Burn

by G E Hathaway

  For now.

  “God dammit.”He was in a bad mood and it was dark out. But the rain had stopped so there was no need for urgency. Yet.

  He made a sandwich by the light of the open refrigerator, slathering a generous helping of peanut butter on homemade bread before kicking the door shut with his foot and making his way carefully to the front room. He had only walked a few steps when his toe connected painfully with something hard. He looked down. The coffee table still lay on its side, its metal legs poking awkwardly into the air. He had eaten the rest of the girl’s eggs after she and Liam ran out because no good food should go to waste, but on principle, he felt Liam needed to contribute to cleaning up the mess he helped create. The table remained stubbornly untouched.

  Moonlight filtered through the blinds. He stood in front of the window, chewing and rehearsing his speech in his head.

  I really can’t afford any distractions, Liam. I respect what you do, but I’m so close to a breakthrough.

  He rubbed the back of his head. A large knot had formed where his head had hit the wall.

  In fact, this isn’t just your house, you know. You can’t just keep bringing anyone in here. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, let alone what you’re dragging me into.

  A shape moved in the street, black and tall. Human.

  Oh good, Noah swallowed hard. Liam’s finally back. There was no girl with him, and Noah felt slightly guilty for feeling relieved. He wouldn’t have to give his speech now. They could focus on other things. Like figuring out the leak in the attic, and resetting the electrical wires. Liam could help with the flashlight while Noah worked, and they could get power back before midnight.

  Liam was walking faster now, and Noah frowned. Something was off. He waited for Liam to look up so he could read his expression, but even as Liam rounded the driveway and moved toward the front porch, he couldn’t see his face.

  The figure wasn’t Liam. It wasn’t built like Liam, it didn’t walk like Liam, and it had no identifiable features to make sense of. It moved like a shadow, its body a pool of black even in the bright moonlight, outlined by a faint reflective glow.

  It didn’t walk up the porch. It moved straight toward the window, straight toward Noah. Before Noah could speak, the shadow loomed over him, inches away from his skin. Black as night.

  The thing was inside, the thing was inside-

  Noah didn’t have time to run.

  * * *

  Ellie dropped her duffel and medicine bag into the passenger seat. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, fingers curling tightly around the leather steering wheel. It hadn’t taken long to pack three pairs of jeans, four graphic t-shirts, underwear, her toiletries bag, and all the aluminum cans of vegetables and tuna she had in the house. She’d changed out of her nurse’s uniform in favor of black jeans, boots, and a Nirvana band T-shirt under a yellow jacket. Her hair fell in thick curls around her face. She would have to stop at a trading post on her way out of town. She had fifty dollars in her wallet. She had no way of knowing what kind of economy existed outside of the city, but having the money helped her feel prepared.

  She turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. Headlamps illuminated the damp driveway, rain puddling on top of the dehydrated concrete. Her heart hammered in her chest. She shifted into first gear, then released the parking brake and slowly pushed down on the accelerator. The car inched forward, aged tires crushing tangles of overgrown weeds as she rolled down the driveway. The gate lay open to the street. She stopped when she reached the edge and put the car in park.

  She had never actually driven a car on the road before. She’d grown up with autonomous vehicles. Her father spent weeks teaching her the mechanics of driving. He spent most nights studying the engine and the brakes, pouring over the manual as if it were a holy text. She would visit him several times throughout the day, bringing food so he could show her what he had just learned. They never took it out for a test drive. They were too terrified to let slip what they had.

  Ellie moved the gear shift again, and promptly threw out the clutch. The car stalled. She twisted the keys in the ignition again. It took a couple tries this time, but the engine came back to life. She reset, then tried again. The car rolled gently onto the road.

  She wiped her eyes, tried hard to stay calm, and accelerated slowly. Her headlamps illuminated the fronts of houses and she could see people moving inside through the windows and open doorways. It wouldn’t take long before she would attract attention. She turned into the Barrio Historico neighborhood. This was the last neighborhood before she’d reach the interstate. She saw a small, familiar figure sitting on the front stoop of their cracked porch, backlit by candlelight. Ellie felt a pang of guilt as she drove past.

