by Eli Constant
One more powerful thrust from our friends upstairs and our floating coffin was falling sideways. Our screaming was deafening and bounced off the padded, metal walls. The echoes of terror assaulted us, gripping us in the relentless noise.
Suddenly, we weren’t moving.
“What the… ?” Jason’s question was stunted, not understanding.
I moved towards the door of the sky cabin, peering out the grime-streaked glass. “Unbelievable.” I breathed, my body still shaking from the fall-scare. I felt like laughing. But I didn’t.
We’d been low enough and close enough.
Our cabin was halfway stable on the ground and halfway hanging over open air. I crossed my chest and whispered two Hail Marys. God deserved a hell of a lot more, but gratitude wasn’t my current priority. My relief was a brief, fleeting affair.
Reality waited for us outside the sky cabin. A dull thud from above told me that the two beasties on top of our cabin were now three beasties.
We opened the door slowly and all stood huddled together. We didn’t run from the unmoving metal room- although we all longed to beat feet and not look back.
Michael kept his aim on the jagged ceiling hole. Jason and I focused on the wide-open, inviting cabin door. It seemed to advertise: Come eat us. We’re yummy and weak.
The undergrounders on the roof of our cabin weren’t moving. I turned my head to look at the leader through the cabin windows. The General was still standing erect, perched on the cabin directly behind us. Its head swayed from side to side; the sinewy muscles of its upper body pulsed. One vein visibly pumped humanoid blood to humanoid limbs.
As I watched, the General’s face jerked in my direction. Its eyes were piercingly focused on my face. A quick hand motion from the leader and, in unison, the remaining undergrounders leapt from their individual perches.
They hit the ground in one harmonious thud and faced the open door of our cabin. The one I called the General leapt from his perch next and moved to the rear of the group, protecting itself- like any smart leader.
My eyes could not leave the face of the leading, largest beastie; the General’s eyes were equally entranced. The undergrounders were a bit androgynous, making it difficult to discern male from female. In that moment, however, the leader felt… eerily male.
I felt exposed, naked despite my layers of thermal underwear, jeans, and turtleneck. The shudder that ran the length of my body was not one of pleasure, but one of foreboding and warning.
As quick as they had come upon us, the undergrounders retreated.
There was no reasoning behind their leaving. We weren’t technically outnumbered, but we were definitely outclassed.
“Think it’s a trick?” I watched them disappear into the distance. It didn’t take long for them to cover a great expanse.
They reverted to all fours. The posture change was awkward. Once they regained their strides, they bounded across the land. Amazing how they went from seeming more human to seeming more predatory than ever.
“Who the hell knows?” Jason toed an inch beyond the confines of the cabin.
“Make a run for it?” I mimicked Jason’s movement, my right foot outside, solid on the platform.
“It’s not like we really have a choice.” He moved a bit farther. I followed. I felt like a pawn on a chess board- one small advancement at a time, debating diagonal or straightforward.
I glanced at the sun, my feelings of betrayal resurging. Melanin would have to be added to the long list of things I hated. The undergrounders’ hypersensitivity to UV rays had always been a comfort, a safeguard. Not now. I couldn’t be in denial anymore. Night and day were becoming equally dangerous. I sucked in air, getting ready.
“Girls, get up. Come over to me.” I waved my arm, motioning towards myself.
Allison moved her body and let Megan and Kara stand up. Holding Kara’s hand, Megan moved to my side. Allison made her way to Michael. She stood behind him, her hand resting on his back. This girl was pretty, but she was one more liability.
Megan and Kara had an excuse- they were little kids! Allison was the same age as Michael and she failed to display one iota of his gumption. Jesus, even my girls were braver. As soon as we had time, Jason and I were going to have to force Allison to grow up. Being innocent was nice and it was sad that Michael had lost his innocence, but at least he could hold his own and contribute to our survival.
