by S E Lunsford
He narrowed his gaze until I began to squirm uncomfortably. A thin line of tension between us began to grow until it expanded, filling the whole room. I began to bite the inside of my left cheek until the telltale taste of metal told me that it had begun to bleed. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer.
“Okay, I don’t know that too,” I said trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. “I’ve heard rumors of other things, but never actually come across them…” my voice trailed off.
“I kind of figured that out,” he said, glancing outside, “But, thank you for telling me all the same.”
“What is it that the creepers are afraid of besides the creators?” I asked, making my way to stand next to him, leaning carefully forward I looked out the window too. There was nothing but the empty backyard to greet us.
“First don’t call them creators, they don’t create, they make,” he said irritation creeping into his voice.
“Yes, but,” I said.
“Just don’t,” he interrupted me abruptly. “Look, they've made more than just the creepers and the bioanimals.”
My stomach began to churn as his words sunk in, more than the creepers and the bioanimals? As if they weren't enough to contend with on a daily basis as Cassie and I fought for survival, there were now other things that I’d never even heard of to be concerned about too.
“Can they die?” I asked wrapping my hand more tightly around the handle of my gun.
“Yes,” he nodded. “But, it can be tricky to get a good shot. You know how you can just shoot the creepers anywhere in their heads and the bioanimals almost anywhere depending on what they are?”
I nodded because I had learned what he said was true the hard way. Not long afer they appeared, creepers had almost dragged Cassie and I down as we shot at them ineffectively anywhere we could, their stench becoming overwhelming as we gagged and almost passed out from it. It didn’t take us too long to figure out they went down much quicker if they took headshots, or head wounds, from anything that we had handy if bullets were in short supply. We’d used shovels, broom handles and had even gotten lucky with a Swiffer handle straight through one of their eyes once, in order to take them down.
“Well, you’ve got to get these new creatures in the side of the head, in their temples,” he tapped the side of his own head to illustrate then shrugged. “Otherwise no dice, you just irritate them.”
“No dice,” I half whispered as I thought about creatures that could only be killed by shooting them in such a small spot. A thought flashed through my mind. “Does it have to be a bullet?”
Shaking his head no, he shrugged.
“But, it’s best if it is,” he said. “If you’re that close with anything else, one wrong step could…,” he trailed off not saying out loud what could happen, but I was well aware of what he said in that silence.
I looked out the window again, and silence greeted me.
“I’ve got to get to Cassie,” I said.
Without responding he just walked out of the kitchen into the front room. I followed, keeping alert to any sound from the broken window in the kitchen door that was a gaping hole to the outside giving anything and anything access to the house. Briefly I turned around, looking into the kitchen for something to cover the window with, but only saw the kitchen table which was a short fix at best. If I wedged it against the door, it could be pushed in, and if something came at us from the front, I would essentially be closing off our only escape route. So, I left it the way it was hoping that anything that could have been around was too scared to come out when whatever Chris said was out there was out there.
I turned to see Chris carefully looking out the front window in the same stance he was in before. I took in his clean looking jeans, his shining from being clean brown hair that was just long enough that it curled at the base of his neck and his face that looked like it was just an average everyday clean before the end of civilization as we knew it. It was amazing how clean he looked compared to most people we met since everything fell apart. The only thing that gave him away as having actually been out there in survival land was a pair of beat up boots that looked like they had walked more than a few miles. He pursed his lips before turning to me.
“We’ve got to just go for it,” he said. “Let’s go out the back.”
As he walked purposefully across the room towards the kitchen, I turned, took a half step into the kitchen and froze. The back door stood wide open, a shadow darting just to my right into another room.
Chris’ breath whooshed out of him as he grabbed my arm quickly pulling me towards the stairs as another figure enfolded in shadow came through the back door. It was so quick as it drafted after the other that all I caught was a glimpse of was shining metal teeth with wicked points and bloody flesh caught in between.
Running up the stairs faster and more silently than I thought was possible, we settled into a room where we could see anything that crested the steps. Touching my arm to get my attention, Chris slowly tapped his temple before pointing at my gun. I nodded irritation rising that he would think I would forget so easily what he told me about killing these creatures.
Every muscle in my body thrummed with anticipation as we sat, our eyes fixed on the stairs and the things that may be coming up it. A shadow began to make its way carefully up the far wall of the stairway. I took aim at the spot where the head should appear, all the while being careful to aim for the temple instead of the forehead. Before it even got its head over the top stair, I pulled the trigger, firing straight into its temple. It fell back, crashing down the stairs no doubt knocking the other one down as it did so.
Springing up Christ leapt to the top of the stairs firing one shot down. I heard another crash.
“Quick,” he said over his shoulder before leaping down the stairs, and out of sight.
I followed him getting a good look at the creatures as I did my best to avoid stepping on them. Their long bodies were twisted on the stairs as rusty blood ran from their heads. Pulling up my shirt, I covered my nose at the smell of their blood that carried hints of decay and something else that was wholly undefinable but made my gut twist and my lungs hack just trying to get the smell out. Thick white scars ran up and down their grayish skin, and their gums were scarred black where the metal teeth had been forced into them.
