The front doors opened and a woman in her mid-40s stepped out and stood on the front porch with her arms crossed but Matt could sense her kind nature even as she was trying to look intimidating.
As he stepped out of the hummer, he could hear her thoughts and his head snapped to look at her as her eyes widened and she realized she could hear his thoughts as well.
“Welcome to our home. It’s been quite some time since we’ve come across another anomaly.” The woman smiled at him kindly and led the way inside.
The interior was like a castle as well with beautiful murals painted on the walls, curved ceilings and doorways, expensive looking life-size statues everywhere and an expanse of marble flooring as far as he could see. A humongous dark wood staircase wound up to the next level and a huge, sparkling chandelier hung above the room so far up that he couldn’t imagine having to get up there and clean that thing.
“You would be surprised what other abilities you possess Matt. We are all still learning of our own but we can help you get further with yours if you like.”
Matt looked at the woman startled that she knew his name and she just laughed as she led them down the hallway and into a basketball field size room covered in dark wood walls, deep carpeting and rows upon rows of books encased in shiny wood shelves. Oversize lounge chairs and plush couches adorned the room in various locations and in the middle of it sat two other adults, both male. One man appeared to be in his 20s and the other maybe in his 30s. They watched as the others walked towards them and picked a seat so they could all see each other and their faces remained steadfast and blank the entire time. Matt didn’t sense any kind of feelings or thoughts with these two like he had with the women and he felt ill at ease as they all sat quietly assessing each other.
“The men like to hide their thoughts and feelings from others. It must be a manly thing to want to do that.” And the older woman laughed at her joke.
“Well I can hear Max’s thoughts loud and clear. Don’t you think you should save that kind of dirty talk for later sweetie?” the younger girl said to the younger boy as his face turned bright red. This broke the mood and everyone laughed involuntarily at the boy’s embarrassment.
“My name is Lydia, this spitfire here is Tina, red face is Max and the old grouch there is Levi.” The older woman offered.
“I’m sure you all already know my name is Matt and this is Scott. So do you mind filling me in on what I’m missing here?” Matt replied.
“Well Matt, would it sound familiar to you if I told you that I had died of the flu and woke up to a city ravaged by death and explosions with no clothes, no hair and some really strange abilities?” Lydia asked.
Matt laughed. “At least the hair grew back quickly.” And they all laughed at that response.
Then Lydia began her tale. She had been a typical housewife raising a boy and a girl and had caught the flu from them and then her husband caught it in turn. The children both died but she was too sick to even grieve and she died while her husband held her. When she awoke, her house was gone and she was lying on the ground completely nude among the ashes. Her best guess was that the nuclear blast happened right as she took her last breath for she could hear the chaos of the starting explosions that had taken out the plant right before she died.
Tina, Max and Levi had similar stories of going through a week of excruciating pain from the virus and dying, only to reawaken to the destroyed landscape.
They all had increased strength, telepathy between each other, no need to eat or sleep and the ability to heal super quick with seemingly no remaining effects of the injury. Tina had been the one to test this ability the most out of them all and had been stabbed, shot, broken a few limbs, lost a few fingers and impaled through the stomach with a metal pipe. Being shot was her latest venture as they hadn’t come across anyone else that could operate a weapon until now and all of the others in her group had refused to shoot her for the sake of scientific research.
The “freaks” were also survivors of the nuclear blast but it had changed them in a bad way. They were disfigured, couldn’t come out during the day because their eyes couldn’t handle the light, incredibly strong and their sense of smell was off the charts. They could also cover incredible distances by jumping and climbed like they had sticky hands!
They had encountered them many times at first until they had found this place to stay in and had learned to stay inside during the night. The castle was pretty protected and locked up like a fortress at the push of a button. Matt and Scott were speechless at this knowledge and Scott was even more dumbfounded to find out that Matt had special abilities he had kept hidden.
Scott cleared his throat and looked around at the others, “The rest of you may not need to eat, but I’m still normal and could really use a meal if you have anything here.”
Levi laughed heartily and it was the first time he had even cracked a smile. “I have something even better than a meal, I have some fresh hamburgers just for this occasion!”
“Just for this occasion? And where the hell did you find fresh ground beef?” Scott asked
“I could feel Matt coming as soon as you all left your place this morning with the intention of coming to the city so we sent out Tina to determine the threat level. I also used to be a butcher and the shop I worked at kept a freezer in the basement tied to a generator in case the power went out to keep things from thawing. So we’ve got a healthy supply of meat. I figured it would come in handy when we did meet others that needed food and of course I enjoy a meaty hamburger from time to time just for the taste.” Levi replied.
“We don’t really seem to need to eat but just do sometimes because we like the taste of certain things. I can eat whatever I want and not gain weight, how awesome is that?” Tina piped in.
Max laughed at her affectionately and slung his arm over her shoulder as they all walked towards the kitchen. She shrugged it off and slugged him in the shoulder before running ahead of all of them.
