Sanctuary

by Pauline Creeden

  Another ram against the door almost knocked Hugh from his feet. His eyes darted around the room until he saw a butcher’s knife lying on the floor where the Shisa had knocked it down. He bent over to pick it up when another blow struck the door and cooler, knocking him from his feet and causing him to fall headlong into the island in the middle of the kitchen. Hugh lay on the floor, unconscious.

  The Shisa slammed against the kitchen door once more, and the cooler gave way enough for the lion-sized monster to pull its body through the opening. Its heavy breathing fogged up the mirror finish of the cooler it passed. Short, tawny fur covered its back and legs. Blood dripped down its face. The left forearm that had been pinned in the doorframe hung limp from its knee. It dragged the limb and came forward deliberately. It snuffled the unconscious Hugh on the ground and whipped his limp body with the hook on the end of its tail.

  The hook bit into Hugh’s back and blood grew into a crimson flower on the white coat he’d worn. Jennie screamed. The Shisa whipped its head her direction and it snarled. Its long sharp teeth were a greenish, pale jade in color. She backed herself into the corner and had nowhere farther to go. Behind it, two smaller Shisa entered the kitchen.

  The first approached, and the end of her desperate rope proved too short to hold on to. She prayed silently and felt at peace for a moment, though her eyes never left the scrunched face of death approaching her. It snuffled about her, and its hot breath blew into her face. Blood and decay abided on the searing breeze. The whining subsided, but the continued growl vibrated in her chest.

  It backed up a step and turned away. She suddenly didn’t matter to it. The two smaller aliens sniffed the air, and one of them bit Hugh on the upper thigh, puncturing through his jeans. The hole quickly turned black. They mulled around the room like Jennie and her brother weren’t there.

  She held her breath. Mickey continued to sob into her shoulder, but he never lifted his head. Jennie was thankful for that. The room felt cold, and after a moment, the Shisa became less important to her. All she wanted was to save Hugh from them.

  She stepped forward cautiously, afraid that the movement would attract their attention. After she took two slow steps toward Hugh, the aliens started for the door. Counting comforted her, so she said it to herself, count to three, then step again. One. Two. Three. And she took another step. The two smaller Shisa left without ever taking a look at her. But the last one stopped, and its eyes met hers for another three-count before it turned its head away and squeezed through the open door.

  Dashing forward, Jennie fell to her knees at Hugh’s body. Blood was pooling on his back and from his thigh to the white tiles. Sobs racked her body, and she felt helpless. Where could she go for help? What if she left, and they attacked her or Mickey?

  Fear enveloped her like a nasty, sulfurous fog. It threatened to choke her. Closing her eyes, she made a desperate plea for help, her heart groaning within her. Strength waited at the pit of her stomach, and she found it. Lugging herself up with Mickey still clinging to her, she swiped the tears from her cheeks and determined that she needed to try. They climbed over the cooler and pushed their way through the kitchen door.

  Tables were turned over and benches broken in the mess hall. The door to the outside still stood open, letting in the sea breeze that mocked her with its promised safety. She marched toward it. When the first shadow of a Shisa passed the door, her step faltered. Her heart raced, and she swallowed hard. She thought of how Hugh needed help, and Mickey needed to get to safety, and started forward again.

  Brad

  “HOW ON EARTH IS THAT girl doing that?” Sarah asked.

  Brad gripped her shoulders and watched Jennie crossing the street with her little brother clinging like a tick to her chest. She stopped in the middle of the street once as six of the aliens passed her, separating to circumvent on both sides. After a moment, she continued forward toward the chapel. The rumbling of the bedroom window was excruciating, and in the distance, the constant popping of gunfire showed that the military base was doing something in retaliation.

  Still, his eyes couldn’t be torn from the plain girl in jeans. She sidestepped from the body of a victim lying in the street. The Shisa ignored her while they rushed about attacking other people without holding back.

  “How is it possible?”

