“Yeah, maybe Yale’s a burnt hole in the ground right now, but I saved people, a lot of people, so should I snap you wrist or are you going to be a lot nicer?” Peter growled.
Rachel ran over to Peter and grabbed his arm. “Peter! Let him go! Please!”
He let him go. Wendham held his wrist in pain. Rachel knelt.
“Damn mate, that’s quite a grip,” Wendham muttered.
Peter thought about Yale and the library, and the moment him and Olivia shared.
“Anyhow,” Peter continued, “We kill the power.”
“Why do we need to kill the power, the red lights aren’t that much light and we need it,” Wendham argued standing up.
“I wanted it to be a warning in case others were here, that something major was going down. And then we spray down the entire school.”
“And if there are people here? Do you care?”
“Obviuosly.”
“We can just make an announcement,” Rachel said.
“She’s right. Let’s hope for the best! But I can tell you if we kill everything here, this’ll send a message. Those damn things won’t be coming back here for a long time and even if they do decide to attack us, we’ll be better ready next time, thanks to you two. Is this stuff going to be strong enough?”
He looked at Rachel. She had tears in her eyes. He wondered if she thought he was the monster here, or if she was concerned with Wendham’s attitude towards him.
“It’ll be strong enough hopefully,” she said turning and wiping her eyes.
He wish he could apologize for hurting her, but he couldn’t have people talking to him like that. She looked so hurt.
“Well let’s go we don’t have all day, we don’t want the enemy to escape do we?” Peter said rougher than he meant to.
***
The ridiculousness of the situation didn’t escape him. He was shooting giant hopped up grasshoppers with water guns, filled with homemade pesticide while wearing a gas mask. Oh and when something still twitched he’d hack it to death with his sword. It was awesome. He cleared the hallway and moved up to the second floor, west wing. Rachel and Wendham brought up the rear.
“It seems to be working rather well,” Wendham said watching a Night Crawler twitch.
He looked down a stair well.
“I wish we had chains to lock down the doors,” Peter said. Looking around at the eerily darkly lit red halls.
“We’ll be okay,” Rachel said.
“No,” Peter said shaking his head, “This is stupid,” he looked up at the fire sprinklers, “If we’re going to go from classroom to classroom it’s going to take forever and eventually we might run into large numbers that we might not be able to deal with.”
“Yeah and I’m so freaked out,” Rachel said turning to Wendham.
“This was his bloody idea,” Wendham protested.
She nodded at him and slid against some lockers to the floor.
“How much of this stuff do you have?” Peter asked.
“We have about ten liters in the lab,” Wendham answered.
He touched a pipe that led to the sprinklers that ran across a back wall.
“That’s not enough!”
Wendham walked over to him and looked up at the sprinkler.
They looked at each other.
“We’d definitely need more,” he said looking down, thinking. “But we do have maybe two-three hundred liters of mixture in the basement. It just needs to be mixed.”
“Can you tap into the pipes in the basement? Because we could make this a whole lot easier and faster.”
“I can try.”
“I think we have a plan!” Peter said nodding, “And we can get you out of here.”
“But,” Rachel said, getting off the floor and standing, “Wouldn’t that poison the school and make it inhospitable?”
Peter rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Probably,” he shrugged.
“In theory, but after we spray the school we can open the windows and doors and rinse the school with water, it’s not something that we can’t deal with. We gain a lot more than we would lose,” Wendham pointed out.
“I guess. Just this is our school you guys. Maybe we didn’t always have the best times or the best teachers, but in whole we had a pretty good school and we had a lot of good teachers. We were all the same, the only thing that was different, was what we were into, and that’s the only thing that separated us. This was a good school and I miss it to pieces. I don’t want it to burn up like Yale,” she said looking at Peter.
“I’m not planning on burning down our school. And I really didn’t want to burn down Yale, in fact I didn’t even burn it down. The bloody bugs did, not me!”
They stood there for a few seconds looking around at their old stomping grounds. He saw the spot where he’d first kissed Madison. There was a big bay window by the stair case looking out at the woods on the side, but it showed them nothing of any potential carnage outside, just dead dying trees.
“Okay, you two hit the basement. I’ll hold the fort and try to lure them all in here. I’m trusting you with my life. So no matter what problems we may have had in the past, I trust you. So if you want to kill me, make it another time, because now we’ve got a lot riding on this,” Peter said.
Wendham clapped his back.
“Will do! Godspeed brother.”
“No guts no glory” He said as Rachel hugged him.
Wendham and Rachel headed down to the basement. He snuck over to the drama class where he sliced down two more of the creatures.
He grabbed his arm and noticed he was cut. He checked it out further and splattered blood on the floor. He could hear the hissing of more creatures. He wondered if it wasn’t his blood that suddenly started drawing them out.
More hissed at him. Peter started running and would smear his blood when he’d lose them. He soon found himself by an exit. It was a door hallway with double fire doors, there was about four feet between the two sets of door, He chained the metal doors up, effectively trapping himself, especially if this idea didn’t work, or if he had pissed Wendham off sufficiently.
