The Underbelly

Rays of summers gold softened, giving way to purple hues of dusk. Susan’s stealth placement of her steps made no sound in the dry underbrush. She inched closer, straining against the thick brush that engulfed everything around her. Her sweat absorbed into the leather grips of her weapon, making it slippery if she had to do combat. Branches pressed deeply into her exposed flesh, droplets of blood trickling from the wounds. Up ahead she could see the thinning of the foliage as the trail widened. As she hunted, she could not let her guard down and become the prey.

The mountains were the safest place to be, but everyone who knew that fled the chaos here. Food was scarce as nature’s resources were pushed to the boundary of extinction. For that matter, so was mankind.

Beneath the think canopy of scrub brush and eternal pines she felt safe…well, safe enough. It had become home for her and her sister Clair. Their camp was well hidden and they slept inside the a small cave that they had cleared out. They made small fires for cooking, but doused it quickly once done, being safe not to give up their location.

Clair and Susan were fortunate to have grown up with a father that believed in the 2nd amendment and that hunting and fishing were not mere pastimes but survival requirements. He was not a full on “prepper”, but taught the girls what he thought they needed to survive and thrive in the wilderness .

Clair might be her younger sister, but her abilities were far superior to Susan’s. She was also a superior tactician.

“I can’t believe we’re arguing over this.” Susan and Clair had been hashing out the plan for weeks and they still had not finalized their attack. Susan wanted to play it safe and stay as far away from the others as possible. Clair was of the opinion if they are not hostile, they could be possible allies.

Susan could see the advantage of numbers, but was apprehensive about risking the location of their cave and someone taking what little food they had. And what benefit could we offer to their small army?

Susan’s position in the brush gave her a excellent vantage point to case the other’s camp. It had taken them weeks to devise the plan, now it was go time.

She crouched, waiting for the the diminishing sunset to deepen into darkness. The plan was to wait in the shadows and observe the camp, looking for weaknesses or an opportunity to make a move.

Clair could not see her sister but trusted that by now she was in position. Now, it was a practice in patience, waiting for the prey to come walking out into the open beneath her blind, like an eight point buck strutting through a clearing oblivious to the danger that lurks above.

The night was almost fully dark, only a freshly cut finger nail sliver of the moon was out. Patches of deep darkness made movement almost impossible to see. Susan thought her mind was playing ticks and she was seeing shadows dancing against the black.

It was time to move. Either there were people hiding in the shadows of the camp, or they had left. Susan raised herself sloth-like, muscles aching, straining to recover the lost blood flow. Again, she could feel the sweat dripping down her sides under her shirt. She pushed forward from the brush that had been concealing her for more than an hour. Ever at the ready, she moved like a cat slinking after prey, poised for attack.

Susan remembered everything their father had taught them about stalking. “Stay down wind, stay low, control your breathing and be ready.” His words had a haunting presence in her focused mind. Maintaining her crouch, she inched closer.

Closer now, she could barely make out the outline of the camp. In the center was a circle pile of rocks with a log laid on one side, away from the prevailing evening breeze. “Smart, they are no amateurs”, she thought.

Just to the left of a giant pine was a small pile of sticks and branches, “a lean- to”. Her grip tightened on her sharpened spear, she had to be ready. Another step forward, still no movement.

“Stop right there.” said a low male voice from behind her. She froze.

“Drop your weapon and turn around, slowly” he commanded.

Susan’s legs began to shake with panic as she tried to do what was said, while thinking of what being captured meant. Her eyes blinking madly, already feeling them well with tears. Hands raised, searching as she turned, trying to see who had spoke. She saw nothing, there was no one there. She strained against the darkness to break through, to see a figure in the dense emptiness. She saw nothing.

“What do you want?” The voice came from the ground a few feet away a shape rose to tower over her. Susan could see now that it was a soldier dressed in a dark ghillie suit. Susan had remembered something like it from a Army/Navy surplus store.

Susan just stared in disbelief. She thought all the military had been killed or deployed to fight. She was not expecting to ever see one hiding out in their woods.

Clair pounced out from her hiding spot weapon raised, growling and poking her spear at the man. “Clair, stop!” Yelled Susan.

Clair, her weapon now drawing a trickle of blood from the man’s neck , held it firm against his skin. “Aw, there are two of you.” He said coyly, like the spear to his carotid was of no concern. “Look, you may be good hunters, you would have to be to survive this long, but you’re not killers. I, on the other hand, am, and it wouldn’t be my wish to kill either of you. For my sake, and yours, put down the spear and we can talk about what can happen next.” Again, his calm instructions were followed.

