When my mom and dad retired, they got themselves a house in Greece – leaving me to care for the family home on my own. I didn’t mind; it was better than trying to buy something on my own. Still, a two-story home for a single man in his early 30’s? That’s a bit much.
I lost my job during the pandemic, and with prices on the rise, I decided to start renting out parts of the space I wasn’t using. There was enough room upstairs to house at least a couple of college students, and a spacious basement for another. Just this large one-room basement that basically covered the entire underside of the building; supported by these thick concrete beams. It wasn’t the kind of place I’d usually consider renting out, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to offer – as long as I was honest about the state of things.
I spent a good month just preparing the spaces. Clearing out the upstairs and moving things from the basement to a long-term storage facility. At first it looked like we had some water damage to deal with, but it turned out to be a false alarm. All in all, it was shaping up to be a pretty painless transition, and the rent would keep me afloat until I could get a proper job.
I put out an ad on a couple of socials. One for the upstairs space, large enough to support at least a couple of people, and then the basement. I wasn’t really sure about the basement, but I included a few pictures and hoped for the best. The price was cheap too. Cheaper than it should be, I guess.
I got a few applications for the upstairs space, but most of them were either really short-term or started arguing about the price. One guy just showed up and tried to walk straight in without calling first. It was a weird time. I didn’t get any calls about the basement though, so I figured I’d just screwed that up.
It was early October when I had a knock at the door. The classic da-dadada-da kind of knock. I hurried to open, still browsing job openings on my phone and chewing on a piece of cold pizza from the prior night. It’s hard to explain how surprised I was to see what I saw.
Most other applicants had been either young guys or college girls. What was now standing in front of me was a family of four. A mother and father, both in their mid-40’s, and two young boys ranging from 10 to 14 years old. The mom had this autumn-colored cotton dress with a little ribbon, and the dad had this fancy black overcoat, a white shirt, with a red tie. Both kids were dressed up in identical blue shirts.
At first, I thought they were there to try and convert me to something. I could easily imagine them with a set of bibles. Instead the dad stepped forward, offering me a handshake. I accepted.
“Hi there,” he said with a warm smile. “We’re the Walters. We’re here about the ad.”
“Oh, uh… hello,” I answered. “It might get a bit crowded, but you’re free to have a look. Sorry about the, uh…”
I vaguely gestured to my unprepared state, but the dad just shook his head.
“Not at all. Hope we’re not imposing.”
I invited them inside, and they went right past the stairs. I figured they just missed it.
“Excuse me,” I said. “It’s right up here.”
“Oh, we know,” smiled the mom. “We’re here about the basement.”
So there’s this long wooden staircase that spirals into the basement. It’s one of the main reasons I don’t like going down there or furnishing the place – that spiral makes it almost impossible to bring down any proper furniture. It’s infuriating. But all four members of this picture-perfect family stepped down, all composed. They were courteous and respectful, with just the polite amount of excitement, but I got the sense that there was something just… off, about them.
The dad brought out some measuring tape and started checking the walls. They asked me about the lack of windows, the air quality, their ability to bring down some furniture and put up some light fixtures. I agreed to all of it. I still couldn’t believe they were actually considering it – this was clearly not a space meant for a family of four, and they gave the impression that they were pretty well-off. There was no reason for them to rent a space like this.
Still, as they finished their inquiries, the mother approached me.
“Would you mind stepping upstairs and just walking around a bit?” she asked. “We’d like to see how much sound carries through.”
A strange way to ask for soundproofing, but I did as she asked. I got up the stairs, put on my heaviest boots, and just wandered around for a bit. After a couple of minutes, I turned the corner only to see all four of them standing in the hallway – picture perfect as always. All with a big smile on their faces.
“We’re very pleased,” the mother said. “We’ll take it.”
They signed a 6-month rent agreement, and I got to know them a little better over the next few weeks as they sporadically dropped by There was Leilah, the mother. Anders, the father. The kids were Aiden (12), and Alvin (13). Apparently, they were in-between housing and wanted something small and cheap in the interim. Despite all that, I couldn’t shake the feeling that a basement was a strange choice for them. Still, I needed the money, and they were eager to get it done. They even offered to pay a little extra since they were bringing in more people than I’d anticipated.
About a week later, they showed up for the official move-in. Leilah and Anders insisted on bringing in everything in themselves, and that I shouldn’t be bothered with any heavy lifting. Apparently, just letting them stay there was favor enough. They brought in about a dozen pieces of furniture covered in blue tarp, in various sizes, along with a dozen or so large cardboard boxes – none of them marked. They put down several hand-woven carpets; the kind you’d see in a large mansion.
Leila was a stay-at-home mom, while Anders worked as some kind of security manager for a nearby airport. He worked odd hours, anything from 12-hour shifts to all-nighters, and everything in-between. He was also on-call for most hours of the day, and sometimes had to leave with short notice. It was strange though, one might think a person like that would need space with good cell coverage, but that basement barely had a single bar. There was wifi, but it was spotty at best.
For some reason, none of this seemed to bother them.
That first week living with the Walters was not a problem. Most of the time I forgot they were even there. I only saw them leave the basement a handful of times, and they didn’t make any noise. At most I could hear them stomping up or down that creaky old staircase a couple of times, but that was mostly Anders heading to work. In fact, I never saw Aiden and Alvin leave for school. I figured they were being homeschooled – further pushing the idea that this family might have some kind of religious background.
Still, they were hardly an issue. I was still working hard on finding someone to rent the upstairs, but I was having no luck. I’d considered lowering the price, but after the Walters moved in money was becoming less of an issue. Anders even suggested that I apply for a job at the airport – he knew one of the HR people looking for hires in various departments. Having been jobless for 5 months, I was willing to try pretty much anything.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that they weren’t telling me the whole story. I kept coming back to one thought – what the hell they were even doing down there?
Once, I decided to get a better look at what they’d done with the place. At that point, I hadn’t even seen how they’d decorated it. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and I had no idea whether they were even down there or not. Their car was gone from the driveway. I knocked a couple of times, and when there was no response, I used my key to get down.