He smeared his blood on the outside of the glass and lit two flares and threw them down the hallway to get the Night Crawlers attention.
They soon came and threw themselves at the doors. Peter turned his back to the creatures and looked outside. He figured if they were to break through, he’d just as soon not see it coming and at least he’d get to enjoy a nice view. He knew he’d have to set off the sprinklers, but he had to give them enough time to mix it. Unless they were dead.
The little glass panes in the doors started cracking as the Night Crawlers viciously stabbed away, looking for a meal that Peter intended to keep from them.
“Sorry guys, please…” Peter lit his lighter and put the flame up to the fire sprinklers.
Clear, pristine water ran out soaking him, the Night Crawlers and the rest of the school almost immediately.
“Damn it!” Peter yelled loudly as the clear water continued, they may have failed...
But just to be safe, he slipped his gas mask on and threw his water gun to the ground. He stood up and punched his sword through a crack, stabbing a Night Crawler. “Come on…”
Suddenly Peter became painfully aware of all the various cuts and bruises on his body as the water took on a slight green tinge. It was hard to see since he only had the dim red emergency lights to see by, but he could feel it, so he could imagine it.
He watched as the Night Crawlers started freaking out. He had shut every door after he opened them earlier. He knew they couldn’t handle door knobs and hopefully they couldn’t use the push bars either, this would hopefully effectively trap them in the school.
Peter unlocked the chains and stepped out of his little prison cautiously, knowing if this didn’t work, he was committing suicide. But the Night Crawlers were too busy running, looking for shelter. Peter started his hacking offensive with his sword. They’d fall to their side lookin
g up at him, surprise and fear overtaking their features.
“Get use to it, we’re taking back our planet!” He said through his mask. He sliced down at as many as he could, taking their heads.
He walked to the door and to the freedom of the outside world. He pulled his mask off, it was nice to breath in fresh air. He tore at his clothes, stripping down to his boxers, the stuff was stinging him to no end.
Now if Maddie was here, that would have gone off a bit differently, more organized. Not so off-the-wall. But what the hell, he got the job done.
Sporadic gunfire went off once and awhile and he prayed that his men were okay and that everyone would manage to walk away from this assault except for those damn creatures.
“Lee!” He yelled. “Rachel?” No answer. They were supposed to take a service door outside and find shelter until he came out.
“Peter?” Rachel’s voice floated out, a phantom in the night.
“Where are you?” he yelled and ran towards the sound of their voices.
He cautiously turned the corner to the teacher’s parking lot. The sound of battle. Wendham and Rachel were going to die, and soon if he didn’t get there. He had his gun and sword at the ready.
He saw Wendham, Rachel and Lee surrounded by approximately two dozen Night Crawlers. Lee looked like a wild beast as he did his best to fight back. Wendham even had a sword, Lee must have given it to him. Rachel ducked by a car protected by the two guys. She had the water gun and shot their bug killing formula at any approaching Night Crawler. She was being about as valiant as she could.
He joined in the battle.
“Where the hell were you? And where’s your clothes?” Lee asked him.
“Summer vacation, you know we have a joint in the Azores. It’s nice this time of the year. Where the hell do you think I was? I was inside getting poison poured all over me! Where the hell have you been?” he asked.
“Getting my ass beat!”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Wendham fall. He pointed his gun and shot the creature in the back of its head. Green blood splattered over Wendham’s face. Wendham gave him a slight salute, Peter thought he was getting traumatized. It was freaking him out. Battle for the first time will do that to you.
More Night Crawlers appeared front of them, he swung his gun around to fire, his finger was already committed…Rachel ran into his sights, right in front of him.
He fired… twice! Damn reflexes!.
“No!!!” Wendham screamed getting up and running towards Rachel.
“Keep fighting!” Lee yelled.
Wendham looked up at him as he held Rachel in his arms. He looked shocked and betrayed.
“Shit! Shit!” Peter uttered.
“Ahhh!” Wendham screamed as a Night Crawler brought its forearm down into his shoulder.
Peter ran over and sliced at it. Wendham tried to stand up and another Night Crawler bit at him. Peter sliced the creature’s face off. Wendham fell to the ground, holding Rachel.
“It’s just us,” Peter said to Lee.
Peter and Lee battled to the last Night Crawler.
When they were done, Peter dropped his gun and his sword and walked over to Rachel. She was gasping for breath, Wendham was drifting in and out of consciousness. Peter dropped to his knees and picked her up in his arms.
“Jesus Rachel,” Peter said softly, “I’m sorry.”
Her breathing was shallow and weak. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Peter said babbling, guilt falling from his eyes.
Her blood flowed freely, smearing Peter with it.
“You’re okay. We can get you help.”
“Is Wendham alive?” she asked as she closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
She was limp. He checked her pulse, nothing. Lee grabbed his shoulder.
“We should re-group.”
“We should get her help!”
“She’s dead Peter.”
