In the Aftermath: Burning of the Dawn

by Coleman Thompson

  She despised Mary more and more, but Serena did as she was told. She drove her car to the same garage behind the service station that she had used before – cursing Mary the entire way.

  “She’s mad.” Anthony spoke after his mother had left them.

  “Thanks for pointing that out, bro.” Mary replied.

  “No, I mean, what’re we gonna do? It’s getting dark, fast.”

  “We’re gonna hide.” Mary walked over to the blue bucket she had used to retrieve the fuel for Serena’s car. There was still fuel inside. “Take this.” Mary spoke as she handed the rifle to Anthony.

  Mary took the bucket into her hands and began pouring out a small, steady stream of gasoline as she walked towards the service station. Anthony could see what she was doing, but he had no idea why. Eventually, Mary made her way to the station and continued the fuel stream through the door and finished emptying the bucket inside. As Mary exited the station, Serena was waiting for her outside.

  “You truly are insane, aren’t you?” Serena could see that Mary no longer possessed the rifle, but Mary still had the revolver in her possession somewhere. Not that she needed it. Serena was bigger than Mary, but she knew there was no way she could take the wild girl.

  “Crazy, maybe,” Mary spoke as she passed by Serena. “But not insane.” Mary walked over to where Serena’s car use to be. There, still on the ground, was the second glass jar of gasoline. Mary picked it up.

  “Do we hide now?” Anthony asked as he and his mother approached Mary.

  “Soon enough,” Mary smiled serenely; it was almost comforting. “But first we gotta make a little more noise.” Mary stuffed another piece of rag into the jar of fuel.

  “You set this place on fire and you could take my car with it!” Serena spoke more crossly than she intended to… not that it wasn’t cathartic.

  “It’s a chance we gotta take, hon’.” Mary replied. “Your car should be safe.”

  “Why?!” Serena demanded. “What’s the fuckin’ point?”

  “Fire.” Mary answered. “The light of the fire will keep the Sayona away.”

  “If they find our car they’ll destroy it anyway,” Anthony added. “And they’ll know we were here and they’ll keep looking for us. If they don’t find the car, we can leave tomorrow and they’ll be none the wiser. They’ll chase the men that were chasing us and the Sayona will never even know we were here.”

  “Goddamn, look at the brain on you, little brother.” Mary praised. “Impressive, now let’s get our asses across the highway and watch this motherfucker burn!”

  Mary crossed the highway carrying her glass jar in both hands; Anthony and Serena were close behind. Serena despised this plan of Mary’s, her fear beginning to overtake her rage, but she kept her silence. Her only plan was to run, but even she knew that plan would only end in death. Serena might agree that hiding was the best plan, but Mary was making it difficult. Having shootouts in the streets and setting fire to a gas-station seemed a little excessive.

  Dusk was fully upon them now; the dark of night was near. Anthony still carried the rifle in his arms as he approached Mary. He did not fear that his mother would try and take it back, but still he wondered what he would do if she did. He could never hurt his mother, but he didn’t want her to harm Mary either. It made no matter; his wonderings were quelled as Mary lit the rag in her fuel jar, which quickly went into a blaze that consumed Mary’s hand in the process (which she seemed unaffected by). She took a few steps forward and flung the blazing jar into the sky. Mary’s accuracy was impeccable; the jar smashed inches away from the nearside of the hole where the fuel tanks awaited. The flaming remnants fell into the darkness and ignited the gasoline below. From the other side of the highway the darkening streets were given light again as a fireball erupted from the ground and disintegrated into the air. The fuel below continued to burn as the stream of gasoline leading to the service station soon caught fire as well. Within mere moments the whole place was set ablaze.

  “That should do it,’ said Mary. “We have to move – now!” She grabbed the rifle from Anthony and took off down the highway.

