Mission Voyager (Part Three C)
For an entire year, Jared finds a new family.
Getting used to living inside of an abandoned factory is a little hard at first, but as Chad says it’s a piece of shit, but it’s our piece of shit, somehow making Jared understand what Adrianne meant back then when they first met, even if he doesn’t feel as attached to the place yet.
The factory is half in ruins, so there are some parts they can’t access because the entries are covered with debris. But that’s one of the many tasks they can do during the day while hiding away. There’s a guy in the group, Aldis, who used to be an architect. He’s in charge of that task, telling them which pieces of fallen wall to move so the rest of the structure won’t come down on them. That’s one of the things Chad and Jared do every other week, which is usually what makes them more tired than anything, and they would dread it if it wasn’t for the fact that Aldis is fucking hilarious. Between him and Chad, they have Jared in tears all day while moving around rubble. They have been able to open three rooms so far.
There are other things to do during the week as well. They don’t mind helping around. It keeps them busy and it has become what they do, like it once was to go to college, study for exams or mow the lawn during summer. Sometimes they have to go collect water from nearby creeks and then have to biologically purify it with rocks and sand-a thing they learned from Chris, who knew how to do it from the time he was in the Navy-and then fill as many bottles as possible so they have fresh water to drink and cook with.
Some days they take care of the kids in the group, playing with them in one of the biggest rooms of the fabric, making sure to keep them entertained so they won’t feel tempted to go outside alone. In one of their last trips for food, Adrianne snatched a ball and a ping-pong set from a house, so they have been teaching the kids to play soccer and organize little ping-pong competitions with chocolate and candies as prizes. Some days they help to cook, but they are mostly doing the easy tasks so they don’t end up ruining the food, since none of them can cook to save their lives. They are usually on peeling and cutting duty when it’s kitchen day. Their kitchen is an improvised stove made out of rocks and utensils they have been able to steal. Every time the group cook they have to be careful to be quick and not produce as much smoke, since they don’t want to bring any attention to the old factory.
Chad and Jared also clean up when needed and also have been learning how to help in the garden at one side of the factory. It is partly covered by a fallen wall, so it’s impossible for someone who walks in front of the old thing to see that spot. They have to walk through the entire factory to get to what they all call their backyard. Sandy was the one who found that spot and had the idea to try to grow vegetables right there, just so they could be sure to have something produced for times when they didn’t have any stolen food.
Sandy is also one of the best parts of their new home, too.
They met her the night Jeffrey found them in that forest close to the road where their car had broken down. Jared and Chad clicked with Sandy almost instantly. She’s the only one in the group who is their same age, the last one who had joined Jeffrey a couple months back and still getting used to everything in there. Just like the two of them, Sandy had been living in a city until it was impossible to keep hiding there anymore. But unlike Chad and Jared, she didn’t have anyone. Sandy had been alone all along.
That changed on that fateful night. She might as well had been with them even before the invasion started. It felt like she belonged right there, like she had gone with them to NYU and lived across their street back in San Antonio.
Adrianne would refer as them as those three kids” and the entire group would know who she was talking about, even if there were actual children among them. It was because Sandy, Chad and Jared would always be together no matter what. Sandy had changed her schedule of tasks at the factory since they arrived so she could show them how to do everything and to keep them company. Soon enough they became inseparable, just like it had happened when Jared met Chad when they were kids.
Some afternoons they sneak out to the roof of the factory, making sure to be done with all their duties so nobody will try to find them, and then lay there together, watching the sunset. Chad uses the time to smoke without anybody giving him shit for it. He has been begging Adrianne to get him cigarettes whenever she goes out for food-sometimes they take Chad along since Jared has told them how good Chad is at stealing, but it’s only from time to time considering Chad is more careless than Adrianne and Chris’ patience can deal with-but she has been able to find less and less of them around. He’s not allowed to smoke inside, so he always has to wait until the three of them can sneak out. Jared is used to it after years of being friends with Chad and Sandy says her dad used to smoke, so the smell makes her think of home somehow.
“Wish we could still find weed.” Chad hums, blowing out the smoke as the three of them lie down on an old dirty mattress they dragged to the roof the first time they went there. “Getting high in here would be a fucking trip.”
Both Sandy and Jared laugh, looking up at the sky, enjoying the mix of blues and light pink.