“Max has a crush on Tina, but she’s only 17 and her new abilities are more exciting to her than boys are.” Lydia said as Max smiled sheepishly at Matt and Scott.
The rest of the evening continued this way with a lot of good natured bantering. They all ate some wonderful, juicy hamburgers and sat content in front of the fireplace and discussed the possibilities for the future. Matt told them about his lodge and all of the people he had there and they all agreed that this would be another good spot to start a community as well since the castle had many bedrooms and bathrooms and quite a solar, wind and water energy setup to supply many more houses if they wanted to build more.
Scott radioed to their homebase to let them know they would be staying the night in the city, possibly longer and Lydia set them up each in their own bedroom in the house. Since Matt didn’t need to sleep, Levi offered to help him strengthen some of his powers during the night while Scott rested.
For the next several days and nights, during the day the group would take trips into the city and would work together to gather supplies and at night while Scott slept, the Anomalies would practice their new skills together. Within a few days, Matt had learned how to control the thoughts that he was projecting that the others could read. He also began honing his own skills of reading their thoughts and with each day he could do it from further and further away. Levi was able to hear the thoughts from Matt when he was back at his own lodge so he continued to use the techniques Levi had taught him to strengthen his own listening skills.
When Levi felt that Matt was strong enough, he had him lay down one afternoon to sleep and to hear the voices again. Now that Matt knew how to control his readings better, he was able to hear and feel the connections better. When he also did this late one night, that was when he heard the Freaks. They also had the strange telepathy but it seemed that it was only one sided and they could project their thoughts, but not take them in except between each other. It was a strange experience and one that he wasn’t quick to want to do again. The freak
s seemed to be almost at an animalistic level and it wasn’t so much words that he heard from them, but feelings. Feelings of hunger, fear and anger. During the day they rested indoors away from the light of the sun so there wasn’t much to be heard from them, but at night they were very active. Scouring the city for something to eat, fighting with each other over their finds, mating when they found a female. The connection was always so much stronger while he slept because he was relaxed with no interruptions so he practiced reaching that same level during the day to sense the freaks while they rested so they could search them out. He was interested to see them despite the others attempts to dissuade him otherwise. The others had had enough run-ins with them to know that the freaks were dangerous and not something to seek out.
But by their third night there, Matt insisted that they go in search of these freaks. He needed to know what they were up against and if they were a real threat to his people that he would be eventually sending into the city for supplies.
Matt, Scott, Levi and Max went into the city that night, leaving the ladies at home as they had no desire to meet these creatures again. They drove until they sensed the freaks presence not too far away and walked the rest of the way in, sticking to the shadows and staying aware of their surroundings. The freaks were sticking together but would often fight each other at the least provocation, scrabbling over some canned piece of food they came across. They watched a group of freaks from the shadows as they sniffed their way around a city street, looking for anything they could find. The freaks faces were melted and off skew, their eyes either completely gone with empty eye sockets or just dark orbs of milkiness that didn’t really see much. They seemed to go by their sense of smell alone but would also sometimes veer off course towards another freak that had gone a different way. Matt could feel the communication they had between each other and even though it was just a jumble of vague grunts and screams to him, he knew that it was understood by them. They all were crouched, often times moving on all fours and the first time he saw one leap, he started in surprise. Their jumping range was incredible and they could scale up the side of a building with minimal effort. When he saw a couple of them fight, he could tell that they had the same strength and speed that they all had but not the healing powers as one of the freaks was wounded when another slashed his arm with a broken bottle and the freak just left a trail of blood after the two quit fighting.
The men returned to the castle and Matt and Scott had learned all they needed to know about the freaks. They were going to be a threat to anyone they sent into the city and they would need to discuss how to deal with them before beginning a new community here.
The ride back to the lodge was silent as Matt and Scott contemplated all they had learned and Matt worked to stay focused to continue to hear Levi. His telepathy was strong enough now that he and Levi would be able to communicate this way when needed.
When they returned to the lodge, Matt requested that everyone make it to dinner as he had something to discuss with them.
As he told them everything that they had encountered and explained his newfound skills to everyone in his community, he saw many looks of disbelief, some of jealousy and others of happiness. They would have a lot of discussions in the days ahead of them and much planning to prepare for the start of another community in the city. But first they would need to mitigate the threat of the freaks and that was a task that he was not looking forward to.
Chapter 22 – Silence is deafening – Present Day
Maya pretended she was asleep when Matt came in to let her know he was leaving. Krista came in after he had left and stood silently in front of Maya for a few before Maya opened her eyes to look at her. “Don’t be mad at Matt. He has lived so long without you that he doesn’t know how to be now that you’re here. He will open up, just give him time.”
Maya smiled at Krista and whispered “Thank you”.
