by Alex Bratton
Darnell spat. “Looks like it.”
“That’s not all,” Leon said. “They have stories about something in the woods up behind those houses you just passed. They’re all loony.”
Janie shivered, but she didn’t have time to comment before Darnell peered at the sleeping baby.
“Last time I saw you, Janie, you didn’t look pregnant.” The smile that followed appeared forced.
Janie took a deep breath, wondering how much to tell them. They thought the town was crazy, but the creature she’d encountered in the woods wasn’t a figment of her imagination. Nor was the baby. So, in as few sentences as possible, she briefed them as they walked toward the other end of town.
When she finished her story, Darnell whistled. “You serious?”
“I didn’t make it all up!” Janie snapped. She was exhausted from her flight down the mountain and didn’t feel like answering questions.
The baby woke, crying for the first time in an hour.
Leon looked at the child with pity. “What are you going to do with it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe one of the people around here—”
He shook his head. “You won’t say that after you see them. We told you. Loony.” He twirled his finger around his ear for added emphasis.
“What made you and Fernando go back and look for the baby?” Leon asked.
Janie let the child wrap her hand around her index finger and pretended not to hear him. The baby was old enough to eat some solid food. They’d just have to mash it up. Maybe Janie would name her Eve, after her grandmother.
“Janie?”
Janie looked up. “Is there somewhere I can take a nap?”
The chalet on the edge of town was the biggest Janie had ever seen. It stood on a rise overlooking the village, at the end of its own drive. Enormous windows allowed three-hundred-sixty-degree views of the surrounding mountains and village.
It had belonged to the mayor, who had died in the church fire.
“No one’s been willing to talk about what happened at the church,” Darnell said as they approached, “but several people died there. I think that’s why they left this house empty.”
A barn sat behind the house next to a paddock. It was almost as big as the house, its stalls lined with gleaming wood and iron décor.
“It’s empty. I bet they ate the horses,” Darnell said darkly, nodding toward the trees behind the house.
Janie followed his gaze. A woman walked by, popping out of the trees dressed in clothes four sizes too big for her. Staring at them with dull eyes, she skirted the perimeter of the property as if afraid of being caught. When she reached the lane, she turned and walked toward town.
“They all act that way,” Leon said. “Crazy. The lieutenant’s out trying to get them all situated.”
Leon and Darnell promised to stick around the house while Janie got a few winks then left Janie to find her own way around inside.
Upstairs was a spare room, plainly decorated with cream walls and a generic blue quilt. She didn’t like the feeling of being so exposed by the large window looking out over the trees, but she was too exhausted to do anything about it. She found canned vegetables for Eve, fed her, ate some herself, and laid the baby down on the bed. A few minutes later, Janie was asleep beside her.
She awoke in the dark when Eve started crying. The girl was going to be a problem. How was she going to take a noisy, fussy baby back to the colonel?
You don’t have to go back. You could stay here.
Janie thought of what waited in the trees above the town and shuddered. Taking the baby back through the forest was not an option. She’d have to leave Eve here. If she stayed with Eve, she would be deserting, an action she was loathe to do despite the hopelessness of their situation.
Janie had her own daughter to worry about. If she deserted, she’d go look for her own family, not stay here to take care of somebody else’s. Fernando would say that was the right thing to do.
Is that what had happened to Emily? Had she been passed from stranger to stranger because no one wanted the liability?
With a guilty, tired groan, Janie rolled out of bed. She opened a closet door and looked at the clothing. Having worn her uniform for months on end, she was sick of it. She wanted to wear something—anything—that made her feel normal. Not much hung in the closet except a loose navy dress with tiny pink flowers. On a whim, she put it on and looked at herself in the mirror. It hung just above her knees. If she’d been at her normal weight, the dress would have fit perfectly. With her bony white legs sticking out the bottom, Janie realized just how much weight she’d lost.
Eve stirred, cooing softly. Soon, she would be hungry again, so Janie walked downstairs to the kitchen where the tile floor was shockingly cold on her bare feet. She passed a large bay window. Moonlight filtered through and lit up the house in a white, eerie glow.
It was quiet, though. It looked like Leon and Darnell had left. They’d promised not to do that. Janie grew irritated at their disappearance. All she had wanted was one night’s sleep in peace, but they must have been called away on an errand. Peace was only ever an illusion, anyway.
She walked from window to window, searching for one of them, for some sort of connection because she didn’t want to be alone. An impressive study looked out over the back porch. Bookshelves lined the walls, and an expansive desk faced the dark mountains beyond the glass.
A small hardcover book lay on it, decorated with gold lettering. Janie picked it up, brushing her fingers over the title. Poems for the Grieving. She opened it and flipped through, perusing the titles and stopping to read a few in the moonlight coming through the window. When she finally stirred, the moon had shifted. Janie stuffed the little book down the front of her dress and then turned back to the kitchen.
A minute later, Leon walked in, his hulking frame filling the outside doorway and blocking out some light. He raised his eyebrows when he saw her.
“Don’t look so shocked to see me in a dress, Leon Bass.”
“I’m not,” he said, shrugging, but he didn’t take his eyes off her. “Just thought one of the townspeople had snuck in here.”
