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“Narvari, what is going on?” Jimbaga asked, worry etched on his face.
Narvari rubbed her head. She had to think quickly. Ignoring Jimbaga’s question, she ran to her large bookshelf embedded in the wall. She pressed a button behind one of the books and the shelf parted. Guns of various sizes hang on the wall — gifts from daddy dearest.
Narvari grabbed a black shotgun and shoved it into Jimbaga’s arms. Jimbaga blinked.
“Narvari, what’s happening?”
“I fear there’s trouble,” she finally said. Jimbaga wouldn’t leave her alone until she explained herself. “I need you to stay here and look after Anana. Can you do that?”
Jimbaga paused for a while. He nodded. “Alright. But where are you going?”
“To keep the city safe. Someone just attacked Andai. I have to make sure he’s okay.”
“Do you think the poachers are back?”
“I don’t know.” She clenched her fists. “But I’m going to kill them all this time.” Not wasting any more time, she armed herself with two pistols.
“Narvari,” Jimbaga whispered. “My family.”
Narvari nodded. Maybe she would get Dawuli to check on Andai instead. She would make sure Motongo was safe.
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Just as Narvari reached Jimbaga’s neighborhood, her car died. She had to go the rest of the way on foot.
The night’s air was cold; colder than it usually was. Narvari’s hair stood on end as soon as she came out of her car. How strange. Was the whole town having power issues? She warily surveyed the sparsely populated neighborhood.
Though the street was plunged into darkness, a couple of the houses still had light. Her eyes fell on Jimbaga’s house down the street. She frowned.
Why was the place dark? Both Motongo and his mother were supposed to be home. A shriek followed by the bang of a gun startled Narvari. Two more gunshots followed. Now she was on full alert. Her eyes darted to the building in front of her. She was sure the gunshot had come from there.
She ran towards the house. She was suddenly forced back as something came crashing out of the windows. The thing fell to the ground a few meters away from Narvari.
It was thick black smoke. But the more Narvari gazed at the smoke the more she felt it was alive.
“What the hell?” she whispered, not taking her eyes off the thing. It seemed like the darkness itself had become flesh — a very disfigured crooked flesh. Slowly it wafted towards her like a specter, only half her size with eyes as crimson as blood.
Narvari’s instincts kicked in immediately. She shot right through the creature’s head. The thing shrieked like a siren, then fell back, unmoving.
Narvari drew closer to take a look. It laid still, black goo oozing from its forehead. Its thin figure looked nothing human. It certainly did not look natural either. What was that? Based on how it had shrieked, she was sure that was the same thing she had heard while talking to Andai on the phone.
Narvari paled as the creature suddenly rose and lunged toward her.
She retreated, shooting at the shadow. The shadow did not seem to be weakened. On the contrary, for every wound Narvari inflicted on the creature, it quickly regenerated. Her gun was completely useless.
The shadow bared its sharp yellow teeth at Narvari and pounced on her. Narvari fell on her back, the misty black shadow atop her body. No amount of bullets Narvari released into the creature’s head did anything. It just regenerated over and over again. The black fluid from the demon soiled Narvari’s shirt. A chill ran down her spine when it dawned on her that this creature was pretty much invincible. What the hell was she up against?
The shadow shrieked into her face. Suddenly, she felt lightheaded, as though her energy was slowly slipping out of her. Something white, like fog, rose out of Narvari’s mouth and then began entering the creature’s mouth. It was like the shadowy creature was absorbing the very life out of her body.
Even with her energy quickly draining, Narvari would still not stop. She grabbed the creature by the neck and squeezed it with every ounce of her strength. She kicked it in the abdomen. Either her kick was superhuman, or the shadow was just too weak because it was sent flying into a tree. Narvari suspected it was the latter. The shadow looked terrifying but it was as frail as an octogenarian.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Narvari scrambled to her feet, coughing incessantly. She felt the ground for her gun. The creature was not done, and neither was she. It floated back to her, its feet not quite touching the ground. What the hell was this thing? Shaking her head, Narvari dropped her guns. It was useless anyway.
“Come here,” Narvari yelled, readying her fists for an actual fight. The shadow swooped towards her with a shriek.
Narvari flipped into the air and sent a kick into the shadow’s face. It fell. But before it could get back on its feet, Narvari landed right on top of the shadow, her knee pressing against its chest. She sent barrage after barrage of punches into its face.
It opened its mouth to shriek again, the sound jarring to her ears, as though a thousand cymbals had been unleashed from hell. Narvari clenched her teeth.
“You shut the hell up.” She gripped the creature by the neck and strangled it.
Suddenly, a brilliant white light flooded the darkness. The shadow recoiled, its shriek growing even more piercing than before. It grappled free of Narvari’s grip and then floated out of the range of the light.
