The Complete Creeping Darkness

by Greyson, Quinn

  “I will promise to do my best.”

  “That’s all I can ask,” Peter said and stretched, “Well, I gotta go on patrol. We have to start making sure we’re on alert at all times. We can’t be attacked again, so easily.”

  “That I can’t argue.”

  ***

  Peter went outside and checked the school gates. They posted two fellow students to guard the gates. The two kids looked at Peter, one had a smoke, the other had his hands in his pocket and was sitting on the ground, half asleep.

  “On your feet!” Peter ordered.

  “What?”

  “On your feet, do you think sitting down is going to prevent an invasion? Are you going to see them coming?”

  “Uhm… no?”

  “That’s right. If you can’t do your duty, we’ll get someone else to do it. This is a voluntary position you know.”

  They both nodded.

  “Someone told me you killed one.”

  “Dude, he and Lee killed the ones that were in the school.”

  “Oh, right.”

  Peter nodded, “They’re dangerous, more dangerous than we know.”

  “Is the world over?”

  Peter shrugged, “Probably. Have you guys seen anything?”

  “Thankfully no activity,” the kid answered.

  “Carry on, keep on your feet.”

  “Yes sir,” one kid said.

  ***

  He walked back into the school and looked into the classrooms. The kids painted the windows black to block out light, they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves. They had scant weaponry and were not prepared for a second invasion . They had only survived the first one because of the small numbers of the attackers, Peter thought maybe it had just been a exploratory unit.

  The students started to gather what weapons they could, including sharpening the fencing swords and raiding the gymnasium stores for anything practical and useful. Peter had brought with him from West Point his decorative side piece and sword. Although the gun was missing it’s firing pin, he thought he could deal with it in shop class and the same thing with his sword, he would sharpen it to usefulness, as an instructor use to say to him all the time. Lee reported to him that he had a trio of decorative swords, two real samurai swords that he had lied to the prefects about, despite the fact that such weapons were prohibited. Lee also had his gun.

  Peter looked around at the lonely dark school and immediately knew his old life was over, replaced with God knows what? Death, destruction, misery, a second chance, a new beginning?

  He sighed and left the school. A cool breeze blew over him, rustling some of the dead leaves that were very confused. He looked up at the sky and could see the Sun and it’s cocoon. It was so weird. He knew he had to go back to the dorms, but out here, at least he got to be away from the constant influx of news and doom. Listening to the kids were driving him crazy. But at least Maddie was there.

  ***

  Peter walked into Maddie’s room. Maddie was in bed with her fever, she was on antibiotics and painkillers, the ones that they had managed to scrounge up. He stroked her damp forehead and looked around at the various people attending to her. All her friends had come together to do their best to help her.

  “Hey, sexy,” he whispered.

  She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He kissed her cheek and sat beside her on her bed.

  “Hi,” she replied weakly and shifted herself up, he helped her. It was sad to look at her like this. He’d be so relieved when she was better.

  “Everything’s good. I’ve done everything you asked. We’re locked down and we hopefully have workable defenses.”

  “Good. Is it still dark?”

  He nodded.

  “Have those bugs been around?”

  “No. But I did talk to my brother.”

  “I thought the phones were down?”

  “Yeah they are, but I’m using a government satellite frequency, but he’s the only number I can speak to. He told me that the power and phone lines are down throughout most of the world. They named the creatures.”

  Her interest piqued at that.

  “They call the ground soldiers Night Crawlers and the flying armored things Night Dragons.”

  “Ooh sounds scary.”

  He nodded his head slightly.

  “Yup. He said they’re all over the planet. The only safe places are in the deep North.”

  She sat there silent for a minute.

  “Interesting. Makes sense, but with the sun blocked out, eventually the whole planet will get cold. Unless…” she looked away, He reached over and grabbed her hand.

  “Unless what?”

  Sophie walked in.

  “Hi,” she smiled weakly at Peter.

