Into the Night

I was on feet seconds after we first heard the pounding. Chuck and Robert seemed to awaken almost instantly, and like me, were staring at the entrance of the tunnel, down which the echoes of a beat were drifting through. My gaze snapped towards the small girl, who now sleepily opened her eyes and gazed around, confused.

“Mum, what’s that noise?”

“Nothing sweetie.” Her mother crouched down at her side, gently stroking the girl’s hair. “Go back to sleep.”

With a yawn the girl obeyed, and suddenly the beating was louder. Charlie leapt up, looking towards Robert for a command. Madison sat up, eyes half closed and roaming around the room. Tabby and Johnny were next to wake, Tabby with a small cry.

“What’s happening?” She whispered, as, like Charlie, Johnny looked at Robert.

“It might be someone.” I spoke, following the lead of the others and making my statement to Robert. “They might need help.”

“It might be a zombie!” I hadn’t noticed the boy was awake until he spoke, and now his eyes were alight with just a hint of excitement.

“Go back to sleep Harry.” Robert commanded, and almost instantly the boy slid under the sleeping bag, pulling it up over his head. “Chuck, Charlie. Go check it out.”

Both of them saluted, even going as far as stamping a foot on the ground each. Together, they chanted “Yes sir” before making a move towards the tunnel entrance.

“I’m going with them.” I went to follow, to find Robert’s hand placed on my shoulder.

“No, you’re not.” Robert squeezed his hand on my shoulder, Chuck and Charlie froze, turning to look at me. To my annoyance, I could see traces of amusement in Chuck’s eyes.

“Why, because I haven’t served?” I couldn’t resist the bitterness that crept into my voice. “Charlie over there hasn’t seem combat. He’s barely out of basic training, right? I’m going with them, and as you said earlier, you’re no longer in the Army sir.” I added the emphasis on sir, and saw his eyes widen. Clearly, this man had never been treated disrespectfully, had never had someone question his orders. “I appreciate the fact that you have served, Robert, but you are not my sergeant.”

His hand dropped from my shoulder, as he stepped back from me looking a little pissed off. I turned, stalked towards Chuck and Charlie and started making my way down the tunnel towards the ladder.

Uncertainly, they followed, and soon Chuck was striding alongside me in silence until we reached the ladder. The pounding down here was much louder, clearly coming from the outside of the hatch. We glanced at each other, before Charlie pushed past us and put a foot on the bottom rung.

“You sure you want to go up first made?” Chuck asked, glancing at me with a raised eyebrow. My own eyes followed his hand as he ran his fingers through his hair. “We don’t know what is out there.”

“It’s just going to be someone looking for help.” Charlie replied, rolling his eyes as he glanced down at us from mid-way up the ladder. “Nothing to be afraid of, Chuck.”

Chuck frowned, eyes narrowing as his thumb and finger rubbed at his temples. The pounding was starting to give both of us a headache.

“Fine.” Chuck raised his hands up in defeat. “Just shout down if you need us.”

“Will do.”

We watched as he reached the top, stretching his arms out to turn the handle that would result in the hatch being able to be pushed upwards.

He could hear the clanking of metal from inside, and jumped backwards to give whoever was emerging enough room to get out. There had been people inside, and now they were going to help him! He was going to get healed! They would be his salvation, they would stop the pain, and he would repay them. He would find a way to express his gratitude.

I thought Charlie was going to fall, and both Chuck and myself went into stances ready to catch him if he did. It was the yell of fright, the half scream half cry that made me think he was going to let go of the ladder. Neither of us said anything as he scrambled back down, leaping off with a couple of rungs to go. His feet planted on the floor, he staggered backwards.

His skin had gone pale, his eyes comically large. He stuttered and stammered as Chuck moved beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“What was it Charlie?”

“It was grotesque.” He shook his head, squeezed his eyes shut. “Bloody hell Chuck, it was horrible.”

“It?” I asked, glancing up at the hatch. “What was it Charlie?”

“I...I don’t know.” He bowed his head. “A man, maybe. It was awful, horrible.”

