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Page 2
Humming. It sounds like a person humming.
“Dad?” I call out in a low whisper.
The shadow pauses for a moment and what sounds like the bottom of boots scrapes noisily over glass. The silhouette of a man comes into focus as it crosses the long expanse of the street. The humming gets louder.
It’s too loud. Someone will hear it.
A flare of white-hot adrenaline spikes across my chest and I gulp back a cry for him to stay quiet. Quickly, I scan the skies—sweep my eyes along the darkness of the streets—pleading with whatever gods are left for his silence.
“I found foil and forks,” he cheers loudly. The sound of his voice echoes off the abandoned buildings, slicing violently through the night. Claire gasps out a painful whimper next to me.
That’s when we first hear it.
Faint whispers, no louder than a purr. White noise. Static.
I flatten my back against the wall and squeeze my eyes shut. This can’t happen right now—not when we are out in the open. I choke back a shaky breath. I should have never made them leave the apartment. I should have gone by myself.
Shifting closer to Claire, I lay my hands flat against the cold stone of the building just as my father reaches us. He’s smiling like a fool. Arms full of aluminum foil packs and a fistful of bent-pronged forks.
I lean my head back and breathe deeply, looking up into the night sky. Just above us the moon hovers low, small, pale, and crescent-shaped. There’s nothing else there. Nothing but the moon and puffs of dark gray clouds that are fighting to hide it.
But I know it’s just a matter of time.
My fingers slide along the wall and find my sister’s as the strange static mounts to a deafening sound. The ground shivers beneath my feet and the glass windows of the building shake and splinter like tiny crawling spiderwebs.
My heart slams wildly in my chest. I will it to calm down as Claire whimpers softly against my shoulder; the one she’s folding herself into. My shoulder, the one that’s supposed to protect her from this world.
Our father stands in front of us, his eyebrows knit together in wonder, until the gradual realization hits and all the color drains from his face.
“The foil will save us,” he whispers, eyes wide with fear.
“No. No, it won’t, Dad,” I say, my voice high with panic. “We have to hide.”
I grab for Claire as she struggles to stand. We have to run but her body sags against mine, her cheeks wet with tears.
“Claire, we have to hide. Now. We have to move, right now.” I prop her arm over my shoulder and drag her forward when an explosion slams through the middle of the street. She stumbles and falls, taking me down with her. Through the heat and the flames, all I see is the bottom of my father’s boots running away from us. A sudden iciness fills my chest and I struggle to breathe. Not again. He left us alone again.
Metal whirs and spins before us, slapping away my anger for my father. There’s no time to think about him. There isn’t time for anything.
A flash of metal and fire—ash and alloy.
There’s nowhere to hide. It’s too late. They’re here.
The ones that ripped the world from under my feet. Steel creatures with metal wings of brimstone and fire.
I don’t know what they are.
And there’s no one left to ask.
All I know of is that they’ve destroyed everything and my life has become nothing but non-stop survival.
More giant metal creatures plummet from above, smashing into the concrete, shooting thick chunks of rocks and asphalt into the air. There’re four of them. Screeching and spinning, clicking and humming, annihilating everything in their path.
Right in front of us.
3
Kate
I lift myself onto my elbows. Claire and I are flat on our bellies, covered in dirt and debris and what’s left of the blacktop of the street. Hundreds of scrapes and scratches burn like tiny razors against my hands and bare arms. This new world leaves bite marks in your skin; scars across your heart. Maybe we’re better off dead. I hate thinking it, but I can’t…I haven’t been able to see a way out of this new kind of world.
And right now, we have a front row seat to it.
Claire wipes frantically at her eyes. I don’t blame her; this is something we’ve only seen on the television. But the news reports didn’t truly portray the terror of the reality. This isn’t supposed to be real. This can’t happen.
“Is that real? Is that real?” Claire rasps beside me, coughing low. “Dad?” she whimpers, pawing at her eyes. She can’t stop. I know her tics too well; she’ll rake at her eyes even after the flesh is gone. I have to stop her but my own hands feel like raking across my own skin. The world is too loud and everything bounces and vibrates. Every atom seems visible, every rapid movement they make reverberates and you feel it all. The air feels alive. The buzz of static is making my teeth clench tight. Thunder chases the sounds, and jagged streaks of lightning rip through the night sky.
I focus on her eyes. Pale and frightened.
“Shh,” I hiss, grabbing her hands away from her face. There’s blood smeared across her cheeks and I can’t tell where it’s coming from, but I have to calm her down. I repeat it like a mantra in my head.
There’s a small alcove in the wall a few feet away from us, full of shadows. Wrapping my arms around Claire’s body, I lean in and whisper into her ear, “Stay calm. Stay quiet.” My words are soft, steady, low. Contradicting the sheer hysteria bursting from my chest.
Her eyes are wide and her body is trembling, but she gives me a small nod. Slowly, I crouch into a squatting position and drag her into the shadows of the recessed wall of the building. From here in the protection of the darkness, we can safely watch what’s happening out in the street.
