by Maxey, Phil
“Right…”
“Anyway,” said Scott. “Whatever the reason. It’s good news.”
“Tell them about the weird guy!” shouted Miller from the other end of the trailer, who was starting to lay out some cards on the box in front of him.
The Keller’s looked at the soldiers.
“Weird guy?” said Jess.
“When we first caught up with the car and the creatures. Outskirts of southern Denver. There was someone watching over them from the highway, about a mile out,” said Luci. “Made no sense.”
A possibility tweaked in Landon’s mind. “What car did he have?”
“Something small.”
“Hmm…”
“Why?”
“A friend of ours, Arlo. We didn’t find him at the school. Thought that maybe he got away. Although why he… was…” He looked at Jess. “Could Arlo be following the creatures? Maybe he saw Josh get taken?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
10: 48 p.m. Amarillo.
“Dumb…. Dumb….”
Arlo bent over, his chest burning, trying to force air into his lungs. After a few gulps he ascended again. A stenciled ‘Floor ten’ came and went as he swore, hoping he was already at the top of the bank office building but instead another set of stairs appeared within his flashlight’s beam. After he had spotted the creature a few miles further out he eased his way through the streets, looking for somewhere to park up. The towering rectangular block was hard to miss being the tallest structure he had seen, so he stopped in a parking lot and eventually found a staff entrance that wasn’t locked and started climbing.
He halted his progress on a landing, leaning on the handrail and did his best to control his breathing then swept his light across the wall in front. A sign mentioned the roof entrance above. Pushing himself on, he walked up the next set of stairs until reaching a paint chipped metal door where he waited for his heart to quieten, then listened to what may lay just a few feet away on the other side. On only hearing the wind he lifted the latch and slowly pushed the creaking door open, making sure to keep a hand on the handle in case he needed to close it quickly.
His light extended out into the darkness, across the concrete, and slid across a few hand rails and large metal boxes with vents, which he took to be the air conditioning system. Stepping out he looked up into the immense sky and the lighter clouds which were silently drifting past but there was no sign of anything else up there and that was enough for him to walk forward, climbing up a small set of stairs, giving him an even loftier position to look out over the city.
He spotted the twinkling lights first but that wasn’t what made him duck, for the parking lots of the shopping malls and retail parks around the bank were a mass of continuous movement, as if a sea of black oil had flooded the center of the city. But even the sight of so much potential death being so close wasn’t what spooked him. It was the silence. The breeze buffeting his face being the only source of sound on the roof. No screeches, grunts or roars. No indiction that an army of malformed things were literally within throwing distance. If he had driven another block over he would have slid right into the middle of them and no doubt would not have lived to tell the tale.
He gulped his fear away and with a quick glance back up at the sky to make sure none of the things were circling overhead, raised up again to look over the wall. Ignoring the swirling, agitated entities filling every available space for a few miles, he focused on the lights. It had to be the same vehicle he spotted outside Denver. Whoever these people were, they saw the creatures as no threat. It had to be connected with why Joan kidnapped Jess’s daughter.
Perhaps the few hundred subdued beasts below were there because of the Keller’s, he thought. So who was in the car? Joan? Someone else like Joan?
He needed to get closer.
He lifted himself higher and peered over the roof, directly to the street below which oddly was clear. Beyond the sidewalk was a long flat roof, which covered a series of connected stores. All part of one side of a plaza.
If he could get into the rear entrance of one of them, he could make his way towards the car. The far corner of the building sat only tens of yard from where the headlights were. Despite then being surrounded by hundreds of killing machines, he should be relatively safe.
He turned and quickly made his way back inside, the descent being a lot easier than the ascent and was soon on the ground floor, where he emerged back into the night of eerie silence. He made his way past the backs of parked cars to the road he had seen from above. There was still no sign of the creatures, which he knew to be on the other side of the retail park in front of him but he stopped for a moment, crouched behind a tree scanning the shadows then on not seeing any movement, jogged forward across the road, halting again near a large trash container which sat in the wide alley behind the stores.
A stench flowed across him with the breeze, which he knew was not coming from the trash nearby. He couldn’t hear the things but he could now smell them. He flicked his flashlight on, making sure to keep it aimed at the concrete then rushed forward to the first obvious door, squeezing the handle but failing to open it. He moved to the next and the next moving towards his destination regardless of not having the protection of being inside, until finally one of the handles turned and he moved into the darkness, closing it quietly behind.
Bland walls of a hallway which ran along the backs of retail spaces reflected back in his light, with doors spaced every ten or so yards. Not wasting any time he jogged down the corridor, his flashlight’s beam bouncing with his steps until he reached the end. A final door with a hastily written ‘staff’ looked back at him, and he slowly tried turning the handle…
It moved a small amount then no further. It was locked. He swore under his breath then moved back to the previous door, trying that one, which was equally unmoving. How long did he have before the things outside would know what was just tens of yards away? A tasty meal. A small fish swimming amongst sharks.