  The trio did not stay on the highway for long. Mary abandoned the route to cut across a park, Mills Park, and into the smaller streets of the city. In Serena’s eyes there were a thousand places to hide, but Mary was interested in none of them. It was apparent, or seemed apparent, that she had some special destination in mind. Despite her recent deceptions, Serena still trusted Mary; mostly because she had to at this point. She wanted to trust her, too, but Serena was angry. Everything Mary had done seemed to have been done with good intentions; though that didn’t mean Mary’s recklessness wouldn’t get them all killed. Twenty minutes had passed and they had travelled more than a mile when Mary finally came to a stop. The light of day had faded and only the dissipating afterglow remained.

  Serena had had enough running. “We have to hide, now!” She demanded.

  “We will,” Mary answered. Her physical fitness was second to none, yet the run across Carson City had managed to tire her out, slightly. Serena and Anthony were both exhausted. “We’re there, mostly…”

  Mary procured a small LED flashlight from somewhere on herself. The device was small, but it still produced a powerful beam of light. Mary shone the light upon a nearby building. In her fear and fatigue, Serena failed to notice that she was standing right in front of Nevada’s capitol building. Its condition was grand, but noticeably abnormal. Every window was cemented over and completely sealed. Even more perturbing was the writing on the walls: hieroglyphs, symbols, and drawings.

  “You expect us to go in there?” Serena’s rage was rekindled.

  “Fuck no,” Mary answered. “That’s where they are – the Sayona’s house of horrors.”

  In the dark, even with Mary’s flashlight, Anthony had difficulty discerning anything that the Sayona had written on the capitol building – not that he would’ve been able to make sense of it even if he could see it properly. He was not displeased by this; the fact that he was fifty steps away from an army of Sayona was chilling enough.

  “Where do we go?” Anthony asked; eager to get far away from this place.

  Mary could sense Anthony’s fear, and see it in the pail light. She could feel his mother’s anger as well, so she dallied no more. “Follow me.” She said calmly and walked into the street.

  Mary led Serena and Anthony ahead a few blocks more and then steered them towards a unique looking building, a former casino, on the west side of the road. Mary led the way inside. The building had many windows, none of which were covered, which usually meant the place was vacant of any Sayona. Nevertheless, Mary stayed cautious.

  “Mind your steps,” Mary spoke, almost in a whisper. “Do not move anything!”

  “Why this place?” Serena quietly implored. “We’re right next to them!”

  “The fire will draw their attention,” Anthony answered. “The Sayona won’t expect us to be hiding so close.”

  Mary gave a gleaming smile as she looked back to Anthony. “You’re a wise son of a bitch, my boy.” She whispered, and then looked to Serena and added, “No offense.”

  Mary led mother and son up to the second floor and into an employee area. The first floor of the casino was in an odd form of disorder: a methodical brand of chaos common to the Sayona. The place was torn apart, but there was design behind the destruction. Slot machines were stacked upon one another, card tables were fashioned into pyramids, and wine cups and shot glasses were all scattered, bottoms up, across the floor. Cautiously, Mary, Serena, and Anthony avoided all of the obstacles laid before them. This place was not unknown to Mary; she had been here before and knew exactly where she was going. In the corner of a dark, musky backroom, Mary climbed upon a heavy desk and removed a panel from the ceiling above. She then motioned for Serena and Anthony. Mary helped them both into the hiding space and then followed them up.

  The space was small, but sufficient. Anthony was huddled next to his
mother and Mary soon joined on Anthony’s other side. Mary rested the rifle upon her lap and then switched off her flashlight. The heavy darkness was powerful, but Anthony was not as afraid as he thought he would be, or should be. Having Mary and his mother beside him was comforting. If he had to die, then this is how he wanted it to be. His mother was not quite so content with facing potential death in this murky loft. She wasn’t use to the darkness being this empty. It was usually a relief, but not tonight. Serena could see nothing and the Sayona could see everything. This was not a comfort.

  “It’s going to get bad…” Mary spoke. The concern in her voice could not be neglected.

  “Bad? How bad?” Anthony asked. He could hear Mary and he could feel Mary, but it still felt strange not to see her as she spoke.

  “That fire’s really gonna piss them off,” Mary answered. “Just remember, they’re not going to find us. Stay calm, both of you; just tune them out as best you can. Don’t scream, don’t move, don’t cry… they will not find us.”

