Kate
Ilift myself onto my elbows. Claire and I are flat on our bellies, covered in dirt and debris and what’s left of the blacktop of the street. Hundreds of scrapes and scratches burn like tiny razors against my hands and bare arms. This new world leaves bite marks in your skin; scars across your heart.Maybe we’re better off dead. I hate thinking it, but I can’t…I haven’t been able to see a way out of this new kind of world.
And right now, we have a front row seat to it.
Claire wipes frantically at her eyes. I don’t blame her; this is something we’ve only seen on the television. But the news reports didn’t truly portray the terror of the reality.This isn’t supposed to be real. Thiscan’thappen.
“Is that real? Is thatreal?” Claire rasps beside me, coughing low. “Dad?” she whimpers, pawing at her eyes. She can’t stop. I know her tics too well; she’ll rake at her eyes even after the flesh is gone. I have to stop her but my own hands feel like raking across my own skin. The world is too loud and everything bounces and vibrates. Every atom seems visible, every rapid movement they make reverberates and you feel it all. The air feels alive. The buzz of static is making my teeth clench tight. Thunder chases the sounds, and jagged streaks of lightning rip through the night sky.
I focus on her eyes. Pale and frightened.
“Shh,” I hiss, grabbing her hands away from her face. There’s blood smeared across her cheeks and I can’t tell where it’s coming from, but I have to calm her down. I repeat it like a mantra in my head.
There’s a small alcove in the wall a few feet away from us, full of shadows. Wrapping my arms around Claire’s body, I lean in and whisper into her ear, “Stay calm. Stay quiet.” My words are soft, steady, low. Contradicting the sheer hysteria bursting from my chest.
Her eyes are wide and her body is trembling, but she gives me a small nod. Slowly, I crouch into a squatting position and drag her into the shadows of the recessed wall of the building. From here in the protection of the darkness, we can safely watch what’s happening out in the street.
Please, God, if you’re still here…don’t let them see us.
Claire curls into the corner and pulls her knees up under her chin. I squeeze her arm, but my attention is just ahead of us, out in the street. Despite any terror I may have, I can’t stop myself from the awe I feel at seeing these beings up close.
It’s insane. This is all insane.
They look almost human. They have the human physique, justlargerandbroader,yet the only thing that really sets them apart from us is their skin. They look entirely made of some sort of metal. Bolts and plates shift, and light reflects a fractured gleam from off their surface. It’s as if some sort of liquid metal melded to their features, dissolving into their flesh. Muscles flex and twist like little mechanical parts as they move along the street. They wear no clothing and nothing sets one apart from the other, except for their masked faces. The strange metal clings to their flesh like a smooth liquid-silver mask, yet it reveals all the features of a human face; eyebrows and cheekbones and lips. The only thing giving them their distinction from one another is a scrollwork of color and decoration adorning each face.
The beings—all four of them—crouch down, ready to pounce. Three of them are facing one, stalking aggressively toward it, circling and blocking it.
The one in the middle bears the most intricate mask of all of them. Its silvery substance is threaded with a deep-black silky metal that curls and webs details across the skin.
In a blur, the three beings pin down the middle one and tear off its mask. The creature howls and kicks out at the others. The four creatures roll into a violent dance. The sound of metal crunching and smashing blankets the darkened street. Sparks fly through the air as metal fists slam against metal chests. Smoke and fire rise from the sparks and in the middle of it all, a piercing screeching sound barrels closer and closer to our hiding spot. Like the squeal of a train’s brakes heading in our direction.
I leap up and pull back deeper into the shadows and brace Claire behind my back. The sound is coming straight for us. My muscles tighten, waiting for the impact.Is this it? Is this the end?Closer and closer it screeches—like nails down a chalkboard. I squeeze my eyes tight and ball up my fists. Then the sound abruptly stops just before I feel it about to collide into me. A gust of hot wind blows back my hair and blasts my hat right off my head, the pins painfully ripping out strands of my hair.
Nothing hit us.
All the breath leaves my body for a quick instant, and I collapse to my knees. I can’t catch my breath and my limbs are trembling with surging adrenaline.
I open my eyes and inhale sharply. There on the ground in front of me is the creature’s mask. My heart thuds hard, so hard I can feel it pulsing and beating in my ears. That’s when I realize it’s the only thing I hear—my own beating heart—until I look up and out into the fight in the street and I don’t even hear that anymore. I think the fight is over, because right now, as one creature lies lifeless on the ground and its mask touches the tips of my fingers, the other three are staring right at me.
