The Day The Came Back…

LII

“You look like something the cat dragged in,” Heard VII, an older man with a prosthetic leg, commented as I walked on my route past the West Canal.

It was along the old textile factory, a rundown building with moss growing on its walls and cracking pillars. We weren’t allowed to go inside because it was radioactive, but we were supposed to guard it.

It didn’t make sense, but then again, our world was filled with things that would’ve been impossible two years ago. So I didn’t ask any questions.

Besides, guarding it was VII’s job.

He sat on the upturned crate outside the guard post, inspecting me with a frown and a crease between his brows. "You look like you're expecting the inspector," I said.

I shrugged, with a small smile that vanished seconds later. "Just keeping fit. I don’t want to be dead weight when I have to run, you know."

He glanced at his fake leg that he spent months working on and was very proud of, patting it. “Eh,” he shrugged, the corner of his mouth twitching. “I always have an excuse. Besides, I don’t plan on outliving you.”

He laughed at his own joke, but his expression clouded with worry as he looked at the sky.

"Go home early tonight, LII, if Command lets you,” he mumbled. “Hug someone. Eat your last supper. Do something meaningful with your life.”

“You don’t know if it'll happen today.”

He gave me a grave look. “But it might.”

I pursed my lips. “Orders are orders, you know that. And it’s just a patrol, not a funeral.”

VII sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck. I frowned when I glimpsed the tremor in his hand. " ‘course it is,” he whispered to himself. “ ‘We're all waiting for our time. That’s all.”

I walked away when he began mumbling to himself, reassuring myself he was just anxious about the date as my palms grew sweaty.

We all were.

* * *

When the monthly visit happened later the same day, the birds were the first to stop.

Not that there were many of them left.

The creatures—monsters—didn’t go after the birds or the animals. They were collateral damage, too small or too slow to get out of the line of attack.

And some of them were smart enough to migrate to wherever it wasn't hell.

But the ones that remained, alerted us to the presence that we could already feel clouding the air. I was still on patrol, just rounding up, when the sky became dark all of a sudden.

A bird dropped dead to the ground.

“They’re here!”

I turned, my hand going to my holster, when I heard the cry of a Living Child, about six or seven. She’d been crouching on the sand in front of her home, drawing shapes.

Then she looked up and let out a scream, before racing to the porch. The front door opened and I saw an arm that belonged to a man, yanking her in.

All along the street, people began to move.

The other Livings were doing the same, shutting their doors, closing their window and the sound of bolts snapping in place filled the air.

I watched them, trembling slightly.

It wouldn’t save them.

They did it every time, because of some sense of protection. But nothing stood against the creatures. They tore through metal, moved through walls and could rip apart a house if they wanted the Livings inside.

“It’s here.”

I whirled around at the sound of Oren’s voice, surprised to see him standing behind me. His post was miles away, and he wasn’t assigned to keep the Living from panicking during the visits.

“Can you feel it?” He rasped. “Taste it?”

I could.

The air was so thick I felt it in my teeth and then in the back of my skull, a pressure like the one I remembered from the couch. I’d witnessed enough monthly visits, but it was something I couldn’t get used to.

Because we never knew exactly when it would happen, so we were always on guard, with terror lodged somewhere at the back of our minds.

As prepared as we were, with our boots laced, holster strapped and bags packed, we only had minutes before it began.

I flinched lightly at the sound of my comm cracking to life.

“All Heard!” The Ruler’s voice came through, clear and robotic. “Go to your assigned locations! Keep the Livings together to minimize unwanted casualties!”

Unwanted.

She wasn’t talking about the ones the creatures took. But the humans who ran into the streets and got crushed by things that flew across the air and fell from the skies.

I placed my hand on my holster, a gesture as useless as a prayer, and felt my other hand tracing the numeral on my leg. L. I. I.

My comm crackled again.

"All Heard, this is Command. Hold your positions. Keep the Livings calm and indoors. Remain visible, and remain steady. Thank you for your service."

Then it clicked off, and I let out a breath.

“Hey kiddo.” Oren placed a hand on my shoulder, a cocky smile on his lips. “Try not to die, okay? I’ll miss our talks.”

Then he turned and walked off, moving with a speed that was unusually fast for someone his age. That…I was also used to.

I turned away from him when the hum took over—it was the signal from the vessels that the creatures came in, descending on to the ground.

The ground shook, loose earth coming out and buildings rattling everywhere. I could already hear screaming from far away and the other Heard trying to keep the Livings indoors.

“Okay,” I exhaled slowly. “It’s time, LII. Time to do your job.”

I ran toward the sound.

The street was already a river of bodies when I got there. Some of the Livings that hadn’t gotten to safety or had left their houses in search of some other “safer” place were pressed against doors that wouldn't open, holding children in their arms.

The creatures had descended, dark stormy clouds covering them so we couldn’t see what they actually looked like.

We didn’t need to, though.

The violence they wrecked as the stormy fogs wrapped around buildings, swirled around humans, ripped roofs off and pulled metal beams apart, was frightening enough.

I swallowed hard and focused on my job, dropping to my knees beside a woman gripping a boy's face between her hands. She was bleeding from her side, where something had pierced her skin and gotten stuck.

She was going to die.

But I needed to pry her son from her hands so I could take him to safety.

“Look at me,” I murmured.

She did.

And then I reached in.

It happened the same way—stepping into a mind that was filled with fear, navigating the chaos and sharp places until I could find a spot where everything connected. Where I could begin to smoothen them down.

You're safe. I've got you. You're safe with me.

The woman's breathing slowed and her hold on her son relaxed. I took him from her hands, closing her eyes before moving on to a different house and placing the boy in them.

The creatures had moved past that house. They left a mark, so we knew they were safe.

Still, I reached into their minds, assuring them that no harm would come this time. Then I moved down the street, door to door, using the powers I’d gotten two years ago to calm the Livings, until my head throbbed and my nose began to bleed.

Around us, the taking was happening. The ripples from the dark fogs carried wailing sounds and screams that echoed through the air. I heard Livings cry out for their loved ones, begging me to save them.

I wanted to.

I knew I couldn’t.

So I did what I could do best, wiping my blood nose and pushing through the thundering in my head.

Think of the saved. Think of the saved. Think of the ones who were left behind.

***

When it was over, the vessels lifted. The sky came back, pale and empty, and the streets were quiet but desolate.

I joined the Heard to count the number of people safe and the ones dead. We were instructed not to count the ones that had been taken.

It won’t bring them back, the Ruler told us early on.

"You kept us safe," a woman whispered when I stopped at her house, counting her dead husband as part of the number. “You kept my child safe.”

I managed a nod, and then I turned away so she wouldn't see my hands.

So that I didn’t have to tell her that I wasn’t the one who kept her safe.

They were just lucky.

For now, at least.