Narvari lifted her head as the car pulled up next to her. She saw the familiar face of a man with long dreadlocks sitting in the driver’s seat.
“Tsongu,” she said.
“Captain,” said Tsongu. “I came as soon as you called.”
Narvari got back on her feet, but they felt wobbly. She ignored the weakness in them and climbed aboard. “What was that thing? What is going on?”
Tsongu shook his head. “I don’t know, captain. But they are everywhere.” Tsongu started the car.
“They?” Narvari asked. She felt a cave in her chest. There were more of those things? Not a single bullet worked on it. How could they possibly fight something like that?
“Dawuli and the others?” Narvari asked.
“They went to get Andai. I haven’t heard from them yet.”
Narvari perked up when she heard a series of gunshots.
“Guns don’t work on those things,” she muttered under her breath. Every household in Sharmandi was not only armed but also trained in self-defense. Under normal circumstances, they would be able to defend themselves from any intruders. But these were not normal intruders. These things were invincible.
Narvari paused as she suddenly recollected how the creature had fled as soon as Tsongu’s car arrived.
Sharmandi Tower.
Andai said the power had gone out and then he was suddenly attacked.
“That’s it,” she said. “They are afraid of the light.”
“Afraid of light?” Tsongu asked.
“The light from your car scared one away.” She rubbed her forehead thoughtfully. “That ‘s probably why the town is in darkness.”
Were creatures this savage-looking intelligent enough to put their homes in darkness?
The piercing scream of a child cut through the air. It was followed by a demonic shriek.
“Drive.”
Tsongu nodded, whirring the car to life. As they neared Jimbaga’s home, Narvari saw one of the creatures crouching over someone. A child. As soon as they got closer, their light illuminating the street, the shadow blended with the darkness and vanished.
Narvari rushed up to the child and her chest tightened in a mixture of pain, anger, and fear.
“Motongo.” She took the boy into her arms. Motongo’s cheerful brown face was now as pale as paper. Narvari put her thumb on his wrist. Her heart skipped a beat when she couldn’t feel his pulse. “No, no, no…”
She put two fingers on his neck. She waited, listening. She sighed heavily releasing a breath she didn’t know she had been holding as she felt the tiny pulsation in Motongo’s neck. It was faint, almost indiscernible, but it was there.
“Don’t worry, kiddo. I’ll get you help soon.” She carried Motongo in her arms like a baby and sent him back to the car. “Get him to the hospital,” she said to Tsongu. “Protect the hospital and everyone in it.”
“Yes, Captain. But what about you?”
Narvari looked back at Motongo’s house. “I have to make sure everyone here is alright. You should warn the others about the light.”
Tsongu nodded, then drove off.
Switching on the flashlight on her phone, Narvari quickly ran towards Motongo’s house. She warily took a step through the front door.
The flashlight brightened the dark room. Her heart raced at the haphazard state of the room. When she got to the kitchen, she was sure an intense struggle had taken place there. There was broken cutlery and bowls everywhere. She traced the light on the walls. Then up the ceiling.
Narvari narrowed her eyes. The bulb was shattered. She quickly rushed back to the living room to take a look. That bulb was also completely destroyed. This was deliberate. Someone or something was destroying all sources of light. What was going on?
“Auntie Ruyibo,” she called loudly. “Uncle Suodega.”
No one replied. Did they go out then? Maybe Motongo had been alone at home.
She was convinced there was no one here when her flashlight illuminated something thin and pale sticking out behind the couch in the living room.
She slowly walked toward the couch. And that was when she saw something so terrible it made her sick. Narvari knelt before the pale lifeless body of a woman. Had it not been that Narvari knew whose house it was, it would have been hard to recognize Auntie Ruyibo.
“My goodness,” she whispered, completely horrified by the cruelty of the woman’s death. She looked like she had been covered in kaolin. The previous plumpness of her face was now as gaunt as a stick figure. The blacks of her eyes were no more and the expression on her face was that of pure terror.
Narvari’s hands trembled. She slowly guided her trembling hands to the woman’s eyes and shut them.
Her own eyes stung. Were other people dead too? Her stomach caved in fear, not for herself, but for everyone else. No one was safe.
Doing everything she could to ignore the grief threatening to overwhelm her, Narvari called Jimbaga on her phone. No one picked up.
Her panic rose to unprecedented levels. What if something had happened to him? What if something had happened to Anana? Those shadows were not too strong physically but if they caught her grandmother and tried to drain her, Anana wouldn’t be able to fight back.
She had to go back. Casting one last look at Auntie Ruyibo, Narvari bolted out of the house, racing through the empty dark streets towards her house. Several minutes later, her home appeared in the distance.
Fear twisted her bowel. Not a single flicker of light was anywhere near her house.