We Who Remain

by Jacqueline Druga

  Only it wasn’t the ground, it was his feet. Just a yard before the squad car, his lacked the structure to hold him. Without a grounded feeling, his legs were two mere pegs without balance and Craig tipped forward, falling to the concrete.

  He was able to catch himself before hitting his head. He rolled on his side than sat up. Craig inched his way back, so he could use the police car as support against his back.

  “Please let me be okay here, please.”

  After a few deep breaths, Craig waited for the pain to begin, but it didn’t. Maybe he was wrong about his feet, maybe they had just fallen asleep. They were tingling and he’d give it time to subside, then try again.

  He looked down to his extended legs and his expensive designer loafers. Shoes he paid a fortune for. Ones he had to have simply because a prince of England sported them at a charity event and everyone of Craig’s friends raved about them.

  There wasn’t much in life that Craig wanted that he didn’t get.

  Except that moment, he wanted his phone he left behind and some sort of explanation of what happened.

  For some reason, perhaps the lighting, the shoes looked like clown shows, flopping left and right.

  He tried to use one foot to kick off the other shoe, but he had no control. Craig reached down and slipped off his left loafer.

  Mortified.

  Craig recoiled. He wanted to scream when he saw his foot. Once the shoe was off, what remained of his foot splat against the pavement. It looked like a ball of liquid skin that spread out once free of the confines of the shoe. He removed the other and it was the same.

  “Oh, God, no, this isn’t happening to me.”

  He ended up crying out, but no one heard. His feet looked like the early stages of what happened to everyone else. His only self explanation was the weapon was still lingering and on the ground. He had walked on it and that was what happened.

  “Please don’t let me die here.”

  Craig couldn’t move. He had to catch his breath. Everything would be alright. Eventually help would come.

  It was only his feet.

  Little did Craig know, it was just the start.

  <><><><>

  One short phone call from George Miller at Mount Weather, was all Mitch needed.

  The tail had cleared. Buford and George, along with a handful of other staff were still in the dark about what was above them. They weren’t optimistic, neither was Mitch.

  He had finally made contact with Mallory. She was a mess, in emotional turmoil, worried about her husband, her family and friends. She hadn’t been talking to anyone while Pyrrhus flew by and lost contact. Like him, Mallory was waiting until the tail had cleared in order to find out if anything did happen.

  They could emerge from their bunker shelter and see the only thing that happened was they all overreacted as though it were 2012 all over again.

  Then again, they could emerge to devastation of life. If that was the case, where did it hit? Was it everywhere? Across not only the United States but globally? Or maybe it was just a strip of death. If Mitched looked at a map and dew a thick line, him, Buford and Mallory were all in the same zone. It could have just been them and all they needed to do was go north or south.

  One thing was for certain, they had to go up.

  Time to leave the bunker.

  No one really discussed what would happen once they walked upstairs and out the door. What they would do if things were bad. No one wanted to talk about that at all. Except others like Buford who were hunkered down. He wanted Mitch and the others to make it to Mount Weather, he instructed Mallory the same.

  Everyone meet there and come up with a plan. At the very least it was safe for when Olympias arrived in two weeks.

  Mitch told him he knew he himself would. But Bob and Liv, it was up to them.

  For the time being, before facing the next direction, they had to face what was ahead.

  They’d do so with uncertainty and fear.

  “Is it time?” Liv asked.

  “Yeah," Mitch replied. “George said the tail is gone. You want me to lead the way?”

  Liv nodded.

  Her insides twisted and turned in turmoil. She kept her phone on the charger all night, and that was a good thing. She kept calling Mark’s phone, it always went to voice mail. Danni’s just rang. Her husband and child weren’t the only ones she called. Liv tried friends and co-workers. Nobody answered.

  And for the last several hours, no one had talked to her about what happened. Maybe it was her initial outburst. But it was warranted.

  “Stop,” Bob said softly as they neared the final flight of stairs. “Please everyone stop.”

  “Bob,” Liv replied. “We need to go up there.”

  “Yes, we do. Then what?” Bob asked. “We haven’t discussed what we do when get up there.”

  “Shouldn’t we see how it is?” Mitch asked.

  “No.” Bob shook his head. “No, we should not. If it’s fine, we have a laugh and go home. If it’s not, we need direction. I walked out into a horror fest once unprepared, I won’t do it again.”

  “You have no choice but to walk out there,” Mitch said,

  “I know. But I do have a choice on what I do.”

  After a few vocal blips of stuttering, Liv said. “I need to find my family. If it’s bad, I need to find Mark and Danni.”

  “Okay, see,” Bob said. “That’s direction. That’s what we’ll do. Where are they? I know you said Mark is at the hospital working.”

  “Metrohealth,” Liv replied. “Danni, she … she was at the Observatory. Burrell. But she could be home.”

  “I don’t know the city.” Bob turned to Mitch. “You do.”

  “Yeah, of course,” Mitch replied. “Actually, we leave here, cut through the arts district if we want to avoid the freeway, hit the hospital, then the observatory and home. Everything is pretty much in route to home.”

  “That’s if,” Liv said. “Something happened.”

