by Jay Morris
Day 46
His mind could not focus. He could not remember anything , or even if there was something to remember at all. His confusion was total and he was afraid. The world was one of pain and his body reacted and he felt another new sensation. He wanted to vomit, but he didn’t know what that actually meant. He wanted to explore existence, to find out what he was. He wanted to know if he was alone. He wondered if had always been or if being was a new thing. He realized that part of him was moving, and each time it did there was a new sensation. He had no name for it. What was this movement that seemed to occur all on its own? Was it necessity? Or optional?
Fog swirled around his consciousness, fog that led him astray and made him want to not exist. He suddenly sensed something new. He was excited by it. It gave him a standard to orient himself with, and it gave him a direction to explore. He liked this new thing and he wanted it to be nearer. Whatever it was it made him feel good. He sensed color for the first time. He had no name for this new thing but it made him feel warm, which in itself was a new thing as well. Suddenly he found that he had an unexpected component: eyelids, and they flickered open and shut. Again he was frightened, was this a door to a new existence as well? Would he be able to get back to the non-existence if he wanted? He didn’t know but he was experiencing something other than pain and fear; curiosity.
His eyes opened and he saw something totally unexpected but not unpleasant. It was oval and slightly larger at the top than the bottom and it had few distinguishing features. It was quite close and this revelation startled him a bit. It had several holes that he thought were interesting. One was wide and narrow, there were two smaller ones just above it. Then he saw that this new thing had features that were located slightly above and on either side of the first small holes and that these things were occasionally covered by white tissue, his eyelids (although he did not yet have a name for them yet) must have appeared just the same.
He was tired and suddenly could not maintain this so he stopped it, his eyes closed once more and he returned to the safe place of nothing.
Day 46, Heading West towards the Mississippi River, 10:44 P.M
I checked on Tucker twice more that day but didn’t see any change, he was still alive, still unresponsive and both times he was being used as a jungle gym by the youngest Da-Nah. The underling indulged them so much, they wouldn’t even stop them from playing on the comatose body of someone in their sick-bay. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? I did notice that most of the little flex hose thingys were pointing at Tuckers head now rather that at his various wounds. I did get the opportunity to observe what I later called: The Great underling Debate.
Apparently three underling couldn’t agree on the proper placement of two of the probes. It was carried out in complete silence (except for my laughter of course) and it went something like this:
Underling I moved probe x to point A
Underling II moved probe y to point B
Underling III moved probe x to point C
Underling I moved probe y to point A
Underling II moved probe x to point B
Underling III moved probe y to point C
After that it was rinse and repeat for at least twenty minutes. I actually thought it was one of those old Marx brothers’ routines my Dad used to watch on ‘youtube’. Anyway I didn’t see how it ended because Amy called me to the drive console or pilot room, whatever. When I got there she stopped our vehicle and told me to check out the forward display. We were on a hill looking down into the remains of a medium sized town. There had been a battle and among the burned out shells of homes and businesses and piles of blackened bricks was at least six smoking Da-Nah vehicles.
“What do you think?” Amy asked.
“I think if we go down there someone might just start blasting away at us.” I said.
“I agree, we passed a mountain a couple of miles back, I suggest we go back and put it between us and whatever happened down there, then we can come back on foot in the morning to check it out.”
“You’re the boss” I said casually.
Amy paused then said “I am? Am I? Then about Karen…”
“Except for that” I cut her off with a smile on my face.
“Poo.” She muttered as she edged our alien mobile home slowly into a tight 180 degree turn.
Day 47, Mount Weather, Area B-Communications Center
Sergeant Major Milton Crook, USMC had just finished printing out the decoded message from Raven Rock. He read it twice then ran the decode software again and checked the message a second time. “Son of a bitch” he muttered. Rising from his desk he checked himself over, he put on his duty cap, placed the message in a red folder and put it under his arm. He walked to the end of the hall by-passing the elevator since its’ use had been forbidden except when authorized by the Secretary or his assistant.
Crook descended the flights of stairs in a precise, steady and determined manner. His foot falls echoed in the stair well marking a silent cadence. One he had reached floor E he exited the stair well and walked down the hall, he was stopped midway by security but it was pretty much a formality, since the death of the last of the monsters, things had quieted down immensely, but they felt they couldn’t let themselves go all together, that would be bad for moral.
He stood in front of the door then banged sharply on the frame three times. A USAF airman opened the door for him and stood aside to let him in. Sitting behind an immense oak desk sat the acting president of the United States, Secretary of Homeland Defense Thomas C. Burwell. He had been the 17th in presidential succession before the event. Once the world when to hell, out of those who had made it to Mount Weather he had been third in line behind Secretary of State Wilson (#4 in presidential succession) and Secretary of Energy Cartier (#14). Wilson had been killed by a monster, Cartier had become one.
