Monkey

Harper awoke slowly, her eyelids fluttering in the rushing wind. Her tangled hair streamed behind her underneath her battered helmet. Her sweating cheek squelched as she pulled it off the rough leather beneath her. She was attached to Sal’s back in a makeshift harness fashioned out of an old rucksack and some leather belts. At only six years old she was still small enough for Sal to carry while they rode. Harper tapped a couple of fingers on Sal’s back to let him know that she was awake. He raised one rough hand and gave her a thumbs up. Smiling to herself, Harper stretched her back and looked over at the convoy around her. There were seven of them in total. She didn’t know how many there had been before the invasion, Sal didn’t like to talk about before.

The only information Harper knew about Sal’s life before the invasion she had gleaned while he was sleeping. Crawling out from under her nest of blankets she moved to Sal where he lay snoring. His dark mustache rippled under his nose as he breathed. She had been curious for a while about the small heart-shaped locket that he always wore under his shirt. It was pretty. She hadn’t meant to open it, or even realized that it could open. She had just wanted to touch it; it was shiny and golden and was in much better condition than anything she had ever seen before. As she crept to Sal and crouched down next to him she reached out to hold the locket, pushing Sal’s long beard aside, careful not to wake him. Running her little thumb across the front she felt the indent of a flower, she didn’t know what type it was. Harper had never actually seen a flower in person before, but she knew from some of the guys’ descriptions that they were beautiful. As she thumbed the locket she felt a ridge along its edges. Leaning in closer, she noticed a hinge and carefully clicked it open. Inside was a photograph of a younger Sal. His beard was shorter and his hair not as grey, but it was him, leather jacket and all. His arm was around a woman, she was beautiful. In her arms was a baby, fast asleep. Sal beamed up at Harper from the photo. It was the happiest she had ever seen him, his big hand placed gently underneath the baby’s head. Harper turned to look at Sal in real life, to compare him to the photo. She gasped and dropped the locket when she realized he was awake and looking at her.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean…” Harper wanted to tell him she had just wanted to look. She had only been four at the time, but could tell she had done something naughty, uncovered some secret Sal didn’t want anyone to see.

“It’s okay Monkey,” Sal told her, scooping her up and plopping her back down next to him.

“Pretty,” Harper said laying her head down on Sal’s stomach. She wasn’t sure if she was referring to the locket or the woman or the baby, or even the picture of Sal.

“Yeah,” was all replied. And that was the last they ever spoke about the locket, but Harper knew it had been a family in there, from before the invasion.

From her spot in the rucksack on Sal’s back, Harper couldn’t see too much of the world around them. This was the farthest she had ever ventured outside of the dome. Harper knew she had been born outside, that Sal and the others had found her mother and tried to help her. But she had been taken by one of the creatures. So, Sal had kept Harper, and looked after her just like he had promised her mother he would. He had done a pretty good job in Harper’s opinion.

It was dark now, but Harper didn’t mind. Her eyes were used to the constant dimness inside of the dome. There was some electricity, some light, but the expansive blackness of the dome itself cast a shadow over everything. When they had left this evening the light from the setting sun had hurt Harper’s eyes and made it hard for her to fall asleep. As she looked out in the flat and barren blackness, a shiver ran through Harper. She had never seen one of the creatures before, but she had heard the stories. She had only been a baby the day they came, the day the dome had been put in place. The invasion hadn’t started here. It had started far away, but the creatures were quick, and no one knew how many there were. The city had only had a few hours warning to make the dome safe before they arrived. Lots of people didn’t make it inside in time, Harper knew that. Some of them were found by Sal and the guys, or another similar group in the following weeks and months, but Harper didn’t think there could be anyone left alive out here now.

Sal had been scared to leave with Harper. He had tried to hide it from her, but she could tell. She knew him too well. As the guys had discussed their plan Harper kept noticing his eyes darting over to her. It was because of her that they had left. The dome had not been properly stocked before the invasion and everyone was running low on supplies. Harper found it hard to breathe sometimes, her lungs would feel tight and squeak if she breathed too deeply. Sal had given her a spray which made the tightness and the squeak go away. She had gone through many sprays over the last few years, but she only had one left and they had looked everywhere but there were no more inside the dome. Sal knew he had to get more for her, and the guys had refused to let him go alone. They knew they needed him and were afraid of what might happen if he left and never came back. So here they were. They had ventured out on their bikes farther than any of them had gone outside before. Harper didn’t know how far away the next town was, but Sal and the guys seemed to believe they would have more sprays. As she looked at the bare fields under the moonlight Harper’s imagination ran wild, the gnarled branches of leafless trees twisted into the shapes of the creatures as she stared at them, tears forming in her eyes as the wind rushed against them.

