by Sean Platt
Brent started thinking of all the other firsts his son would never have — first day of school, first love, first heartbreak, first job, the first time he realized what he wanted to do with his life, followed by a dozen or so changes of mind. Brent had tried not to dwell on his family. Tried not to imagine their dead eyes staring back at him from nowhere. Tried to imagine they were somewhere, anywhere, other than that rotting high-rise of death in Times Square.
Trying wasn’t succeeding, though.
He was no longer certain they were alive. A hell of an admission, even if only to himself. It was surrender, and a father wasn’t supposed to quit on his family.
He closed his eyes, tried to think of anything else, and saw Joe’s dead eyes looking at him just before he attacked. Luis was right. Joe had been infected by those creatures. How or why, he had no idea. It seemed like a parasitic infection, like an alien in a movie infecting someone before taking control of their body.
He wondered if Luis had taken the bandage off yet. The shower was still running upstairs. As if in response to his question, something thumped and rolled above him. Luis had dropped something in the shower — the flashlight, Brent figured, unless Luis showered with the shotgun. He waited for another sound, but only heard the hum and patter of the shower. He thought about checking on Luis, going to the door and asking if everything was okay, but something outside caught his attention.
A light on in the car.
Between the fog, and the frosted windows of the car, the light was mostly a blur, but it captured and held Brent’s attention. Shadows moved against the window, slow at first, then fast.
Something was happening in the car. And then he heard the unmistakable shrieks and clicking of the monsters.
The hairs on the back of Brent’s neck stood on end. He gripped the pistol and searched the darkness.
Suddenly, the car’s taillights came on, and the car reversed, quickly, straight toward the house. The parking lot was nearly 70 yards away, but the car was in full speed. As the car drew closer, Brent saw two of creatures on top, riding the car from the roof as it barreled straight at the front windows.
“Luis!” Brent screamed, clearing the stairs two at a time, and pounding on the door. Before he could say a word, a loud crash shook the house as the car crashed, in reverse, straight into the living room.
Luis burst out of the door, naked, shotgun in hand, eyes wild and confused, like he’d been snapped from a daze.
“What the hell?” Luis said, pushing his way past Brent. One of the creatures was at the bottom of the stairs, stunned, getting to its feet.
Luis blew its head off in one shot, then kicked it out of the way as he ran naked into the living room, aiming at the second creature on the hood, which was still screeching at whoever was in the car.
“Fuck you!” Luis screamed, unleashing another shot, hitting it in the chest. The creature flew back, and out the hole in front of the house. Luis gave chase, firing into the darkness.
Brent scanned the living room with his gun, making sure no other creatures were in the house, then turned to see a dark-haired woman passed out, face against the deployed air bag, and a young Asian girl, about 6, in the front seat. Her mouth was wide and face red, crying, “Mommy,” over and over while struggling to push the airbag from herself and her mother.
Luis came back inside, and looked inside the car. “She okay?” he said, running to the driver’s side, and opening the door. Brent opened the passenger side, and the girl screamed, backing up toward her mother as if Brent were going to harm her.
“It’s okay,” he said, “The monsters are gone.”
Luis, on the other side, felt for a pulse on the girl’s mother.
“She’s alive,” he said, glancing up at Brent, before racing upstairs. He returned with the first aid kit, wearing a pair of black jeans, his body still wet.
The woman raised her head, then murmured something unintelligible through her groggy haze.
“You’re okay,” Luis said, rushing to the woman’s side. “You crashed into the house.”
“I’m s ... sorry,” she said, as her daughter clung to her. The woman embraced her daughter, though she was too weak to do anything other than lightly place her arm on the girl’s back.
Luis helped the mother from the car, the little girl clinging to her the entire time, then ushered her to the love seat that had just missed getting hit by the car, instead of the couch, which was thoroughly destroyed.
Luis approached Brent. “She’s got a small head wound, nothing too bad. I need you to clean it and put a bandage on, okay?”
