The Red

TW: Violence, gore, and a brief gay joke.

“Are you there, God? It’s me… Vic, and I’m here to talk to you about your car’s extended warranty.”

Hushed laughter flowed around the dinner table, and Vic cracked a smile before Ma’s hand could smack her across the back of the head.

“Victoria!” Ma snapped. “Say grace properly.”

Ma was dressed up nicely tonight—gold bracelets jingled with each motion, her lipstick fiercely bright against her skin, her hair smooth down her back, and a dress so new it was like something out of a dream. I wondered where she got it. Only dreams held new things—things we once had.

“Alright, alright,” Vic laughed, holding her hands up in a playful surrender when Ma was ready to smack her again for taking a bite of the bread before prayer.

Vic sighed, seemingly annoyed, but her amused attitude kept a smile on her face. She took Ma and Boston’s hands. Boston reached for Jay’s. And Jay fake sneezed into his palm before forcefully taking Tora’s hand—her face twisting in disgust. She turned to me, holding out her slender hand that was warped from burns.

I hesitated, my hand visibly shaking.

I didn’t do well with unpleasant things. I knew if I touched her—that memory would torment me again. That night when they first came…

Tora smiled, unaffected by her scars, her freckled face and red eyes lighting up with a warmth that felt like it could have added color to her white skin and curly hair.

When I remained frozen, Vic’s boot crashed into my foot beneath the table.

I jumped and refocused.

Vic raised a brow, her smile still chill but half raised. “You good, lil man?”

My lips parted, and my mouth moved. Something in the back of my throat itched, a whisper I longed to speak.

All eyes were on me, the tension at the table subtly rising along with my nerves.

Boston’s usual hard eyes looked soft for once—maybe hopeful, but his smile didn’t surface. He made me nervous. I always feared that he hated me. Vic says he hates most people but insists that I’m not one of them.

“Go on, sweetheart, we’re listening,” Ma encouraged.

I tried once more, that internal push, fishing for the sunken words that never came, but still… nothing.

My shoulders drooped. I felt ashamed, like I didn’t belong.

“It’s okay, Theo,” Tora said with a smile. “Your voice will find you. It will.” Her voice was soft, like a gentle breeze.

I nodded and forced a smile, trying to hold back my tears.

“Yeah, and when you do find it, be sure to tell Boston what a little bitch he is,” Jay teased.

“Jay Manning! You better watch your mouth,” Ma said, pointing her spoon at him like a weapon.

Boston casually stretched, knocking Jay’s cornbread from his plate to the floor. I had to hide my grin behind my hand.

Ma’s mouth dropped, her eyes ready to shoot fire. “You better still eat that,” she snapped.

“Now, how can you call Boston a bitch when you’re the same person?” Vic asked, taking a larger bite of bread this time. Ma snatched it, though she couldn’t snatch Vic’s laughter.

Ma stood up, hands on her hips with her eyes moving from the twins to Vic.

“You see these two?” Ma said, motioning her hands to me and Tora. “Model. Citizens. Follow.”

“Is this about the warranty?” Vic asked. “You don’t want it either?”

Boston cracked up along with his brother, who finally snagged his beaten bread off the floor, raking back his long dreads from his face before sneaking a bite, too.

Vic’s lips pressed into a thin line, but not even that could stop her amusement.

She was twenty-nine with a lot of those years dragged through heartache. Her eyes were like a phantom’s—tired, cold, and pale, as if they had lived through lifetimes and seen too much pain. But they still held a youthful spirit that came alive each day. It was a small reminder that hope was out there. Something I had a hard time believing.

Vic was my favorite foster sibling. She was nearly triple my age, but it felt as if we had been born together, our connection blood-bound.

She helped raise me since birth, and she was one of the first faces I’d come to love, but somehow, even as a baby, I knew she wasn’t my mother.

Same with Ma. We looked the most alike—tan skin, green eyes, and dark hair. But I knew the moment she picked me up from the chaos on the road that day, that I wasn’t hers.

Ma says it’s a miracle I’m alive. An infant found in the wreckage of a massive six-truck pile-up on a busy highway isn’t a story that usually has a happy ending.

And not one of the people involved in the crash had claimed me—even the deceased. There wasn’t a baby tied to any of their names. No record of my birth. It was as if I fell from the sky.

“You know what I do want?” Ma sassed. “I want you to say grace, and I want you to stop with the foul language.”

“Bitch is hardly foul,” Vic muttered.

Ma snapped her fingers in her face.

“Yes, ma’am,” Vic said, straightening up. “Hands.”

Vic wiggled her fingers, and we all locked together again, me completing the task easier this time, and sealing the circle with Ma’s warm grip.

“Alright…” Vic said as she bowed her head with the others following.

“Thank you, God, for the food on this table, even if it ain’t much. Thank you for the roof over our heads, even when it leaks… though if you could adjust the leak to hit Jay in the face instead of me, I’d appreciate it…”

I cracked an eye open just in time to see Ma shake her head, but her smile was there too.