As I turned the corner, it was deathly quiet and completely dark. I turned on the lights.
They all slept in these basic single beds, all spaced out along the easternmost wall. They had a small loveseat couch, along with a couple of basic plastic chairs facing a thick old TV placed against the wall. There was an empty bookshelf, and a couple of scattered carpets along the floor. I could see a few opened boxes. There was a bathroom next to the staircase, but it looked unused. No toothbrushes or anything.
It took me a few moments to realize that I wasn’t alone.
The entire family was standing in a line along the southernmost wall, furthest away from the staircase. They were standing in order of size from tallest to smallest, remaining perfectly still, just looking at me. It wasn’t until they noticed me seeing them that they reacted. They all looked up at me, putting on a friendly smile.
“Can we help you?” asked Leilah.
“I hope we didn’t make too much noise,” continued Anders.
The kids just nodded, in unison. I took a good look at them, but I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at. I had no explanation for their behavior.
“Sorry, uh… I was just gonna check the water pressure,” I lied. “I tried knocking.”
“That’s alright,” smiled Anders. “Go right ahead.”
Walking back up the stairs, a thought hit me – if they were all down there, why was their car gone?
Who’d taken it?
I had a number of strange interactions with them over the next couple of weeks. For example, I once found Aiden, the younger of the two brothers, standing in the kitchen. He wasn’t doing anything in particular, just standing there – staring at the spice rack. When I asked him about it, he just said he wasn’t doing anything. After a while, he turned on his heel and ran back downstairs. I didn’t see it, but I heard his little feet thump all the way down the staircase.
Another time, I saw Leilah standing in the open doorway, leading to the basement. She was just standing there, hand on the doorknob, looking right at me. I said ‘hello’, and she said it right back, but she wouldn’t let me out of her sight. When I finally passed from her view, I could hear her running back downstairs. Not just hurrying – running.
Another time, I saw Anders in the car out on the driveway. I saw him from the upstairs window, just sitting there, hands on the steering wheel, for a good fifteen minutes. No radio or nothing, just him alone in his car.
But the strangest interaction came one night when I was going to the kitchen to get a coke. I spotted Leilah standing in the kitchen, fridge wide open. I could see her silhouette illuminated by the fridge bulb. Her long black hair, wet from a fresh shower. Standing in a hastily tied bathrobe, her feet bare.
At first I didn’t see anything strange; she was just standing there. She wasn’t getting anything, it was more like she was bathing in the light. I thought about calling out to her, but something about her demeanor made me want to sneak back into my bedroom. Then I saw it.
There was something wrong with her ear.
Her left ear was about three inches higher up than her right one, without her bending her neck. Her scalp seemed lightly tilted, and there was something about the way she moved her fingers that didn’t look… natural. They pointed in different directions, like her hand was ever so slightly fractured.
I just stayed there for a while, looking at her from a distance – watching her shoulders rise and fall as she took deep breaths – inhaling the cold.
When she turned my way, I only saw her for a moment – her torso moving first, and her legs following, like a stilted Claymation puppet.
I managed to slip around the corner and heard her rush back towards the basement; her feet tapping against the hallway carpet in an uneven rhythm.
When she got to the door, she stopped. I was leaning against the wall, listening from the other room. I heard her step around for a bit – then there was a snap. A popping limb; something finding its way back into a socket. Her steps resumed a natural pattern as she hurried downstairs.
I just stayed there for a while, trying to keep calm. For all intents and purposes, I might’ve just been seeing her in a weird light. It was dark, and I was sleepy. And yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something unnatural about her – that I’d seen something I wasn’t supposed to.
From that day forward, I got more suspicious. I didn’t go into the hallway at night, and I did my best to avoid the basement door altogether. I tried my best to just put them out of my head. I went back to focus on getting a job, and a second tenant for the upstairs space. Both of which proved to be a challenge, but I was making progress. The TSA was hiring, for example. Not the most glamorous job, but it’d be solid work.
There was a couple of college students who came by to check the upstairs floor. A young couple who needed a place to stay while they finished up their master’s degrees. They seemed like solid people, and we got along just fine. They knew the place wasn’t the most glamorous, but it was a neat short-term solution while they finished up the upcoming semester. The only problem was the Walters family, who I had yet to introduce them to.
I remember knocking on the basement door, having the young couple standing behind me expectantly. Albin, the oldest of the brothers, chimed in with a cheerful ‘come in’.
As we stepped downstairs, the family of four was standing in a picture perfect two-by-two formation. Mom and dad in the back, two kids in the front. All dressed in their Sunday best, with a freshly printed smile across their faces.
The whole scene was so absurd; like some kind of misplaced commercial from the 1950’s.
“Hello!” giggled Leilah. “Aren’t they the most handsome couple, Anders?”
“They sure are, Leilah. What do you think, kids?”
And in unison, without skipping a beat, the kids answered;
“They sure are handsome!”
For the next twenty seconds or so, this uncomfortable silence grew between us. The Walters just stood there, smiling at us, waiting for some kind of response. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t help but to feel that I was missing something obvious.
Was Leilah’s eye color a bit different? Was Albin’s face a bit lopsided? Was Anders missing a finger, or did he just stand in a weird angle?
Maybe they’d been strange all along. Maybe it was only now that I was seeing it.
When we finally parted ways, I followed the young couple outside. They both turned to me, their faces ashen. One of them just stuttered, but the other managed to form a few words.
“We’re not one to judge,” she said. “But those people give me the creeps.”
“You won’t be seeing much of them, they-“
“Yeah, see, that’s my point. Who does that? What kind of family willingly lives in a basement?”
“It’s only a temporary measure. I assure you, they-“
By then, the other chimed in.
“What’s with the boxes?” he asked. “What’s in them?”
“Personal keepsakes, clothes, that kind of stuff.”
“No I mean… the box that moved. The blue one.”
The discussion died down, and they said their goodbyes. I got the feeling that they wouldn’t be returning anytime soon. Still, their words lingered in the back of my head. A box… that moved?