“Adrianne and Chris would kill you.” Sandy chuckles, yet she seems down for it.
“They always want to kill Chad.” Jared adds, dodging Chad when he tries to hit him in the back of his head. They are used to everybody in the group by now and everyone seems to get along, all small problems always handled with help with Jeffrey, who somehow has the talent to always help everybody calm down.
Adrianne seems to be mom of everyone in there, keeping them in check but also always taking care of them and worrying more than she should for their well-being. Chris is serious and quiet, the one who chats the least in there, always too busy or too silent, like he’s lost in thought. For a while Jared thought that he didn’t like him and Chad being there, constantly staring at them from across the rooms and keeping an eye on them whenever they went out to get water from the creek, like he expected them to do something dangerous out of nowhere. When he finally brought it up to Adrianne she just chuckled and patted Jared on the shoulder, explaining that Chris didn’t dislike them. He was worried for them. Jared and Chad had saved their asses from being caught back in the city by pure luck, just like Sandy did, and for some reason he seemed to think they were eventually going to get caught eventually. It became some kind of a duty to make sure they were safe. He was always against Chad going with them to get food and would make guard when Sandy was out in the garden, even if nobody could spot them from outside. Adrianne said that making sure they were okay helped Chris sleep better at night.
And then there was Jeffrey. It was like the father they had all lost and then got back with him and his deep laugh and calming stares. He’s always making sure everyone is happy, or as happy as anyone can be in their current situation. Jeffrey gets toys for the kids whenever they go out and insists on keeping track of everyone’s birthdays, making sure to bring back something special for the next person in the list they wrote on one of the walls with chalk in the biggest room of the factory.
Sandy got an old blue MP3 player that works with batteries after saying how much she missed music and dancing around her room. She has been using it every day and was quite pleased that most of the music saved on it was of her taste.
Jeffrey looks at her with a big smile every time he sees her using it. He’s really one of a kind.
“Maybe we can plant some weed back at Sandy’s garden.” Chad smirks and Sandy claps, excited. Jared shakes his head, closing his eyes and enjoying what it feels to be calm and safe. He never thought he could ever feel that way again.
They stay out until it gets dark, with Chad starting to sing Bob Marley again, insisting that he will kick his own ass if he ever forgets the lyrics to his songs, so he has to practice. Sandy hums along to the chorus, making Jared laugh his ass off.
They pinch and poke Jared, teasing him until he loses the battle and has to join them. He closes his eyes and yells the lyrics into the night, feeling like he’s stomach is going to hurt from how much he’s laughing.
Chad throws his head back and yells along Singin’ don’t worry about a thing! Rise up this morning, smile with the rising sun! while Sandy adds Three little bird pitch by my doorstep, singin’ sweet songs before she rolls over the mattress, holding her stomach and laughing.
Jared looks at them with a fond smile and thinks he could get used to this being the rest of his life. Maybe he’ll eventually feel like Chad and Sandy and get to consider this place a home.
And then, it all goes to hell again. Just when Jared thought he had found what he needed to never feel scared again.
It starts with one of the kids in the group, he falls ill and nobody in their group knows two things about medicine beyond how to treat a common cold. Jeffrey had been hoping they would eventually bump into a doctor on one of their trips out, but so far they haven’t been that lucky. Two days pass and all the kids are sick and they are running out of medicine and food. They haven’t been able to go out for water or to get more supplies since there are a couple groups of those things out there, camping in the woods close to the factory.
Nobody wants to risk getting caught and having to leave the only place they feel comfortable, so they lock themselves in there and hope for the best. One of the old ladies in the group insists they pray to make things get better and Chad leans in to whisper in Jared’s ear, “You think that if there was really a god out there he would have let this happen to us?” Jared doesn’t have an answer.
They are running low on everything. Medicine, water and even food. A thunderstorm ruins the backyard garden. Not even the pieces of plastic and wood Chad and Jared had used to try to cover Sandy’s hard work have helped to save a single vegetable. It’s all gone now. And the more time passes, the more people start to get sick. First the kids and then the couple of older people in the group. There’s nothing they can do but wait.
