Sondranos: The Narrative of Leon Bishop

by Patrick Stephens

  Lancaster tripped on the threshold of the door when he burst in. Kayt’s eyes were puffed, and a scowl looked permanently pressed into her lips. Lancaster, on the other hand, stuck his chest out and spoke through heavy breaths. “They just came in on the far side of the neighbourhood.”

  “We counted thirteen,” Kayt added.

  “They headed towards the first house and the one across from it, two by two, while three stood in the middle of the road. They must have started a while ago, as they’ve already got a group of ten or so people with them.”

  “They’re taking prisoners,” Kayt finished.

  “How close were they to here?” I asked.

  “A couple dozen, maybe? I don’t know. Once we saw the three coming down the road, we hauled butt in here,” Lancaster said.

  The door into the garage opened. Davion came through wringing his hands. He wiped them off on his pants. The black goo he’d gotten all over his hands and smeared on his pants hardened as if it were some non-Newtonian solid. It gripped his pants, but dripped off his fingers. Annalise startled at it and put her hand to her forehead.

  “If you guys couldn’t fix it, you should have told me,” moaned Annalise.

  “The good news is: we can turn it on at any time,” he said, ignoring the exasperation in Annalise’s voice. “The bad news is: you have an old car. The magnetic guidance system is still tied in with the steering console, so we will need another half hour. The even worse news is: even if we had that hour, starting the engine up to access the panel will be very loud. I doubt we could stay hidden for the half hour we need.”

  “I can do it,” cried Melanie from the garage.

  “There is no sense in refusing to accept failure, Melanie,” Davion turned and stood in the doorway. Melanie appeared from beneath the car and hovered in the doorway, holding a driver in her hand and pointing it at the priest.

  “I told you,” she started. “I’m not giving up. I can do this. Your God as my witness.”

  “God is not mine to own,” he placed a hand on Melanie’s shoulder. “You can allow his presence in your life as well. Just keep the right amount of faith alongside reason and action. But your God cannot help where you are inexperienced.”

  I bowed my head and closed my eyes. “Can you do it or not?”

  Melanie looked at Davion, and he at her. The connection between the two was impenetrable. Melanie set the screwdriver against her side, and lost the stoic expression keeping her eyes and lips like stones. “I’ll do it. Just give me the time. I’ll give you a working car, or I’ll push this thing out of here myself.”

  Davion turned to us and smiled. Melanie disappeared into the garage just as Davion did the same. The four of us were left with a feeling of emptiness in the room – like we’d all just witnessed the middle of a film, and had no clue where it had begun.

  “Does anyone else feel like we just got played?” Lancaster asked.

  Annalise took my bag. She handed both hers and mine to Kayt, who was surprised by the weight and let them drag on the floor. “Give these to Davion. Tell him to put them in the trunk,” she said. “Since the Belovores are already on their way. We have to find a way to delay them if they get too close, or at least keep them from hearing the engine start up. Tell him not to start the engine until he hears my signal. How far did you say they were up the road?”

  Lancaster stammered as Kayt took to the garage. “A couple houses.”

  “Do you think we can get across the street in time?”

  “Time for what?” His eyes shot around the room, and his brow furrowed.

  “She wants to know where we could go without being seen,” I said.

  “I don’t think we can do that,” Lancaster said. “But the crowd of people they had was pretty big. The three guarding them might be preoccupied.” Lancaster, easily flustered, turned his gaze to the ground, and held his hands close together. Kayt returned and he shot her a bug-eyed look, refusing to focus on any one thing. Kayt touched his shoulder, having to straddle her own arm behind his shoulder blade to make it seem comforting.

  “Don’t,” she said. “I know you want to, but don’t be an idiot.”

  “I’m not,” he rasped. Annalise and I stepped back, as yet again we felt like intruders. We let the scene play out, and opted to ask questions later.

  “Keep a happy mood,” Kayt added. “Bright. Don’t think about what we were talking about earlier – everyone’s fine. Your parents are fine, mine are fine, and everything is going to be happy. There will be time enough for grieving.”