Really? How’d I miss that?
After countless sleepless nights, I decided to finally get some answers. I had to take a little risk and figure this out, once and for all. So one day I slipped a note under the door, informing them that we needed them to clear out the basement for one afternoon while a plumber did some repairs. I looked up a few plumbing things on Wikipedia and referenced a real company, making it look all official and stuff. Later that day, Leilah and Anders dropped by, holding hands, telling me that they’d be sure to be out for the day.
“Maybe we’ll go to the zoo,” smiled Anders.
“Don’t you have work?” I asked.
“It comes and goes,” he laughed. “We’re very fortunate.”
“Very fortunate,” agreed Leilah. “So very fortunate.”
At the designated time, the family was out of the building. They went for a drive in Ander’s car, promising to return shortly. I told them it wouldn’t take the plumber more than an hour. They seemed a little suspicious when they hadn’t seen the actual plumber show up yet, and they let that suspicion hang in the air. Finally, I just straight up lied – giving them a fake name and asking whether they wanted me to call him.
Leilah didn’t call my bluff, luckily. But as they pulled out of the driveway, I could tell I was sweating. I didn’t even know what I feared, but my mind kept returning to that night when I’d seen her standing in the light of the fridge. I had no idea what they were hiding, or what they might do if I found out about it, but there was a part of me that just wanted to get into my car and drive – and another part of me telling me I was being silly.
When they finally drove away, I wasted no time. I hurried downstairs, turned on the light, and started to go through their stuff. It was an invasion of privacy. Probably illegal. But if I wanted to sleep soundly again, I had to have an idea about why they were being so goddamn weird.
There were a lot of oddities about their space. For example, all their beds were perfectly made – like no one’d slept in them. Most of the couches and surfaces were covered in dust. I could tell the TV hadn’t been on in a long time; it wasn’t even plugged in.
There were no phones, or phone chargers. No laptops or desktop computers. Just a bunch of boxes and underutilized furniture. I did find a polaroid camera though – at least 30 years old.
I started checking their boxes. Just clothes, it seemed. All variations of what I’d already seen; identical sets of shirts, pants, dresses, and shoes. At least four boxes worth. One box was just full of accessories, like earrings, necklaces, glasses, hair spray, and fake nails. Another was full of decorations and knick-knacks. Porcelain dogs, family photos, dried sunflowers and roses – both with strange colors and fancy vases.
I took my time, carefully placing everything back the way I found it. It was odd, but nothing incriminating or downright unnatural. Still, I remember what that couple had said about a box that… moved. I couldn’t see anything like it.
That is, until I turned to leave.
Right by the side of the stairs, resting next to the pristine bathroom, was a large blue Styrofoam cooler. It was the kind of thing that kind of blended into the background, like it’d always been there. Still, I could clearly remember not owning one of those things. It looked old and torn, like it’d been around for years.
And maybe I was imagining things, but it looked like it was… moving. Pulsing. Pressing against the surface, making little plastic squeals.
There was a sound coming from it. Like a low guttural growl pushed through a thin pipe. A sharp, rhythmic noise. It made the cooler rattle and shake, ever so slightly. I froze, hoping it would quiet down. I held my breath and waited for it to settle.
I slowly stepped back up the stairs. As I rounded the corner and lost sight of the cooler, I heard the Styrofoam cover pop off, and the sound became clearer – a loud growl, shifting in pitch from high to low. Like a singer doing some kind of sick vocal warm-up, trying to find the right pitch.
Then something hit the floor with a painful yelp. I stopped dead in my tracks, trying to identify the sound. It was like a cross between a dog and some kind of fox – a sharp, screeching tone.
Then, it scrambled to its feet. I could hear claws and paws scratch the floor, and something was coming my way; fast.
There was something primal in me that told me to run. I hurried up the stairs, only looking back for a short glimpse as I shut the door behind me.
I only saw it for a moment. Something black, with a single eye reflecting back at me. Its skin tight and misplaced across the skull. Teeth pointing in all directions, in seemingly random sizes. Black drool dripping off an elongated tongue.
A thing - wearing the cheap suit of a black dog.
As I slammed the door shut, I could hear a car pull up on the driveway. It’d been less than 30 minutes. Maybe they had planned to catch me in the act.
I heard them come in and head straight for the basement. Meanwhile, I was in the other room, throwing together a small bag with a change of clothes and a toothbrush. The moment I heard the basement door shut, I headed for my car.
The moment I got in the car, I saw them step out of the house. They all stood there in the driveway, just looking at me.
And right next to them was a beautiful black Labrador – happily wagging its tail.
I didn’t say a word – I just drove. I had to get some space between us and figure out what the hell I wanted to do. I wanted to go to the police, but there was no way to explain what I’d seen. What could they even do? Kick them out for having a dog? There was even a clause in the rental agreement that allowed them a pet. I had nothing to go on.
I decided to spend the night at a motel just outside of town. I needed time to think and sleep without having the threat of something strange living under my feet.
I couldn’t get that image out of my head. That black… thing, in a dog suit. Like something trying to remember what a dog looked and sounded like in real time.
I checked in at the motel and got a room on the first floor. I crawled into bed, put the TV on, and surfed a bit on my phone. I could feel myself relax for the first time in weeks, but every time I thought about that house, and that family, I could feel my pulse stagger.
I had no idea what to do, or who to call. Which is what lead me to this site in the first place. A lot of you seem to have seen strange things. I figured I’d post here eventually, but it took me quite some time to build up the courage.
Mostly because of what happened later that night.
I remember a tap on the door. I must’ve dozed off. I hadn’t turned the TV off or brushed my teeth. I just woke up with this sour feeling in my stomach; that something was terribly wrong.
I had closed the curtains, so I couldn’t see who it was. I thought about hiding under the bed, or locking myself in the bathroom. My thoughts raced, but I tried to temper them with rational what-ifs. Maybe it was just housekeeping, or a concerned manager.
Then the knock came again. This time, with a voice.
“Mister?” said Alvin Walters. “Mom wants to talk to you.”
