfection. He was handsome and tall and smart and had a great smile. As they held each other close, Catelyn and Damien approached, “You two need to get a room,” Catelyn hollered. “Damien and I are hungry. We’ve been out here all day. Do you think you guys can take a time out to grab something to eat?” Catelyn asked, wrapping her arms into Damien’s.
“That sounds like a plan, my stomach is eating through to my—” Bryce bellowed.
“We get the point Bryce,” Maddie stopped him before he could finish. They packed up their gear and headed toward the resort restaurant.
They approached the Irish restaurant and there was a sign that said “Closed.” It was odd since the place was supposed to be open until 11PM and it wasn’t even five o’clock. Bryce peered through the window and didn’t see anyone. Catelyn knocked on the door and there wasn’t a stir.
“Maybe we can sneak in there and grab something to eat,” Damien said to the group.
Maddie came back, “No, I don’t think we should. They’ll kick us out of the resort. Anyways, we have food back at the cabin.”
“Don’t you mean Our Chalet,” Catelyn said using her exaggerated French accent, and smiled. The group walked back to their chalet. Bryce and Maddie clung to one another while Catelyn and Damien were throwing snowballs at each other. Damien threw one snowball that hit Catelyn in the face.
“Okay, I had enough,” Catelyn told Damien. Damien gave his hand to Catelyn and helped her up. As she stood, Catelyn shoved a handful of snow down Damien’s shirt. She snorted as Damien’s reaction to the snow was priceless. It was a ten-minute walk to the cabin and they walked inside just as the last glimmer of dusk faded away.
The smell of sizzling bacon filled the room as Bryce took a bite of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Maddie thought about this trip and how she never wanted it to end. The usual vacation with her family consisted of meals and alone time. Often, her father would be working on projects and too busy to interact with the rest of the family. Her mother would always be doing chores around the house. Her sister would always be texting with her friends. That’s why she loved being around Bryce. She was always the focus of his attention and she loved being a priority, except when he was eating. Catelyn turned on the TV and there was nothing but static. Every cable channel contained static.
“Guys, the cable’s out,” she looked at her phone, “the internet is out too. And there’s no reception here.”
Damien smiled at her, “I guess we’re in for old-fashioned games and fun.”
Maddie danced as she reached into her bag, “I brought a word-tile game!”
The four went on playing games, telling jokes, and laughing, completely numb to the world.
“Wow, it’s 2AM. I’m exhausted,” Bryce let out a big yawn.
Catelyn, Damien, and Maddie reciprocated the yawn. Catelyn smiled, “I guess that means we’re not serial killers, good night.”
Maddie went into her room and plunked down on her bed. The best day of her life had come to a close and she instantaneously fell asleep. Her dream of Bryce and their kiss came to an abrupt halt as a blue-hued hand yanked her out of bed. Her head flew through the air with the rest of her body. She felt the force of her flight and she couldn’t free herself from the pull. As her body moved through the air, she saw it, she tried to avoid it, but her face crashed into the bedpost. Her right eye was speared by an ornate fleur-de-lis sticking out of the side. Her arms fell down as her body went limp. Blood oozed from her eye socket and she was dragged from the room.
“What the hell was that?” Damien jumped out of bed upon hearing the commotion outside of his room. He grabbed his ski pole and jumped through his door in the en-garde position he had learned from fencing. It took only a moment for him to analyze the situation. The ski pole started to drift downward as he looked in disbelief.
In front of him was a huge monstrosity, a Troll, standing almost seven feet tall. Its entire skin was colored blue, as blue as cobalt, and it had a huge round pitted nose and pointed ears that drooped down to its neck. Its long blue fingers were dragging Maddie, and there was another one, dragging Bryce as he tried to kick it.
Catelyn came out of her room and screamed in terror. That was enough to get the Troll’s attention. It turned its head and its dark, cold eyes stared into Catelyn’s scream. It raised its hand and the core started to glow on its orbitizer. A buzz filled the room and the blue ball struck Catelyn. Her screams were instantly muted by the blast. Damien watched Catelyn as her face disappeared into nothing. Blood started to flow from where her neck used to be. As Catelyn’s body fell, Damien turned to the Troll.
He lunged toward the blue being, ski pole in hand. A second buzz filled the room and Damien fell to the ground. The second Troll, holding Bryce, made a fist and hit Bryce so hard that he stopped fighting. He was out cold. Disregarding the two bodies on the floor, the Troll walked over the corpses as if they weren’t there. It silently followed the other Troll dragging Maddie out of the cottage.
DAY 276 AFTERNOON
THE REALIZATION
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA
Maddie exited the washroom and followed the sound of Mac and Barron talking. She turned off the light in the hall, walked around the corner, and stuck her head into the kitchen. She looked at Barron, “Did you borrow these clothes from a 300-pound man?” She walked fully into the kitchen and the drawstrings of the sweatpants were wrapped around her waist. They were so puffy that her legs looked like two balloons. The shirt didn’t do any better. Not only did she have to reposition it every time it slipped off of her shoulder, but it was covered in ketchup and mustard stains. To make matters worse, every time she looked down to adjust it, “Loser” would be there taunting her. She had found some slippers in the washroom but her heels extended over the backs and touched the floor.
“It was the best I could do on short notice,” Barron said as he looked at her.