Brent wondered why Luis would ask him, when Luis was closer. “I’m infected,” Luis said, sensing Brent’s confusion.
Brent stared, trying to process the news, as Luis hopped in the woman’s car, drove it from the house, and parked it diagonally to block as much of the house’s gaping wound as he could.
Brent grabbed the first aid kit, and went to help the woman, but couldn’t stop thinking about what Luis had said.
“What are those things?” the woman asked, sipping from a water bottle, hands shaking.
The girl sat next to her mom, wiping tears from her eyes, traumatized.
“We don’t know,” Brent said, “I’m guessing aliens, but definitely can’t say for sure. We ran into a bunch of them in the city this morning. Where are you all coming from?”
“Jersey, near Clifton,” the woman said.
They exchanged vanishing stories, though Brent and Luis left out the Times Square bodies and Joe getting infected parts, and definitely left out the part about maybe Luis now being infected, too. They wanted to comfort the mom and her child, not scare the hell out of them.
The woman, Jane, a 30-year-old stay-at-home mom, was woken at 3 in the morning by her 6-year-old, Emily, saying she’d had a bad dream that monsters came to take them away. The girl then asked, “Where’s daddy?” Jane found that her husband, Michael, was missing. So was their cat, Cinnamon. Jane tried to call her husband’s cell, but the power went out. She went door to door in the middle of the night, before realizing the entire block had also vanished.
They went back home, Emily crying the entire time, and turned on the battery-operated radio to see if an emergency broadcast message or something was broadcasting. But all they got was static until they picked up the message regarding Black Island. They waited for a while to see if Michael would come back. When he didn’t, they decided to take a chance and drive to the docks.
“I know they said not to drive at night, but I couldn’t wait any longer,” Jane said. “I had no idea there were these ... aliens out there. What do you think happened?”
Luis told her about the dreams he’d been having, not that it offered much explanation for reality.
Outside, the morning sun had risen on the horizon, though it was only a blur lost in the low-hanging fog.
“So, what do we do now?” Jane asked, hugging Emily.
“We wait for the ferry and hope no more of those aliens show up,” Luis said, staring out where the window had been, lost in thought.
“I want my daddy,” Emily cried, leaning against her mother.
Brent felt his heart break while staring at the small girl, so delicate and shaken. He wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay, that she’d see her dad again, and maybe even her cat, Cinnamon. But he’d never been a very convincing liar.
“I know, baby,” Jane said, kissing her daughter’s head, “I miss Daddy, too.”
Though the girl was 6, she wasn’t much taller than Ben. Brent thought about giving her the Stanley Train in the pocket of his sweat pants, but truth was, he didn’t want to let it go, even if it might bring joy to another child. Letting it go meant he might never be able to give it to Ben. Instead, he went to the kitchen, and brought them some Pop-Tarts. Jane thanked him and opened the package, handing one of the pastries to Emily.
“Thank you, Mr. Brent,” Emily said, reaching out for the Pop-Tart with her tiny hands and
taking a tiny bite.
As Jane and Emily sat on the couch, Brent and Luis were in the kitchen, packing the duffle bags with food and supplies. Brent noticed Luis wasn’t wearing a bandage. In fact, his arm looked as if it had never been bitten.
“Where’s the bite?” Brent asked, keeping his voice low enough that it didn’t travel to the living room.
“Gone,” Luis said, continuing to pack, clearly not wanting to discuss the subject.
“Lemme see,” Brent said.
“Nothing to see,” Luis said. “The bite healed itself.”
“But you just said you were infected. It looks okay to me.”
“It’s not okay,” Luis said. He stopped packing and met Brent’s eyes. “There’s something in me.”
“What?”
“Look,” he said, holding up his right forearm.
And then Brent saw the shapes swimming beneath his skin.
“What the ... ?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve gotta get outta here. I can’t be around you all when I turn.”