  “Shut up! Stop. Just stop – the city wasn’t decimated, it was destroyed. You keep saying that word to make me think only ten percent of Sondranos is gone, but it’s not. All of it is. We won’t ever see any of our parents or friends again,” Lancaster said. His chest heaved. His fingers trembled, as if they could shake off his hands.

  I mentioned before that Annalise and I stepped back when Kayt and Lancaster began arguing. Now is as good a time as any to explain what Annalise and I had missed:

  In the sitting room, Lancaster had been a portrait of nerves. While Annalise and I had been gathering food and talking about Beaumaris, Kayt began the incident by asking him a simple question.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Maybe we can talk sense into the Belovores. They look somewhat human, and we’ve both lived on the same planet – so why not?”

  “Lancaster, you know what I mean. I have been doing my best not to break down, not to think of Victor or my family, or everyone else I know that might be dead right now.”

  “The response isn’t changing.”

  “I mean, everything is different between us.”

  “Of course things are different now. Are you awake?” he said.

  “It’s been like this since before Sondranos was decimated. You haven’t been yourself. It’s like you’re more distant than ever, just because of what I said. Much more far-off than when you are in a sour mood. Sometimes I can’t tell if you’d rather I have been in Sondranos when it was hit, or not. It used to be a simpler answer.”

  “That’s not fair. You know I’ve been in love with you since we were last together. You’re the one who kept pushing the subject afterwards. Then you went off and met this other guy. I want you to be happy and all, but why does it have to be so hard reminding you that you once loved me that way too? When did you stop?”

  “I stopped because I stopped. I was your first, Lancaster. And you were mine. I used to think that’s all that love was. But I found something in Victor that made me better – and I know you can do the same. Like when you were with Angela, or Naomi.”

  “They broke it off with me.”

  “Because you couldn’t let go.”

  “I let go well enough, but you kept coming back saying you missed the old times. We got pregnant and I was ready to take care of it, but you couldn’t. I know, Kayt. I was there. We were both underage, and I know what it would have meant to our lives.”

  “You know I would have had it if it weren’t for Alpers disease, and my family’s history of genetic heart problems…” she cut off, and held back a sob. “Stop putting all the blame on me; the doctor told us that with a hundred percent certainty. If we’d have stayed together, I wouldn’t have known if we were together because of a baby, or because we loved each other.”

  “It could never be both.”

  “That’s harsh.”

  Kayt had been crying, but Lancaster didn’t notice. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, and then returned to watching the road. The last words Lancaster said to her before sighting the Belovores were: “It’s just not right, Kayt. I never used to be this scared when I was with you.”

  Back in the kitchen, Lancaster turned to Annalise and bolstered his strength. “If you’re going to go out there, I’ll go keep watch.”

  “Sounds good,” Annalise said. She nodded to him, and kept her features calm. Tight lips, eye contact – no flaring of the nostrils. She was cold, mechanical. That’s w
hat she had to be. That’s what I had to be.

  Lancaster left the room, hardly giving Kayt any attention. She came to us – much like she had in the tree farm, and confided. “I’m worried about him. He’s not thinking rationally.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “He mentioned reasoning with them.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” I said. “He can’t think that would work.”

  Kayt held her tongue.

  Annalise stepped away from the island and disappeared down the hallway, the sound of a door opening and closing reverberated down the hallway, from her bedroom. She returned just as quickly as she’d left with a small box. Tiny pinprick holes dressed the front corner, and a dime-sized red button pulsated on top. Annalise held it close to her stomach. With the pause, I’d like to think we’d all calmed, or started to think more rationally.

  “He’s just worried,” I said. “We all are.”

  “Let him worry,” said Annalise. “He’s scared, and if he thinks he’s safe inside watching, then let him. Meanwhile, we have to make sure the Belovores don’t get here before Melanie fixes the car.”

  As crazy as it sounds, we left through the front door.