I didn’t answer. For a few seconds, I carefully stepped out of bed – trying my best not to make any noise.
“Mom wants to talk to you,” he repeated. “It’s urgent.”
There was no way they didn’t know I was in there. They knew, and they wanted something.
And whatever it was, I didn’t want to find out.
I sneaked to the back of the room as the doorknob started to rattle. I could hear Alvin again. This time, his voice shrunk to threatening lows; like the dark growl of an adult or elderly man.
“Mom wants to talk to yooooou~.”
I pulled open the curtains to a window facing the back of the building. I figured I could climb out the window. But as soon as those curtains opened, my heart skipped a beat.
Right there, was Anders. The father himself – just inches from the window. Standing straight with his neatly tucked shirt; illuminated by the sharp light of the single TV screen. An ever-courteous smile cemented on his face.
He tapped the window.
“Would you mind opening up?” he asked. “It won’t take long.”
Again, I looked a little closer. And again, I could see little details that were just… off. A slight droop of the lip that hadn’t been there the day before. One eye pulled lower than the other. His hairline further forward than usual. Like he’d rushed himself to look like a person.
Another knock at the door. Another knock at the window. Voices from the front, and the back. Hell, maybe even room next door. Little voices. Big voices. Broken voices.
“We just want to clear some things up.”
“Mom wants to talk.”
“It’s not what you think.”
I had to make a break for it, but for that, I needed to decide where to go. So I pulled the front curtains aside, to see how many of them were waiting up front.
All five of them were standing out front. Mom, dad, kids, and dog.
I looked back, as if trying to convince myself I was sane. There were two dads – and none of them looked right.
Further down the street, in their car, I spotted two more kids identical to Aiden and Alvin. Both with little quirks, like they weren’t fully… formed yet. A loose jaw, a strange eye. One of them had a wide bald spot.
Stepping out of the motel manager’s office, I saw another Leilah. This one with a deflated arm, and a paralyzed face.
I was surrounded. I held up my phone like a weapon.
“I’m calling the police!” I yelled. “Get the fuck away from me!”
“That’d be inconvenient,” said Anders.
“And you’d be dead!” added Aiden.
“Long dead,” chuckled Alvin, his voice not tuned right.
The doorknob rattled again. More forceful, this time. I could feel my pulse rising, my breath growing short. I looked back and forth, seeing the Anders at the back window trying to figure out the lock. Only now did I see that one of his fingers were nothing but bone.
“How about a trade?” suggested Leilah. “Something for everyone.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?!”
“Go inside that bathroom of yours. Grab a piece of tissue, and chew on it. Then drop it out the window.”
“…what?”
I couldn’t understand what I was hearing. It’s like the words were there, but didn’t make any sense to me.
“We’re gonna need a new suit,” said Leilah. “You will do.”
“You’re not fucking wearing me.”
“Oh, we’ll leave you alone. And you’ll leave us alone. Because if you don’t, people that look like you are gonna start doing some terrible things. Aren’t they, Anders?”
“Oh they are, Leilah,” said an Anders. “Terrible, terrible things.”
“So that way, we can all walk away. You’ll never see us again, and we’ll leave you be.”
I tried to wrap my head around it. They were gonna make suit out of me, like they’d done with that dog, and with that family. There would be someone looking like me, walking around out there. Something… vile.
But what choice did I have?
I stepped into the bathroom and chewed up a piece of tissue. I spat it out and moved to the window. The family stepped back. I clicked the window open and flung the piece of tissue out with a flick of the finger. Leilah picked it up and met my eyes with an unblinking gaze.
With one clench of the fist, she grabbed the top of her head – and pulled. Her entire face lurched backwards – her lower lip reaching all the way to her eyebrows. Underneath was just this black sludge, covering what looked like a deformed skull. She was like a walking oil slick, completely midnight black and slick as water. She pushed the piece of tissue inside herself before pulling her face back down. It took her a few seconds to realign, but she just couldn’t get it to look right.
She coughed a little. She waited. She nodded. And when she looked back at me, she did so with my own eyes. Speaking, with my own tongue.
“Thank you,” I heard myself say. “I think this will work out for all of us, don’t you?”
I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t think. I just closed the curtains, and scrambled backwards.
I heard a car pull around. I heard rustling in the bushes out back. And from afar, I could hear my own voice a final time;
“We’ll be gone by morning,” it said. “But we’re never far away.”
A car drove off, leaving me in stunned silence – my mouth dry from hyperventilating.
The next morning, they were gone. The basement was empty, and they even left a thank-you note. Attached to it was a polaroid picture of a happy family. A mom, a dad, two kids – and a funny uncle.
One that looked exactly like me.
I have been contemplating on whether to share this for some time, knowing what they could do. But I believe they’re not technically proficient enough to find this, and I’ve omitted a lot of details. I just need to know if anyone has met something similar, and if so, how you managed to put it behind you.
Are they still out there? Are they watching me? How many ‘suits’ do they have?
I’ve wanted to just put this behind me and pretend it never happened, but it’s getting harder and harder. Every now and then, I see someone that looks vaguely like them. An Anders with a different haircut. A Leilah that’s slightly younger. School photos with an Aiden or Alvin, but a different hair color.
And a few weeks ago, I got a call from a friend, mentioning how they’d seen me in the local newspaper. Only thing is – I’ve never been in it.
I’ve considered moving somewhere far, far away. But first, I just need to get this out.
I need someone to believe me.
The real me, and not the me you might see in the papers.
This semester is about to be super.
This will be the final post that I will make from town. In fact, it likely will be the final thing that’s ever posted or transmitted from this town. They’re getting ready to wipe it completely off the face of the earth. I don’t exactly know how, but…after today, I don’t know what to believe. And that’s saying something after the last two days in this hell hole.
So much has happened today, so many things that have left Aubrey and I both confused, torn apart, and for me at least, angry. But I’ll get to that in a second. First off, thank you again to the people who gave us as much advice as they could. It was, again, invaluable, to say the least. When today started, especially after…well, we’ll get to that, I felt almost completely hopeless. But the things you guys instructed us to do stayed stuck in the back of our minds, and we’re poised to try and escape soon. As soon as the sun fully goes down.