I stopped at the bottom of the stairs transfixed at the sight of these two creatures I had never seen anything like before. The creepers were bad enough, but these, these were on a whole other level of horrible.
“Come on,” Chris said pulling my arm and propelling me out through the kitchen and across the yard before I could process what he was doing.
“They’ve just fed on fresh meat, and we need to make sure it wasn’t your friend.”
I stared at him my feet stumbling as what he said sliced its way into my mind, before settling there and kicking me into gear. I began to run towards the blue house. Crashing into the back door, I made my way up the stairs depending on the fact that I couldn’t smell anything except antique wallpaper and stale air to tell me it was safe.
Footsteps right behind me told me Chris was keeping pace with me. I stopped at the upstairs landing quieting myself before tilting my head towards the attic where there were no sounds.
“Where are the stairs?” Chris whispered.
Looking up at the trapdoor in the ceiling that would have normally had a pull string to bring down the attic stairs, I saw with satisfaction that the pull was still deeply embedded in the side of the trapdoor where I had painstakingly wedged it before I left earlier. Motioning to Chris, I walked into one of the rooms and looked out a window. Seeing nothing, no shadows, no creepers , no creators in the sky, I carefully opened the window and began to shimmy out.
“Close it behind you,” I said as I grasped a hook that had once held decorative flowers and began to haul myself up the side of the house, until I was next to the small round attic window. Pushing it in, I swung myself up. Chris’ head came out of
the window below just as I slide into the warm, dark room.
Cassie was just where I left her, sweating on a down sleeping bag with a patchwork quilt covering her. I wrinkled my nose as the sickly-sweet smell of infection mixed with rotting flesh rolled off of her telling me the infection was much worse. Chris landed gently next to me, his eyes glued to my friend.
“Well, that’s one way to get into an attic,” he said as I made my way over to Cassie not liking the pallor of her skin and the dark circles underneath her eyes.
“She’s safe isn’t she?” I snipped at him
“That she is, but not much else,” was his only answer as he walked over to her too.
Pulling back the quilt, I saw instead of the wound drying up as I had hoped, it had continued to ooze making a large wet and bloody spot through her t-shirt, but now the pus was a yellowish green color. A sigh escaped me. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t have any medicine from the drugstore, which was the whole point of going out in the first place. And, even if I did, there was no guarantee that it would work against something like this. Who knew what was in the talons of that biobird.
“What have you done to it?” Chris’ voice interrupted my frantic thoughts. There was no way I was going to let Cassie die on me, my heart started to thunder dangerously as anxiety squeezed my stomach at the thought of going on without her.
“The best I could,” I snapped at him, immediately irritated by his soft words.
He only nodded at me before digging in his pack.
“Let me see what I can do,” he said taking out a bottle of water.
“I cleaned it.”
“I know,” he said patiently before settling down next to Cassie and wetting the back of her shirt. “Are there any old rags up here?”
Looking into the depths of the attic full of boxes and old furniture, I saw there could be just about anything in its corners and crevices.
“I’ll check,” I said moving away from him, but making sure he was still within eyeshot. I figured that even though he hadn’t hurt me and had even saved my life, he may still be someone who couldn't really be trusted. Nowadays you just never knew what someone would do to lure you in.
Quietly making my way through boxes, I could barely hear him gently talking to Cassie as he continued to pour cool water on her back. I finally found a pile of white doilies that were yellowing around the edges in the bottom drawer of a sideboard.
“Found something you can use,” I said carrying them back as he began to pull the shirt up off of the wound that looked like raw meat.
Cassie moaned as the air hit the wound.
“Open the window,” he said. “She needs some fresh air.”
“What about..,” I trailed off.
“Just do it,” he snapped at me. “Nothing's going to want to eat this.”
I stiffened, then looked down at the sweat running off my friend before making my way to the window and opening it up just a little. A cool breeze blew in bringing with it a welcome tang of saltiness. I breathed in deeply before I made my way back, settling in next to Chris as he used the doily to clean out the wound. Cassie shuddered under his touch as sweat began to pour off of her. He cleaned all the pus and blood out of the wound, before digging into his pack again and pulling out a small metal container. As he opened it, the white ointment inside released the scent of fresh air and green grass. He smeared it down the center of the wound before laying a doily over the top.
“That should hold it for now,” he said, leaning back and stretching his neck. “We’ll see how she does through the night.”
“What is that?” I asked as he put the metal container away.
“Just a salve,” he said evasively not meeting my gaze as he spoke.
We settled back into the semi darkness both sitting on quilts and pillows I had found. The only sound was Cassie’s quiet breathing and the occasional note of the birds outside that became louder as more birds joined in. Chris half smiled.
“Well, according to the birds there’s nothing to fear,” he said, bringing out two bottles of water and few protein bars from his pack, handing me half of his haul. My stomach growled loudly as I took them from him.
