Vanessa Gable
Wednesday, April 20th, 2022 (29 days after the Shutdown)
The light show last night had kept people in the streets of the South Shore district until late into the night. After weeks of darkness from the loss of electricity, the Aurora Borealis brought a much-needed sense of security.
The street in front of her apartment played host to a strange mixture of people from the three apartments that formed the Coalition, as Morrison had christened it: the WestWind Apartments, the Braun City Apartments, and the much smaller Greenwich Residential Complex.
Even with the injuries and the recent assaults, the explosion had strengthened communal bonds to the point people were starting to share food.
When a few people tried throwing parties, Morrison finally shut things down for the night and sent people home. So with everything resolved, it spelled the beginning of a successful union… almost. It would’ve been perfect if not for a small detail, a detail no one but Vanessa had noticed.
Lachlan.
That one name kept her up all night. Replaying the way he’d collapsed and muttered nonsensical prayers under his breath when he saw the Aurora Borealis struck something deep within her — a fear she’d suppressed.
But even with the dubious warning, at some point when there is nothing to show for your fears, sleep was such an attractive alternative. At least until the early hours of that morning when something decided to take that away.
Peeking out from under her covers, she scrutinized the light leaking through her curtains. It's still early morning… Who the hell is screaming? Covering her ears, Vanessa was determined to get a few more hours of sleep before she had to start her errands for the day.
At the onset of another scream, she jumped out of bed, looking for where Aaliyah had stored the kitchen knives.
Grumbling, she walked to the front window and paused at the spectacle below her. One of the couriers who helped distribute supplies between apartments was being chased by a small… Is that a cloud?
Pinching her cheek until she yelped, she wasn’t the only one poking their head out their windows. Watching in utter confusion as the courier pushed open the gate the Coalition had made to seal off the city block, the man ran into an alleyway.
Two went in, one came out.
The small gray cloud lazily wafted into the street, its movements now sluggish compared to its earlier,
“Aaliyah!” Vanessa yelled behind her. “Aaliyah! Aaliyah, can you come here for a second?”
Peeking her head out of her room, Aaliyah glared at Vanessa suspiciously.
“Were you the one screaming? It’s 6:00 a.m., leave me out of whatever you’re planning,” she murmured, slamming the door before Vanessa could get a word in.
… She’ll find out sooner or later.
Watching it hypnotically moving between buildings, it eventually stopped in front of her apartment. Minutes went by as it hovered there, drawing more and more people to their windows and when it seemed like the entire street had come out to watch it, it made its move.
Churning like a storm, it screamed.
Not a simple “Aaahh, shit, you scared me!”
It was a scream that carried an unrelenting sense of anguish and desperation, warning anyone who dared to listen. Noticing fissure lines spreading along her windows, she dove behind the kitchen island in time before her windows split and shattered, spraying the surroundings with shards of glass.
“What the fuck!” Vanessa exclaimed, covering her ears from the cloud’s unrelenting cry.
Unable to shut it out, she grabbed headphones and pressed them on her ears but she forgot they were dead. Recoiling from the sound in agony, a whimper escaped her throat.
Bit by bit, Vanessa’s mind was a whisper and her thoughts jumbled.
***
“Vanessa!” someone screamed from a room over.
Why is someone being so loud? Vanessa… is that my name?
Someone vigorously shook her shoulders until, at last, she recognized the familiar dimples and the cascade of long hair over their shoulders.
“... Aaliyah?”
Grinning, she offered Vanessa a hand. “I thought I needed a new roommate for a second.”
“... a… roommate? Why would you—”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Something sticky clung to her skin. Eyes widening as she pulled herself to her feet, blood from her orifices had dried in her hair.
“Yeah, I cleaned up most of it, but you bled a pretty bit,” she explained, pointing to the swaths of bloodied tissues in the garbage. “If you were wondering, the Screamer is still outside but all it did was scream.”
Da fuck is a Screamer? Her expression must’ve given away her confusion.
“Ya know, that fluffy cloud thing?” Aaliyah probed inquisitively like she was worried her best friend might’ve lost her memory. “The thing that freakin’ screamed, hence the name?”
Rubbing her temples, images of the gray storm cloud chasing a man cut across her flurry of confusion.
“Does anyone know what happened to the guy the cloud—”
“Screamer,” Aaliyah offered.
“ — cloud was chasing?”
Rolling her eyes at Vanessa's refusal to use the term, she stopped and raised a brow. “What guy?”
She doesn’t know.
Stepping over shattered glass, she heard Aaliyah scrambling behind her. “Vanessa, you don’t want to see that!”
