A Cold Black Wave

by Scott, Timothy H.

  "They had this, all of this, and destroyed it," Josh said in reverent awe. The cold retreated from this place as the dense warmth of the forest desperately fought to keep it out.

  Leah’s eyes danced to and fro as she examined the full spectrum of this unworldly place, "It truly is beautiful, isn't it?"

  Josh knelt down and ran his hand across the dormant bud of a flower, “My mom would have done anything to be here right now. She was on earth but saw what had become of it. It’s one thing for us to know what earth may have been like, it was another to have had it and then taken away forever.”

  Leah strolled nearby as she absently responded to Josh as if they were in a dream, “I’ll never understand how they could have destroyed something like this. Something so innocent and pure.”

  “I know,” he said, his thoughts drifting back to his mother for the first time since leaving. He was surprised that he didn’t feel much sadness about her death now that he thought about it, but the aching siren of remorse waited for him in his repressed emotions, wishing to surge forth and overcome him with a debilitating melancholy. There was already something scarred on his soul that yearned for him to leave a world that had treated him so unfairly.

  “What was she like?”

  “I don’t-uh ... ” He had buried his mother in the recesses of his consciousness, content to keep her there along with the emotions that would threaten to envelop and pull him down into the darkness again. “She, she was nice. Very nice.”

  “You said you were able to speak with her from the Academy. That must have been special for her. What about your father, were you able to-”

  “My father,” he said with a sigh of disgust. “There’s nothing to say about him.”

  “Oh.”

  For his father, however, he had difficulty containing his contempt. His gaze bore into the earth and Josh spoke about his father with spite and anger, “He treated my mom like shit. He abandoned her. And me. The man embodied all that was wrong with the world, and the worst part is that he created a justification for everything that he did. There was always a reason for what he did and never took responsibility for his own actions. A good reason, of course.” He added bitterly. “It’s people like him why we had to leave earth. They all had their justifications for fucking everyone and everything. Sickens me to even think I have his blood ...”

  “I’m so sorry Josh.”

  “Don’t be. He’s dead. Along with everyone else. He got his free ride and we’re here to deal with the consequences.”

  “Everyone has to answer to God eventually. You really don’t believe in an afterlife though, do you?”

  “Not my thing. Sorry.”

  A small squirrel leaped from branch to branch in the tree directly across from him, a small nut or something in his mouth. The fur was very bushy, thick. It looked down at Josh and flicked its tail before moving on, straddling the branches and twigs with its little paws.

  "It's strange to think about,” Leah finally said, her serene voice blending in with the quietude of the forest.

  "What?"

  "How we ended up here. The two of us,” she said wistfully, walking carefully though the leafy fauna next to Josh. “Of all the people that has ever existed, and we’re the last two. Almost seems like we’re still on the shuttle, floating out in space, just dreaming and not really here at all ...”

  “If only we we’re that lucky.”

  “How many were on earth? Billions?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Then there was Josh, and Leah,” she said, the corner of her mouth upturned as she ran her palms over the tops of the ferns as she passed by. Josh tried not to pay attention to her, instead taking note of their surroundings and determining which direction to set off for next. He pulled out his tablet and checked the distance and direction they had traveled since departing from the shuttle.

  “I think we’re getting closer,” he said, tapping the screen to shut it off.

  “Closer?”

  “To civilization.”

  “Yeah? Then what?” She said, inching closer to him.

  “Then, who knows?” He sighed. “Don’t get killed. Be a shame for that to happen after everything we’ve been through, wouldn’t it?”

  “Then what?” She asked playfully.

  She was right next to him now, and a ray of light shone through the strands of her auburn hair as it brought out the slight reddish hue in vibrant fashion. She had a way of unnerving him and turning his thoughts inside out and now with a crook of the neck, an angle of her smile and a squint in her eye managed to fully disembowel him. There was an uncomfortable feeling of vulnerability to it that both excited him and played on his darkest fears and it made him tremble.

  He cleared his throat and shifted his weight, “Then uh, then we make contact, and offer a um, viable ... item of interest and hopefully-”

  She ran her hand twice over the short tuff of hair that had grown on his head since leaving the Westbound, “You like talking that way? Viable item of interest?” she joked, imitating his voice.

  “How should I talk, like you?” he shot back, saying in a high pitched squeaky tone, “So um, what does that do? Oh, a fork? What’s that? Oh no, I broke a-“

  She leaned in and kissed him. Josh froze. His lips couldn’t move. His mind blanked. His heart pounded in his chest and he could feel the shot of adrenaline rippling under his skin like electricity. Leah slowly pulled her lips away from his, smiling and blushing before skipping away.

  “Come on!” She called back. “Can’t sit around all day like lazy jackasses!”

