Aftermath (3 page)

“Ho-ly shit,” Jeff muttered. “It’s all freaking gone.”

“What the hell happened?” asked Chad. “Did any of you guys hear this?”

Everyone just shook their heads.

“Was it an earthquake?” Shelby asked.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Brad replied.

“Me neither,” added Chad. “But then I was out like a light.”

“We were all out,” said Paige.

Jeff looked over. “You guys were too?”

Each of them nodded.

“The last thing I remember was that warning on the TV,” added Paige. “You know, there were those three beeps, and then the tone.”

“Yeah,” replied Chad. “I remember that. It was right after the weatherman was talking about the electrical storms.”

“Do you guys think that could have done this?” asked Shelby.

The others just shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” answered Brad. “It depends on what was causing the electrical storms.”

“We should check the news,” suggested Shelby. “I’m sure they’re talking about it.”

Paige shook her head. “There’s no power.”

Then Shelby winced. “Ow!” she exclaimed, grabbing her ear. “Something bit me.”

The others looked over. Shelby was probing her finger behind her ear.

“Is there like a bump?” Paige asked.

“Yeah,” Shelby nodded.

“I have one too,” Paige said, then turning to the others, “you guys, check behind your ears.”

One by one they all nodded.

“What the hell,” Jeff swore. “What is it?”

“It just moved!” Shelby exclaimed!

Suddenly a deafening blast echoed across the valley. They all spun around, as a mirage-like wave rippled across the sky…

And from that wave, enormous objects materialized in the sky.

The friends just stood there, staring. What they were seeing was impossible, and yet there they were. They were spaceships. Paige had no doubt about this. And she also had no doubt they weren't built by us. Nothing about them resembled anything we had ever built. Or seen. Roughly disc-shaped, and miles in diameter, t
heir surface textures looked like jagged lava rocks, or even meteors, with thorn-like protrusions jutting out from the side. And they were hovering several thousand feet above the city ruins, without any engines or exhaust.

Humans definitely hadn’t built them.

“Get down!” Brad hollered. They all dropped to the deck.

Then a deep rumbling echoed across the valley. Like the rumble of an earthquake, but it was coming from the ships.

“You guys…” Shelby pleaded.

“Just stay still,” Brad replied.

Then slowly a noise built, resonating across the valley. It squealed at an ear splitting pitch, like nails on a chalkboard times a million. It lasted about seven seconds, but during that period those bumps beneath their skin glowed red. And moved.

All five of the friends keeled over in excruciating pain, screaming, and clutching their heads. It was punishing, pushing beyond any level of tolerance, and blasting their sanity.

As the sound faded out, their faces looked up - and there was nothing but rage left in their eyes. No compassion, or understanding, just the blind need to kill and maim.

Jeff yelled at the top of his lungs, springing to his feet. He grabbed Shelby with one hand, and heaved her into Paige.

Paige toppled onto the deck, banging her head with a dull thud. She was out. And then something tiny fell from behind her ear, and onto the deck.

The Implants

Paige had no idea how long she was out, or what caused her to awaken. But slowly her eyes opened. Her ears rang from the blow, and her vision was blurry. She slowly propped herself up on her elbows, as things came into focus.

The first thing she noticed was the pain she had felt behind her ear was gone. She probed her finger behind her ear, and yeah. The bump was gone too.

The ringing in her ears continued, seeming to block out every other sound. She winced a bit, looking down. Then something caught her attention. On the pool deck, next to her forearm, was something tiny and metallic, and oddly out of place. She leaned in for a closer look…

Then it moved! This tiny thing, whatever the hell it was, could move. Paige grabbed it, took a look at it up close. The only way she could describe it was like a spider. But it seemed to be made of some kind of metal. Or was that its shell?

A scream caught her attention. It was Shelby. Paige spun around, just in time to see Jeff slam Shelby onto the pool deck. He grabbed her hair, then slammed her head down hard. There was a crunch. And then blood. Flowing out from her head across the pool deck.

Paige didn’t have time to think. “Stop!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. And now the attention was on her. Chad spun around. The rage in his face said it all. This was no longer her friend. Paige leaped to her feet, and bolted for the door.

Paige poured through the door and into the living room. She raced across it to the pool table, reaching it just moments before Chad charged through the door. He stood at least eight inches taller than Paige, with another sixty pounds of athletic muscle.

Paige barely had time to grab a pool stick and duck behind the table, before Chad closed the distance. The two circled the table, Paige trying to keep it between them.

“Chad!” Just stop! I don’t want to hurt you,” she hollered, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Chad growled, shifting left, then right, keeping his prey off balance.

“Chad, come on! Just stop! It’s that thing behind your ear,” she pleaded.

Chad quickly shifted left, then lunged across the table. Paige swung the pool stick, putting every ounce of muscle into that swing. It collided with Chad’s head.

Chad staggered back, momentarily stunned. “Chad, please. Just listen to me.”

Chad shook away the daze. He glared at her, his lips curled back in an animal’s snarl. Then he lunged again.

Paige swung the pool stick hard, nailing him in the temple. He stumbled back, then dropped to the floor with a heavy thud.

“Chad!” she screamed, rushing over to where he lay unconscious. She knelt beside him, feeling his neck for a pulse. It was there. With a groan, she rolled him onto his side, then probed behind his ear.

There it was - the red bump. She dug her fingernails into his skin around the bump. It was soft, and fleshy. She pinched it hard, till the skin tore. A small trickle of blood oozed out. Then she had the implant in her fingers.

She turned her attention back to Chad. “Chad?” She gently patted his face with her free hand. “Hey. Chad.” Slowly he stirred, his eyes squinting open. At least she hadn’t killed him.

