Rook Winters - Weight of Ashes

“Can anyone hear me? Does anyone need help?”

There was no moaning, no small movements. Nothing. It was hard to look at them. It was a grotesque slaughter, and she knew there were more dead in the buildings.

Maybe it’s better that Court didn’t come. This was his family.

The charred ruins of the cabins stood like grotesque monuments. Those monsters had let them burn while they methodically slaughtered each individual. When they had finished, they’d stopped the fires, but Elle didn’t understand how. These people, whoever they were, had access to technologies that humans weren’t supposed to have. If they wanted her, it was only a matter of time. At least they had left, which meant they didn’t know she was here. But how long would that last?

She moved from cabin to cabin, stopping to throw up several times from the sights and smells until she was coughing up nothing but drops of clear liquid.

“Hello?” she shouted. “Anyone? Please? Someone.”

She kept shouting until her throat hurt.

The last place she checked was the hospital. Vaidehi was sprawled on the steps, her torso torn to shreds.

Why are they using alien tech but shooting people with guns?

It didn’t make sense but it also didn’t matter. Elle closed Vaidehi’s eyes and sat beside her. She clutched the doctor’s blood-caked hand in her own. It felt unnatural but she didn’t let go.

So much death.

She sobbed like she had on her first day here. Long after her eyes had stopped spilling tears, her body continued to heave.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but the sun was casting long shadows when she heard Court.

“They’re all gone,” he said. His eyes were puffy and the dirt on his face was streaked with lines.

“I know.”

“Marsh… they didn’t shoot him. I thought, maybe…”

“They used a Scorpion on him. It’s a neuroelectrical immobilizer. At full strength, it’s just as lethal as a gun. They didn’t spare anyone, not even the kids.”

Fresh tears traced new lines down his cheeks, painting his grief on his face. It was beyond anything a person should know, and she had no idea what to say to that.

Neither of them moved for several minutes, until the sounds of rustling and soft thuds made their heads snap to attention. Elle gripped the mag gun and they followed the sound.

Did I miss someone?

She was sure she had checked everywhere. Her heart sank at what she saw. A dog was dragging one of the children toward the trees. It growled as they approached.

“Leave him alone,” she hollered. The dog didn’t stop and she raised the mag gun. Court pushed it back down.

“Nothing else dies today.” He charged and shouted at the animal. It let go of the boy’s leg but looked like it would stand its ground. Only at the last second did it turn and run.

“I thought there weren’t dogs around here.”

“That was a coywolf. It doesn’t deserve to die for trying to eat. But it’ll be back and probably with its pack. We need to do something. I don’t want the animals to pick their bodies apart. That seems disrespectful.”

Elle looked down at the dead boy. She didn’t know his name, but she’d seen him playing in the village. There were so many of them, so many bodies. They buried their dead here. Elle remembered how long she’d needed to dig a hole large enough for just her helmet and suit.

“We can’t bury them fast enough.”

Court looked at the blackened remains of his home. “Let’s move them into the meeting hall. Then we’ll…” He choked on his words, and it took several breaths for him to find his composure. “Then we’ll burn them there, together.”

The stretcher from the hospital was still intact, so they used that to carry the deceased, starting with those lying out in the open. As they loaded each body onto the stretcher, Court would say the person’s name. For some, he shared a story or a memory while they carried them. Elle felt fresh pangs of anguish with each one.

When they came to Walker’s body, Court dropped to his knees and held the boy in his arms. He rocked back and forth cradling him.

“We should’ve taken him with us today. He’d still be alive if we’d just…”

Elle knelt beside Court and put a hand on his shoulder.

“This isn’t your fault, Court.”

“But if we’d only—”

“No, there was nothing we could have done. It’s what we do now that matters, and we need to keep working. We’re running out of light.”

When the sun fell below the trees, they built several fires to keep the animals away and provide extra light while they worked. As the night drew on, the bodies grew rigid and harder to move. A few hadn’t made it out of the cabins and were burned beyond recognition. Court made guesses about their identities but it was challenging in the dim moonlight.

By the time they were moving the last body, the sun was back in the sky, chasing away the damp chill.

Elle counted the bodies and then Court did the same.

“192. That’s everyone. We’re the only ones who survived.”

They covered the bodies in straw, branches, and kindling from the village’s firewood.

Elle’s hair and clothes were drenched in sweat, and her arms were beginning to give out, but Court wasn’t slowing down. He continued carrying more firewood.

“I need to rest,” she said.

He dropped the wood from his arms and fell to the ground on the spot as if he had been waiting for her to give him permission to stop.

“Yeah, let’s rest.”

She lay down on the ground near him. The warmth of the rising sun almost felt comforting on her face.

I’ll just close my eyes for a few minutes…

A soft prodding on her arm woke her. She had to squint against the sun when she tried opening her eyes. It wasn’t high in the sky so she couldn’t have been sleeping long.

Why is Court waking me up so soon?

She pushed away whatever he was poking her with. It was warm and humid. And it sniffed. She opened her eyes all the way and screamed. A coywolf showed its teeth as it snarled. Her mind raced trying to come up with a viable defense when she was flat on her back. It lunged and she swung her arm. Her fist bounced against the side of its head but without room for a full swing she didn’t connect with enough force to do any damage. Her arm burned as it slid against the tip of a fang.

The beast was on top of her instantly. She kicked and flailed to keep it from getting to her neck. It sunk its teeth into her forearm and she screamed louder. She smelled its foul breath as it snorted and growled. The coywolf shook its head, and she feared it would tear her arm off.

Then the animal lost its grip and flew off her with a yelp. Silhouetted by the sun, Court stood over her with pieces of firewood in his hands. He threw one at the coywolf’s ribs then jumped between her and the animal, moving the other piece of wood from his left hand to his right. The coywolf growled and leaped. Court swung the piece of hardwood into the side of its snout. Something cracked as the wood made contact and the beast barreled into him with a whimper.

In the chaos of the collision, Court wrapped one arm around the coywolf’s neck and another under its front legs. After several seconds of struggle, he locked his legs around its body and squeezed.

Elle ran for the mag gun. Her arm stung like it was on fire.

By the time she returned with the gun, the coywolf’s resistance was little more than twitching. Court’s face was tight with rage. It scared her. When the animal stopped moving, he relaxed his legs but kept squeezing the neck. Court made a guttural sound that turned into heaving sobs and a fresh flood of tears.