  His mind was flummoxed from the encounter so he didn’t hear a word she had said. Then he realized she was gone and ran after.

  “Hey! How’d you know to go this way,” he said as he caught up.

  “I didn’t!”

  “Wait,” he said, jumping through tangled undergrowth and suddenly feeling oafish. Just steps away from her his foot caught on a gnarled root and his momentum knocked her to the ground. She let out a scream and then laughed as he fell awkwardly on top of her.

  She faced him and Josh found something as he stared into her beaming eyes, a beauty so deep that the world around them could disappear in it. She waited this time, smiling at his goofiness, and then he kissed her with an energy that engulfed them both. Their bodies melded into each other and time was in stasis, their worries wiped clean, and their sorrows forgotten as the moment erased all that was wrong in the world.

  The earth began to rumble and Josh stretched his head up over the ferns to look for what was causing the commotion. Leah shifted over and sat up as well, and both of their heads swiveled above the tops of the foliage.

  Leah gasped, "Look!" A large herd of elk trampled together as they bumped against each other and gingerly leapt over fallen branches and forest rocks. They didn't seem to be in a panic, just an orderly advance like a group of commuters heading to work.

  "Shh, don't move. Let them pass," he said, holding his arm out against her. The mob of elegant brown mountain deer increased in number as the head of the pack passed and the bulk of them followed. Frosty clouds of air blew out from their wet noses, the wayward travelers snorting and making chittering noises as they went. Then a straggler appeared not ten feet from them. Both Leah and Josh locked eyes with it, and it stood blinking, pawing absently at the ground. It shook its head and casually moved along, unfazed by the foreign presence in their land.

  Soon the entire herd had all passed by. Leah coughed into her arm a few times and cleared her throat. "You okay?" he asked. "Oh, yeah, swallowed a bug, or something. That was unbelievable. Did you see how close that one got? I've never seen such beauty, to be right there in front of us like that it’s like I couldn’t breathe!"

  Her eyes lit up with child-like wonder as she spoke and Josh watched her lips move and the way a small dimple formed on her cheek when she smiled. "What?" She grinned. "Come on," she stood up and took him by the hands to follow her.

  "You're
leading the way now?"

  "Sure, why not?"

  "Leah," he said, stopping. She turned. "Let's take it slow, you know, we need to be careful."

  She suddenly felt embarrassed as if she had been inappropriate earlier with him. Did he really think she was going too fast? She knew Josh could be cold, but this was like flipping a switch. "Oh. Sure. I'm not ... ok, sure."

  "I mean, no, not uh, not that. Back there. With us. Just in general, we should be careful."

  "Oh! Right." Now she felt really embarrassed but at least it wasn’t over the reason she had worried about.

  "Keep our eyes open," he pointed to his eyes with two fingers and then to the path ahead.

  "Yes, captain!" she said, giving him a playful salute. She spun around and continued crossing over the trampled path the elk had just created.

  They hiked as Leah stayed just ahead of Josh, occasionally glancing over her shoulder at him and flashing a grin. His heart raced in his chest as his mind ran over the sudden events that just transpired. Images of her beautiful face looking at his and the feel of her lips and the wanting stare of those round eyes all reeled over and over like a movie, and he wanted more.

  Yet as he walked and considered his next move, his nervous thoughts seemed to imprison his body from doing anything so he continued walking and nervously smiling at Leah when she’d look back at him. Despite learning everything else, flirting and socializing with a girl he liked was not even remotely encouraged at the academy, and in fact was punished if the instructors ever found out. And they somehow always did, as Josh had witnessed. There were girls there he was attracted to but the mind block imposed on him from his instructors limited any thoughts he entertained of approaching them.

  His mind raced along with his pulse. Does she want me to do something? She had already made the first move, but I did chase after her and sort of made my own move. Should I wait for her again? Like a chess match maybe. Or maybe more like checkers where I make one jump, then another if I have the opportunity? Would she push me away if I tried something again? What the hell am I supposed to do, just go up and kiss her again?

  Then he tried to focus himself to the task at hand. Thinking about her was completely distracting him from everything else. The world had shrunk to a tiny thing in his mind that crowded out every other thought and seemed to replace his vision with imaginations and memories. No wonder the Academy discouraged relationships!

  Josh wasn’t sure how much time had passed when Leah stopped at the edge of a broad ravine and turned to wait for Josh. This was it. This is where he’d make his move. As he stood next to her his nervousness overwhelmed him and he couldn’t even make eye contact. In the time they had been hiking his relentless thoughts had turned her into a mythical creature that imposed some kind of supernatural control over him and he felt helpless to do anything about it.

  “Well?” She asked. “What’s the matter with you? You see a ghost or something?”

  He let out a nervous laugh. She was so funny!

  “Should we go down this ridge or what?”

