Against The Darkness (Cimmerian Moon) (25 page)

Sinta,
I know you’re out there because my heart tells me so.

I’m
in Oxford Township. Go to Arrowwood Equestrian Ranch, East Arrowwood Rd. I love
you always, mommy.

I can’t take
my eyes off the words sprawled hastily on the wall. It’s her.

Mommy
.

Tears well up
in my eyes, as I place my hand against the word “mommy”. She’s alive and she’s
waiting for me.

“I’m coming,
mommy.”

* * * * *

I want to run
off to the coordinates right now. It’s Jason who reminds me that we have to go
to Wade’s house first. Trekking the few miles to his house is something of a
breeze, especially knowing that my mother is really alive and I’ll be seeing
her soon. I want to talk about her the entire way. I want to talk about the
note she left me. I want to talk about how much I love her. But I don’t, I can’t.
Not when I’m surrounded by friends who can’t find their families and don’t know
if they are alive or dead.

We take the
long winding dirt road leading up to his house, stepping over red painted wood
and white broken fence parts. If the pieces of barn that we pass is any
indication of what to expect, I expect the worse.

He didn’t
find his family
.

It’s not a
premonition that leads me to believe this. It’s the sight of Wade on his knees
staring at what used to be his house. His house is totally destroyed. As in
obliterated. There’s a pile of wood were I believe his house used to sit. He
never told me if they owned any animals or not, but there are none roaming
about. There’s a car tilted on its side in the driveway and an RV that had been
torched.

Masana is
sitting about an arm’s length away from him. She’s staring off, not seeming to
pay attention to anything that’s going on around her. When she turns to see us
coming, she holds her hand out to Winston and he bounds off to her. Ms. Burgess
and MJ are picking through some of the items, probably trying to find out what
can be salvaged for use later.

MJ glances up at
us then back down to something that he’s trying to kick out of the ground. “Nobody’s
left. Nobody’s left in this whole damn city. We came back here for nothing,” he
growls.

“No. We had to
see for ourselves. We couldn’t spend the rest of our lives wondering if your
families had been waiting for you,” Ms. Burgess says. She turns to us. “There’s
no sign of MJ’s family or Shayla’s.” She cut her eyes toward MJ. “He’s not
taking it well.”

“We should
have gone to D.C. with Ken. Maybe he’s right. Maybe the government moved
underground.”

I drop the bag
of canned goods that Ian and Mia had found in one of my neighbor’s home. “Ms.
Burgess is right. My mother is waiting for me.”

That catches Wade,
MJ and Ms. Burgess’ attention. Even Masana stops petting Winston to listen.

“You found
her?” Wade asks.

“Yeah, she
wrote me a note. She’s in Oxford Township.” I shrug. “I don’t know where that
is, but Jason found it on the map.”

“And where is
that?”

“It’s about
fifty miles north of here,” Jason says. “If we start at sunrise, we should be
able to make it there before nightfall.”

MJ puts a hand
over his forehead and lets it drop slowly down his face. “
So
, she left
you a note,” he says, sounding unconvinced.

“Yes,” I
answer, not liking the way he sounds.

“I hate to
even bring it up, but how do you know she’s still alive after writing that
note?”

“MJ!” Ms.
Burgess snaps.

“I’m not
trying to be an ass. I’m bringing up a valid question.” MJ shakes his head. “I’m
tired. I’m so tired. I’m sorry Sin, but I don’t want to go on another wild
goose chase.”

“I’m going to
my mom. You can go wherever you want.”

“Hold on,”
Jason says. “I know everyone is tired right about now and emotions are high, but
this is the only lead that we have and frankly it’s a pretty good one.”

Wade clears
his throat and stands. “I’ll go.” He lifts a shoulder. It seems that all the
fight has left him. “There’s nothing keeping me here.”

“Thanks,” I
say. Then I turn to MJ and grab a hold of his hand. “I don’t want you to stay
here. Please come with us.”

