Here be Monsters

Sensitive content: explosives, injury

My first thought: Cold.

My second: Hell, I can’t breathe. 

The explosion had sent me flying into the Eno river.  I wrinkled my nose, the pollution stinging my eyes.  I’d never planned to set foot in the river that was more trash than water, but here I was anyway.

I squinted towards the surface.  Bombs painted the sky orange, but I could no longer hear them.  It was so quiet down here, peaceful in a way.  Not to mention it was safe from the fighting above.  The monsters.  It was tempting to just stay down here.  

A dirty sock floated past.

Even with the trash, I thought begrudgingly.

My lungs disagreed with me, a burning feeling blooming in my chest.  I groaned internally and kicked my legs, making my way towards the surface and trying to avoid the debris falling from the buildings above.

As soon as I broke the surface, the deafening sound of the fire fight threatened to overwhelm me again.  I sputtered, gulping air into my lungs and trying to avoid swallowing the murky water.

“Cam!”

I turned towards the sound of my name, eyes landing on a frantic looking Mel.  She was holding one of her arms, blood seeping between her fingers.  She paced anxiously along the water’s edge, eyes darting back to the burning city behind her every couple of seconds.  

I swam over to her and pulled myself out of the water.

“Have a good swim?” She asked.  She said it like a joke, but her eyes betrayed her worry. 

“How did they let the river get that bad?  It’s disgusting down there,” I shook my head, looking around, “Where’s Marcus?”

“He dove in after you.  He thought you’d been knocked out by the blow.”

Dammit Marcus.

I looked back at the grey water, bracing myself for another swim to find my friend, but was stopped by a familiar sounding scream.

I looked towards the city, my voice quavering “That sounded like my sister.”

“It couldn’t be though, right?” Mel reasoned, “Amy left with the evacuation team four hours ago.”

But what if she hadn’t? 

“I have to be sure.  I’ll be right back, I promise."

“Go,” Mel urged, “I’ll find Marcus.”

I nodded and ran, listening for the scream again. 'Containment Breach.  Clear the city now' droned the emergency broadcast system.  It had been going on like this for the past four hours.  The robotic voice paired with the bombing of the city was disorienting.  I almost collided with a woman who was staring towards the city.  She looked shell shocked, hand covering her mouth.

“I’m so sorry–” I started to apologize, before following her line of sight.  My blood ran cold.  My little sister was hanging from some broken rubble on the side of the Ajax building, one of those monsters standing on the ledge above her.  Its jowls were running with drool, its claws clutched the edge of the building.  Crazed hunger filled its bulging eyes.  My sister screamed again, her grip weakening.

 She was supposed to leave with the evacuation team.  Why hadn’t she left with the evacuation team?

“Amy!” I sprinted towards her.

I saw her fingers slip.  Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.  My legs couldn’t move fast enough as my sister fell through the air, grasping at nothing.  

I was too far away to catch her, but I was close enough to hear a crunch when she hit the ground.

I skidded to her side, hands hovering over her rumpled body.  She wasn’t moving.

“No no no no.  Amy, wake up.  Wake up right now.” I sobbed, shaking her lightly.  

This couldn’t be happening, I’d promised my parents I’d protect her.  I had promised to get her out if anything went wrong.  Of course it had gone wrong.  

My parents had been reluctant to let me move to this city, repeatedly warning me about the dangers of living near MetaCorp.  Constant news articles of toxic leaks and containment breaches made it one of the worst cities to live in, but it also made rent cheap.  They hadn’t wanted to let Amy come visit for the weekend, but we’d both insisted.  And then there’d been a breach.  Of course there’d been a breach. 

“Amy…” I hugged her close.  

I heard a weak cough, Amy’s body shook.

“Aims?  Amy, stay with me.”

“Cami?”

“Hi,” I sniffled, “That was quite the fall.”

“Cami, I can’t feel my legs.  I–” Amy’s voice took on a panicked note.  A tiny voice in my head noted that that crunch may have been her spine, but as far as I was concerned that didn’t matter right now.  She was still alive.

“We’ll get you out of here, ok?  Like I promised.”

She nodded, wincing.  

I glared up at the creature.  It was still pacing on the ledge above us, clearly coming to terms with the fact that it may not be as lucky as my sister if it took that fall too.

I flipped it off.  Another one of MetaCorp’s experiments gone horribly wrong.  Another reason for them to bomb our city.  Apparently that was the only way the government knew how to control anything anymore.  Screw collateral damage, we were disposable to them.

“Come on, kiddo.  I’m gonna pick you up, ok?”

Amy nodded, gritting her teeth as I gingerly lifted her.

“Cam!” I turned and saw Mel and Marcus running towards us.  Marcus looked like a drowned rat.  I was sure I did too.

“Is she ok?” Mel asked anxiously, looking down at Amy.

“She’s alive,” I muttered, “Let’s get out of here.  They’ve stopped evacuating people, but they won’t bomb the park.” 

The city was very proud of its one green space.  It was in all of their marketing.  Come live here!  We have trees!  The plants make up for the deeply concerning experiments that defy the laws of nature!  It was one of the only relatively safe places to go when something like this happened.  Even the evacuations were questionable.  They were always hectic and unorganized, and more often than not people went missing.  Some very small part of me was glad Amy hadn’t gone with the evacuation team.

The park was close by.  Mel suggested we follow the edge of the river to keep away from the heart of the city where most of the carnage was occurring.  We managed to get there without too much excitement.  At one point one of MetaCorp’s monsters flung itself at us from a dark alleyway and Marcus managed to dispatch it with a blow from a pipe he’d picked up.  I was focused on not jostling Amy too much.  She was floating in and out of consciousness and wincing in pain.  I hoped this ended soon so I could get her to a proper doctor.

We eventually made it to the park and found another small group of people who had chosen the park over the evacuation team.  They’d set up a makeshift barricade under a stone bridge and had guards on the lookout for monsters. 

I placed Amy down with the other injured and sat next to her, urging her to hold on for a little longer.  My feet tapped anxiously as the explosions in the city continued.  All we could do now was wait.