by A H Alhaila
“There’s no logical explanation to why the guards transformed.”, said Steven as he walked in front of them.
“We should worry about that.”, said Joanna.
“I agree.”. said Steven.
After the were reunited with the group, Steven started appointing some people to guard the place. After the group made sure they were safe, they got rid of the bodies of the creatures that attacked Joanna. Some went back to sleep as Joanna took notes of what happened and went to bed herself. She laid down next to her father who she found awake. “I don’t think we’ll be able to rest. Things are just getting worse.”, she said.
“I keep thinking about things will end.”, said Steven.
“Me too.”, said Joanna as she sighed. “I’ll make sure I die defending you,”, she added.
“I will too.”, said Steven as he smiled.
Steven’s expressions became sad. “What’s wrong dad?”, asked Joanna.
“A lot is wrong.”, said Steven.
“Don’t worry about it too much.”, said Joanna.
“You shouldn’t too.”, said Steven.
Both Steven and Joanna slept after that. The next morning, Joanna woke up and saw her father sleeping. She moved slowly looking for Brian and Daniel, but she couldn’t find them. She knew that she was in the basement making the weapons. She went down and found them there. “I need a favor from you.”, said Joanna.
“Sure. What do you need?”, they asked.
“First, I need you to promise me that you won’t tell anyone about it.”, said Joanna.
“Okay.”, they said in a serious way, feeling curious about what she was going to ask.
“I want to capture a creature and look it up in that electricity room.”, said Joanna. “I want to carry out some experiments on it to understand it better.”, she added.
The electricity room she was referring to was adjacent to the staircase doors. “Okay, but what’s your plan?”, they asked.
“Do you have the keys?”, she asked.
“Yes, we got them from Victor.”, they answered.
Joanna took the keys and said, “Do you see that winch cable in front of your father’s car that’s used to tow other cars?”.
“Yes.”, they said.
“We’re going to tie it to the iron electrical pole in the room. We’ll get the other side of the rope and tie it to a net. When we open the door, I’ll get one of the creatures to follow me. We can then throw the net on it and catch it, then we pull it into the room.”, she said.
They were both silent and were looking behind her. Joanna felt that someone was behind her. When she turned around, she found Mr. William standing behind her. “What are you doing?”, he asked.
Joanna then looked at Alexander’s sons and said,” I think I have an even better idea.”.
A few moments later, Mr. William left the garage doors in order to grab a creature by the hand and lead it inside. Joanna stayed hiding in case something wrong happened while Daniel hid next to the doorway to close it shut when the plan works out. Brian scattered nails on the stairs to stall anyone who would want to go to the basement. Mr. William continued walking as Joanna said, “There’s a car in front of you. Try to avoid it.”.
It was the car that Steven had parked sideways. Mr. William listened and climbed over the car and then started searching for one of the creatures until he bumped into one. “Give me your hand and come along.”, said Mr. William to the creature.
Mr. William tried pulling it but without success. He tried pushing it but that did not work either. Mr. William’s failed attempts frustrated Joanna. Mr. William then returned to the garage once more and Daniel closed the door behind him. “They wouldn’t move.”, he said.
“We’ll have to force them in.”, replied Joanna.
“How?”, asked Mr. William.
“We’ll give you a winch cable and all you have to do is tie it around the creature. Leave the rest to us.”, she said.
“Simple enough.”, said Mr. William.
The used the winch cable in front of Alexander’s car and gave it to Mr. William after wrapping it to the metal pole in the electricity room. Mr. William then walked out of the garage reaching the street. He kept walking until he bumped into a creature and started trying to wrap the cable around its head. The creature resisted him a little, stepping on Mr. William’s feet. This made Mr. William become very angry which made him forcefully wrap the cable around its head and said, “You are ours now.”.
Joanna was watching what was happening as Mr. William returned, limping because of the pain in his toes. Meanwhile, Daniel then signaled Joanna indicating that someone was approaching after his brother Brian informed him. It was Steven. He was heading to the garage in search of his daughter. He found Brian on the stairs collecting the nails. “Careful Steven. I dropped a box of nails.”, he said.
Steven helped him to collect the nails as Mr. William had just entered the garage. Joanna pressed the “on button” to start the winch. The cable pulled the creature, knocking it on the floor as it moved around trying to free itself. Its body finally got over Alexander’s car then fell back down to the ground as it entered the basement. It passed by Joanna and Daniel and entered the electricity room before Joanna turned the winch off and closed the door of the electrical room behind it as Daniel closed the basement door. Steven heard the cries of the creature, so he asked, “What’s going on in the basement?”.
Steven entered the basement through the door and found Mr. William shouting, imitating sounds of the creatures, laughing and saying, “The don’t attack me because I sound like them.”.
Joanna and Denel laughed which made Steven believe that was a joke and not what he imagined. “Have you had your breakfast?”, he said.
“Not yet.”, said Joanna.
“Don’t be late then.”, replied Steven.
Steven then went to check on the group. Joanna lifted her leg off of the rope, making the creature start screaming again. Joanna was tightening the rope around its neck by stepping on the rope. Mr. William sat on the floor checking the pain in his foot, making sure it was not injured. “Are you okay?”, said Joanna, concerned for his well-being.
