by Maxey, Phil
He eased down on the gas, correcting the angle the pickup ended up in, and rejoined the lane.
Storefronts and restaurants passed by, most empty. He guessed that the city had taken the advice to stay inside. That was good. Meant he could get a parking slot right outside the store, and crime would be lower than usual. So even though his name was next on the roster, he might be able to get a full night’s sleep.
Turning a corner, he immediately saw the welcoming lights of the corner building with the food market at its base, and as hoped, the angled parking slots were devoid of any vehicles. He pulled in, got out and made his way to the brightly lit entrance.
Despite knowing the reason for the silence which was blanketing the streets and towering buildings around him, it still unnerved him. This was not the city he had come to know like the back of his hand. This new version was hollow and on edge.
The glass door slid to one side, bringing with it muffled Christmas music. He spotted a single abandoned cart and walked towards it, but as his gloved hand reached for the handle a stench drifted across his nose which had him whirling around for its source. A dark-gray cloud covered the green shelves ahead. Moths, hundreds of them, busied themselves around the produce, which was anything but fresh. Instead of the bright greens, reds and oranges he was used to seeing when visiting, a heap of brown, gurgling sludge covered the large flat trays, as if the vegetable and fruit had dissolved into something else. It reminded him of earlier. Of the ‘thing’ with the human leg.
He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the stink and the memory.
That… was something else, he told himself again.
Pulling the cart with him, he moved away from that section and looked along the aisles and the empty checkouts. “Hey! Anyone in here!” Only silence replied. He looked back at the entrance and its Christmas decorations.
Definitely open…
Not wasting any time, he turned and pushed the cart, picking up pace, checking off the signs.
Non-foods… baked… pets… drinks.
Moving into the aisle, he raced to the end, arriving at the back of the large store and the clear glass doors of the chilled section. He quickly filled the cart with four packs of four, one gallon bottles of water, and with a bit of a heave turned the cart around to face—
A figure stood at the opposite end of the store, too far for even Landon’s perfect vision to make out completely. They were standing awkwardly, hunched over. Obviously elderly. Landon leaned on the heavy cart, sending it back the way he came while keeping watch on the old person, until they moved out of view. He slowed near the self-checkout, moving around the front to remove the first of the packets when Jess’s words returned.
“Cake… Shit,” he said to himself.
He wanted to leave. Get out of this strange empty store.
Rather than struggling with the cart, he left it and walked along the front of the aisles, until he found the one with the brightly colored candy, then chips and finally the cakes. He was relieved to see normal looking frosting and sponge. And no swarming insects. He picked up two boxes and turned—
He was standing in darkness so rich he felt as if he could touch it. He flung his arm out to his right and was glad to touch the edge of the shelf. Fumbling in his jacket’s pocket, he pulled his flashlight out and switched it on to an empty aisle. He swore under his breath. No power, meant no checkout, and no water or cake. But then he wasn’t about to leave without them.
Screw it. I’ll leave a note and cash.
He walked forward then remembered he wasn’t alone. He turned around. “Hey, anyone else in here?” There was no reply. Maybe they had left.
He started to walk back to the front, getting about halfway when a whisper came from behind, from where he had just been standing. He swung the light around and fell back in the same movement, colliding with a stack of neatly packed candy, sending them careening across the floor. His brain was trying to decipher what was standing fifteen-feet away at the end of the cone of light. At first his original thought made sense, an elderly lady, but her face was wrong…
Too… many eyes…
A mass of white fissures, some bloodshot, some completely black, were looking at him. As they blinked then squinted, his mind searched for an explanation for what it was, when somehow, within her… face, a mouth opened and arms that were something more, extended from the thing’s sides, then rose, stretching up, higher, to the ceiling…
Run… run…
He turned, staggering forward, his boots landing then slipping on the fallen candy. Gaining grip, he sprinted along the front as screeching and explosions of glass, plastic and crumpling metal filled the air. His flashlight’s beam bobbed and bounced as with panic in his mind he crashed up against the closed glass entrance. He spun around expecting one of the pincher like appendages to come out of the dark at him, but there was only shadow and silence to be had outside the range of his light.
With his heart beating in his ears he stepped forward, every instinct telling him to go the opposite way. Was it some kind of deformed animal?
Human… not human… something else…
His training and experience on the job started to kick in. His rational mind wanting to reclaim control. Whatever it was could be a threat to life.
Protect and serve… protect and…
Something was sliding, scratching over the smooth tiled floor. Something that was coming his way. His beam was focused on the avenue in front of the aisles and then in the gloom, a single spindly insect-like leg appeared, at least twice the size of a human’s, slowly dragging a body that was wrapped in torn shreds of a light blue dress. The remains of what it used to be.
Impossible…
It was all his mind could conjure, and his free hand had already unclipped his holster and lay on his gun.