  He hadn’t seen her for the past two days. Her and Maddie spent a lot of time together, but he was too busy lording over the school for Maddie. Sophie came and sat on the other side of the bed.

  “Well, fill me in to the inner workings of your marvelous mind, unless what?” Peter asked.

  “Well, it’s just a theory of course. But maybe they’re only coming up to get food and then were only planning to go back. They probably don’t really care what’s going on up here and if the whole world freezes they have a warm underground.”

  Peter slightly nodded his head. This was too much.“That’s too sci-fi for me, sexy.”

  Sophie touched Maddie’s head and put her fingers through her hair.

  “You could use a good conditioning,” Sophie told her.

  “Well if these guys would bring me to a hospital,” she joked, regaining some of her strength.

  A worried sigh escaped from Peter.

  “Have you talked to anyone; does anyone know what’s wrong with me?”

  “Well you know you’re sick. You have an infection it can… will, if not properly treated result in kidney failure.”

  “Well, what are we going to do then?” Sophie asked.

  Peter wondered how Sophie was taking the whole Alessandro thing, but never asked.

  Peter`s vision blurred, he looked way trying to regain his composure. Maddie grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

  “We’ll do what he can. It’s not like I’m the only person sick in the world, millions, if not billions are suffering right now,” Maddie told him and Sophie. “How is everyone else?”

  “Scared. A group of about ten students took off this morning. I was going to tell you but didn’t want to bother you. They wanted to take tons of supplies but Lee threatened to shoot them. I let them take enough for a couple days and told them that if they wanted to leave then they’d have to face the reality of the outside world,” Peter explained.

  “Good. We can’t be just giving away our life blood.”

  “You need to tan,” Maddie said to Sophie and then turned back to Peter. “Block off the greenhouses and treat them like a reward, ration their usage out. I doubt we’re utilizing it to our full potential. We should get people there; the excess oxygen and light will do people good. I’m not a botanist, but I’ve seen the grass dying I worry about the earth’s oxygen.”

  He nodded. Maddie closed her eyes.

  “Sophie told me you found Ms. Holloway and Mr. Griffin in the school basement this afternoon?”

  “Yeah, unfortunately. I like Ms. Holloway, but you know Mr. Griffin’s going to want to take control from us.”

  “You and Lee both attended military schools didn’t you?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “In ancient Rome, before the divine Augustus was the first emperor, the state of Rome would elect a dictator. This man would see them through a crisis. A famous example of this was Cincinnatus, he took the reins of a Rome that was under threat and defeated his enemies and gave back the power soon after. If Griffin takes charge he’ll use his academic mind, he’ll make us militarily weak. I’m not the biggest lover of the military, I’m a Socialist, you know that, but we’re far past the point of whether or not we need force. We need to be
strong, we need warriors at a time like this. This is a war, not a time to talk to our enemies and I fear Mr. Griffin won’t have the aptitude for that need, nor the appetite. If we don’t have strong leadership we’ll die, we need you. Just like in Rome, before the Caesars, someone would have to step up, you need to do that now. Can you?”

  “How can I not? I know who Cincinnatus was. I can do this… if you’re with me.”

  “She laughed, “I don’t know how much say I’ve got in that. That’s a question for God.”

  “And where is this God at a time like this?” Sophie asked.

  “Watching us, judging our character.”

  “Well, that’s pretty lousy of him.”

  Maddie reached up and wiped away a tear from Sophie’s eye.

  Maddie’s eyes sparkled with a light Peter hadn’t seen for the past two days.

  “He’s always with us, even if we don’t know it. He believes in us, even if we don’t in him.”

  Sophie was now lying on the bed beside Maddie.

  “Everything will be okay, we’ll win. I promise. This is just our flood of darkness, it’s written in the bible that we’d be just as wicked as the men in the time of Noah and we’d be facing our own flood.”

  “A flood of darkness?” Sophie questioned.

  Maddie nodded, “Yeah.”

