Blue Skies

Ian looked up at the sky and wondered anything and everything that crossed his mind. His mind was a buzz with questions and possibilities that seemed so far away. He laid back on the gravel road and just stared at the cloudy sky. As long as he could remember the clouds were usually thick and billowy with various shades of gray. Today there were signs of breaks and they appeared thinner in spots. Then he saw it. The briefest of moments it was there. Blue sky. His eyes widened and he barely noticed his mouth dropped as he stared at the blue in a sea of gray.

“Eric,” he shouted out. “I saw it! I saw blue!”

The rugged figure that was Ian’s brother, Eric, walked up behind his brother and soundly hit him in the back of the head. He rubbed his bearded face and looked annoyed.

“Shut up,” Eric whispered sternly to his brother.

“What did I do?”

“Anything and everything can get us out here, so stay quiet and come on,” Eric whispered as he grabbed his brother under the arm. “We got a long road ahead of us.”

“But…”

“No buts! Grab your sack and come on! We got to make it to the outpost before dark.”

Ian reluctantly grabbed the thick knapsack by his feet. The journey they’ve traveled so far was uneventful until he saw the brief hint of blue sky above him. Hope for something better then now.

Eric sighed and turned to Ian.“I know it looks good to see blue sky, but we got to get to the outpost before nightfall. Now let’s go. Still got a lot of walking to do,” Eric said trying to get the focus back on the journey.

“I remember when Mom talked about the blue skies before the aliens screwed the skies up, Eric. She used to sing a song about blue skies,” the tall lanky teen said as they walked.

“I know and yes, they’re the reason we got cloudy skies almost all the time. Now, pick up the pace,” Eric commanded.

The pair continued their walk along the gravel road which was bordered by tall yet somewhat anemic pines. The journey was a depressing walk of dreariness and gray. Ian walked with his eyes mostly down.“Where did the aliens come from? Why did they try to kill us?”

“Man, you’re chatty,” Eric said as he glanced over to his brother for a second. “I’ll tell you like I remember Dad telling me. They showed up one day at one of the big cities I was telling you about. I think Dad called it New York. The Centauri showed up one day and said that they were looking for a place to live. They had these big ships filled with a lot of Centauri in the air. The leaders of everybody got together and set aside a spot for their ships to land and make a home for awhile. The Centauri gave them a way to make electricity without wires or some nonsense like that in return. Everything was fine for awhile then more showed up asking for a place to stay too. The leaders of everybody wanted them to live someplace they didn’t want to go and they started get into a fight about it.”

“That’s when they blew up the city?”

“Not yet. First, more of their ships showed up and these Centauri asked for even more land. That made more people mad and somebody started a fight with them. Then they used their big ships in the sky and blew the city up. Then the other ships started going around and blowing up more big cities. That’s when Mom and Dad got in their car and had us living in the cabin.”

“Why did we have to leave home,” Ian asked with his head lowering as he spoke.

“You know why,” Eric said annoyed by the questioning. “The animals aren’t there for us to eat like we used to, Dad’s dead and Mom… is just gone.”

“I still think the Centauri took her,” Ian angrily said under his breath.

Eric looked up at the darkening of the clouds overhead and said, “Stay quiet. Let’s pick up the pace.”

“I still remember the little heart she wore on her neck. It used to shine when she read me a story and…”

“Shut up, shut up, Ian,” Eric angrily said. “No more talking from here on out! It’s almost dark and now we’re going to have to jog to get there before it’s too late.”

Ian was annoyed but complied and the pair began to jog down the road as the sun began to sink below the tree line.

An hour later with barely any light to see the road, the brothers walked as carefully as they could down the road in the dark. The temperature quickly dropped as well to a level where the jackets they wore were not warm enough. The trees around them gave an eerie look amongst around them.

Eric stopped and used what little light he could see to make a makeshift torch from their belongings. Despite the light from their torch, they walked carefully down the dark road.

A sudden snap of a tree limb caused Eric to halt and stretch his arm out in front of his brother. He glanced at Ian and saw the frightened look on the teen’s face.

“Who are you,” a voice asked as a bright light shined on their faces.

Ian heard what sounded like the faint click of a gun being prepared to fire. He fearfully stood rigid and kept his arm before his brother. “Please, don’t shoot. We’re…we’re unarmed.”

“You expect for me to believe that you came through the woods with no weapon? You either lying, stupid, or just that hard up. What’s your name? Wait a minute….I know your face. You’re one of those from that family. Live up on the hill miles from here. You’re…um….Eric or something like that.”