Janie prepared another meager meal for Eve. Then, as an afterthought, she found a bunch of plastic containers and began to fill them with anything she could find.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“We’re not staying here. The baby will need food.”
“You’re seriously going to keep it?”
“What if I am?”
Leon held up his hands. “Just thought maybe one of the locals would care for her.”
That’s exactly what Janie had thought upstairs, but she didn’t want to admit it to Leon. She was feeling strangely protective over the child.
“Hey, Leon, come look at this!” Darnell called from outside. “I think we found your Sasquatch over by the barn!”
“Your what?” Janie asked.
“My Sasquatch,” Leon said as he moved back toward the door. “When we first got to West Virginia, I saw something in the woods near the mine. The boys made fun of me.”
“Sasquatch is the other name for Bigfoot, right?”
Leon winked. “Yeah. It was the biggest thing I’d ever seen on two legs. It was gold. You ever heard of a gold Bigfoot?”
He walked outside to the porch, leaving Janie to stand rooted to her spot with her mouth hanging open. Gold. Bigfoot. Danger. In the next moment, she ran outside after him. She had to warn them.
“Wait! Leon!”
He turned, standing between the house and the garage, a question on his lips.
And then, as if Janie was watching a movie in slow-motion, a creature stepped out of the shadows behind the garage.
Chapter Four
In one swipe of the monster’s claws, Leon flew through the air so high he smashed through a second-story window. When the glass shattered, Baby Eve started crying, but Janie could only stare at the creature in front of her.
It was h
uge, standing on two legs like some misshapen stone statue with cold black eyes. It had claws for hands and weird symbols carved into every bit of its body. At first, she thought it was gold, but it shimmered into black when it stepped out into the moonlight.
She didn’t have a weapon.
“Janie!” Darnell called from somewhere. “Get out of there!”
Eve had worked herself into a squall now, her cries ringing through the still air. They finally prompted Janie to move. She burst into motion as the creature lunged, its claws outstretched. The air from its swipe ruffled her hair as she dodged it. Janie tucked herself into a roll just in time to stay out from under the creature’s feet.
With Janie out of the way, Darnell began laying down the first cover fire, and the quick pop-pop-pop drowned out the sounds of Eve’s screaming. All Janie could think about now was getting to the little girl and checking on Leon. Darnell’s blazing fire distracted it, giving Janie time to reach the porch. She repeated her mission to herself over and over.
Get Eve. Get Leon. Get out.
Get Eve. Get Leon. Get out.
Get Eve. Get Leon. Get—
Just before going inside, she saw three more uniforms sprint down the lane. They yelled and waved their guns, trying to get the monster’s attention.
In the next instant, Leon was beside Janie, carrying Eve. Blood and bits of glass covered his body. At Janie’s incredulous look, he jerked his head to the window he’d gone through. “Landed on a bed.”
Janie reached for Eve, but he shook his head and limped down the porch stairs. He must have been severely injured, but he kept a sharp eye on the creature trying to get into the barn where Darnell was hiding.
The other soldiers reached the house and fired on the invader, too. With her ears ringing from the battle behind, Janie ran with Leon down the drive. The gravel bit into her bare feet.
Leon turned and handed Eve to her. “Look, you don’t have your weapons, and you don’t have armor. Get the kid out while you can.”
“What do you mean?”
Leon jerked his head up, and Janie followed his gaze.
Above them, a gigantic ship that looked like black stone hovered over the valley. It blocked out the moon, casting a huge shadow over the entire village. Someone behind screamed as more glass shattered. Then, a different roar sounded, an unearthly call that Janie felt in her bones.
Leon turned and ran back to the house, and Janie lost sight of him in the dark.
She hadn’t even thanked him.
The invader ran through the line of soldiers firing upon it, stampeding through them like they were nothing but grass. Men flew into the air, more shots were fired, and then the screaming began.
An M4 rifle landed not ten feet from Janie, batted away from the creature like a baseball. Suddenly, all the anger and rage she’d been feeling came to a head, and she knew what to do. She ran forward and grabbed the gun, slinging it over her shoulder while keeping a firm grip on Eve.
Townspeople were running past the driveway, screaming, adding to the confusion. The ship overhead swung down until it was almost sitting on top of the houses. In the back of her mind, Janie wondered if they were looking for something.
A man and woman ran past the gates.
“Hey!” Janie called. She ran to them and held out Eve. “Will you take her?”
“That’s Betty Faye’s little girl,” the woman said.
“Betty Faye is gone,” Janie said. “I’ll come back for the baby, though.” Janie glanced back at the house, at her friends dying. “Please,” she begged. “I’ll take care of her. I’ll find you.”
Without a word, the man wrenched Eve from Janie’s arms. Eve cried anew, and Janie’s temper flashed. The couple didn’t give Janie a chance to protest or even to say goodbye. They ran off down the road, the last ones out of town.
With her heart torn open once again, Janie gripped her gun and ran back to join the fight. Even if all the others were dead, she’d do this for them. If she could buy the townspeople time, if she—
But the creature had disappeared again.
