by Jake Bible
“No...fuck...you,” Linder gasps. He struggles to get free of Coletti and winces and cries as every movement tears at his wounds. “Kyle…”
***
“This way!” Kyle yells, pulling at Dr. Probst. “The horses are one street over!”
“Horses? What fucking horses? You have horses?” Dr. Probst shouts. “I don’t know how to ride a horse!”
“You’ll learn!” Kyle yells.
They turn the corner and see the house where the horses are tethered to the porch. They also see Scoot’s body in the broken and dead lawn.
“Dear God,” Dr. Probst says, her hand going to her mouth as they approach the body. “Did your dad do that?”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Kyle tells. “He’s not my dad! Not! My! Dad!”
“Okay, calm down, kid,” Dr. Probst says.
“And everyone needs to stop calling me kid,” Kyle mumbles. “I’m not a kid.”
“Who the fuck is this, kid?” Gil asks as he hurries from the other side of the house, his pack heavy with goods, Tiff right behind him. “Where’s Moss?”
“Dead,” Kyle says. “Linder killed him.”
“Your dad killed Moss?” Gil shouts. “How the hell did that happen?” He looks at Dr. Probst. “Did you have something to do with this? Did you set that Linder guy free?”
Gil raises his rifle, but Kyle steps in front of him.
“She’s part of the government,” Kyle says. “Moss and I found her and some soldier on the golf course. They had these.”
Kyle pats his pack and points at the one on Dr. Probst’s back. Then he looks behind him at the flying mass of monsters circling where the hole is.
“We need to get out of here,” Kyle says. “There are a hundred bombs about to go off.”
“Bombs? What bombs?” Gil asks, the rifle still pointed at Kyle. “Is that what those things were dropping? How’d they get bombs?”
“B-52s,” Dr. Probst says. “The president ordered the area destroyed. When the bombs go off, this place will be vaporized.”
Gil looks at Dr. Probst, then Kyle, then the flying monsters. He thinks for a second then lowers the rifle.
“Come on,” he says. “Get on the horses.”
“I can’t ride,” Dr. Probst says.
“You’ll learn,” Gil says.
“That’s what the kid said, but it’s not that easy,” Dr. Probst protests as Kyle takes her pack and straps it to the back of one of the horse’s saddles.
“It is if you want to live,” Kyle says. “Give me your foot.”
Dr. Probst eyes him, nods and sticks her foot in Kyle’s laced hands. The teenager boosts her up into the saddle, helps her get situated, then takes the reins and wraps them around her hands.
“Don’t let go, got it?” Kyle says.
“Yeah, okay,” Dr. Probst says, obviously terrified. “Not letting go.”
Gil looks down at Scoot then at Kyle.
“You seen the others?” he asks.
“No,” Kyle says. “But if they were between here and the golf course, then Linder probably got them.”
“Shit,” Gil says as he gets up into his saddle. “We can’t wait around to find out if that’s true.”
Kyle turns his horse towards the street and looks over at Dr. Probst. “What did that Coletti guy give you?”
“It’s classified,” Dr. Probst says.
“Goddamn government,” Gil says. “We should just leave you here.”
“No, she knows what’s going on,” Kyle says, looking over at Dr. Probst. “More than we do, at least.”
The earth starts to shake and the horses whinny with fear. Kyle walks his over next to Dr. Probst and grabs onto her reins, steadying the doctor’s mount as they all look to the east.
“What is that?” Gil asks, his eyes nearly squinted shut as he tries to see through the hazy air. “You see that?”
They do and it takes everyone’s willpower not to freak out.
“Ride,” Kyle says in a low voice then clears his throat and shouts, “Ride!”
Gil and Tiff take off first and Kyle lets go of Dr. Probst’s reins then reaches back and smacks the horse on the haunch, sending it galloping after the other two. He kicks back hard and his horse takes off.
Kyle risks one last glance over his shoulder, not believing what he’s seeing.
“The big ones are on the move!” he shouts. “Go!”
***
“Why haven’t the bombs detonated yet?” President Nance asks, his eyes meeting only puzzled stares. “They should have detonated on impact.”
“Reports from the bombers say they were attacked,” General Tulane reports. “Half the squadron was knocked out of the sky. The other half was able to drop their payloads, but…”
“But what, General?” President Nance snaps.
“A couple of the pilots report that they saw the flying monsters snatch the missiles out of the air,” General Tulane says. “They caught them and took them down into the hole.”
“They did what?” President Nance asks. “Why the hell would they do that?”
“Sir?” a tech says. “A satellite was able to catch the transmission from one of the missiles’ cameras. Should I put it up on the monitor?”
“Yes,” President Nance snaps.
The image on the main monitor is replaced by a grainy, low resolution of nothing but darkness. Then suddenly the darkness parts and the whole situation room watches as the missile races down towards the chasm.
“What is that?” President Nance asks as they all stare at the image. “What am I looking at?”
“It’s too dark to tell, Mr. President,” the tech says. “This is the best image I could get.”
“Is there something in there?” President Nance asks, looking at the Joint Chiefs, his cabinet members, and all the advisors seated around him. “Someone tell me I’m not seeing what I’m seeing!”
