Silence Falls

“Aha.” Connor and Cris synchronously voiced. Their faces mimicked an expression of inquisitiveness as they scrutinized the trap door they’d discovered above built into the ceiling. At least they weren’t going to have to undergo a treacherous maze of tunnels after tunnels.

“Well, that was surely a taxing trip, wasn’t it? I’m glad we finally made it to Mordor, Sam!” Cris bantered as he walked ahead until he stood right directly underneath the circular metal lid that looked identical to a manhole cover you’d generally find on any local road. Connor rolled his eyes at Cris’s silly crack before offering him a boost so they could efficiently open the small door without causing any commotions. They had to keep quiet because they had no idea what was above them.

Grudgingly but with ease, Cris managed to hoist the heavy lid off and set it aside to reveal the cloudy night sky. “Oh my god...” He uttered as used his hands to hold on to the edges so he could haul himself up high enough to see more. He gaped at his surroundings, regarding a deserted building across the street from their mall that had a thickly layer of algae on the sign inscribed with the word...library?

“What is it? What the hell do you see up there?” Connor grunted out as he sustained Cris’s weight with very little effort. The boy was much smaller than him and had the weight of a drenched feather.

“Outside.” Cris breathed much lower this time.

Not able to hear him, Connor snapped. “What!?”

“Outside, Connor! We’re outside!” Cris exclaimed in jubilation. Blind to to any feasible danger, Cris hefted himself out of the hole and stood up to look around. Connor made the aim to vault his way up after him with the grace of a cat. Intending to cast Cris right back down the hole for scaling out and risking his own safety, Connor became mystified by the road beneath their feet, and the rich dewy grass around them. Just being out of the mall made it all seem so unbelievable. Cris ogle at everything with a smile and then stared up at the disabled lampposts. “It all seems so surreal, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, and kinda chilling.” Connor added as he turned in slow circles to take it all in. “We haven’t been living in the mall for that long to not be able to distinguish a road when we see one, or these other buildings that look like they haven’t been utilized in a long time.”

“Strange. As unreal as this all is, it doesn’t give off a commendable vibe.” Cris sensed, his smile diminishing. “It’s like we went from a fresh discovery to...finding something more malevolent instead.”

“No shit, this place looks like a fragment of a ghost town.” Connor construed precisely.

“Yeah, except that no one had ever died in this area before.” Cris foiled, recalling some history.

“You’re forgetting we’re not that far from the mall, WHICH is also by the wall encompassing the town, WHICH also obscures the swamp, WHICH also stashes the greatest burial ground of massacred innocent souls in human history!” Connor snapped, glaring at him for forgetting so easily.

Cris opened his mouth to voice his apology before the alarming sound of a big lethal gun cocking closed their conversation. Both went still at first before twisting in the direction of the sound. They heard nothing. Had someone spot them, or heard them? Was someone preparing to snipe them down right here? Cris was rigid in terror as time felt like it had lagged around them. Unlike Cris, Connor wasn’t undermined by his fear, but was flooded with adrenaline. He had an itch to give their soon-to-be killer a very difficult target to kill. Without speaking a word, Connor seized Cris and thrust him back into the hole, causing him to land on his feet before toppling onto his side. Connor resealed the cover before he descended down beside him, and slapped a hand over Cris's mouth to stifle him. For a minute they heard nothing, and had almost thought it was secured to withdraw back to the mall. The unfortunate sound of a lighter flicking signalled to them that there was someone above them.

“Goddamn Robison, what I wouldn't give to pass out for a good night sleep that wouldn't get disturbed every four hours.” A cranky muffled voice lamented from above the manhole cover.

“Please don't remind me what our life has now become! Who are these assholes back in Washington kidding us anyway, we're never gonna find this guy! He's probably out of the perimeter on his way to Europe by now! I know I’d be.” A second voice spat out, before stomping his heavy boot down on the cover, causing Connor and Cris to jump in horror.

Standing directly above them were two inattentive soldiers by the name of Private Robison and Davila, who were heedless of an interesting find hidden beneath their very feet. “For some reason, they are damn unrelenting with this guy. I guess if he’s anything like the rumors says he is than it does explain-”

“Whoa whoa, are you being serious right now? You’re starting to believe those senseless rumors too?!” Private Davila exclaimed in disbelief as he placed a tight hand on Robison’s shoulder to restrict him from moving on ahead.

“Yes, I’m serious! How else do you explain how Bravo was killed by their own bullets!?” Robison challenged, turning to face him with eyes of steel. “What reasonable explanation can there be to explain how the entire Alpha team was found with their head and limbs hacked apart from their torsos!?”

“Those can be EASILY explained! Obviously what we’re dealing with are a bunch of feral nutcases running around like primitive zombies. They could have hijacked some rifles from team Charlie and probably dismembered them apart that way...” Davila letup to scratch the back of his head for a minute. He wasn’t sure anyone could believe what he just said.

“See! Even you can’t explain how it was done by a bunch of lunatics in the woods!” Robison whooped in triumph as he punched Davila on his arm.

“Bigfoot then! He can rip anyone apart easily!” Davila worked out, before letting out a laugh at his frivolous response. Who was he kidding here?

“Riiiight. Since when did Bigfoot go by the infamous code name Subject V, huh?” Robison prodded, arching his brow and crossing his arms over his chest. His long assault rifle swayed at his side.

Cris and Connor both looked at each other with intrigue at the mention of that name.

Davila shrugged. “I don’t know! Since however long Bigfoot has been around.”

“You don’t know how long Bigfoot has been around, do you?” Robison interrogated.

“Uh…I think since around the 1800s?” Davila estimated with help from his limited memory.

“The rumor is Subject V is older than that. In fact, I hear records show he’s been around since the 1600s.” Robison gossiped, causing Davila to almost double over with laughter. Robison rolled his eyes and reached for his gun to return to patrolling their targeted area. “Forget you too, man. I’m going back to looking for Subject V since that’s the only reason why we’re out here all day killing these damn kids.”

Davila faithfully followed close behind his partner, chuckling along the way.