Several hours passed as the man, Sergeant Doug Anders, laid out his story. 



“So you see, we lost control of the front, my entire regiment was wiped out in a single barrage. I was the only one to make it out alive. Our rally point was compromised, so I kept moving further and further away, looking for command. Looking for anyone in charge. I never found it. There was just desolate wasteland all the way here. I took refuge and have been waiting for any kind of news. Waiting for anyone else that made it out alive.”

His voice trailed off. He hung his head and seemed hopeless. Now Susan could see his hands were bandaged, with dirty black t-shirt strips.

Susan looked at her sister and nodded in the direction of his hands.

“How did you hurt your hands so badly? Are you in pain? We have some first aid supplies back at our place if we can help.” Susan’s voice was kind and Sergeant Anders knew he needed proper treatment. The local flora and fauna didn’t provide much in the way of healing herbs he could have used to heal the wounds.

“I wouldn’t want to be an imposition, but some simple antibiotic ointment and clean gauze wrap would really help. If you can spare them.”



Clair was excited to finally have someone else to talk too, and a big strong man was just what she had wished for.

All the way back to their cave, the hairs on the back of Susan’s neck pricked up. Something about this night was not right. It was not Sergeant Anders per se, nor was it his camp. It was more like they were being watched. No matter where she looked into the darkness, she couldn’t see anyone. There was nothing out beyond the shadows, she told herself. It was just her imagination.

The entrance to their cave was well hidden, between two large purple sage that had to be 10 feet tall and just as wide. They had been cautious to cover their footsteps, never leaving evidence of a path, just in case someone happened by. Their new friend seemed to be impressed that they had been able to keep it a secret so long.

Inside they had divided the room into three sections. There was a blanket on the ground with another folded on top for sleeping. They had a space for supplies jackets, boots, clothes, two rucksacks, and a couple of military mess kits they used for eating. The last section was for defense. A pile of large rocks created a three foot high arched wall that faced the cave entrance. Behind the wall were baseball size rocks, a sling, several sharped spears, rope and a machete.

Sergeant Anders quickly took stock of the room, cataloging everything he could see. He gave out a whistle when he saw the makeshift fort. “Looks like you ladies know what you are doing.”

Susan rummaged through the rucksack for the first aid kit. “Here we go, let’s have a look at those hands.” She had returned with the kit and a canteen of water. He began to slough off the ghillie suit, then other layers one by one. She gently removed the dirty coverings and began to wash the wounds while he winced from the pain.

“I thought you military guys were supposed to be tough.” Said Clair.

“Hey, when you have exposed nerves from burns this deep, it hurts.”

Susan could see from his hands and forearms that underneath was a strong man, a very strong man. She stopped herself from staring, daydreaming, and focused back on the task at hand.

“Can I help in anyway?” Clair’s question was directed at Sergeant Anders, but her sister responded. 



“Clair, please go see if there is anymore water in your canteen, mine is dry.”

She opened her ruck and pulled out her canteen and a baggie with some dried rabbit she had saved from their last meal. “Here, I have some dried meat if you are hungry.”

“Thanks, but I’ll have something when I get back to my camp. I should go. If you two need anything please feel free to stop by, in the daylight. Don’t wait until dark and you won’t need those spears.”

The three laughed.

The next morning after she woke, Clair found Susan down by the little river refilling their canteens. Her eyes focused on the bushes on the other side and her spear propped against a rock in a ready position. The water was clear, cool and had a sweet taste Clair liked.

It didn’t have that chlorinated city water taste she hated.

“What do you think of my Sergeant Beefcakes?” Clair had always been more interested in men than Susan, but she never let Clair know that.

“He’s kind of cute. Besides… I saw him first, and if what he says is true about everyone being gone, we might just have to start a re-population center right here in our little old cave.” Susan’s jab at her sisters ‘beating around the bush’, brought a boil to Clair’s blood.

“YOU DID NOT SEE HIM FIRST.” She screamed at Susan in a panther like growl.

“Come, on. Calm down. I was just kidding. Jesus, you are already protective of him. You haven’t even slept with him yet… Maybe he’s gay.” Again, Susan poked at her sister knowing she couldn’t take it.

“Take it back…” Clair pushed her sister, who was still squatting at the waters edge. Susan fell in with a large splash. She stood up and began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Clair’s rebellious voice questioned her sisters behavior.

