by Kailin Gow
“Evie,” Mom said. “Not right now. I’m just preparing for the possibility. We always have to be prepared for that possibility. My duty as a parent and also as a protector of the last remnants of Old Earth is to make sure they survive for the next generation. And that’s you, Evie. You’re the next generation. In fact, as far as I know, Evie…you are the only next generation.”
“Mom,” my heart sank as the reality flooded me, and the weight of that knowledge floored me.
Mom turned to me and took my shoulders in her hands so I could face her. “Evie, you must survive no matter what. You may be the last human there is, if I’m gone.”
“We don’t really know that,” I said, hopefully.
“No, we don’t,” Mom said matter-of-factly. “But from my scouring all feeds, data, and signs; I have not seen any other humans roaming Above Ground.
She showed me the live feed of images Above Ground. It was more like infrared images which you could make out the topography of the surface.
“While we were filling the Shelter with supplies and installing security measures around the Shelter; another team was finishing up the installs of cameras and satellites around key points Above Ground. That was how we are able to get the live feeds above the surface. The surveillance also monitored our source of water.”
I knew Mom wasn’t telling something. She was hiding it from me.
“Mom, it’s been years since you went Above Ground. I’m old enough to leave alone for a while if you have to go up. And you have shown me where I can find resources to know what to do. Why haven’t you gone up?”
Mom said, “Because the danger is still there.”
“After all these years?” I asked.
“They are timeless. They don’t seem to grow old like humans.”
“The Monsters?” I asked.
She switched on a monitor of our current location. It looked like a map of a round planet, that was covered with a dark mass.
“What is that?” I asked.
Mom turned to me, and her eyes widened with fright. “Those are the Monsters.”
THREE
The Monsters
They came out of nowhere all of a sudden. Unremarkable and unassuming.
No one knew about them until it was too late.
There wasn’t time for humankind to even give them a name…so they were just called, “The Monsters.”
I scoured all I could on them through the database of knowledge that was in the hidden wing of the Shelter. No one seemed to know what they were.
Thousands of accounts and filmed footage pulled up when I did a search for them. Taken from people’s own cameras and posted through social postings. People running frantically through the streets as though something terrifying was chasing them.
When the people stopped running, they stood still as though in a trance. The next thing they all did was cover their ears, close their eyes, and sink to the ground, huddling and shaking with fear before letting out a blood-curdling scream right before they die, frozen with that face in utter terror.
It reminded me of the painting called “The Scream” by Evard Munch painted in 1893 which portrayed a man or a woman, you couldn’t tell which, holding their elongated wavy head with both hands, while screaming as though their very soul was dying.
The sky and air around the screaming victim seem to twist and turn into waves as the victim is engulfed in agonizing pain and fear. As though they had witnessed the gulfing flames of hell and had died of fright.
Evard Munch’s own poem describing his painting reaffirmed my suspicion about this:
"I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous infinite scream of nature." - Edvard Munch
But this was something else more terrifying. The Monsters were attacking people with this wave of fear in masses. Like a horrible unspeakably evil storm, waves of people were engulfed in this terror, unable to escape, until it was too late.
The darkness covered the Earth. The only glimpse of light was the blood red of the flames underneath the dark clouds from explosions that came with unattended fires running rampant, caused by accidents.
“Mom?” I asked while helping her make dinner. “I can’t see the Monsters from any footage people took of them. It’s like where they are supposed to be, there is only a wavy blurred image. Can they be seen?”
“Not with the human eye, Evie,” Mom said. “That is why they are so formidable. We can’t see them.”
I shuddered. A cold chill went down my spine. “Then how are we supposed to fight them? How did Dad tried to fight them?”
“Ever since we were attacked at New Earth,” Mom said. “I’ve been trying to figure that out. We knew a little bit about them before building the Shelter. We also knew a little about them before we tried to colonize New Earth. The Monsters travel like the wind, appearing suddenly out of nowhere, and feeding off people’s fears, destroying them with their own worst fears.”
“We fight them psychologically,” I said.
“Yes,” Mom said. “By being strong and grounded in something more powerful and stronger than they are.”
“How did Dad tried to fight them?” I asked.
“He helped build the Shelter. We knew we had to block the Monsters from feeding into our fears.”
“Mom, doesn’t fear and other emotions, come from the brain?”
“Yes,” Mom said. “And that’s how we triggered the security measures for the Shelter.”
She showed me how it worked and where it was around the Shelter.