Glancing over her shoulder as she stopped by the window sill, the corner of her mouth twitched. “What could I possibly see that’s worse than the cloud?”
“Umm… a shit ton of them?”
Whirling around, her eyes widened as a blanket of dark clouds covered the streets, letting out soft wails. The other spectators who’d been peering out their windows had shuttered their blinds, flimsy towels hung up . Straining her eyes at the street ten floors below, amidst the crowd, she discerned small stone statues — statues that appeared more and more life-like as time dragged on.
“What the actual hell is going on, Aaliyah?” she asked, her voice only a whisper. “What are those things? Where did they come from? Why are those statues—”
“Woah, woah! I don’t know! I thought you were the one screaming, remember? But it's fine! As long we stay up here they can’t reach us!”
Covering her face in shock, she recalled Lachlan’s last words before disappearing last night. “Not again.” He knew this was going to happen! Mentally kicking herself for not taking him seriously, she considered them carefully.
The Screamers — she finally accepted Aaliyah’s generic naming sense — weren’t as randomly spread out as she suspected. It was difficult to give an estimate of their number since they constantly passed through each other, but of the hundred-odd monsters that swarmed below, the majority roamed exclusively along the sides of the road.
More of the creatures passed through the open gate but their numbers were significantly reduced. How come they’re not doing anything like climbing the walls… unless of course, they can’t. But what’s the point of being made of smoke if they can’t even float?
Grabbing the closest thing to her — a criminally ugly vase Aaliyah insisted was modern art — she threw it out the window before Aaliyah could protest. Cocking an eyebrow as it effortlessly passed through one of the Screamers like it was even there, Vanessa flinched as it shattered, expecting some repercussion from the monster. It didn’t even do anything.
Surrendering to Aaliyah’s persistent tugs, her petite friend wheeled her around and shot her a glare.
“Do you have a death wish? Leave me out of it!”
“Love you bestie.”
“I love you too but what the heck? Stop antagonizing them when we don’t know what they’re capable of! What if they were secretly intelligent and were hiding it as they scoped us out?”
“You’re suggesting that has intelligence?” she queried, pointing at two Screamers circling each other. “Bit of a stretch, don’t ya think?”
“YOU. DON’T. KNOW.” Aaliyah insisted. “Here, help me put this board up on the window. For all we know they’ll get more powerful at night.”
Then how would a piece of wood save us?
A knock at the door rescued her from her labor. Peering through the peephole, Maurice was on the other side, panting for breath.
***
“So we’re not allowed to leave our floor?” Aaliyah confirmed.
“Thanks, Aaliyah,” he said, accepting a shot glass filled with water. Observing him with envy as he took a sip, even that quantity was a scarce luxury. “Yeah, Morrison called me and the rest of the floor leaders down to explain the situation. Until we find a way to contain the monsters, the WestWind Apartments are on lockdown. No one goes in or out.”
“But what about food? Water? We’re already low on rations because of the trade deal with the Braun apartments.”
Following their conversation in disbelief, Vanessa checked outside in case she was mistaken.
How is this what they’re worried about?! There are monsters! REAL LIFE FREAKING MONSTERS and somehow their biggest concern is ramen?
“We might be able to cross buildings if we create bridges—” Maurice suggested, using two empty cartons for the diorama.
“Sorry, is no one the least bit scared of the Screamers?”
Locking eyes, Aaliyah didn’t bother masking her emotions, raising her hand so Vanessa could see it trembling. “Of course I’m terrified. I’m scared that everytime the wind whistles through our window, they’re climbing up the walls. But at least I’ve had time to process. We’re in a concrete building 10 stories up... I feel pretty safe.”
If these aren’t aerial monsters… they’d probably attack the people on the lower floors first. Is that what she’s thinking or am I the asshole for thinking like that?
“So… the statues out there. What’s their deal?” Vanessa asked.
“Ah…”
“Ah?”
“Don’t be too alarmed but those… those were people — Not our people if it makes you feel better,” Maurice clarified.
Monsters that turn people to stone. Shielding her face to conceal the tumult of screams within, she tried to rally her nerves. So that guy in the alley… he must’ve been turned as well.
“What… what were you saying about bridges?”
“Ah, that. I was suggesting that if we can’t travel normally, we could try and connect to the buildings on either side with wooden planks.”
“But,” Vanessa hesitated, envisioning their apartment leader’s expression upon seeing something that threatened the security of the building. “Would Morrison approve?”
“I-I’m not sure.”
Sighing, she watched the swarms of Screamers on the street, all the while wondering if the hunger or the monsters would get them first.
So it becomes a waiting game in the end.