THE EVENT

by Jamie Heppner

  Whatever these people had become, they didn't fall to her blade easy. The best she was able to do was slow them down some as they steadily pushed her back to the closed door at the end of the hallway.

  Shade spared only a glance at Dawn to see how she was doing. The people were silently pushing her backwards and soon she would have no way to fight them. They would both be over run. Shade turned back to the door that so far had resisted all his efforts to open it. A steel plate covered the seam down one side of the door. There was no way he could push through it, yet Shade slammed his body against it repeatedly, trying to force his way. The door showed no signs of movement. He had no idea how to force his way. He had no tools. Shade cursed in frustration making Dawn turn quickly back to see what was happening. One of the people used her moment of inattention to grab a hold of her sword blade. Dawn grunted with the effort and pulled it back, severing the fingers from the hand. Not a sound escaped the throat as it continued its fight.

  Shade searched the door again his eyes resting on the lock and keypad. "Can I work that like the radio?" His thoughts flew through his mind. Shade placed his hand on the side of the keypad and concentrated until the buttons lit up. One through nine, what would it be? Dawn fought only a few feet away from him now and still getting pushed back. He didn't have time to try everything until he got it. Shade began hitting buttons at random, but nothing seemed to work. He tried numbers he pulled from memory. His address, his phone number, anything in the attempt that he could fluke out and discover the right combinations. None of them worked. Dawn was right behind him now. Her breath was coming in ragged pulls as she tired from the fight. Her hand brushed against him and the lights on the panel flared a moment then went back again to their normal shade as she moved away to block another blow. The momentary flare gave Shade an idea."Put your hand back on me, QUICKLY!"

  Dawn reached back with one hand while continuing to fight with the other. The lights once again flared up and Shade put all his effort into the lock. He concentrated as hard as he could, but not on the numbers. This time he thought on the inner workings of the panel. The lights flared unnaturally bright causing the whole hallway to come alive. The human beasts threw their arms up in front of their faces, breaking the silence with their low painful moan as their fight came to a standstill for a moment. Over the noise, there was a loud click and the door swung open. Shade released the panel, plunging the hall back into darkness and pulled Dawn inside the room. Both of them threw their weight against the backside of the door slamming it shut. With a click, the door relocked itself. Loud steady bangs landed on the opposite side of the door as the monsters tried to find a way in with no success.

  "What the hell were they?" Shade broke their silence. Dawn simply shook her head and worked to catch her breath. Shade left her with her back to the door and pulled the flashlight out of his pocket. Overhead a very small crack showed a strip of stars. It offered almost no light, so Shade used the flashlight to search around him. The room they had found their way into was huge. Boxes and boxes of canned food lined the shelves all around, farther down they could see racks and racks of clothing. Appliances of all kinds were stacked around the walls.

  "We hit the jackpot I think."

  Dawn looked up and followed the light around the room seeing what Shade saw. Her eyes grew wide at the treasure they had uncovered.

  "This must be the storeroom for the mall. That would explain the lock on the door. No-one could get in here with all the power being out." Shade walked up to the first shelf and pulled down a six-pack of soda. He tossed one over to Dawn and opened his own with the familiar hiss as the tab on top broke open. In a matter of seconds, he had downed the whole thing.

  "It's been a long time since I have had one of those." Shade smiled and Dawn followed suit, drinking hers down in one pull.

  The whole time the banging outside continued.

  Once the two had made sure it wasn't possible to open the door, they began to search around the warehouse. Grabbing items at random, they gorged themselves on candies, chocolate bars and anything else that crossed their path.

  At the back of the warehouse, they found the main shipping doors. The entire wall looked crushed from when the mall had fallen into the crack in the earth. There was no way out this way. The only other way they could see was the few cracks that had formed in the rooftop. However, they were too far up for them to reach and offered only little hope. Eventually they worked their way back to the door they had come in. The banging on the other side had not ended. A constant pounding marked the presence of the human monsters on the other side. Relentlessly they worked on the door trying to find the two that had ran inside and out of their reach.

  Dawn had collected some supplies from the camping section and laid them out to the side of the door. A few more flashlights, a tent, some basic food items and a fire starter lay arranged around her. Dawn pulled the cap of the fire starter and struck it against the floor. A brilliant flash filled the area with an orange light illuminating their surroundings.

  Shade released the flashlight and its light went out."Thanks, I was getting a little tired of holding that. So what do we do now?"

  Dawn pulled out the tent and began to set it up. When Shade gave her a puzzled look, she responded with, "You think I'm going to just change in front of you?" Shade blushed, but helped her set the tent without argument.

  "How long do you think we will be stuck in here for?"

  Dawn stopped her work and again placed her hands lightly on Shade's head.

  "I don't know, so far they haven’t stopped trying to get in but they are making no progress. They will have to give it up eventually right?"

  "Yeah, I guess they can't do this forever...sooner or later they will forget about us."

  Shade moved over to help Dawn finish setting up the tent in an attempt to try to get some sleep for the remainder of the night. Once their makeshift campground was set up, they both did their best to rest. All the while, the pounding continued.