  Peter stood up.

  “I’m going to talk to Lee,” he said.

  “That’s good because I’m going to clean Maddie up a bit and I don’t want you to see any of her naughty bits,” Sophie said, sitting back up. She wasn’t always that cordial to him, but she loved Maddie and would do anything for her, which once again explained the hate for him.

  “Like a sponge bath?” He smiled. “Because I’ve seen her naked, but I haven’t seen a girl give her a sponge bath,” he laughed, brightening up a little.

  “Go!” Maddie said, starting to get a bit weaker again.

  “Just lock the door; I don’t want people seeing my girlfriend naked.”

  He kissed her head. He shut the door and leaned against the wall. It was so hard to see her like that. It was stupid and ridiculous and he couldn’t help it. But he guessed he could somehow, he had to find that machine that Jack needed.

  ***

  The hall was fairly full. Although the school had two dorms, one for the girls, and one for the boys, it was easier to merge them , for safety’s sake. Already Mr. Griffin was grumbling about how inappropriate it was. He grilled Peter about it when he found out. Peter had also denied him access to Maddie, but he emphasized that Maddie couldn’t take visitors at the moment, this was taken as another affront by Mr. Griffin.

  He didn’t tell Maddie that Mr. Griffin had asserted control as soon as they freed him from the basement. He started to tell everyone what to do immediately. Peter didn’t want to seem weak in front of Maddie, but what was he suppose to do? Mr. Griffin was a teacher, he was just a student, a kid. Now though that she said what she said, she had given him carte blanche to move against Mr. Griffin, if the man couldn’t quiet down. Hell Mr. Griffin wanted everyone to live underground until the police could come and save them. Peter knew he’d be a problem.

  Peter knocked on Lee’s door.

  “It’s open.”

  He walked in.

  Lee was shirtless on the floor doing push-ups.

  Peter loved Lee’s room, it was very Japanese and had posters of Japanese warriors, samurai’s and scantily clad manga and anime girl tacked to the walls.

  “Hey your father was a military man right?”

  “You know it,” Lee said in between push-ups.

  “Was he good?”

  “The best. Why?”

  “What would he have done differently if he was the Japanese in World War two?”

  “Well, first of all had Yamamoto did his job and destroyed all the American Carriers, the submarines, the repair dockyards, and destroyed the fuel oil storage Pearl Harbor would had been Japanese territory and then the Americans would had to either concede or face further attacks. That attack would have wiped out all further American involvement in the Pacific. Then they would have to worry about the European front. Let them fight it out, as the Japanese wipe out everything in the Pacific and then invade China properly and then Russia. Russia diverts their forces from solely fighting the Germans, giving Germany back the edge. Then we attack the Middle East and have sole ownership of the entire world’s oil and then starve everyone out. They make deals. We fuel Germany to make sure they don’t turn on us, but we make sure they battle to a standstill and make sure they beat each other until they starve. I win!”

  “You mean the Japanese.”

  “I am Japanese.”

  “Okay. Japanese… try saying that ten times in a row, loses all meaning, starts to sound very racist.”

  He grabbed a handheld Japanese game.

  “That hasn’t even been released here yet,” Lee said proudly.

  “Nor I suspect will it be.”

  Lee paused and got up.

  “Oh yeah… damn, and I only have three games. Well, what’s up? What do I owe the privilege of seeing the great and mighty Peter?”

  “Why are you saying that?”

  “You’re getting a reputation about battling that Night Crawler with your bare hands.”

  “Didn’t quite happen like that, besides you’re the one who shot it.”

  “Seems like the story’s changed a little along the way.”

  Peter shrugged, “Did you enjoy being a soldier?”

  “Being a Japanese soldier nowadays isn’t like being a soldier in the old days.”

  “Regardless.”

  “Yes. I perhaps dreamed too big sometimes.”

  “Ahh, you’re one of those. I always thought that that was what explained manga. So violent, I guess all the young Japanese kids needed an outlet for their war-like tendencies.”