  She turned another corner. The final stretch of houses. She started to feel relief as a different kind of feeling began to push through and threaten to take hold. Excitement. She pressed on the accelerator too hard and the odometer jumped to fifteen miles per hour. The car lurched, then stalled again. She held up her hands to keep her forehead from hitting the steering wheel. She stayed calm this time and simply turned the key. The engine sputtered. She turned it again. Nothing.

  “Please don’t do this.” Ellie reset the pedals, then tried again. No response. She tried again. Still nothing. “No!” She slammed her fist down on the wheel and the horn rang out, a foreign noise in a silent land. She froze. The last time they accidentally pushed the car horn, her father immediately extinguished their candles, and they waited together in the darkness to see if anyone would come. Now, Ellie sat in the driver’s set, heart hammering in her chest as she scanned the area for movement. Without headlights, the road was a sea of black.

  Fear gripped her as she realized she would have to either stay here in the car or walk back home in the dark and the rain. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness, and she made out the shapes of houses and chain link fences. Cacti and overgrown eucalyptus trees. Nobody lurked on the sidewalk or in the road. No one stood in the darkened windows and doors. Yet. She grabbed her bags with trembling fingers and opened the door, the handle clicking loudly in the silence. Gravel crunched beneath her feet. She didn’t want to abandon the car, but she didn’t want to be there when the Tucson Kings would mostly likely come out to claim it, or-

  The house closest to her suddenly exploded with a deafening roar, white hot flames leaping out of the window and door frames.

  Ellie screamed. Chunks of debris filled the air. Glass shattered. She rolled onto the pavement and covered her head, feeling the sharp pain of glass cutting in her skin as the world burned around her.

  Chapter Seven

  Noah’s sandwich lay face-down on the living room rug, peanut butter slowly melting into the shoe-stained fibers as the bread turned golden brown in the fiery air. Flames spread up the sides of the walls and crawled across the ceiling as the demon loomed over him. Even in the firelight and smoke he couldn’t see what it was, just an aura floating in the middle of hell.

  “Where is she?”

  The voice radiated against Noah’s skull. He grabbed the closest thing- a knife block - and threw it as hard as he could. The shadow flickered and knives clattered out of reach. Noah spun and ran through the kitchen and to the back door, feet slipping on the floor. Where did the water come from? He looked up. The ceiling had cracked and caved in, releasing a steady stream of rainwater that had pooled on the floor.

  He wrenched the door handle open, feeling the cool air of freedom on his face.

  Strong hands grabbed him from behind and pulled him back. His head spun, and he hit the ground hard. Pain radiated through his back. The door slammed shut. The shadow bent over him, and for a terrible moment Noah could see eyes in the darkness. Black eyes, surrounded by fire. When he closed his own, he imagined a man looming over him, a broad-shouldered, muscular man with dark hair.

  Noah choked against the thickening smoke.

  �
��She was here,” the voice said, and somehow the shadow pulled him up by the shirt collar. Noah felt the strain against the fabric and the air beneath him, and suddenly he was flying through the air again, landing hard against the edge of the kitchen counter. Pain exploded in his side. “Now she’s not. Where is she?”

  The inferno in the living room raged, fed by air gushing through a gaping hole where the front window and door had stood only minutes prior.

  “I don’t know!” Noah tried to push free, but the shadow’s fingers gripped him tightly around the neck and squeezed. Noah clawed at the face, his hands touching what felt imperceptibly like a nose, eyes, mouth, and cheeks, but the shadow figure didn’t release him. Noah’s arms slackened onto the counter. Spots dotted his sight.

  “You simple life form. If you cannot tell me what I want, I can simply take it from you.”