“I want you to torture it slowly.”, said Mr. William in a serious tone.
“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best.”, she replied. “Thanks for your help.”, she added.
Mr. William sensed a feeling of regret in Joanna’s voice because of what she put him through. “This pain won’t make me take back my promise. I’ll help until I pay back my debt.”, he said.
Joanna kissed him on the head to thank him for believing her before and because he took her seriously, and for being the person he said he was going to be. Mr. William felt something he had never felt before. No one has ever kissed his head before. He took his hand off of his hurt leg as if it did not hurt and said, “You know? I should be thanking you. You made me feel something I’ve never felt before. I didn’t know that helping people could make you feel this way, relieving a lot of pain. I wish I knew this before.”.
“Leave the past behind Mr. William.”, replied Joanna.
“What are we going to do with this creature? It won’t stop yelling1”, said Daniel as he entered the room interrupting them.
“It will keep quiet or I’ll have to kill it.”, she replied.
Three minutes later, the creature became quiet relaxing everyone down. Joanna then cut cable that extended from Alexander’ car to the electricity room so that no one would notice it. “Don’t tell anyone about this.”, she said.
“We won’t.”, they replied.
“I hope you get something good out of it.”, said Mr. William.
“Thanks. I hope so too.”, she replied.
Joanna and the rest went upstairs and found that they were serving breakfast. She took her share and went and sat in front of the glass window to read and think of what experiments she should do on the creature that she captured. Half an hour later, her father came and found her staring out
side the window. “What are you thinking of?”, he asked.
“Have they decreased in number? Has their muscles got any bigger? Or am I just imagining it?”, she replied.
“That’s a good observation.”, he replied. “Even the females’ muscles got bigger.”, he added.
“But why has their number decreased?”, she asked.
“I don’t know.”, replied Steven. “Maybe they died of starvation? What do they even eat?”, he added.
“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen any of them eat before!”, she replied.
“This makes it even more complicated.”, said Steven.
“We’’ know more soon enough.”, said Joanna remembering the creature she captured.
“I hope we do.”, said Steven.
“Dad, look! This one is wearing a military uniform!”, said Joanna pointing at one of the creatures. “I think your army is defeated.”, she added.
“Oh God! Are we the only survivors?”, said Steven.
“Steven, come quick.”, said Max calling him from afar.
Steven excused himself and went to Max. “Look at the weapons Alexander’s sons made!”, he said.
Steven was impressed with the weapons they’ve made, thanking them and asking them to make more. “How about you try this weapon on one of the creatures?”, said Max.
“I would like to.”, said Steven.
Max stood beside the opening overlooking the ground floor and called Steven to look. “Look! There’s only a few of them. Why not kill them with this weapon?”, said Max.
“Why don’t you do It yourself?”, said Steven.
“I’m not trained enough.”, he replied.
“Okay, but I’m only doing it to test these weapons.”, said Steven.
“I’m happy you’re here man!”, said Max. “You’ve made this place fir for us to hide in. You gathered us here and provided us with what we need. In a way, I’m glad the creatures appeared. Otherwise I wouldn’t have met you.”, he added.
They were both laughing when all of a sudden Max’s head blew up from a bullet shot directly at his head, splatting blood everywhere. Everything happened in slow motion as Steven watched in shock, not believing what he was seeing. Everyone screamed in shock as Steven turned towards the source of the gunshot and saw a creature in a black cloak holding a gun, pointing it at them. Steven jumped out of the way and shouted, “Keep your heads down!”.
Everyone got down on the floor and moved away from the opening overlooking the ground floor. “What’s happening?”, said Joseph to Steven.
Steven’s outrage prevented him from saying anything as he looked at Max’s body. He got up and went towards the weapons. He took a gun as everyone remained on the floor. Steven then stopped in front of the opening to kill the creature, but the creature had run away. Steven jumped into the fountain and took out the weapon Max had given to him. He started shooting all the creatures present and brutally slicing them into pieces out of rage.
Joanna ran towards Max and saw that the shot had penetrated his head causing her to feel enraged also. She then saw her father on his knees after killing all the creatures. Joanna went towards the stairs and went down to her father. She saw that he had got up and went outside the building and continued killing the creatures. Joanna grabbed his hand and said, “Dad! What are you doing? Calm down!”.
Steven headed back inside as Joanna had her hand on his shoulder as they headed to the stairs. Some creatures came in after them after seeing Joanna and Steven. Joanna took the gun from the father and said, “Leave them to me. I’ll be right behind you,”.
Steven was frozen in shock and couldn’t give her the weapon. Joanna had to snatch it off his hands forcefully and started shooting the creatures quickly as her father continued walking towards the stairs. Before reaching it, his daughter came behind him and they both went through the door. Joanna then closed the door behind them as Steven went to Max’s body and started wipe his head as everyone stood in shock. “How did this happen? The creature fired a gun! We will never be safe after this.”, they kept saying amongst themselves. “Throw the body from the roof.”, said Steven.
