by C. S. Nelson
She looked over at Allison and Mia, who started wiping tears from her eyes for the third time in twenty-four hours. Annie didn’t want her long dark hair cut either, but she wasn’t going to cry over it. “What if we refuse?” Allison asked, with a little too much attitude.
“Then we use you as bait,” Kevin said without hesitation. She scoffed at the back of the classroom, but Kevin clearly didn’t care. “Now, have any of you ever seen a soul sucker personally?”
This was a trick. Annie, as well as everyone else, knew it was illegal to cross the Shield. Even just hanging around too long at the edge would get you in trouble if someone saw you and happened to care. But Annie had been with Dustan when he had crossed the Shield, a few months before. Even though most of the Shield next to the school was surrounded by water, on the other side it was all farmland and empty fields before the forest started. The soul suckers hated water, they couldn’t swim, so placing the school next to the lake was supposed to be reassuring. The children would be killed last in the event of a Shield breakdown.
Dustan and Annie had snuck out on their day off. They had crossed the farming fields across the Shield, where no one would see them, and put their hands through to see what would happen. It was thick, like jelly, and when Annie pulled her hands back to safety, they tingled. Dustan even jumped through the Shield, his body slowing down as he passed through the transparent wall, and then falling to his knees on the grass on the other side. She had watched him breathe the air on the other side, and his hair blew in the breeze. She had never seen him smile like that before, but she had still been too afraid to cross herself.
When he had come back through, they sat down, watching as the sun began to set over the forest in the distance. Then they saw the creature, poking its head out from behind a tree. Annie grasped Dustan’s hand, but he had just laughed. “It can’t get through.” He had told her. She had known that already, but just seeing one had been enough to make her stomach turn.
So they watched as it emerged from the woods. It had long, thin arms, with curved talons. Its body was a sickly grey colour, and it walked towards them with its back hunched over. Soon, the monster stood on the other side of the Shield, eying them with its spine-chilling red eyes. And then it smiled, revealing thick, razor sharp teeth. It reached towards the Shield and Annie’s breathing stopped. The hand touched the invisible wall, and shrieked when it realized that it couldn’t go any farther. Annie screamed. Dustan began laughing and then Annie joined in. They were safe in the Shield. Nothing could touch them.
“No one has seen one before?” Kevin asked. “Well you’ve all seen the simulation. They are big, thin, and grey in their natural form. Does anyone know what their other form is?” Annie began to realize that they had actually learned very little about the creatures that had taken over the planet a couple of hundred years before.
Turner put his hand up. “They look like humans? They shape shift.”
Kevin clapped his hands together. “Bingo. They’re called soul suckers because they will suck your identity right out of you. If they get their mouth close to yours, you are done for. They give you a little kiss, and bam! It will be the last thing you ever see. They feed on our souls; they grow stronger with every one they collect. And once they have your soul, they can shape shift into a duplicate of you. However they still cannot cross the Henderson Shield.
“This is why it is important to understand that if you see anyone outside of the Shield that you do or do not recognize, you could be in danger. Chances are what you are looking at is a fallen ranger with a soul sucker hidden inside. If you see anyone get overtaken by the creatures, next time you see them, they will not be themselves. That person is long dead. Do you understand?”
Annie, like every other student sitting next to her, had never been told that they could change forms. She had known how they killed, but that was basically the full extent of her knowledge. She felt uncomfortable thinking about what else they hadn’t been taught in school, especially if something that could save them in a life or death situation had been hidden from them.
“Can they speak?” Anthony asked. Annie could hear his voice trembling and she hoped that no one else could.
Kevin nodded. “They, I believe, are far more intelligent then we are. They’ve picked up English. And if we spoke more than English in the Shield I’m sure they would know that too.” There had been other Shields, they had learned in school, thousands in fact. The Shields weren’t meant to last forever, and they had been dropping off one by one over the years. There had been ways of communication, and they were forced to listen as homes got destroyed around the world. There had even been a Shield just over the lake. But even that one had disappeared a couple of weeks before. Unfortunately, with each dying Shield, Earth lost more and more of its human culture. They had learned that long ago, maybe two hundred years before, there were hundreds of languages. No one that lived in Annie's Shield knew any other language but English. “Do not underestimate them. We don’t know how they got here, or when they arrived. But we do know that they hid from us, underground, for a very long time.”
“Did they attack right away?” Dougie asked. "When they first showed themselves?"
“We tried to make peace when they came out of the ground. Our people knew that they were stronger than us. We offered to leave as soon as possible. There were a few brief weeks of peace between us. But when they found out the ship from Mpho would take a hundred years to arrive, they became enraged. They slaughtered the humans, and if Henderson hadn’t put together this protective Shield in a couple months, all of us would be dead. We owe that family everything.”
“How many of us were there before the slaughter?” Turner asked.
“Nine billion,” Kevin said. “They killed all but a couple hundred thousand within two months.”
Annie stared blankly. It was a lot of information to take in. “Will the ship still be here in two years?” she asked.
