Afraid of the Dark

by Chris Hechtl

  “But what about the aliens man...”

  “Here? We're in the perimeter, safest place on the planet man,” the smoker said taking another hit. “Want one?” he asked, offering the butt. His partner shook his head, still looking around.

  “Not cool man, least you could do is do this inside. In the john or something man,” his partner said.

  “I can't. Some tight ass whined about the smell,” the smoker said disgusted. “Don't worry, be done in a minute,” he said. “Fucking pussy,” he muttered.

  “What was that?” the partner said whirling.

  “I said...”

  “Not that you stupid pot head!” the guy turned at the noise and then when he heard the weak voice he looked down. “Shit,” he said. “Radio.”

  “Turn it off man,” the smoker said. “Ain't important,” he said coming over and turning it off. “Side's you don't want the animals to hear right? Wuss?”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Debby was desperately trying to reach them. She shook her head. “It’s not working. We need...” she looked at the radio net. “Why isn't it working?” She asked.

  “Relax Deb, nothing’s going to happen,” Fred drawled, tipping his chair back to lean on the rear two legs. He stretched a bit and then tucked his hands under his head.

  “Oh yeah?” she asked. “Tell it to them!” she said, voice rising in panic as she pointed to the wide screen. “Damn it come in! Anyone. Aliens in the perimeter! I say again, Aliens in the perimeter near Sams! Can anyone hear me! Why won’t you respond?!” she yelled.

  A guard came running and leaned in. Fred was surprised by the door flying open and flew back; wind milled his arms and crashed backward. He groaned. “Now you've done it Debby,” he said making 'ow' whimpers.

  “Shove it Fred!” she snarled. She kept trying the radio.

  “What the hell's going on?” Turk asked looking around. “Why the yelling?” he asked.

  Debby looked up at him briefly. “Why?” She pointed an accusing finger to the screen. “That's why. We've got two dumb shits outside of Sams on a cigarette break and they left the door open!” she said.

  “Um...”

  She switched the screen to another quadrant and maximized it. She pointed to movement. After a moment he could see a Hellcat, a good sized one moving stealthily towards the warehouse store. It wasn't alone either.

  “Ah shit,” he said leaning his head and reaching up to touch his mike. “Bill, alert one. I say again red alert. We've got intruders at Sams. It’s about to get ugly there,” he said.

  “Shit,” Fred said. “Seriously?” he asked, getting up to his knees. Debby pointed to the screen wordlessly. He stared. They all did.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “Dude come on, enough. You've had your fun man, one's enough. Inside man, come on,” the little man said. They heard a stick snap and he whirled.

  “Shit man, fine, fine whatever,” the pot head said, stoned. He just wanted to go relax in bliss for a bit. Fucking wuss was ruining his high. He heard a rumble of something moving. He turned slowly, too slowly to see the Hellcat leaping out of the darkness. He didn't even have a chance to scream.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “Oh my god!” Debby said anguished, hand in her mouth. Fred, still on the floor was wide eyed as the smoker was torn apart. The other guy fired desperately and then turned to run. He got half way to the door before another Hellcat jumped from the shadows. He screamed as it tore him in half.

  “No, no...” Turk said cursing softly. He keyed his mike as the rest of the Hellcat pack arrived. Those that weren't feeding headed for the open door. One was already pawing at it. The door fluttered open. A block of wood was keeping it from shutting. He grimaced.

  “Damn it!” he yelled shaking his head as Bill arrived.

  “What's going on? Report,” he said.

  “Fucking idiots just got themselves killed. No one is answering at Sams. We've got an unsecured door and a pack of Hellcats about to go inside,” Turk said. “All the lights are out inside too. They are all in deep shit,” he snarled.

  “Shit,” Bill said as Debby turned, sobbing. Fred patted her arm. Turk pointed to the camera.

  “Not good,” Bill said sucking a breath in. He flipped a toggle switch and then paused. “Shit, I don't want to have to do this,” he muttered and then pressed down.

  Klaxons all over the place lit up and started to roar. They could hear footfalls as people started to rush to their stations.

