Sanctuary

Intermission

She wakes with a start. Confusion reigns inside her head. Wasn’t she just at the door and feeling hesitant about going outside? What is she doing back in her room upstairs on the floor? Was she drugged? Her children! Yes, she was searching for them. Where are they?

She stands in the dark room feeling tired and sore. Her arm burns from a scratch and she looks down but can’t see anything in the inky blackness. She maneuvers to the bedroom door tripping over a few items in the dark but makes it across the room and opens the door. The interior is still dark but more like a deep gloom rather than the complete light void of her room. She feels the panic rise within her heart as she remembers running through the house searching for her kids. She doesn’t remember finding them or why she quit. Her last memory is of reaching for the front door hesitantly.

She rushes down the hall in her bare feet calling for her kids. Her voice only echoes along the still interior with no replying call. Her tension increases, as does the decibel level of her calls, as she searches the bedrooms. No reply, just the stillness of the house. She scrambles down the stairs with her heart pounding and feeling short of breath. She is barely able to take a breath to scream their names. Stopping in the living room, she glances at the burning on her arm from the scratch and notices her jeans and yellow top covered in grime and what appears to be dried blood.

She quickly checks herself for injuries and finds none other than soreness in her shoulder. She remembers taking these actions before and is confused as to what happened or why she suddenly found herself back in her bedroom. The serious possibility that she was drugged and her kids taken seeps into her mind. She recalls the flu pandemic that was storming across the world. Was the vaccine that she and her kids took responsible for this in some way or does the broken window indicate someone came in, drugged her, and took them? These questions tumble through her mind in her panicked state.

She quickly checks the basement noticing the boards blocking the front door have been removed and wonders if the kids left. If so, then why didn’t they say something? She’s at a loss as to what to do. Stumbling around confused and panicked, she sees her grimy shirt again and quickly changes it with another from the pile of clothes on the couch; not even noticing she put it on inside out as her mind is focused entirely on her kids. She thinks they may be at their friend’s and picks up her cell but it is dead. She picks up the landline phone and is greeted with silence. Shaking her head, she looks for her keys and can’t locate them anywhere panicking her even further.

She heads to the front door and the hesitancy she felt before stalls her hand for a moment before she turns the handle and swings it open. The brightness of the day blinds her as she steps out onto the porch and calls across the neighborhood for her kids. A black and gray striped cat down the road scampers off as her shrill voice rings out in the area. She notices there’s no one out. It’s not that her neighborhood was all that busy but there were always kids out on bikes or playing basketball on the street during nice days. Stillness hangs in the air. A slight stench similar to a garbage dump reaches her nose.

She steps in to put on a pair of shoes and walks to the end of the driveway to look along the streets; the silence of the area adds to her confusion. There’s not a thing moving anywhere other than a few blackbirds circling in the distance. Her kids remain paramount in her mind and she starts down the road in search of them.

Her plan is to go to the houses of their friends looking to see if they are there or if anyone has heard from them. It’s quite a walk but the day is early and she doesn’t know of any other way to find them. If she still can’t find them, then she’ll walk downtown to the police station. Maybe someone she knows will pass by and give her a ride or she’ll see a policeman and wave him or her down. With that in mind, she heads towards town only a short distance away.

Her walk is one of a deep fear and she wants to run all of the way but knows she won’t make it far that way. She feels frustrated about not finding her keys, making this so much easier. She wants to know what happened and rush the process of finding out. Taking note that the streets are clear of any moving cars, she continues walking along one of the main streets. While this enters her mind, total recognition is not there as her kids occupy all of her thoughts. Where are they? What could have happened to them? These questions rattle around as she can’t for the life of her figure out why they’d just leave. They’ve always told me where they were or where they were going.

She rounds the corner by the high school and notices a startling difference. There is now barbed wire running along the top of the chain link fence surrounding the school. There’s also what appears to be platforms or towers constructed at the corners and at intervals along the fence. When did this happen? She thinks coming to a stop. She notices people by the main school buildings and turn towards the school entrance thinking there’s someone there that can help or at least let her use a phone to call the kids.

