Portal of the Dark - Forever Nights

It's dark out at mid-day. The sun is in the sky, but its light intensity has been dimmed to that of what the moon used to be, and the sky is no longer blue with other stars shining through. Standing structures are still mostly intact, but largely unusable in the once populous suburban area of San Francisco, and some solar powered street lights still gently illuminate, but most of downtown is sunk 40 foot into the bay. The once bustling area is now home to shadows, and creatures lurk about. They are the ones to watch out for. Alyssa knows this.

A gentle cool breeze blows her hunter green hoodie enough to cause a golden lock of hair to fall out as she peeks out from behind a long, hanging black cloth. Sitting and hiding underneath the carriage of a stationary 1990's jeep that is set four cinder blocks high, she waits. The seven year old has learned all her life how to hide, where to hide, and to calculate her every move. Stories of lurking shadows that possess men and the creatures released by a great earthquake from under the earth have been a consistent warning. The earthquake that sunk most of the city, and took her family with it; leaving her alone in the world. She sits back away from the cloth that conceals her. Pulling back her coat sleeve, she knows she will not be able to see her digital watch without aid of it's light. She loves the golden heart-shaped locket it's hidden in. She can wear it as a necklace, but she prefers to wrap it around her wrist and wear it as a watch. She was taught never to turn on a light, not a single one, for fear of being found by the creatures that have destroyed billions, and the shadows that possessed millions more.

As any growing child that ever was, daring to do it anyway has become a habit for her. She silently flips it open, and peeks out to make sure nothing or no one sees or hears her. She sees no one, and quickly turns the watch light on and off. It's 1 pm. She sighs quietly, and leans over again to peek out from the back bumper, sticking only her face out, where the view was best. Everything was quiet.

Before she is able to go back underneath, a hand quickly covers her face, grabbing her before she could react, "Ah-" She squeals, but is muffled by the big hand. "Shhh! Come here, you little runt!" She squirmed and fought even more to set her face free, knowing it was a stranger by the yelling whisper coming from him. "Stop it!" he continued, "Hold still!" She would not. "Hold still, I said, before the creatures come.".

Five fast footsteps are heard and curiosity defeats her fear, ending her struggle. The stranger manages to pull her out when just at that second- SHING... His grip immediately loosed her as he let out a bubbling whisper before his head dropped to the pavement followed by his body. She looks at the other man in shock while he holds a bloody Japanese sword. It's the first time she has seen death and violence so close. She doesn't want to cry, but it's coming out; an uncontrollable gasping for trying not to cry.

"Shh, shh, shh, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry." He leans the sword on the jeep bumper and sweeps her up into his arms, holding her for just a little while. "We gotta go, sweetie," he lightly says pulling her away to look at her, which quickly calms her down.

"You ok?"

"Yea," she affirms with a whimper. "Ok. I need you to get our stuff out as fast as you can, ok?" He sets her down, "This place isn't safe any more." She quickly crawls back under, hesitating for a moment for the other man's head, which had rolled under just enough where she can't help but see it.

"Hurry," says the man who cut it off. He rips off a piece of cloth from his undershirt and quickly takes up his sword, wipes the blood off, and puts it back into its sheath hanging on his left side hip. He drops down to search the lifeless body for useful things, while still glancing around and aware of impending danger, but the putrid smell is too strong to keep going. His attention is quickly drawn to the street lights starting to flicker.

"Alyssa, we gotta go," he whispers loudly. "I'm almost done," she whispers back.

"No, we gotta go, now. Come on," he reaches and pulls her out by her foot. "No…" she says having let the backpack she had everything in slip through her fingers.

"Wait," she says. As she reached unsuccessfully for it, her coat pulled back just enough for her to notice the locket was faintly glowing.

He quickly responds, "Shh, we can't wait. Forget it." He lifts her onto his arms and darts off, holding her across his body, ducking at vehicles and stopping to peek around building corners. She watched the side of his face as he ran carrying her. His dark, puffy hair and squinted eyes brought her comfort. The brown scarf and black corduroy long coat he always wore gave her warmth and a sense of security. After some time, his running turned into a fast walk giving her the opportunity to notice her watch in the dim sunlight. It was no longer glowing. She flips it open. It's 3:33pm. Finally, they come to an area where there sits an old dusty looking motorhome in a lot behind what looks to formerly be a department store. He sets her down and holds her hand as they walk toward it. The area was full of big machines that looked like giant fans.

"Stay right beside me, Alyssa," he said while he dug through all his pockets. He pulls out a wire with a hook and begins to stick it down the door window. After about five minutes, Alyssa walks to what appeared to be a side door and opens it.

"Mark," she whispers loudly, "look it!"

Mark looks down, feeling stupid, "I swear, Alyssa, it's you that saves me."

They slowly walk in and see that its empty. Mark quickly closes all blinds and puts up the front window blocker. He begins to dig around and finds a lot of non perishables in the cabinets; fully stocked.

He gets a big smile on his face and turns to Alyssa, "See? Never stop trying because you never know when you will stumble onto something amazing." Alyssa had never seen so much food in one place before. A little while later, they are eating tuna and crackers, drinking sprites.

"Mark? Was that man a bad man? Was he possessed?" "No," he quickly responded. "No, he was a regular, but I take no chances. If you're ever in a situation where you do not know, go for the head anyway. It's better that way."

"Trust me," he said chewing up a cracker.

CRASH! Something broke through the window.

"Alyssa, RUN!!!" Mark screamed as he went for his sword, but she couldn't see for the fog that suddenly made her sleepy. She was able to make out Mark falling to the floor and another person standing over him with a foot on his chest before she no longer could resist the sleepiness. Just before she passed out, she heard a woman's voice speaking to someone she could not see. The woman pointed at her, "We found her, and the key." Mark's voice faded in her hearing, "Alyssa!!!"