  When dawn broke, the warehouse had a very dim light of its own. Just enough sunlight came through the cracks in the ceiling to be able to see around them without need of extra lighting. Dawn pulled a couple of backpacks off a shelf and handed one to Shade.

  "Supplies" She projected and Shade quickly caught on to the idea. The two spent their morning gathering the items they came for in the first place. Cloths, foodstuffs, and most importantly, seeds, all went into their packs. Dawn had found a gardening section and made short work of sorting out the plants that would be most useful to them in the future. Ones that could provide more seeds for the next harvests the Oracle had planned. As they placed their filled packs in their makeshift campground, the pounding on the door stopped.

  Shade stepped up to the door to listen closer. He placed an ear up against the door carefully and did his best to listen for noises on the other side. The only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat and silence.

  "I think they moved off."

  Dawn crept closer to talk with Shade.

  "Do we try and open the door to look?"

  "We don't have a lot of choice, unless we can find a way to the roof to reach those cracks this is our only other way out."

  Shade once again placed his hand on the control pad on this side of the door. Its lights came to life under his fingers. At a touch from Dawn, the lights once again began to glow bright as they had before. A low moaning began on the other side of the door and the pounding started once again. A steady rhythm pounded out as Shade released his hand and the lights dimmed out again.

  "Looks like they are still there." Shade spoke in a whisper. "I don't think they are going to be leaving us alone for a while. When I light up this side, it must light up the other too. So, if we try and open the door they will know what we are doing before we can even get the door open. We are trapped."

  The light above slowly faded out as the two went over ideas, trying to think of a way out of the storeroom without alerting the monsters outside.
The ideas became fewer and fewer and the two started to lose hope.

  "I can't see how we can get out; at least for now we have all we need. Maybe if we wait longer we can wait them out." Shade's suggestion got a muted nod and shrug from Dawn. The steady rhythm on the door hadn't changed since they had tried to open it.

  Night fell and the two slept again in their campground. The only noise the still steady rhythm on the steel door.

  #####

  Shade woke with a start. Nothing had changed, but he grabbed a flashlight and flicked it on. The sensation he felt from electricity was so common now that he didn't even notice it. Dawn woke with the light and sent a desperate.

  "What’s wrong?"

  "I know how we can get out of here!" Shade stumbled out of the tent and shone the light all around him. "We have everything we need right here."

  Dawn pulled herself out behind him and looked around confused.

  "Boxes! We can use the boxes to build a way up to the roof. It might take a while but we don't have much else to do right now."

  Dawn looked at him as if he was crazy and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Grabbing his wrist, she looked at the digital watch that always ticked away on his wrist. It read three twenty seven."You couldn't have waited until morning for that. You scared me half to death!"

  "Sorry, it just sort of came to me." Shade pulled away his wrist and looked around. "We can start first thing in the morning ok?"

  Dawn nodded again as she climbed back into her sleeping bag and flopped herself down, the pounding still steady on the door.

  Morning came with its soft light once again and Shade began planning how best to reach so high without killing himself or Dawn while Dawn worked at making a simple breakfast. Powdered eggs with canned milk weren't the best thing in the morning but even chocolate was starting to become plain to them again. After Shade ate his with thanks, he began pulling and pushing boxes together to try to make the tower they would need. He was concentrating on his work and wasn't paying too much attention to Dawn when she blasted him with a sending. "Danger!"

  Shade whipped around to find Dawn standing in front of the door, her sword drawn. Shade rushed up to her to see what she was talking about. The pounding on the other side was the same as ever but something had her rattled.

  As Shade came up to the door he saw what Dawn was worried about. In the middle of the door was something that hadn't been there the day before, a dent, about the same size as a softball.

  "They aren't gunna give up now. They know if they keep it up, they can get through it. We have to get to work."

  Dawn nodded fiercely and placed her sword back on her back. The two began placing boxes according to Shade's idea as best they could. They spent hours sliding and moving heavy boxes. Shade insisted they had to be on the bottom to make it strong enough and Dawn agreed, even though it meant the most work for them. Every time the top got a little higher, they had to make the bottom wider to support it. It was slow work. The two stopped to eat when the sky got too dark again. They had spent all day working on the tower and it was barely fifteen feet off the ground.

  "This is going to take us days." Shade mumbled between bites. The pounding hadn't stopped once while they had worked. The softball size dent had grown to the size of a bowling ball now. "It's going to be a race to see who is faster. But we have to rest, and whatever is out there doesn't seem to have to."

  Dawn got up from her break and moved boxes the best she could in the failed light.

  #####

  The week passed slowly for the General. His wife rarely spoke to him. Her grief was only just under the surface and she didn't hold it in well. Her desire to save her son and daughter or lose her husband trapped her.

  Greytop turned out to be a great source of help in the rebuilding of the cabin. It also was a good way to pass the time. As the two worked side by side, the General would talk to Greytop and ask questions about his past.

