The whole of the situation was surreal—gunfire inside a quiet, dead city. Glass could be heard breaking from hundreds of feet away. Eventually, it became a game to listen for breaking windows elsewhere in the city when a bullet carried too far. Larry looked on disapprovingly, but held his silence. It was another way to break the monotony of a life focused on survival.
Three hours passed, and by the end all six of us had passed to Larry’s satisfaction. We returned to our sanctuary above.
Every trip to the store was instructed to bring guns or ammo, if they could fit it. Little by little, the collection in the storage room grew.
Larry ordered that any personnel assigned to the lobby have weapons at all times. Initially there were only seven of us that were trusted with weapons, which meant we would be working lobby every day. Someone raised a concern over the trips to the store going unarmed. Larry made sure someone was armed and trained with every group thereafter.
The rotation was changed to have two people in the lobby at all times. To alleviate the increased workload, he volunteered to rotate through all three shifts to give us one day off a week.
I argued against him doing that, saying it would make him work seven days a week. In the end, he accepted my offer to rotate a day off with me.
I took the first armed shift in the lobby, thankful for my heavy winter clothing. I now roamed the lobby and empty office for eight hours every day, only rarely poking my head into our sanctuary for a warm bite of food.
Boredom was a real concern, but spending that first day with a partner made it significantly easier. I mentioned that we should have had the lobby team with two people from the beginning. Larry grunted in agreement.
The next few days passed quickly. Geno was given a clean bill of health, even if he was still muddled about the events of the attack and what came after. He quickly rejoined the group, although he wasn’t allowed near any weapons, for fear of a relapse.
The incident had another unfortunate effect. All watch personnel were barred from drinking, even in off hours. But, Larry was right. We had to be ready at a moment’s notice.
Within a few days, we had twelve people certified by Larry. But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. They were training to become weapons. And they were needed. Even in a dead world, something out there was taking people. It put me on edge, even more so that the occasional mosquito-like whine at the limits of my hearing. Stress was building, and nothing seemed to help.
Even Eddie noticed my mood souring. He stopped asking me to help him build Lego sets. I was hounded constantly by the feeling that something was building.
Fourteen days after the world ended, everything changed once again. It was a Monday, by the old calendar. People were getting stir crazy. Our world had shrunk to the office. Everything beyond was dead.
I could remember the flashing lights in the building across the way, but we hadn’t seen anything to indicate life beyond our walls for some time.
And yet…
20
June 27, 2033
Seattle, Washington, USA
70th floor, Illeni Building
-61°F
1235 Hours
Geno had volunteered to watch the windows on the north side. He had tried to volunteer for lobby duty, but Larry was still hesitant about putting a weapon in his hands.
His voice rang out across the entire office, excited.
“Lights! GUYS, FUCKING LIGHTS!”
I had the day off for a change, sitting at the communal table for lunch. I bolted upright at his words. Several people were clearly still processing what Geno had said.
I sprinted through the cube maze to my tent, which now hosted my cold gear in addition to Linda’s. I dove in, almost literally. I grabbed my jacket and snow pants, hastily shrugging them on in the warm office.
A moment later I was sprinting to the gap left as a sort of airlock to the windows. I heard people running and panting as they hurried to ready themselves as well. The air was very chilly near the windows, though not as bad as the lobby.
Geno stood, slack jawed, looking down at the streets far below. In the old world, it wouldn’t have been an unusual sight. Now, in the dead, cold dark, what I saw took the breath from my chest.
My feet stuttered to a stop. I leaned one ungloved hand on the glass for support. Seven hundred feet below, a snake made of light wound through debris and wrecked cars in the street.
Dark figures lit with bright lights were clustered together in a convoy. Occasional flashes lit the buildings as their lights roved the glass canyons. Staccato bursts of light were seen from different points of the convoy.
Even in my shock, I understood what I was seeing. I turned to look at Geno, when I was roughly shoved. Jessie was next to me, in her black jacket. She had a stern look on her face. Behind her, dozens of people were jostling for position. I moved farther down the gap aisle, gently guiding Geno as he gaped at the sight. Once we had gone to the end of the space, I turned to look out again.
Even as I watched, a dark cloud seemed to zoom by the windows of our sanctuary, blurry and dark in the bare starlight. Multiple high power lights trained on the cloud as it moved toward the convoy.
A moment later, with my hand still on the glass, I felt the window rattle. Tracers lit the air as the large caliber rounds impacted the cloud.
Sparks were thrown, bullets ricocheting off of the strange cloud. Far to the right of our office, a loud crack sounded. When I looked, I could see a spiderweb of fractured glass forming.
One of the bullets had struck leaving a shatter pattern nearly two feet wide. These were very high power rounds.
As we watched, the tracer rounds continued to pound the weird cloud. It juddered visibly, tatters of its smoky substance wisping away. Metal gleamed beneath, scarred and scored by the high caliber bullets.
Another moment passed, and a small explosion set the windows shaking once again. The strange craft banked crazily, smashing into one of the buildings down the block. It burrowed deep, throwing glass and steel into the air above the street. Light from the vehicles below glittered off of the debris blasted clear of the building.