  A hand gripped his head, and suddenly Noah was back in his living room earlier that day. The room was intact, with no gaping hole in the front of the house. He carried a plate of eggs in his hands, and stared at a young woman with black eyes and wet hair who sat motionless on his couch. He was struck by how vulnerable and scared she looked.

  Just as before, he extended the eggs to her. Their fingers touched. A spark carried. She panicked and threw her hands up. Noah watched in amazement, both inside and outside of himself at the same time. This time he saw the spark in her eyes, the ripple in the air, the force of energy just before it hit him. Then he was airborne, hitting the wall, and crumpling to the ground.

  He opened his eyes and was back on the kitchen counter, the shadow’s fingers still wrapped around his throat, fire raging in the background.

  “She ran away,” the voice sneered. “Then I don’t have a need for you, after all.”

  The fingers closed tightly around his throat, and Noah’s world started to turn bright red. He kicked as hard as he could with his dying strength, feet closing on nothing as he fought an invisible shadow.

  This is how I die, he realized. Then the rest of the house exploded.

  The hands released him and he was on his back, gasping up at the night sky. Wood splintered around him. He slid off the counter, his shoulder banging roughly against the concrete floor. Cool air rushed over him and he sucked it in like a drowning man, lungs burning from the smoke. Cold water drops landed on his skin and lightning illuminated the world. The roof was completely gone. He looked around, but it was impossible to tell if the shadow was still there anymore.

  “Noah?”

  Liam’s voice cut through the air, and Noah looked up to see his roommate crossing the house through the dying flames. A second form appeared, and Noah recognized the woman. “Stay back!” he rasped.

  Liam turned toward his voice. “Stay put, we’re coming!” he shouted.

  “No!” Noah tried to crawl away. The footsteps grew louder, then Liam’s voice was in his ear.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Get her away from me!”

  “We have to go. Now. Can you get up?” Liam wrapped his fingers around Noah’s arms and pulled him to a sitting position. Noah leaned heavily against the kitchen counter. By the light of the flames, he could make out the remains of their house. Wooden beams ended in jagged stumps where the ceiling used to be. “What happened? Whoa, your throat-”

  The woman walked up to them then, bare feet stepping carefully through the debris. The same black eyes. The same long, wet hair. Noah scrambled to his feet. Liam grabbed his arm. “Calm down a second-”

  “No!” Noah’s voice was shrill. “It attacked me!” He pointed at the woman.. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but you can’t be here either. You need to go. I don’t want any part of this.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” Liam said quickly. “We’re the ones that need to leave-”

  “He will come back,” the woman said.

  “Nope. Noah shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “There isn’t time,” the woman said, “he’ll be back.”

  Noah swallowed hard, his throat aching where shadow fingers had squeezed. “Where are we going?”

  “The car-” Liam began.

  “East,” the woman interrupted. “To Darkness.”

  They both looked at her in surprise. Liam gripped Noah’s shoulders. “Look, just get in the car, we’ll figure out the details later.”

  Noah thought quickly. “I charged it this morning, it can get us maybe thirty miles before it needs to recharge.”

  Liam nodded. “We’ll head toward Vail, then. It’s a start.”

  “Wait, why are we leaving the city-”

  “Just go.”

  Somehow, Noah’s feet followed Liam and the woman out of the kitchen and through the front room. Black scorch marks covered what was left of the walls. Noah spotted his GridLight on the floor and automatically scooped it up. Then he grabbed his laptop from the coffee table. It was warm to the touch. He hoped it still worked.

  The moon had vanished behind a thick layer of clouds, and the rain subsided except for the occasional fat drops that sizzled against pieces of scattered smoldering debris. Their car sat quietly parked across the street, illuminated by the interior light, the top of the hood streaked with soot and dirt.

  “Hey!” A familiar voice rang out in the darkness. Noah stumbled into something hard, tripped, then rolled into something soft. They cried out in surprise. Broken glass crunched beneath them.

