Hidden Monsters

The fog was thick like the pancakes Pa used to make.

Alice could still remember how they tasted: that fluffy lightness that Pa had never quite mastered. She missed them. Him. A tug on her shirt broke her from her thoughts, and she looked down to see Clover’s big brown eyes looking up at her.

“What’s wrong?” Clover asked, and Alice blinked back, unsure how to answer that question.

She managed a smile, a pain aching in her side as she squeezed Clover’s hand. She looked back out ahead of them, at the vast road. A car lay abandoned to one side, its front folded unceremoniously around a tree. Twigs snapped in the distance. “Nothing, Lucky,” she teased as she looked back at her cousin, eyeing the treeline bordering the road before looking back at her cousin when she laughed.

“I’m not lucky,” Clover giggled as they began walking down the barren road, glass crunching under Alice’s boots as they passed the wreck of a car. 

“Sure you are,” mused Alice, but another pang in her side made her smile falter. She glanced down at her watch, a crack running through the dusted glass face. 6PM. She still had time. “You’ve gotten us this far, haven’t you?”

“I have not,” Clover smiled, gleaming eyes looking down at her yellow sneakers as she walked, kicking a rock as they went.

“You have,” Alice promised her, feeling the very beginning of tears starting to well in her eyes. She cleared her throat. “Remember when you climbed through that vent? And got us those pretzels and that cheese?”

Clover blew a raspberry. “Bleh. That cheese had all that gross stuff on it.”

“Mold.”

“Mold,” nodded Clover, making another face. “But those pretzels were good,” she said proudly, looking up at Alice.

“Very good,” Alice agreed, giving her a nod of reassurance. 

“Do you think we’ll have pretzels again sometime?” asked Clover, looking back at the foggy road ahead of them.

“Maybe,” Alice’s voice wavered, her free hand moving up to grip her backpack strap. It was heavy, packed with a few cans of vegetables, a half a box of matches, her and Clover’s sleeping bags, and a bottle of water for the both of them. Clover’s bag had the faded face of some cartoon character Alice didn’t recognize. “Have I ever told you how much I like your backpack?”

“Mine?” Clover sounded surprised, a grin splitting her rounded apple cheeks. She skipped a bit in her step. “Thanks. My mom gave it to me.” Her eyes saddened a bit, and Alice squeezed Clover’s hand again. Alice remembered the day they’d lost Clover’s mom.

“That’s cool, where did she get it?” Alice offered, and Clover kicked another rock.

“That big store downtown. It’s Georgia,” she nodded back at her backpack.

“Georgia,” Alice nodded, glancing at the strange character again. There was a quiet pause before Alice spoke again. “Clover, you remember what I told you about the dark?”

Clover nodded, although her smile had faded a bit. “It’s not scary?”

“Do you remember why?”

Clover looked up at Alice again. “Because we can hide from the monsters in it.”

Alice chewed at her lip. “Right.” She nodded. “That’s right.”

“I wish I could hide in Mom’s pantry again. That place was the best fort,” Clover frowned.

“We just gotta find a better fort, remember?” Alice nodded.

“Fort Errol,” hummed Clover in agreement.

“That’s right,” smiled Alice. Fort Errol was only a few miles away now. They were nearly there, or at least according to the map she’d found in Pa’s room. 

Clover fidgeted with her backpack. “And once we get there…?” 

“We’ll be safe,” Alice nodded, her eyebrows furrowing a moment later. 

“But how is it safe if it’s not in the dark?”

“Because there’s big strong grown-ups there that can protect you,” Alice confirmed, pursing her lips as they stepped over a patch of dried blood on the concrete.

“And you too, right?” Clover frowned, looking concerned.

“Sure,” Alice nodded, smiling a little. “But they might just want to take you,” she admitted hesitantly.

“Why?”

“Because you’re a kid.”

“So are you,” Clover argued, brow cinched tight. “You’re fifteen, right?”

“Fourteen,” Alice corrected quietly, squeezing her backpack strap.  

“So they’ll take you too,” promised Clover. 

Part of her hoped it was true. Surely, they must have developed something to help relieve the monsters’ poison. She could feel it seeping in through the tiny slice in her side. One claw. One tiny slice had let the venom into her bloodstream. She could still hear Clover’s scream from when they had been attacked. “Did it get you? Alice? Alice!” she had cried, as Alice buried her knife in the growling monstrosity’s head.

“It didn’t,” she had promised, getting up as Clover tackled her with a hug. “It didn’t get me.”

She’d never lied to Clover before that. 

She thought back to the creature that had attacked her. 

Large, shadowy beasts of swirling fur and spines. Legs barbed like an insect, teeth sharp like a coyote, eyes heartless and hunting. They all looked different, but they were all predators. Monsters that crawled out of the ground one day and never went back. Alice remembered the day she watched Pa shoot the first monster with his shotgun, she remembered watching it die in the grass beside the oak tree Ma used to love, blood like oil as it sept into the dirt. 

It splattered the streets where the two girls walked. The large creatures sometimes killed the smaller ones, Alice had discovered early on. They didn’t have mercy, not even for their own kind. 

“Alice,” Clover whispered, her boots squeaking as she abruptly halted. Alice’s arm jerked at the unexpected stop, and she followed Clover’s gaze. 

Just before the crest of a hill down the road, a creature was perched on the top of an overturned car. Birdlike, its beak was twisted like something out of a horror movie, feathery coating mottled and two legs prickling with thorn-like barbs. 