  "What did you do before this happened. Before the changes I mean?"

  Greytop placed the log he had been carrying down where the General directed. He held it as though it were a small board and not the full-grown tree it was.

  "I was a manager of a gas station. It's a far cry from what I am now I think."

  The General nodded.

  "I was in the military. I wasn't ranked as high as I am now though."

  Greytop smiled as he moved off to grab more wood.

  "We are both far away from our former lives; I have to admit, I am happier now. I don't much care for the killing side though. I didn't want to come here and fight you but the clan left me with little choice. Most of the werewolves back in our pack are young. One of them would have tried to take me down eventually. I would rather stay here where it is peaceful."

  The Oracle pulled her husband aside while Greytop was off cutting up some wood.

  "What do you think will happen if they find out that you didn't kill the leader?"

  "Shh! As far as they are all concerned, I did. Something tells me they wouldn't take it very well knowing that a young woman killed their leader with her mind. We must not let them know that. Who knows what they will do if they find out." The Oracle nodded and moved off as Greytop approached with more wood for the cabin.

  The two worked together and eventually they had replaced the old cabin with a much larger one. It had a common central area with a stove for the cooking and heating if they needed it. Down one wall were a few rooms of equal size. The Oracle had insisted on them so instead of upsetting her, the General had simply nodded and done as she had wished.

  The morning of the seventh day, Greytop woke and raised his head in the air. He took a deep breath through his nose. "They are here."

  With that, he walked outside to a row of werewolves. The General followed behind.

  "We have come as you ordered." One of the werewolves spoke. Its voice like rocks falling down a slope.

  "Shift to human, I would see you all as you were before."

  One by one, the werewolves shifted back to their human forms. The General held back his surprise to see Bonetwister among them.

  "Why did you come back?" He addressed Bonetwister when the last had changed.

  "We held a contest. You wanted the ten strongest, but you left no way to determine how we should test that strength. I was one of the ten that won."

  The General noticed he spoke with a little more confidence then he had before.

  "Then I am pleased. I have a job for you all. You will all be leaving as soon as I explain it. Did you tell them all that has happened Bonetwister?"

  "Yes, we are eager to fight against the Nightwalkers. You have just to give us our leave and we will be off."

  The General looked at the ten before him. They ranged in size and shape.

  "What were you all before? What did you do?"

  The line looked at each other in confusion. No one had ever asked them this before. Bonetwister spoke first. "I was a game tester."

  The General nodded at him. "I was a florist."

  "A baker."

  "I sold shoes."

  Down the line they went. The General nodded as they all spoke their past.

  "Thank you all, what you were before was important. Those skills might not mean much in the new world we find ourselves in. Remember your pasts, but now you are all something else as well. You are all my army. I am sending you to save my son and daughter. Unknowingly they went to the town of the Nightwalkers. They have been there for at least four days now and we don't know if they are even still alive. I think that they are. It is most important that you get them out and bring them back here."

  The ten nodded and some shifted back to wolf form once again.

  Bonetwister however did not. "You will not lead us?"

  The General spared a glance at his wife. "No, I must remain here. For reasons I cannot tell you right now. However, you will not go without a leader. I entrust you, Bonetwister with their lives. You must lead these wolves there and return them all to
me. Can you do this?"

  Bonetwister shifted to his wolf form. "I can." tumbled off his lips as he bound away towards the town. The other nine wolves followed close behind. It was only seconds before they were all gone from view. A howl would break against the mountainsides from time to time, but even they faded quickly. Greytop remained behind with the General and the Oracle. He looked longingly down the road they had taken for a moment then shook his head, clearing it.

  "You placed Bonetwister in charge. He must have been the youngest that returned, and he just recently received his name. Do you think that was wise?"

  The General helped his wife back into the cabin to rest; she was not dealing well with the news of the Nightwalkers. When he had asked earlier, she had told him she was unable to see anything of them. She wasn't even able to tell if they yet lived. He returned moments later to Greytop still waiting outside for the answer.

  "Yes, I chose him on purpose. Besides you, he is the only one who has met me. He might not be the oldest, or the strongest, but circumstances elevated him already by being one of the two to know the pack leader. Whether he knows it or not he has some small power with the others from that. How he deals with it, we shall see. They can reach the town quickly, perhaps even by the morning. I don't know what we should prepare while they are gone, either graves or a celebration. Until then I need you to go over whatever you know about these Nightwalkers with me again. Tell me everything."

  #####

  Shade and Dawn spent almost four days trapped inside the massive storeroom. Every day they worked on the tower of boxes trying to get closer to the roof. The banging on the door only stopped once every day for a few hours, always around noon. Dawn thought that it was perhaps when the sun was the highest. The monsters didn't like light so there must have been some filtering down the hallway at that time perhaps from another crack or broken wall outside.

  The door that had shown a small dent before was now cracked and bowed out. Neither of the two knew how much longer it would hold out. Shade was surprised it hadn't broken free of the hinges already. The door however, wasn't their only problem.