She reaches the school entrance to the parking lots to find it is also fenced in. She passed by several of the platforms built just inside the fence but found them empty. The fact that the school is fenced in worries her even more as she feels she’s missed a lot of what is going on. Was there some kind of quarantine with the flu pandemic? Did they close down the school because of it?

There are others moving near a building in the distance and she is about to call out when she hears a vehicle turn down the street behind her. She registers that it’s the first sound she’s heard since waking up, well, the first sound of normal civilization. She turns to see a white van approach. She feels thankful seeing someone and that they may be able to help. The van pulls alongside and stops as she waves it down. She doesn’t know any of the three people who emerge from the vehicle and approach her.

“Hi, I’m looking for my kids. Do you think you could…..?” She gets no further.

The three men launch their assault as she draws close. She struggles against the immediate assault but her fear and surprise, and their overwhelming strength, allows her to be quickly subdued. She is dragged, thrown onto the floor of the van, and her hands are quickly tied behind her. She still struggles as she wants to find her kids and for fear of her life. A bag is thrown over her head and she feels pain, accompanied by an explosion of bright light. All goes dark and she sags limply on the floor of the van.

He stands on the edge of the parking lot with the rest of his pack milling around him. Their movements make them appear eager and the images in his mind verify that. The night is chilled but he doesn’t notice, nor does his pack as they’re out on the hunt. The calls of other packs have led them to this place. The night shows up bright in his vision with the stars shining brightly overhead. A multitude of packs surround a large structure a short distance away. Shrieks call across the lot and several packs take runs at the entrance only to come up short as they slam into the outer doors.

His pack has grown lately as he has come across other small packs or single ones in the nightly hunts. They stay with him for his ability to provide protection and find food. He found and added several females to prevent any competition amongst the other males. He still has first choice but he has plenty to go around now so there isn’t any angst or jealousy within the pack.

He stares at the vast gathering of his kind around the building. They have been drawn by the lingering smell of food within. He knows that there is a large number of food inside but also knows from experience that, even if they were to force an entrance, there would not be enough to go around. The competition for food, especially with his late arrival, will be fierce. Even with a pack as large as his, he knows he may be wasting his time. He also knows he has to spend the short time they have, with the increasing scarcity of food, on more prosperous ventures.

Still, the sheer number of food he smells residing here is tempting so he camps on the edge of the lot watching. He watches to see if there is any progress with the multiple attempts to get inside. He’ll know if they get close by the change in shrieks and by a change of images within his mind. It’s filled with images of the others right now but it’s no more than a series of multiple conversations occurring. His group is anxious to join in the attempt but he holds them back, sending images to wait and see. They stay, trusting him as he’s not led them astray so far.

He stands, rising from his squatting position, and trots around the building. It doesn’t appear from the noise and images that any progress is being made. The night is only half over and they have fed, but they’ll need more before the night is over. Again, the thought that they’ll have to move intrudes into his mind as he completes a circle around the structure. Every entrance is covered with packs trying to find a way in. He doesn’t see any other way. There have been several times in the past when he has had to leave a place without being able to get inside. He can’t afford to spend all night in one place and run the risk of not finding food. Too many nights without finding any and his pack will disperse or another leader will step in.

A sudden flash fills his mind and he is instantly alert. He recognizes the building and wonders how. He feels the minds of the others around him stronger but with a different clarity. He knows he is on the hunt with his pack but wonders why the ones by the building are repeatedly slamming into the front door when it’s obvious they won’t get in that way. He knows he can send an image telling them this and begins to form the picture talk in his mind. He also realizes he knows a different language and that he’s as comfortable with that one as much as the one he’s about to use. The word talk and picture talk are just two ways to say the same thing. The word talk can’t be sent mentally and he knows it wouldn’t be understood by the others even if it could. The clarity in his mind fogs and vanishes as quickly as it came. He has stopped and brought the pack back close to where he began.

He squats in his former position watching. The thought occurs that, with so many other packs here and apparently staying until they find a way in, they are not out in the streets and surrounding area. That means any food he finds will be for his pack and for them alone. With that in mind, he stands, gives a loud shriek that rises above the cacophony of noise already around the building, turns and heads off at a run across the dry grass fields.

The others around the building stop at a shriek rising above their own and look to the source. They see a large pack just cresting a hill in the field beyond and disappear behind it, heading away into the night.