One Minute to Midnight

by Steve Lang

  Sharp Tooth and her children had been walking about a mile when she noticed Blood Maw, her companion and father to their cubs was fishing down by the river. He was a skilled hunter, and was currently attempting to catch a salmon. Blood Maw was spry, and she hoped he would be aware of the human hunters as well, since he had had numerous encounters with their kind. The men were closer now, and she could smell the stench of their body odor and an alarm went off in her instincts that told her all of them were in danger. Blood Maw went about searching for fish, his senses dulled in the hunt, and he never saw the three men on the opposite side of the river.

  Sharp Tooth grunted for her cubs to stay put and silently pawed downward to warn Blood Maw of the approaching danger. Sharp Tooth growled Blood Maw’s name as a loud crack ripped through the air and startled her. Blood Maw fell over flailing his paws around in the air as another shot echoed through the clean air. He stopped moving, his pain-filled eyes watching Sharp Tooth approach as the light went out of them. Shouts of glee, and whoops of victory rang out from across the river, as Sharp Tooth stood, helplessly watching her friend die. She saw the corners of his mouth rise upward in a farewell smile. The current rolled Blood Maw's body over and his face disappeared under the water. The lump of dead bear floated lifelessly in the water.

  "Woo hoo! That damn bear’s head’s gonna look goooood over your fireplace, Jim!" Screamed one of them.

  Sharp Tooth stopped short of crying out for Blood Maw. Her shock was so profound; it felt as if she had been shot too. She reeled back on her hind legs, almost toppling over, but the men had not seen her, so she escaped with her life. Blood Maw’s floating body was the last mental image Sharp Tooth had now. His right paw hung limp, and as water flowed past it, making it look like he was waving goodbye. Sharp Tooth needed to get her cubs to safety before the men found them, but as she ran with them through the forest; her burning desire for revenge began to kindle like a smoldering ember just before a forest fire. She briefly considered sneaking around behind the humans and shredding them to pieces, but she could not jeopardize the safety of her little ones. Sharp Tooth and the cubs ran for the rest of the afternoon until her cubs were exhausted and she could no longer smell the men. She found a cave for them to rest in and killed a passing deer, leaving it for her cubs to feast on. As they ate, she lay at the mouth of the cave and began to consider her next steps. Retribution would have to be hard and swift. Sharp Tooth knew that other animals in the forest had held council about the humans and their destructive tendencies. She recalled their last meeting by the mountain lake.

  One of the wolf clan, Angry Claw, silenced the murmuring and welcomed Rosebud beaver, Good Night raven, Chins otter, Sharp Tooth bear, and many other representatives of the forest tribes. Sharp Tooth sat in silence as questions without answers passed into the afternoon air like wisps of smoke from a pipe. The council was not truly prepared to do anything at the time, but she listened with polite sincerity.

  “What can we do about the encroaching humans on our territories? Every year more of them come and they hunt us in increasing numbers.” Gallant buck asked.

  “There are many men, and our people are scattered too widely throughout the forests, unable to unite.” Angry Claw said.

  “They have terrible weapons that make fire and we are afraid to attack them.” Rosebud otter said.

  White Paws grey wolf sat in silence for a moment. This was his council and he had called the council meeting. A concern had been running through the vast forest community that a war with the humans would be inevitable. White Paws felt that it was necessary to gather the leaders of each species together and quell growing rumors.

  "It is true, they have fire weapons, and I believe that they don't respect our land, but we have had a pact for millions of years to stay to ourselves and leave the evolving humans alone. Once in a while we steal a chicken from one of their farms, or kill a cow, but making war with the humans is dangerous business. It is a path we may not want to go down." White Paws said.

  "I was by the home of a human one afternoon, and I looked inside, and they had the head of my good friend mounted on their wall!" Winter Snow deer said.