  “It’s echoing at the other places,” Fred said. “Look,” he said, he pulled up an interior feed of warehouse store.

  “Too late,” Turk said softly as the Hellcat finally hooked the door with a massive paw and pulled it open. A smaller juvenile Hellcat lunged into the darkened building. Then a second. Then a third. The door was right next to the main sleeping quarters.

  People inside were just starting to wake up and react. Many were irritated by the noise. Some were up; most had gone back to bed thinking it was a false alarm. They watched as unarmed people stumbled into the intruders and were cut down screaming.

  Bill grimaced as Shane and others arrived. He pointed wordlessly. Shane turned and watched chaos. After five excruciating minutes the security at Sams recognized and reacted to the threat and turned on the intruders.

  Most of the juveniles were either feeding or dragging kills back to the door. They snarled as armed people opened fire. Many escaped. A few stood their ground and were cut down.

  A team got to the door to secure it. A mighty paw reached in and dragged one woman to her death. People panicked fired into the dark, hitting nothing.

  Finally someone got wise and hit the lights. Bright lights flooded the inside of the store, then spotlights came on outside. The animals that were milling about bolted.

  They watched a Hellcat leaving, with someone's arm bouncing in its mouth and then Bill cut the klaxon.

  “Sams, say status?” he asked.

  “What the hell just happened?” a voice asked.

  “You tell me, morons. No one answered the warning calls. No one was watching your cameras except us. No one was doing their fucking jobs!” Bill raged over the radio. “What the fuck is wrong with you over there!”

  There was a long silent pause. “We ah, we need medical help. We need to get the wounded...”

  Shane touched his mike grimacing. “Unfortunately we can't help you until day break. Get your people under control and report back in ten. Triage. Mall Six out,” he said clicking the mike off.

  “Roger,” was the brief chastened reply.

  “Someone's going to get their ass reamed,” a voice said from the doorway. They looked up to see a lot of people looking around.

  “Yeah,” Shane said. “Count on it,” he said. He reached out and tapped the intercom.

  “Now hear this, Now hear this. We've had a security breach at the Sams complex. Massive loss of life unfortunately. We'll report more in the morning. All security stations report in to your section heads and stay the fuck awake and alert!” he snarled. “The rest of you try to get some sleep. That is all,” he said.

  He rubbed his temple as he shut the intercom off. “Fuck,” he said, eyes closed. After a moment he opened them and looked at Fred and Debby. “What the hell just happened?” he asked.

  “I was going to ask the same thing,” Bill said shaking his head. “How the hell did this happen?”

  “Apparently two idiots went outside for a smoke and left the door open,” Turk answered before the dispatchers could. They each nodded though.

  Debby dashed away tears and looked up at them. “I saw them outside and tried to warn them but the radio wasn't charged and then it didn't work and then they wouldn't answer!” she said, face clouding again. After a moment she was bawling.

  “Didn't answer?” Bill asked. “No one?” he asked.

  “No one,” Fred said. He checked the radio. “She was on the right frequency,” he said.

  “Frequency huh?” Bi
ll checked the board and groaned.

  “What?” Shane asked. “Don't tell me,” he said.

  “No, it’s all right. It’s the right frequency for Sams, but the others are all out of date. We changed these three days ago. Apparently no one bothered to post the new frequencies here,” he said.

  “Shit,” Fred muttered. “I knew I was forgetting to do something,” he said rubbing the back of his head. Bill glared at him.

  “I know boss, I dropped the ball,” he said quietly.

  “Damn right you did. It didn't play a part in this though,” Bill said. “What the hell were they thinking?” he demanded pounding a wall.

  “That's just it, they weren't,” Shane said. “They got complacent. We all did,” he said, looking at Fred whose chair was still on the floor. Fred looked embarrassed as he stood there, head down.

  “Won't happen again boss,” he muttered.

  “Damn straight it won’t,” Bill vowed darkly. “You trust people to do their fucking jobs; they know it’s important...”