He walked back to the final door again and this time took one step back and barged his shoulder into it. The door creaked then gave way in his hand and he pushed it all the way open. It was another corridor, this one much narrower than the previous, with other doors, the far one clearly led to the front of the store. He moved past a staff room and listened against the final barrier, then opened it.
Rows of sweatshirts and pants looked back at him, all hanging from racks. Beyond, roughly twenty feet away were large glass windows and through them were glimpses of skin and teeth. Things moved through the darkness just feet away outside, only revealing themselves when they came close enough for the smattering of light from the night sky to illuminate their mutated features.
Arlo pulled back into the tight space of the corridor, leaning up against the wall, trying to find the will to move forward. Again, doubts raced through his mind. Why was he even here? What did it matter? How could he really help? His friends were dead! Nothing he discovered could change that!
He let out a long breath and steadied his breathing then turned back to the store again and crouched, walking forward between the aisles. The plastic covering of some of the clothes rustled as he moved past, the static electricity making them stick to his own sweat stained shirt but the rows of garments provided good cover and despite what was still moving past outside he managed to get to within ten feet of the entrance and…
The car was sitting a truck length away, pointing away from the building he was in. The headlights burned bright, but the vehicle itself was empty. He shook his head in disappointment. All this risk for… A person, a small person sat upright in the backseat, just a silhouette against the glow from the lights at the front.
A kid?
He crouch walked forward, emerging from a group of clothes. Something was sliding across the concrete beyond the large panel of glass, the only barrier between him and death but he needed to get a better look at the occupant in the back seat of the sedan. It was completely dark inside the st
ore, he hoped rendering himself invisible to what was crawling ten or so feet away. He looked again.
Yup, definitely a…
His legs almost gave out from under him. He knew the skinny kid in the backseat of the car. The car which was almost completely surrounded by the things.
Josh?
He almost spoke the words aloud as his heart thundered in his ears, blocking out any other noises coming from the things staggering around in the dark of the parking lot.
How? How?
He searched for an answer, then the slaughter back at the school pushed itself into his mind and instantly he knew what must have happened. Whoever else was in the car must have taken the boy. Just like what they did to his sister. They wanted both the children.
He shook his head almost involuntarily.
No… you’re not taking him.
But how was any rescue possible? Maybe he could get the boy’s attention and Josh could run to the store Arlo was hiding in? It was something, but also risked drawing the attention of other things, the monsters that would smash through the glass partition as if it wasn’t there. But he knew he had to try. For those who died. For his friends.
He moved closer to the large pane of glass and pulled the flashlight from his pocket, aiming it squarely at the vehicle then scanned best he could the darkness to his right, to the parking lot and what slithered, crawled and staggered. He could see them out there.
Swearing, he flicked his head back to the car and switched the light on and off, then waited for death to tear through the window. On seeing no reaction from the boy or the creatures, he tried again this time pushing the flashlight up against the glass.
The back of the car lit up, including the interior. Josh had to have seen it. Had to.
The figure in the backseat remained stationary. Were his eyes closed? Was he sleeping?
Damnit.
The exit to the store was just feet away. Arlo looked at it then to the few yards of concrete outside. It was clear as was the route all the way to the car. He stood, took a deep breath, then crept to the door and slid the latch across at the top and bottom, then pulled the glass door towards him immediately bringing with it a stench so strong it almost made him heave. Hesitating to push his foot beyond the threshold, he scoured the darkness for the movement which was continuous, trying to see any hint that something was moving his way. It wasn’t.
Without a second thought, he burst through the gap, covering the fifteen-feet to the car and pulled the back door open.
“Ah!” shouted Josh, his eyes large in the gloom. “No, you can’t be here! They’re—” Arlo had hold of his sneaker and pulled it and the boy across the seat as Josh shook his head. “No, run, leave me!”
“We have to make a run…”
A door clattered somewhere in the darkness at the back of the nearby restaurant. Then came laughter. Josh was fighting him now, struggling to get back in the car, but Arlo pulled him across the concrete towards the entrance to the store and salvation. He didn’t see the blur. Nor would he have if it were noon and the sun was bright above for the soldier moved quicker than he could turn. A vice like hand gripped his arm, and with the slightest of movement Arlo was airborne until he wasn’t. Something cracked as he smashed through the store’s large glass window, hitting the first row of clothes he had just been hiding in. He fell to the floor, every part of him burning, tangled within slippery plastic and metal rails.
“Josh! Run!” he screamed to the darkness, as he made an effort to use his throbbing limbs, failing as he collapsed back to the floor. As he crawled towards the safety of shadows, boots crunched fragments of glass which littered the sidewalk and more laughter rang out.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
12: 01 p.m. Highway 287.
Jess’s eyelids fell across her eyes with a weight she was powerless to resist, but resist she did.
“Sleep,” said Landon, sitting by her side, both on the floor against the inside of the trailer. A single flashlight shook with the motion of the wheels on the highway below.
