by Jon Fore
When Gabriel turned back, worried for the debris polluting the street, Amelia was gone and the opening of the door seemed wider. Next to it sat Fug, dutifully waiting for him. Gabriel could swear he heard the dog whimpering softly as he looked from the inside of the building and back to Gabriel. Either way, it was obvious to Gabriel the dog was worried.
As Gabriel approached Fuggy, the dog headed inside. Gabriel gripped the door and forced it open. It was suspended overhead with wheels set in a track. It rolled easily enough, but the damn thing was heavy. Inside he could see stalls, the kind for livestock, and he could smell the distant stench of dry-rotted straw. Dust rained down from overhead, but Gabriel stepped through heedlessly, dragging the now lock-legged Lance behind him. The horse hesitated then allowed himself led into the darkness and toward the deeper parts of the barn.
"He's huge," Amelia said softly from somewhere in the darkness.
Gabriel began drawing the door closed even before Big Guy was in the barn. Door and horse's butt came very close to colliding, but Gabriel managed to get the door almost closed. A slit, no more than three or four inches wide, still ran the height of the door, letting in a sliver of decayed light.
"Don't let them see you," Amelia said from somewhere on the other side of Lance.
"I won't. I know what I'm doing," Gabriel said in a muted voice, then took two steps backward, keeping his sight aligned with the door. "What are we hiding from?"
"The balloon monster," Amelia said, her voice quivering.
Gabriel thought she sounded a bit further away, as if she had sought out and found a place to hide deeper in the old barn.
"You mean, it actually floats?"
"Yes...."
Then a sickening waft of rancid potato stuck him, even though the small opening in the door. There was no noise, no sound whatsoever, just that nauseatingly sweet stench of spoiled potatoes. Then a shadow fell over the road outside the barn. Slow and purposeful, thick and ominous, the shadow spread. Gabriel took an involuntary step back and both hands found both revolvers. He bent at the midsection and craned his neck back in a near useless attempt to see up. It gave him little additional vantage, but then he saw the thing.
An enormous bag began floating over the barn, its body a dark greasy looking surface as wide as he could see. Perhaps ten stories up, the beast floated, propelled by something Gabriel couldn't see, at least yet. Hanging from its under-flesh were countless smaller winged creatures. These smaller things fluttered and shifted, craning long disjointed necks in every direction. Gabriel's first thought was of an aircraft carrier, and almost as big. That and it had what looked like hundreds of smaller beasts waiting to launch. It could see with a hundred eyes and launch smothering assaults on whatever it wanted.
It moved slowly across the sky and it seemed an impossibly long time before the thing ended in a large fleshy tail, or wing. It looked like a bat wing, but the size of a whale's tail. It fanned upward and downward in a slow steady motion, twisting slightly when it needed to turn or change course. It floated onward and over the tops of the ruined town and into the more suburban parts, becoming obscured by trees before vanishing altogether. To his relief, it took its rotten potato smell with it.
Gabriel turned to find Amelia, her head poking from dried hay in one of the stalls. This girl had been here, alone and surviving, unlike what seemed to be everyone else in town. She was like that small rodent that survived the extinction of the dinosaurs and gave birth to mammals. Hiding, scavenging, surviving; "How long has that thing been coming?"
Amelia looked at him with large eyes and shrugged her shoulders through the straw.
"Since the beginning?"
Amelia shook her head slowly, working hair into her face. "They come at the dark times. It will come back."
"What do we do now?” Gabriel asked as he slid the large door closed, plunging them into complete darkness.
"We wait until morning. The night time is getting longer. They will be out for a while.” Amelia climbed out of the straw and began to brush herself off. "It’s sleeping time.” She said simply.
Gabriel was getting his first real good look at the girl, at least as much as the darkness would allow. He imagined she would look different in regular light. For now, she was actually a very pretty girl with long features and doe-like eyes. Her clothing was filthy and for the most part, falling off of her, and she looked hungry. As skinny as she was, she had to be hungry, but then again, Gabriel couldn't remember much about the girls from grade school. Maybe they were supposed to be this skinny prepubescent.
