by A H Alhaila
They continued walking until they reached the glass. Joanna somewhat enjoyed looking at the creature! She was not paying attention to what her father was looking at through the glass. “Come here and look…”, said Steven.
She came and saw that the whole town was crawling with creatures like it!
“What! I didn’t think they’d be so many!”, said Steven. “We might be the only ones left alive.”, he added.
“You might think I’m crazy, but I feel like they’re kind creatures.”, said Joanna.
“They’re all just like us! Except for the long hair. Why do they all have long hair? Even the men do?”, said Steven.
“This is strange.”, said Joanna. “They are just like how people described them. Do you think they eat humans?”, she added.
“They’re all wearing clothes like us.”, said Steven. “Were they normal people who mutated?”, he added.
“But how did they mutate?”, said Joanna curiously.
“Have you studied this form of genetic mutation?”, asked Steve. “Did your mother mention it while teaching you?”, he added.
Joanna said, “We studied genetics thoroughly. There was a chapter discussing the zombie state! But modern science debunked it saying it’s just a myth. Those who die cannot come back to life.”. She added, “This theory had some truth to it though which is genetic mutation. Mom said she was conducting research to make an antidote in case it really does happen.”.
“If it didn’t exist, then how could they make an antidote?”, asked Steven.
“What are you saying?”, said Joanna. “Do you think they have something to do with it?”.
People started gathering around them because of the heated conversation. They saw the creatures crawling everywhere outside and even saw some in the ground floor. “If the food supply runs out, how are we going to be able to get out of here?”, said someone anxiously.
Tension spread amongst them as an old, country-looking man named Alexander said, “If the food ends, we’ll eat you!”
Words started flying from their mouths as Steven tried to calm them down. “Why wait until the end of the crisis to die when we can just die now at the beginning!”, said Alexander,
Everyone agreed with Alexander, even those who were first in doubt. “I feel like those who escaped have survived.”, said another distorted man. “We’re trapped in here because of you Steven. You’re going to make us all die a slow death. I’d rather die now than to die slowly!”, he added.
Then, the sound of a gunshot was heard as soon as the man finished his sentence. Everyone fell silent and turned to the man who had shot the gun, as he said in a loud voice, “Whoever said he’d rather die now thank to die slowly, raise your hand and get what you asked for. Isn’t this what you want?”.
Steven head fell. This was why he didn’t want the guns to be distributed to everyone. The person who had fired the gun waited to see who would raise his hand then said, “So, no wants to? Just so you know, if it weren’t for Steven, you would have turned into one of those creatures and we would have to shoot you and then spit on you!”. “Steven gave you a chance for a longer life. Maybe even until you become old. Damn you all.”, he added.
“It’s normal for us to disagree.”, said Steven. “It makes us know each other more.”, he added. He continued saying, “Now let’s leave it at that. Whoever wants to sleep can sleep. Don’t be afraid. You are all safe”.
Everyone went back. Steven turned to the countryman and to the man who shot the gun. “What are your names?”, he asked.
The man who shot the gun said, “My name is Max. Sometimes it’s better to be tough with people than lenient”.
“Great work man! I’m Alexander”, said Alexander.
“Thank you for helping me end the argument.”, said Steven.
“You are welcome. I’m going to continue guarding the place.”, said Max.
“Okay.”, said Steven.
After Max left, Alexander said Steven, “I have two sons, Brian and Daniel. They are here, and they are skilled welders as well as other making other things. I will tell them to make things that we can use.”.
“This is great. Do whatever you see fit.”, said Steven.
“I’m not asking your permission. I’m just telling you what I’m going to do. That’s it.”, said Alexander.
Alexander left without saying anything. He is an old man and so he does not like to take orders or to ask permission. Joanna waved to her father to come to her. When Steven got her, Joanna said, “Dad. Look at the creatures! Since the man shot his gun and they were curious to know where the sound came from.”.
“I don’t think that’s important.”, said Steven.
“If they are curious, that means they can think like us?”, said Joanna.
Steven became intrigued. He said, “If they really could think like us, they would have used the stairs or the ropes to come up here!”. He added, “I don’t think they are able to think at all.”.
As she stared at them, Joanna said, “I disagree. I believe they can think. I just don’t know why they don’t use the stairs or ropes to get up here.”
“Maybe if we had mom’s books. Would that help?”, said Steven.
In a serious way, Joanna said, “They definitely will. Even if it doesn’t, at least we will find Lily.”. She added, “I think going there is worth the risk.”.
Steven said, “What we’re saying is crazy. But I think it will be ok if we did!”. He then added, “We need to see how powerful those things are. But how are we going to do that?”
“We’ll talk about this later. Right now, I want to get some sleep. I can’t stay awake any longer. You should get some sleep too.”, said Steven.
“Okay.”, said Joanna.
Steven went to sleep as Joanna kept looking at the creatures. Adam came, stood beside her and said, “Hello princess.”