“Well, if you think about it. If he is the only man left on earth and we are the only two women left on earth. We will just have to share.” Susan’s logic was sound and made perfect since.

“God, I hope he’s not gay.”

The sisters embraced and laughed.

It had been a couple of days since they had seen Sergeant Anders, who they now called by his first name, Doug. He had planned a trip down to the nearest town to check things out and would be back in a day or so. The sisters had busied their time by moving his camp into their cave. He had shown them where he had hidden his provisions and where they could find his emergency equipment.

They had moved, lock stock and barrel, to the cave and created a forth space, the man cave.

He had a fishing pole with hooks and weights which added to their diet by introducing rainbow trout an alternative to rabbit.

Now that the move had been complete, they were getting worried.

As the light of the day faded, they gave up their vigil from the rock outcropping that gave them a clear view of the path out off the mountain.

“We just have to wait. Perhaps he found something or moved to another town. He’ll be back. We just have to be patient.” Susan’s words were hollow, she wanted to run down that path and look for Doug. She knew Clair was thinking the same thing.

“What if he is hurt? What if he had an accident? He could be lying down there in town bleeding to death. Why we sit here and wait. Screw that, if he is not back by morning, I’m going after him.” Clair stared a Susan waiting for her rebuff, there was none. The two women agreed. If he was not back by morning they would have to be the search party.

At the edge of town the two women stopped and peered down the main street through a set of binocular that belonged to Doug. The street was littered with smoldering burned out vehicles. There was glass and piles of rubble covering sidewalks from destroyed buildings down the length of the street.

“If they did this to a small town out here in the middle of nowhere, what do you think the big cities look like?” Susan handed the binoculars to Clair and her shocked expression confirmed the disaster.

“Let’s go, we need a closer look.”

At the far end of the street was what looked like a mangled school bus that had been parked blocking the entrance to the town. It was blown to shit, still smoldering like all the other vehicles they had passed.

From the underside of the front twisted axle they saw a flash of brilliant light.

“Is that a flashlight?” Clair pointed in the direction it was coming from.

“I think it is a reflection, like a mirror or something.”

“Didn’t Doug say that was how solders use to signal planes that were on bombing missions, so the pilots would know where the good-guys were.”

Sergeant Anders crouched down hiding. He motioned for the women to stay down and to move quickly to his position.

He had his finger pressed to his lips, beckoning they stay quiet as they approached. He pointed around the tire of the bus to the far side of the last building. There attached to the side of the building like a spider walking on the ceiling, was the enemy.

“I think it is asleep.” Whispered Doug into Susan’s ear. Then he pointed for all of them to retreat to the next car up the block.

As they moved Sergeant Anders kept his eyes glued to the corner of the building praying it would not wake up. That it would not see them. He had witness first hand the damage, the carnage that it could inflict.

“We need weapons. We need to kill it, or it will hunt us down and eat us all.” His voice was shaky and his eyes darted into each shop as they passed, looking for anything that could used as weapons.

“They hunt on sight and sound, correct?” Clair was trying to remember what she had heard on the news before her and Susan fled to the hills for safety.

“Yes, what did you have in mind.” Clair pointed to the towns central fire station, and started running in a low crouch in that direction.

They took refuse in the main office of the fire station and Clair laid out her plan.

“What do you think?”

Both Susan and Doug were thinking it through, visualized the parts of the plan, trying to find a flaw.

“Sounds good to me. I vote we give it a try.” Susan patted her sister in recognition. It was a good plan.

The engine roared to life. Doug was at the far end of the ladder and Clair would work the controls, while Susan drove. The hook and ladder fire truck turned onto the main street and Susan dodged smoldering cars the best she could, it was a tight corridor to maneuver.

As they approached the end of the street Clair raised the ladder into position, they would only get one shot at the underside of the creature, its week spot, but that was all they needed.

Doug was now in position at the top of the ladder with a fire ax in hand ready to strike the under belly of the beast. Susan hit the button, the siren whaled and the lights flashed from the top of the cab.

The beast woke. It flapped its wings and came around the building just as the fire truck reached the corner.

The ax struck it’s mark, the shell of the beast cracked open and the warm gooey entrails spilled like warm caramel from inside covered Doug and the back of the ladder. Susan hit the breaks, the ladder shuddered under the immense pressure. She turned in the drivers seat just in time to see the beasts wings fluttered, and it’s body crash to the ground.

Susan opened her eyes, turned on her side towards her husband Doug.

“I had the craziest dream.”