  "It is true that their practice of body desecration is egregious and we have all seen how wasteful they can be with life. You are not wrong in your instinct to put a stop to all of this, my friends, but you have to understand that the humans make war for pleasure. A number of years ago, when I spoke with Raven Claw wolf, who is long dead now, we speculated whether we could wait until they had simply wiped themselves out. Instead, they keep multiplying." White Paws said.

  Sharp Tooth had not said much during that meeting, and now White Paws had been dead of old age for five seasons. Leadership of the forest was now in the paws of Kills Buffalo black bear and he had become aloof, not holding as many council meetings as his predecessor. In his absence, she would have to take matters into her own hands. Sharp Tooth noticed Talons eagle flying high above her head, so she called to him to come down for a talk while the cubs ate.

  "Brother Talons, you have known me for many years, and my carcasses have kept you well fed, but now I need a favor." Sharp Tooth said.

  "What can I do to help?" Talons asked.

  "We lack leadership and have not had many council meetings since White Paws’ spirit moved west many seasons ago. Kills Buffalo is not wont to resolve these matters in the near future, and we both know this to be true. I wish to hold a meeting with the woodland animals immediately to discuss our mutual problem of mankind and what we may do about them, together. I want the insects there as well. Do you have any contacts with their nation?"

  "I have contacts everywhere, because I'm the eye in the sky! I will take to the air and herald all who wish to hear my call. We shall meet after the moon sets." Talons let an echoing birdcall loose and took to the sky, soaring out of sight in an instant.

  All sorts of creatures began to appear before her the next morning for the emergency council meeting. Deer, squirrel, muskrat, porcupine, wild pig, roaches, centipedes, they came from miles around to hear Sharp Tooth speak. So many birds lined the trees that their bodies threatened to blot out the sun. Speculation about the intent of this meeting caused a low murmur to roll through the crowd, as birds high above chirped and squawked gossip to one another. After the forest was sufficiently filled, Sharp Tooth stood on her hind legs, raising a paw to silence everyone. The hush radiated back through the crowd like a receding wave on the ocean as they all waited for Sharp Tooth to speak.

  "Blood Maw was murdered yesterday by humans in our forest, and one of them mentioned hanging his head over a fireplace. Now is the time to go to war with the murderers." Sharp Tooth said, her growling voice booming through the clearing. Rumblings arose through the audience. Sharp Tooth continued, "Brother Red Clay and sister Fawn of the wolf clan: Were you not hunted almost to extinction by humans who refused to respect our territory?" She asked the wolves.

  The wolves howled long and low. "Brother Talons, how many of your feathers have been stolen by treasure seekers? How many of your kin were shot out of the sky to become trophies?" Talons flapped his wings and squawked with anger. "They poison us, shoot at us, and tear down our homes so that they can put theirs in place. Well, I say no more!" Whoops and hollers rang out. "Today is when we take it all back!"

  The hunters, who had been field dressing Blood Maw at their camp several miles away, were startled by an ear-shattering racket, as the entire wilderness came alive in one frightening roar. The unified growl of predatory beasts and the screeches of millions of birds filled the morning air as if the world had split in two. And then for a single moment all became silent. The cold hand of doom swept their spines, and suddenly the men were very far from feeling close to the top of the food chain. Thunder shook the ground beneath their feet, trees rattled, boulders rolled down the mountain, and the three men who had been vacationing for a weekend retreat and some trophy hunting were suddenly running for their vehicle. The hunters had no chance to escape
the stampede of charging animals, and were killed as fast and sure as Blood Maw was. Word quickly spread as all animals everywhere passed on Sharp Tooth's message to kill the humans. Five hundred miles away at a local radio station, Dave Clarkson was getting a cup of coffee when his coffee maker sparked, smoked, and quit working.

  "What the...?" he said, confused and frustrated.