It’s two whole weeks of spending the days with a glass of water and two pieces of hard bread when the groups camping out there leave and Adrianne, Chris and Jeffrey can go the supplies they desperately need. Everyone seems to be sick by then, even Aldis lying in bed most of the time with a constant high fever. Jeffrey leaves Jared, Chad and Sandy in charge, putting his hand on Jared’s shoulder and telling him he knows they can do this. He believes the three of them can take of the group while they aren’t there.
Jared swallows hard and looks back at Chad and Sandy, already starting to feel like he’s getting a fever himself. He nods anyway, giving Jeffrey a serious look.
“I promise we will, don’t worry. We’ll take care of everybody.”
That’s when after one week and a half of waiting, Jared makes a decision. Not Adrianne, Chris or Jeffrey are back and everybody seems to be getting worse. They are running out of the few bottles of water they had left and Jared can count with one hand the pieces of bread they have left. Sandy and him got infected too while taking care of everybody, with only Chad resisting to the virus so far. He constantly jokes it’s because the cigarettes kill everything inside of him, trying to make them laugh, but they barely have energy to do that.
“We have to go get food and medicine.” He announces that night to Chad and Sandy, sitting in their room around the little fire Chad started for Sandy, who had been shivering for almost an hour.
“I thought that’s what the others were doing.” Sandy whispers with her head in Jared’s lap as he strokes her hair.
“But they aren’t back yet and everybody is starving.” Jared answers, trying to ignore the constant stomach ache he has been dealing with for three days. He’s dizzy with hunger and sickness half the time, taking breaks during the day to lean against the walls and convince himself he’s not going to pass out.
“Jared’s right.” Chad nods, looking serious. “We know how to steal food, we used to do it all the time before running into Jeffrey. We could even snatch away some medicine, too.”
“But you guys haven’t gone out in months. Jared hasn’t been there in a year.” Sandy argues, sitting back and crossing her arms. “Adrianne said they haven’t seen humans in a long time. It’s over, only shifters out there. You guys can’t do that, we-”
“We ran out of food tonight, Sandy.” Jared adds. “I gave the last bottle of water to Aldis two hours ago. We have nothing. And I promised Jeffrey we would take care of everybody until he came back.”
They look at each other in silence, each of them dealing with headache, fever and body ache along with days of trying to eat as little as possible. Even the three of them can feel it, how bad things are right now. They need to go out and make an emergency run for supplies. Jared’s sure Jeffrey would understand it.
They are so desperate for anything that they decide to go to Dallas. It’s the closest city and they can walk there, so they can be back early in the morning the next day. Two hours top and they will be in the city, where they can break into a house and get whatever they can to bring back. The reason why Jeffrey always takes weeks to come back is because he along with Arianne and Chris always make sure to go even four or six towns away if necessary, never to Dallas to not raise any suspicions. If they get caught the aliens could worry about more humans being close to the city, sending the hunters in white to get them.
But this is an emergency. They don’t have any cars, they can’t get to anywhere else. Dallas is their last choice so they have to take the risk.
Chad and Jared try to convince Sandy to stay, considering she’s the one in the worst state out of the three of them, but she insists she’s coming and that’s the end of it. Chad takes three duffle bags to hopefully fill with food and finds two of the firearms he had once stolen from the store at San Antonio. He gives one to Sandy before putting the rifle on his shoulder, leading the way out of the old, abandoned factory.
-
It takes them two hours of walking in the night before making it to the city, lights and loud sounds making Jared’s heart stop in the middle of his chest. He never thought he would go back in a city like this, hoped for a while he would never have to be close enough of those things now living in their world. He didn’t consider the factory home just yet, not like Sandy and Chad did, but he at least felt safe. They were surrounded by humans there, secluded from those beings who wanted to hunt them down and keep them away like there were some kind of laboratory animals.
And now they were back, living what would still give Jared nightmares. Hiding, running, trying to survive while stealing a few things that could help them.
Chad still has experience in this, he has been going out every once and then, but Jared and Sandy completely forgot how to do this. Not to mention they are all sick and Jared himself is terrified. They don’t have much luck at the beginning, the first houses they find when they go into the city are empty, still not inhabited by anyone. They check and there’s no food, no medicine, nothing. They have to go further in the city, which in all honesty makes Jared want to run into the opposite direction and back into the old factory, but there’s no other choice.