  Brad didn’t answer, but the same question bounced around the walls of his mind like a pinball. It didn’t make any sense. Nothing he could come up with would explain what he was seeing. He watched her until she disappeared from his sight and entered the doors of the chapel unmolested. A tank rolled down the street, ramming a crowd of the Shisa, and sending them into a retreat. He wondered how long it would be until they were able to clear the base. How long would they keep it clear then?

  “Who was that girl? How could she have done that?”

  “I don’t know, but her name is Jennie.”

  Jennie

  THE DARKNESS OF THE CHAPEL ENVELOPED Jennie, as Mrs. Crawford opened the door enough for her to fit through with her brother. Mickey reached for the pastor’s wife the minute the doors were bolted shut. The vibrations of the alien growls were muffled just a bit by the wooden doors, and Jennie sunk to the floor in tears.

  Mrs. Crawford patted Mickey on the back while bouncing her body. She repeated, “It’s okay Mickey. Everything is going to be okay.”

  “How did you do that, Jennie?” Pastor Billy turned from the window and looked at her with eyes wide in shock. “How on earth did you just walk through them like that?”

  Jennie swallowed hard and held up a finger while she tried to control her hyperventilating. Mickey still cried, but his wailing had subsided. He had been shaking in her arms the whole way across the street. “I just kept thinking: ‘Walk by faith, not by sight,’ and determined to trust God more than the fear of what I saw.”

  “That…that is amazing, Jennie. I know God makes miracles happen all the time, but please don’t trust that to work every time. God is not at our beck and call, and we cannot play with snakes and expect not to be bitten eventually.”

  Jennie furrowed her brows but nodded slightly. “I trusted Him, because He answered my prayers for help. I don’t know if I could do it again right now because the peace that came over me isn’t there anymore. But, I trust He’ll be there for me again whether I feel it or not.”

  Pastor Billy pulled his glasses off and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He nodded and replaced them.

  “I had no choice, really. Hugh is in there, at the mess hall. He tried to save us, but he’s been bitten and knocked unconscious. I can’t just leave him there, and I needed to get Mickey to safety. I…we…have to go get Hugh.”

  Pastor Billy paled, and his freckles became more pronounced. “You mean you want to go back out there? How will we? You want me to help?”

  She nodded. “Walk by faith, not by sight.”

  His eyes grew with worry. He and Mrs. Crawford passed a silent moment in one of those marriage looks again. He whispered, “I…I don’t know if I can do it.”

  Jennie wanted to scream her frustration at him. How could he not practice what he preached? She prayed harder and narrowed her eyes, swallowing back a sob. “If you don’t come with me, can you at least watch Mickey? I’ll go myself.”

  “Of course we’ll watch him,” Mrs. Crawford said. Mickey had started sucking his thumb. His wide blue eyes were glistening with tears, and he still shook with fear.

  “I’ll go.” Pastor Billy stood straighter, his jaw set.

  “No, don’t.” Tears sprang into Mrs. Crawford’s eyes, and she set a hand on his shoulder. “I have a bad feeling about this. I need you.”

  Pastor Billy swallowed hard, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. He pulled his wife into a one armed hug and kissed her on the forehead. “Pray. Have faith.”

  Jennie started for the door and gripped the handle with both hands, silently praying again for the strength to walk through the crowd of aggressors once more. Pastor Billy’s hand fell
on her shoulder and pulled her back.

  “No, Jennie. You stay here. I’ll go and bring Hugh back.”

  Jennie started to protest, but Pastor Billy shook his head resolutely and charged out the door. He closed it behind him in a hurry. Mrs. Crawford dashed to the window, and Jennie followed her. The pastor started slowly down the steps. He hunched his back like he could make his six foot-four inch frame shorter, so that he wouldn’t be noticed. At the bottom step, he paused for a moment, bowed his head, and rolled up his sleeves.

  The pastor held out his arms to steady himself and descended the last step. One of the Shisa spotted him immediately and loped toward him. A cry escaped Mrs. Crawford’s lips. One of Jennie’s hands pressed against the glass, and it shook in a frequency with the approaching alien’s hum. She held her breath and willed Pastor Billy to stand still and have faith.