“Thank you for the people at this table—each of them a fight and a blessing. Help us keep our peace, keep our strength, and protect the little community of love that we’ve got left. Amen.”

With the others repeating the word, it always stung the back of my throat that I couldn’t even talk to the man that made me. I gave a mere nod instead.

It didn’t take long for Jay, Boston, and Vic to start the chaos at the table again: the never-ending foul language, the strict corrections from Ma, the stealing of food off plates, and the consequences that came of it—Boston in a headlock under Vic’s strong arm. Tora even counted it down, her hand slapping the table—“One, two, three!”

“Ding-ding-ding!” Ma announced.

I looked around at their happy faces. For once, mine reciprocated—safe and steady instead of consumed by panic.

Each one of us came from a different place: Jay and Boston from Canada, Tora from Iceland, Vic from Russia, Ma from Spain, and me…

I softly sighed and picked at my rice.

I’m just grateful that of all the possible pairings in this dark world, the six of us were woven together, just as tight and true as the colorful patches on the handmade tablecloth beneath our palms.

***

The night air was warm—it blew through the cracked glass on the window above my bed. It whistled like a stranger, as if the shadows that hid among the stars were trying to lure me out and swallow me whole.

Mr. Davies had screamed that night when it lured him out—an agonizing cry that was so raw, I thought it would have killed him. But it was the sight of his small daughters being beamed away that killed him first… and when he tried to follow, that cone of red light stopped him like a zap stops flies. That’s what killed him second.

I jerked my head to shake the haunting image and sat up. I tried to force air into my lungs, but they sputtered. My chest felt tight, and the walls seemed closer. And as if she had eyes on me, Vic hurried through the door.

“Heyyy, it’s okay. Theo, everything is fine,” she said as she crouched before the bed. She gently held my shoulders. “Whatever is happening in your head isn’t what’s happening now. Do you believe me?”

I held onto her wrists, squeezing and trying to find the strength to make the sludge in my chest fade.

Her black hair was damp, maybe too damp. It made me want to ask if the leak was that bad.

A small whimper escaped me. It was the best laugh that I could manage. Though it was good enough for her.

She chuckled. “You know, you’re doing it all wrong. I keep telling you, when you lay down at night, you’re supposed to think of all the stuff you want in life—no matter how absurd. Like just now, I had a plate of pancake as tall as me. And you know a six-foot-one stack of pancakes can’t be good for anyone. But you bet your ass I ate every last crumb.”

I smiled, and my grip lessened.

“Now—tell me, are you going to think of badass breakfast or are you going to keep torturing yourself?”

I softly exhaled, the tight grip from the monsters finally letting me go.

The breakfast, I signed.

“Good. Sausage or bacon?”

I smiled bigger, and my hand spoke, Bacon.

“Wise choice. Bacon is for kings.” She stood and helped me get settled under the worn sheet. “Now, go to sleep. And I fully expect you to be overweight by morning. Goodnight.”

I nodded and nuzzled the wad of clothes in place of a pillow.

Boston passed the doorway as she was leaving. “What’s this about sausage?” he asked.

“Just that you like the big ones in your mouth.” Vic triumphantly laughed, leaving him to glare. “Night-night,” she said, disappearing down the hall.

Boston lingered in the doorway. The web of tattoos over his body looked scarier in the dark. “You okay?” he asked.

I nodded and signed, Yes, thank you.

“K. Just take it easy. Night,” he said, his tone harsh, but the care was there, too.

Night.

***

Screaming dissolved my dream. Then the sound of gunshots made me jump.

My eyes flew open, only instead of the expected blackness—red illuminated the room.

I couldn’t move. My muscles were stiff and my instincts had abandoned me.

My heartbeat hammered in my ears with the deep hum from the ships above moving like tidal waves through the air. It rattled my thoughts and petrified my bones.

I could hear Vic yelling downstairs—shouting commands and instructions for the safety protocols.

The stairs shook like a stampede, then the door flew open. “Theo—your pack, grab it!” Tora urged.

Jay was behind her, the both of them soaking wet. We’d come to learn that those things, their smell was better than their sight. The water helped disguise us.

Jay had already grabbed the emergency pack that was stashed in a hole in the wall. Tora had pulled a large, chrome gun that was hidden behind the rickety dresser. The Eraser, as Vic called it, but it wasn’t ours. It was one of the few weapons left behind the last time they invaded.

She passed one to Jay. He slung it over his shoulder, then he grabbed a hold of my shirt and ripped me out of bed.

“Theo, I know you’re scared, but I need you to be strong.”

His words were foreign. Me… strong?

There was no time to respond. He pulled me down the stairs with Tora close behind.

The commotion from outside was overwhelming: firepower—theirs and ours. Screaming—theirs and ours.

Though their shouts were like nothing you’d ever heard before. It was like cracking open Hell’s core and listening to the abandoned souls all plead and cry at once.

