The sun sinks below the horizon, and darkness replaces the light. The stars audaciously twinkle upon us, and the moon forms a crescent. There’s no other source of light except our cell phones and flashlights. Everything else is as dark as an uninhabited man-cave. The flashlights were supposed to be facing in front of us, lighting up the path, but we were almost blinded by them as some were put directly on our faces. We halt. We were confused at first. Until we hear footsteps with some clanking of what sounds like metallic weapons.
“Survivors? We see survivors!” a manly voice says.
The footsteps sound faster, maybe now in a jog or in a run, approaching us. Another voice says, “Let me see your hands up.”
We all put our hands up. The flashlights are drawn off of our faces and the surroundings become clear in my vision. Men… big men wearing uniforms in light green and grayish patterns. They have hard helmets on top of their heads, ammunition wrapped around their waists, and big rifles hung over their shoulders. Solid-looking masks cover their faces, rushing toward us, handing some over to us. “Wear these.”
I put on mine, locking the straps together behind my skull. The cover blocks my breath, making it bounce in my face. I can hear myself inhaling and exhaling. I can see partially through these small goggles, and the surrounding sounds become muffled.
Some soldiers kneel on the ground, making up a perimeter with guns held out. Fire and sparks cause vibrations between the soldier and the gun. At a distance, zombies fall to the ground hysterically as they take the bullets. But some succeed in mauling the soldiers and turning them into zombies. The soldiers that approached us make us duck down and evade the battle zone as we watch everyone else die. That’s not what we’ve been trained to do.
I get close to a soldier and grab his handgun from his holster—which, for a second, reminds me of Riley grabbing one from the back of my jeans when we were saving Ysa and her other friends—and shoot the oncoming bloodies. I see Nathalie tumbling down as she grabs a rifle and shoots at the enemy as well. Stephen and Dan get a hold of fully loaded guns, too, and start bringing down more of them. The soldiers tried to get us off, but we all insisted. All of us, at will, help these outnumbered armies kill these freaks because we were made for this.
Half of us are marksmen, and the other half are melees and fighters. We were students at first, but now we are warriors. We intend to make this world a better place. That is why we chose to graduate in the first place, and graduating is only the beginning of the next chapter of our lives, and that is to expunge the monsters that live in this rotting world.
One soldier screams as he gets dragged by a bloodie, yet fortunately, Claude gets a sharp hit on the bloodie’s head when he throws an ax mid-range. Claude becomes overly excited and cheers about it, and Kirby gets proud of him, too. Then they slap their hands together above their heads, and the cheering continues. I admit it brings a smile to my face.
But then the same soldier he saved grunts loudly, which makes us all turn to him. A large, fleshy, pointy edge makes a hole in his stomach, and as he falls lifeless, a horrifying, alien-like creature roars, which appears to have six tentacles attached to its back, four limbs for arms, and hair is inevident on its head. It also appears to be larger than a normal bloodie, or than any of us. It looks almost malnourished, as I can see its rib cage, and it seems it has fewer ribs than we have. Its long legs are slender, as are its multiplied arms. But the tentacles behind it are fatter and more terrifying than the fact that it’s bigger than us and it’s got more limbs than we do. There is a long slit in the middle of its stomach, from below its ribs down to its pelvis. The slit looks yellowish, producing some kind of yellow liquid, which to me is gross enough to call it a mucous.
Three of the soldiers begin shooting at the monster, yet it seems like the bullets only ricocheted on its body. We duck down in case we might get some bullets through our skins, as the other soldiers did. The shooting stops as they run out of ammo. The monster grows a lot bigger and roars right in front of their faces. It throws its tentacles, impaling them to their demise. Only a few soldiers are left with us and the monster’s attention is drawn to us.
“Ruuuuunnn!” a soldier screams, and then we all proceed to run.
The monster’s tentacles seems to expand their length as it still manages to catch some soldiers at long range. Then, that’s how I found out. The tentacles seem to have this sort of chemical or bio-organism that, when it stabs through a human body, can turn them into zombies. The soldiers who died by impaling are rising from the dead, but they’re not who they were anymore. They attack more soldiers and even us.
I fall on my face, and a bloodie crawls upon me. I do my best to turn myself around to face it, but it’s already thrown off of me. Stephen shoots it on the forehead and grabs me up by my hand. “What happened to the black belt trainer?”
“I was distracted.”
“Come on, there’s a ride.”
We continue running, making sure the others safely make it out of the octopus-looking monster’s range. Ahead of us are tactical trucks, and the rest of the soldiers prepare a pair of missile launchers, getting down on one knee, carrying each one on their shoulders.
“Jump in fast!” A soldier who looks way older than the others, gestures to us to the vehicle. He must be the captain.
Before Stephen and I get in, we help the others up first, and then we go up last. The missiles are launched onto the giant monster and the flames produced kill it. Or at least that’s what we thought. But as far as I can see, it fell down immobile on the ground, never rising again. The soldiers that are left take another truck and leave the place with us. The captain sits in front of me, catching his breath, looking at me, and then at my friends.
“Don’t worry, kids. From now on, you’re safe and secure. I guarantee you that.”
I nod, giving off a quick grin. “Thank you.”
“There are other more rescues in the camp, so you’re not alone anymore. And so you can make friends there.” He adds, then his eyes draw somewhere else. “Whose dog is that?”
“It’s ours,” Andrew replies.
The dog seems relaxed, just enjoying its time panting. The truck speeds up as it goes up to the highway. The road seems to have borders around it, and it’s empty. It’s strangely empty. For the first time since the first day, I just had the biggest sigh of relief. I lean my head against the metallic railing of the truck and close my eyes.
I may have drifted away, as when I open them again, everything is bright and golden. My legs begin to get sore and my head hurts. I lick the top of my dry lip as I yearn for water. I look in behind the road and notice fences making a border, and we’re crossing through the gates, which some neat-looking soldiers opened for us. Then I turn to the front and take off my mask, and find the sun rising over the horizon, so gold and refreshing. The air smells fragrantly pleasing as well, free from the rotting stench of the bloodies.
I think Riley would love this. She’d love to meet new people who made it safe here, just like we did. She’d be happy here. She’d be smiling all the way, knowing she’d be in a safe environment again… with me.
I smile as I watch the sun. Tears fill my ducts as I recall her.
“Zac! Come on,” Stephen waves at me, chuckling.
The faces of my friends lit up, finally getting the deepest breath of fresh air they deserved. We seem to be on a hill, and as I walk down, I find a very wide field of tents and trailers lined up neatly together. In the middle is cemented, surrounded by green grass, with a giant letter H marked with yellow paint, and choppers and jets land on it. Civilians look safe and peaceful, picking up vegetables and fruits from their garden. They all look clean and clothed—while we, the newcomers, are soaked with blood. They all wear smiles on their faces, meeting and talking with my friends, offering food and water.
A child comes to me and offers me a bottle of the basic drink and a large bun. I tell her, “These are definitely what I wanted. Thank you.”
She hops away with a smile, and then I chug down the water and devour all the bread, refreshing me from all the thirst and hunger I’ve felt, which I later realized. As I finish, I reminisce about all the events that occurred yesterday. Losing Riley, Alia’s revelation, and the tentacled monster. It all happened in one day.
But it only happened once, and it won’t ever happen again. And I can assure them of that. I can assure Riley of that.