Everyone stays quiet because no one can tell him that.
***
The horses race through the destroyed streets of Missoula, finally getting to the edge of the city and the open land beyond. Gil leads the way as the earth around them all trembles, the force of massive footfalls shaking the trees left standing. Kyle constantly has to keep helping Dr. Probst keep her horse on track, but at least she hasn’t fallen out of the saddle.
They ride and ride, putting as much distance between them and what’s behind them as they can. Kyle’s guts clench with every shudder. Then the roars begin.
The horses scream, actually scream, at the deafening sound, and their panic makes them sprint even faster. Dr. Probst’s horse no longer tries to stray from the rest. Instead it rides closer as the horses move tighter together, their instinct for herd protection from what’s coming after them now driving them forward.
The roars grow louder and louder, and the massive footfalls stronger and stronger. Kyle looks back and can actually see the top halves of the giant monsters. They are nothing short of pure nightmare.
Kyle’s breath comes in quick gasps and he realizes he’s going to hyperventilate from panic if he doesn’t get his shit together.
“No time for weakness, Kyle,” his grandma’s voice echoes in his head. “You be a man now and do what has to be done. I didn’t raise you to fall apart when things get tough. Suck it up, boy and trust in the Lord to deliver you!”
Kyle’s not so sure about trusting in the Lord, but he’s always trusted his grandma. And even though it’s just his imagination creating her voice, it works and he digs deep for the courage he needs to keep going.
***
“Gotta keep going,” Linder says as he pulls himself, hand over hand, along the cracked pavement of the road in front of the country club. “Can’t stop. So close.”
The tremors increase, making his body bounce and flop on the ground like a kid lying flat on a trampoline. A fingernail snaps free as he tries to keep going, but the increased frequency of the quakes makes it nearly impossible for him to continue. After
only a few yards more, his body gives out and he’s forced to roll over on his back.
What he sees makes his bladder let loose, but he doesn’t even notice.
Towering high into the sky, and coming at him fast, are six massive monsters. So big that the ash cloud far above can only be seen as glimpses between the monsters’ giant bodies and heads. Linder starts to shake his head back and forth as he watches the giant beasts come at him.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” Linder says, then chuckles. “Though Icrawl through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”
He holds his hands up and extends both middle fingers.
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
He spits to the side.
“No second death for me,” Linder growls as the monsters get closer and closer. His whole body is shaking so hard he actually comes up off the ground as the footfalls get nearer. “For I am the righteous! I am the chosen amongst the sinners! But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
The monsters are almost on top of him and the earth cracks and splits just feet from his body. He looks up and all he can see is Hell. A foot so big it defies comprehension is lifted high above him and he laughs.
“Fuck you, abomination!”
Then the foot comes down and Linder becomes one with the earth, his body obliterated along with the pavement and everything around it for blocks.
Ten
“Find cover!” Bolton shouts at the group of survivors as the flying monsters start to dive down towards the city. “Get out of the open! Go!”
“We need to do the same thing!” Lowell yells as he grabs Bolton’s arm. “They’ve all panicked! We can’t save them!”
“We can try!” Bolton yells as he pulls his arm free and runs towards where Lu is helping a young girl stand up. “We aren’t abandoning them!”
“Stupid asshole,” Lowell mutters as he looks around. He sees the three kids from the gas station huddled together by a demolished Starbucks and starts to go to them.
He stops in the middle of the street as a pickup truck falls from the sky and crushes all three, their bodies flattened like berries under a boot.
“Oh, fuck,” he says and stumbles backwards, his eyes drawn to the monster that flies by.
The thing shrieks and climbs into the sky, joining the other things that constantly swoop down and attack, intent on wiping the city clean of all humanity.
“No,” Lowell says. “Not going out like this.”
He kicks it into gear and looks over at a large stone building that still stands. The windows and doors are shattered and broken, but the walls look sturdy and the place isn’t ravaged by fire.
“There!” Lowell yells, smacking Bolton on the shoulder as he runs by. “Get everyone in there!”
Lowell dodges holes in the road and the husks of burned out cars as he sprints towards the building. He gets to the stone steps and turns, his hands cupping his mouth.
“Come on! This way!” he yells. He’s about to say more, but the words won’t come out.
Anson Lowell has seen horrors in his life that would force most people to just eat a gun or swallow a handful of pills, but he’s always pushed on. He has never let anything take him down, no matter how violent or brutal. He’s watched murder and rape, seen cruelty in all of its many forms. Experienced it first hand.
But nothing in his life has prepared him for what he sees as he stands at the base of the stone steps, his eyes glued to the city around him.
The monsters swoop down from above, snatching up screaming survivors in their claws. They take them high into the air then let go, sending the people falling hundreds of feet before they explode onto the pavement, onto abandoned cars, onto piles of rubble.
Over and over, Lowell watches as the things hunt down those people that haven’t found cover and scoop them up, talons piercing bodies, holding them tight in their vile grips. Up in the air they go, then down come the terrified victims. Again and again.