Joanna replied, “Princess? It’s been a long time since anyone has called me that. No-one even thought I was a princess because of what I went through. But Steven made me feel like one by the way he treats me.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to remind you of the past. I just felt happy that the president’s is still alive.”, said Adam.
“It’s because of you and your mother that I’m alive right now. I can never repay you.”, said Joanna.
“Don’t mention it.”, said Adam.
They were both silent for a few moments. Adam then said, “I noticed you keep staring at the creatures.”
“I am studying them.”, said Joanna.
“This is great.”, said Adam. “We will cannot defeat them unless we know more about them.”, he added.
“Exactly.”, said Joanna.
“Hmm … Fine I will keep guard. Good night princess.”, said Adam.
Joanna laughed and said, “I think people will know of me because of you!”
Adam laughed back and said, “Do not worry, your secret’s safe with me.”
“Good.”, said Joanna.
After a few moments, Adam left to guard the place and Joanna went to sleep beside Oliver.
Chapter Eight
The Deadly Trap
At 10 am, Oliver woke Joanna up asking, “When will my parents return?”.
“They are now with your siblings.”, said Joanna. She added, “It’s hard for them to reach us, and hard for us to reach them. We are waiting for the best time to go to them. Don’t worry.”. (Saying that, knowing that they have probably died, broke her heart).
“I am hungry.”, said Oliver.
“We’ll eat soon.”, said Joanna.
She turned her head and found her father looking through the glass. She got up and said to Oliver, “I’ll go get you something to eat. Stay here.”.
She then went to Adam who was standing in line waiting for his meal. As she walked towards him, she looked through the center opening towards the ground floor and found the creatures were still there even in day light! When she got to Adam, she said, “Adam, can you please get Ol
iver his meal and feed him?”.
“Sure.”, said Adam.
Then she then quickly went to her father. Before she left, Adam said, “Should I get you your meal too|?”.
“Yes.”, said Joanna and left.
When she got to her father, she said, “They’re still here?! I thought that they don’t go out in daylight! This strange.”.
“Yeah, you are right.”, replied Steven. “I’m still thinking of how to get rid of them, so we can go get Lily and your mother’s books.”, he added.
“Can’t we just use the guns?”, she asked.
“No. We only use them if we really need to.”, replied Steven.
“Why don’t we both go down there with the swords and test their strength?”, asked Joanna.
“I don’t think it is a good idea.”, said Steven. “They might be stronger than us.”.
“Okay then, what should we do?”, asked Joanna
“I will ask Max.”, said Steven. “He might have a solution”.
When Steven got to Max, he said, “Hi Max. Can I talk to you for a minute?”.
“Of course.”, replied Max.
When they moved far away from the group, Steven said, “We want to see how strong these things are? Any suggestions?”
“Let’s shoot ‘em up.”, replied Max.
“Guns are for emergencies.”, said Steven. “One bullet can save someone’s life … Get it?”.
Max thought for a moment then said, “Let’s throw something heavy on one of their heads? Or, we can make a trap using the rope and when we catch one of them, we pull them upwards through the center opening and then drop it straight to the ground”.
Max kept laughing at what he was saying because he was picturing it as he said it, making Steven smile. He then said, “I like your second suggestion. Everyone here can know that these creatures aren’t strong and feel a little bit safer. Go get those ropes”. Max feeling excited said, “Right away.”
While Max went to get the ropes, Steven went to the group to check up on them. A few moments later, Max came with wires that had small colored light bulbs, resembling wires used to decorate Christmas trees. The wires had knots along it to fix decorations on and is then probably placed above the stores. Max waved to Steven, indicating he had gotten what he had asked of him. Steven turned to the group and said, “Okay people, listen up! … Hopefully what we’re about to do will change how you think about these creatures. Steven asked Max to explain the plan and as soon as he was done explaining, everyone agreed and felt excited. They like the idea of facing the creatures, heads on. They started the plan as soon as everyone was done eating, splitting into two adjacent groups on each side of the center opening. Each group had a wire with a big knot at the end of it. They threw the wires making the knots come on top of each other to make one big knot. The plan was for both of the creature’s legs to step into the big knot then to pull the wires on Max’s signal, since he was the one who came up with the plan. Steven, Joanna and a few others stayed alert holding weapons in case something goes wrong. After waiting for few minutes, one of the creature’s leg stepped into the trap. Everyone got excited, but Max asked them to wait until his other leg got in too. As soon as it did Max shouted as high as he could, “NOW!!!”.
The head of the creature hit the floor hard before being pulled up by the wire. Max felt overwhelmingly excited by that, making the group shout joyously. Max told the holders to run around to the other side, spinning its body around. Max was really good at being crazy.
Steven was looking at the slow show in front of him. He saw the scream and excitement of Max and the happiness of the people who carried out the plan and those around himself. He then asked himself, “Are they just trying to forget the death that surrounds them with what they’re doing?”. Or perhaps they know the end is near and want to enjoy every last moment. Steven suddenly turned to see Oliver holding one to wires. He looked closely and saw Oliver actually trying to free himself after being tangled in it. Steven knew then the disaster that was about to happen. At that moment, heard Max shouting, “Let go of the wires”.