I turned my flashlight on and urged the others to do the same. One light wasn’t very strong, even in the all-consuming darkness. However, dozens of lights focused together on one subject becomes an absolute beacon.
One powerful light on the lead vehicle down in the street flicked on and off in acknowledgment. I let loose a small cheer, amplified by forty throats as we all watched in awe of the fight far below.
Jessie shouted over the susurrus, stunning the crowd into silence.
“That’s the military everybody! We need to pack up now. They’ll be here shortly. Food and clothes first! Bring your backpacks and anything we have to spare. If we have room, think about books, and games. We want to bring value with us.”
Larry’s voice rumbled out immediately after.
“All certified armed personnel to the lobby. On the ready, safeties on. Fire only if necessary.”
People filed out of the small window space, but I had no patience. We weren’t returning to this safe haven. Our sanctuary had done its job, but that job was done.
I stepped heavily on the sheeting in front of me. Geno boggled as I put my weight on the plastic. A moment later the plastic gave out with a pop. I strode freely into the opened office.
It took a moment longer, then it seemed everybody finally understood what I had come to know. We were done here. The military was coming to rescue us.
I saw Linda rushing to our tent.
“Lin, can you pack my stuff?”
She nodded vigorously, and I broke off for the storage room. We had burned through a good number of supplies in the two weeks, but there was still a fair amount left.
I met with Jessie and Larry as they joined me in the storage room.
“We need to leave the MREs behind. They’re bulky. The military probably have plenty of food, especially stuff like MREs. We need to bring stuff
that won’t necessarily be at any base they bring us to.”
“They probably don’t need plastic. What should we bring?” Jessie said.
“Books, games, clothing. Protein bars. Whatever people can carry. And make sure they're all in the cold weather gear. We should have enough for everybody by now.”
Larry spoke up. “They likely won’t allow any personal effects inside the vehicles. Too cramped.”
“Great, anything that won’t be immediately destroyed by the cold then,” I answered him.
Larry nodded.
“Jessie, grab whatever we have left for protein bars. Larry, all of the medication. That will be helpful, no matter what. I’ll go get the watch organized. Give me all of the shotguns.”
We broke up and set about making sure each task was fulfilled. I called Brandon and Geno, as well as the rest of the certified watch to the storage room. I met eyes with Geno as I explained what we were doing.
I handed out a shotgun to each person, explaining that each was loaded with five shells in the magazine and one in the chamber. Each shotgun also had a tactical holster for ammunition on the barrel.
I pulled Geno aside after each watch member had their shotgun.
“Geno, I trust you, but whatever you’ve been infected by affects you in high stress situations. We both know this. Your gun is not loaded, but I’m going to trust you. You have five shells in the tac-rack. Don’t load them unless you have to. Stay toward the back, stay safe. Good?”
He nodded, echoing, “Good.”
He broke off, heading with the group to the lobby. I saw him looking at the ammunition, but he didn’t move to load it. I hoped he would be safe and not lose his mind when we needed him most.
I checked with Larry and Jessie. Larry was packing one of the hiking backpacks with all of the medication. He was severely focused, excluding all else. Jessie was next to him, quietly discussing necessities.
I left the storage room with my shotgun. It had a sling that I put over my head. I also had a pistol on a holster on my hip, just in case. I quickly walked from Jessie’s office to the airlock. Once through there, I was in the lobby.
The fire doors were wedged open on both sides of the elevator lobby. Gunfire and shouting echoed up faintly from far below. I took up position with my shotgun on the southeast door, since it was the one we used most frequently.
Shortly after I took up position on the door, Larry joined me. He stood on the opposite side of the frame, shotgun down but ready.
An explosion rocked the building from somewhere below. A gust of wind rushed up from the stairwell a moment later. It had to have been an incredible explosion to have blasted air this high up. A shout rang out from the main office.
“They took another one down! One of those weird flying things!”
I stayed at the ready on the door, Larry adjusted his stance. The lights of the office flickered in my peripheral vision.
“Must have hit the building down below,” I noted. My eyes never left the stairwell. Larry grunted.
The gunfire grew in frequency and volume. It was clear the troops were approaching. I grew antsy, knowing our way out was down. However, we were trapped until contacted by the soldiers climbing to us.
The wait was exhausting. It took nearly an hour for muzzle flares to be dimly visible in the darkness of the stairwell. I had a tac-light on the barrel of my shotgun and turned it on for a moment.
Once I had swept the upward and downward stairs, I stepped into the stairwell for a moment to look down through the central gap.
It was only a few inches in between one side and the other, but I could see a dozen floors before the light couldn’t penetrate any farther. I looked downward for a moment, then shut the light off. Gunshots echoed noisily up from below.
In the renewed darkness, I could see the flashes of the guns as they fired. I quickly stepped back to the doorway. Larry was standing there, disapproval all over his face.
“Fifteen floors, I think. Should be here soon.”
Twenty more minutes crawled by. Soon we could hear shouts as doors were kicked and floors were cleared. Once they were about three floors below, I started shouting.
