The Darkness

by Matt Brennan

  I don’t know how long I was standing there, but I heard nothing. Yet, I still couldn’t get over the sensation I was being watched. I had finally made the decision to leave, when I heard a something shuffle in the dark.

  I’m not sure what caused the noise or where it came from, because it only happened once and I had no sense of which direction it came from. It could have been the sound of a footstep or gravity finally winning out over a twig on the edge of a work bench. But I’d definitely heard something move.

  I slowly drew my hammer from my belt. I suppose I could have drawn the machete, but the sound the snap made might have alerted whoever was here that I was arming myself. I slowly started moving away from the general direction of the noise and towards the door.

  I stopped moving and listened. I strained my ears, hoping it would help me spot something—anything—but I heard nothing. Finally, I decided whatever secrets this building held it could keep them and dashed for the door. I swear I heard something moving rapidly towards me in the dark but then again I could have just imagined it. I dashed out through the curtains and out the door and slammed it shut behind me.

  As I stood outside and leaned my body against the door in a kind of panic. I wanted to run. But for some reason I was convinced holding the doorknob was the only thing that would keep me alive. My heart was racing and my breathing was rapid and shallow. I was absolutely terrified. I kept expecting something to slam into the door, but nothing did. Finally, I began to fuel the hope that I imagined everything. That my childish fear of the dark caused me to hear things and riled my nerves into full fledged panic attack. I started to laugh, even though I didn’t remotely think anything was funny.

  Then the door knob had started to turn.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  My mind reeled and I reached out to grab the knob, but stopped short of taking it in my hand. If I did that, it might spoil my chance to surprise the aggressor. If I hid behind the door and jumped whoever it was once they stepped outside, I could surprise them before they knew what was happening.

  I slowly backed away and raised my hammer. The door opened a crack and then stopped. I moved back a bit, but not far enough to reveal myself or make any noise.

  A female voice came out of the doorway. “I know you’re there, slick. Can you lower the hammer for a minute and let me come out and talk?”

  I didn’t know what to do, the voice didn’t sound threatening, but it could have been a ploy.

  “Dude, I can see you standing there through the crack at the hinge. Just back up and lower the hammer and we can chat. I’m not going to hurt you and you definitely aren’t going to hurt me. So let’s palaver.”

  I wasn’t entirely sure what palaver meant, but I slowly moved away mostly because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I used to hate it when my dad and mom used words I didn’t understand. They’d always tell me to look them up, but I never did. I figured if they didn’t want to be understood that was their problem and not mine. I gotta tell you though at that minute I would have killed for a dictionary or even a thesaurus.

  “I don’t know you. How can I trust you?”

  “Because if I wanted you dead, I’d have killed you inside. I am armed and I see really well in the dark with my night-vision goggles.”

  “Well, I heard you coming.”

  The voice laughed. “No, I let you hear me. I wanted to see if you had a gun, which obviously you don’t. Which puts the odds slightly in my favor, as I have a twelve-gauge shot gun pointed right at the door.”

  “Prove it.”

  “I will, step away from the door and lower the hammer.”

  I didn’t see that I had much of a choice, so I moved away and lowered the hammer to my side. The door slowly opened and the barrel of a shotgun slid out through the opening of the black curtains, just inside the open doorway.

  “See, now drop the hammer.”

  “No thank you. I’ll hang onto it just the same.”

  “Look, I’m only pointing this gun at you because you have the hammer. You drop the hammer, I’ll lower the gun.”

  I thought over my options over for a moment. I really didn’t like having a gun pointed at me and I really did want it pointed in another direction. In fact, every second it was pointed at me I literally felt my life force leaking out through my toes. But I also didn’t want to lose my hammer in the snow. What if she was bluffing and had no ammunition? Then my hammer would become a bigger bargaining chip than it was at that moment. But seeing no other option, I tucked it in my belt.

  “There! Good enough?”

  The voice chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose.”

  The gun lowered away from me and my heart started beating normally again. I almost peed my pants, but luckily the presence of my youthful bladder and my near total dehydration took the day.

  “Come on in, slick.”

  With that, the gun disappeared behind the curtains and I saw lights flicker just beyond them. I took a deep breath and stepped up to the doorway, parted the curtains and marveled at what I found.

  The big metal shed was a house!

  There was a kitchen, a couch, a dining room table and even what appeared to be a couple of bedroom doors at the back. There was carpeting all over the cold cement and it gave the place a real homey feel.

  Standing by the couch was a teenage girl holding a double-barreled shotgun in her hands. She had night vision goggles turned up on her forehead. She was about five foot seven and was wearing snowmobile boots and a heavy winter coat that was about three sizes too big and went all the way down to her knees. She had this weird hat on that had furry earflaps and looked homemade. She had a knitted scarf wrapped around her face, so all I could see was her eyes, which were a deep chocolate brown.

  I totally froze.

  Not only was that the first time I was in the same room with another person since childhood, but this was the first girl, not counting my mother, that I had ever actually met in the flesh.

  “So, who the hell are you? And where did you come from?”

  I managed to stammer out, “I’m Dorian.”