Its head… or whatever held the mass of eyes raised, as did another leg, then another, each part seemingly growing from the central core of organic matter…
Landon fired, his aim true, but the bullet just became lost in the shadows, swallowed by the fluid form in front of him. He fired again, this time it let out a roar which came from not one throat but multiple, and the legs propelled it towards him.
Without further thought, he turned, fired twice at the glass door and jumped through it.
CHAPTER FOUR
9: 32 p.m.
Sam looked at her tablet’s screen, which was displaying a video. Usually she wouldn’t pay much attention to the rabbit hole which were online conspiracy theories, but her friend, Cass who loved that kind of thing, had sent her a link to a video entitled. ‘What’s really happening in Denver.’ And after what happened with the crashed probe and her neighbor she thought she would give it a quick glance.
She wasn’t sure how old the video was, but it had been uploaded with today’s date, and it was dark, so it must had been recorded within the last few hours. She angled the screen, trying to remove her bedside lamp’s reflection as the content was dark. The view shook, and the wind could be heard buffeting the cameraman. There was also a low rumbling sound of engines. A convoy of vehicles were being spied on from some distance. They appeared to be traveling along a road, she guessed it was a highway heading west to the crash scene, as it passed through a number of checkpoints, but she couldn’t be sure as the filmer kept ducking down below a small wall, on top of an industrial building of some kind.
Almost lost in the gale, a young man’s voice came from the small speakers. “They’re military vehicles, and other kinds, look like containers but—” The camera flicked to the right at the far dark reaches of the rooftop.
“Let’s get out of here,” said another male voice. “I ain’t getting done for trespassing, over this shit.”
The camera started to move back to the convoy, but then zipped back to the right again. “There’s something over there,” said the first young man. “Near the far wall. What the fuck is that…”
The next few seconds were a jumble of nigh
t sky and ground, combined with scuffling clothes, boots pounding concrete and the sound of heavy breathing. The video then ended.
A small rectangle with her friend Cass within, popped up at the bottom. “You done? Did you see it?”
Sam frowned. “See what? I saw some tanks and things, then those guys freaked out and ran.”
“No, no. Rewind it to one-minute, forty-two seconds. Look at the top right part of the screen.”
She was tired, wanted to sleep, not look for the boogie man in silly videos. “Fine. Hold on.” She let her finger drag the small circle back to the left, to the point required. The frozen image was a mass of gray-black blurs. She brought the screen closer to her face, trying to see… was that a head? Long fingers?
“You see it, right? The monster?” said Cass.
“I—”
A knock came at her door. “Can I play my game in your room…” said Josh.
The request was unusual from her little brother. He had become fiercely independent for the past few months, preferring his own company. “Sure,” she said. The door opened, with Josh’s eyes fixed on his own tablet screen, although his was full of bright colors and spaceships.
He closed the door, sat on the end of the bed, then reached into his pocket, pulling out a small silver covered chocolate. “Want it? Mom gave me the rest.”
“Had some earlier. They taste like crap.” She looked back to her friend on the tablet’s screen. “Look, I gotta go. We can talk more in the morning.”
“Yes, but—”
Sam tapped the close button on the chat screen, then did the same for the video sharing app. She laid back, placing the tablet on the table. “I’m going to go to sleep. Use your headphones if you stay in here.”
In the living room, Jess yawned, the laptop almost falling off her outstretched legs. She wouldn’t usually be tired before midnight, but it had been a long, life-changing, weird day. She had found a number of jobs, but none with the salary she had been on before. She never realized her company paid so well. Whatever she did next it was going to mean them cutting back. She and Landon would be fine with that, but she wasn’t sure how the kids would take to the change.
They’ll get used to it. Maybe being in the mountains will help. At least they’ll be healthier.
Moving to Rocky Pine was partly about getting the kids out of their rooms and off their computers. She had had enough of city life. As had Landon. They already had plans to grow their own food, and maybe even get a chicken or two. She was used to dealing with life at a cellular level, how hard could rearing birds be?
She rubbed her eyes, placing the laptop on the sofa, and turned to the television which she had completely forgotten about. At first she wasn’t sure what she was watching. People were running across a dark field, while neon streaks split the air around them.
Is this a film?
The graphics overlaying the shaking camera suggested it was still the news.
Is that Denver?
She grabbed the remote and turned the volume back up. Cracks, booms and screams filled the air.
“As you can see the army are fighting… something, or someones… we can’t be—” The camera swung to a gas mask covered face, then back to the scene of orange-white flashes and streams of light all converging on the tree-line at the back of an intensely dark field. Jess crouched, moving closer to the large high-resolution screen, trying to make out what was moving amongst the shadows. Forms with extended limbs were shifting forward, then to the side, or were they crawling? An explosion lit an area and in that fraction of a second she saw… creatures, crab like limbs, but attached to human bodies, and heads, and eyes… different sizes, some reaching to the branches above them, others human sized, hunched over, scurrying forward into the hail of bullets.