Jason took point, Michael and Allison followed close behind. Megan and Kara were directly behind Allison and I took up the rear. I asked Allison to hold Megan’s hand and told Megan to not let go of Kara’s hand. They walked in a little, fearful train. Definitely not the capable engine that could.
We were several yards from the fallen sky cabin. I rotated to scan behind us, making sure no stray beastie was hiding in our wake. “All clear on my end.” I called to Jason.
“We’re good up front too. Michael, how’re our flanks?” Jason didn’t turn around.
“I’m not seeing any movement. Can we move faster though?”
“My girls can only move so fast. If you want to run, we need to pick them up.” The guys were quiet for a minute.
“Allison, get Kara. She’s the lightest. Michael, you get Megan.” Jason didn’t turn to make sure they were following his direction. He was in charge; everyone knew it.
Michael hesitated, but then pulled Megan up into his arms. He tried to jostle her to one side and handle his gun with the other, but Megan was too heavy. She was going to be eleven soon. Even Kara was getting too heavy to hold for a long time. I had to give Allison props though- she didn’t complain. Surprise. Surprise.
Michael was holstering his sidearm. “No, give it to me in case I need the extra shots.” Jason reached for the gun and Michael handed the Desert Eagle over. Then he wrapped both arms around Megan. “Ready? Time to haul ass.”
We ran as quickly as we could, but honestly, it wasn’t much faster than we could have moved without carrying the girls. Michael was doing okay, but Allison was struggling, trying to run and not drop Kara. She still wasn’t complaining though.
We weren’t far from the van, but the slow pace was driving me nuts. “Allison, give Kara to me.” Allison’s expression was grateful as she turned midstride and dumped Kara in my arms. “Kara, put your arms around mommy’s neck. Good. Now hold on tight.”
“O’tay momma.” Kara’s little voice whispered in my ear. I hugged her tightly against my chest.
Our line of people moved a little faster now and made it to the van unscathed. We all jumped in with Jason at the wheel. He moved to turn the key; we always left it in the ignition. There was no one around to steal from us anyway.
I was in the back with the girls. I could tell Jason’s hand was moving by the movement of his right shoulder. Nothing was happening. Jason sat motionless for a moment. Then he was throwing his door open and jumping out. He was at the front of the van with the hood open before I could ask what was wrong.
“Mother fu… Stupid… mother… god… mmm… sons of… pieces of… mmm… trash!” He was ranting and raving with half-spoken expletives and mumbled nonsense. I told everyone to stay put and I climbed out of the back seat. When I came into view of the open hood, my mind and body did a double take.
“No… it’s not possible. They don’t think like this.”
“Obviously they do, Elise. Shit.” Jason’s last word dripped with venom.
“What are we going to do? I didn’t see any more vehicles in the parking lot. We can’t be stranded here. We… we just can’t be!”
The engine was torn to shreds. There was no salvaging it, no making it operate again. The pieces were unrecognizable. The undergrounders had even closed the hood back. They’d tricked us, dangled freedom and then slapped us in the faces.
They really were turning human.
“There have to be service vehicles here. Work vans… golf carts… something.” My mind worked in high gear. Jason, being Jason, overcame his surprise and anger and took charge.
“Okay. We grab what we can and we search. We have about three hours and then we need to change gears. If we have to stay here, we’ll need somewhere to hunker down for the night.” Jason gestured to Michael to get out of the van. When Michael saw the damage, he whistled and ran a hand through his hair.
I helped the guys go through the gear in the back of the van. Hopefully, we’d be able to come back for the rest of our stuff later, but that wasn’t likely; so we needed to take the most important items.
Jason, Michael and I had pretty heavy loads. I put together a lighter pack for Allison- filled with a few changes of clothes for each person. I was carrying the food products: Bunsen burner, matches, water purifying tablets, protein bars, vitamins, small canister of formula and one sippy cup. The canned goods were too heavy to haul.
The boys had divided up the camping gear and weapons. As small as Megan was, she was able to carry a pack also. I gave her the lightest items- medical supplies. Bandages and pill bottles weren’t too heavy.