But until that moment, I’ll tell you about what happened today.
When the alarm on the wind up clock we’d brought downstairs went off, and we both woke up, the first thing we did was check my post to see what was said. Looking at the comments, we grabbed a pad of paper lying on the desk next to the ham radio and began writing out a list of things we might need. Aubrey said that, since her parents were avid campers, a lot of the survival gear and camping equipment was stored in their garage. Sure enough, when we checked, we found heavy duty sleeping bags, flashlights, iodine tablets for purifying water, as well as three parkas for winter hiking and boots. We took all of it and moved it into the dining room near the back door, packing as much as we could into two camping backpacks we found. We also took the large map of town off the wall downstairs and folded it away, just in case we needed it.
With the sun rising high in the sky, we then braved the roaming gangs of Affected to make a mad dash back to the library to see if, like one of you suggested, there might be a map of the sewers or mine shaft that we could use. We didn’t see the Sheriff on our trek down and back, but we still could occasionally hear the siren of his cruiser a few blocks away, along with a few gunshots. Thankfully, I also didn’t see the horde that my mother…or what used to be my mother, was a part of. When we got to the library, we found that leaving had been a smart choice. The large wooden double doors had been broken in, and the inside turned upside down. Books and computer parts like strewn about everywhere, and all the windows had been busted out. Going back to the records room, we began opening and closing drawers, searching for anything that could help. After a few minutes, I heard Aubrey let out a small laugh of relief. “Eddie, look at this!” she exclaimed, then spread the large, rolled up paper out onto a half-destroyed table.
It was an old survey map, the date in the upper right hand corner from the early 60s. Bearing the name and crest of the old mining company which had once provided our town with much of its employment, it showed the layout of the mine in almost intimate detail. I focused on it, trailing my finger along the maze of corridors that made it up. “Hot damn!” I said, smiling for the first time in days, “Aubrey, look! The mine goes all the way back to the other side of the mountain face. If we can get up to the entrance on our side without being spotted, we could use it to get to the other side and down to the next town!” She looked at what I had seen, then began to play with her hair, a sign of her nervously thinking. “But…what if there’s a collapse in one of the tunnels. It’s been abandoned for at least fifty years. We don’t know the conditions inside” I felt a small wave of uncertainty wash over me, then focused again. “We don’t have any other choice, Aubrey. The sewers will likely be guarded, and the two roads out are blocked. This is our best chance to get out”
After a moment of nervous thinking, she nodded. “Okay. You’re right. But we’ll have to be careful. They likely have someone patrolling up near the top of the mountain, if not a helicopter or plane. Plus, we need to keep from being seen by-“ she pointed up towards the ceiling, “by the satellites over us” I nodded. “We’ll figure that out when we get back to your house” I responded, folding up the map and shoving it into my pocket.
With our plan set, we made one final stop downtown. As risky as it was, something you guys suggested stuck in my head. So we made our way back to the diner’s parking lot. Making sure to stay hidden, we made our way to the Noltes’ Jeep. I wanted to check and see if they had kept a set of spare keys inside, so we could stop by their home on the way up the mountain and see if there would be anything useful to take. I searched everywhere, not finding anything in the glove box or the center console. “Damn it!” I whispered. “Aubrey, there’s nothing in here”
There was no answer behind me. “Aubrey?” Still nothing. Fear suddenly fell over me as though someone had poured a bucket of ice water onto my head. Jumping out of the Jeep, I moved quickly to the back of the truck. As I came around the corner, I saw a flash of movement approaching me. Oh, FUCK!
I didn’t even have a chance to reach for the gun or raise the blade.
A large, meaty hand wrapped itself around my throat, and I felt myself being lifted off my feet. The metal and rubber of the Jeep’s spare tire slammed into my back, and my vision blurred for a moment. A cry of fear and panic rang out. Aubrey! Blinking my eyes rapidly, I focused on my attacker. Mr. Nolte snarled into my face, a large cut adorning one cheek where someone had cut him trying to defend themselves. My eyes flashed down to see what he held in his other hand. It was the sword I’d seen another man wielding that first day this had all began. Evidently, it’d either been dropped and recovered, or Mr. Nolte had killed him for it. I saw him pull the arm holding it back, and I understood in one horrific realization that the man intended to run me through with it, pinning me to the back of the Jeep.
I instinctively kicked out, aiming my left foot for the man’s wrist and praying for my aim to be true. The first kick missed by inches, and I feared I wouldn’t have time for a second. But it seemed that the insane man was relishing the moments before the kill. Like I’m a deer he’s about to take out. The thought made me kick out again with all my strength. Yes! My aim was dead on this time, as my foot connected with his wrist. I heard him let out a small grunt of pain as the sword fell from his grasp and clattered to the ground. Black spots began to appear in my vision from the lack of oxygen. As he turned to look to see where his weapon had fallen, I fumbled into my waistband for the pistol. My fingers slid on the rubber grips, then caught as I yanked it out. Mr. Nolte was turning back to see what I was doing as I aimed the gun toward him as best as I could. I saw his eyes lock onto the the weapon pointing almost point blank at him. His arm began to reach out to grab it.
I fired, pulling the trigger as hard as I could.
Growing up in a relatively small, rural town, my parents had introduced me to guns at an early age. I had been taught firearm safety, and when I’d been old enough, Mom and Dad had taken me to the range for lessons. I had always been a decent shot; the instructor had been impressed. But I had never pointed a gun at another human being before. They always tell you, never aim a gun at anything or anyone you don’t intend to shoot. I had seen crime shows about homicides before, seen fictionalized versions of shootings watching shows like The Sopranos and Ozark.