  Annalise’s porch was shadowed by a large black awning, something I’m sure the Homeowner’s Association complained about since it didn’t match the rest of her house. A scattering of leaves had started to flake through, and littered the porch with enough refuse that we had to step beyond it carefully, so as not to make any excess noise. Daniel popped into my mind in that instant, saying: ‘The Homeowner’s Association of Covenant Street – the only realty group in the world who hates it when you turn your house into a home.’

  We looked to our right immediately upon leaving, scanning down the street – sure that was the direction they came from. Kayt pointed to a thin crowd of people. Just as they’d said, three Belovores circled around their prisoners. I tried to count the heads, but lost them in the shuffle around sixteen. Most were crying, or eyeing the Belovores with fear. I motioned for the three of us to duck, even though all that concealed us was a thin white railing.

  After a moment, Annalise looked up and over the railing surrounding her porch.

  “I want to go across the street – their house will be perfect. Plus, Robby Bruce is the only friend I’ve had here,” Annalise said. She looked out again – the three Belovores had turned into the crowd to greet four more people into the group led by a single Belovore. Once the four had joined, the escort turned and headed back the way it’d come. Annalise inched out into the yard. She ushered Kayt and I close. I looked behind long enough to see Lancaster peeking through the slats in the blinds.

  We dashed into the road, across it, and trampled the row of yellow and white crocuses planted as a territory marker across the yard. The three Belovores committed to crowd control hadn’t noticed us. Annalise stopped when we got to the door, and tried the handle first. She didn’t have to knock – the door swung open and a large, ancient looking man with more wrinkles than Davion motioned us in. He closed the door behind us and dashed to the window. We followed. Annalise didn’t say anything; I’m sure that if she had, the man she called Robby Bruce would’ve shushed her. It was a different perspective on the triumvirate of Belovores, but we still didn’t learn anything new.

  “Homeowner’s Association sure has changed their looks a bit,” Bruce said. He then frowned, letting the joke slide away. “They’re collecting ‘em. But ain’t lettin’ us all live. You’d best take your car and leave, Lise.”

  Annalise stood on the tips of her toes to see over his shoulder, and gasped. “Trying to do just that. Need a distraction though. If the Belovores started on the other end of Covenant, where is everyone else?”

  “Power’s out. Communication blocks are down too. Can’t even spark a connection. Would’a yelled out my window, but was afraid those things would hear me. I don’t feel much like dying today,” he said. “You said Belovores?”

  “Yes, don’t ask how I know. Just get out,” Annalise said. “Please, get out now. Or hide. You need to be somewhere safe. They destroyed the city and they’re probably going to do worse to whoever they catch. Leave, Robert. Please.”

  “I got my place to hide, right back there. They won’t find me,” he turned and pointed a crooked finger to the stairwell. A small door had been propped open, and another stairwell led down to a basement. It smelled musty, and like dust.

  “You have a survival chamber?” I asked.

  “Who’s this?” Bruce said, gesturing towards Kayt and me.

  “A friend,” Annalise held up a hand to quiet me. “Since when has the room been ready?”

  “A couple weeks after you went recluse on me,” he said. “I’m sorry about your dogs, by the way. The son’s a’boot lickers ain’t had a shred of decency in them since the colonizin’.”

  “I don’t blame them, Robert.”

  “I’m not sayin’ you should; I’m saying sorry, though.”

  Annalise revealed the box she grabbed at her house, and Bruce smiled at it. He shook his head and looked back out the blinds, then to us. He sized us up. After a moment of staring at Kayt – longer than he had at me – he grunted. “Braver than me. That’s gonna call them right over here,” he said. “I’ll go get to hidin’ in any case. Don’t suppose you’re gonna explain what you’re doin’, are ya?”

  “Running. We don’t exactly have a year or two’s worth of foodstuffs in a near impenetrable closet,” she paused. “We have room in the car, Robert. You should come with us.”

  “Or you could stay with me.”

  “It’s never worked that way, Robert. You know I’d never last down there. Nor would anyone else, considering it can only fit one man.”

  “I’m not leavin’ my wife behind,” he said. “Not so long as she’s buried here.”

