When They Came

by Kody Boye

  I shifted a foot back onto the next step.

  The stairs groaned.

  The creature—having sensed I was in the house—moved toward the doorway.

  I turned and crept as silently but quickly as possible, protesting each creak the stairs made on the way.

  As I entered the bedroom, the doorknob began to jiggle.

  I’d just closed myself into the closet when I heard the front door open.

  And I’d just sunk back behind the rows of clothes when I heard it enter the house.

  I tried to control my breathing—drawing breaths through my nose and expelling them out my mouth. My heart hammered, my thoughts raced, my chest hurt from the panic constricting around my ribs. I felt completely vulnerable at that moment—and realized, shortly thereafter, that I should’ve at least tried to grab something I could use to defend myself. I hadn’t bothered to check if they’d left me a gun upon getting up, so even if I did leave the safety of the closet, there was a chance one wouldn’t be there. And if there wasn’t, and if it was making its way up the stairs—

  I began to paw along the floor for anything of use when I heard the stairs creak.

  “Oh my God,” I whispered, so faintly that I could barely hear it.

  Sinking against the back of the closet, I prayed it wouldn’t find me—that it wouldn’t hear me, wouldn’t sense I was in the closet by some bizarre twist of fate and eat me once it opened the door.

  I drew myself into as tight a ball as I could and closed my eyes.

  The devil outside cleared the stairwell. Its tread sounded through the halls. I stopped breathing through everything but my nose. My ears—painfully aware of the silence in the home—struggled to hear over the scream of white noise drumming throughout my head. The only thing louder than the thing making its way through the hallway was the sound of my heartbeat.

  I grimaced, hoping the thing—the monster, that devil, that creature from another world—wouldn’t hear me.

  I’d die of a heart attack before the creature ever found me.

  When I was about to inhale a breath of air, I heard the door to the bedroom creak open.

  I froze—and prayed, harder than I ever had in my entire life, for my salvation.

  A million thoughts pounded throughout my head as its footsteps entered the bedroom.

  Where were Jason and Asha? Why weren’t they back yet? Would they see that the door was open? And if they did, would they know something was wrong, that I was in danger, that something had entered our requisitioned home and was lying in wait for them?

  I heard the sound of its wheezed breathing and felt tears come to my eyes.

  I didn’t want to die—not like this: completely defenseless and alone without anyone to see me off.

  Suddenly, everything came to a pause.

  No movement, no breathing, no wheezing.

  “Ana Mia?” I heard Jason call out. “Is everything all—”

  “HELP!” I screamed. “HELP!”

  It launched itself at the door, struggling to claw at the doorknob as I threw myself opposite it. Its grunts and snarls of protest were enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck, and its constant assault against the door sent jarring pain throughout my body. I continued to scream—continued to yell for them to help—but knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back its assault for long. They needed to run up the stairs, they needed to get in the room, they needed to take their guns, aim, fire, and cut down the creature that was determined to tear me apart.

  I heard footsteps barreling up the stairs.

  I threw myself back.

  The door burst open.

  The creature, in all its malevolent glory, howled.

  My arms covered my face just in time for one of the guns to go off. Blood sprayed my figure as the creature fell dead at my feet.

  I flung myself from the doorway and into the arms of the first person who was there—Asha’s. I sobbed as the creature trembled one last time before expiring at my feet.

  “Ana,” Asha said, pushing my head away and taking my face into my hands. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did it get you?”

  “No,” I sobbed, trying my hardest not to choke on my own snot and spit as I continued to shake. “I’m okay. I’m—”

  “We need to leave,” Jason said. “Now.”

  There was no denying that the creatures knew where we were. With the psychic link theory more than possible, we left the house and passed through the bright daylight as fast as we could—running, at times, down the hill, trampling through snow and leaving obvious footprints in our wake. Once we hit the highway we broke into a full-out run. I, still recovering from my sickness, struggled to keep up, but managed to regardless of my near-death experience.

  We ran for what felt like hours, but was likely only a few minutes.

  When the house on the hill was but a blur upon the hazy horizon, we slowed to a walk and breathed relief for having made it safely away from the house.

  “I’m sorry we left you,” Jason said after a moment’s hesitation. “We needed to get more food.”

  “We didn’t know there’d be Coyotes around,” Asha replied. “I swear, Ana Mia. We’d’ve never left you if we thought you were in danger.”

  “It’s all right.” I sighed, struggling to fight back the tears that threatened to break from my eyes. “It isn’t your fault.”

  “Yes, it is. You could’ve died.”

  “But you got back before I did.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  “Did you get what you were going for?”

  “I picked as many peaches as the bag could carry,” she said, drawing up alongside me to set a hand on my shoulder. She considered me for a moment—her big blue eyes taking in me, my features, and the panic etched along them—before pulling me into a hug. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” I said, shrugging out of her grasp. “We just need to keep moving.”

  “Do you know what city’s coming up next?” Jason asked, leading the group as if we were his pack and he the triumphant marksman that would shield us from all danger.

  “I think it’s called Stonewall,” Asha said.