The day they sealed the doors, there were almost 10,000 people above ground in the 85 acres on the surface and 327 individuals in the 600,000 square foot underground facility. As of that very morning the population report was 87 still alive below ground. For the most part the deaths were a result of the floor by floor battle with the monsters. Their war had lasted 22 days and had been brutal, for the last 5 days it was fought in complete darkness. Two days after it was over that they had restored power, at least partially. Since then there had been one heart attack and 4 suicides bringing them to their current level.
The previous evening they had finally got a few of the above ground cameras to work and the result had been depressing. Burned out buildings and crashed vehicles. No signs of life other than carrion birds and a stray fox that seemed to be making regular appearances. There was still a chance there were survivors since they had only been able to get signals from 5 of 40 surveillance cameras. But Crook did not hold out much hope in that regard. He had thought to see an encampment, swarming with people, all struggling to stay warm and fed. Instead, nothing.
“Mr. Secretary.” Crook said quietly.
“Crook, what do you have for me?” Burwell asked.
“Sir, an urgent message from Raven Rock.” He handed the red folder to Burwell.
Burwell took the folder, took the paper from within and read it carefully.
“Has this been verified?” He asked.
“Yes Mr. Secretary, but I have been unable to get a response from Raven after that transmission.”
“Great, just fucking great.” Burwell muttered.
Burwell laid the paper down then leaned back in his office chair. He held his hands so that his fingertips touched. He muttered to himself,
“Aliens, freaking aliens. What to do. What to do. What to do.”
Crook was used to this so he just waited.
“Anything from the surface?” Burwell looked at Crook over the rim of his tortoise shell glasses.
“No sir, nothing. No signals, no sightings.” Crook said, his voice was flat.
“Shit” Burwell said. “Fine, fine then, go around and get my advisors together for
eleven hundred hours.”
“Yes sir.” Crook saluted and turned to leave.
“Oh, and Crook?” Burwell stopped him.
“Yes Sir?”
“Any word on the getting the blast doors open for the garage?” Burwell asked hopefully.
“I don’t know Sir, I’ll check with Major Avett.”
“Thank you Crook, that is all.” Burwell finished and dismissed Crook from his office.
Day 47, Outskirts of a Former American Small Town
I kept scanning the remains of the buildings with the binoculars, still quiet but there were so many places to hide. I turned to Amy.
“What do you think? Go in? Or go around?”
She sighed and lowered her own pair and sighed deeply.
“Johnny, I think we should go around…” she started.
“…but you got a feeling?” I finished.
“Yeah.”
“Tucker would say go around.” I offered.
“Yeah” she paused “Let’s go in.”
She turned to me and smiled weakly.
“You’re the boss.” I chuckled.
She went inside and I stayed on the 2nd floor catwalk at the front of our vehicle, my rifle slung on my shoulder. If there was anyone hiding in there I wanted them to see me, maybe avoid a little gunfire. I felt the big machine slowly creep forward, it was always smooth from the start, and it never seemed to accelerate too quickly or throw us forward when brought to a stop. We left the hatch open and if I yelled Amy could hear me, I just hoped I wouldn’t be yelling at all.
The town was a disaster, building after building lay waste, whatever energy field our floating hotel used caused dust and litter to blow around but that was the only motion that I could see. I peeked around behind us and saw the other vehicle following along about 50 yards behind us, just as slowly, but totally ‘buttoned up’ as Rico Hernandez used to say. We descended a long slope into what seemed to have been the main business part of town, which was when I first began to see the remnants of armored vehicles mixed in among the buildings. Humvees, MRAPs, tanks and things I didn’t know the name for were scattered in a rough line perpendicular to our course. As we intersected what I now knew to be the remains of a defensive line I began to see bones, lots of them, some still wearing army green, some still having flesh attached.
“Jesus” I muttered to myself. This had to be the largest battle site that I had seen so far, there were at least a dozen of the big tanks and three times that many other vehicles. Some of them had been parked so to form a blockade, some looked as if they had been actually driven into buildings for camouflage. I had no idea how many corpses I saw, dozens for sure, hundreds more likely. But nowhere did I see the tell-tale exoskeleton remains of the Before. Not a single one. But I knew for sure this many soldiers didn’t go down without a fight so where were they? Another thought crossed my mind, while it made sense that the buildings in front of the defensive line would be destroyed why was the whole town like this? It didn’t make sense.
Amy continued to drive straight through the town and after about eight blocks or so we began to climb a rise on the other end of town. I tried to imagine it a few months ago, people working, shopping, just out having fun. The streets full of cars instead of corpses. I had to shake myself to stop thinking about it. That was then, that was before, now I had to stay alert or we all might be just as gone, just as dead as they were.
A few minutes later we passed what I was sure was the shell of the town High School, at least the front of one, everything past the façade was gone, the classrooms, the cafeteria, the gym and offices, all gone. Then I saw something that gave me an idea, in front of the school on a tall white pole was an American flag. I stuck my head inside the hatch and yelled for Amy to stop. She did so immediately and as I ran past her towards the ramp that led to the first floor she asked me what I was doing. I called out over my shoulder,
“Come on and see!”