  They both looked at each other and grinned.

  “Damn Homeowner’s Association,” they said, in sync.

  After a brief moment, Annalise hugged him and said a quiet thank you. I didn’t know what was going on, or the history, but I also never asked. It was something personal. It reminded me of Daniel, and how we would talk as if everyone knew how much we were in love. It would come as a shock whenever someone scoffed, or shook their head at us when we held hands down the street, so I said nothing to Annalise or Robert. I didn’t want to ruin their moment.

  “My house is at your disposal. Just don’t tell them where I’m at and I’ll be fine,” he said. “And don’t do anything stupid, y’hear me, Lise? Nothin’ that’ll bring down the wrath of the Gods, y’hear?”

  Annalise nodded and placed a hand on his cheek. She smiled, bit her lip, and he laughed. Shortly, Bruce fled, while Annalise called out: “If you hear anything, don’t come up. Anything. I don’t care if it’s me saying everything is safe and that you should come up. Don’t do it.”

  “I’m older than the Gods you follow; you actually think I’ll hear you from down there? I’m not leaving until I’m done reading the Greats of the Twenty-First Century.”

  Annalise laughed quietly, and the man twirled his finger in the air. It wasn’t long before Bruce pulled the stairwell door shut, letting the creases in the wall conceal the opening. We heard a shuddering lock from down below. If I hadn’t known it was there, I never would have noticed the opening.

  “Why aren’t we going down there?” Kayt asked.

  “As I said, it’s a closet. And it only has lengthy provisions for one occupant. We’d never make it, especially if we were in there without the ability to leave,” Annalise looked at me. “Trust me, he’ll be fine. Even the house inspectors couldn’t find that enclosure. Or the one inside it. Bruce is about as paranoid as they come, so he wouldn’t leave anything to chance.”

  “They really are rounding them up,” Kayt moaned, pointing out that two more had been escorted to the pack. They were getting closer. Just three more houses – a corner away – until they were in front of Annalise’s home. The trio of Belovores must
have felt it easier to corral their prey in the southeast corner of the neighbourhood, right on the turn of the road.

  We watched in horror as one of the newcomers – a teenager who couldn’t have been more than fifteen - whose nose had been bloodied, lashed out at one of the Belovores. He struck the creature in the chest, pounding one of the breastplates with a fist. The Belovore took a deep breath and pushed the kid away. The woman with him wept and yelled something indecipherable. The boy attacked again, this time kicking the Belovore in the shin, and running into the Belovore’s waist with as much force as he could muster. The boy pulled back and fell to his knees. We could faintly hear the scream of agony as he fell to his knees; only, it was a woman’s scream.

  The offended Belovore leaned forward. Not to hit the boy, or to say anything, but because the Belovore had to. The Belovore twisted its chelimb slightly, and we all saw it. The chelimb stuck through the boy’s stomach. With a thrust, the pincers broke out through the boy’s shirt. The woman, his mother I assumed, screamed and tried to run to him. Someone from the pack held her back. The Belovore leaned forward, scowled, and jerked its chelimb out.

  The boy collapsed. Something stuck between the claws. I was certain – in that moment – it was one of the boy’s vertebrae. The boy convulsed on the ground as the Belovore dropped the bloodied bone and barked something out to the group.

  The other two watched and responded with nods. They then continued to circle the group, waiting for the rest of their team to bring in more prisoners. The crowd pulsed together even more, the circle grew smaller.

  Annalise turned to Kayt. She held up the box she’d retrieved from her room and pressed the red button on top. A small projector screen displayed hundreds of titles – all songs, most of which I recognized, including the one by Betty Harris that I’d heard coming off the transport.

  “When I start this music, Kayt,” she started, “I want you to run back to the house – use a silent count to 15 – and tell them to start up the engine when you reach zero,” Annalise ordered. “I will play this music as loud as possible right before you need to leave. The Belovores will come to the music. They won’t see you. I promise. They’re too occupied with their group. They will find Leon and me, but I’m certain we can avoid any trouble until Davion and Melanie get the car working.”