“WAAIIIITT!”, shouted Steven.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Steven ran towards Oliver, as they held him up for a few moments. The creature then started falling downwards as Steven ran towards Oliver, trying to get to him fast. Steven got close to Oliver as he jumped towards him to grab him. But he was too late. The wires pulled Oliver down to the opening, throwing him into the water fountain. Oliver raised his head above the water, gasping for air, crying. He became face to face with the creature they were spinning! The creature became angry, wiping its long hair towards Oliver, grabbing his head and completely covering it!
Everyone felt horrified! However, Steven was extremely fast, cutting the creature’s head with the sword after jumping from above. He carried Oliver on his back. Oliver put his hand around Steven’s neck as Steven got ready to fight. With his two swords, Steven started turning around himself pointing the swords outwards, preventing the creatures from getting to Oliver as they ran towards them, surrounding them. The group started firing at the creatures from above. They fired at those far from Steven and Oliver, so that they don’t accidently shoot them.
Steven continued fighting them skillfully with the sword when he turned and saw Joanna jump down to fight graciously using her own sword. Everyone was amazed with how they fought the creatures.
Only two creatures were left after the fighting ended. They stood by the door as Joseph shot one on its head killing it. The other starred at Joseph before running away!
Chapter Nine
The Gallows…!
The group started unconsciously applauding Steven and Joanna’s fighting. Joanna sat down injured on the floor next to one of the creature’s dead bodies. While Joanna was studying it, Steven angrily called his daughter. Sensing his anger, Joanna went to him. She could barely hear him because of the people applauding. “Oliver is crying … take him.”, said Steven.
Seeing her put her hand on her wound reminded him that she was wounded. He didn’t let her carry Oliver and said, “Are you okay?”.
“Yes.”, she said.
Steven thought for a little bit and said to himself, “Why am I angry? It’s not Max’s fault. It’s mine. Oliver’s parents entrusted me with him. I should have paid attention.
He calmed down and then called Adam. “Open the door before more of them come.”, he said.
Steven asked some of group to help pull the creature’s corpses upwards to throw them from the roof so that they don’t start rotting. Alexander told his sons to carry the dead bodies. They did not hesitate and carried them with ease! The rest felt more at ease and not as worried as they were. As they carried the bodies, Adam saw a corpse next to the main entrance of the center. HE pulled it slowly to not draw the attention of the other creatures outside. As he slowly pulled the body, one of the creatures outside noticed him. Adam started running towards the stairs as the creature ran behind him. Adam held on to the body as he ran towards the stairs screaming, “It’s behind me. Keep the door open!”.
Adam ran very fast out of fear. Everyone who were carrying the bodies ran through the staircase doors shouting, “Let the body go. Let it go.”.
Despite their advice, he held on to it, finally making it through the door before the people sealed it shut. Adam laid on his back, heavily breathing and said, “This is the door of Heaven to me.” Everyone laughed as Adam turned to the right trying to get up when he saw the creature’s face looking straight to his eyes. He jumped back shouting, “Why is this in Heaven too?”.
Everyone laughed even more. “You’re very funny. We’re throwing him back to hell.”, said Alexander.
“Can’t wait for that!”, said Adam.
“Is the kid okay?”, asked Joseph.
“Yes. Not a scratch on him.”, replied Steven.
“Will he turn into one of them?”, asked Joseph.
Everyone felt worried and moved away from Oliver. Steven said,
“I will keep an eye on him. Don’t worry.”.
Steven asked everyone to start throwing the corpses from the roof. As they were doing so, people started asking Steven and Joanna about their impressive fighting skills. Steven replied, “We’ve been training for a long time. I think we should set time for training.”
They all agreed and said, “Thank God we have you two.”, someone said.
“Yeah, Thank God for that. We have to train ourselves for when the bullets run out!”, said Adam.
“Good point. Of course, we’ll do that.”, said Steven.
“But haven’t you guys realized something?” said Joseph.
“What?”, they said.
“The creature’s hair when it surrounded the child!”, replied Joseph.
“Yeah…right…how do they do that? And why?”, they asked.
They weren’t sure why that happened, and each started giving their own opinion! As they were talking, Steven turned around looking for Max. He found him sitting away and alone. Steven walked up to him and said, “It wasn’t your fault!”.
“I almost killed the child!”, said Max.
“It’s my fault. I should have kept an eye on him.”, said Steven.
Alexander interrupted them and said, “Things happen so don’t worry about it Max. Have you seen how Steven and his daughter were fighting? I wish I were young, so I can do that.”
“Yes, I have!”, said Max. “They fought amazingly!”, he added.
“Thanks.”, said Steven.
Steven left them to talk went to his daughter asking her to talk. They left Oliver with Adam. He was good with children. Adam however, was facing difficulty as Oliver was still in shock of what had happened. Steven and Joanna went to the glass and asked, “How do you think they are able to control their hair? Why do they cover heads with it?”
“I don’t know the answer know but I do know how to get close to answer.”, said Joanna.