He drops his
head and I move closer to him.

“MJ, please,”
I beg. “Come with me, and if this doesn’t work out, we’ll all go to D.C. and
find Ken.”

“Sure,” he
finally says.

I give him a
hug. “Thanks.”

Jason slaps
him on the back. “Let’s find somewhere to sleep for tonight. We have another
long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

Oxford Township, Michigan

May 3
^rd
, 2012: Day 42

I’ve been up
for hours, Winston and I waiting patiently for everyone else to rise. I think
he can sense my anxiety, because he doesn’t stray far from my side. By the time
Jason awakes, I’m sitting cross-legged, waiting for him.

Leaning over,
I whisper in Jason’s ear. “I’m going to see my mother today.”

A slow smile graces
his lips, the dimples that I love so much appearing in his cheeks. “I know. Go
wake the others so we can get going.”

True to Jason’s
word we leave as soon as the sun rises. I hadn’t even let Mia do anything with
my hair; no point in wasting precious time. I don’t care if it’s flying in
knots all over the place, I’ll have my mother comb it for me later.

Jason keeps
his map out, making sure we’re headed in the right direction, and I’m right by
his side, pressing him on. He tries to make light conversation, but I’m so
nervous I can hardly follow along. I pray that my mother is where her note says
she is.

If she isn’t there,
then what? I told MJ we would go to D.C. and I’m sure that we will, but I have
to agree with him, I’m tired and I think we all are.

No one has had
time to grieve. We’ve basically just pushed our losses down deep and kept
moving on, trekking forward. It’s something we’ve all become accustomed to
doing. We did it when we lost our band members, we did it when we lost Shayla
and we did it when we lost Ken. The only problem with continuing to do this is
that, one day, someone will erupt and explode.

How much can a
person take?

What will be the
tipping point?

No matter that
direction we look in, death and destruction greets us at every turn. It’s in
every city and town that we pass through. We keep our heads up and eyes in
front, trying not to let the bodies and carnage register in our minds. I think pretending
to be immune to what we see is becoming harder and harder to do.

And no one
wants to be the first to admit they can't pretend any more.

It takes us
most of the day to make it to Oxford Township. The sun is setting and casting
an orange glow against the sky. It’s a small town that I’d never heard of, but
even this place hasn’t been spared by the aliens. When we finally find the
road, there’s a sign hanging on a wooden post “Arrowwood Equestrian Ranch”. We
walk up the dirt road, expecting to find barns that used to house horses or at
the very least pieces of the barns, but so far, the only thing we see are “No
Trespassing” signs placed every few feet or so.

“They sure
didn’t want any business,” Mia says.

“I’m sure we’ll
run into a house or something up ahead,” I say, trying to stay confident.

Nothing
.

There’s
nothing but trees. We follow the road until it abruptly stops, dead ending into
a wooded area.

“Are you sure
this is the place?” MJ asks, peering over Jason’s shoulder to view the map.

Jason glances
down at his map, then up to scan the trees. “This is it.”

“Maybe we took
a wrong turn somewhere.” Wade says.

“Check the map
again,” Ms. Burgess encourages him.

Jason shakes
his head. “No, I’m sure this is the place. You all saw the sign.”

“Yeah, but…”
Mia turns in a circle. “There’s nothing here.”

This can’t
be right.

“It’s getting
too dark to tell. When the sun comes up we’ll have to search the entire area,”
I say. “This is just one road. There might be something back there in those
woods.”

“How many
miles do these woods cover?” Wade asks.

“I don’t know,
maybe twenty mile or so.”

“That’s not so
bad,” I say. “We can cover twenty miles in no time at all, we’ll start early in
the morning.”

Ian turns
around. “It doesn’t look like anyone was here, or has been.”

“That’s
because this isn’t the right entrance. There has to be a different one,” I
ramble.
She has to be here.