She shook her head in disappointment at Barron “My legs look like toothpicks in a potato sack,” she said, taking a seat at the table next to Mac.
“Okay, Doctor, you want to know what happened… well so do I.” Maddie placed her elbows on the table, crisscrossing her fingers. She leaned toward Mac, staring unflinchingly into his eyes.
“Please, Maddie, call me Mac,” he said, trying to be congenial and make Maddie feel comfortable in her new surroundings. Maddie told Mac and Barron about the last day at the Summerwhite Resort as they both listened with great intent.
“So Maddie,” Mac started his inquiry, “you’re telling me that you have no idea what has happened? You do realize that you have no recollection of the past nine months.” She looked at Mac in disbelief. She felt her anger fill her and she exploded.
“I don’t even know where I am! You’re telling me that I have been out for nine months??? Huh, is that what you’re saying? One day I’m with my friends and loving my life and the next day I wake up to an old man and his boy-toy, or whatever he is,” she said, her temples pulsing as she looked at Barron, “staring at me while I’m lying under a blanket, half-naked! Then, I can’t even be told about my eye. No, no, sir, I look into the mirror and see that my eye is flippin’ red. Not just bloodshot, totally red, everywhere. So when I tell you that I have no idea what has happened in the past nine months, that means I DON’T KNOW!”
Maddie finished with her eyes glued back on Mac. He took a deep breath.
“Maddie, you’re in Charlottesville, in a medical clinic, with me, Mac, and Barron, my assistant,” he explained.
“And how did I get here?” she asked Mac without pause.
“You were brought here from the Troll’s bunker,” Barron answered.
“So I came from a land of mythical creatures, is that what you’re saying?” she said, as her head snapped toward Barron,
Mac started to speak again, “No, Maddie, the Trolls are the aliens that took you on your last night at Summerwhite.”
“So the aliens landed?” Maddie asked, while she was piecing things together. “The last I heard was that they were still in orbit. They must have come down that night. Where did they take me?”
“I don’t know. All I do know is that you were found during an attack on the alien bunker. That bunker was near Nellysford and you were brought here,” Mac replied.
Maddie looked down and sat in a moment of silence trying to process what Mac had told her.
“So they did this to me,” Maddie said, and pointed at her red eye. “Have all those Trolls been killed?”
“They have an intricate system of bunkers. We’ve been defending ourselves after we regrouped… after the Attack,” Mac said as he shook his head.
She paused for a moment to look out of the small window and then scanned the rest of the kitchen. It was more of a break room than a kitchen. She spotted silhouettes of dogs and cats on the wall and posters for various animal drugs with lists of the benefits the pills or shots provided pets. She came back and focused on Mac, “So they attacked. What happened and why am I in this medical clinic?”
Mac looked straight into her eyes, “There isn’t much left of the larger cities, they were wiped out in the initial raid. The military and the government no longer exist and we’re defended by a local group, the Avalon Militia. A couple of members of the militia brought you here after the raid in Nellysford and I’m the one who was chosen to take care of you. Where you are… Well, this used to be an animal hospital, Happy Paws. We kept the name because there is a sign out front. Don’t worry, this place is safe and doesn’t offer veterinary services anymore.” Her fists balled up as she became angrier with every bit of information Mac was telling her. She barraged Mac with questions that she needed answered.
“Where is Catelyn?”
“I don’t know,” Mac said, as he knew he didn’t have her answer.
“Where’s Damien?”
“I don’t know,” Mac answered immediately with the same tone.
“Where’s Bryce?” she asked, and then demanded, “I want to know where Bryce is.”
“I don’t know where he is either.”
“You’re a wealth of knowledge, why don’t you get me some answers and then maybe I could help you out!” she screamed at Mac.
Mac was annoyed with Maddie yelling at him, “Then ask me a question that I can answer!” He stood up and Maddie’s blood results were pushed toward her.
“What about my parents, my sister?” she asked. She was going to continue to ask questions until she got something out of him.
“Where were they the night you went missing?” Mac asked her.
“They were in Richmond.” She noticed the piece of paper and swiped it off of the table. It crumpled in her fists as she made sure that she got all or at least part of it. Barron saw that she was going to grab the results but his reaction was too slow. He was paying too much attention to the conversation and her movement stunned him before he even had time to flinch.
The old man sat back into his seat. “Richmond didn’t make it through the Attack, they are probably dead,” his tone was solemn with the presentation of more bad news.
She fell back into her chair, “Everybody that I have ever known is gone?” Maddie’s anger shifted to sadness. Her family was gone too. That day, in Nellysford, just changed from the happiest day to the worst day of her life.
“Is there any chance that they made it out of there?” she asked as she started to look at the results.
Mac paused and adjusted his chair, “If they were in Richmond that night, I know that they didn’t make it. Unless they had left, there’s no chance that anyone survived the Attack,” he said. Maddie’s mind was racing. Her parents never left the house, let alone the city, during the holidays. There was no way they had survived and she had to come to terms that they were gone.
As reality set in, a sense of fear overcame her thoughts as she started to grasp this new world. She looked at the paper that Mac conveniently let her have. Her fear soon subsided as her voice, and her anger, came back.
“Whose results are these?” she asked. She knew they were her results.
Mac slowly leaned forward in his chair, “They are yours, we…”
Genetic Drift Page 4