  “Oh, yes, absolutely. Let me help you down first.”

  Before she could say anything Josh awkwardly led her towards the edge. Whoa!” She said, stopping. “Careful, you trying to throw me over?”

  He quickly let go, “Sorry.” He set his mind to sober up and took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said, surveying the grade of the slope they’d be descending. “Let’s go down this way and use the rocks. Test them first before you put your whole weight down.”

  They helped each other down a narrow, rock-laden ridge that dipped into a broad stream which wound lazily through bushels of swaying brown-headed reeds. Patches of snow hid in shadows and aspen trees dotted the edges of the stream. Josh was beginning to think that he had guessed wrong about the season and now he believed that they were on the tail end of winter, not the beginning.

  “Wait,” he said. “Do you see that? Over there.” He pointed to a black object protruding from the ground on the other side of the stream. It was well hidden in lush, ten foot grass.

  “We should take a look?”

  “Maybe. Last time my curiosity didn’t work out so well.”

  Once they reached the stream, Josh found a stick and used it to plumb the depths as they made their way across. The clear water ran over smoothed rocks and bubbled gently as it split around a small island. He signaled for her to ready her weapon as they approached the object.

  He hunched down and pushed his way into the wall of leafy grass that easily bent away with each step. They could see the top of the object clearly now and it had the shape of a tail fin with indiscernible markings on it. Time and weather had nearly faded it away.

  When they reached it, the grass and weeds had grown around it to such a degree as to make it a part of the natural landscape.

  Leah appeared next to him, “What is it?”

  “Some sort of jet. Single seat, or what’s left of it. Definitely military.”

  As he circled around the nose, which appeared to have disintegrated upon impact leaving only the cockpit somewhat intact but separated from the fuselage, he kept an eye out for any surprises that may be lurking in the grass. He had little knowledge about the machines, who made them, or what their purpose was. Until he did, it was safe to assume there were many more and they could be anywhere.

  “It looks ancient,” she said, running her hand against the eroded fuselage. Rust rimmed holes pock marked the grey exterior. Josh leaned over the cockpit and tried lifting the metal canopy that closed around the pilot seat. Only small remnants of jagged glass lined the metal edges. There was no body inside.

  “Whoever was in here was either very lucky or got carried away by some animal.” As he knelt there he examined the length of the jet as it protruded up at a forty five degree angle. “I don’t recognize the design.”

  “Maybe you didn’t learn about that one in your studies.”

  “I told you, we studied everything.”

  “So you’re some encyclopedia of earth?”

  “More or less. I had years of study left so there’s a lot I’m missing.”

  “This could be something you missed then?”

  “No. Not this.”

  “One of those machines flew this?”

  “No, a human piloted this. It doesn’t make sense to put an expensive machine into an expensive jet. You’d just stick the CPU in here, not the whole body. The machine we ran into was meant for ground warfare. Look, see this? There are burn holes in the fuselage. You’d need high tech stuff to burn clean through like that. Not sure who was fighting who but if you look at the markings on this plane, and the language, it matches what we saw on the can, but not the machine. If I had to guess, whoever designed the machines were the invaders. The pilot in this cockpit was defending his homeland.”

  “Well, okay. We should go. This creeps me out.”

  “Yeah. We need to set up camp. It’ll be dark soon.”

  Leah coughed, this time in fits and Josh eyed her with consternation. She just smiled and waved it off again so he didn’t press her about it. He led them up a rocky incline that took them out of the stream bed, finding themselves at the edge of an open expanse of thickly seeded grass that came up over their heads.

  “I’d rather not go through here,” she said, wiping her nose. “Why don’t we follow the stream down some more and find another way out?”

  “My only worry is the time. We can’t go poking around the stream bed too long looking for another way out. These ridges are steep and this spot is the only place we could climb without risking a fall. We can’t camp near the water though. Too many animals coming and going. Sooner or later we’ll run into the type that isn’t so cute and friendly.”

  “Let’s find another way. I’m not walking through that. God knows what’s in there or where we’d end up!”

  He took her suggestion despite his deep misgiving about doing so, and they climbed back down to the stream bed, following alongside it t
o locate a path out that didn’t require walking blindly through a maze of giant grass. As dusk set upon them, frost followed. Josh felt the pressure to get out of the ravine and set camp up soon and quickened his pace.

  They trekked along the wet, rocky stream bed for awhile until Leah stopped and slipped off her backpack.

  “What’s wrong?” Josh asked as he walked back to her.

  “Just catching my breath. Hey,” she smiled. “I’m out of shape! What can I say?”

  “You sure you’re okay?” He kneeled down next to her and noticed her skin was flush. “Here, eat this.” He unwrapped an energy bar and handed it to her. “I’ll go ahead and find us a place to camp and come back. Give me fifteen minutes!”