Geno was on the opposite end of the lobby on the other staircase, but I could hear him echoing my words.
“Friendlies on ‘70’! Friendlies, Seven-Zero! Hold fire on Seven-Zero!”
I continued to shout, even though it took a solid five minutes for the first soldier to come into sight. I stood off to the side, with my flashlight trained on the wall. Larry was also tucked back to prevent any ‘friendly fire’.
“Put your weapons down,” shouted a man with a heavy New York accent. I held my shotgun out by the barrel and placed it on the ground, facing away from the soldier.
I peeked around the corner, only barely managing to see a silhouette through the glare of his tac-light. He slowly approached, and I stepped into view with my hands up.
“Don’t shoot, we’re friendlies!”
His rifle dipped, shining his light on the ground near us instead of in my face. I could finally get something of a clear view of the first new person we had seen in fourteen days.
21
June 27, 2033
Seattle, Washington, USA
70th floor, Illeni Building
-61°F
1857 Hours
He walked through the door, still on alert. Larry lowered his shotgun, using the sling to put it on his back. I slowly knelt to pick mine up, slinging it over my back as well.
The soldier was slightly shorter than myself, maybe five-eight in boots. His mask obscured his face, though I could see darker skin behind the glass. He was in full tactical armor.
A name was stenciled in white against the black of the vest. It read ‘Castillo’. He was breathing heavily, obviously having been tasked with getting to us quickly.
“Who are you,” he asked as he waved at me.
“I’m Dante. You?”
“Sergeant Manny Castillo. Good to see new faces. Let’s get these doors closed.”
I nodded, pulling the fire door shut. Geno obviously heard the request and followed my lead. Both doors clanged shut.
“Your whole building is infested with Xenos,” he said, pronouncing the last word like zee-knows.
“What? What are Xenos?” I asked for clarification. My stomach sank. I already had a suspicion.
“The active threat inside the building. Have any of your people been exposed?”
“Exposed? No, I don’t think so...” I trailed off, remembering Geno’s weird behavior.
I turned to look at Larry, but he minutely shook his head while exaggeratedly shrugging.
“What are you talking about anyway?”
“No time. How many people do you have?” Castillo asked, looking at our motley crew of seven.
“We have forty people. Thirty-two adults, eight children, and a dog.”
“Copy, wait one.” He grabbed a radio nestled against his shoulder. I hadn’t seen it until he grabbed it.
“Ground, we have four-zero alive. Four-one with a dog. Yeah, confirm, four-one. Copy. Oscar Mike two minutes, confirm. Copy. Out.”
The staccato style of his clipped speech was difficult to follow through his heavy mask. He turned back to me.
“We leave in two minutes. Get your people ready.”
I nodded and headed through the door to the office. The airlock greeted me as it had done for two weeks. I reached out, grabbing a massive handful of each sheet. Then I yanked it down, tearing some of the ceiling tile loose from above.
Dust rained down, and only two sheets were left. I yanked those down as well, revealing everybody standing still all over the office.
“One minute,” my voice rang out in the sudden silence. “We are leaving in one minute! Let’s go!”
All hell broke loose. People were suddenly yelling orders at each other. Clothes were gathered by the armful, bags were readied. It seemed somewhere in the storage room we had had backpacks. They we
re rapidly handed out and filled.
The five camping packs were already packed, and handed to the largest guys to carry. Just over a minute later, most activity had ceased. The entire group stood ready to go.
I turned back to the office door. Everybody was dressed, and we had limited time. I turned the door handle and stepped into the lobby again. Another explosion rocked the building. This time the lights flickered and died.
I could hear squawking coming from the handset on Castillo’s shoulder. He faced me even as he listened to the radio.
“Time is up. Anybody not ready is getting left behind.”
Everybody began to file into the lobby, staying close. Nervous chatter filled the room until I waved for silence. Jessie stepped up next to me. Linda stood nearby with Eddie clutched to her.
“Alright folks. This is Sergeant Castillo, and he’s going to be leading us down to safety. He’s told me that our building is not safe. So we have to go in single file, and move fast. Listen to any soldier you come across. If they say anything to you, don’t question it, follow their order. Ready?”
A cheer rose from the group, and I turned back to Castillo. He nodded to me, and took the lead. As he reached out for the crash bar, the door thumped. A startled gasp erupted from those near us.
I had my shotgun out and ready in a split second, Larry doing the same. Castillo’s rifle was at the ready and pointed at the side of the door opposite the hinges.
Castillo took the right side of the door, where I had been when he had first arrived. Larry was still on the left. I crouched between them, about three feet back. Castillo signaled Larry, and they both threw the door open.
It smashed into something with a loud metallic thump, and swung shut again. The door thumped again, then a grating noise followed.
“Everybody back,” I bellowed. I could feel the crowd shrink away.
Larry and Castillo orchestrated opening the door again. This time, it flew all the way open.
A massive creature reared up from the stairwell. All I could see was the torso, glittering and gray. It led up to a massive chest, two giant arms, and a head set within a massive hood. Slitted eyes stared at me, yellow and hostile.
Darkness Trilogy (Book 1): Winds of Darkness Page 12