Please, God, if you’re still here…don’t let them see us.
Claire curls into the corner and pulls her knees up under her chin. I squeeze her arm, but my attention is just ahead of us, out in the street. Despite any terror I may have, I can’t stop myself from the awe I feel at seeing these beings up close.
It’s insane. This is all insane.
They look almost human. They have the human physique, just larger and broader, yet the only thing that really sets them apart from us is their skin. They look entirely made of some sort of metal. Bolts and plates shift, and light reflects a fractured gleam from off their surface. It’s as if some sort of liquid metal melded to their features, dissolving into their flesh. Muscles flex and twist like little mechanical parts as they move along the street. They wear no clothing and nothing sets one apart from the other, except for their masked faces. The strange metal clings to their flesh like a smooth liquid-silver mask, yet it reveals all the features of a human face; eyebrows and cheekbones and lips. The only thing giving them their distinction from one another is a scrollwork of color and decoration adorning each face.
The beings—all four of them—crouch down, ready to pounce. Three of them are facing one, stalking aggressively toward it, circling and blocking it.
The one in the middle bears the most intricate mask of all of them. Its silvery substance is threaded with a deep-black silky metal that curls and webs details across the skin.
In a blur, the three beings pin down the middle one and tear off its mask. The creature howls and kicks out at the others. The four creatures roll into a violent dance. The sound of metal crunching and smashing blankets the darkened street. Sparks fly through the air as metal fists slam against metal chests. Smoke and fire rise from the sparks and in the middle of it all, a piercing screeching sound barrels closer and closer to our hiding spot. Like the squeal of a train’s brakes heading in our direction.
I leap up and pull back deeper into the shadows and brace Claire behind my back. The sound is coming straight for us. My muscles tighten, waiting for the impact. Is this it? Is this the end? Closer and closer it screeches—like nails down a chalkboard. I squeeze my eyes tight and ball up my fists.
Then the sound abruptly stops just before I feel it about to collide into me. A gust of hot wind blows back my hair and blasts my hat right off my head, the pins painfully ripping out strands of my hair.
Nothing hit us.
All the breath leaves my body for a quick instant, and I collapse to my knees. I can’t catch my breath and my limbs are trembling with surging adrenaline.
I open my eyes and inhale sharply. There on the ground in front of me is the creature’s mask. My heart thuds hard, so hard I can feel it pulsing and beating in my ears. That’s when I realize it’s the only thing I hear—my own beating heart—until I look up and out into the fight in the street and I don’t even hear that anymore. I think the fight is over, because right now, as one creature lies lifeless on the ground and its mask touches the tips of my fingers, the other three are staring right at me.
4
Kate
“Go! Run!” Claire’s voice shrieks from behind me. Her hands slam into my back, pushing me out of our hiding spot, and I stumble forward over the metal face. My legs crumple instantly and my knees crash down hard on the cracked sidewalk. I don’t feel the pain, though, all I feel is the racing of my pulse and the need to grab Claire and get away.
I whirl around and reach for her hands. Her eyes are wide and glazed and terrified. They’re looking over my shoulder, behind me, to the creatures that are now slowly shifting toward us.
I scramble to my feet and my hand hits the edge of the discarded mask. I grab it without thinking. It vibrates under my fingertips as I dig my nails into its surface. Maybe I could use the stupid thing. It’s possible they’ll spare our lives if I give it back to them. I hug it against my chest and pull Claire out onto the sidewalk. I shove at her arms, pushing her to run down the street. “Run as fast as you can. Go around this corner if we separate. Into one of the buildings.”
The creatures don’t take notice as Claire fumbles past, half crawling—dragging her legs away from us. Nope, the dark black holes where their eyes should be are fixed on the mask in my hands.
“Leave us alone and I’ll give this back to you,” I yell, my voice cracking and hoarse.
Instantly, the three creatures are in front of me, bending their large frames over me. I flinch back against the wall, praying that my sister made it more than halfway down the block. Hoping my father is somewhere helping her and getting her to safety, because I think I’m about to die.
“Touch me and I’ll break it,” I growl, trying to make my voice way stronger than I feel.
My words go unheard as the closest creature thrusts out his arm with a brutal punch to the brick wall behind me. His fist crushes through the stone and it crumbles down around me. Rocks and pebbles pour down over my head, and fall down the collar of my vest. I want to scream and shove this thing away from me, yet I’m too frightened to move. His other hand reaches for the mask I’m cradling high on my chest, but before his silvery fingertips touch down, his body recoils back, away from me, flies through the air, and violently smashes against a wrecked car long ago abandoned in the street.
My eyes focus on the large, dark shadow that stretches up behind the remaining creatures. It’s the one they attacked. It’s the one whose mask I’m clutching in front of me using as leverage to save our lives. There’s so much thick red blood on his face I can see no recognizable features. Something out of a horrible horror movie that I can’t switch off.
Shit. It’s coming right at me.