Everyone hesitated for a moment then Steven shouted, “Haven’t you heard me?”.
Everyone started slowly moving to do what Steven had asked. They took Max’s body and threw it out. Joanna asked them to pull the creatures’’ bodies, also throwing them outside. They all did so, even Mr. William helped tie and drag the bodies.
Steven sat alone, overwhelmed with grief. His daughter came and said, “This is getting out of hands.”.
“The creatures being able to use weapons means that the end is near.”, said Steve.
Joanna sensed hopelessness in her father’s voice. She too couldn’t find any optimistic words to say the reality of the situation became clear. “How did they learn how to carry a weapon?”, she asked. “They act like they cannot learn these things.”, she added.
Adam and Joseph came and said, “Sorry for interrupting you guys! When Oliver fell in the fountain and we were clearing the ground floor, there were two creatures. I shot one and the other stood and starred at me. It ran away before I could kill it.”, said Joseph.
Steven looked at Joanna and said, “They’re learning from us!”.
Joanna was shocked and said, “Let’s suppose that’s true, does that mean they will learn from us and become stronger every time we fight them off?”.
“Maybe.”, said Joseph.
“Not if we keep fighting and kill every last one of them. But that is impossible as we keep retreating every time we fight them which means some of them will be able to learn!”, said Steven.
“Does that mean we have to avoid them and not engage in a fight with them?”, asked Adam.
“But I’m sure there are others like us who are fighting them which isn’t in our favor either.”, said Joanna.
“Damn it!”, said Adam.
“I fear they might learn other things like placing ladders under the center opening to climb to us.”, said Joseph.
“We have to be extra careful and practice even more so that no one dies in vein. We have to decrease their numbers.”, said Steven.
“Alright”, said Joseph.
“Tell the group that from now on, no one is it go near the center opening overlooking the ground floor. And tell them we’re going to train harder that before and that we will start training shortly.”, said Steven to Joseph.
“I will.”, said Joseph.
Joseph went to tell the group what Steven had said. Adam went to Oliver while Steven stayed with his daughter. “I don’t know how this will end but I fear that I would turn into one of them without taking one last look into your beautiful eyes.”, he said.
“I know dad. But I won’t let anything harm you.”, replied Joanna.
Steven sighed then stood up and went to train the group, while Joanna went write down her new notes. When had Steven reached the group, questions started flying at him about the creature carrying the gun. “How was he able to use a gun? We will all surely die! There’s too many of them!”, they said, along with other questions.
“The creatures can learn new things including using a gun.”, said Steven.
Everyone started feeling anxious and worried. “So, what is the point of training us? We are certainly going to die!”, said one of them.
In an angry voice, Steven said, “Just imagine for a second how would it feel when a creature wraps its hair around your neck and you don’t know how to defend yourself! Will you give up that easily? Or will you fight knowing you don’t deserve to die like that? I wish you’d all continue to train and get in sync with your weapons. We will try to not engage with the creatures so that they won’t learn other things from us. We know that there are probably others out there fighting and the creatures may learn how to fight from them but, we have train and become stronger. If anyone wants to just die quickly, then there’s the door! They can just go and save us the food.
Steven encouraged the
group giving them hope which made the group start getting ready to train. He then said, “Let’s begin!”.
Chapter Fifteen
The Pharmacy
The group started training even harder than before. One day later during training, Adam came to Steven full of worry and said, “Steven! Oliver’s temperature is terribly high!”.
Steven asked Joseph to take over training the group, while he headed to Oliver. He found his daughter and Victor taking care of Oliver who looked terrible and almost unconscious. “Is there a pharmacy around?”, said Steven.
“No, but there’s a pharmacy near my area.”, replied Victor.
They knew that they had to go outside and make their way through fight the creatures even though they had agreed not to engage with them. “Where is Mr. William?”, asked Steven.
“I’ll go get him.”, said Adam.
“How will he know the medicine when he cannot see?”, asked Joanna.
“Does the medicine have a special shape that we can use to describe?”, Steven asked Victor.
“It’s difficult to tell them apart. They all look alike.”, said Victor.
“Then I think he’ll have to go more than once until he gets the right one.”, said Steven.
“We will wear him out.”, said Joanna. “How about he takes a trolley with him to fill it up with medicine. We can tie it to a rope to help him pull it back which will also help him find his way back.”, she added.
Steven agreed to the idea and said, “Call Daniel and Brian.”.
Joanna went to do just that as Adam had just arrived with Mr. William. “Is the child okay?”, asked Mr. William/
“He needs your help in getting the medicine he needs from another building.”, replied Steven.
“Of course, I’ll help him.”, said Mr. William.
“We’ll give you a trolley that you can drag there to fill with the medicine. Hopefully the medicine we’re looking for will be one of them.”, said Steven.
“I’ll do my best.”, replied Mr. William.
Joanna came followed by Alexander’s sons. Steven asked them to get a trolley for Mr. William so that he can put the medicines in and tie it with a long rope. “There’s a trolley here but the ropes are in a store in the ground floor full of it.”, said Brian.