But nothing can prepare you for the real thing. Nothing can prepare you for actually shooting another person, Affected or not. The sound of the shot filled my ears with what sounded like bells being rung directly next to my head, and the acrid smell of smoke reached my nostrils. I felt the grip on my throat loosen, and I fell back to my feet, almost falling from having been weakened from the choking. Mr. Nolte stumbled backwards a few feet, his hands going to his gut. A blossoming red stain spread out across his dirty white button up shirt and over his fingers. He looked up at me, the momentarily surprised expression on his face morphing back into an insane rage. I felt a sense of shock course through me. That would’ve put any ordinary person down! He let out a snarl and took another step towards me. With the space between us, though, I had a chance to lift the gun and aim properly. I didn’t think, instead letting raw instinct take over me. I fired again.
A large hole appeared just above his right eyebrow, and blood splattered the brick wall behind us. The force of the impact from the .45 round sent him flying backwards into a heap on the ground, and he lay still. For a split second, I simply stood there, in a sort of daze. Then I remembered my friend. “Aubrey?!” I called in a panic, looking around and afraid that I’d see her lying dead on the ground. But then a fresh course of panic flew through me. Aubrey lay on her back on the ground, wrestling with someone; a girl about our age. I realized it was Nicole, one of Aubrey’s best friends. The two girls rolled around, Aubrey dodging and ducking as sharp nails were swung at her face. Again letting instinct take over, I ran towards the pair of them. “HEY!” I shouted at Nicole. The people in town might have been changed by the signal in the Emergency Broadcast, but they still had some normal mannerisms. Such as turning when being yelled at. I saw the look of fury lock onto me.
Lashing out as hard as I could, I kicked her directly in the face. I’d put more power than I’d anticipated into it, as she rolled violently off of Aubrey, who scrambled away, trying to get the letter opener out of her pocket. But I was already over the girl, who looked up at me with blind fury. “I’m sorry, Nikki” I said quickly, then pulled the trigger. The shot slammed into her, and after a few twitches, she lay limp and still on the asphalt.
Not giving another second, I turned to Aubrey. “You okay?” I asked quickly, reaching out to help her up. She didn’t say anything, only nodded as she took my hand and got to her feet. “Look, we’ve gotta get outta here. The others surely heard that, and we don’t have enough ammo to deal with all of them” As the words tumbled out of my mouth, a part of me deep inside screamed at me that these weren’t just “them’s”, but people I’d known from day one of my life. A part of me was horrified that I had just killed two people, people I’d known and spoken with and laughed with. But I blocked it out. Giving in to that emotion would collapse me to the ground, and dead in a matter of moments. Already, I could faintly hear the stomping of many feet from the main road approaching where we stood.
I turned and gave Mr. Nolte’s body a split second look over. The ring of keys clipped to his belt glinted in the sunlight, and I quickly reached down and snatched them off the loop. Snatching up the paper cutter blade, we turned and ran for the alley. We reached it just in time as well. What I can only describe as half the fucking town swarmed into the diner’s parking lot, smashing all the car windows and destroying everything in their path in order to try and find us. As we watched, we saw some of them turn and begin slicing at each other. I saw Mrs. Delaney, our old biology teacher jam a screwdriver into the neck of Carey Shawcross, a high school dropout who had made his living selling the teens of town pot.
“They’re beginning to turn on each other” Aubrey whispered in my ear. I had to agree. Whatever the signal did to them, it must be starting to break down their minds. Still feeling slightly numbed from the shooting, I motioned for Aubrey to follow me. Together, we turned away from the carnage unfolding across the street and quickly moved back to the residential side of town. It was a lot easier going, where so many of The Affected were behind us.
As we drew close to Aubrey’s house, a thought passed through me, and I stopped. After noticing that I wasn’t with her anymore, she turned back to me. “What is it?” she asked. I took a deep breath, feeling a slight tremor begin in my hands. The adrenaline from the attack was fading away, and reality was beginning to settle back in. But still, the thought persisted. “I need to go to my house” I said. A look of confusion fell over her face. “What? Why?” I took another deep breath, trying to compose myself. “Before we try and leave, I have to…” My voice choked off, and I swallowed, willing it to not quake with emotion, “I have to get the photo in the living room. Of me and my parents. I want something to remember them by” Understanding suddenly filled her features. She looked around for a second, as if assessing how dangerous it might be. “If you want, you can just go back to your house and wait for me” I continued, “I don’t mind going alone. But I have to do this” She shook her head, seeming surprised at my words. “Eddie, don’t you remember what you said to me the other day. We are not splitting up, no matter what” I almost burst into tears at her words; knowing I wasn’t alone in this made everything a tiny bit easier to take. I nodded gratefully. “Let’s go get it, but we need to be quick” she added, and again, I nodded.
It took about five more minutes to make it from where we were to my backyard, but finally, we stepped through the gated entrance to my backyard. I looked around, feeling like I was on an alien planet as I stared around at the place I had grown up playing in as a kid, what once seemed so normal. Not wanting to delay, though, I reached out, and pulling my house keys from my pocket, unlocked the door. It opened with the same soft creak it always had, and we both quickly stepped inside and shut the door. Leading the way through the kitchen, I stepped into the hallway connecting it to the front rooms. The house was silent as a tomb, both in a metaphorical sense and literal. I gripped the paper cutter arm tightly as the front door appeared. It stood slightly open, swinging back and forth in the slight breeze from outside. Taking a deep breath, I turned away from it to the doorway which led into the living room.
I suddenly dropped the blade, it falling to the wooden floor with a clatter. The world contracted in my vision, and I felt as though I were experiencing tunnel vision. I couldn’t see left or right, only straight ahead. Behind me, I vaguely heard Aubrey ask me something, then gasp in horror. But I didn’t answer her. I honestly couldn’t. All I could do was walk slightly into the room, my eyes trained on the sight before me.
A pair of legs stuck out from behind our couch, the tacky one that my mother had insisted on us buying four years ago. The couch was covered with red stains, ones that continued over the top and splashed against the wall behind it, smearing downward and out of sight. Khaki work pants, now stained with blood were tucked into the tan work boots on the feet. The same boots I’d bought as a Christmas present last year. I still remember the pure joy I was filled with when the wrapping had been torn off and a sentiment about how thoughtful it had been stated.