  “Okay, that’s nice. Hello Dorian. Now let’s try that again, shall we? Who the hell are you and where did you come from?”

  I swallowed hard. I felt like she was about to raise the rifle and shoot me at any second. I began to wonder how it was a teenage girl had managed to survive all this time up here on her own. Then I remembered she must be thinking the exact same thing about me. I must have looked scared, because she rolled her eyes and put the shotgun on the table.

  “Better?”

  I breathed a deep sigh of relief. “Much. Thanks.”

  She looked me up and down and I have never felt so conscious about my body in my entire life. I began kicking myself that I cut back on the exercise routine Dad used to make me do.

  She smiled. “Dorian, Look, I’m sorry. You’re obviously not here to do harm. I doubt you could have hit me with that hammer, even if I gave you the chance. So pointing my gun at you, well, it wasn’t cool. So sorry. But these days, you just can’t be too sure.”

  “No worries.”

  “Good. So, who the hell are you and where did you come from?”

  I smiled and looked at the table and chairs. “Mind if I sit? It’s been a very long day.”

  She looked at the table and chairs as well. “Where are my manners? Please, be my guest.”

  I walked over to the table and took off my pack and sat in the closest chair. She sat at the far end.

  “Mind if I eat a banana?”

  She smiled. “Not if you have two I don’t.”

  I started to open my pack and she placed her hand on the gun. I jumped to my feet and pulled my hands away.

  “Hey, I have an idea, why don’t I move over there and you get the bananas.”

  “That’s okay, you get them. But if anything other than a potassium boomerang comes out, I warn you. I’m pretty fast and will totally pull that trigger.

  I sighed and cocked
my head a bit. It was something I did when I was nervous—and I was definitely scared witless. I slowly reached into the pack and pulled out the last two bananas I had. I tore one off and tried to hand it to her, but she shook her head. “Just leave it on the table and back up a bit.”

  I placed it on the table and she fetched my offering.

  She smelled it. “Holy crap! This is real!”

  I smiled. “I know, you ever have one?”

  She shook her head, and said, “How do you eat it?”

  “Well, generally I use a knife to cut the top, but teeth work just as well.”

  I bit the top of the banana off and peeled down the sides to take a bite. She put the gun down and pulled her scarf off enough to bite the top. Almost as soon as her teeth sank in, she grimaced and tossed the banana down on the table.

  “Oh right! Yeah, sorry I forgot to mention, the peel is really bitter. But the fruit is really good. Try it.”

  She looked at me in disbelief, but peeled down the sides and tentatively took a bite. She immediately lit up and kept chewing and chewing. Then in a moment of pure joy, I’d never seen before, she swallowed the bite.

  “Oh my god that is good!”

  “See, told you!”

  I sat down and took another bite of my banana. She sat and we ate in silence.

  When she finished, she looked at the peel. “Hey, if I plant this, will it—”

  I shook my head. “No, that’s not a seed. Just a wrapping. Bananas are perennials.”

  She frowned. “What’s a perennials?”

  I smirked. “A plant that lives for more than two years, it produces these bananas once, then the part that makes the fruit sort of dies. But not before the plant sends up a shoot for the next harvest.”

  “Huh.” She nodded. “Where’d you get it?”

  “Well, without going into the details. I grow them in the place I come from.”

  “And where is that?”

  “In the mountains.”

  “A little vague don’t ya think?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see. Fair enough. Okay, your banana has purchased you a night in Shangri-Lyssa.”

  I frowned. “Uh, where?”

  She smiled. “Here. Shangri-Lyssa. That’s what I call my little hidey-hole.”

  I still felt confused. “But why?” I asked.

  She looked disappointed. “Because Lyssa’s my name, moron, and this is my home. My Shangri-La.”

  “Oh. Right.” I had no idea what she was talking about, but pretending to understand seemed the proper choice.

  “Look, don’t get any ideas. I have enough food for me, and me alone. I can feed you tonight and give you breakfast, but then out you go, down the road.”

  “Look, I don’t want to impose. I can always sleep in the main building in an office or something. I just need a stove and chimney.”

  “You really going to turn down a night’s sleep in a bed?”

  “Look, no offense. But I don’t know you. And what with The Darkness, and everything, I probably shouldn’t be near you.”

  She frowned. “The what?”

  I’m shocked, I had never met anyone who didn’t know what The Darkness was. “The plague? You know, the thing that killed everyone?” I said.

  “Ahh, right. That. Well, I wouldn’t worry about that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, everyone who wasn’t immune died long ago.”

  I froze at those words.

  “What do you mean those who aren’t immune?”

  “Yeah, everyone who’s dead isn’t immune. People like you and me, we’re good.”

  I’m shocked. I didn’t know what to say.

  “My dad was immune too, but he died of a heart attack last year. But that plague, as you call it, it’s been over for a long time.”

  “But I thought—” I stopped short, changing my question instead. “How many people are left?”

  “Not many. Pockets of people here and there. Most, well, let’s just say they’re not as nice as me.”

