Emilia

Wednesday, April 20th, 2022 (29 days after the Shutdown)

Wailing woke her up fast.

Catapulting to her feet, she headbutted her unsuspecting father who’d been worriedly inspecting her. Knocked backward, the small Colombian man rapidly spouted curses under his breath.

A damp granite floor and jagged walls surrounded them and the mouth of the cave was hidden from view by a stalagmite. Katherine was also awake and slouching against the opposite side of the cave, languidly watching Juan pinch the bridge of his nose as his swearing trailed off.

“W-Where’s t-the m-monster?” she questioned, shivering in a crevice of the cave with just her undergarments. “M-my c-clothes?”

Wincing as he turned to his daughter, he replied in a nasal tone, “You were lying in wet clothes so I’ve set them to dry. I couldn’t risk you catching hypothermia.”

A soft wailing echoed through the dimly lit cave. No. Her fear translated to her eyes because her father shook his head.

“Relax florzinha, we’re safe here. La fuerza negra can’t cross the water.”

“Jeff?”

“He’s watching it outside,” he dejectedly answered, like he’d gone through the process enough for one day. “I’ll bring you your clothes. Get ready to leave.”

“Leave?”

But her father had already walked off before she could get an answer. Leave and go where? Katherine was staring at her, one of her eyes completely swollen shut.

“How do you feel?”

Chuckling at Emilia’s concern, Katherine languidly replied, “I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to ask you that. You look pretty awful for someone who almost drowned.”

“Says the one who got hurt rolling down a hill,” Emilia retorted.

After a few moments of silence, they both broke out into a fit of laughter.

“I’m not even 40 yet but I’m already going crazy,” Katherine sighed. “Monsters, actual monsters!”

“I wanted to ask my father, but did he tell you… did— why the cave? There’s no way he could’ve known about the monsters? And what is that thing and why is it on this island? Is this a monster island? Why didn’t—”

“Emilia, dear,” she interjected, clutching her head. “I’m barely holdin’ on right now, ‘kay? I know nothin’ about what’s happening. Wait for your father, he’s the one with the answers.”

What the heck was that thing though? If he knew that water was its weakness, why didn’t we run to the ocean? It was right there.

The laments of the monster were still playing throughout the cave, not letting up for a second since she woke up.

Her father came around the corner and handed her back her wet clothes. Offering a hand to Katherine, she waved him off and with labored breaths, she got to her feet. Giving her a curt nod, her father turned around and walked off.

Leaving the enclosed area with the stalagmites, Jefferson was sitting at the edge of the cave with his feet in the water. In one hand was a fist full of rocks. Staring at the monster waiting on the other side of the inlet, without as much of a thought paid to caution he tossed them across. The monster showed no indication it’d been attacked as the stones passed harmlessly through its dark gray mantle.

“What the hell is this thing’s deal? It’s not even attacking, so why is it waiting there?”

Hard lines burdened his face as he looked to them for an answer.

“C’mon Jeff, it’s midday already. If we stay here while the tide comes in, we’ll be dragged out to sea,” her father firmly said, licking the salt that had dried on his lips. “Emilia, don’t leave my side for a second. Promise me.”

Nodding her assent, she flicked off a small crab that’d climbed onto her clothes and watched it scuttle away and jump into the sea.

If only I could escape like that.

Shrouded in mystery, the monster hovered on the opposite bank, its heartwrenching cries unyielding to the crashing of waves around them. In comparison to when it was chasing them, the storm that formed its body was moving slower, like it was in stasis.

“Emilia!” her father hissed from beyond the ridge. Jefferson and Katherine had already departed deeper into the dank cave and she was falling behind.

Taking a deep breath, she followed them unaware of what awaited them within.

***

Proceeding in the dark, they were forced to grope around to get their bearings. Smells of salt brine and mold grew stronger as they went deeper into the cavern, and the noises of creatures that called this place home aggravated the tense atmosphere of the group.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

It was a challenge, trying to convince her mind that the wind whistling through the cavern was not a monster lurking in the dark, waiting for her to let her guard down. Robbed of their sight, the difference between forward and backward became obscure till her father finally accepted that they were lost.

“Lost? What the hell do you mean, man? We followed you here because of your “divine blessing” or whatever? Why would you not tell us that you didn’t know where we were before getting us into this mess?” Jefferson agonized, crashing onto the ground beside Emilia. “All of this for nothing.”

“Juan, what is he talking about? What divine blessing?” Katherine demanded from somewhere to Emilia’s right.

An audible sigh filled the dark.

“I-I’ve been having dreams. Premonitions.”

“Dreams…” Katherine said carefully.

“No, dreams wouldn’t be accurate. It’s more like… like visions? It started a week ago and I didn’t think too much of it since nothing happened but they’ve grown more intense. When I saw the monster today… I understood what they were trying to tell me.”