  Whether her words were effective or not, Mary could not tell, but she had to warn them. A great many angry Sayona were going to be in the streets of Carson City tonight, eager for slaughter and destruction. Mary hoped above all else that the beasts would satisfy that bloodlust on her desert-dwelling ‘friends’ and leave the city itself in relative peace. They could calmly hunt the city every night for months, or they might just burn it all down and make a new home elsewhere. Mary presumed it would be a bit of both: the Sayona were not going to destroy Carson City, as the city’s size and location were ideal for them. Mary had, however, set a part of their city on fire and that was not something the beasts would tolerate. Somehow, somewhere, somebody was going to pay.

  Ten minutes of silence passed. The wind had died away and no living Earth-born creature dared to enter the city after dark, save for Mary, Serena, and Anthony. Subtle breaths and hollow heartbeats were the only sounds in the quiet darkness. She could not see them, or yet hear them, but Mary knew the Sayona were stirring. The sun was long gone now, its afterglow fully extinguished, so now the nightmare would begin. A solitary scream started it all, a single Sayona, but soon her sisters joined her in a malevolent cacophony that permeated through the darkness. The spiteful song of the Sayona was joined by another sound – a rumbling. Through the streets and across the rooftops the Sayona raged on foot. Serena made the first sound, a deep, shallow breath, as the Sayona sprinted across the rooftop mere inches above her head. She could see nothing, but she could feel the dust and debris falling upon her from the roof above. She clutched her arms around her son. Anthony had both his hands covering his ears. He never imagined that the beasts would be so loud, and he could sense that there were a great many of them in every direction. Death was something Mary had stopped fearing a long time ago, yet now she feared it once again. Not her own, but that of Serena and Anthony’s. In the short time she had known them she had come to admire and adore them both, and she did not want to fail them. The confidence Mary had possessed in her plan drained slowly as the deafening cries of the Sayona further fissured her already fractured mind. She clung to Anthony and Serena. A moment later there was a heavy crash beneath them as the Sayona stormed into the casino.

  A single window in the dome on the rooftop of the capitol building was the only window the Sayona had left unperturbed. All of the others they had enclosed with thick cement casings. The Sayona were not built for carpentry, but they were decent enough at the trade when they needed to be. They were, however, good diggers, and had made themselves a catacomb beneath the capitol building to further accommodate their numbers. As night overtook the city completely, the first Sayona emerged from the capitol building through the dome window on the rooftop. She immediately spotted Mary’s fire in the distance. The earlier gunshots and explosions did not go unnoticed by the beasts, so they were eager to finally be free from the light of day and find the noisy interlopers. It had been a long time since they had been aware of any humans in their city. The first Sayona to emerge cried out into the night with vindictive screams, rousing her fervent sisters into a furious frenzy. Every useable door on the capitol building burst open as hundreds of Sayona poured out into the city streets. More emerged from other buildings linked to the capitol by underground caverns.

  All of the Sayona went straight to Mary’s fire, but the light was too strong. Some of the Sayona simply closed their eyes and boldly approached the inferno. They could see nothing, but they had no fear of the flames – their bodies could easily withstand the intense heat. Some of the Sayona were more creative: crafting metallic battering rams out of whatever they could find to get themselves closer to the fire without completely sacrificing their vision. Eventually, the bodies of the men Mary had killed were discovered, as well as the charred remains of one of the motorcycles. Other people were out there somewhere. Half of the Sayona formed a ring around the fire and methodically took to searching the city in an expanding circle. The other half left the city and took furious flight in every direction. The desert to the east was their primary target.

  Broderick Stone let the motorcycle fall to the highway; one of the mirrors broke on impact. He had pushed it hard until all of its power was drained, and managed to put nearly sixty miles between him and Carson City. Was that enough? Normally it would’ve been more than enough, being that the Sayona were usually unaware of any human presence in the area. Tonight would be different; Mary had made sure of that. Stone could not leave the bike where it lay; the Sayona would be on the highway and they would certainly find it. He had to leave his comrades, Jenkins and Watkins, behind. Their bike—the one Mary had shot— only made it about ten miles out of Carson City. He didn’t like them anyway. Stone hoisted the motorcycle over his shoulder and carried it into the desert. Dragging it was not optional; leaving just his footprints was dangerous enough. He was in too much of a hurry to bother with the glass in the street.