  “How long will it take us to get there?”

  “I don’t think that long.”

  “Then let’s go,” I said, pushing forward without hesitation. “We need to make sure we have room between us and them before night falls.”

  We reached the outskirts of Stonewall later that afternoon. Lonely, and resembling a ghost town in all shapes and respects, we travelled down the street with Asha and Jason’s guns drawn and my knife-wielding self trailing shortly behind.

  “This is creepy,” Jason said, examining the buildings that appeared to be in pristine condition. “This place has been maintained.”

  “You think there are people here?” Asha asked.

  “I don’t know,” the young man replied, “but I wouldn’t doubt it. Keep your guard up, guys. We don’t know what we might be dealing with.”

  No. We didn’t. And that was the scariest part.

  Back in Fort Hope, we’d never had to worry about ulterior motives, backstabbing criminals or wayward vigilantes who wished nothing but harm upon their fellow man. But there, in the wilds of Central Texas, there could be anyone or anything waiting for us. Bandits. Murderers. Ex-cons. Rapists.

  I dreaded to think what would happen if Asha and I were to get caught and instinctively drew up beside the girl—knowing, without a shroud of doubt upon my conscience, I needed to stay as close to her as possible.

  “You okay?” she asked, turning to regard me.

  “I’m nervous.”

  “I am too. She trailed her gun along the buildings—from the rooftops to the storefronts, then to the slim number of houses that flanked the distant roads.

  “Maybe we should go around,” I suggested. “We’re too exposed here in the middle of town.”

  “I’d agree,” Jason started, “but if there’s anyone here, they’ve likely already seen us
by now.”

  “How do you—”

  I froze as I detected movement in my peripheral.

  “Did you see that?” I asked, the breath lost from my throat.

  “See what?” He frowned.

  “There. On the rooftops.”

  A shot rang out.

  Debris exploded inches from Asha’s foot.

  “Get down!” Jason said, hurling himself behind a vehicle just in time for another gunshot to pierce the silence.

  “Looks like we got ourselves some survivors,” an adult man’s voice said in the moments following our evasion.

  “And they’re armed,” another man offered.

  “Two girls and a boy,” a third said. The glee in his voice was enough to make my skin crawl. “Looks like they’re ripe for the picking too.”

  “Young. Fresh. Cute.”

  “You stay away!” Asha cried out, releasing the safety on her gun. “We’re not afraid to shoot!”

  “And neither are we,” one of the men said.

  I peeked over the side of the overturned car we were behind and saw that there were at least four, if not five of them ahead of us, both groups divided along each side of the road and sequestered along the rooftops in ample sniping positions. I gestured Jason and Asha to crane their heads around and look at where I was looking, but grimaced as the sound of a loading gun entered my ears.

  “Drop your weapons and come out. Now.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Jason whispered, turning his head to look at us. “You have no idea what they’ll do to you.”

  “I think we have an idea,” Asha said, the tears at the corners of her eyes glistening.

  “We can’t just sit here.” I glanced from Asha, to Jason, then back to Asha, trying to fight back my own panic. I craned my head back around and grimaced as I saw all of their guns pointed right toward us. “Jason—”

  “Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said, releasing the safety on his gun. “There’s only two of them on the right side of the street. I’m going to step out and cause a diversion. Once they’ve got their eyes set on me, you run.”

  “Jason,” Asha started.

  “We don’t have any other choice,” the young man whispered, reaching down to take hold of her hand. “Listen here, okay? I want you two to run as fast and as far away from here as you can. I’ll catch up.”

  “We’re not leaving you,” I replied.

  “You’re not. You’re just running ahead. Okay?”

  “This is crazy,” Asha said. “This’ll never work.”

  “It has to. Otherwise…”

  He didn’t finish his thought.

  He didn’t need to.

  My own twisted brain filled in the rest.

  “On the count of three,” Jason said, flexing his calves and rising into a high crouch. “One, two… three!”

  He fired.

  Asha and I bolted.

  Gunfire sprayed the street as the three of us split up.

  “Run!” I cried as the gunfire landed at our feet, breaking up the asphalt and sending bits of snow and dirt everywhere. “Run, Asha! Run!”

  We tore through the main intersection and into suburban neighborhoods that covered the southern side of the town, passing through front yards, back yards, and alleyways. My lungs ached in protest and my feet threatened to slip out from under me. Still, I continued to run, tailing Asha to make sure we weren’t being followed. I cast a glance over my shoulder and saw no men, but heard nothing but gunfire in the distance.

  Jason, Jason—

  Poor Jason.

  He’d potentially sacrificed himself so the two of us could get away.

  I couldn’t think that he was dead. Surely he had to have made it out alive. Surely—

  Out of nowhere, the gunfire stopped.

  Asha and I halted and looked back to where we’d run from.

  “We have to keep going,” I said, taking hold of her sleeve and dragging her along.

  “But what about—”

  I shook my head. We couldn’t worry about him. If we slowed down, even for a moment, there was a distinct chance we would get caught, or worse.