“So you’ve been holding back?” she accused, audibly working herself up to a confrontation. “Emilia had a question that I’ve been thinking about. Why the cave? Why guide us deeper in?”

“No, no, that’s not fair, Katherine. If you had random dreams with no context, would you take them seriously? I realize they were true now. I’m trying to follow them to the best of my ability and they told me to come into the cave and search for a golden light.”

“Juan, a golden light?” Jefferson spat in exasperation. “Be serious man. You think we’ll find something like that here? We’ll be lucky if someone finds our bodies once we asphyxiate. We’d been stumbling around like chickens with our heads cut off.”

Slamming his fist against the wall, dust trickled down from the ceiling.

“Jefferson!” Katherine warned.

Snorting, Jefferson fell silent, letting the resulting unease fester and grow until it was suffocating.

Visions… of monsters… she mused to herself.

“Now what? Do we retrace our footsteps?” Katherine asked. “I don’t know if that’s even possible without a light…”

Her father remained mute.

“Goddamit, Juan. Keep a hand on a wall, we’ll try and follow it out,” Jefferson said, getting up to do so.

Katherine bumped into Emilia as she followed the sound of his voice. I’m sorry, Papa. She could picture how disappointed he was, rubbing the bridge of his nose like he usually did. Listening intently to the sounds of Katherine and Jefferson’s feet, she put her hand on the wall.

Flakes of shale came away from the cave walls. Huh? Peeling away the layers, a glimmer of light shone through the small crack she’d created.

“Dad?”

“Yeah… oh my god! YES! I told you!” her father exclaimed, running toward her.

But you were rethinking your choices seconds ago…

Emboldened by the light flooding into the cavern, like moths to a flame Jefferson and Katherine were drawn back. When a rough hole big enough for someone to fit through had been mined, all four of them sat there processing the disaster in front of them.

The island’s coast had been decimated.

Where a proud forest stood atop the island’s cliffs, a crater roughly 300 meters had marred the perfect image. The surrounding rock faces had formed almost a loose circle with all of the rocks melted and the surrounding landscape was coated in ash. Already having filled with water, at the center of the crater sat a small meteor on an island, pulsing with golden light. The fallout from the meteor had shaved away layers of rock, thinning out the thickness of the cavern’s walls so they were directly above the ocean.

Is that supposed to be ‘the’ golden light?

“Isn’t that the monsters’ spaceship?” Jefferson asked, looking over their shoulders. “Why does that look oddly familiar?”

“Might be… I meant that would make the most sense. That could’ve been their capsule… but why would my dreams show this? They helped us escape the monster outside…” her father implored, leaning further out of the hole.

“Unless they were thrown off of it when it crashed into the island, I don’t think it’s theirs. How would they cross the water?” Emilia pointed out.

“That does look really familiar though…” Jefferson continued, unbothered by the others’ commentary. “The golden light, it’s what I saw on the first day of the Flare. I’m telling you, that’s what I saw before I got knocked out! That’s what fell out of the sky!”

“You sure? Because that would imply that the monster had been on this island since Day 1. There might be more of them.”

“That… that’s loud and lovely, but what are you guys going to do about it?” Katherine queried, wiping the sheen of sweat coating her forehead. “Don’t be looking at me like I’m crazy enough to swim out there and grab it.”

“I'm not either. Juan, forget how it helped us one time and question it. Why did you get those dreams? You can't promise no one that these ‘premonitions’ are good,” Jefferson threw air quotes. “They could be Maybe they're lulling you into a false sense of security. Forget about it man and let's head back to the surface. We got a way out now.”

Her father didn’t take his eyes off the glowing meteor. “I don’t understand… It led me here.”

Facepalming, Jefferson looked at the other two like they could be the voice of reason. Emilia knew that Katherine was for whatever. Everything her father said had proven to be true and if this could help them survive the horrors that infested the island, why not? Even the slightest advantage would be a godsend.

“Papa, did your dreams show you anything else?” Emilia asked, breaking her father out of his trance. That’s not good.

“I-I would wake by then.”

“Okay, then I think we should try and find a way up,” she said, earning a dejected look from her father. “These are monsters we’re talking about, Papa. Monsters. Cosas de pesadilla. You might—”

He was undeterred by her pleas. With glazed eyes, he dove forward into the ocean in complete disregard for his safety. Barely avoiding hitting the edge of the crater, he began swimming against the current.

“What are you doing!” Emilia screamed.

Before she could get ready to dive in after him, Katherine pulled her back.

“Don’t. Something’s wrong with Juan. I know it's not what you want me to say but just wait and watch.”

Her father was already at the lone pillar of land, struggling to find a foothold.

Watching in horror as her father clambered up the pillar, the moment he touched the meteor, with a hiss, vapors started to spew out.