“What was it like outside?” I inched closer to the ladder, eyes fixed on it as Charlie carried on speaking.

“I didn’t see.” He replied, almost apologetically. “Where are you going Jake?”

“To check it out for myself.” I shrugged, placing a hand on the ladder.

“I’m coming.” Chuck moved forward, as Charlie leant against the wall.

“Don’t bring it back.” He moaned. “Please, guys, I couldn’t deal...”

“If it’s a man, he might need help.” Chuck spoke slowly, as I started to climb. I almost sensed him get onto the ladder, and together we moved up, settling into an easy rhythm.

I steeled myself as I reached the top, glancing down at Chuck and waiting for him to give me a nod before I opened the hatch.

Out I climbed, to be faced with the man who had scared Charlie so much.

As Chuck followed, I was already standing away from the hatch, throwing up the measly ration pack meal I’d eaten earlier. Chuck’s eyes fell on the man, and he froze, his eyes wide as his breathing became ragged.

The air around us was not clear, and I couldn’t help but cough through the light smoke. The figure standing a few steps away from the hatch turned towards me, alerted by the sound I was making. Chuck’s hand found my shoulder, squeezed tightly, and neither of us could turn away.

The man was scared from head to shoulder, skin burnt away and revealing red marks in the worst spots. His eyes were a clear white, and I knew he’d been blinded. His clothes were in tatters, almost falling off him. He lumbered forward slightly, opened his mouth to try to speak. All that came out was a strange gurgling sound, spit gathering around his mouth.

Charlie had been right; we couldn’t take him back into the hatch with us.

How could we, with the kids there? They would be terrified, that much was clear, as Charlie had been. There was also Tabby to consider, and she was clearly on the edge without seeing this man.

It wasn’t just his appearance though, there was also the knowledge that he represented what may have happened to the rest of the world. Who knew how many more people were staggering around, skin burnt off, flesh black and charred? I glanced over at Chuck, who was staring at the man with horror.

He stumbled forward, hand reached out in our general direction.

Out of instinct I pulled myself backwards, my leg knocking against the hatch.

Chuck reached out and gripped my elbow, squeezing gently. I could see the fingers on his other hand flexing, and I knew he was wishing we had some sort of weapon.

Not that either of us thought the man posed any threat, we just didn’t want him near us.

Physically I felt repulsed, and again I could feel vomit moving up into my throat. Mentally I knew I was being harsh and wrong and evil, this was a man who clearly needed our help, but we were too willing to go through the next steps of leaping onto the ladder and scrambling back down to the safety held for us inside.

Charlie was gazing at us as we made our way down, as Chuck slammed the hatch door shut and made sure it was locked. We all looked at each other with looks of guilt, knowing that we may have just sentenced a man to death.

Silently we seemed to make an agreement; we would not divulge to the others what we had seen.

Slowly we moved off down the tunnel, putting the man and all thoughts of him behind us, in the outside world which, we realised, had changed much more than we could have predicted.

It wasn’t until we were sitting down, when Chuck was explaining to Robert what had happened, that I thought about the things I had seen around the burnt man.

The trees had been different, some of them seem to have burn marks along the bark, others just seemed faded. None of the leaves had been green, and a fair few of them had had no colour at all instead they had been white, the skeleton of the leaf clearly visible, stark against the light shade.

Although I couldn’t put my finger on it, there was something different about the air too. Like when you see a mist, but know it’s not foggy. Even stranger in daylight, when everything seems lighter, somehow. I shuddered, causing Madison to turn to me.

She crossed over to me, sitting beside me. “What the hell did you see up there?”

“Nothing.” I replied, giving her a careless shrug.

“Don’t lie Jake.” She scolded. “Charlie’s pale as a ghost, Chuck won’t stop shaking and you defiantly have something on your mind.”

“You don’t know me that well.” I replied, lighting up a cigarette. She rolled her eyes, glancing briefly towards Charlie.

“Well, is it safe to go back up?”

“No.” I stared hard at the ground, refusing to meet her eyes. Chuck stepped away from Robert, a hand sweeping through his hair, and sat beside me.