When Amelia had finished brushing the loose strands of dried straw from herself, at least the pieces she could see, she walked over to Big Guy and looked up at him in wonder.
Gabriel thought for a second that this might be the first horse this girl had ever seen, but she lived in what could only be described as a farming community. There had to be horses around here. Many farmers kept horses and cows and even goats. Well, not anymore, not now, but before the invasion.
Amelia reached up to Big Guy's face, a finger extended delicately to touch the horse's nose, but when she got close enough, he grew impatient and threw his head down, essentially stroking himself with her finger tip. Amelia opened her hand wide and began stroking him along his mane covered neck. Big Guy snorted once in contentment. "He's so big," she said, never taking her eyes from the horse.
"His name is Big Guy. I just call him Guy sometimes," he replied.
"What about him?” She asked and ran a hand along Lance's flank as she approached his head. Lance turned to her and snorted in her face, making Amelia pause for a second. The she reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose gently.
"That's Lance."
"He's big too. Really big."
"How long have you been hiding in this barn, Amelia?"
"I don't know," she said.
"How many nights, then. Can you count how many nights?"
Amelia looked at him hard, harder than a seven or nine year old should be able to. "I don't know. A lot of nights. Okay?" She arched her eyebrows.
Gabriel wondered if maybe this child hadn't lost it, just a little. "Okay. Are you hungry."
"Yes.” Her voice was small as a field mouse again.
"Well, let's see what we've got here.” Gabriel said and began rummaging through Big Guy's saddle bag. The horse nuzzled him, seemingly more calm than he had been. More calm than he had been for days. Gabriel just shooed the horse's nose away, and Amelia took over the duties of stroking Big Guy's long face.
Gabriel found two chocolate pastry things in cellophane and a bag of corn chips, which he brought to the girl. He was hungry himself, but decided to eat the jerky instead. He didn't think the girl would want to eat dried meat, especially meat as hard as homemade jerky.
Amelia grabbed the food and darted away, as if she were afraid Gabriel might try and take it back. Gabriel understood she had a rough go of it over the past weeks, and began to wonder how rough it actually got. "Amelia?"
She had taken up a small bit of space near a pile of straw and had her back to him. Gabriel waited a bit, then decided to eat first, then see if he could get her to tell her story. It was obvious the girl had a story to tell. Looking at her was like looking at a feral child, a girl who raised herself in the wild or something. He felt something twist in his chest as he thought about it.
Gabriel decided to spare his home made jerky, and retrieved three of the foot long meat sticks from Big Guy's pack. He found his own place to sit and eat, choosing a spot near the door where he could still see Amelia, and opened a stick. He bit into it while still distracted by the girl and flavor exploded in his mouth. Spice. It was very spicy compared to the jerky he made, and drenched in grease. It was both good and horrible at the same time, and his first thought was water. He was going to need some water to wash this down, that or one of the bottles of cola he'd collected from the convenience store. The flavor was so strong it made his eyes water.
He listened
to the girl tear each package open and eat ravenously. He began to wonder if the girl would choke but then she was done. She spun on him, dropping the corn chip bag on the ground. Their eyes locked for a moment, then Amelia looked at the ground before her knees.
"Feel better?"
She nodded her head.
Gabriel took another bite of the meat stick, then said around it, "Want to help me feed the animals?"
Amelia looked back up at him, then at the horses, then back at him. Her eyes were wide, but Gabriel could not tell if it was from wonder, excitement, or fear. Then she slowly nodded her head again, seemingly going back to her mute state.
Gabriel stood and stuffed the other two meat sticks into his front pocket and forced the last three inches of the first into his mouth. "Okay, what we need to do is pile up as much of the dry straw as we can. Not the wet stuff, and nothing that smells bad." He began to unbridle Lance, removing the bit from the horse’s mouth while keeping an eye on the girl.