“There is another thing you should know about The Monsters, which I realized your father knew, but the rest of us didn’t. They can evolve. Change shapes. When they solidify, we might be able to fight them then. So…”
We hit the martial arts gym Mom had set up. Instead of the usual mats and wrestling gear, now there were spears, archery, and other weapons. “What’s this for?” I asked.
“For when they solidify so we can take them down,” Mom said, gritting her teeth. “Because no matter how big they are; we will never go down without a fight.”
FOUR
Not only am I down to the bare minimum in food, but the water had stopped flowing.
Something had impeded the flow of water down to the Shelter. 5 Years ago, Mom had gone Above Ground, out of the Shelter to fix the pipe, and it made everything right again. The hydroponic garden was saved, so we can sustain our own food, and we had the energy from the water to help run the computers.
Without the water flow, we would lose energy to generate the computers. Without the energy, the Shelter’s defense against those Monsters would be turned off.
At the time Mom had decided it was crucial for her to go Above Ground and risk a run to the colony’s Landing to see if there were other supplies, data, and possibly traces of human life or any other life; we had enough food for two people for two and a half years. Although it seemed like it could be a lot, on a land where you don’t know where you could possibly find any food, it was at a point where you have to try.
Plus, Mom was itching to find out what really happened to all the people who traveled with her and my father to New Earth. She felt that she was at least ready to defend herself against the Monsters, if she were to fight them.
She had made special suits for us. And a couple of spare ones in case ours were damaged. They looked like parkas, were insulated to keep out the chill, and had a special face mask to protect our face from the chill, while allowing us to breath oxygen from a pack on our back. New Earth once had plenty of oxygen, but with the plants gone, and no vegetation, New Earth no longer had oxygen for us to breathe. Mostly carbon dioxide with barely trace amounts of argon and nitrogen.
On top of our masks were camera too so we can
record what we see and send the feed back to the Shelter’s computer system for analysis. “You can see what I’ll see, too,” Mom said. “When I go Above Ground, you can keep track of me.”
Mom had taken some weapons with her, too, in case she ran into something, and to help her fix things. She and I hugged for the longest time, while she gave me last minute notes. It would be the first time we separated in all my 13 years. “Evie,” Mom said. “Remember everything I taught you. Remember too, you have some very strong skills, talent, and resources at your disposal here at the Shelter. Use them. The Shelter’s all yours now until I come back. And when I do…maybe we will have company.”
Mom showed me signals of life, which she finally picked up on the monitor. Lights beeping against the dark. Whatever it is, it would be worth checking out.
“Mom…can I come?” I asked for the 50th time.
“Evie,” Mom hugged me tight. “I wish you could, but this is very dangerous, and I need you here instead of out there. Remember what I said about protecting the past and humankind’s future? You’re the one in charge now.”
Then I walked with her through the Shelter, up the elevators to the floor to the surface. She climbed the stairs leading to the very top, before she waved down to me and said, “Monitor me, Evie. If something happens, you’ll know.”
I watched her go through the secured hatch at the very top. She turned towards me and waved before she secured the hatch tight.
From below, I rushed back to our control center, sat down in front of all our screens, and watch Mom walk on the dusty surface. She was light on her feet, considering how much her suit weighed. Mom was an expert Martial Artist, Scientist, Engineer, Architect, Gardener, and even Tech Whiz. You wouldn’t know it when you see her petite frame. At 13, I was now taller than her. Knowing that Thomas was over 6 feet, I knew where I got my height.
Mom walked directly to the hidden pipeline where our water supply was connected. With a few adjustments and soldering, the pipes were fixed. Mom signaled into her helmet’s camera an A-Okay.
She brought out her tablet, which opened to the map showing where the beeping lights were. Mom pointed to two places. One which she shrugged. Didn’t know where that was completely. The other one seemed like it was where she was heading to in order to find supplies. She started towards that direction.
I watched Mom walked into some mountainous area before the camera was filled with dust. It was getting late, and New Earth’s notorious dust storm was supposed to be a regular occurrence. Mom must have found Shelter because the camera no longer showed dust.
Mom signaled A-Okay again with her fingers. Through her eyes, I was able to see a large cave. The walls appeared to be made of stone, the same reddish dust and stone outside the cave. Inside, Mom found a stream of water. She dipped her bottle into it, filling it up. She made a small fire, and seemed to heat up the water in her metal cup, sterilizing it. Taking a small bag out of her pocket, she added it to the cup, making soup. She finished her soup, and then she signaled for me to go to sleep. She was.
The next morning, while Mom was still on her way towards the beeping lights, she showed me a landscape that was both beautiful yet awe-inspiring. New Earth had some gorgeous mountains and natural rock formations.