We passed the front door, making our way through to the back of the old house. There was water all over the floor, and one full bucket left.

Jay doused my body in cold water, shocking me and snapping my senses awake.

Tora cracked open the back door, then glanced at us. Jay nodded. Then—we ran.

Entering the red glow was terrifying. It made you question whether you were dead or alive. Was this reality or had we already been sucked into Hell?

The families nearby were also running, though some stayed behind to fight—which I knew that’s what Vic and Boston were doing, too.

I spotted Ma in the distance. She was three houses down helping the children there get to the underground safety bunker. I wanted to go to her, but I kept my legs moving, though they begged for relief.

I never looked up. I couldn’t. If I saw the massive metallic discs that were here to consume us—I wouldn’t make it. I kept my eyes straight ahead on the back of Jay’s shirt.

It was a faded photo of a beach. If only we were there…

I smacked into Jay. He’d stopped. Both their guns were now pointed straight ahead.

My breathing was too fast. It felt unnatural, but I forced myself to look.

“I don’t have a clean shot!” Tora cried.

My eyes widened in horror. A few meters ahead stood the creature. Its skin pulsed, like an oil slick trying to pull itself from water. Its eye, a sunken hole. Its mouth too wide for any natural smile. And its chest, a cage that opened and shut, breathing and giving a glimpse of its guts every few seconds.

It had the neighbor boy in its spider-like grip. He was wounded, but still alive.

Jay sighed. “It’s better to die than to become one of them.”

Not a second passed before he pulled the trigger, placing a large hole in not only the creature, but in the boy, too.

Our escape continued. Tora sobbed the whole way there. I understood her sorrow, I liked that boy. But once the creature bit you—you’d soon become one of them.

“Theo!” Ma cried, her arms holding me tightly once we were in the underground chamber. I buried my face in her chest, shaking and sobbing.

“Where’s Vic?” Jay asked, crouching next to Boston to examine a gash on his brother’s arm.

“They came from every angle,” Boston said. “We slipped through, barely… I thought she was behind me, but once The Red slammed down in front of us, I couldn’t see. I turned and kept running… running blind until somehow I made it to the Mackenzie’s. Fell into their pond. I stayed in there until it was clear… but Vic… she’s still out there.”

I couldn’t breathe. My legs felt weak. Ma held me steady, moving me to sit down.

We have to go back! I frantically signed.

“Sweetheart…” Ma began, but her crying cut her off.

“We can’t go back,” Tora whispered, her tears falling just as steadily.

I looked around at the few dozen others that had made it.

Vic had helped put these bunkers together. Years of impossible work. We were safe because of her… I wasn’t going to allow her to be unsafe because of our fear.

I hesitated, then did the unthinkable. I snatched Tora’s gun. A man and his wife ducked down. The children screamed.

“Theo, what are you…?” Ma exclaimed.

Jay reached for it. I backed up.

The steel door hit my back, and before Jay could grab me, I yanked the latch, slipped through, and ran.

Jay pursued. In desperation, I fired the weapon at the ground, not far from him. He fell backward, staring at me utterly perplexed.

My eyes were apologetic, and I hoped he went back inside, but right now, my only focus was on finding my sister and bringing her back home.

Chaos was everywhere. Houses were on fire, mangled bodies—human and creature—littered the streets, and the sky looked like God had bruised it.

The hum overhead was deafening, the screams had faded into the background—but gunfire caught my attention.

I ran toward it, powering my speed and burning my lungs.

There. I spotted Vic.

She was lying near a field, clutching her bloodied side and dragging herself to safety. Though safety isn’t what followed her.

The tall black creature was close. But I was closer.

Horror pained her expression when she saw me. But before she could speak, I blocked her, pointing the gun at the creature.

Its stare bored into us. Its scream—made of pain.

I fired, but the shot was swallowed by the wall of red that slammed down. Blinded, I stumbled backward, trying to pull Vic away.

“Theo! Get the hell out of here! Run!”

I moved my mouth—coughing, choking, managing every sound except words.

“Theo, please, listen!”

I shook my head, still pulling.

The light vanished, so I quickly fumbled for the gun. The creature stepped forward. My hands shook, but I pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. I tried again—empty.

It stepped forward, ready to strike. Vic hauled her arm across me, shielding me the best she could.

I closed my eyes and screamed—a sensation in my chest I’d not felt before. Then a language left my lips—something we’d only heard spoken by them.

Vic watched me in astonishment.

The creature stepped back, unsure of what I was, then it lunged.

As if on autopilot, I hollered something. The creature shook, fumbled backward, then convulsed on the ground. Seconds later, it exploded.

We stared.

Vic looked to me. “Theo?”

Breathless, I answered, “Yeah.” The sound of my voice felt like a spark—small but ready to burn.

Our attention snapped forward. A wave of them spilled out of the darkness, flooding the street.

I stood, stepped forward, and spoke my first prayer.

“Are you there, God? It’s me… Theo. Thank you for my voice.”