“They’re getting closer!” shouted the reporter. The camera whirled around, facing back to a road of vans and cars, which others were running to. The sound of battle increased until booms and screams burst from the TV’s speaker, and the screen went black, leaving the shocked face of a female presenter on the screen.
“I… that was our reporter on the scene. Greg Holland… We will be right back after this short break.”
A family driving along a sunny highway replaced real life. Jess muted the ad then immediately sprang up and moved to the window. In the distance the yellow cloud was now twice as wide, but mixed within it were red glows, and sudden bright explosions of light, some dropping down upon it, from the sky. She almost didn’t hear the apartment door fly open, or the heavy sound of boots burst into the living room.
“We’ve got to get out of the city!” said Landon. She whirled around, her brain stuck in the distant scene. “Sam! Josh! Wake up. You have to pack!” he shouted over his shoulder.
“What? What happened?” she said. “Pack?”
He briefly pulled his handgun from the holster, checking what was left in the magazine. “There are things outside. I don’t—”
“Things?”
He looked back to the hallway. “Sam! Josh!” A bedroom door opened.
Jess stepped closer to her husband. “Landon! Slow down. What happened out there?”
He went to talk but then caught sight of what the television had returned to. He walked past Jess, looking at the recorded battle.
“Landon?”
He looked back to his wife. “I went to the store… the lights went out. There was something in there. A creature… but I think it used to be a person… It had legs, like a spider, or…”
Sam appeared, still wearing her pyjamas, her face full of sleep. “What’s going on?”
“Wake your brother,” he said. “Get dressed. Get your backpack, fill it with some clothes, and anything else you want. We’re—”
“Sam, wait,” said Jess needing more from her husband to suddenly get up and leave in the middle of the night. She looked at him. “If something’s happening out there, we might be safer here. In the apartment?”
Sam looked at her mother, then back to her father. “Leaving? Why? Is this to do with the crash?”
“Go!” Landon shouted at his daughter.
She jolted at her father’s rare outburst, then turned and ran back to her room.
Jess moved to her husband, placing a hand on his arm. “Landon. We need to figure out what’s going on. Why do you think—”
“There are things!” He pointed at the windows. “Out there! And I don’t know if I can stop them from getting in here!” He held his cell phone up. “I tried calling, texting you. And the station. The networks out. Powers completely gone further to the west. Probably will be here soon as—”
A knocking came from the front door.
“Shall I get it?” shouted Sam from her room.
Landon pulled away from Jess, moving into the hallway. “No. Keep packing.” He pulled his Glock from its holster, while Jess moved to her daughter’s bedroom door and on seeing both of her children inside, joined them, pulling the door close, but peered from the gap.
“Who is it?” he shouted through the door.
“It’s Hannah. I can’t find Karl.”
He lowered his gun and pulled the door open. The young woman with the red stained arms looked different as her hair had been reduced to shoulder length. She took a step back on seeing his weapon. “What you mean you can’t find him?”
“Why have you got your gun out?”
“Forget that. Have you looked for him?”
She raised her shoulders and hands. “Of course! I can’t find him! He said he was going to talk to the janitor. That was an hour ago. I went down there, but there was no answer and—” The lights in the landing hallway dimmed briefly. In the apartment behind came sounds of closet doors and drawers opening and closing.
The nightmare vision from the food market came back to him, momentarily knocking his train of thought. “Um…” He briefly looked back into the apartment. “Wait here.” He looked into his son’s room. Jess was helping Josh pack. She looked at her husba
nd with a mixture of confusion and concern. “Hannah can’t find Karl,” said Landon. “I’m going to go help her—“
“Where are we going to go?” said Jess.
“The new house. The water and electricity has been turned on already, right?”
“Water I don’t know, electricity… maybe.”
“Okay, pack warm clothes. Bring the water from the fridge, and as much food as you can. Stay away from the tap water. I won’t be more than ten minutes. Make sure everyone’s ready to leave by time I get back.” She nodded. He went to leave but the fear in his son’s face made him pause. “Buddy. It’s going to be okay. We’re just going to take a little trip. It’ll be fun.”
Josh silently nodded.
“Be ready.” He turned, closed the apartment door and joined Hannah at the elevator, just as the doors opened. She went to take a step forward, when he flung his hand out. “No, we’ll take the stairs.” She sighed and reluctantly followed him into the stairwell where the florescent light flickered into darkness a few times before returning to normal.
“Did I hear right?” said Hannah as they both began to descend. “You’re leaving?”
“Taking a trip to our new place near Rocky Pine.” He looked back at her. “You should leave as well. Did you try the roof?”
“For Karl?”
“For John? The janitor?”
Her bewildered reaction made him change direction and start moving up.
“He’s on the roof?”
“Maybe, come on.”
Back in the apartment, Jess skittered from room to room, her mind trying to find a good reason for what they were doing. What could be so bad, that it meant they had to flee in the middle of the night? She caught Josh trying to cram a foot long robot toy into his backpack. “Not that. Warm clothes, an extra pair of sneakers.”