I stared at the legs of my father for what felt like an eternity, not being able to move. Not being able to feel anything except emptiness. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to find Aubrey staring at me, tears falling from her eyes. She pulled me into a hug, and for a few seconds, we simply stood like that in the middle of the living room. Finally, she pulled back. She didn’t say anything, only nodding at me before stepping back. For that, I was thankful. No words would be able to help right now. Feeling my vision clear, I focused instead on the task at hand. Forcing myself not to look at the crumpled form of my father, I saw the photo I’d come for sitting on the coffee table next to my father’s La-Z-Boy. It was one we’d taken when we’d gone to the Grand Canyon. The three of us posed with big smiles as we’d waited for the stranger we’d asked to help to take our picture. It was the memory of them I wanted to remember. Not this. Crossing to it, I picked it up, then slid open the back of the frame and pulled the photograph from it. Giving it one last look, I folded it and slid it into my pocket.
I turned around. And found we were no longer alone in the house anymore.
Aubrey had been too focused on me to notice the figure stepping in through the open front door. But at my gaze, she turned around, then rapidly backed up towards me, until she stood next to me. The figure stepped into the living room. The platinum blonde hair was now, somehow, even dirtier and more covered with blood than it had yesterday. Blood filled eyes flickered between the two of us as the hand holding the knife twitched involuntarily. I heard Aubrey let out a gasp.
Mom took another step towards us. I felt my heart began to slam against my chest, tears forming at the corner of my eyes. No…please…no, not this. Please don’t make me do this… I had, in the heat of the moment, been able to kill the other two in order to keep Aubrey and me alive. But…now, being faced with the person who had literally brought me into this world…I didn’t feel, even to save my life, like I could pull the trigger. It didn’t matter if she was changed or not.
That’s when she froze.
For a moment, I stood confused and, honestly, terrified. Then she began to twitch, first gently, than violently. It was almost as if she were waging a war inside herself. That was when she spoke. It wasn’t the voice I remembered; this seemed forced, as if it were taking a great effort to do. “…Run….Edward, run….” I felt my blood run cold at the words spoken. She’s still in there….oh, God, no… I felt frozen to the spot, even as Aubrey began tugging on my arm, trying to pull me away. An explosion of movement suddenly came from her. She turned and leapt.
Through the living room window.
The glass shattered the sound almost painful inside the house. For a split second, I saw my mother stand up from where she crouched on the front lawn. Cuts on her face from the glass had started to bleed profusely. She looked back towards us, and for a split second, I swear I saw a tear form on her cheek. Then she ran, heading back to the street and screaming. It sounded like a mixture of the insane rage I’d heard The Affected make. With a soul tearing anguish and heartbreak.
Aubrey gripped my arm as we stared out the broken window. For a long time, neither of us spoke. Tears fell from my eyes freely, and my mind seemed to lock. Finally, she spoke. “Why…why didn’t she kill us?” It took me a minute to answer her. “I don’t know” I finally answered her quietly. “Maybe whatever happened is losing its effect. Maybe she just couldn’t do it. I just don’t know”
I stared at the carpet. Then felt her tug my arm gently. “Come on, we need to go. We need to get ready to leave tonight” I took a deep breath, wiping the tears from my eyes. Then I looked at her and nodded. Together, with her gently guiding me, we left my house for the last time and made our way back to hers.
When we returned, I set about keeping myself busy by making some last minute checks to our gear. Aubrey went upstairs to grab some final things, and for a moment, I was left alone. As I waited for her to return, a sudden burst of static suddenly came from the open basement door behind me. It was the ham radio. I turned, and heard a voice speaking. But it was too far away to hear properly. “Aubrey, the radio!” I called out. She came scrambling downstairs, holding on to a few items which she dropped next to our packs. Together, we stampeded for the basement door, nearly falling over ourselves as we got downstairs. As we reached the bottom, though, I saw her freeze solid on the second to last step. “Aubrey, what is it?” I asked her, worried. Then froze myself as I heard it.
“Aubrey? Honey, are you there?”
The voice was one I recognized. It belonged to Aubrey’s father. But it wasn’t coming from anywhere upstairs. It was coming from the ham radio. It crackled again. “Aubrey, sweetheart, I know you’re in the house. If you can hear me, please respond” She turned and looked up at me, a look of shock melting away into relief. “Thank God, they’re okay!” she squealed. I felt a small pit form in my stomach as I thought about my parents, but I also felt genuine relief wash over me. I’m glad someone who lived here was spared this hell. Plus, if they’re still outside of town, they may be able to help us! We may not have to hike out of here!
“Answer it!” I urged, and together, we ran to the radio set. Aubrey slammed down on the transmit button. “Daddy! Daddy, I’m here!” she cried into the microphone. Mr. Carmody’s voice answered immediately. “Oh, thank God! I didn’t know if you’d have the radio set on. But I know my little girl. I told you’re mother that she’d remember the emergency procedures we taught you” That’s….a strange way to put things, I thought, but pushed the thought away. Everything normal felt strange right now. Aubrey hit the button again. “Yes, I remembered. Oh, Daddy, you wouldn’t believe what’s happened here! It’s horrible! People are killing each other. Something happened when that broadcast test went off! There are people, I don’t know who, blocking all of the exits. They’ve said that something will happen in less than two and a half days. You have to help, please!”
For a moment, there was silence, and I wondered if the people we’d heard on the radio had heard the radio signal and jammed it. Then her father’s voice came again. “Honey, I need you to listen carefully. I need to ask you a question. Are you alone?” I saw Aubrey stand up straight in reaction to the question. A look of confusion passed over her face; it was one I know I mirrored. I felt a strange emotion settle over me, but I couldn’t place it. Still, Aubrey leaned down and tapped the microphone. “No, I’m not. Eddie’s with me. We’ve helped each other survive the last few days” She continued to hold down the transmit button, then finished speaking. “Why?”
