John O'Brien - Sanctuary

Nicole stands in the parking lot and watches her dad, Robert, Lynn, and Bri leave the parking lot and disappear over the hill. She wanted to go with them but understands why her dad wanted her to stay. With a sigh, she turns to see soldiers begin to cart the bodies out of the outdoor store. They pile them in a back corner of the lot. There is activity at the front doors as Bannerman and other soldiers begin to install the security doors they fetched from the shop. The sun is warm on her shoulders and she fidgets in the dark fatigues, trying to become accustomed to the fit and style. Feeling a little useless at the moment, she walks over to the transport trucks with her grandmother and Michelle and helps unload supplies.

The remainder of the day passes quickly with the rest of night runner bodies being carted out and, with a liberal dose of diesel fuel, burned in the far corner of the lot. The large amount of corpses creates a vast funeral pyre. The doors get installed and tested along with steel shutters placed on the windows facing the entrance and the supplies are off-loaded into the store. With the sun dropping below the trees to the west, everyone gathers inside to eat, mostly in silence, and settles in for the evening.

“I think we’ll leave the generator going for the night so we can have our first night with lights,” Drescoll says addressing the tired group. “We’ll need to gather some of the blankets in the store and cover the doors and such so the light doesn’t show outside.”

The security doors, one on the inside and outside of each set of entryway doors, are rolled down and locked just as the last of the sun’s light vanishes and dusk sets in. The locking of the doors effectively shuts away the outside from the hopefully safe haven inside. Blankets are taped to the walls against the interior security doors to prevent any light leaking out. Nicole listens as Drescoll assigns watch schedules. Cots and sleeping bags, for everyone to sleep on, are pulled from shelves, out of boxes, and from storage areas.

Nic is setting up her cot and bag next to Michelle and her grandmother on the second floor when a clanging, crashing sound echoes throughout the interior. Nic startles and jerks her head toward the front entrance where the noise originated. Her heart pounds in her chest.

“Red Team, cover the side door. Alpha and Bravo, to the first floor and cover the entrance. All other teams, along the balcony. Green Team, on me, we’ll be in reserve,” Drescoll shouts.

A flurry of activity and noise follows Drescoll’s orders as soldiers gather their weapons and gear and make for their assigned positions; clicks of bolts being drawn back and released, vests being donned and zipped, radios tested, and shouts establishing orders from the team leaders. A semblance of order ensues and the teams take their positions as the slams against the outer security doors becomes increasingly numerous and much louder. Nicole observes the activities with interest from her position adjacent to a wall with a steel, gray door inset into it. Her head turns from the teams settling in and watches Drescoll take a position with Green Team nearby. Time passes differently and in a variety of ways for each of the survivors; some fearful, others restless, and even some annoyed at the intrusion on their evening.

Nicole feels of all of them. She is fearful that the night runners will find a way in yet confident that the soldiers around will take care of them and keep everyone safe in the event they do. She knows what they have been through in this past week or so and they have come through it okay every time. Her dad doing what he did and leading this group came as a big surprise to her. She had no idea her dad was capable of the things he did. She also feels restless not being able to do anything to help. She glances at the M-4 she grabbed that now lies across her lap, seeking assurance from it but none is given by the black plastic and metal.

Her restlessness and the fact that the night runners haven’t immediately broken in and assaulted them allows her mind to wander. She thinks over the days since the world changed, the exhilarations, fears, exhaustion, and closeness that the days have brought. How odd it is to be sitting in this particular place and time with all that has happened. It feels like a long, drawn out dream , she thinks looking around, her mind partially shutting out the noise of the night runners outside.

She has always been close to her brother, sister, and dad but the events they have been through have drawn them even closer. She feels bonded to them like no other time and feels an empty feeling inside without them around; watching Robert learn and become more self-confident and trying to impress Michelle; Bri watching everything and missing nothing even though she keeps that to herself; her dad trying to hold everything together and yet thinking he keeps making mistake after mistake. They have come through some pretty scary ordeals and have survived , she thinks observing the soldiers around her.

She feels a touch of sorrow for them with their being thrust into this situation without asking for it; that they have loved ones about which they know nothing and probably imagining the worst. Nicole wonders how they are able to get through each and every day with that kind of turmoil and stress. They must think about it but they don’t show it that she has seen. Maybe it’s the almost constant combat and busy surviving since that hasn’t allowed them to dwell on it . She turns her thoughts momentarily to her mom. A terrible loneliness and sadness fills her. She hopes that wasn’t her mom in the house and that she is alive and well somewhere, sending a prayer that they will meet up again once they become safe here. Her prayer also includes that her mom will become a part of their safe haven. The sadness and loneliness she feels is thinking of her mom out there alone and scared. A lone tear slowly trickles down her cheek and she shakes her head, clearing her thoughts.

The stars twinkle in the nighttime sky as a night runner stands in the parking lot watching other packs attack the doors of the building to his front. The smell of burning flesh rises to his nose from a glowing pile behind him. The pavement beneath his feet feels coarse and rough but not painful. It goes unnoticed as he continues to observe the shrieks and runs of the night runner packs trying to gain entry into the structure where food resides. The smell of the food faint yet distinct. The dashes of the individuals end with a dull, metallic clang that rises over the area.

He trots over to the side and sees the same activity with a door on the side of the structure. He has not joined any of the packs as yet but may have to soon. His stomach feels empty as he didn’t find any sustenance the night prior. It is becoming scarcer in this area and he knows, in his own way of thinking, that he will have to move to another area soon as this one appears to be hunted out. The sheer number of other night runners around him, trying to get to the food, is testament to that. In nights past, only a few of the closest packs would respond to the calls of food found. Now, an increasing number respond, many arriving after there is only bones left yet they gnaw on them trying to get every last scrap.

He jogs around the building away from the others looking for another way in. With him not being in a pack, he will be far down the pecking order for food if they do get in. He knows, in an animalistic way, that the only way he will eat from here tonight is if he is one of the first in. He rounds a corner and, with the continuous howls and clangs still filling the night air, he gazes upward. Once, several nights ago, he ate well by climbing on top of one of the two-legged lairs and coming through the top.