He held Rachel close to him. He’d let another person down and they had paid the price for his failure.
TO BE CONCLUDED…
The Creeping Darkness:
Episode 3:
The Unconquered Sun
BY
QUINN GREYSON
Chapter 1
Peter had limped back to his bedroom, shaken by the events that had transpired earlier. He sat in his empty bath tub and heard the sounds of battle outside. He had managed to turn on the shower half heartedly and a light warm drizzle fell around his beat up body.
The kids at his school came out of hiding and counter-attacked. They attacked after the Night Dragons started hurling their liquids at the dorm. Some people went to the roof and counter attacked with bows and arrows.
He still couldn’t believe Rachel was dead… and that he had shot her.
“Hey,” Olivia’s voice invaded the relative quiet of his bathroom. “I knocked on your door, but no answer.”
She walked into his dark bathroom.
“Having a bath” he said quietly.
“I see that, just missing the water,” she said.
She reached out for his hand, he pushed it away.
“Don’t be like that with me!”
“What do you want?” He asked.
She reached back in and turned off the shower and put the plug in and turned back on the taps. She fell to her knees and rolled up her sleeves to feel the water. She got up and started lighting candles.
“It’s as dark as a tomb in here. You shouldn’t languish in the dark.”
She then hunted around for some salts and bubble bath, she added them to his tub.
“I don’t know what languish means,” he said. It was dark in there. He peeled off the last of his clothes and let the warm water envelope him.
“Doesn’t that feel nice?”
He nodded.
She leaned back down on her knees. Putting her hands in the water. She leaned her head on the side of the tub and looked at Peter, studying him.
“I’m very sorry to hear what happened today,” she said and touched his face, “I missed you tonight. I was worried.”
“It only gets worse. It gets harder and harder every day, and just when you think the worse is over, something else happens. Why does this crap happen to me?”
“Hey you’re not the one dead are you? Count yourself lucky. Friendly fire happens. I’m sure you didn’t turn your gun on her purposely,” she said pausing to let him either defend himself or implicate himself.
“No,” he said weakly, wondering if tears were going to come. He splashed water in his face to wash away any evidence of his weakness.
“Of course not,” she agreed.
He reached out and touched her face. She kissed his hand.
“I just need someone, I’m glad you’re here,” he said.
“You’re shaking,” she said gently. “You just got over a bad fever, you really shouldn’t be out and about.”
“It’s starting to wear on me. I hate seeing people die, our friends, our families. I hate sending people to die,” he said.
“And that’s normal. But we have to keep doing what we’re doing. Do you think all those kids wanted to storm Normandy? Probably not, but they did, because they had to. But this, this is bigger than any war the earth has ever seen. With every war before we always knew mankind was going to walk out triumphantly regardless the victor. It was always just about values, this is about extinction. The kids here, they’re all missing their families, they don’t even know if they’re alive or not. Neither do I, but I just can’t think about it. I only worry about what I can change. The constant darkness is another hurdle. It’s depressing and even for me, I get so worn. Sometimes I just want to scream and end it all. But thanks to you we have a slight measure of day beneath the darkness and we have hope. We have food and we have each other.”
“Olivia...”
She held his hand tight and brought it to her lips.
“You can’t ge
t use to the sorrow or the pain, you can only worry about tomorrow,” she took back her hand and reached into her purse. She brought some pills. “Here take this it’ll make you feel better.”
“I don’t do drugs Olivia.”
“You also didn’t shoot giant bugs before did you?”
“No…but that’s not me…”
“If anyone deserves this it’s you. Don’t worry it won’t last long. It’s just to help take off the edge. Just to help you relax and sleep.”
Olivia gave him the pills and got him a cup of water to wash them down. He relaxed back into his bath tub.
She pulled out a joint, lit it up and inhaled deeply. She offered it to him.
He shook his head.
“If I was Madison you would. Please for me?”
He relented, but finally took it.
“Just take in a deep breath and remember to inhale. It’s a homemade blend.”
He brought the joint to his lips and inhaled in. The drugs seem to almost take an immediate effect. His mind seem to ripple.
He laughed for no reason.
“Oh man, I shouldn’t have…” he trailed off and relaxed.
It was like being instantaneously drunk and then some. The darkness was slowly ebbing and the candles seemed to get brighter and brighter. He took another puff and handed it to Olivia who took a drag. Olivia grabbed his jaw and they stared into each other’s eyes. She blew smoke into his face and giggled. Then she kissed him and climbed into the tub fully clothed.
“You’re crazy,” he told her.
They laughed as they splashed around.
“We should get you out of those wet clothes,” he said to her, putting his hands below her wet shirt, feeling her warm skin.
“As you wish,” she said in her ever so sly way.
She pulled off her shirt and bra. Stood up and tried to pull off her wet pants, he helped pull them down, including her soaking panties. She threw her wet clothes onto the floor. Her olive skinned seemed to shine in the brightness of the room. Little swirls of rainbows started twirling over her naked chest.
The Complete Creeping Darkness Page 18