Kevin nodded. “Yes. Well, eighteen months now. They filled it with sleeping pods for us. It will take approximately two hundred years to get back to Mpho, and we will sleep until we get there. Then we will be in our new home.”
Eighteen months until they could feel hope again. The thought made Annie smile. All she had to do survive for eighteen months before she could rest for two hundred years. And then she would finally experience the way they had been taught that life should be. Happy and carefree. Maybe she could even choose her own career. She smiled sadly at the thought of Barry describing birthday parties. Maybe she could even throw herself one of those.
“Any other questions?” Kevin asked, frustrated. “Or can I go on with the lesson?” Annie had about a thousand questions but she didn’t dare to ask any of them. “There is only one way to tell if you are dealing with a soul sucker when they are in human form. Their blood is bright blue. Unfortunately, if you get close enough to check this, it’s likely that you’re already dead.” He pulled a long mat out from behind the desk and unraveled it for the recruits. “Now, let’s go over the weapons you will be using to kill these suckers.”
Chapter 4: Amnesia
Annie woke up gasping. The sun was hot on her face. She sat up and found herself in a meadow, surrounded by trees. In the distance she could see the slight curvature of the Shield, the sunlight bouncing off and revealing it. But it was curving the wrong way; it was curving away from her. She felt wind in her hair. Why am I on the outside? she thought.
She stood up, brushing the grass off her legs, and found herself surrounded by weapons. A knife, a crossbow, a lightening gun, and many others that Annie didn’t recognize nor dare to touch. She was confused. She had never been on the outside before and she and no recollection of leaving. She slung the knife through the loop on her pants and picked up the gun, checking over her shoulder in case anything was trying to sneak up on her. Then she started walking towards the Shield. Not running. If she encountered anything she wanted to have the energy to fight back.
It
was a nice day out, Annie thought. Warm and breezy. It didn’t feel like fall, even though summer was coming to an end.
The temperature always started dropping in September. Winter would be upon them soon. There were birds chirping. Annie stepped out of the meadow and into the trees. She found herself hypnotized by a web being woven by a large spider. There weren’t really very many insects in the Shield. Annie didn’t think that she had ever seen a spider this size in her life as she watched its legs twitch in anticipation for its next meal. She reached out and touched the web, pulling her hand away and pulling the web down with it. The spider bolted up the web and onto Annie’s arm. She let out a yelp and smacked it off, watching it scurry away in the tall grass. She laughed to herself. There were creatures out here ready to murder her on sight, and a spider had caused her heart to race.
She took a few large steps around where the spider had disappeared, and continued into the forest. It was dark and thick, unlike anywhere Annie had been before. It was peaceful. Then Annie heard a crack from behind her. She spun around with her finger on the trigger of the gun. It was a young girl, probably around Annie’s age, standing there crying. “Help me,” the girl said. Hair was covering most of her face. Her clothes were tattered and her body dirty.
Annie stepped back. She didn’t know why, but she had this feeling in her stomach that she wasn’t supposed to get close to this girl. “Are you okay?” she asked. The girl took a step forward, and Annie held the gun up, pointed at her. She let out another cry, and tears began dripping down her dirty face. “Please. They left me here. The soul suckers overtook our command and everyone scattered. I’ve been hiding in the woods for days. Please help me.” The girl’s face twitched.
Annie lowered the gun. Her mind was cloudy. She remembered something that she had been told before being placed out here. There was something dangerous about finding humans outside of the Shield. But she couldn’t remember what it was. “You can come with me, but you need to keep your distance. I want you twenty paces in front of me. We're walking towards that Shield,” Annie said, gesturing to the massive structure behind her. The girl looked at her oddly, but didn't question Annie's instructions out loud, and walked in a large semi-circle around Annie until she was well ahead of her.
They walked for a few moments, the girl whimpering quietly in front of Annie. She took timid steps towards the Shield, and was going far slower than Annie would have liked. “Do you hear that?” the girl cried. “I think they’re close! I think they're behind us!”
“I don’t hear anything,” Annie said, hoping the girl would stop sobbing so loudly. She turned for a moment to look back into the forest for a sign of danger.
The sobbing did stop. Annie turned back to find that the girl was gone. Her skin erupted into goose bumps. She looked around briefly before continuing on, her finger still on the trigger of the gun. The peacefulness of the forest was gone, vanished in an instant. It was now cold and dangerous. She could feel eyes on her. Then Annie felt hot breath on the back of her neck, and she spun around.
The girl was there, no longer crying, smiling at Annie. Annie swung the gun, hitting the girl in the face and watching as the girl’s body fell to the forest floor. She turned and sat up, wiping blood from her face. Annie backed away, wide-eyed. The liquid pouring out of this girl’s nose was bright blue.
Shit. Annie turned and ran. The Shield was only about a hundred meters away, but she could hear the monster back on her feet and chasing after her. Annie turned and fired, her shot hitting and splintering a tree past the girl’s shoulder. In the time that she had slowed to fire, the girl was back upon her, lunging at Annie, knocking the gun out of her hands. Annie fell backwards with the girl on top of her, and watched as she changed in front of her eyes into a soul sucker.