“Paige?” he said, his eyes now fully open, and staring back at her with a puzzled look. “What happened?” Then, he seemed to feel the bruise on his temple. He touched his fingers to it, while Paige watched.

“Sorry,” she cringed, “but you weren’t gonna stop.”

He shot her a puzzled look. Stop what? But that look was soon replaced by an even more puzzled look, as he stared around the living room. He seemed to be realizing for the first time where he was. And the obvious next question that flowed through his thoughts was, how did he get there.

Paige seemed to sense his confusion. “You don’t remember chasing me in here?” she asked.

He just shook his head.

“You were trying to kill me,” she added.

He looked back at her, and that look said it all - what the hell’s going on?

“I think this is what’s doing it,” she said, showing him the tiny implant. “It’s that thing that was behind your ear.”

He leaned in for a closer look. “What is it?” he asked.

She just shook her head. “I don’t know,” she replied. “But they’re making everyone go crazy.”

Then it moved! Paige startled, as it slipped through her fingers, and onto to the floor. Like a spider racing around. Paige snatched up the pool stick, then smashed the blunt end down on the thing. She set the stick aside, as they took a closer looked at the smashed device.

Suddenly Jeff’s howl rang from the patio. Paige and Chad spun around towards the door. Jeff had Brad pinned beneath him, with Jeff’s face buried in Brad’s throat. Jeff was thrashing his head, like a lion chomping on its victim.

Then something tore, and Jeff’s face came up smeared in blood. A deep wound on Brad's throat told Paige where the blood had come from. 
Jeff had bitten through Brad's throat.

“BRAD!” Paige screamed, springing to her feet, and starting for the door!

“Paige stop!” Chad yelled, grabbing her from behind. But it was too late. Jeff’s head snapped around, seeing them through the door.

“Go! Out the front!” Chad hollered, swinging her around towards the front door.

Jeff was already on his feet, barreling across the patio towards them, as Paige and Chad sprinted out the front door.

Paige and Chad poured out the front door, and down the driveway. “Get in my car!” he hollered, riping open the driver’s side door, as she raced around to the other side.

Chad jammed his key in the ignition, twisted it. And nothing happened. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit,” he muttered, twisting it again, and again, and pumping on the gas pedal.

Suddenly something heavy slammed into the driver’s side window. Chad looked, and there was Jeff, snarling at him through the window. The blood on his mouth, and rage in his eyes. This guy was going to kill them. And he had about fifty pounds more muscle than Chad.

Jeff’s fist smashed through the window! He grabbed Chad, yanking him through the window, and heaved him down on the driveway. He dropped down on top of Chad, and pummeled him with his fists.

“Get off him!” Paige shouted, jumping onto Jeff’s back. She had one arm around his throat, and beat him with her other fist. But if he felt any of the blows, it didn’t show. It was like watching a cat attacking a pit bull. Jeff reached back with one arm, and tossed her off.

Jeff turned back on Chad, wrapping his hands around Chad’s throat, and squeezing. Veins began bulging on Chad’s face, as his consciousness slipped away.

Then there was a sharp CRACK! Jeff’s eyes rolled up, as his grip released from Chad’s throat. Jeff tumbled over onto the driveway. Paige stood behind him, clutching a bloody bicycle lock in her fist. She let it drop.

***

Moments ticked by, as Paige sank down on the driveway beside Chad. And they just sat there like that, catching their breaths.

“Are you okay?” she finally asked.

“Yeah,” he panted, still recovering his breath. Then he turned to her, and saw the numb look on her face. “Are you okay, Paige?” he asked.

She just shrugged. “I guess.”

Then he looked over at Jeff. A pool of blood was spreading from beneath his head. He leaned over, feeling for a pulse. It was just as he’d suspected. Jeff was dead.

“I was just trying to make him stop,” Paige muttered.

Chad turned back to her. The girl looked devastated. “Paige,” he said softly, looking her in the eye. “You didn’t have a choice.”

She just shrugged again, and Chad couldn’t tell if she was buying it or not.

“No, Paige. I’m serious. You did what you had to,” he tried to reassure her. “He wasn’t going to stop.”

She looked up at him, and finally nodded.

Then Chad noticed something. “Where’s Shelby?” he asked.

At that, Paige’s head sank.

“Oh, shit,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, Paige.”

Then a flurry of screams echoed from several houses down. Paige looked up, snapped momentarily from her grief. Chad was scanning the neighborhood, as those screams were followed by howls and cries from other houses.

“It’s happening everywhere,” Paige uttered.

Chad nodded, looking down the block as more and more howls erupted from that direction.

“We need to get out of here,” he said, climbing to his feet, and helping her up.

“We’re just gonna leave them?” she asked, looking down at Jeff’s body.

“We don’t have a choice,” he replied, looking around. He spotted Paige and Shelby’s bikes, parked by the garage. “We can take those,” he said.

Suddenly the front door to the house across the street shattered outward, as Paige’s neighbor barreled through it.

“Go!” Chad shouted. He and Paige scrambled onto the bikes, and took off across the grass.

The raged out neighbor spotted them, and sprinted off after them.

Paige and Chad jumped off the curb and onto the street, pedaling like mad as more and more of these raged out people poured from their houses after them.

Soon there were dozens of those people Paige was labeling the “Crazies” barreling after them from behind, and pouring out from houses along their sides. They had diverted their attention away from killing other Crazies, and were now hell bent on killing these kids on the bikes.

Paige would’ve expected the bikes to give her and Chad an advantage, but on this narrow drive, perched so perilously along that steep drop to their left, that advantage was small. Her bike’s real advantage would come on the relatively flat streets of the valley. That’s where they had to get.