  He looked down to see an army of red ants marching through the wiring of the radio station, and saw that a number of the soldiers were sacrificing themselves inside the electrical panels. He could see their fried little bodies lying in a pool of coffee on the counter. Dave was on a station break while Fleetwood Mac played Go Your Own Way, and would have to get back on the air in five minutes, but then revulsion and panic gripped his mind as millions of fire ants marched into the studio. They proceeded across his soundboard, quickly disappearing beneath the surface, and wreaked havoc. Smoke began to waft through the cracks, and in between buttons and switches. Frightened, he turned to leave, but was swarmed by the angry, gnashing, cutting jaws of a hundred thousand angry ants as they rushed up his pants, tearing him apart one bite at a time. Humanity did not yet know they were at war with nature, but it would soon become apparent.

  Similar scenarios were playing out at radio and television stations all across the country. The smallest insects were given the major tasks of infiltrating communication systems, server farms; networking equipment; bank teller machines, gas pumps, and any device designed read a credit card.

  "How many more stations like this one do we have, sir?" One ant said to his commander.

  "Sharp Tooth had said to shut them all down, that's stage one. Stage two would begin soon, but human lines of communication have to be terminated before we can begin the real work." The commander explained. "Now, get back to work!"

  Sharp Tooth had explained all of this to her friends and woodland family, and wherever her instructions seemed unclear, the soldier’s orders were to use their imaginations. It took less than a day for the animal kingdom to plunge humanity into darkness, and an age had passed. The amount of damage to power grids, nuclear power plants, and fuel production centers was so vast it would have taken fifteen years to fix all of it, had the infrastructure been in place to do so. Human civilization collapsed like a house of cards.

  While desperate people began looting stores, and fighting one another for scraps, stage two was under way. Monkeys in zoos everywhere swung free of their confines, and used teamwork to race through the zoos to set their other imprisoned comrades free. Every animal that had been stolen from their home in faraway lands and caged was now free to trample their captors. Chaos reigned, and the blitz was so fast and ferocious that there was no opportunity for an effective retaliation by humanity. Thousands of cell towers were now laying on their sides, as free elephants, once held against their will, used leverage to tear them down. One by one. Aerial assaults by birds and bats crippled aircraft engines, sending them screaming to the ground. Several strategic airstrikes were attempted by the human military, but intentional bird strikes at engines sent pilots crashing into the earth below. In other attacks, before pilots could leave the ground, beetles and spiders that had been hiding in the cracks of the cockpits swarmed in a combined effort and ravaged the airmen.

  Sharp Tooth received reports from all fronts that the war was going well with minimal casualties. The animals’ blitzkrieg had caught the humans off guard. Mankind had been reduced to a Stone Age in a little over a day. Now that their technology was destroyed, the majority of people began to starve, having never farmed or hunted. For a week the animals continued their campaign of swift and cold-blooded carnage, marching over hill and mountain, through every town and city. Sharp Tooth had no intention of wiping man off the earth, but the humans had to remember they were not in charge.

  Six months passed. A small band of human survivors was picking up the pieces of their shattered lives when Sharp Tooth approached them. They were living in a farmhouse not far from her forest, and they were armed with weapons they had picked up from fallen comrades before and after the war. It was night, and they were inside the house, huddled around a kerosene lamp, reading and telling stories. Sharp Tooth peered through the window and could see that there were three men, four women, and six children. Her security detail consisted of a pack of wolves that would stand by, invisible in the dark, just in case Sharp Tooth needed them.

  "Hello, inside? I would like to talk to the people living in this house!" Sharp Tooth yelled.

  The lamp went dark, but she could see them huddling around the windows, looking out to see who was there.

  "Do not fear me! I want to hold council with you. Come outside and I can promise your safety." Sharp Tooth called.

  Sharp Tooth stood in the open, taking the risk that they would not fire on her. Her wolves would rip them apart if they so much as fired a warning shot. The sound of rifles dropping on the floor allowed her to breathe easier. The front door creaked open and from the darkness within people began to shuffle out onto the front porch. The wolves stood by, nodding to one another and moved out into the open just enough so that the occupants of the house could see them.

  "Who's out here?" One of the male humans asked. He was fortyish with a graying beard and wore a tattered flannel shirt.