A scream bubbles up in my chest, but before it makes it out, my entire body explodes in excruciating pain. The thing closest to me is trying to pry the mask out of my hands, but I’m paralyzed in such utter agony that I can’t move. The metal hands feel like pure acid on my skin, seeping through my pores and surging through my veins. I can’t control my fingers or the guttural roar that rips out of my throat. I’m on my knees instantly, swallowing back bile. My body jerks sideways and bounces like a rag doll down the sidewalk. The scraping of my skin along the concrete is a welcoming sensation in place of the touch of these monsters.
I try to focus my tear-filled eyes to see what’s coming for me next. Will it be the maskless, blood-soaked creature coming to take back his face, or his metal freak friends?
But, when my vision clears, there’s something worse coming toward me.
Much worse.
Up ahead I can see Claire crawling her way back to me.
My eyes bite with burning tears. She’s got to get away. What is she doing trying to get back here? “No!” I manage to wheeze out, coughing and gagging on bits of rock and grit. “Stay away!”
On my other side, the creatures are thrashing around trying to get to me, but the unmasked one is flinging them around effortlessly.
Time feels like it’s slowing down and my head pulses with a thumping that seems to come from the middle of my forehead. Weakly, I pull myself up on the wall, using the cracked bricks to steady my balance. The throbbing in my head continues and spreads down through my cheekbones and along my jaw. My eyes blink slowly, a giant black shade, shutting and opening, scraping against my vision.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
My breath comes out in a sluggish stutter.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
Metal crunches against metal, sharp and brutal. Blue sparks explode, blasting flashes of light and heat. All in slow drawn-out motions.
Thump, thump.
My chest tightens and my hands clasp around the mask that’s somehow still in my hands.
Thump, thump.
Before me, the fight changes. The three masked creatures have the unmasked one on his knees. Blood is everywhere, thick and dark on the pavement in front of me.
“Kate!” my sister’s scream echoes through the chaos. She stumbles through the smoke and flames. “Kaaaate!”
Thump, thump.
The creatures are on her instantly, leaving the unmasked one to collapse face first into the asphalt with a sickening thwat.
My heart stops.
No. No, no no no no!
My sister’s eyes widen in terror just as they grab hold of her in their metal grasp and shoot up like bullets into the liquid black sky.
Her backpack thuds softly on the pavement and a handful of coins fall out noisily.
Claire’s gone.
And I’m still here. Alone.
5
Kate
“Dad!” I scream. Over and over I shriek his name, only stopping when my windpipe feels ravaged.
My father never answers me.
The only sign that he was ever here are a few forks scattered in the street and a wadded-up piece of foil that was flattened under his boots as he ran away.
I don’t take it personally. I can’t blame him for his reactions to this new world. He wasn’t all there in the old world either. For most of my childhood he was stationed overseas, and after continuous deployments, he was finally discharged with a lovely little war souvenir called a dissociative identity disorder. Nowadays, he spends most of his time believing he’s my ten-year-old brother.
Every once in a while, though, his real personality is lucid, fueled in protecting us—but we haven’t seen it since we lost Mom. So I haven’t seen either of my parents for almost a month.
That’s all it’s been—one month.
All that projected research about how long it’d take the world to end—all the books and movies about it? That was all bullshit. Bullshit.
It took a week.
One week for something to come and invade us. I’m still not sure who or what they are. There was no warning. No state of emergency. No time or reason to prepare. No safe places to evacuate to. There were just a few hours of news reports. Then the air changed and the world smelled different. People got sick. Food rotted and strange vines grew. A quarter of the population of New York was reduced to a handful of bodies withered to skeletons, pocked with sores covering their bluish skin. Most people just seemed to vanish, and whatever remains is slowly disintegrating into dust.
But the only sound I hear is a low, wet gurgle.
My heart speeds up again. The unmasked creature is lying on its side staring at me. One long strand of blood drips from his mouth, pooling on the asphalt beneath his head.
A flash of lightning brightens up the sky and the sounds of raindrops against stone fall heavy on the street. The scent is fresh and crisp, masking the stagnant, pungent air.
“Where are they taking everyone?” I demand, storming over to it. There’s no fear in my voice, just hate and vengeance. I need answers and I need to find my sister.
Rain pelts down from the sky, heavy and cold. It streams down the monster’s face, washing away rivulets of blood and filth. There’s a flat plane of flawless skin beneath, smooth and clean. Its eyelids flutter, deflecting the droplets, and its lips, though bruised in one corner, let out a small puff of breath.
Squatting down, I grab its face in my hand. My grip is hard and it takes everything in me not to slide my fingers around its neck and squeeze the life out of him, but he’s got to know where they are taking people. I need that information. I’ll make him tell me where. I’ll make him tell me how to find Claire.
Up above, something blacker than the night sky circles over the rooftops. His eyes—at least I think it’s a he—dart up past my shoulders as if he senses it too. There’s no time to think. I stuff his mask into the top of my pack and tug him by the back of his metal collar. He has to weigh more than a damned elephant, but adrenaline is screaming through my veins, making me feel stronger than I know I am.
I drag his body out of the street. Metal grates along the cement, sending sparks up into the rain. I hope it hurts.