They consider perhaps keep going in the daylight but after the terrifying moment when they thought someone out there saw them going inside the first house at night, they decide to stay hidden away for the rest of the day. Nobody comes looking for them and Jared can breathe just a little bit easier, yet another day without food might end killing him. He keeps on pretending he doesn’t feel as sick as he is, sitting next to Sandy inside of the empty house while Chad keeps guard by the door.
Everyone will wake up back at the factory and realize they are gone, maybe even worry that they have been taken away. But everyone is so sick they have been staying in their beds, hoping for Chad, Sandy or Jared to bring them some food. Jared feels guilty that there’s nobody there to take care of them, but all so they can get them food and whatever else they might find.
So they stay in there and wait.
They wait until the day goes by, doing nothing but dealing with their fevers and intense pain from the lack of food. They wait until it’s dark outside again and they can leave the empty house, going to look for something they can bring back with them.
They only make it so far.
After they manage to advance forward while being hidden in the darkness of the night without bumping into anyone, they someone get to break into a house, jumping over the fence and sneaking inside from the back door. Everything is dark inside and they don’t dare to turn on the kitchen lights. It looks like it’s empty but they could be wrong. Jared helps Sandy fill up the duffel bags with anything they can find in the cabinets and the fridge, not caring what could go wrong in a couple days considering they don’t have any way to keep food that needs refrigerating. Not a problem, they will devour those that same night if needed.
In the meantime, Chad keeps guard on the kitchen door, pointing at the dark with Sandy’s gun, waiting for anyone to try to get close.
For a moment Jared thinks they are safe. They didn’t find any medicine but they could fill up two of the three duffel bags. Maybe that could be enough, give them enough to eat until Jeffrey and the rest come back with the real supplies. Chad puts one of the bags on his shoulders and opens the back door for them to leave.
That’s when the kitchen lights up and they find a man standing at the entry, looking straight at them. It’s no real man, though, not a human. And they all know it.
The guy whispers humans under his breath, like he can’t believe there are three of them right in front of him, before launching himself forward towards the phone on the kitchen wall. Jared let’s out a scream, grabbing Sandy’s wrist and pulling her towards him since she seems frozen in the middle of the kitchen, fear not letting her instincts to run and save herself kick in.
For what they have all talked before, they know Sandy never had been chased down by the hunters in white. She doesn’t know what it’s like but seemed terrified when Chad told her the stories of the times it happened to them. She also doesn’t know that one of those fuckers going for the phone means calling for the groups in white, and that’s when the chase begins.
The alien looking like any other man Jared had seen in his life doesn’t make it to the phone though. Chad pulls the gun from his duffel bag and shoots him after Jared gets Sandy out of the way, making the shifter fall back and scream in pain. There’s a splatter of something on the wall in front of them and Jared makes a gagging noise when he realizes it’s perhaps whatever those things have inside instead of blood. It’s not red, like it would usually look when a human gets shot. It’s bright light blue and it has a weird smell that makes Jared want to throw up.
“Jared! Let’s go!” Chad is pulling him next, both him and Sandy just staring at the gruesome splatter on the wall and the guy yelling in pain on the floor. There are voices coming from upstairs. That thing is not alone, there are more of them in the house.
Chad seems to only have shot the thing in the arm, and when the guy rolls on his stomach and scream “Humans! There are humans in here!” to warn whoever is in the second floor, Jared knows that they are royally fucked.
They run out of the house just as they start to hear an alarm go off. To Jared’s utter terror, all the houses in the same block start to light up inside, indicating the aliens in there are all waking up or realizing there’s something going on out there. While they were inside stealing food, it had started to rain, making it harder to run away. But they don’t have another choice, they can’t have the luxury to wait until the thunderstorm stops. They have to leave now.
After making it out of the house, they keep on running through the neighborhood, the sound of the alarm driving Jared insane. But then a splashing sound makes him and Chad stop running and turn around, finding Sandy lying face down on the ground. For a moment Jared thinks the hunters in white are already there, shooting with tranquilizers. But a quick glance down the street lets him seen there’s nobody out there but them.
They hurry to Sandy’s side to help her. She had passed out because of the fever and the commotion from being caught, anxiety mixed with the sickness making it too harsh on her. Chad picks her up in his arms as he hands Jared Sandy’s duffel bag just as they start to hear the sound of cars getting closer.
