Shane sat with Kelly and Nat, listening to them chat. Kelly kept the conversation light, bringing up memories that made her sister burst into laughter. Each time Nat laughed, Kelly’s smile grew bigger. The little girl’s joy seemed to nourish her older sister. It inflated her spirit. With each of Kelly’s angelic chuckles, Shane grew more confident that they would all survive. Somehow.
“Light’s fading,” Steve said in a hushed voice.
Shane saw the big guy’s brow bore furrows of concern. He stood and studied the sky. The light blue had grown darker. His gut churned at the notion that the eternal night would return. They hadn’t had daylight for the length of a normal day, and he had no idea if Greenie would be so generous as to let the sun shine on them again.
“Make sure everyone is ready to move,” Shane said.
Steve nodded and turned away to carry out his order.
“Everything’s going to be okay, Shane,” Kelly said, taking his hand.
“I know,” he replied, unable to sound as confident as he’d hoped.
As if someone had their hand on a dimmer switch, the light blue sky grew darker. The sun had a black spot that started in its middle and slowly grew larger. Kelly’s hand slid out of his. He looked at her and saw confusion transform her expression.
“Kelly?” Nat said with concern.
“Yes,” Kelly replied, sounding confused. “I’m fine.” She said it like she refused to be otherwise.
He knew her determination wouldn’t be enough. Shane felt like he’d swallowed hot lead. Kelly was starting to forget again, and there was no way of stopping it.
“Jules, no!” Tracy shouted.
He spun around and saw the tall girl break free of Tracy’s grip and charge toward Jones’ clones.
“Damn it,” Steve growled, launching into action.
The linebacker leapt into the air just as Jules passed, slamming her to the ground. A popping sound resonated through the darkness, and Jules shrieked in pain.
“What the hell, Steve?” Tracy snarled. “Get off her, you overgrown oaf.”
“Sorry, Jules,” the linebacker said, sounding terrified at the idea that he’d hurt his friend. “I had to stop you.”
“Of course you did,” Jules snarled, cradling her left shoulder with her right hand. “Why do you have to be so stinking big?”
Tracy was at her side in an instant, inspecting her for injuries.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jules said, pushing Tracy away. She spoke to Shane, more fear than pain in her expression. “It’s coming back—the rage. Tie me up.”
It cut Shane to the bone to see her like this again. He hesitated for an instant, wanting to believe Jules couldn’t be taken again. Maurice had been on a trajectory to hit her as well and had stopped short when Steve took her down.
“Do it,” Shane said.
Maurice’s brow dropped, and he scooped the rope that had bound her earlier off the ground.
Shane’s heart sank deeper when he remembered Kelly. He spun to see her face clouded with terror. In the fading sunlight, she looked at him, and he knew why she was afraid. Her memories were dissipating like grains of sand in a gust of wind. She seemed to forget why she was afraid, and her face went blank, any sign of recognition vanishing from her eyes.
Darkness fell upon them.
“This is a sack of shit,” Steve said.
Shane could see the black spot that was the setting sun. Its faint halo teased them, not even enough to see by. To the south was the beacon of light coming down from the sky. He squinted in the darkness, straining his eyes to focus on Kelly.
“Everyone, pack up,” he shouted with urgency.
Silence hung on for a few more seconds, and then nervous chatter and the sounds of backpack stuffing took over.
“I’ve got a bad feeling,” Steve whispered. He’d moved closer to Shane in the darkness.
“Me too,” he replied, scanning the forest to the north. “We have to get moving.”
He went to Kelly, kneeling on the grass next to her.
“Who are you?” she asked. “How did I get here?”
Nat still sat near her, the little girl’s eyes wet with tears.
“It’ll be okay,” Shane said. “Nat, go pack your stuff.”
Nat looked at him a moment longer, the sadness in her expression drilling through his chest. Then her head drooped as she stood and did what he told her.
He looked at Kelly, trying to keep his voice calm so she wouldn’t freak out. “Your memory has been erased. We love you and are here to help you. You have to go with us now.”
Kelly stared at him, seeming to try to decide if she could trust him.
“No! My feet are stuck,” someone shrieked. “Help!”