“No, I mean,
wherever we’ve gone, there was always something left over. Trash, you know,
something, anything. This area is clean.”

We all turn
around, surveying the land. I don’t want to admit it, but he’s right. There’s
nothing here.

I’m wrong.
I can’t go on. There’s no point. I fall to my knees. “She’s not here.”

“Hold on, let’s
try to figure this out,” Jason says. He pulls my arm, trying to get me to
stand. I pull away from him. It’s no use. I’ve led them all here…for nothing.

Jasmine steps around
me and into the woods. “It just seems odd that there’s nothing here. Maybe just
beyond these trees…” she says, her voice trailing off.

“Halt! State
your business or die.”

I don’t even care
who’s threatening us. Does it even matter? How many times has someone
threatened to kill me?

Go ahead.
Pull the trigger.

I drop to my
butt and roll onto my side, pulling my body into a ball. I just don’t care
anymore.

Winston lies beside
me, so that his head rests on my side. A low growl emanates from between his sharp
teeth.

Jasmine backs
out of the woods with her hands up, but the speaker doesn’t follow her out.

“We don’t mean
you any trouble,” Jason says, speaking into the trees. “We came here on a tip.
We’ll be leaving now.” He begins to back away. The others do the same, with
Wade making his way toward me.

“What kind of
tip?” the man asks.

“Our friend’s
mother left her a note to come here. We clearly wrote the information down
wrong. We’ll be on our way.”

I listen as
everyone’s shoes crunch on the stones and dirt, slowly moving away. Wade
reaches me and tugs on my arm. “Sinta, get up. We need to get out of here,” he
whispers to me.

“Leave me,” I
say. I can't go on. I just can't do it.

“You don’t get
to give up in the middle of nowhere. Especially when you wouldn’t let me,” MJ
says. He steps around Wade and tugs on my other arm, pulling me to my feet
against my will.

“What’s the mother’s
name?”

Everyone is
quiet, waiting for me.

“Sinta,” Jason
says. “Tell them.”

I don’t even
see the point. “No. It doesn’t matter. She’s not here. I was stupid to lead you
all here.”

I use all my
remaining energy to turn around. The only thing left to do is to leave this
place and go to D.C.

“We didn’t
come all this way for you give up,” Mia says to me. “Her mother’s name is Diana
Allen.”

“Nurse Diana?”
the man asks.

At the
recognition in his voice my heart races. I stop and whirl around. “Do you know
her?” I hold my breath, waiting for his answer.

He comes out
from behind the tree. He’s an older man, wearing camouflage and dark green face
paint. He slings his rifle over his shoulder and assesses each of us. “Name’s
Eric Benson. Welcome to the compound.”

“Compound?”
Ian asks looking around. “I don’t see anything here.”

“That’s
because it’s under your feet,” Eric says.

“But my
mother,” I interrupt. I can hear all about the compound later. What I want to
know right now is whether or not my mother is here.

“I know your
mother and she’ll be happy to see you,” Eric says.

The scream I
let out is loud enough to alert any alien for miles around of our position.

* * * * *

We follow him
for about three miles deeper into the woods. As we do, he explains that this
entire area is under video surveillance, using solar power, which is the same
power that runs the underground community. He also tells us that our movements were
tracked as soon as we stepped foot onto the property, not only by the cameras,
but also by the people guarding the woods.

He stops at a regular-appearing
bush and, leaning down, he lifts a thatch of grass, revealing a small keypad. Quickly
he keys in a six digit code and one of the roots of the bush springs out of the
ground. With the root acting as a handle, he pulls and lifts the bush from the
ground. Or I think that’s what he’s doing. But the bush is actually fake and attached
over a trap door, hiding it.

No one makes a
sound as we watch what he’s doing. It’s so quiet I could hear a pin drop.

The door opens
to a black hole. The only thing I can make out are the metal stairs.