  “Who’s there?” Liam called out. He lifted his flashlight. A woman lay next to Noah, her legs tangled with his own. They both leaned against the side of a Dodge Charger.

  “Ellie?” Liam said in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

  * * *

  Ellie had watched in horror as the roof ripped apart, spinning and blowing off the top of the structure. She crawled behind her car, glass digging into her jeans.She had heard of failing infrastructure causing explosions in older cities. Leaking gas and sewage pipes. Exposed wiring. They were in a historical district. If this house failed, who would be next?

  Large raindrops plopped onto her head. Thank god for the rain, now the fire won’t spread-

  “Noah!”

  She knew that voice. It wasn’t unusual for the only nurse in the district to get pulled into the occasional public safety work, and the one person who consistently patrolled this neighborhood was-

  “Liam?”

  She pulled herself to her feet, and now she could hear voices drifting through the air. With a renewed sense of purpose, she rounded the car, pulling at her bags as she went. It was so dark without the moon that she didn’t see them in the street until one tripped over the hood of her car, ran right into her, and pushed her to the ground.

  A flashlight flickered and Liam’s face appeared above them.

  “Ellie?”

  “It’s me.” She looked at the man on top of her, and recognized him too. Liam’s awkward roommate. She’d seen him around the neighborhood, but he never talked much to her. She assumed he didn’t like her for some reason. The flashlight illuminated the angry red, bleeding burns along his throat and Ellie’s voice caught in her throat. “Are you okay?”

  “There’s no time,” Liam said quickly. He held out his arm to help them up. “Get in the car.”

  “What? Why-”

  “No time. Please, just get in”. Liam rounded the car and dropped into the driver’s seat. A moment later, the headlamps switched on. Beacons in the night.Noah grabbed Ellie’s hand and pulled her in after him. She fell into the seat beside him, her bags tumbling to the floor.

  “What is happening?”

  “Talisa!” Liam shouted out the car window.

  Ellie hadn’t noticed the woman until now. She remained standing in the road and staring back at the house. Ellie felt an inexplicable chill run down her spine. Then the woman turned and climbed into the car. Liam stomped on the accelerator and they sped out of the neighborhood and toward the freeway.


  Chapter Eight

  “Let me see your throat.”

  Ellie turned on the overhead lamp and unsnapped her bag. She shifted in her seat so she could get a closer look at the angry burns stretching across Noah’s skin. She caught his gaze in the soft glow of the light, and he quickly looked away. “Its okay,” he muttered.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  She felt his eyes on her as she rubbed disinfectant between her hands and waited for him to comply. He didn’t move, and she arched her eyebrows. He looked back at her. A standstill in the backseat of the car.They didn’t know each other well enough to be familiar, but considering the adrenaline still pumping through Ellie’s veins, she needed something to do. The car rolled smoothly down the empty highway, Tucson fading in the distance.

  But in the wrong direction from the California border. Liam had turned south onto Interstate 10, which then arched east once they left the southern edge of the city.

  “I remember you,” Ellie told Noah. “You helped set up the water well, powered some of the houses. You gave the Gonzales family a generator bike. You’re done great things for the neighborhood.”

  “Careful,” Liam said over his shoulder. “He’ll get a big head.”

  Noah tried to hide a smirk, but Ellie’s form of attack had worked. He slowly unbuttoned his collar and arched his neck. His movement was slow and deliberate, and he turned his head to give her a closer look. The skin on his throat was raw and bleeding, the fiery edges lined in a clear shape of a hand.

  “How did you get this?”

  Noah kept his gaze fixed out the window, rain trailing down the glass against a sea of darkness. “I don’t know, exactly.”

  Ellie glanced toward the other passengers. Liam drove in silence. Talisa rested her forehead against the cool glass window. Something in the way Noah sat, leaning as far away from Talisa as possible, clued Ellie in that something might not be right with her.

  “Who’s she?” Ellie asked sharply, causing all of them to look at her. “I’ve never seen her before.”