  The pastor wailed but stood his ground. Just before hitting the man in the chest, the Shisa stopped and scrunched its face at Pastor Billy. It snuffled him from feet to face; the whole time the pastor shook while remaining still. After a moment, the Shisa batted him with a paw, and though the pastor faltered and nearly fell to the ground, he continued to stand. It snuffled him again and then turned and left. As it left him, Pastor Billy turned around and started up the steps again to return.

  As if it heard the pastor’s retreat, it spun back toward the man Jennie had known since childhood and pounced on him. Mrs. Crawford screamed, and Mickey wailed in her arms even though he hadn’t been watching. Jennie took her brother from Mrs. Crawford’s arms and pulled him from her. He grew limp. Had he given up all hope of comfort and safety? Mrs. Crawford collapsed to the floor in a prostrate position, beating her fists on the hardwood, screaming between sobs, “Why?”

  Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Jennie set Mickey down on the stool near the window. His eyes were rolling in overwhelming fear, and he couldn’t focus on her. She patted him on the cheek in an attempt to gain his attention. “Mickey. You have to listen to me. I need to go help Pastor Billy and Mr. Hugh, okay? Stay here.”

  “No!” he screamed and wrapped his arms around her neck.

  She peeled his arms away and held them at his sides. His face was wet with tears and snot ran over his top lip. “You have to. I can’t carry them in here and you. Don’t you want me to go help them?”

  His eyes squeezed shut for a moment, and when he opened them, he nodded.

  “I need you to be strong, okay? Stay here and help Mrs. Crawford. She needs your help, okay?”

  “Okay.” He hopped down from the stool and leaned over the prostrate woman. With a pat on the shoulder, he repeated, “It’s okay, Mrs. Crawford. Everything is going to be all right.”

  Jennie wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans and stood straight. She started for the door and pressed her palm on the cold brass handle. She didn’t feel the comfort she’d had last time, but she prayed and pulled the door open anyway.

  The cold air hit her the minute she pulled the door in. The sky had grown darker and threatened another rain storm. She stepped forward and pulled the door shut behind her. Ahead of her, four aliens snuffled around in the grass and in the doorway of the mess hall. She wouldn’t be able to get to Hugh without making it past them.

  She never let her eyes drop from the Shisa and felt her way to Pastor Billy. She grabbed him under his shoulders and backed to the chapel door, hoping that Mrs. Crawford might see what she was doing and open it for her. His two-hundred-pound bulk made her feet slip a few times on the stone steps, but she refused to look at him or drop her eyes from the aliens. They had ignored her so far, but she feared what they might do if she turned her back on them.

  She could do better than hope. “Mrs. Crawford, I’m coming in with your husband! Please open the door for me!”

  The door made the grinding creak behind her, and it gave her a second wind. She dragged Pastor Billy with his head against her chest. The moment his feet cleared the threshold, Mrs. Crawford shut the door. Breathing heavily from the exertion, Jennie finally took the chance to look down at Pastor Billy. He’d been bitten on the shoulder, and his jacket was both ripped and bloody from the attack.

  Jennie swallowed hard and wondered if the wound would be fatal on its own. If Hugh’s theory was correct, then Pastor Billy could survive this if he had no fatal injury. She grabbed Mrs. Crawford by the shoulders and forced the woman to look at her. “You have to dress this wound. Do your best. He might not die from this injury. You are the only one who can save him right now. You hear?”

  Her brown eyes were wide and glistened with tears that spilled over her eyelids. She nodded hesitantly and said, “But isn’t it too late. If he’s infected, won’t he die?”

  “Hugh—” Jennie started, but a sob came up the moment she said his name. She swallowed it back and continued, “Hugh said that if we can keep him from a fatal injury and from being bitten again, he might have a chance to survive the infection.”

  Mrs. Crawford’s eyes sparkled with understanding, and she shot to her feet. “I’ve got some blankets with the clothes in the back. I’ll get them.”

  “Make sure you have enough for Hugh, too. I’m going to get him.”