It was after a couple of hours of riding that Sal signaled to the others to pull over. All seven of their bikes skidded to a stop at the shoulder of the road. Sal unbuckled Harper’s sack and reached behind himself to pull her down. Her legs felt unsteady on the ground after dangling behind Sal for so long. She held on to the sleeve of Sal’s heavy jacket to steady herself.

“You alright Monkey?”

“Mhmm,” Harper mumbled in assent.

“I think it’ll be about an hour or so longer down this road,” Pete said, looking at the worn and outdated roadmap in his hands.

“Anybody see anything out there?” Sal asked as the rest of the group stretched their stiff limbs.

“I thought I saw something a couple of times,” said Kev who was bringing up the rear of the group on the ride, “but I think it was just trees and shit playing tricks on me.”

He turned to look at Harper, cheeks flushing red, “sorry kid”.

Harper smiled slightly, she knew she wasn’t allowed to say shit, although she didn’t understand why.

“If money meant anything these days, that would be a dollar in the swear jar,” Sal scolded Kev.

“Yeah, yeah I-“

There was a horrible squealing sound. Harper reached up to cover her ears as Sal pushed her behind him. Horrified, Harper’s eyes stayed locked on the creature standing before them. It was three times as tall as Sal and twice as wide. Standing on its back legs, it raised its head high in the air and screamed, revealing row after row of long sharp teeth. Its head was strangely pointed and it had far too many eyes, so many that Harper couldn’t count them all. As Harper watched, it raised its arms, which were so long they dragged on the ground at its feet. It grabbed hold of Kev and Alex, who was standing beside him, in one ginormous grey hand and shoved both of their heads into its mouth. It bit down hard as Sal raised his gun and started shooting, but it was too late. It lowered its arm and dropped the headless bodies of Kev and Alex on the ground at its feet. It reached around wildly at the rest of the group, all of whom were shooting at it now. The bullets appeared to bounce straight off of its skin, not affecting the creature at all. Pete lunged out of its way, landing beside Harper and Sal.

“Take her!” Sal yelled over the creature’s terrible screeches.

Pete clamped his arm around Harper’s chest and started to drag her away from the creature and away from Sal.

“No!” she screamed, reaching out for Sal’s hand.

He was still firing his gun at the creature, which had another of the group clasped in its grotesque hand. She grabbed at his fingers as Pete tried to pull her away. Sal looked down at her for one moment, a strange pain tightening his eyes.

“You have to go Monkey, it’s not safe.”

“Please, I want to stay with you,” Harper screamed.

Sal crouched down to her level as the firing and horrible screeching continued around them.

“It’ll be ok,” he told her gently, pulling her in and squeezing her tightly, before letting her go.

“Take her now,” he barked at Pete.

Harper screamed and cried and tried to hold on to Sal as Pete’s strong arms pulled her away. She grasped at his arms and his chest, her fingers finding purchase on something, holding her to him for a moment before whatever it was snapped and Pete yanked her away.

She fought Pete as he pulled her onto his back and climbed on his bike. He started the bike up and kicked off from the ground, starting down the road as fast as he could. Harper turned her head around to see Sal, surrounded by the three remaining men of their group all firing hopelessly at the creature as it lifted another man to its mouth. Harper squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see it happen again. But she couldn’t drown out the sound, it made her stomach clench and she wanted to be sick. She opened her eyes again just in time to see Sal turn and look after her, growing smaller and smaller as she watched. The creature's arm swung against him knocking him to the ground and gripping him, she turned her face into the familiar leather of Pete’s jacket. She couldn’t watch. Not Sal. With her eyes full of tears and wind racing past her ears, she looked down at her hand. It still gripped the locket she had snatched from Sal’s chest as she was being carried away. She held it tightly to her heart then gently opened it. She was greeted by the warm and smiling Sal, a stark contrast to the Sal, full of fear, that she had just seen gripped in the creature's hand. On the other side of the open locket was something new, it had not been there last time she had peeked. It was a piece of paper with a lead pencil drawing on it. It wasn’t very good but Harper recognised it immediately. She had drawn it for Sal two years ago and he had proudly declared it the best piece of art he had ever seen. It was a monkey.