James Scotson - Planets Falling

Thresh laughs. “You’ll get your girl. But you won’t kill me. So, Amy, where’ve you been since we visited your town? Sorry about the mess.”

“Looking for my daughter. Can I see her?”

“If you tell me what I want to know. How many were traveling with you?”

“Ten others, heavily armed. They’ll come back for me. What are those things with you? They’re not of this earth, are they?”

Thresh doesn’t seem concerned about my exaggeration. “The creatures — we call them grubs. They found me, actually. I was living with my stepfather. My mother left him and me years ago. He was a mean, nasty son of a bitch. Beat me. The whole town turned their backs while he thrashed the hell out of me.” She pulls down the front of her dress and shows me scars running across her breasts and stomach. “I’m descended from a line of oystermen. We grew mussels and oysters for the village through the years. My stepfather exploited my gift and forced me to harvest beyond what the beds could support. His greed was killing the productive coastline that took my kin centuries to cultivate. I have a sister somewhere. She ran away years ago — too weak to face the man.”

“Where’d the grubs come from?” I’m afraid I already know the answer.

“They came down from the mountains in a thick, brown fog. Its the way the others-the ones from beyond this world, this reality — travel. They shape the grubs from the fog….use it like clay in their image and travel in them. I discovered I could talk with them — the grubs. I asked for emancipation. They’d give it to me for my allegiance. And my knowledge. They taught me how to use the fog to raise the dead — my own way to shape beings in my own way. Like a god. Can you believe the luck? The villagers saw that I could communicate with the grubs and feared me. The walking dead didn’t help, I guess.” She giggles. “They accused me of witchery and tried to hang me. The grubs and I eliminated them all. The townspeople serve me better dead than alive.”

“You sold out all those people for your freedom?”

“Gladly. My family fed those innocent people for generations and they turned on me. People fail you in the end. The grubs, they’re the family I’ve got. The images, visions, they send are magnificent. They hold promise for a new world. I want to be part of it. In charge of it.”

“The dead. How do you make them rise?”

“I don’t know exactly. I summon them and can see through their eyes. I think you’ll be able to see through them as well. I need you to join me.”

Realization dawns on me. I’m a freak like Thresh. I’m as much to blame for these horrors as she is. I gather my strength and ask, “Then who are those people with you?”

“Disciples. Converts. Not sure what to call them. But I convinced them that following me is the path to salvation. Or else they become dinner for the grubs.” She pauses, looking thoughtful. “Let’s go see your girl.”

I hate myself for feeling something strangely like gratitude toward Thresh. We rise and head for the entrance. We both jump at the sound of a woman’s voice outside. It’s Bets yelling for her captors to release her. We enter the clearing to find Bets flat on the ground, hands bound behind her back, flopping like a fish out of water. She sees me. “Marksman, for gods’ sake, what happened to you? Tell them to let me go.”

“Bets, I don’t think they’ll listen to me.”

Thresh orders her goons, “Let Bets stand up.” She turns to me. “I presume that you two are acquainted? Bets, please tell me. How many more of you are wandering the woods?”

Bets spits at Thresh, struggling to free herself from the arms of the two men holding her. She’s furious and bleeding profusely from her forehead.

I say, “Bets meet Thresh. I don’t think you two are going to see eye to eye on things. Bets, they have the monsters that destroyed our village. I’d do what they say or you’re going to be ripped to pieces and eaten.”

This declaration agitates Bets further as she’s dragged away into a nearby tent. I’ll find Eliza first and worry about Bets later. Thresh leads me to a small tent at the edge of the clearing. Joy fills me as I hear the sound of a little girl giggling. I rush toward the tent and am about to enter when I’m knocked back by a huge rush of air. It’s a concussion grenade smacking into one of the nearby tents. Thresh shouts orders to her followers. The grubs fan out toward the edge of the clearing. I try to rise but my left leg is limp. I look down at my hands, which are slick with blood. Impossibly white bone juts out of my shin. I murmur, “Eliza” and the scene vanishes.

I awake in the dark with Samuel standing over me. “Hush,” he whispers. “They’re searching for us and they’ve still got Bets.”

“Eliza?” I ask. I sit up and my vision blurs. I’m so close to her. They can’t stop me.

“Amy, I know. You’ve been saying her name for the past couple of hours. Your leg’s snapped and you have a nasty head wound. You ain’t going nowhere. Theo’ll get your girl back if she’s there.”

I hear yells, explosions, and shots in the distance. Theo and English appear, winded but unharmed. Theo asks how I am and looks at me sadly. He whispers, “We tried to get Liza but those things eat all our weapon fire. We can’t get close enough to hit any of the people.”

“Eliza’s in there. You’ve got to go back.” The pain’s excruciating but my panic is worse.

Theo kneels and touches my shoulder. “We’ll try again tomorrow night, I promise. It’s almost dawn and we need to find the horses and set up camp. They won’t be leaving without us fighting them.”

As light returns, I drift in and out of sleep. English sets my leg — too eagerly, I think. The pain is almost welcome, temporarily erasing my thoughts of my daughter and the wicked woman holding her. While I drift in and out of exquisite anguish, I listen to the men’s conversation.

Samuel coughs. “Do you really think the girl’s in there?”

Theo answers. “I got no idea. I believe there’s a child in there. But I don’t know if it’s my goddaughter. If they got her, I’m going to slaughter them.”

“Those are the same monsters that destroyed home,” Samuel notes. “They done brush off our fire like its gnats.”

English nods. “I can’t even begin to imagine what them things are. It’s like hell’s opened and swallowing us whole.”

“Do you think Bets is still alive?” Samuel asks.

“Don’t know. I suppose they’ll keep her around until they’re sure they learned as much as they can from her.” Theo pulls out the tablet. “Look all, I’ve something to show you. Don’t know what to make of it.” I look through the corner of my eye as an image of the area appears in full color. Theo motions with his fingers and the image zooms on the clearing. We can clearly see shadowy images of the grubs, tents, and people. “I’m pretty sure this thing’s showing us what’s happening all around us. I’m getting the hang of using it. From what we can see here, we’ve killed two of their people. There are about ten of those monster things over at the north side. They’re expecting us to attack up there, near where we retreated. At nightfall, we attack from the south behind this tent.” He zooms on one of the tents. A silhouette, undeniably female from the side, is standing, apparently bound to a pole. “This is likely Bets. So, it seems she’s still with us. Samuel, English, you go and release her.” He selects another tent and there, on a mat, is a miniature human. My heart races. “There’s the kid. I’ll go there first and release hell’s fury. I’ll grab her and run back to your position here on the map. We’ll head back out where we came from, then track back to get the horses and Amy.”