  “Bill, enough, we'll sort it out in the morning. Plenty of recriminations to go around,” Jayne said pulling a robe tight as she stuck her head in. “What's the breakage?” she asked.

  “Bad,” Bill said shaking his head. “Very bad. From what we saw on the screen? Two, maybe three dozen dead. Maybe more,” he said.

  “Shit,” she said. “Okay, despite what I just said about recriminations, what did happen?” she asked.

  “Two morons left the door wide open,” Turk said.

  “Why?” she asked. “How stupid is that?” she asked sitting on the edge of the desk and crossing her arms. “Was it suicide?”

  “Pretty much. Nicotine fit. They went out for a stroll. There are pieces of them everywhere now,” Turk said in disgust. Debby gulped. Jayne turned her attention on her and rubbed her shoulder and back.

  “Bad huh?” she asked. The girl nodded. “Okay, we'll get someone to spell you and you can pull yourself together,” she said.

  “No, no I'll be all right. I want to be here. I need to be here,” she said. “I'm going to do my job.”

  “Debby was the one who tried to warn them,” Fred said. “Even I didn't think it was serious. Boy was I wrong,” he said and blew a lung full of air out in a gushing sigh.

  “Lax,” Jayne muttered, shooting a glance at him and then returning her attention to the blond girl. “Sometimes our best isn't good enough. Sometimes there is nothing we can do. The hardest thing is to pick ourselves up after it all goes wrong and keep trying,” she said softly, still stroking the girl's shoulder. “Right?” she asked looking at Shane.

  Shane was glaring at Fred but then turned his attention to the women and nodded. “Right,” he said gruffly. He squeezed Debby's shoulder briefly. “Bill get me a report in an hour. I'm going to go check the perimeter personally,” he said.

  “I think that's a wise idea boss,” Bill said. “I think we're going to have to start doing that again. Make sure people are at their posts and not dicking around.” He glared at Fred.

  “Exactly,” Shane said. “Not that I expect them to be off post now,” he said.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  The next morning, near noon he nodded to Jerry as the doctor came into the council room. Jerry looked exhausted after nearly five hours of hard, heartbreaking work. They had sent the ambulances out at dawn to pick up the broken bodies and shuttle them to the infirmary. Now nearly noon and the last were apparently stable. Jerry though looked worn out. He'd stayed up all night, prepping his people, coaching the terrified people over the radio, and begging to go help. He sat down in a chair heavily, and his hands shook as he took a cup of water from Jayne.

  “How bad is it?” Jayne asked softly. She waited until he took his second sip before asking again. “Jer?” she asked. She reached over and thumbed the massage controls on his chair.

  “Hmm?” he asked, eyes closed.

  “How bad was it?” she asked again.

  “Bad,” he said. He sat back, enjoying the massage, eyes still closed. After a moment they opened. “By the time we got to them they'd lost another fourteen,” he said not looking at Shane.

  “My call doc, we couldn't evac at night and they had medical on hand.”

  “No, they had a couple of nurses. The doctor I assigned to be there was killed,” Jerry replied. The others winced. “I think we need to make CPR and First Aid courses mandatory from now on. I want that. I'll push that.”

  “Agreed,” Shane said with a nod. “It’s already mandatory with our armed forces and harvesters. I think everyone should know it,” he said.

  “I've got another blood drive going. We're low on some rare blood types.”

  “How many wounded?” Jayne asked.

  “Twenty six. No, twenty five, I lost one on the operating table,” the doctor said.

  “Sorry,” Shane said.

  “Not your fault. I'm a doctor. I'm used to battling death and I know the stakes,” Jerry said.

  “I know but it still sucks,” Shane said. “We've got forty nine confirmed dead, four missing. One of those is a two year old child,” he said.

  Jayne sucked in a breath, looking at him in anguish. He looked at her and nodded grimly, face a mask. “We've got people trying to check the camera footage, see if we can find her, and see if she's alive or dead. I don't know. I don't know if we'll ever know.”

  “Sometimes this job really sucks, you know?” Jayne asked rubbing Jerry's shoulders. Her eyes stung.