There was silence again for a few moments, and then I heard Mr. Carmody sigh. Then he spoke, his voice suddenly flat and almost emotionless. “I was afraid of that” he said simply. Aubrey’s brow furrowed, and she and I exchanged a look. She spoke again into the mic. “Daddy…why did you just say that?” Silence again. Then the same flat tone. “Sweetheart, you need to listen to me carefully. This may be difficult for you to do, but you have to leave him”
Shock passed over both our faces. “Daddy, what the hell are you talking about?” she demanded. But my mind was already beginning to piece together something in my mind. Something I…didn’t want to think about. But as the jigsaw pieces came together, it made too much sense. The radio crackled again.
“Aubrey, do you remember when I said that I couldn’t talk about my work?” Another confused look shot through my friend’s face. Inside my head, another piece fit into the puzzle. Aubrey’s parents left town the morning everything happened. They were the only ones that left. Aubrey’s father never told her what he did for a living. Aubrey’s dad was…
“Scientist” I breathed out, feeling my insides begin to boil as the picture became clear.
Aubrey turned towards me, then stabbed the microphone again. “Daddy, that makes no sense as to what….” She suddenly trailed off. I saw the look of realization pass over her face. First of shock, then horror. And then, finally, anger. She hit the transmit button so hard, I thought it would break. “Are you a part of the people who caused this?!” she demanded, her voice rising to almost a yell of rage. Mr. Carmody answered immediately. “Sweetheart, I know you’ll never understand, but we have to do things. Horrible things. Create horrible things, in order to keep this country safe. If we don’t make them, others will. And they’ll use it on us. That is what my job is. To create things before others do. It may sound terrible, I know, but you’ll understand when you get older. It’s why your mother and I devoted our lives to this cause”
My rage began to boil over, and I lost control of my emotions. I sprinted forward, pushing Aubrey out of the way and stabbing the transmit button. “You motherfucker!” I screamed, “You just killed over a thousand fucking people. Turned half of them into killing machines. Men, women, fucking children. My parents! All for a fucking experimental weapons test?! You piece of shit, you’re both fucking evil!” I let go of the button. Mr. Carmody’s voice answered immediately, this time cold. Callous. “It’s for the greater good, son. You may never understand it, but some sacrifices have to be made. The few have to suffer and die in order to keep many safe. That’s the price we pay”
He spoke again, this time to Aubrey. “Aubrey, you have to do one of two things right now. You have to either leave Eddie behind, or kill him. You are the only one allowed to leave town alive. Nobody else can. It’s too much of a security risk”
For a minute, both of us just stood there, staring at each other. I felt my shoulders hunch. All the anger and fight flowed out of me. I felt a terrible emotion fall on me, replacing the anger. Hopelessness. I’m not getting out of here alive… Finally, I spoke.
“Go”
She twisted towards me, her face still a mask of confusion and anger. “What?” she breathed. I motioned, leaning back into the cold concrete wall. “We’re not both making it out of here” I motioned to the radio. “You heard. They’ll never let anyone else but you leave alive” I shook my head. “I’m not going to condemn you to die here as well. You’re my friend. I care about you. I don’t want to see you die as well. Just…go. And please…don’t forget about me, okay?”
I felt fresh tears fall from my eyes. Accepting you’re going to die is something that people always say is never easy. I had planned out my life; going to college, having a family, living a long life. And now, it had been taken away from me as if I’d been told I’d had a terminal illness. But I couldn’t be so selfish as to want to have the only person I cared about left alive, to die with me.
I looked up, to see a look of shock on Aubrey’s face. Tears were falling from her cheeks. Then they stopped. Her face hardened. Without saying a word to me, she crossed to the radio and hit the transmit button.
“No”
I felt my jaw drop open. What?! Mr. Carmody’s voice answered immediately. “Aubrey, you don’t have a choice. Do as I say!” She hit the button again. “Go to hell, Dad. I’m not leaving him” The radio crackled again, but this time, it wasn’t her father that spoke. It was the deep voice of the man in charge, who we’d heard the last two days. “This is General Brighton. Young lady, I am giving you one final chance. You are ordered to either leave your companion behind, or you will die along with the rest of the town. You have thirty seconds to choose”
Despite the mixed emotions in me, I felt a chill roll through me at his words.
“Aubrey-“ I began, but she cut me off, raising a hand to silence me as she hit the transmit button. “General, with all due disrespect. Fuck you, sir” The radio was silent for a minute. Then the General spoke again. “So be it. Sergeant Deakins, scramble all frequencies remaining on the airwaves, and station double the number of sentries at all known exits. Move up the final phase to t-minus eleven hours. Anyone, and I mean anyone approaches, you kill them. Am I clear?”
The other voice spoke up. “Roger that, sir. Initializing scrambling in twenty seconds” There was a burst of static, and then Aubrey’s father spoke again, this time softly. “I’m sorry, Aubrey. I wish you’d understood” His voice trailed off, but didn’t come again. A sharp burst of static made me clap my hands over my ears, and then the radio went silent. Dead.
Aubrey turned to me, her face set in a determined anger. Before I could say anything, she spoke. “I’m not leaving you, Eddie. We’re going to make it out of here together, or die trying. We’re going to get to the mine shaft. And if we get out of here-“ I cut her off. “When” She nodded. “When we get out of here. We’re going to find a way to make them pay” She began to march upstairs. “Get everything ready. We’re leaving tonight once it gets dark”
That’s where we are now. I’m sitting next to the back door, typing this out. I’m not sure if the jammer will have stopped even the satellite uplink by now, but it seems like its working. So, I’m going to post this, and then wait. Once it gets truly dark, we’re going to make a break for the top of town. We’re going to find a way into the woods where they can’t see us. We’re going to make our way up to the mine shaft, using the branch method one of you suggested to erase our tracks. And we’re going to escape this nightmare, once and for all.
I’m not going to ask you for any advice this time. You’ve helped us survive to now, and I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that. You’re a huge reason why we’re still alive. But now, this part we have to do on our own. Hopefully, when I write tomorrow, it’ll be from somewhere far away from here. But…if you don’t hear from me, it means we didn’t make it. And…if we don’t, thank you, anyways.
Aubrey’s motioning for me to get ready. Wish us luck.