OUR KIND IN A SHELL
CHAPTER 2
Human zeal to survive makes each of us different in peculiar circumstances, maybe it is the doctor who knows one or two things about diseases versus a religious man who believes he is immune to illness. Both men get left behind in a quarantined facility waiting for help that will possibly arrive in 24 hours.
Today's chapter feels that way for me. Tell me what you think at the end of Chapter 2.
Enjoy!
Heavy breathing and gasping for air in all directions. There was no light, but the rough edges of objects to guide them through the darkness. Dennis was short of breath. She felt her way over the walls of the room till she found a light bulb switch.
“Thank God.” Ricky sighed.
“What was that?” Lisa grabbed her arms tightly and fell to the floor with her heart pounding like a hammer hitting a rock.
A silence filled the room, stuck between the certain death that they left behind in the now destroyed store and the unknown danger that awaited on the other side. They sat for half an hour staring at different objects as their minds tried to make sense of what just happened. Dennis was in her head again. She wondered if her brother’s words were true, Danger always finds those who hide from it. He was in the military, he definitely knew what he was talking about. A philosophy he lived by or used to. It was his guide in every moment, to face the problem rather than wait for fate to happen.
“Ron!” A fifteen year old Dennis shouted his name. The were playing in a park throwing Frisbees and running around.
“Hey!” Ricky tapped her.
“Yeah!” She sniffed.
“What are we doing?” he shifted close to her, “You okay?”
“Yes, I’m good.” She watched Paul lying on the ground flicking beads scattered on the floor.
“We have to find an isolated place, safe enough to keep us from the aliens and a good supply of food.” She stood up, and they did same.
“Everyone ready?”
Lisa grabbed Paul’s hand, and Ricky nodded. She turned the door knob and gently pulled it open. It was an alley. They crept out hiding behind a dumpster to scout the area. Dennis led the group around the city, moving through the disaster left by the wake an invasion. There again, the silence that was strange to the ears, not the one the creatures made, but the one people filled with noise from car engines and loud music. The sky was still grey. Cold winds blew through the streets. A growl came two buildings ahead, and the group hid behind a pickup truck.
“Do you think it works?” Ricky whispered.
“What?” Dennis shrugged.
“The truck. We could move faster.” He reached for the door handle.
“Are you crazy?” She slapped his arm, “What are you doing? They would hear us.”
“We could outrun them. Trust me.” He opened the door.
Dennis crawled and helped Paul get into the truck, Lisa followed and she got in last.
“Wait.” Dennis tucked on Ricky’s shoulder, “They will hear us, and they are fast.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“We continue on foot. We don’t know much about them, they could be in thousands for all we know.” She looked at him, begging with her eyes for him to reconsider his choice.
“Okay....” He sighed, and he turned his elbow to step down. He hit the horn. It blew loud and the cars around began to alarm causing a fleet of noise to echo.
“I’m sorry.” He reeled the apology out of his tongue.
Dennis peeked through a window. Bursts of movements through the streets approached them. She could not see, but she knew they were there and close. Out of nowhere, a force pushed the truck and it rolled to the side. The creatures were there, clawing the car roof and hitting it. Lisa fell on top of Ricky, and through the windshield, she saw one of the creatures preying at them, and it stood. Its skin began to move and the creature mutated into a human form. Ricky kicked out the windshield and they ran out into the street. The creatures chased after them. Dennis ran up some stairs leading to a building. She rammed into the door. The others ran after her and they rushed to the staircase. The creatures were relentless, locked in and determined to hunt them. Dennis lead them into a room and they hid behind the door. A shadow passed underneath a gap below the door, it grew long into the room. They covered their mouths, and waited. The creature growled, and sniffed on the door. A whistle came from the lobby. Dennis looked at Paul, it was the same tune he made when she first met him. Ricky and Lisa were left confused by the sound.
Two feet stood before the entrance, and a knock on the door.
“Open up!” A voice from the other side, “Denny? Are you there? It’s Ron. Your brother.”
“My brother is dead.” Dennis head swivelled
“What in the name of all that is holy?” Ricky was startled. He leapt away from the door.
“Wha.....that’s impossible.” Lisa held Dennis’ hand.
“It sounds like him.” Dennis stared blankly, “What’s going on?” She fainted.
Ricky picked her up while Lisa watched the door remembering what she saw earlier with the creature. The person behind it left. She followed Ricky into a bedroom where he put Dennis down and they sat beside her. Paul climbed the bed and lied close to her.
Ricky sat on a chair close to the side of the bed with moonlight shining through a window behind him. Lisa sat on a couch next to a painting of soldiers fighting in the Great War.
They sat quiet, processing the events their minds could not explain. An alien invasion, creatures that disappear into nothing, transforming into human beings and dead people coming back to life.
“This might just be a bad dream. A nightmare we can’t wake up from.” Ricky aired out.
“It’s real...” Lisa choked on her words, “Nightmares don’t last this long. Sometimes I wish that things like this would happen so that I would feel better. Maybe if everyone felt the way I do everyday, the world would understand and we would be better.”
“And what do you feel?”
“I feel lost, Ricky...” She became numb from the emotions that rushed to her throat, “Everyday feels like a marathon, you keep running and you don’t feel like you will ever make it. You run too fast, you become tired, you run slow, you get left behind and you get discouraged. There is no assurance that your body can last the whole run. You can’t stop to rest because you will lose. Everything begins to hurt and you become overwhelmed by the race. Someone passes you on the track, another pushes you, and you get lost in the crowd. You become indistinguishable. All running for the same prize and the finish line seems to keep on getting longer with every new expectation. You leave the running and people call you a coward and a troublemaker. All you know is the running and the marathon. Nothing more, no agency because you have to run the track. That’s how I feel. Now that the world has gone into chaos, there is no marathon to run, until...well...” She sighed.
“Isn’t that the point of living? To run for a prize?” Ricky asked her.
“I don’t know. I am just a girl studying to be something tomorrow. My world is about showing up so that I can become an employee for someone with a big company.”
Ricky chuckled, “That’s the point, Lisa. We don’t want to do a lot of things that we have to. You know, I have a daughter about your age, nineteen years old. She has the same spirit that you do. Seeking her path, and the new age life kinda thing.”
“So, you understand?” Lisa rested her head on the back of the couch.
“Yeah, I do. But...”
Lisa jumped in, “That’s nonsense.”
“What?” He smirked.
“You are saying BUT” She lifts a finger, “You don’t say that when you are trying to connect with someone. It’s a negative word.”
“What should I say?” He asked her, intrigued by her statement. He leaned forward, eager to hear her next words.
“Hey, guys?” Dennis muttered from the bed.
“Are you okay?” Paul raised his head.
“Yeah, kid. I am”
“You good?” Ricky asked.
She nodded.
“Is he?” Dennis looked towards Lisa.
“No. It left. We don’t know what it is.”
“It said it was your brother...” Ricky left the chair, and sat on the bed with her.
“Yeah, he did. My brother has been gone for eight months now.” Dennis responded.
“I saw something outside when were stuck in the truck. One of the creatures was changing.”
“What do you mean changing?” Dennis asked.
“It was turning human...” Lisa answered.
“I don’t understand.” Ricky turned to look at Dennis when a screeching sound came from outside.
They walked to the window, and looked down. The creatures were crawling the streets fading into dark spots and reappearing in other places. The world they knew was gone before their very eyes, lost to strange beings from outer space. Bellowing and ear scratching noises swallowed the city streets.
THE END.
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