Jared looks around, waiting to see the vans pull over the street at any moment.
“Chad!” He screams over the sound of the pouring rain. His heart is beating so fast his ribcage hurts, making it hard to breathe properly. “Chad we have to split up, meet back at the empty house where we spent the day!”
“No way!” Chad roars, standing up with Sandy in his arms. “We need to stick together!”
“We’ll bring more attention all three of us together running away!” Jared looks over his shoulder, sound of the cars making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He feels the panic attack building inside of him, can feel the fear wanting to eat him alive. But he can’t let that happen. He’s scared to death but they need to escape. Sandy needs them. Everyone back at the factory needs them. Jared can’t let himself do this right now. “You’re better at escaping, take Sandy and we will meet there!”
“And you! Are you trying to be the bait they will fucking come after, Jared? Fuck that shit, you’re coming with us!”
“The guy paid more attention to me and Sandy because we were right there in the middle of the kitchen! They will be looking for people who looks like me and her if they have our descriptions already, it’s worse to stick together!” And it’s harder to see Sandy in Chad’s arms, he can even hide her with his jacket. Even if Chad is the one who shot that thing, he barely saw him. They can make the hunting group split up if they do too and have more chances to run away. “Chad, let’s do it! They are getting closer!”
Chad seems to consider it for a second, worry clear on his face. He gives Jared an anxious look and then curses loudly, gripping Sandy’s body closer to him and giving Jared a little nod. They haven’t split up once since they had started to escape together more than two years ago and it’s clear that none of them is okay with letting the other go. But they need to. For each other, for Sandy, for everybody.
They hear the cars turning a street away and they start to run, trying to stay on the darker side of the sidewalk. It splits in two different directions at the end and Jared gives Chad a quick nod when he glances in his direction. They stop there just one second and Chad uses it to take the rifle he had perched on his shoulder and press it into Jared’s hands, who looks back like Chad has lost his mind.
“Take it, Jared!” Chad yells, pushing the rifle back into Jared’s chest when he clumsily tries to throw it away from him. “Take it and kill any of those motherfuckers who tries to get close! I know you can do it, so fucking grab it, Jared, and run!”
Jared stares at his friend, terrified and starting to cry, but the rain is doing a good job hiding it. For a moment he thinks Chad is crying too, but more out of anger and worry that they have to split up than out of fear like Jared. But then they see the car at the end of the street and it’s over. They have to go. Jared closes his eyes and grips the rifle Chad gave him before turning around and starting to run in the opposite direction than his two friends.
He runs and runs, only looking to the wet floor under him while gripping the rifle for dear life, hands shaking around his hold. Jared swears he can still hear the sound of the car coming behind him, closer with every step Jared takes.
After all this time, he’s alone. Since everything went don’t, Jared always had someone by his side, helping him, protecting him. When his mom died, his dad was there to make him feel safe. When the invasion started, there was Chad, and then Sandy. Jeffrey, Chris, everybody. They had all been there, making Jared feel a little less alone during the end of the world. But now it was just him. Sick, scared and crying in what could be his last minutes alive. Sure, they didn’t kill humans but being unconscious and connected to weird machines like some kind of sedated animals, with no way to ever wake up was just as bad as being dead.
Jared hopes Chad and Sandy can make it at least.
There’s the sound of a car turning after him and Jared sobs into the night, trying to run faster even when he’s completely out of energy. He’s been fighting, his body’s need to rest, feeling like he’s been about to pass.
With a blurred vision caused by dizziness and his own tears, Jared sees a house with all the lights off when he turns after running into another neighborhood. It’s the only house that seems to be empty, or at least nobody in there has the lights on. Jared doesn’t care, doesn’t think on anything else but running away from the things chasing him, decided to not let them take him to one of those horrifying places where Jeffrey lost Hilary.
He makes his way over the metallic fence, letting out a scream of pain-that gets muffled by a thunder in the distance-when he feels something cutting into his arm, feeling so bad that he sees white for a good couple of seconds, blinded by the pain. Jared feels the hot tears sliding down his cheeks, arm throbbing in pain as he pushes himself forward, making the thing that stabbed him in the arm completely rip open the flesh as Jared pulls away from it. Jared thinks for a second that he doors of the backyard won’t slide open, hands shaking as he thinks he hears the car getting closer. It could be real or pure paranoia by that point, but Jared doesn’t care, his only goal being getting away from those things.