Amelia just stared at him a moment, then looked around the darkened barn, then back at him. The light was so feint now it was hard to see each other, more or less the animals, more or less the straw, but she began to crawl and rummage with her hands.
When Gabriel had the bit out of Big Guy's mouth, he took out his flashlight and turned it on, twisting the lens cap until the light dimmed. It was more than enough to expose the straw and the straps he needed to undo on the horses. If they were going to spend the night in this barn, then the animals shouldn't wear the packs or saddles.
Amelia was doing a pretty good job of gathering straw into a pile, and as Gabriel tried to remove the gear from Lance, Big Guy began tugging on the binding between the two horses, complicating matters for Gabriel. He gave a sturdy yank on the lead, bringing Big Guy back to Lance. Once he had the lead off Big Guy, he let the horse roam back to the stack of hay.
Lance, now without any packs or harnesses, joined Big Guy at the pile. Gabriel started on Big Guy's packs while he ate.
"Is that enough?” Amelia asked.
"Yeah, that should be fine. That is a very good job."
"Can I have something to drink?"
"Yeah, sure." Gabriel placed the pack on the ground a few feet away from the horses, knelt and drew out two warm sodas. He turned, offering both to her, "You chose."
She rushed him, grabbed a bottle, and ran back to her eating place.
"Okay....” Gabriel said at her back.
He turned and retrieved Fug's bowl and one of the small bags of Purina he had scavenged and walked over to where the dog slept. He was laid out in his shaggy, ugly way near the door, and as Gabriel came to him he stretched long, revealing his tummy. Gabriel put the bowl down and tore open the bag of food. This got the dog's attention. He rose and began sniffing at the bowl and wagging his tail furiously.
Gabriel poured a healthy measure into the bowl, and Fug began eating before Gabriel was done pouring the food. An electric sensation ran through Gabriel's chest and he stroked the dog lovingly before rolling the bag up and turning to put the food away.
Amelia was there looking up at him in a bashful, sad way. "I can't open the soda.” She said and offered it Gabriel.
"Let me help you.” Gabriel said and dropped the dog food, took the soda and twisted a chewed and wet cap off the bottle. He offered it to the girl without saying a word.
She took the bottle slowly, her eyes downcast. This time she did not run away, but turned slowly and walked back to her eating place. Gabriel watched her sit back down before putting the dog food away. The girl might be a bit wild, but there was some amount of civility in her. Perhaps it was just a memory, but it was a start.
"Where can I get water?” He asked her. He didn't expect her to know, but wanted to engage the child, try and keep her from going back to her unspeaking self.
The girl pointed to one end of the barn as she nursed on the soda.
Gabriel retrieved Fug's water bowl and walked to the end of the barn. There were two troughs here. One was a water trough with a hand pump. The other held a blackened mush of grains. He worked the hand pump for two strokes, and clean fresh water rushed out of the spigot, splashing into the trough. He held the bowl beneath until it was full, then pump long enough to put a few inches of water in the trough.
When he brought the bowl back to Fug he found Amelia there, talking softly to the dog while he ate, stroking him from neck to butt in slow measured strokes. Gabriel felt that surge again, the electric rush in his chest, but this time for the girl. He pulled the soda bottle from one pocket and the meat sticks from the other, then sat close to the two. He bit open the meat stick, twisted the cap off the soda and took a long draw. "Do you feel better, Amelia?"
She looked up at him, her eyes still wide, but somehow not as wide as before. She nodded her head, but this time added, "Yeah."
"Can we talk a bit? I want to know what happened here before I came. Can we do that?"
"Yeah."
"Can I turn the light off, and you won’t get scared?"
Amelia eyes widened a bit, but eventually she nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."
Gabriel flicked the light off and the darkness was immediate. It wasn't just dark, it was oppressively so, and close in a physical way. Amelia whimpered lightly, Amelia or Fug, "It's okay, I'm still here."