“Thanks,” I said as we both became involved with our makeshift meal. I don’t think I’d had two protein bars to myself in what seemed like a lifetime. In fact, before this all went down, I would never had even considered eating two in one sitting because of the calories. Half thinking about how quickly times had changed, I closed my eyes letting the sweet peanutty taste sit on my tongue for a moment before I swallowed.
“You know I still don’t know your name,” he said with a smile, after I had finished my first bar and was well into my second.
“Dani,” I replied around my mouthful, then gulped down a water chaser.
“Dani?” He asked as he took a bite of his bar.
“It’s short for Daniella,” I said. “My cousin couldn't get my name right when he was little so he just started calling me Dani, and it stuck,” I shrugged focusing back on my wrapper that was somehow empty. Crumpling it up into a ball, I set it down next to me and took a deep drink of water.
“Happens,” he said nodding as if he understood. “Sometimes you just end up being called what people are comfortable calling you no matter what your real name is. Want mine?” He held out his second bar to me.
I shook my head starting to feel a little piggish at the way that I wolfed mine down.
“Go on,” he said. “You look like you haven't eaten in a pretty long time, and if there’s one thing I seem to be able to do is find food.”
“Really?” I asked as I reached my hand out. “If that's the case, then I’ll take it off your hands.”
The bird song continued outside as we sat comfortably after we finished. I had stowed the extra protein bar away in my pack, making sure that he wasn’t looking when I did. Even if he did seem to have a knack for finding food, which I wasn’t entirely convinced of, that didn’t mean that we’d be traveling together.
The light outside began to turn to darkness treating us to a riot of colors ranging from pink, to deep blue, then onto black pierced with the light of the stars. Every once in a while, Cassie would take a deep breath and mumble something in her sleep. I checked on her taking note that her temperature seemed to be dropping, while Chris checked on her back reapplying salve when necessary. I wasn’t sure, but it seemed to me that there was less greenish ooze than there was before.
“Why don’t you get some rest?” Chris asked, after we had checked on Cassie and she seemed to be resting comfortably. I shook my head.
“Don’t be stubborn, if I was going to hurt you I already would have, and I would bet that’s it’s been a very long time since you’ve had a good night’s sleep.”
Pressing my lips together, I realized that I couldn't argue with him, but I also couldn’t just lay my head down and sleep peacefully with a stranger guarding Cassie and I.
“Look,” he said more gently. “If it makes you feel more comfortable, just lay down and stay awake, at least then your body’s getting some rest.”
Glancing over at Cassie, I took a deep breath.
“And look, I’ll just stay over next to the window,” he said getting up and walking over to the window. His eyes automatically checking to see what could be lurking around. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I watched him for a moment taking in the the way he leaned against the wall resting his head and crossing his arms. He glanced up towards the sky.
“Anything out there?” I asked, stretching out my legs then the rest of my body on one of the quilts I had taken from the recesses of the attic. Feeling every vertebrae in my back stretch out and relax one by one, I couldn’t help but smile.
“No,” his voice floated over to me. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the sky. I watched him quietly for a moment as a thought formed in my mind and grew larger the longer I lay there.
“Chris, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, I j
ust may not answer it.” he replied, taking his eyes off the sky to look at me.
“Why don’t you call the creators, the creators? Why did it bother you so much when I called them that?”
Time seemed to stretch out as he looked at me. Something flickered in his eyes that was gone so quickly that I didn’t quite know if I’d seen the deep emotion that seemed to rise up at the answer. Taking in a deep breath, he looked back at the sky focusing on the stars again as if he was counting them.
“If you don't want too…” my voice trailed off as he waved the sound of my voice away.
“It’s hard to explain,” he said quietly. “It’s just that they don't create anything. They take what was created perfectly, beautifully, wonderfully,” his voice waved and pitched with emotion before it went dangerously low. “And they remake it, turning it into something that it was never intended to be.”
He turned his eyes to me, and I saw the rage that he controlled as the muscles in his neck tensed. He dropped his arms to his side, his hands forming fists. I shrank back at the emotion that rolled off of him. Taking a deep breath, he opened his hands and his body relaxed as he took breath after breath in and out. After what seemed like an eternity he looked up at me, the anger was gone replaced by something else that I couldn't quite figure out.
“They create nothing,” he whispered as he took his eyes off of me to look up through the window. “They make evil.”
I looked out the window too, seeing the bright stars in the deep black sky twinkling above us. I just knew that there was no way they could know what was happening here on earth or else they would do something, right?
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“Get up,” Chris’ harsh whisper was tinged with something that I immediately didn’t like as I rapidly woke up.
Darkness blanketed the attic as I stood up quickly, completely dressed as usual. The last thing you want to do is fumble with your shoes and clothes when you’re woken in the middle of the night and you have to run, or fight, for your life. I swung my pack on my back threading my arms through the straps and settled it on my shoulders in no time flat. Then stood as still as Chris who was a dark shadow in the darkness.