Sorting and packing took the better part of an hour. We could have worked faster, but were plagued by the constant need to scan the surrounding area for undergrounders.
It felt like they were toying with us.
The van was parked on Spokane Falls Blvd near a large water fountain. We began moving- our lineup the same as before with Jason on point and me taking rear guard- towards the other side of the park.
Michael was pretty sure he’d seen two small shuttle buses near the community center building when we were playing mini golf earlier. I would have liked something better than ‘pretty sure,’ but that lack of certainty was our only lead. So we took his uncertainty and we ran with it… literally.
Well, we would have run if not for Allison. This girl was really starting to muck up the works. We moved at Allison’s pace. When Michael was encouraging her, she walked a little quicker. When he had better things to think about- oh, like covering our flanks and scanning for humanoids- she dragged ass. I was getting ready to chew her out myself, but Jason beat me to it.
“Damn it Allison. You may not want to survive, but the rest of us sure as hell do. Move your ass.”
“Dad, leave her alone. She’s doing her best.”
“Son, I hate to tell you this, but, if that’s her best, she’s not long for this world.”
I figured that chewing the girl out would have one of two possible effects. A: She could start crying and throw an even bigger pity-party or B: She’d pull her head out of her ass. Lucky for us, she opted for the former.
Allison glanced back at me. I could see wetness in her eyes, but she held it together. Not only did she begin to move faster, but she took Kara from my arms- leaving my hands free. Stubborn Megan pushed my arms away when I reached for her.
“Mom, I’m okay. I can do this.”
I was at once bursting with pride and bursting with sadness. This world was beginning to carve away at my Megan’s innocence. I couldn’t hope to stop the disappearance of her youth. I could only aim to slow that inevitable disappearance. We pressed forward.
Far to our right was the clock tower and we could see the community center in the distance. Michael said he thought the shuttle buses were near the rear in a small parking section.
Chiming rang from the clock tower. After the initial pealing, the bells chimed three times. The sun was moving lower in the sky. Per an unwritten world rule: when you need more time, time seems to speed away.
We moved around the brick and many windowed building. Next thing I knew, I was falling backwards- Megan and Allison pushed against me. Kara giggled at falling in Allison’s arm and Allison had the presence of mind to shush her. Maybe Jason’s anti-pep talk did some good after all.
“What the fu…” I caught myself just in time to avoid dropping the f-bomb. “Jason… Michael, what the heck?”
“Michael, stay with Allison and the girls. Elise… you’re going to want to see this.”
Michael had already seen whatever new trauma waited at the back of the building. The look on his face was a cross between bemusement and shock. Turning the corner, my mind refused to process what I was seeing. I had to blink, force my brain to accept the unbelievable.
The air hissed out of my lungs in a ‘we are really, truly, totally screwed’ exclamation.
The four surviving undergrounders from the sky ride were bent over one of the shuttle buses. The vehicles were much bigger than Michael had described; they’d be perfect, but the beasties were dismantling them. Seriously?
From what I could see, vehicle parts were being tossed unceremoniously onto the ground. It didn’t look like the beasties had been at the destruction long. Maybe they’d decimated other park vehicles before discovering those behind the community center.
The second bus looked untouched. If we could jump the humanoids now, we might salvage a way out of this situation. Jason agreed with me, but first, we needed to stash the girls somewhere. I studied every conceivable option.
“Jason, I’m not seeing anywhere to leave the girls. Nowhere safe.”
“In the building?”
“By the time we break in, leave them, and get back out here- they might be gone. The damage will be done and we won’t have any way out of here.”
He looked at me- weighing the options. Did we take the extra time and keep the girls safe or did we leave the girls exposed and take our chances that way. Jason turned to his son.
“Michael, can we leave you with the girls? Can you handle them and whatever might come at you?”
“Yes.” One word, full of confidence.
“I can help.” Allison spoke to Jason, but looked at me. She enunciated. “I. Can. Help.” I studied her face for an instant and then handed her my trusty firearm.