The creature brought its head down and opened its mouth in front of Annie’s head, and Annie felt the air being sucked out of her body. She reached for the knife in her belt, swung her arm, and stabbed the creature in the neck. The pressure from her chest dissipated. She could breathe again. The thing squealed as it fell to the ground, clawing desperately at the knife lodged in its throat. Annie stood up, disoriented, and ran towards the Shield. She could hear the monster screaming, but refused to slow down to turn and see if she was being chased. She lunged for the Shield, feeling her body slow as she passed through it, and found herself back in the familiar stale air and peace and quiet, collapsing to the ground.
“Good job,” she heard. Annie turned, looking for a voice but found no one. “You can wake up now, Annie.”
Annie blinked, and found herself no longer just inside the Shield, but in a dark room, fastened to a chair, with wires attached to her face and chest. She had been in a chair just like this the day before. “Where am I?” she asked, struggling to pull her arms away from the chair.
“Don’t panic, Annie, the confusion will go away in a few moments.” The lights came on, and Annie found herself looking at a blank screen. She blinked a few times and adjusted to the light. Everything was slowly starting to come back to her. Another simulation. She remembered the fear now, of being hooked up again. She had asked if she would feel another soul sucker touch her in this simulation, which had not been answered as she began to go under. All of the lessons she had so far in the Shield were coming back to her as well, everything that she couldn’t remember in the simulation itself.
Kevin appeared in front of her and began taking the wires off her body. “Why couldn’t I remember anything you taught me?” she whispered. It was as though they wanted nothing more but to scare them when in the simulation. Why would they block out the things that they had been taught?
He smiled at her, ripping the sticky end of the wires off her temple. “We wanted to see your natural reactions. What you choose without any prior knowledge, based on intuition, and how you fight. It helps us with determining your future role in the rangers.”
“Did I do okay?”
He released her from the last restrains on her chair, and gave her a look. “So far you’re the only one who survived,” he said, patting her knee gently. Annie smiled. The confidence she had lost the day before was beginning to return. “Go take a seat with the others. There are only two simulations left.”
Annie stood up, feeling faint, but didn’t want the others to see it. She walked over to the bench and sat down next to Mia, who was whimpering quietly to herself, as usual. “Are you okay?” Annie asked.
Mia shook her head, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. “I died the fastest,” she murmured back. “I walked straight up to the sucker and tried to give her a hug when she started crying. I got ripped apart.” Tears fell from her eyelashes. “And I felt all of it.” She was holding her arms out and staring at them, as if she couldn’t believe that they were still attached to her body. She must have been in so much pain in the simulation.
As much as Annie had hated her in school, she understood why she was so upset. She put her arm around the sniveling girl and squeezed. “Don’t be sad, it’s why we’re here. They’re going to train us and make sure we stay safe.” Not even Annie believed that training could keep them safe. But surely their lives mattered to the other rangers, at least a little bit.
Anthony was lead into the room by an older ranger. He was confused, walking as though he had too much to drink, his eyes glazed over. Annie waved to him as he locked eyes with her, but he did nothing in return. Whatever they had done to him, Annie realized, was exactly what they had done to her, causing her mind to be so foggy and unable to remember the lessons they had been taught. He sat down in the seat, and without protest allowed Kevin to attach all of the wires to his body. Then Kevin stepped back and sat next to Annie.
The lights turned off, and the screen lit up. It was the same view that Annie had seen. “Are we watching from Anthony’s perspective?” she whispered to Kevin.
“Everything he sees, we see,” he responded.
Anthony sat up and looked around. He eyed the weapons in front
of him and picked up the gun. He took one more look around, and then Anthony started running towards the Shield, into the woods, past the spider web that had distracted Annie. Annie felt her face go hot, thinking about everyone watching her panic about the spider. He skidded to a halt at the familiar sound of crying. He turned. The girl was wiping tears from her eyes. “Help me.”
“What’s wrong?” Anthony asked. He took a few steps towards her. Annie prayed that whatever sense he was trying to make in his head would tell him to back away from the girl. The girl moved towards Anthony, abnormally quickly, and he stopped. “Don’t come any closer,” he said. His voice had cracked which evoked a few snickers from the new adults that had already failed the simulation. Annie shot them a dirty look.
The girl sobbed. “Please. They left me here. The soul suckers overtook our command and everyone scattered. I’ve been hiding in the woods for days. Please help me.”
Anthony’s hand lowered. There was a long pause. Anthony couldn’t understand what was going on in his own head. “Okay, come with me.”
The girl smiled, walking towards Anthony. She was very pretty. Annie could understand how the guys may have been distracted by her appearance enough to ignore their own sense of doubt. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she sang.
“That was the same way she got me,” Turner announced, as if anyone in the room were still thinking about Turner’s performance opposed to their own.
Anthony turned and as soon as he took his eyes off her, he was thrown to the ground. He screamed and thrashed, his fingers desperately digging into the grass, trying to pull himself away. He was flipped over against his own will, and the girl calmly climbed on top of him and pressed her mouth against his. His vision blurred. He stopped thrashing. Then the screen went black.