  "I'm Sharp Tooth, Kodiak, and my snarling, yet peaceful friends are members of the wolf clan. We are only here to discuss our coexistence together, with respect." Sharp Tooth said.

  She stepped from the shadows and almost laughed when the bearded man who had just been speaking stumbled backwards and landed on his butt, hard. The others were turning to run. "The bear speaks!" Panic rose and feet turned to flee.

  "Stop, please! I beg you. This has to end. We are alive on this planet together and we can all survive, but there has to be mutual respect."

  The bearded man picked himself up again, brushing the dirt from his pants.

  Sharp Tooth asked that the other humans come outside and they all sat around the fire learning from each other for the first time in thousands of years. A truce with the humans was struck, and the small group of survivors spread out across the land, passing on Sharp Tooth's message of peace and terms for coexistence. Humanity was no longer permitted to slaughter forest animals, but they could keep domesticated livestock such as pigs, chickens, and cows. The wolves and foxes, and other predatory creatures would no longer hunt on human farms for said livestock. Population control of deer, rabbits, and other creatures would be handled by the forest animals, and large populations would be migrated by vote of the council. Sharp Tooth lived another twenty-five years without losing another mate, and her cubs grew to lead their forest tribes, always remembering what their mother had shown them: that all life was precious and unique. Humanity remembered the war with nature as the stories became legend and myth. Weeks after the war ended, as Sharp Tooth stood on the bank of the river where Blood Maw had been killed, she thought she saw his smiling reflection in the water. She smiled in return, and moved on with her little ones.

  the great grave caper

  "My girlfriend knows a guy who's in some kind of satanic cult, and he'll pay a thousand bucks for a human skull." Dan Tollinger said.

  My name is Devon Smiley and that was the day I met Dan Tollinger. My response changed the course of my life, forever.

  I had never been a troublemaker, nor had I been into mischief of any kind. In fact, my life was really quite dull. I woke up in the morning, shower, eat, brush my teeth, go to school, go home, eat, study, go to bed, rinse and repeat. The directions on a shampoo are more complex than my old daily routine. I was a senior in high school and bored by the mundane minutia of everyday life. But, a change was coming. Because I didn't have any friends, or outside social contacts my father suggested that I begin writing to express myself. I wasn’t some depressed psychopathic teen sitting in my room devising ways to blow up the planet. I just had a wall between me and most other people, blocking my ability to connect with them.

 
I had been daydreaming through another day at Derringer High, when the class bell rang and halls filled with students like rats in a maze. We were trapped in the humdrum existence of droning on from one station to another for a piece of cheese in our government sponsored social experiment called public education. It's funny, when you're a kid who keeps to himself, how people around you appear to be extras in the movie of your life. I never understood what made people tick, I guess. I was between classes one day, walking with my extra long bangs over my eyes, when a stranger stood in front of me, blocking my path. Like static on a television, the noise of other student’s conversations buzzed in my head. You can grow to dislike people for no particular reason and I hated every last one of them.

  "Hey dude, my name's Dan."

  I must have looked shocked, or stoned, but someone approaching me in the hallway was completely unexpected.

  "I'm, uh, Devon." I mumbled.

  "Good to meet you, Devon. This is my first day here. You want to hang out after school?"

  "Sure."

  He high fived me and walked away. For the rest of that day, dread tightened my stomach, as my mind ran in circles trying to figure out what on earth the two of us would do together. I never had any friends outside classroom acquaintances, and if I was supposed to feel elated that this one person reached out to me, it was not happening. Dan was in my last period, which was Political Science. He sat across the room and did not seem to notice I was there. No one said anything to him either. Who knows, I thought, maybe this guy was going to be my new best friend. My mother always told me that strangers are only friends you have not met yet, so I focused my attention on class until the end. My Political Science teacher was talking endlessly about the Constitution and all twenty-seven amendments, a subject that could put an insomniac to sleep. Mr. Drum sounded like Ferris Bueller's economics teacher and I was about to go down for the count when the bell rang. Dan quickly found me in the hallway afterwards.