“Allison, have you ever used one of these before?” She shook her head in negation. I placed my hand over hers.
I helped her position her palm properly around the gun grip, her trigger finger stretched out over the actual trigger. “Do not rest your finger on that trigger until you are ready to shoot. Accidents happen without proper precautions.” I pointed to the safety.
“The safety is on, but you release it like this.” I used her thumb on the opposite hand to push the safety button off. “Now put it back on.” Allison did. “The hammer on this gun is automatic. You just turn off the safety, aim, and hope to kill. Try for the head or heart. Do your best. This gun has been with me for a long time. I like to think it’s lucky.”
She nodded again and I took my hand off of hers.
“Michael, she’s all yours. Both of you, you pay attention to my girls.”
“Elise, are you sure you want to leave Megan and Kara? We understand, really. Michael can come with me.” Jason spoke quietly; he understood how difficult it was for me- letting Megan and Kara out of my sight, trusting their safety to someone else.
“Jason, are you willing to put your son up against four undergrounders? You just found him again… are you willing to risk it?” I turned to Michael. “Michael, can I trust you with my babies?” He didn’t answer me, but he nodded seriously. His eyes were steel, his jaw set in a hard and determined line. “Girls, you do exactly what Michael and Allison say. Do not leave their sides. Do not watch Jason and me… do you understand?”
“Yes, momma.” Megan and Kara said it in unison. I kissed them. It felt like I was always kissing them goodbye and hoping I could kiss them hello later.
My eyes took a memory shot of their faces. I stored it quickly in the vault of my mind. It might be a useless effort- my memory bank might go bankrupt here in a few minutes.
“Ready?” Jason’s voice. This time it was me nodding in ascension.
Jason skipped the long, probing glance and just took me at my nod. Thank God for the ability most men have to put aside emotions. Women were less capable of this. Not that all women were overly-sensitive. Myself? Well, I walked that fine line between perpetual PMS and emotional eunuch.
My husband used to say I was exactly what
men wanted. At one moment I could be the dressed up girly girl- demanding doors to be opened and chairs to be moved- and then the next moment, I was the hard core tom boy- ready to take on the world. I’d never believed David though. He was always treating me like I was better than I actually was.
Why was it I always chose to reminisce as I walked into a fight? Maybe because I might die. Yeah… maybe.
I needed to concentrate, not take a jaunt down memory lane. I never understood why people said ‘down memory lane.’ You don’t walk down a lane, do you? Does a pit open up in the ground of the lane and you literally go down? Nope. Sometimes adages boggle my mind.
Concentrate, Elise, concentrate. Head in the game.
I refocused. Despite the wandering of my mind, my body had followed the necessary course. I was staring at Jason’s back. We were crouched over slightly and just coming around the building and into view of the undergrounders.
The humanoids were just moving to the second vehicle. They’d ripped the first bus up pretty thoroughly. Its innards were scattered and littered a ten foot radius. The undergrounders could inflict damage very quickly so we needed to get to them before they could sink their nasty, little claws into more metal.
The beasties saw us much sooner than we’d hoped.
I said “Shit,” but Jason’s yell drowned out my profanity.
Three undergrounders came at us; the General remained behind at the buses, likely to protect himself, but also to rip the remaining vehicle to shreds.
The three beasties were running full pace and directionally split. One headed straight for us, one to our right, and one to our left. Having a third person would have been really great, but we were only two and we couldn’t protect every side.
“Back to back!” Jason yelled.
“That never works in movies!” But I listened. I was going to die in a cliché fighting formation. What were we going to do? Twirl back to back until we made the undergrounders dizzy? Yeah. That would work. And I was Miss freaking-America.
“Wish this fight was scripted.” I yelled. And conversation stopped there.
The next twenty minutes were a psychotic blur of firing, yelling, kicking. I felt like a victim pressed up against an alley wall. I could kick and scream and punch, but I wasn’t getting away from the altercation. I tasted blood.