He stumbles into the house as soon as the doors give in, don’t giving a shit about closing them behind him, pressing his back against one of the walls as he tries to catch his breath. The horrible pain on his arm along with the warm sensation lets Jared know he’s bleeding and who knows how much damage he got from getting stabbed on his way on. Just moving his arms makes Jared groan and throw his head back, tears starting to fall again. He’s not sure how long he stays there, pressed against the wall and with his eyes closed, trying to decide what he should do next. He told Chad they would meet back at the empty house but Jared ran in the opposite direction, and those things dressed in white could be out there looking for him.
He hunches over against the wall, still trying to ignore the rifle in his hands just when he hears the front door open. Jared bites his tongue before he can make a noise, staying in his spot as he hopes the darkness of the room will give him some advantage. The steps he hears as one of those things pretending to be human walks in lets Jared know it's just one of them.
Gripping the rifle, Jared looks down at it, remembering Chad’s words. Kill any of those motherfuckers who triy to get close. Chad did it, shot the alien back at that house. He sure didn’t kill him but Jared is almost sure he intended to. Chad would kill this one if he was there with Jared, but he isn’t. So Jared has to do it. He has to kill it so he can maybe has the chance to stay alive.
The guy says something, Jared barely hears his voice, terrified out of his mind as he points the rifle at that thing, who walks over to the window to close it.
Jared let’s out an involuntary grunt of pain when he lifts the rifle and it makes the thing turn around. He feels his heart jump in his chest as he takes a deep, shaky breath, barely seeing the outline of the thing’s body as it stands there, right in front of Jared.
He has to shoot it. It’s kill or get killed at this point. Jared doesn’t mean to cry, doesn’t want to look weak in front of that thing but it’s impossible not to. He’s terrified to be caught and taken away, thinking about all the people he already lost and now the friends he will never see again.
Raising the rifle, Jared aims it at what looks like the thing’s chest, hands shaking.
But then the there’s lightning outside cause by the electrical storm and the room lights up, just for a split second, and Jared can see the thing. It’s just standing there, staring back at Jared’s face. It’s almost his height, maybe a few inches shorter.
Jared sees a flash of green eyes and a splatter of freckles on the perfectly human face and he starts to cry.
He remembers the guy who broke into their house when Jared was little. Remembers the sounds of things breaking in the kitchen and his mom running to her room while gripping Jared’s arm. He remembers her kissing him and smiling, telling him to cover his ears and not come out. She told him everything was okay, and as much as Jared covered his ears and closed his eyes, he could still hear her screams and the sound of the gunshot that instantly killed her.
Jared can’t do that. Maybe if they didn’t look so much like humans. Maybe if they were green and had black eyes like in those old movies Jared liked to watch back in the days.
Maybe if the shifter didn’t had green eyes, just like Sherri did.
“I can’t.” Jared sobs, fingers trembling around the riffle. He can’t do this. Jared’s not brave, like Chad. He’s not bold, like Sandy or a fighter, like Adrianne and Chris. Jared is none of those things. He’s scared of the thing standing in front of him as much as he’s been scared of guns since his mom was murdered. He’ll never be able to fire it, kill a guy who looks just like any other human. A shifter who has the eyes he hasn’t seen in years. “You look so- you look so much like... I can’t!”
And he won’t. Jared knows he can’t do it.
The realization makes him start to lower the rifle, the pain from holding it up when his arm keeps on bleeding too much to handle. And he’s not going to do it anyway. He can’t. Jared really can’t.
He might as well let it go. This thing will call the hunters and they will finally take Jared away, not letting him ever see any of his friends ever again. Jared cries harder, pain from his arm and the middle of his chest too much to deal with. Everything hurts and Jared is going to die. He couldn’t fight to stay there, on a planet that doesn’t even belong to humans anyway.
Maybe fighting was useless all along, since Jared was always meant to end up right here.
He feels his breath cut in the middle of his chest just as another lightning lets him see the shifter in front of him again.
The last thing he sees are those green eyes that, for one second before passing out, make Jared feel a little bit less afraid.
| Part Four |