Parts of the area Mom was trekking through reminded me of some of the National Parks of Vintage Earth. Only without vegetation or wildlife. This part was mostly red, dusty, yet beautiful like Vintage Earth’s Red Rock Canyon. The many shades of red on the mountains were from oxidation and iron ore.
Mom was showing me that there was something beyond the peak of one of the Mountain’s ridge. She was climbing the mountain, but it was a steep one, and she had to rest once in a while to eat or to drink water.
She was almost near the top when suddenly, it seemed as though the weather had dramatically changed. Dark clouds had formed and were coming towards her. Mom was running. Everything in the camera became rough, as though Mom was moving quickly. The footage became blurry, as though the camera broke.
I rushed out of the control center to put on my suit. Mom was being attacked by the Monsters, and I was going out to help her.
I ran as fast as I could with the heavy suit on, only to trip and fall hard on my face. I bang my jaw and cheekbone against the metal floor, I saw sparks of light flashed in front of me as everything fade out of sight.
*****
How long I had been out, I had no idea. Hours? Days? Even a week?
When I came to, I noticed I wasn’t alone.
I wasn’t laying on the ground where I had tripped and fallen on my head.
I was back in my room. In my bed wearing my pajamas instead of a space-like suit.
How did I get here? Was Mom back?
Sitting in my armchair was a person. A girl of 13 years old. Dressed In my clothes.
And she was my height and build.
“Hi, Evie,” she said, getting up from the armchair. “You’re finally up!”
I blinked my eyes. I couldn’t believe it. There was another human in front of me.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
I moved as far back away from her as I could on my bed. “Who are you? How did you get in?”
The girl smiled. “I’m Mary.”
“Mary? Where are you from?”
Besides Mom, I have never had contact with a fellow human before. I looked her up and down. She had dark hair like mine. Long and straight. Her eyes even looked like mine, and her smile…it looked like mine. But there was something different about her that I couldn’t figure out yet.
“Are you hungry?” Mary asked. “Do you want something to drink?”
“Whoa, hold on,” I said. “This is my place. How do you know where anything is?” I slowly sat up in bed, my eyes on her. Mom had said the Monsters were capable of shifting, becoming solid. Could this girl be one of them?
I leaped at her, bringing her arm to the back with one of mine and using my other arm to wrap it around her neck in a chokehold. “Tell me how did you get in or I’ll break your arm.”
Mary pulled her arm easily out of my hand, and turned towards me with a swift kick, which I was able to dodge.
“Wanna fight?” she laughed. “Okay.” She began throwing punches at me, which I blocked. She was using the same style of kung fu as I was. How?
But she was stronger.
And faster.
And didn’t seem to get tired at all, while I had to catch my breath.
Everyday Mom and I had trained in martial arts to keep in fighting shape. Mom was trained from childhood by her Mom a certain style of Kung Fu that her ancestors originated. It was a mixture between Ju Jitsu and Shaolin Style.
How did this girl learn this style, and how did she get so good at it?
She leaped at me, knocking me to the ground, and began choking me. “What are you?” I asked, gasping for air.
“I am what you want me to be,” Mary said, smiling pleasantly, as though she was just discussing how nice the weather was over tea and scones. Instead of choking the life out of me…
I was able to get one leg out from under her hold on me to kick her from the side.
She swayed to the side, enough for me to roll over to be sitting on top of her legs to pin her down. My turn to start choking her. Only, she knew what my next move would be.
And beat me to it, as she turned her body around, knocking me off balance, and was now pining me to the ground in a vice grip. She was strong.
I tried to free myself from her grip, but she held me tight. Finally, I was able to slip my hand out and hit her temple with a punch. Anyone who had been slammed hard in the temples would have gone down or at least flinched. Especially someone as thin as Mary, but she didn’t even blink.
It made her mad, though, and she used her palm to cover my nose and mouth until I was suffocating. I couldn’t breathe. If she didn’t let go soon, I would die.
FIVE
While suffocating, my mind ran through all the possibili
ties of escape. For a 13-year-old girl, Mary weighed a ton, and her vice grip was far stronger than a normal person. Her eyes had gone blank…like a machine…set out to destroy me. Emotionless.
“Mary!” I gasped. I was near exhaustion and my head was spinning from lack of air. My mind immediately pulled up memories of what was important to me…Mom. Where was she? The Shelter and all the data and knowledge about humans and Earth, stored within its computer systems. I need to live. I need to survive this to find my Mom. To fulfill my duty and responsibility to protect and save what was left of humanity.