“I’ll sleep when we have Josh and we are safe.”
“There’s nothing we can—”
“Did you know?” Both parents looked at their daughter who was sat to their right near the rear door. Lachlan appeared asleep by her side.
“Did I know what?” said Jess.
Sam looked away, her eyes full of memories. “She told me… told me about how my grandmother died giving birth to—”
“What? No, she died shortly after you were born, not when I was born, you’re confused.”
Sam’s head flicked back to her mother, her eyes large. “I’m not confused!” she shouted. Lachlan jolted awake. “That’s what Joan told me and I believe her! She said there’s… something inside us, in our genetics that we got from my grandmother and she was special. Your father met her when he was working for the military. Rackham was also working with him! So did you know?” Sam looked away again. “All of this… the whole world dying… all our friends, it’s all because—” She flicked back to Jess, who was now getting to her feet. “— of us! Because of our family!”
Jess moved towards her daughter whose eyes were glossy in the dim light, but Sam stood and threw out her hand. “Stay away from me! You… we… We did this… It’s all our fault!” Landon tried the same but she rebuffed his advance as well, falling against the metal side wall, making a noticeable dent in the panel, then turned away.
Jess took another step towards her as sobs came from the girl in the shadows. “I didn’t know any of what Joan told you. Maybe it’s true, but what Rackham did…” She cleared her throat. “Is not our fault, Sam. Not your fault…”
Sam spun around with a speed that made everyone other than Jess lean back for what was at the back corner of trailer was not the teenager they had gotten to know but something else. An angular face with deep inset eyes, sat atop a thick neck and shoulders with belonged to someone twice her size. “Look at me mom!” shouted a deep voice. “Look at what he did to me!” The rest of the occupants in the trailer were now standing, some even resting a hand on their weapons, but Jess moved forward regardless, tears streaming from her eyes.
“I know, baby… and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry—” She placed her arms around her daughter whose form visibly shrunk and the cries returned to that of a fourteen-year-old girl.
*****
12: 23 p.m. Amarillo.
Josh tried not to look at the oozing rags that were tightly wrapped around Arlo’s limbs, especially the one that cut into his mouth, but he felt bad. This man had tried to rescue him and failed. At the time, he had been angry at how stupid Arlo had been. Even if they escaped the creatures, the soldier would catch them. There’s no escaping the soldier. But Arlo wasn’t to know any of that and as the forty something computer guy breathed heavily, unconscious, up against the seat to Josh’s left, the boy felt sympathy for him. He even hoped Arlo wouldn’t wake. Better to die within whatever dream Arlo was having than to awake to the nightmare and be tortured by the soldier and whatever was traveling with them.
Josh looked at the restaurant and the shadows beyond its windows. What were the two human looking monsters doing in there?
Something buffeted the back of the sedan, rocking the car on its wheels and making Arlo groan. The first time it had happened Josh almost screamed but now he was used to the hideous things that were patrolling the parking lot, nudging the rear fender, their meanderings bringing them too close. He still couldn’t bring himself to look at them though. They were visions from the kind of movies he wasn’t allowed to watch, but sometimes would catch glimpses of through gaps in the door to the living room when his parents were up late. Monsters that stalked the night looking for humans to devour. But Josh knew these particular mutants were once like him, once normal. That was worse because it meant you could become one as well.
A clatter of door on frame came from the darkness around a corner of a wall he couldn’t see and was soon followed by the soldier. He
walked with a swagger that Josh hated, but that wasn’t what drew the boy’s attention for behind him walked another man, slightly taller. This man, older, walked with a limp. As they moved through the headlight beams Josh noticed the scaring on the other man’s face. Who was he? And where’s the monster that they came… with…
A strange idea pinged in Josh’s mind. Was this individual the monster? Had the monster become a human?
Finn pulled open the drivers’s door and got in, immediately turning around in his seat and throwing a bottle of water and a packet of chips at Josh who caught the former. The soldier then looked at Arlo and frowned as the passenger’s door opened and this other person, awkwardly got in, closing the door. He started to talk but Finn beat him to it. “I don’t know why we couldn’t just let the things have him.”
Josh caught the man’s sardonic expression as if he had just been asked the dumbest question he had ever heard. The man let out a long breath.
“Whoever this person is. The boy is obviously important to him. He must have been following you from the school, which means he probably knows the boy’s mother.”
Josh took a gulp of the water, looking at the soldier’s reaction which was to shake his head and turn the key in the ignition.
“So, Josh!”
Josh jolted in reply, seeing the man smile in the rear mirror.
“As I told your sister, there—”
“You know my sister?”
The sedan drove back onto the road, weaving around the things lurking in the gloom.
“Indeed I did, and I helped her.”
“You… helped her? How? Did you know Joan?”
“Alas, I did. She was a good soldier.”
Josh noticed the driver’s snort but kept his eyes on the strange man in the seat in front.