The air is buffeted around Lowell as giant wings flap towards him. The shriek from above rips him from his nightmare trance and he scrambles up the steps, diving into the open doorway just seconds before claws snap closed on the spot he just vacated.
He keeps scrambling until he’s sure he’s far enough inside that the thing can’t get at him. The monster hits the pavement and lunges for the doorway, but it’s too big to get through and just shrieks and shrieks at Lowell before turning and flying off.
“Holy shit,” Lowell says and looks down at his crotch to make sure he hasn’t pissed himself. He hasn’t and says thanks for small favors.
“Lowell!” Lu shouts as she appears at the doorway. “Lowell!”
“In here!” he cries. “Come on!”
An older woman covered in blood has her arm around Lu’s shoulders and the two stumble inside. They get to Lowell, and Lu eases the woman to the floor.
“You okay?” she asks, following the woman down and collapsing next to Lowell.
“Yeah,” Lowell says. “No piss.”
Lu looks at him and raises an eyebrow then shakes her head. “Whatever. Where’s Bolton?”
“Still out there,” Lowell says.
“Shit,” Lu says and starts to get up, but Lowell grabs her arm.
“No, you stay with her,” he says. “I’ll get him.”
He forces himself to get up and stumbling runs to the entrance. Looking out at the chaos, Lowell almost loses the small amount of courage he was able to dig up.
There’s no sight of anyone left alive. All that’s left are corpses.
And the monsters that have landed to feed on the corpses.
He slowly crouches low and slinks down the stone steps, his eyes searching everywhere for a sign of Bolton, but the man is nowhere to be seen, not even as one of the bloody snacks the monsters are busy crunching on.
Despite every instinct in his body, he hisses, “Bolton.”
He gets to the bottom of the steps and freezes, waiting for one of the things to notice him and decide that hors d'oeuvres are best when alive and squirming. But none pay him any attention. They are too busy gulping down torsos in one bite.
“What the fuck?” Bolton whispers as he grabs Lowell and yanks him down behind a pile of broken bricks just feet from the steps. “What are you doing?”
One of the monsters stops mid-gulp and swings its bulbous mess of a head towards where the two men hide. It swallows and keeps staring, but after a few seconds, it decides there’s nothing of interest and looks about for another corpse to eat. It finds a particularly nicely mangled body and goes to grab it, but a second beast shrieks and snaps at it, hungry for the same corpse. The two creatures start to circle and howl at each other, neither willing to give up the tasty treat, their huge bodies destroying more of the city, sending bricks and stone crashing about.
“Now,” Lowell mouths and tugs at Bolton’s sleeve, nodding his head back towards the steps. “Move.”
The two men stay low and hurry out from their hiding place. They rush to the steps and start to climb when they both notice that the sounds of crunching and munching, shrieking and bickering, have stopped.
Both freeze and look over their shoulders.
“Oh, fuck,” Lowell says as they see nothing but black eyes pointed in their direction.
“Come on!” Bolton yells and yanks Lowell up the steps and into the building as a dozen winged monsters rush at them.
The whole building shudders as the beasts collide with the stone walls. Dust falls from the already cracked ceiling and plaster chunks crash down on the floor. Lowell and Bolton run towards Lu and both men yank her to her feet as they hurry past. Lu doesn�
�t fight them and Lowell looks back to see the older woman lying there still, her eyes glazed and lifeless.
“We need to get deeper into the building!” Bolton shouts. “Try to find the basement!”
All three skid around a corner and stop, their stomachs rising into their throats.
“Ah, shit,” Lowell says.
From the front, the building looked secure, but that was just a facade. Once around the corner, they see an entire wall and side of the building has collapsed out into a parking lot beyond. And in that parking lot, standing on the fallen stones and debris are another dozen monsters, all frozen mid chomp, their eyes locked onto Lowell, Lu, and Bolton.
“Stairs,” Bolton says, seeing a door to their side. “Now!”
The monsters shriek, their mouths full of meat and bone, and lurch forward at the building.
***
Foam flicks from the horses’ mouths as they push their muscled bodies to the extreme. Total fear drives them on and the riders can only grip the reins, hoping they aren’t thrown from the saddles.
Dr. Probst, eyes wide open, screams at the top of her lungs as her horse takes her past Gil and Tiff and to the front of the stampeding group. But even screaming at full volume, her voice is lost in the discordance that fills the air.
The thousand foot monsters continue their lumbering, multi-legged march across the landscape, shaking trees loose from their roots, sending boulders falling from ridges, causing already unstable ground to split wider, creating fissures in the earth the horses barely maneuver around.
The world darkens even more and Kyle looks back over his shoulder to see the sky blocked from view by the pursuing behemoths. The things keep coming, their roars tearing at his eardrums, sending spikes of pain deep into his brain. He almost wishes he could lose control and just scream his head off like the doctor.
Gil turns his head towards Kyle and shouts something, but Kyle can’t hear what he’s saying. Taking a risk, Gil lets go of the reins with one hand and points towards a bend in the road up ahead. Kyle doesn’t understand and shakes his head to indicate so. Gil frowns and points harder then makes a zigzag motion with his hand.