  “To say that Japanese people are war-like is racist.”

  “To say African-Americans win every race in the world and dominate football and basketball and the reason that has happened is because slave owners bred them like that is racist as well.”

  “Sounds like divine justice to me.”

  “I need your help. I told you about the machine we need from a hospital to help Maddie. I need to put a team together to get it.”

  “Of course, you don’t even need to ask bro. We’re in this together.”

  “Thank you, I’m glad to hear that. Because second; although I thought we were in charge, Mr. Griffin has come from the depths of the basement to assert his authority over the student body.”

  “Yeah, that sucks, I thought all the teachers were gone or dead. Not that I mind Ms. Holloway being around, she’s hot.”

  “Yeah, anyhow, Maddie seriously questions his ability to lead us.”

  Lee smiled and put on a tank top.

  “I like where this is going, continue.”

  “Well, when we get back and Maddie’s better, we contemplate regime change. We start running this place like Rome, Sparta or the Japanese equivalent if you prefer.”

  “Like the Empire with Shoguns and Samurai?”

  “ Sure, are you in? Because it could be dangerous, but we have to act fast before Mr. Griffin can get any type of followers. He might be stupid, but he still wants to survive and he hates me.”

  “A military dictatorship? Sounds good to me. In fact, I think I may even have the solution. My father sent me a little something.”

  They shook hands.

  “Good, thanks! We go tonight to get Maddie’s machine.”

  Chapter 17

  “Can you give us a few minutes?” Madison asked Sophie as Peter sat at her side.

  Sophie nodded, not really wanting to leave. She quietly and wordlessly left the room.

  Maddie pulled Peter down to her and kissed him.

  “I don’t think she’s happy,” Peter said.

  “I know, but she can’t be in here for what’s going to happen next.”

&nbs
p; “And what’s that?”

  “You know.”

  “Maddie, you’re sick.”

  “So, maybe it’ll help me, it won’t hurt and it’ll make us both feel better right? You can do that for me, can’t you?”

  “Of course, but…”

  “No buts.”

  Peter kissed her and took off his shirt. Maddie had a blanket around her, she moved it and Peter leaned beside her and kissed her. Maddie wrapped her arms around his neck and let Peter kiss her neck and bite at her ear, the way she liked.

  Peter kissed down her neck to her breasts and licked at her nipple, he squeezed her other breast and then kissed the other nipple.

  He reached down to her black panties and ran his fingers across her seam and caressed the outside of her panties and grabbed at her crotch.

  Maddie ran her hand over Peter’s crotch as well, and started undoing his pants.

  Maddie spread her legs open as Peter’s hand slipped under her panties and he caressed her pussy. Playing with her pussy lips, running his finger over her clit, teasing her vaginal opening.

  Maddie moaned as Peter played with her.

  Peter bit at her breasts and moved down to her flat tummy.

  Maddie passionately rubbed her hands through his hair as he kissed her hips , down her thigh and up to the indent in her legs, just around her crotch. Peter moved her panties over and kissed at her pussy, and slightly rubbed at her clit.

  He moved his tongue over her clit and sucked at her pussy lips, running his tongue back through her pussy.

  “Peter!” Maddie moaned and pulled at his hair.

  Maddie spasmed a little bit as pleasure jolted through her body.

  Peter fingered her pussy and pushed a finger inside her and started fingering her. He licked at her clit as he did this and Maddie moaned louder.

  Peter stood up and pulled Maddie’s panties off and took off the rest of his clothes.

  “Fuck me Peter, fuck me so hard.”

  “I’ll fuck you baby.”

  Peter teased her pussy with his cock and shoved it in, Maddie gave another moan as Peter filled her pussy with his cock.

  Peter started fucking her as he kissed her and moved down, biting her neck.

  Peter moved up and got on his knees as he fucked her, he lifted up her ass and Maddie reached down and fingered her clit.