  He groaned a bit and then leaned forward. “Lower left please,” he said. Her hands moved to obey. “No lower... lower, there,” he groaned in satisfaction as she found the knot of muscle and expertly massaged it.

  “So what are we going to do?” Gabriel asked, looking from one to the other. “People are already screaming for someone's head on the boards,” he said shaking his head.

  “That's all we need. A scapegoat,” Hernandez said. He shifted his arms. He was in full combat dress. He had just come in from the field; he'd personally led the team to try to hunt the Hellcat pack down. So far they had come up empty.

  “Post the entire thing,” Shane said. The others looked at him. “Gabe set up a site with the video. All of it, unedited. Post warnings about graphic content, but make sure they know what happened wasn't us.”

  “It'll look like we're covering our own ass boss,” Bob warned.

  “No it'll be transparency,” Bill said tiredly. “Like the crap that happened with the Occupy Wall Street and other shit. “We're not showing one side or the other, we're not taking sides. We're showing them what happened.”

  “He's right,” Jayne said. She looked at Gabe. “Make sure you post our footage as well. Interior stuff I mean,” she said.

  “I'll do that,” Gabe said, making a note. “I saved the film for... um...”

  “For later review. Good,” Bill said gruffly. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. He wiped at his mouth tiredly. “Good. I want everyone to see the damn thing. I'll make it mandatory for security. They've taken too much for granted,” he growled.

  “Oh?”

  “I found out a couple of people were sleeping. No big thing right? Fred was trying to take a nap while he was supposed to be watching the monitors, watching the perimeter, watching our back,” Bill snarled. “Our two smokers? One was smoking weed, the other was clean apparently. We can't tell, there isn't much of him left. We did find the butts though. Stupid,” he said shaking his head angrily. “Terminally stupid,” he growled. “I've been checking. I also found out a couple of people weren't even on post, they had snuck off for a little nooky with friends.”

  “Oh boy,” Jayne muttered. She shook her head.

  “Yeah. I'm checking the tapes now. Anyone not at their post is going to get an ass reaming from hell, then I'm going to find them someplace else to work. The dirtiest, the most despicable job I can find. And I'm going to make sure someone is there to keep them on it,” Bill snarled. “This fucking won't happen ag
ain,” he said pounding a fist on the table.

  “No, it had better not,” Shane said. He looked over to Bob and Gabe. He was deeply disappointed in the disconnect, in their failure but didn't want to turn the situation into a witch hunt. “Something occurred to me after that last night,” he said. “I want to rewire the klaxon so we can individually alert compounds without causing a panic everywhere,” he said. He'd heard reports of some panic at Lowes. Art had his hands full right now restoring order. They were still freaking out there. No one was willing to go out or back to work.

  “Had enough of that last night huh?” Jayne asked. He looked at her and nodded.

  “We'll work on it boss,” Bob said firmly. He looked at Gabe who hesitated and then nodded. “We'll get it done,” he said.

  “Good. What I also want is mandatory radio checks. Every fifteen minutes around the clock. Every station.”

  “Boss, can Gabe here hook up a switch for us?” Bill asked looking up to Shane.

  “What do you mean?” Shane asked, cocking an eyebrow.

  “You know, the security thing we did. Where a guard has to swipe a card or push a button or something at a post at a certain time.”

  “Ah,” Gabe said. He rubbed his chin. “Um... sounds a bit, uh, complex. I mean for the entire place, lots of wiring and stuff,” he said.

  “Not if it’s all wireless,” Shane said. “Or at least sections. We wire a circuit then it reports to a central PC via wireless. Ask Leon, he did stuff like that. Big Leon I mean.”

  “And what do we do if someone on the other end is asleep at the switch?” Jayne asked. “Or just not there or whatever?”

  “We'll figure it out,” Shane said. “The important thing is to put measures in place to keep this from happening again. The only good thing that came of it is now people aren't going to be so lax for a while.”

  “No they're going to be jumpy,” Walt growled.

  “Exactly. They are going to pay attention to their jobs, not take them for granted. We'll have to find a way to keep them on the job and keep it serious.”