  Mrs. Crawford stopped midstride. “Jennie. You can do it. Don’t doubt like…like Billy did.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Mickey patted on Pastor Billy’s uninjured shoulder and repeated, “It’s okay, Pastor Billy. Everything is going to be okay.” At least this time, his tears seemed to have dried up. Mickey stayed focused on his self-appointed task.

  “Good job, Mickey. You’re doing great. Keep it up. Keep encouraging the Crawfords. I’ll be right back.”

  He smiled at her and nodded.

  She stood again. Before opening the door, she started to psyche herself up. She needed to remind herself to keep relying on God. Even though this was the third time she’d face the lions, it was by no talent of her own that she could do it. If she lost her focus on God, they would attack her, and of that she was certain. Focus. Faith. And she opened the door again.

  Hugh

  HUGH WOKE AND FELT THE searing pain between his shoulder blades. He attempted to pull himself up, but his left leg screamed. Ignoring the pain, he heaved himself up by leaning on the stainless steel countertop. Panting, he could barely catch his breath, and sweat dripped from his chin. The cold countertop helped alleviate his hot skin, but nothing could help his headache. Where were Jennie and her brother? The pain seared his head, and his gaze swung around the room. He had to find them.

  The kitchen door swung in and banged against the cooler he had set in front of the door. He grabbed the knife on the counter and pointed it at the door.

  “Hugh?” Jennie’s voice had never been so welcome.

  “I’m here.” His voice sounded dry, hoarse.

  Her head appeared around the door. Her brown hair was a complete mess, and her eyes were rimmed with red from crying. Hugh had never seen anything more beautiful. She sucked in her breath and covered her mouth when she saw him but quickly composed herself. “I’ve got to get you out of here. We need to tend to your wounds and get you someplace safe before…”

  “Right. Before I turn.”

  Her lips drew into a tight line, and she walked up to him and put herself under his left shoulder. He’d expected her to show some sort of squirreliness about the blood, but she didn’t think twice about pressing her arm against the wet, sticky mess on his back. The smell of her lilac shampoo overcame the copper smell of his blood.

  “How did you…where is your brother?”

  “I took him to the chapel where he’d be safe. I’m going to take you there now, too.”

  “So the Shisa are gone then?”

  “No.”

  “But, how?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. But if I just place my trust in God and walk through the crowd of aliens, they ignore me. I also know that if you just trust me, they won’t attack you, either. But you have to trust me and keep going. If y
ou give in to fear, they’ll assail us both.”

  “You mean that if I don’t trust you, you’ll be attacked, too?”

  “Yes.”

  “How could you possibly know that?”

  “I don’t know. I just do.” She turned her head, so that she could look into his eyes. “Will you trust me?”

  He swallowed hard and nodded, trying to give her a smile. “With my life. Apparently.”

  She returned his smile, and they started the slow progress through the mess hall. Each step was painful, and he hated that he needed to lean on her so hard. She never complained, and she never stopped to rest. Her resolute nature endeared her to him all the more.

  When they reached the doorway, the sky had grown dark. The wind had picked up and blew through the evergreens’ treetops, causing a roar that could barely be heard over the buzz created by the Shisa. Three of them rushed toward the mess hall door. Two passed them and continued down the road, but one slowed. It had caught sight of them.

  “Don’t stop. We need to keep going.” Jennie said, pushing on Hugh’s back a little with her palm.

  Although his feet wanted to stick to the step, he let her help him forward. His eyes never left the Shisa. It regarded them for a moment and took one step in their direction. Thunder struck nearby, and the alien shook its head, making a high pitched whine momentarily before bounding after the other two it had been with. Wind blew a dancing plastic bag past— a modern tumbleweed. The street was empty, and the sky was about to open up and pour on them. “Wait,” he said, his voice growing hoarser. “I think they are gone.”

  “We still need to hurry. Rain is coming.”

  “Right, but take me to the quarantine building. It’s this way.” He twisted his body a bit to the left rather than right. It was only a few buildings down. He could make it there.

  “Okay.” Beads of sweat beaded on her forehead, even though the temperature had dropped ten degrees. His blood had smeared her cheek, but she didn’t rub it. Her eyes were focused on the building ahead of them. Determination was written all over her face.