  “Yes,” Mitch nodded. “That’s if.’

  “I think I should do it alone,” Liv replied.

  “On foot?” Mark asked. “I have the car.”

  “If things are bad, I’m sure I can find another,” Liv said.

  “Like in the movies?” Bob asked. “Not gonna be that easy. What happened to your brother, Mitch’s parents on the plane, happened fast. I mean in under a minute. What happened in that strip of small towns ... the same. Yeah, it was two in the morning, there still would be people on the road. People that would succumb in the middle of driving. It’s not gonna be easy to find a vehicle or navigate.”

  “And,” Mitch added. “Even if you could find a car, you going alone … not gonna happen. We face what we are gonna face … together.”

  Reluctantly, Liv agreed. These were two men who really didn’t have anything to lose. Although, she hadn’t really gotten into Bob’s life. Mitch had no one, so whatever was above would have less impact on him. At least Liv thought that.

  She knew though.

  Even if she told herself a thousand times that everything was fine. She knew. She felt it in her gut.

  The moment they emerged from the stairwell into an empty hall and she heard the steady car horn, she knew things had changed.

  Every step to the front doors made her heart pound faster and harder.

  Mitch was stoned face as he pushed open the double doors. He stepped out first and, Liv saw his head lower, it took everything she had not to scream.

  She bolted out after him.

  The parking lot had the same number of cars as the night before. Steady car horns and distant car alarms blared, yet there was an eerie silence to everything.

  Not a car was seen moving or a person walking.

  It was rush hour.

  No one rushed anywhere.

  Streams of black smoke rose to the sky from various locations and from the overpass on the freeway.

  “It happened,” Mitch spoke softly. “Oh, God,” He turned to
Liv. “It happened.”

  Liv looked down to her phone. She watched something happen to her husband, and she couldn’t get that last video chat out of her mind and heart.

  “We’ll head to the hospital,” Mitch said. “We’ll look for Mark. If he’s not there, he may be home. He may have gone for Danni.”

  Liv nodded.

  “Then we’ll look for Danni,” Bob said, placing a hand on her shoulder. ‘You never talked to her. She just may be fine. You have to believe that until we know.”

  There was a lot of things Liv wanted to say at that moment. Things like what was she going to do if they were gone. They were all she had and how would she go on. She didn’t even know for sure and her soul was actually feeling the physical pain of heart ache. Already it was too much to bear. What would it be like when she received confirmation?

  Bottom line. She just didn’t know and wouldn't know until they arrived at the first stop, the hospital. In fifteen minutes she’d have her first answer. She remained vigil and quiet as they got into Mitch’s car.

  They didn’t stop to look in the cars or examine the sidewalks, there had been very little traffic on the roads when the comet arrived, but what cars were out, were smashed against buildings or each other, some flipped over the freeway.

  Vehicles moving at full force without anyone to control or stop them.

  The first twinkle of hope hit Liv when she heard Mitch say, “What’s this?”

  She looked up from the back seat to see the red and blue flashing lights of the police car.

  She sighed out.

  Maybe the event only happened in a small area. The police were blocking a road. That was a good sign.

  “We’ll have to go around,” Mitch said to Bob as he brought the car to a stop. “Looks like it was some sort of …”

  Liv didn’t listen to the remainder of his sentence, she opened the car door and got out.

  “Liv,” Mark called out to her. “Stop. What are you doing?”

  She was getting help, answers, or so she thought. It was only a few feet into her hopeful run she realized her thinking was off.

  What did she expect? The police to wave her over, say, “Come here. We’ll help you.”

  Liv froze. Her feet came to a screeching halt.

  Four police uniforms, complete with their badges, belts, pistol and radios, lay on top of some sort of mush pile, scattered around the police barricade were clothes, glasses and bottles.

  Out of breath, she turned to Mitch. “Are these people?”

  Slowly Mitch nodded.

  “Is this what you saw on the plane?” Liv asked Bob. “Is this what happened to my brother?”

  Bob tensed up his face and turned from looking.

  “Oh, God, oh my God,” Liv brought her hand to her mouth. She felt it. A rumble in her belly, it swirled and ached. It was a mixture of throwing up and screaming. She took another step forward toward the police car ready to hurl loudly. But before she could, she heard it.

  A gurgle.

  Her hand slowly slid from her mouth and a slow cry came out when she saw him.

  She didn’t know him, but her heart broke for him.

  That poor soul, that poor, poor soul.

  He was partially against a police car. The shape of his body could still be seen. His arms, legs and feet looked like melted plastic on a sidewalk. His face dropped so drastically, it was monstrous. One eye remained, resting on his cheek.

  The worst part of it all … he was still alive.

  His mouth moved, only a gurgle emerged, but Liv didn’t need to hear words to know what the poor man wanted.

  <><><><>

  People.

  Help.

  Craig heard the car before he even saw it.

  How long had he been there at that police car? His body gradually disintegrating and becoming one with the pavement. He watched his feet go first, then his legs, his hands and arms.

  He knew when he lost part of his lung, and when his internal organs ran from his body.

  How he was still alive, he didn’t know. A part of his brain had to still exist, was he even breathing?