Eric turns to
us and we’re giving him our undivided attention. “It’s pretty steep,” he says.
“I don’t know how you’ll get that dog down and he can’t stay out here. He’d
only hang around the entrance, giving us away.” He reaches for his gun. “We’ll
have to shoot him.”

What?

“No!” I yell
stepping in front of Winston. “You can’t kill him.”

Eric holds his
gun and tilts his head. “Can he climb down five flights of steps?”

I know he can’t.
I shake my head. “But…he’s a good dog.”

“He’s a good
dog that can’t climb.”

I look back to
see Winston peering between my legs, watching Eric. I can’t let anything happen
to him. “Can you tell my mom I’m here?” I turn back to Eric. “I’ll wait for her
here.”

“Wait a
minute.” Jason takes off his jacket and wraps it around Winston’s torso and
zips it. “Give me yours Wade.”

Wade does as
Jason asks. Jason makes Winston lie down and zips his hind legs into the
jacket. When he’s done, he ties his and Wade’s jackets’ arms together. “There,
doggy harness.” Wade helps to hoist Winston up onto Jason’s back and Jason
slips his arms through the holes the sleeves made. “Let’s get going. Winston
weighs a ton.”

“Thank you,” I
say, my voice trembling.

Eric nods and
ushers us down the stairs, one-by-one. He’s the last to enter so that he can
close the door and initiate the lock. Along the way, we pass small lamps that
light our descent. If it wasn’t for them I’m pretty sure I would have missed a
step of two and five flights is a long way to fall.

As we go, I
keep glancing up to make sure Winston isn’t slipping from his harness and that
he isn’t freaking out. But when I see him looking down at me, with his tongue
hanging out of the side of his mouth, I know he’ll be fine. Every few steps along
the way I hear Jason say, “That’s a good dog,” and I don’t know how I’ll ever
repay him for saving Winston’s life.

We reach the
bottom and find ourselves in a cement room with a large metal door. We move out
of the way and let Eric come down. Once he’s down, he enters another set of
codes at the door. We follow him through and down a narrow corridor. Much like
the room, it’s made of cement. At the end, there’s another door and, yet again,
Eric enters a code.

“I think it’s
safe to say no aliens are getting in here,” Ian says.

And we agree
with him wholeheartedly.

The second set
of doors opens into a large room, furnished with chairs and a table.

“This is the holding
area,” Eric says. “Rocky is on his way.”

“Who’s Rocky?”
Jasmine asks.

“Before you
enter the community there are a few rules that you’ll need to agree to.”

“We’ll agree
to anything you want,” I say. “I just want to see my mom.”

Eric puts up a
hand. “I understand that, but we expect this war to last for a long time. We
have to make sure that we keep everyone within these walls safe and that means
screening everyone we let in.”

I nod. “I
understand. Let’s get it over with.”

The screening doesn’t
go as fast as I think it should. One-by-one, we’re taken to a separate room and
grilled. Rocky, a middle-aged man with a bald head and booming voice, who is
comfortable with issuing orders and also looks like he could take on an alien
with his bare hands and win, wants to know our history, whether or not we have a
criminal record, if we had ever been in trouble with the law, who are parents are
and what our nationality is.

He also wants
to know what kinds of weapons we have, what kind of weapons we’re comfortable
using, our skills and if we knew how to hunt or fish. Even Winston has to go
through his own kind of screening. Rocky takes him through what appear to be obedience
drills, which he passes with flying colors.

Ms. Burgess is
the last person to go through the screening and, after she finishes, Rocky comes
back into the room. This time he keeps us all together and hands us each a
sheet of paper with handwritten rules on it. He reads them to us and everyone
has to swear that they will abide by them. I don’t think anyone here planned to
break any of the rules, since they addressed things like rape, stealing, lying and
other rules needed to foster a healthy community.

“Last part of
the induction,” Rocky announces, after we each swore our obedience. “You’ll all
need physical exams and much needed medical attention.”