  “But I was always told that everyone was dead. And that I was the only one to show immunity—”

  She then let out a big A-HAH sound. “You’ve been talking to the UNN, haven’t you?”

  “You know of the UNN?”

  She laughed. “Sure, everyone does. They’ve tried to lure everybody in at one point or another. So you must be a bunker baby, huh?”

  For some reason, I didn’t like the tone in her voice and I got a bit defensive. “It’s a biosphere,” I said

  She backpedaled. “No, hey, look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just, well that’s what my dad and I called guys like you. Bunker babies. Most of the bunker babies didn’t last long though. Most got sick.”

  “Well, I did get sick, but I recovered.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  I brightened. “Oh my god, well then you have to come with me to San Francisco!”

  She laughed. “You might as well have said the moon.”

  “Seriously, I’m heading there now. They might be able to cure The Darkness or plague or whatever. Something in my blo—our blood, might hold the key. We could save what’s left of humanity.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, it’s like talking to a semi-trained chimp!”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me. If you believe that mumbo jumbo then you’re an idiot. I told you, they’ve been trying to lure people there for years. But everyone I know was too smart to fall for their nonsense. You must have manure for brains to believe their story. Besides we don’t need a cure, remember? We’re immune.”

  I sighed. “I know, but there are hundreds of thousands of people trapped in their bunkers that those antibodies could save!”

  “You really believe that crap don’t you? What are you, like ten or something?”

  “Look, don’t you think it’s a bit rude to make fun of me when I’m standing right here?”

  “Yeah. So what’s your point?”

  I didn’t have one besides what I had just said. “Nothing, just that it’s rude.”

  “It’s supposed to be rude, genius! That’s why it’s called an insult.”

  I tried to think of a way to save some of my dignity, but came up empty. My life didn’t really prepare me for something like this. So like any other semi-intelligent human, I gave up. She seemed like she was far smarter than I was.

  My dad would have liked her from the word, go.

  She looked me up and down searching for a reaction.

  I took offense to her words but swallowed my pride. “I just don’t understand, how you can be so confident that you know all this—exactly?”

  She slammed her hand on the table in anger, and shouted, “Because unlike a helpless bunker baby like you, I’ve seen what those psychos that call themselves the UNN actually do!”

  “An what is that exactly?”

  She stared at me. “Do you doubt me?”

  “No, not at all! I just think it’s funny that they told me told to avoid all people and the first person I meet says the same thing about them, is all.”

  It was clear she was not sure if she believed me. “Who told you that?”

  “Doctor Sanderson from the UNN.”

  She smiled.

  I stared at her, waiting for a response that didn’t seem like is was ever going to arrive. “So you aren’t going to tell me?”

  “Doesn’t look like it.”

  “Look, I know I’m imposing. I get that. You’ve been sort of hospitable and I have no business complaining. But if I’m in danger going to Vancouver—”

  She immediately stopped laughing, “You’re going where?”

  “Vancouver, is that... is that bad?”

  She cleared her throat and got very serious. “Look, I know you’re stupid and it’s not your fault, you were just born that way, but you need to listen to what I say. Under no circumstances can you go anywhere near Vancouver! Period. Wherever you came f
rom, you need to go back there immediately. Hey, if you have more of the bananas we can trade, but you cannot go to Vancouver! Ever!”

  I’d heard my last insult, “Okay, look you don’t want to tell me what you know, that’s fine. Thanks for the hospitality. Have a good life.”

  She dashed out of her chair, grabbed my wrist, and spun me around to face her. The sudden movement caused her scarf to fall away from her face and her hat to go flying. For the first time I got a clear view of her face.

  She was beautiful. So much prettier than her words. And her chocolate colored eyes, they seemed like they were holding something back. Some mystery I just had to know the answer to. I just got lost staring at them.

  But honestly, it was her touch that really threw me. When her hand grabbed my wrist, it was like an electric shock. We were connected in that second, like no other way I had ever known. All the flesh on my arm suddenly erupted into goose bumps and a tingling sensation shot up my spine, exploding in my brain. My whole body started vibrating and my face felt all flushed. Every intention I’d had of walking away and leaving her in my dust was gone. There was no way I was going anywhere.

  At least not until I saw her without that coat.

  Her demeanor suddenly changed and I knew then she’d felt it too. And unlike me, the reality of it was a bit too confusing and unnerving for her. She shoved me away and backed off. She started to speak, but stopped. Instead, she stormed away and dashed into her room, slamming the door. A split second later she opened it and poked her head out. “Stay as long as you like or go if that’s what you really want. Though, I—I would really like you to stay. At least for the night. The weather—it just doesn’t look good. I have that spare room over there. You’re welcome to it.”

  Then she was gone and I fell back into my seat staring at her door completely breathless.

  I remember there were about three or four minutes of pure bliss, before I thought of Ellie and was instantly thrown into maelstrom of guilt.

  * * *

  That was the first time I met Lyssa. And in the time I've known her, I've hated her, liked her, and hated her again so many times I can't even begin to keep track. But she is loyal, I have to give her that. She said it herself, wherever I go she's going with me, whether I like it or not.