  One thing he had was thought process.

  He was so grateful it didn’t hurt that badly. He supposed his nerves went with everything else. But he did feel emotions. He felt fear, panic and sadness. Then when he saw the people get out of the car, he felt relief.

  ‘Help me,” he opened his mouth to call out. “Help.”

  The woman stepped forward. She looked around, looked scared.

  ‘Help me, please.”

  Craig could still hear a little, enough to know that any semblance of a voice was gone. He made some sort of noise.

  A noise that the woman eventually heard and made her way to him.

  “Oh my God,’ she said. “Oh my God. Mitch!” She stared at him, her scared face suddenly held compassion.

  A bigger man with a backwards baseball cap walked over. He said nothing, his hand only shot to his mouth.

  “Help. Help.”

  “Mitch,” she said to the man. “We have to do something.”

  “What? What can we do? Oh my God.”

  “Can you hear me?” she crouched down. “I am so sorry this happened. I am so sorry. We’re gonna help you. We’re gonna try.”

  “Do what?” the man asked.

  That was when a third person, an older man stepped between them and walked directly to Craig. The woman stood and turned her back.

  “Bob?” the man asked. “Bob, what are you doing?”

  “Helping him,” Bob inched forward and looked at Craig. “I’m very sorry, son. This is the only way.”

  Craig watched the man raise a pistol and aim it. If he could, Craig would exhale in relief, but he wasn’t sure he even had any breath remaining. Instead, he stared at the man with the gun, and tried his very best to say, “Thank you.”

  The man aimed toward his head and fired.

  10 – PARTIALLY

  In every movie, every book and television show, it was easy.

  A person in an apocalypse movie was put out of their misery and then the show moved on. Nothing about the aftermath of the mercy slaying. Did they walk away, bury the body or say a prayer?

  In the seconds after Bob fired that gun, the body of the man went limp and they all just stood there.

  All three of them.

  They stood in silence, staring down.

  Mitch reached for the remains, feeling around the jeans. It was as if they were filled with mush, then he felt the hard surface of a wallet.

  “Craig Anthony Barnes,” Mitch said. “We’re sorry, Craig.”

  “You okay?” Liv asked Bob.

  Bob nodded, then spoke frazzled. "It was the only thing to do. I mean, the man ... the man was still alive. He was still alive. After all that happened to his body. It wasn’t easy, I swear to God, it wasn’t easy …”

  Liv stopped him with an embrace. “I know. I know. I couldn’t have done it. It was the right thing to do.”

  “Now what?” Mitch asked.

  Guilt.

  It wasn’t an easy thing, they were all a part of it, and suffering or not, they had taken a human life.

  Mitch wanted to do something. Cover him, move him … something. But if he did for Craig, he would have to do the same for the hundreds of others on the ground.

  “We have to go,” Liv said, then sniffed hard. “We have to go. What if Mark is like that? We if he … is suffering. We have to go.” She looked down to Craig then headed back to Mitch’s truck.

  Mitch took another moment, looked around at the street, and went back to his truck as well. They couldn’t go forward, the street was full of human remains. They had already been desecrated enough, driving over them would be inhumane.

  He’d take another way, it was a little longer, but Mitch didn’t worry about traffic lights.

  While he understood why Liv wanted to go to the hospital, he didn’t see the point. Going was only going to drive more heartbreak home
.

  He supposed she had to know for sure. To Mitch they already did, they pretty much watched Mark fall.

  At least they knew where to find him, he was on the roof of the hospital. If being exposed caused it, Mark was in the worst place.

  Mitch couldn’t figure out Bob as they drive off. Was it just a state of shock or did he genuinely feel guilty for putting a bullet in Craig’s head?

  Maybe blowing what was left of his head off was a bit much, but what choice was there? What other way could they have put him out of his pain and suffering? Bob had the strength to do it, Mitch envied that.

  Since there wasn’t any conversation in the truck, Mitch placed a call to Buford to tell him, at least in Cleveland, so far, their worst fears had been confirmed.

  Buford told him the power would probably go out before the end of the day, to gas up when and however they could, and to keep him posted.

  Mark worked at the Cleveland Heights Metrohealth. As a nurse, he always seemed to be working as he was the night the comet came. The buildings always reminded Mitch of two D size batteries joined together.

  The round building had twelve floors.

  It was a lot of floors to walk to the top.

  After Mitch had pulled up to the open doors of the main entrance, he had a thought, one he didn’t express out loud.

  If those outside and exposed lost their lives, and those beneath the ground were safe, how did those housed inside a building do?

  Had that man Craig been inside and made his way outside only to be affected?

  He put the truck in gear and shut off the engine, then lifted his eyes to the rearview mirror to see Liv. “You okay? You ready?”

  “Yeah,” she replied, nearly breathless. “Let’s do this.”

  Bob opened his door, stepped out to allow Liv to get out. “If it’s alright with you,” he said to her. “I think I need to stay back. I mean unless you need me to …”

  “No,” Liv cut him off. “Stay back. I understand.”

  “Right now, I don’t want to see anymore and there are hundreds of people in there.”