Alice turned slowly to Clover, bringing her finger up to her lips silently. Clover nodded. Alice scanned the area, heart pounding in her ears. The creature’s hissing echoed through the foggy woods. The treeline wasn’t far, but they’d have to make a run for it. There was a rusted white van nearby, the back door opened just a crack, the front end crushed into the back of a red minivan. Alice looked back at Clover, nodding at the van. Clover nodded once more in agreement.

They began to walk, steps careful and calculated. Alice kept her eyes on the creature, gripping Clover’s hand tightly every time it twitched its deformed head. Her side ached, almost as if the poison was trying to return to one of its own kind. Alice gritted her teeth, following Clover as she carefully stepped through a smattering of broken glass, using the gaps of clear concrete as stepping stones.

Alice’s side clenched painfully. She clenched her jaw, tears welling in her eyes. The creature hissed down the road. She turned her head to look. Clover tugged at her arm. Her side knotted once more. And just like that, Alice’s boot squeaked as she tripped, sending her to the ground.

She landed forearms down on the glass, a couple of the tears finally escaping at the sharp pains now shooting up to her shoulders.

“Alice!” Clover whispered urgently, still tugging at her arm, but the little girl’s eyes were stuck on the creature down the road.

Alice followed her gaze.

Much to her distress, she watched as the monster turned its head slowly towards them, calculated and cold. Two limbs stretched slowly from its back, and for a moment Alice thought they were arms, but they weren’t so lucky. Monstrous wings unfolded in a slow show of power, sending dust up as they began to flap, lifting the creature into the air.

“Run, Clover,” Alice said immediately, already scrambling to her feet. Her side had calmed, almost as if it knew their fate just as well as she did. “Clover, now!” she yelled, practically carrying the girl as she ushered them both towards the van.

The pair took off running, a loud screech erupting in the air as the beast flew towards them. “Go, Clover! Now!” Alice found herself yelling, practically slamming into the van when they finally reached it. She picked up Clover by the armpits, lifting her in and following close behind. She managed to get the door slammed shut as the creature screamed again, a vile sound that made Alice’s whole body ache.

She essentially tackled Clover to the floor of the van, enveloping her in her arms and protecting her head as the beast connected with the side of the vehicle. Glass shattered, and Clover screamed as Alice hastily tried to cover her mouth with her hand.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” she found herself crying. The monster roared, talons screeching as they ripped at the metal exterior of the van. Tires squeaked, the whole van rocking as the beast threw its body into it over and over again. Clover was still screaming. “You gotta be quiet, sweetie, please,” Alice begged, hushing her as best as she can, but a yell pulled itself from her own throat as the creature rammed the van once more. 

Their whole world spun as the van finally tilted over the edge of the road, rolling onto its side and then once more onto its roof. She tried to protect Clover’s small frame, hugging her close until the rolling stopped, the beast roaring outside as Alice’s head pounded and her side stung bitterly. 

She squeezed Clover tighter. Please. Only a few more miles. The van croaked, metal screeching as the beast’s claws finally broke through into the interior. Alice sobbed. The creature’s hiss was ten times louder then as it began forcing its way through the van’s cabin, teeth gnashing.

The gunfire made Alice’s whole body tense up. She held Clover impossibly closer as the beast wailed an unholy noise. Inky blood drizzled through, splattering Alice’s cheek. The guns went on forever, until the creature’s unearthly wailing finally ceased. Alice breathed hard.

“It’s dead,” she whispered in disbelief,

“Hello?” a voice called.

Alice stared at the daylight streaming through the gaps in the van wall.

“Hello??” the voice called again.

“Hello??” Alice shouted back, throat hoarse.

“Hello!” the voice confirmed, footsteps on the pavement approaching. 

“It sounds like a kid,” a stranger murmured on the other side. “Hang on, sweetie, we’re getting you out!”

Sweetie. Alice hadn’t been called that since before–

“Clover,” she whispered in realization, looking down at the girl in her arms. Clover’s eyes were closed, her round apple cheeks pale. “Clover?” she repeated, shaking her a bit. She blinked. “C-Clover?” Tears welled in her eyes as the door was finally ripped open.

“C’mon, sweetie, let us see,” one voice said, the van shifting as someone stepped in. They wore camouflage clothing, weapons strapped to their back. Someone pulled Alice away from Clover.

“You okay, darlin’?” a gruff man asked, his voice reminding Alice of Pa.

“Is–She’s okay, right? Clover?” Alice asked, tears making her vision bleary. The soldiers looked grim. Alice shook her head.

“We’re going to take her to our doctors back at the Fort and see, okay, honey?” a woman promised gently, moving to set a hand on Alice’s back.

Alice nodded, watching as they carefully picked up Clover. “Fort,” she repeated when she realized.

“Fort,” the woman agreed, rubbing circles in her back. “Fort Errol. Have you heard of it?”

Alice began to cry. 

“Aw, honey,” the woman frowned, pulling her into a side-hug as they walked. A military truck had been parked in the distance. When they reached it, Alice arched her back to see into the back, where a man was sitting with Clover on a cot. She was wrapped in a blanket, eyes still closed and peaceful. Alice shook her head again. “We’ll do everything we can, I promise,” the woman offered as she climbed in to sit by Alice. “You two are lucky we found you.” 

She’d been waiting for this. Waiting to hand Clover to the soldiers and tell them she had been poisoned. Tell them that the monsters’ venom was coursing through her veins. The words were stuck with her throat. She turned slowly back to face the front windshield, turning her back to Clover as she shook her head.

“We’re not lucky.”