“No,” Brent said, “I’m not leaving your side, especially when we’re so close to being rescued.”
“Listen dude, I appreciate it. Really, I do. But those two out there, they didn’t sign up for this shit. I can’t put you all at risk.”
“We’ll get you help from Black Island,” Brent said. “Maybe they know what those things are. Maybe they can cure you?”
“Yeah, and maybe they’ll lock me up to run experiments on me, too. I’m not gonna be some lab rat with doctors poking me and shit. I’m fine with dying. Hell, I didn’t expect to wake up on Oct. 16. So, I’m already living bonus time, extra lives, and all that shit. I’m just gonna go off and see how things happen, far away from where I can do anyone harm.”
“Wait a second,” Brent said. “What if what you said is true? What if they do run experiments on you and stuff? Maybe they can find a cure. Maybe you can help others who are infected? I don’t wanna sound all new-agey, especially when I don’t believe that shit, but what if you were infected for a reason. Maybe that’s why you’re still here, to be cured, to help others get cured?”
Luis stared at him, silent for a full minute.
“I hate when you make sense,” Luis said. “Okay, I’ll stay, and get on that ferry, but you’ve gotta promise that if I show the slightest sign of changing, you will shoot me in the head.”
“Jesus, that’s some promise.”
“Just promise.”
“Okay,” Brent said, “I promise.”
“Don’t say it unless you mean it.”
“Okay, I promise, if you turn into a zombie-alien, I’ll shoot you in the head.”
“Thank you,” Luis said.
In the living room, Jane called out, “I hear the ferry!”
Fifty-Eight
Edward Keenan
Ed descended the stairs, pistol in each hand, trying to clear Jade from his mind.
He couldn’t afford to think about her being mad at him or take time to ease whatever fears she was harboring. He had to act quickly and without emotional baggage weighing him down.
It was bad enough he’d taken on the girl, Teagan. Now he had to worry about his daughter — his flesh and blood, which meant all his decisions were compromised. He couldn’t think logically. Jade, and Teagan, would inform his decisions. In short, he could no longer trust his instincts if he gave emotion free reign. He must be a machine, divorced from feelings that could impede necessary action.
He pushed through the double doors on the ground floor and headed to the SUV. Across the parking lot, in front of one of the other three apartment buildings that formed a square around the giant parking lot, stood four creatures. They were long and black, with shiny skin. He couldn’t tell if they were aliens or the results of a government lab experiment gone awry. But even at a distance, he was certain of one thing — they were predators. He would have just seconds to act once they saw him.
He was 15 yards from the SUV when two of the creatures broke from the pack and began loping toward him, running on both hands and feet. Fast.
He sprinted towards the SUV, heart hammering in his chest. He reached the driver’s door, yanked it open, and keyed the ignition. As he threw the truck in reverse, the windshield filled with a creature and its dark, soulless eyes, clawed hands, and jagged teeth.
“What the fuck are you?” Ed yelled as the creature jumped onto his hood, bashing its hands into the windshield and causing it to crack. The second hit spread a web across the window, which quickly collapsed and rained chunks into the cabin.
Left hand on the wheel, Ed raised his pistol, fired twice — once at the thing’s chest, another at its face. Both shots met their target, and the creature fell and Ed ran it over. Just then, the SUV was rocked as something landed on the roof. Above him, the creature screamed something unlike any animal Ed had ever heard. The sound reached into the recesses of Ed’s brain and turned his insides to frost as the creature scraped its talons on the roof, trying to either hang on ... or claw its way into the truck.
Ed spun the wheel and floored the gas pedal, racing back and towards the other two creatures. The truck hit at least one. Ed stepped on the brakes, causing the SUV to screech to a stop. The creature on the roof flew backwards and tumbled to the ground. Ed jumped from the SUV, turned back and fired a shot at the head of the creature he’d hit but not killed. Its head popped into a mist of black goo. He turned and fired at the monster that had been riding his roof.