Krista returned her smile before leaving her to her thoughts and her baby. Cade slept soundly in the bassinet next to the bed, a peaceful look on his face while he slumbered, unaware of all of lives dangers. Maya intended to protect him as long as she could and to provide him with a real childhood, one free of sadness and fear.
She heard the rumble of the hummer as it left the driveway and a deep sadness enveloped her. She had tried so hard over the last few weeks to not remember how it used to be between her and Matt, those memories only made her sad. So many times over the last few weeks she had to stop herself from reaching for his hand, or moving over next to him on the couch, or pushing his hair out of his eyes. All of these gestures seemed normal to her and she would have to quickly remind herself that it wasn’t who they were anymore. But Matt had avoided her as much as possible. Avoided her gaze, avoided being alone in a room with her for too long, avoided sitting too close to her. She had caught him watching her a few times while she sat with Cade. A small, sad smile across his face. She knew what he was thinking and it made her sad as well. Life had given them a hand that they weren’t ready to play and then it cruelly took it away from them. How do you recover from that? Maybe you don’t ever recover from a devastation that deep.
She enjoyed her first morning with Cade to herself and sat for a few hours at the kitchen table, staring out the window at the white landscape thinking over the past several months. She missed her laboratory and research and hoped that one day she could use her skills again, but her life was nice how it was now too. She had proved to herself that she was strong and capable of taking care of herself so raising her baby alone did not scare her. Knowing that Matt was alive and not far away is what pained her. Not being with him after all of this time thinking he was dead and regretting all of those lost years and now he was alive and they still couldn’t be together. It was the cruelest joke that life had thrown her way yet and she wouldn’t heal from this quickly.
She busied herself all day with mundane chores to keep her mind off of her emotions and was happy when Dennis showed up at dinner time. He smiled sheepishly at her as Buddy bounded into the house and gave Cade a pat on the head and was rewarded with a gurgle.
“I couldn’t bring myself to eat alone after having such wonderful company these last few weeks. Do you mind the company tonight? And of course Buddy misses you too, he just sat and whined at the door and wouldn’t even leave his post when I filled his food bowl.”
Maya laughed. “Of course not Dennis, I enjoy the company. You can come for dinner every night.”
Dennis was quick to steer her from the kitchen. “I got this tonight little missy. You just take it easy while I make us some grub.”
Maya and Cade sat together in front of the fire with Buddy by their side while Dennis made them some dinner and they all ate together like that, enjoying the silence of each others company. Maya tried to be jovial but Dennis could tell she was down and he tried to cheer her up with more stories of his younger years. When he saw that it wasn’t helping, he began to get serious instead.
“My wife and I were never able to have kids. We tried for many years, and of course continued to try even after we were told it was impossible.” Dennis laughed despite himself and Maya couldn’t help but laugh with him.
“I’m sorry to hear that Dennis.”
“Oh, I’m not telling you this to make you feel bad for me. My wife and I had a wonderful life together and instead of spending all of our time with children, we spent it with each other. It was a magical life that we shared and when she died, I really didn’t feel like there was anything left on this earth. But then the world ended and I found Matt in the rubble and he gave me something to live for, a purpose. I got to help him rebuild and help people and then I got to watch over you and now that I know you, I truly do feel complete.”
Mayas eyes welled with tears at the kind words. “Thank you Dennis. I’ve come to see you as a father figure and I do hope that we get many more years together.”
They both self-consciously wiped their faces of tears and laughed awkwardly at the show of emotion
.
“I honestly have not been close with many men in my life. Not since my father died. Matt is really the only other man that I shared any of my life with before meeting you. My relationship with Derek was good, but different, not as open.”
“I understand. Some people you keep at arms length and you never quite know why until you know. You know?”
Cade let out a giggle and startled them both and they saw Buddy on the floor below him wiggling his butt happily and pawing towards Cade. The damn dog was entertaining the baby, now that was something Maya had never seen before.
“Your dog, he seems different.”
Dennis smiled at Buddy and patted his head. “Yeah, I swear he’s a human stuck in a dogs body, freaks me out sometimes. We’ve come across a few surviving animals and they all seem like this. Just more aware.”
“So there’s more animals alive?” Maya asked surprised.
“Yep, Matts gathered a menagerie at the lodge and they’ve been working on breeding and also cloning to repair the supply. He’s really got quite the community setup now and I look forward to taking you to it soon.”
“I get the feeling that Matt wants to keep me here. Keep me hidden from the others.” Maya said quietly as she looked down at her son.
“No missy, don’t you think that way. If you feel that he wants to keep you here, it’s only because he doesn’t want to share you.” Dennis smiled encouragingly at Maya.
“I don’t know what your past is with Matt but I can tell he cares a great deal for you. Why else would he have left me in these woods all these years waiting for you? Besides, you’re a strong, independent woman and you can’t fool me into thinking that you need a man around to take care of you. I’ve seen what you can do!”
After Days Page 9