  I gestured Asha onward.

  After only a brief moment of hesitation, she took off.

  I followed suit.

  Chapter 12

  The two of us headed away from the small town until we came across the turnoff for a place called Lyndon B. Johnson State Park. Knowing it was as good a place as any to stop and wait for Jason, we walked down the dirt road—hoping, by God’s giving grace or the cruel chance of luck, that we hadn’t been followed by anyone or anything. Once we reached the parking lot of the visitor’s center, we paused to catch our breath before looking back.

  “Jason,” Asha managed. “Do you see him?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I don’t.”

  The young woman didn’t reply. Rather, she leaned down, braced a hand against one knee, and drew in several long, laborious breaths. Sweat lined her brow, and the desperate rise and fall of her chest belied her exhaustion, but there was little I could do to help her.

  All I could think about was Jason and the way he’d helped us.

  I shivered as the realization that the temperature could continue to plummet settled upon me, and I turned to look at the center. “We should go inside,” I said, gesturing with a jut of my chin. “It’s going to be dark soon.”

  “You really think so?” Asha asked.

  “Look,” I said, and pointed. Storm clouds were fast approaching, blanketing the eastern sky like a blight upon humanity far worse than any alien invasion. If it happened to be as bad as it looked, we were in for a long, cold night.

  With a nod, she walked with me, her eyes scanning for anything that might be lurking in the trees. Simple wooden and barbed-wire fences cordoned off sections of land that surrounded us, but at only waist-height, they would do little to stop anything truly determined to reach us.

  As we approached the center, I looked back at the road and hoped Jason would be wise enough to consider looking at the center first.

  “You think he’ll find us?” Asha asked, as if reading my thoughts.

  “I think he will.” I refused to pose the alternative.

  Given the way the gunfire had stopped so abruptly, I’d wondered—and still continued to dread—the possibility he’d been killed. It wouldn’t be unlikely, considering most of their fire had been trained on him, but I didn’t want to think that a friend of ours was dead—not now, not after everything he’d done to make sure we were safe.

  With a sigh, I gestured for Asha to open the door and exhaled when it parted without resistance.

  Inside, we went to work preparing our temporary shelter by locking the doors and crossing into the furthest corner away from the windows. We tossed a blanket over one of the benches and huddled down beneath it, then began to sort through our supplies until we came back with peaches and bottled water. I personally was glad for the shroud, as in that corner it wouldn’t be seen. Asha, though—her eyes were wrought with guilt, her mouth pulled into a frown.

  “Hey,” I said, reaching out to touch her hand. “Everything’s going to be fine. Okay?”

  “You don’t know that,” she said, taking a bite out of her peach.

  “Well… no, I don’t. But everything’s been all right so far. Right?”

  “Our families our dead. You almost got attacked by a Coyote. We were ambushed by bandits—”

  I shook my head to cut her off. Still in the throes of depression over the temporary loss of Jason, she bowed her head before reaching up to wipe tears from her eyes. “I just wish there was something more we could’ve done, you know?” she said. “Like… fight back or something. We have guns. It’s not like we couldn’t have done it.”

  “We were outnumbered,” I said. “And besides—they had the upper hand on higher ground. Jason’s diversion is the only thing that would’ve worked.”

  “And now he might be dead.”

 
I didn’t say anything. Rather, I took a bite out of my peach and turned to look outside, glad we’d found shelter as the snow fell with greater intensity.

  “Why don’t you lie down and get some rest?” I said, reaching forward to take the gun. “I’ll take first watch.”

  “No. You need the rest more than I do.”

  “You’re sure?” I paused to consider her reaction when she nodded and adjusted her hold on her weapon. “Will you promise to at least wake me up when you get tired?”

  “I promise,” Asha said.

  With one last nod, I scooted under the bench, curled into a tight ball, and closed my eyes.

  I knew sleep would not come easy, especially with Jason still gone.

  The storm that blew in chilled me to the bone. Without any source of external warmth and with no second blanket to cover me, I shivered as the temperature continued to plummet. Teeth chattering, body trembling, fingers digging into my underarms and feet tucked under one another—I opened my eyes to look out at Asha. Pity filled me for the girl who shivered openly in a place far colder than mine.

  “Asha?” I asked through chattering teeth. “Do you want to lie down with me?”

  “I nuh-nuh-need to kuh-kuh-keep watch,” she managed through her staccato of breaths.

  “I don’t think anything’s going to bother us in this weather.”

  I didn’t want to risk moving, lest I make myself even colder than I already was, so instead gestured with a few brief tilts of my head. She took the hint, crawling under the bench and settling down in front of me.

  “That okay?” she asked, instinctively scooting her body next to mine to share the warmth between us.

  “That’s fine,” I replied.

  I reached out, pressed my arm over her side, and squeezed her hand, scared over the fact that her fingers felt chilled to the bone. As I massaged her digits, I found myself nodding off even as I shivered.

  “You can let go now,” Asha said.

  “Sorry.”

  “I’m already feeling warmer now that I’m under here with you.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t offer you a spot sooner.”