“Eric, sir. You know us?”

The blinding light was turned away from their faces and towards the ground between them. The illumination shone on a seemingly middle aged man with a number of wrinkles on a bronze face. Two long braids came from behind his head and draped down to his chest.

“Yeah,” he replied. “I know you now. Came across your family last year. Tried to convince your father to come out to the sanctuary, but he wouldn’t have it. What changed?”

“He’s dead,” Eric quickly blurted out.

“They got mom too,” Ian quickly added.

“Oh, then you boys best come with me quickly,” the man said as he motioned for them to follow him in the dark woods ahead.

They walked for what seemed like for about an hour when they came to a clearing. There they saw a familiar flickering of torches on pikes that surrounded what looked like an old town square. As they walked closer, they were met by more men with guns who spoke in a hushed huddle with the man with the flashlight atop his gun.

“Come,” the man with the flashlight said. “We’ve got much to discuss.”

They went down into the town together. There the streets were peppered with people some with tents or some dirty makeshift dwelling. Their empty gaze were turned to Eric and Ian as they walked by them. Eric looked steely ahead, but Ian met their gaze with a heart that felt the misery they had to show.

They were brought to the steps of what was once a town courthouse of ashen bricks and marble. The stairs flanked on both sides with grimy lions.

“My name is John,” said the man who met them in the forest. “You boys are lucky I found you when I did.”

“Why? What’s going on,” Eric asked.

“It’s back. One of those creatures that came from the Centauri. Attacked one of our scouts earlier on the outskirts of town. Another scout reported it as some sort of all black creature. It comes out at night and sticks to the shadow. It was gone for awhile, but…we could use your help tonight,” John asked of them.

“I’ll help,” Eric quickly answered.

“Me too,” Ian said.

“No,” Eric intervened as he stared at his brother.

“But I…”

“I said no,” Eric said in a harsh tone.

Before Ian could give a comeback, people on the other side of the town square began to scream and scatter. A long black humanoid creature running and jumping on all fours went through the mass of people. It pounced on some and took a bite into a few it knocked down.

Eric grabbed John’s gun and took a shot at the creature. The wide shot narrowly missed it as it turned its attention to them.

“Give me that,” John angrily said as he snatched the gun from Eric. He removed a revolver from his holster and handed it to Eric. “Take this and don’t miss!”

Multiple shots rang out as various people with guns tried to shoot the creature. It meandered and evaded the various shots while on all fours. Its’ long body reminiscent of a snake as it ducked and weaved between the shots making its way to where Eric was. It paused for a second and turned its’ gaze to Ian as he ran away with a group. It jumped through the air with a powerful thrust of its body and landed on Ian.

It turned Ian over with its’ black clawed hand facing him and screeched as he cried. In between his tears, Ian noticed something shiny around the creature’s clawed hand, but was too scared to focus on it. The creature acted as though it was about to make a final blow when it halted. It stared for a second at him with reflective eyes in a manner that made no sense.

Eric came up behind the creature and shot it point blank at the back of the head. It released Ian, gave a final loud screech and fell to the ground.

“Ian, are you alright?” Eric crouched down over his brother.

Ian took a look at his brother and buried his face into his chest with heavy sobs. Eric cradled his younger brother and whispered comfort to him.

“Look at this,” John said to himself examining the creature. The sleek ebony body was facing belly up. It’s mouth was similar to a parrot or octopus. On its wrist was a gold heart shaped necklace fastened to it. He examined it and saw that it was a human necklace but it would not fit around the creature’s thick neck. As he felt the heart on it with his hand, he activated a tiny lock and the heart opened up with a picture of a baby and a young boy inside. He unclasp the necklace and examined the picture further.

“That’s me and my brother,” Eric said as he crouched down on one knee beside John.

“Oh, my God,” John said as he gave the necklace to Eric. He had heard stories of the Centauri doing unspeakable things to humans they’ve captured. Experiments that changed the human body in various ways. Then release them when they were done. He looked down at the creature that was their mother and back at Eric.

“Don’t tell my brother. This would destroy him,” Eric said as he looked at the creature as well.

John nodded his agreement.

“My brother always got his head in the clouds. Daydreaming and stuff. Good soul, my mom called him.I don’t want him to have this mess that up for him. Better he thinks of her better than this.” Eric’s eyes welled with tears as he spoke. He looked into the reflective eyes of the creature that was his mother as they stared up to the darken sky above.