Both shots went flying by as the creature bounded toward him, closing in fast. He steadied his aim with the second pistol as death raced toward him. Twenty yards, 15, 10, and getting closer.
Every instinct said run, get back in the car, drive. But his battle-tested training overrode his natural instincts. As the creature sprung into the air toward Ed, arms outstretched, he found the inner calm he needed to hit his target directly in the face, causing it to explode in a mad gush of black gore.
Ed fell to the ground, ducking out of the way, as the creature sailed over him and onto the asphalt behind.
As Ed stood, he spun around, searching for the last of the missing beasties. It wasn’t behind the truck, nor inside, as he approached with guns drawn. His heart was pounding, and his breathing was fast as he turned in full circle, scanning the parking lot.
Nothing. It was gone.
Except he knew it wasn’t truly gone.
No, it was hiding.
He glanced down at the dead creatures on the ground, trying to figure out what they were. But nothing in his personal history gave a clue as to what he was looking at. It might have once been human, or started out as human, or was maybe a hybrid mix of human and something else. Something alien. While the creatures shared many similarities with one another, subtle differences were noticeable. One had clawed hands, while another had no fingers, just stumps. And though the clawed one was tall and lanky, the other was shorter, sturdier. Their skin was black as night, coated with something wet. Beneath the skin, Ed could see what seemed to be fading light, like a freaky translucent deep sea creature he’d once seen on TV.
Ed hopped into the SUV, then drove to the front doors of Jade’s apartment complex. He parked horizontally, so the driver’s side door and cargo door were as close to the front of the building as possible, then scanned his surroundings once more before leaving the relative safety of the SUV and entering the apartment building.
When he returned to Apartment 410, Jade ran to greet him, embracing him hard. Tears covered her face. “I thought you were dead!”
Ed realized the three of them had been watching from the window, and had seen the whole battle unfold.
“I’m okay,” Ed said into Jade’s ear.
Having his daughter in his arms felt so good. After years of frosty silence, hugging her was somewhat awkward, like he wasn’t hugging his little girl, but rather a woman he barely knew any longer, a woman with a new perfumed scent. Yet, somewhere deep inside the hug, was that bond t
hat could never be broken between parent and child. And it was there he found himself getting lost in the memories of his prior life as a father. Before his life as an agent had spiraled out of control.
He wanted to hold her forever, but couldn’t allow himself to get tangled in emotion. A part of him would have collapsed into tears, begged for forgiveness from his baby girl, if they had the time and luxury of a safe world where they could repair past damages. But this was not that time. And with the introduction of monsters into this new world disorder, he was afraid their wounds could go forever unhealed.
Now was the time for strength, not healing.
He kissed his daughter on the head, then broke the embrace.
“We’ve got to get out of here. Find a safe place.”
“What were those things?” Teagan’s eyes were wide with fear.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. As crazy as it sounds, my guess would be aliens of some sort.”
“Do you think that’s what’s behind all the people vanishing? Aliens came and took everyone?” Ken asked.
“Could be,” Ed said. “This is the first we’ve run into them all the way from Ohio, so I’m hoping they’re just here. Either way, we need to get out of here right now and find somewhere safer. Pack whatever you need. I’ve got the truck ready to go downstairs.”
“Where are we gonna go?” Teagan asked, hands on her pregnant belly. “Is anywhere safe? We’ve got government agents in helicopters, hillbillies with guns, and now aliens! Where are we supposed to go?”
“I’ve got a place in Florida all set up,” Ed said. “It’s solar powered, has a well for fresh water, and a safe room to protect us in case the shit hits the fan. Well, if any more shit hits the proverbial fan.”
“You were prepared for this?” Ken asked, with a huge grin.
“Not this; just prepared,” Ed said. Both Jade and Teagan were looking at him suspiciously.
