They Came from the Earth

“Memorial day is about honoring and remembering those who understood that freedom is not free. May God rest the souls of our fallen brethren. Thank you.” I end my speech with a solemn nod to the applauding crowd. Arlington National Cemetery never felt so alive; the energy was palpable as if the spirits of the dead appreciated the recognition. The Memorial Amphitheater glowed with hundreds of burning candles as the National Symphony Orchestra began to play “America the Beautiful.” The voices of the crowd grew louder as the sweet melody took hold. I turned away from the podium and walked back to my seat, huffing a sigh of relief. After all these years, I hadn’t gotten over being nervous in front of a crowd. Eli smirked and nodded at me, while Silas stood and wiggled his eyebrows and gave me a peck on the cheek. Xander and Em fake puked, but grinned as I took my seat. I took my husband’s hand and squeezed my daughter around her shoulders, pleased to be in their company. We sang along with the crowd, pride swelled within me. The Orchestra reached the final note and the applause thundered throughout the marble structure.       

As we began to leave, the earth began to shake. Deep fissures formed, causing the ground to collapse below and around the tombstones, leaving a gaping maw. Screams and cries of disbelief fill the air. The MPD and military personnel started shouting orders and moving the crowd towards their vehicles at a faster pace. Pale, emaciated humanoids in shreds of clothing from centuries past emerge from the dark abyss. I stood ramrod straight at the foot of the stairs. More of those creatures climbed from the hole, sniffing at the air.  Fear and panic rushed over the crowd like wildfire and everyone started to run.  

A calloused hand touched my shoulder and I turned, Eli’s face was neutral except for the swirling storm in his eyes. He pulled his pistol and gestured to Xander. “We have to get all of you to the bunker.” A tall, humanoid stood and watched the mayhem with its head cocked to the side. It met my gaze and roared, like the sound of grating metal. The creatures gave chase. Silas and Emily came up behind me and began pulling me backwards and to our own vehicle. I now knew how Lot’s wife felt when Sodom and Gomorra was destroyed. Some of the officers turned away from the fleeing citizens and opened fire. The cemetery became a battlefield. The scent of metal commingled with the charcoal and sulfur of the gunpowder. Blood, both human and otherwise, soaked into the grass as limbs began to fly and heads began to roll. The creatures that ate people began to transform and took on the visage of its victims. We ran through the trees, passed the fallen, and made it to Cadillac One in one piece. The chauffeur was gone, a bloody smear on the ground and on the side of the limousine.  

Em whimpered as she grabbed the door handle and her hand came away red. I reached around her and opened the door, pulling her inside as Silas slammed the door shut. Eli and Xander came up fast behind the car, both jumping into the front seats. Eli locked the doors and started the car. A brown, human hand punched through the glass and wrapped around Xander’s throat. It was the chauffeur, only his eyes weren’t the kind, brown ones they used to be. They were black. Eli shifted into drive and took off down Memorial Drive, swerving the car to shake it off. Xander tried to pull his gun up to fire and the creature yanked hard. Blood coated everything, in Carrie fashion, and the body slumped forward, headless. I pulled my phone, now cracked, from my slacks and pressed record video.

“We are being hunted. Get in your homes and barricade the doors. Gather any weapons you can find. There are creatures coming from Arlington that feed on human flesh and won’t hesitate to attack. Some of them may look human, but don’t fall for their tricks or you’ll end up dead. President Diana Carstairs, signing off.”

Eli drove like a madman as Silas navigated from the passenger side. I sat in the backseat with Em, holding her tightly in my arms. “We’re almost safe,” I had told her, hearing how flat the words were. Eli cursed and stomped on the brakes and we jerked forward in our seats. Those things were blocking the road. Some bore the faces of their victims with soulless eyes peering back at us, while others were unsatiated and retained their monstrous forms. Eli threw the car in reverse. We careened down the way we came as they pursued us. He swung the car too hard around and we slammed into a tree. My head hit the window and I saw stars. I reached for Emily, but she was gone. The door had been torn away. I inhaled to call out for her and Silas, but a hand clamped over my mouth and pulled me out the other side. I swung my arm but it was grabbed and pinned to my side. Eli’s voice was strained next to my ear. “Diana, stop. We have to go now.”  

“Where’s Silas and Emily?” I half-whispered, trying to get out of his hold, but to no avail. He turned my head towards the road as one of the monsters tore Silas’s arm from his body, smearing the blood over its pearlescent face and taking a bite. Silas continued to struggle against them though his movements are slower now. He reached his remaining arm towards Em, her once bright, green eyes glazed over. I felt like ice cold water was thrown over my head. Eli dragged me backwards through the brush and I let him. 

Five Years Later

The road that leads to Lady Winslet’s Inn is winding and slick as I speed by wood and glass residential homes and abandoned construction projects. Rain pounds against the windshield, blurring the world for seconds at a time into greys, greens, and browns. My truck skids to the right. Eli thumps his head against the window and he groans from the passenger seat, rubbing the side of his head and I can’t help but smirk. “Oops.” I pump the brakes and give the wheel a slight jerk to right the tires. We’re in California now. Eli figures we can find other humans, but I’m not that optimistic.

Trepidation forms a knot in my stomach as we get closer to the Inn. Only Silas, Emily, and I knew about this place before the presidency, that is. The many summers we spent soaking up the sunshine, running around playing hide-and-seek among the Sugar Pines, and enjoying the cool water of Lake Tahoe flash through my mind. I allow myself a small smile at the time I told Emily that she was conceived here much to her chagrin. There’s a lot of good memories I don’t want tainted, but I can’t help that they may already have been. I drive us to the rear entrance and reverse park the truck, climbing out and closing the door. No reason to be quiet. The Revenants already know we’re here.  

 The Inn is a large building with wooden floors and floor-to-ceiling windows with furniture from different bygone ages. In the past, it was considered the best example of an old world charm, but now, it’s just another building left to the elements. We walk towards the deck, devoid of the wicker chairs and tables with the umbrellas.

     Ylime sits alone at a table that’s been placed at the end of the dock. A lighter and a pack of cigarettes sit opposite from her as well as two chairs. She braids and unbraids a few strands of hair, like Em used to do when she was impatient. My heart hurts at the sight of it.

As we approach, she freezes. “Diana, it’s been awhile. Dad and I missed you.” Ylime gestures to the other chair, then grabs the pack of cigarettes and the lighter.   

My eye twitches. The cheekiness of this black-eyed monster makes me want to chew on broken glass. “My family died that night you showed up.” Salis grabs us and forces us into the chairs then moves to stand over her left shoulder. He stares down at me, not unlike a cat watching a mouse. I glare back at him, though chills race across my skin.  

She chuckles and takes a drag from the cigarette, letting the smoke billow from her mouth. “I see it’s still a touchy subject.” Ylime taps the ashes onto the table.

  I lean back in my chair and unzip my coat. My pistol feels heavy in its holster. Even if I couldn’t kill these things, a few bullets to the head would hurt. “What do you want from me?”