There was no response to this, so Gabriel continued, "What happened to your parents?"
"Mommy and Daddy are dead," she said in a dry voice.
"Can you tell me what happened then, from that point?"
Amelia sat silently for a long while and Gabriel didn't want to rush her. He wasn't even sure if this was good for the girl or not. Remembering what had happened to her parents, remembering the end of the world and recounting it to a stranger might do the girl some form of emotional damage, but Gabriel had to know how this kid managed to survive for so long, alone. He finished eating the meat stick and opened the other before she began.
"It was at night. It was bed time and I was brushing my teeth when I heard mommy scream. Then daddy screamed, and there was a lot of noise. Big noises. When I looked down the steps I saw daddy being eaten by a monster. He was dead. I ran to my room and hid in my closet.
"The monsters came upstairs. Then the monsters came in my room, but they didn't open the closet. When they were gone I stayed in the closet for a long time. I waited until I had to pee too bad. When I came out it was day time and I snuck to the bathroom. When I finished, I went down stairs and found mommy," Amelia's voice stumbled for a moment, "I think.
"Outside, there were fires and stuff, but no one was around. The monsters were gone. The people were gone. So I came outside and went to town, but no one was there either. But all the places were burnt up and broken. I was scared," Amelia trailed off.
"You know, Amelia, it is okay to be scared. I'm scared."
"Now?"
"Well sure. Aren't you?"
After a long moment, "Yeah."
"I'm here now, though, and I will protect you. Okay?"
"That's what Mrs. and Mr. David said. But they're gone now too."
"Who were they?"
Amelia paused again, reflecting in the darkness. Gabriel could just now make her out as his eyes adjusted to the near total lack of light.
"At night, after I went to town, some people came out. Grownups. And Mr. David found me and took me with him to the book store where people were. But then the Balloon Monster came and they tried to run away....” Her voice twisted into a short sob, which she stifled with an effort. "They couldn't run away. The flying things got them and they were all dead. I hid in the book store until the fire came. I ran away and hid in here. Then you came."
Gabriel wondered how long it had been between hiding in the barn and his arrival. How long had this child been surviving alone on the food she could find in the ruined shops? How long had she been getting along like this? Something welled up in his throat and he cleared it with a swig of soda, "I tell you what. I think there are still people, but
they are south of here, in Maryland or Virginia. There are a lot of military people down there, and I am going to go join them. Do you want to come with me?"
"You're leaving?” Her voice cracked in a sad way.
"Yes. We need to find out where people are and what's going on."
"You're not going to leave me here, are you?" Amelia sobbed, but again, choked it off.
"Nope. Not on your life."
"I can come?"
"Yes. I want you to come."
Amelia cleared her throat, and in a very adult voice said, "Okay."
Then she started crying again.
Chapter 15
The camp became a mass of activity, like ants in a nest recently kicked over. Only, there weren’t very many ants here. But the running and rushing soldiers, all bent to their tasks, seemed to render Vega, Maria, and Jackson invisible. This invisibility was what Vega wanted. "Come on, we need to find a place to hide out."
"Why?” Maria asked. "Why don't we travel with them and then head to Amsterdam from there?"
"Because I have an idea. Let's just hide out until these guys are gone, then I'll show you."
"Where?” Jackson asked, his voice low but still somehow booming.
"Over there, behind that tent, there is a hill. We can go up a few yards and just watch until they're gone," Vega said and began walking towards the tent. Maria and Jackson shared a look then followed without further discussion.
Around the side of the large tent, probably a makeshift barracks, Vega could hear soldiers talking in short clipped tones. No joking, just all business. Flashlights swung about in the tent, describing small circles on the canvas skin. The forest started just a few yards behind the tent.
Vega scrambled up almost on all fours until she found a place that gave her a foothold, a tree to lean on, and a view of the small clearing at the end of the bridge. It was dark, but she could still see the activity and the swirling red of the flashlights.