Shane turned toward the sound and could see a faint green glow emitting from the ground under a girl standing twenty yards away. The silhouettes of kids backed away as she began to scream. Running toward her, he watched the green light rise out of the soil onto her shoes. It went higher, a thin green line that burned everything it touched. The girl continued screaming, and her feet disintegrated into ashes. The light suspended her, holding her in the air as it devoured her ankles and then her calves.
“Shane, don’t do it,” Tracy yelled.
He couldn’t stop, couldn’t see yet another person get killed. Shane launched into the air, hoping to tackle the girl and push her off the green fire. The circle of light consuming the girl moved, taking its victim with it, just before he could grab her. Landing in the grass, he rolled and came to his feet. Right behind him, Steve dove at and missed the girl as well.
The green light stopped rising when it was a foot off the trampled grass, and the girl dropped into it as it darted out of Shane’s way once again. She disappeared up to her stomach, ash raining out beneath the light. The green glow rose to her chest and the girl stopped screaming, her incinerating lungs no longer able to move air. The look of terror and unimaginable pain remained on her face as she sank past her shoulders and then vanished into the light.
A green disk remained, the same diameter of the girl’s head. It rose into the air, illuminating the ashes it created. The powdery remains of the girl lay in neat lines, clearly drawing a large arrow on the grass. It pointed south at the light he reckoned marked the landing site of the Anunnaki spaceship. The disk vanished, taking its green light with it.
Steve punched the ground where he’d fallen. Cursing, he came to his feet. Shane stood, trying to break his mind free of the paralysis induced by the horror he’d witnessed.
“We have to go now,” he said, his voice hoarse.
He walked to his pack, threw it onto his shoulder, and looked around. No one argued. The rest of the kids, even the little ones, did the same thing as Shane. They headed south, and he took up the rear with his friends once again. The kids’ shock faded, and he could hear some of them crying as they walked. Greenie was breaking them, turning them into cattle that it herded toward a confrontation with the Anunnaki—toward the slaughterhouse.
Laura walked with Kelly ahead of them, explaining where she was and what had happened to her. Kelly asked a few questions before she seemed to silently contemplate what Laura told her. Probably overwhelmed by the nightmarish world in which she’d awoken, she stopped and stared at the ground. Laura grabbed her arm and urged her along.
Shane wished he could go to Kelly, comfort her, but he had nothing positive to say. The hope and joy that had bloomed in him while the sun shined and she had her memory wilted in the cold darkness.
The moon rose behind them, lighting the world enough for them to see.
“Greenie’s reward for our obedience,” Tracy said, pointing at the moon. There was pain and sadness in her voice, but she’d suppressed it so it was barely noticeable. “They give us moonlight to walk by and sunlight to rest in.”
She walked beside him, keeping an eye on Jules from behind. Tracy knew as well as he did they couldn’t wallow in the horror of what happened; they had to hold their shit together and try to keep everyone alive. Steve, Maurice, Laura, and the Russians were onboard as well, returning to soldier mode. Their training and experiences had developed this warrior side of their personalities, and they’d learned to switch it on and off as needed.
Tracy had bound Jules’ injured arm across her body like it was held in a sling. Her other arm was anchored to her waist by a rope tied around her like a belt. Maurice stayed close to Jules, taking up the duty of guarding her like she was a prisoner once again.
The thin, white light of the moon allowing him to see a decent way, Shane scanned the field. He didn’t see anyone straggling away from the group, and the kids marched along at a good pace. The rest had done them well.
“They’re getting more disciplined,” Tracy grimly observed.
“Yeah, enough to stay together,” he replied. “But how do we get them ready for a fight?”
“You starting to think it’ll come to that too?” Steve asked.
He walked on Shane’s right side, holding his rifle in his hands such that he could bring it to bear in an instant if necessary. Shane held his gun the same way. Unfortunately, they were useless against Greenie.
“Doesn’t it always?” he replied, slinging the weapon over his shoulder.
“We will have to train them while we march,” Anfisa interjected, overhearing their conversation from Steve’s other side.
“I don’t see how we have any other choice,” Shane agreed. “If we get a few hours of sunlight again, we have to let them rest. There will be no time to teach them.”
“We should probably start now while they’re fresh,” Tracy said. “They’ll be useless in a few hours.”
“Agreed,” Shane replied. “It’ll help distract them from what they just saw.”
He looked forward to the diversion as well, expecting even the hardest among them needed something to take their minds off the girl who’d been turned to ash by Greenie.