“Hey, you piece of alien filth! Come out and fight me, too!”
She looked around at the blood and gore on the driveway. In the dark, the bodies were so mangled she couldn’t tell who was who. The metallic smell of blood filled her nostrils. The odor only enraged her more, and she turned on the spot in the middle of the carnage, shouting for the creature until her voice was raw.
“Coward!”
The first burst of light from the ship hit the village like lightning, and the far end of town lit up like a small atomic bomb had fallen on it. The first wave hit Janie, knocking her backward onto the porch steps. When she put her hand down to push herself up, she slipped in blood. A quick check determined it wasn’t hers.
Then she realized that her old clothes and boots were upstairs. She was practically in the house already.
Before Janie could get inside, something crunched on the gravel, and the creature stepped out from the side of the house. She forgot all about her boots. With an angry roar, she opened fire, focusing her aim on the thing’s chest. The creature screeched and smashed one of the porch posts like it was a mere twig.
The post splintered, sending shards of wood at Janie’s face. She ducked as the porch ceiling began to cave. Shielding her face, she scrambled backward off the other side to crouch beneath a window. But the creature wasn’t finished with the house. It smashed through the other side, tearing down the porch, the front of the house, looking for Janie.
So Janie gave it what it wanted. With her heart pounding and the blood rushing in her ears, she stepped out in front of the house, aimed for its head and glowing eyes.
She fired.
Despite the darkness, the creature was close enough, and Janie’s hand was steady enough, that she hit it squarely in its right eye. The black orb burst, and a glowing silver liquid flowed out. The monster reared back and roared so loudly Janie had to suppress the urge to drop her gun and cover her ears.
In a surge of triumph, she fired again, this time at its other eye, but she missed. The invader ducked, but neither fled nor attacked. Taking advantage of its indecision, Janie fired again and again until the gun clicked with a sickening finality. Out of ammo. She hadn’t done any more damage. Body shots were useless.
The creature opened its giant jaws, revealing rows of fangs like it was smiling. Silver blood still flowed down its face and ran into the circular grooves on its body. With a pang of fear, Janie realized that this was it. She stared into its cold, hideous eye, pouring all her anger, guilt, and grief into her glare, daring it to attack.
The creature took a step toward her then another. Janie stepped back, feeling the gravel bite her feet. Again, she felt the tug of dread in the pit of her stomach, finally realizing what it was. She had been dreading her own death, worried that she would die before she could make amends.
Emily was out there somewhere. Janie had abandoned her.
Something snapped in her mind, and she screamed at the creature in front of her. All the emotions she’d been suppressing burst to the surface, all the fear and pain and devastation. In one final act of rebellion, Janie hurled the gun at her attacker, but it fell short, at least ten feet from its target.
The invader took another step toward her. In the moonlight, its skin almost sparkled gold, and, in another lifetime, Janie might have thought it was beautiful.
It was waiting for something, hesitating. Maybe she had scared it. Janie laughed. It was probably just making sure she didn’t have any more weapons.
What about Eve? The baby wasn’t dead yet, and she would need somebody to care for her. Something solidified in Janie’s heart, and she resolved to get away. No matter what, she wasn’t abandoning another child.
Behind, another wave of fire hit the town, and the rest of the buildings exploded in a spectacular display of raw power. The valley lit up with the blaze like night had suddenly turned to day. Heat washed over Janie, and f
irelight glittered off the shards of glass near the house.
The creature lunged.
But she wasn’t going to die, not today. Eve was waiting for her.
Janie bolted for the trees. Sharp rocks and sticks tore into her feet. She ignored the pain, pushing through it until it was no more than an annoyance. Behind her, the ground shook. The creature would get her. It would scoop her up in one step.
Since Janie didn’t feel claws at her back, she kept running.
I’m coming, Eve.
The beautiful house exploded in light and fire, the shockwave sending stabbing pain from Janie’s ears all the way into her teeth. She stumbled, regained her footing, and kept running. The trees beside the lane were too small to provide cover but enough to hinder her escape. Vines grabbed her ankles, something sharp hit her calf, and still, Janie didn’t stop.
Through the trees, she saw the villagers scrambling to find cover, moving down the road like ghosts in the moonlight. They would be ghosts soon if the invaders found them.
Then, something hit Janie like a stone wall crushing her, and her body flew sideways. Just as before, everything moved in slow motion. As the trees swung up to meet her head, Janie wondered if that couple had got out. She hoped they weren’t disappointed in having to care for Emily.
No, Eve. Eve was the baby she’d been looking after. Emily, her daughter, might as well be dead, and Janie was going to see her.
A flash of pain, a glimpse of stars. A heavy footfall, a release of feeling.
Exhausted and disoriented, Janie’s strength gave out, her body sagging to the damp earth. She took one more whiff of its mossy, organic scent and then passed out.
Chapter Five
After an uneventful night, Mina and Doyle passed the next day chatting with the other settlers. The voting had not taken place as planned, and no one was willing to move out without putting someone in charge because they could not agree on which direction to go.
By the end of the first day, Doyle had mimicked not only a New England accent but also perfectly copied accents from Brooklyn and Florida and another Southern drawl.