  It was night and the Sayona would be on their way by now, so Stone had to move fast. He was somewhere between the city of Fallon and the downed alien aircraft-bomber. It was desert all around him and there were not many places to hide his bike. It was too dark to see properly, so Stone had to use a flashlight. In his estimation, he had maybe half an hour before the Sayona were on his location. His hope was that the Sayona would stop and search Fallon, or maybe find the comrades he had left behind and not bother going on any further. That wasn’t likely. The monsters would undoubtedly tear Fallon apart looking for more people, but they would also send others onward to search even deeper into the desert. Stone had to be careful. He kept the flashlight aimed low; he could not let the light point skyward. The Sayona had exceptional eyesight; even with the hills all around him, the smallest hint of light would draw their attention.

  The hills could be life or death. They were the best places to hide in the desert, but the Sayona would use them, too, to get the best views of their surroundings. The beasts were rash, but they were far from stupid. Stone knew they would be organized. Even if they didn’t find him, they would surely find the comrades that he did not leave behind: his desert-dwelling brethren. Some of them he did care for—as much as he could care—and he had no way to warn them. The desert was usually a quiet wasteland that the Sayona didn’t deem worthy to monitor for anything worth killing. That was no longer the case… what had Mary Murder done? She had killed his men before, but that was by her own hand. Stone respected her for that, in a way. He would have killed her without remorse had he ever caught her, but he still respected the crazy woman. She was, in fact, one of his own at one point, but she had abandoned her former family, hunted them, and now condemned them all to brutal deaths.

  “God help you, Sweet Marie,” Stone spoke to the desolate desert as he quickly buried his motorcycle in a sandy cleft at the base of a hill. “If I live through this night I will tear your fuckin’ heart out… stupid, little cunt.”

  Stone shut off his flashlight and then took it apart. He then went to burying himself. The f
lashlight’s tube-casing would be his airway, and his handgun would be his final resort. Stone had briefly considered shooting Jenkins and Watkins rather than leaving them for the Sayona, but that would not have been wise. He would then have to hide the bodies, or the Sayona would know that at least one other person was lurking around the desert somewhere. While Stone lay quietly in what could ultimately be his grave, he thought more about Mary. Hodge, Miller, and Duffy were more of Stone’s comrades that Mary had killed just this morning, and then stuffed two of them into a motel room – a motel Stone and his chums used quite frequently when they were in that area. She had also left the ribbon behind on the highway – the ribbon she kept tied around that horrible hatchet she was so fond of hacking people apart with. Mary was clever; she had probably been plotting this precarious plan of hers for months. She was the one who had caused all of the havoc in the Sayona’s city, yet she was likely to get none of the repercussions. Mary would get away and all of them would die. Stone could not help but laugh.

  Beneath the sand, Stone condemned Mary through his breathing tube. “I will find you, Sweet Marie. I will cut you, I will fuck you, I will murder you, and then I’ll do it all again to your worthless corpse… stupid, fucking crazy, little bitch.” Stone laughed aloud. “You, little whore, are a dead woman.”

  Stone suddenly began choking on sand, blood, and shards of plastic as his breathing tube was hammered into his mouth. A second later he was torn from the earth by a prickly pair of hands with long, dull claws that ripped through dirt, clothing, and skin all at once. Stone was being both choked and blinded by the sand when dozens of spiny teeth sank into the side of his face and subsequently ripped away his flesh straight down to the bone. With one hand Stone grasped his gun; with the other hand he tried to push the Sayona away. The pain in all the other places seemed frail as the Sayona bit down into his arm and injected her burning venom. How the hell did you find me? He wondered for a moment. “Fuck you, Mary Murder.” Stone spoke aloud. He then lifted his gun and fired a hollow-point bullet into the side of his skull.