I lowered the ramp and ran out of our machine, I jogged over to the flag pole and untied the loop and slowly began to lower the flag. Amy was next to me when she said,
“Johnny what are you doing?”
“We are American’s right?” I said.
“Yea, of course.”
“So we need a flag, a flag that will let anyone know who sees it that we are AMERICANS in that thing and not aliens!”
She smiled,
“We could hang it from the front of our vehicle, at least until we can make a mast for it!”
It was my turn to smile and she began to assist me in getting the big thing down. When we did I discovered it was a lot bigger than I thought, it was at least eight feet by twelve and it was all Amy could do to keep it from touching the ground. I had taken to wearing Tucker’s Kabar on my thigh, and I took it out to cut the rope away from the pole, we could use it to secure the flag to the front of our alien hotel.
Amy was inside and I was coiling the rope around my left arm, I was smiling at Karen and Mary and Ethan who were out on their catwalk watching me. Suddenly I had a blinding pain, I reeled to one side and dropped the rope trying to draw my pistol with my right hand, my left went to the side of my head and it came away with blood on it.
“That ain’t yours.”
A quiet, but steady female voice said. I had to blink twice before I saw her, she was standing in the shadow of the bottom half of what must have been a magnificent oak tree. She was holding what I assumed to be another rock like the one she had hit me with.
Amy came rushing back out of the vehicle, assault rifle raised in the ready/fire position.
“Freeze!” she yelled at the new comer.
“No! No! It’s too hot!” the woman screamed back. Stepping from the shadows she raised the rock, preparing to throw it.
“Stop! Stop! Stop! Wait!” I yelled, still holding my head I could feel the blood dripping down my check and some was getting in my left eye, making it damn hard to see.
“She started it!” the woman yelled. “Just you WAIT till my husband hears about this!”
“Screw you!” Amy countered and she stepped a little closer.
I put myself between them and pushed Amy’s rifle muzzle towards the ground.
“Just, hold on.” I said. “Please, would you lower your, um… rock?”
The woman hesitated then slowly did as I asked, “Fine, but one wrong move from Anne of Green Gables there and POW, it’s to the moon Alice!”
“What?” Amy said.
The woman turned sideways to us and said “I know you are, but what am I?”
I sighed, “Good, now let’s all just relax and fig…”
“Are you a priest?” she interrupted.
“Who me? Ahhh… no, I’m Johnny.”
“Oh that’s too bad, I need a priest.” She sighed deeply, dropping her rock she put her hands on her hips and looking at Amy said,
“Oh well, a nun will have to do. Come on Sister Grace! We have to hurry!”
She stepped quickly forward and taking Amy by the arm started to drag her down a brick strewn side street that led around behind the school.
“Johnny?” Amy called out as the tall woman pulled her along.
“Wait up!” I called out as I stumbled after them, still reeling from the blow to my head.
“Stop! Stop! Where are you taking me?” Amy called out in a frustrated and angry voice.
“Don’t be silly Sister Grace, we have the Lord’s work to do!” she answered.
The woman pulled Amy around the end of the schools façade and out of my sight. By the time I caught up to them Amy was standing shock still, staring at what had been hidden to us. Behind the brick front of the school was an enormous pile of fetid, rotting bodies. Bodies of the Before. The woman was kneeling in front of the pile which must have had at least eighty, black armored killers in it. She was singing, ‘Bringing in the Sheaves’. Now I knew where the bodies had gone to, this crazy woman had gathered them here, for what purpose I could only guess. Amy stepped next
to me and whispered
“She’s completely off her nut.”
The song abruptly ceased and she rose and took hold of Amy again,
“Alright Sister, you are up, now don’t screw this up like last time.” she commanded.
Amy looked at me helplessly then finally said to the woman who was now respectfully standing with her hands raised in prayer and with her head bowed,
“What am I supposed to do?” Amy asked.
I shrugged but the crazy lady answered without opening her eyes.
“Sister Grace please! You need to pray for the souls of the cursed so they can leave purgatory.”
She dropped to her knees and waited for Sister Amy/Grace to begin the holy ceremony, but it was Doctor Mary’s voice that broke the silence.
“Ogidoda, Father of all mankind, Ada Ayqua, Great Spirit that gives life to the world. We your children, come today to ask that these poor lost spirits, these brothers and sisters, be taken across the Dark Place and that you save their tortured spirits from the torment of what they had become. Absolve them the sins they could not stop, grant them peace, and let your children forget this travail. Let them know only the joy of being with you, Great Father of the Stars.”
There was silence for a moment before Amy quietly added
“Amen”
The woman then stood up and opened her eyes with her arms crossed in front of her chest and stared at the rot filled exoskeletons. We waited for a moment but when Amy said
“So…”
The woman cut her off and pointed at the pile of corpses and yelled