Ten

My sister's voice haunts my sleep.

We thought they couldn't find us this far out from the city. We thought we were safe, but dreams morph into nightmares mirroring reality.

Seized by panic, she falls to the soft earth twenty yards behind me with her left foot stuck in one of their traps. Leaves blow about and tree branches crack as an unseen physical energy whooshes through the bushes, stops at her side and uncloaks its exoskeleton form. It looms above her, waiting for its time to strike. Her pained voice echoes between my ears. "Ten, nine, eight..."

I scramble toward her. "Ava, get up!"

She labors to wrench herself free from a magnetic force wrapped around her boot and urges me forward with an emphatic wave of her tattered sleeve-covered arm. Terror breaks her words into pieces. "Seven, six..."

The shrill of my own command deafens me. "Come on Ava! There's still time! Try harder!"

"Five, four, three..." she refuses to hold me back, shaking her head as I struggle to reach her.

I run in place, gaining neither traction nor ground. "NO! AVA!"

"Two..."

Gritting my teeth, I clamor against the invisible field subduing me. "Don't give up! Please!"

Ava silences me with wild eyes and an assertive scowl, using her last second to shout a non-negotiable order at me.

"Run!"

A paralyzing growl descends on my sister. Her shrieks puncture my eardrums and shatter my soul.

I jerked awake with a yelp and froze. Covering my mouth, I listened for unnatural sounds. Nothing. While waking up spared me the agony of witnessing my sister torn apart by right in front of me again, my three travel companions preferred I refrain from those outbursts.

Chris shot me an angry look while the others, Sheeri and Carter, observed with weary stares. "You need to keep quiet," he whispered. "I swear to God I will kill you myself if you do that again."

I sniffed back tears and nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Shh, it's okay honey," Sheeri said.

"No, it's not fucking okay," Chris spat. "If she keeps whimpering like a goddamn baby I'm gonna tie her up and use her ten seconds."

Sheeri put her arm around me. "But Chris, she lost her sister only two weeks ago."

Chris sneered. "Bitch, we all lost people!"

"Watch how you talk to her, asshole," Carter warned.

"Or what? Huh?" he said, puffing his chest.

Carter lunged forward, but Sheeri intercepted. "No, leave him. We have to stay calm and quiet." She eyed Chris. "All of us."

Chris adjusted the towel he used as a pillow and laid down. "Stupid bitches. All of you."

"Go back to sleep, Reign," Sheeri said. "I'll stay up and wake you if I see you getting agitated, okay?"

"Thanks, but I can't sleep now." I lied. I was exhausted, but the recurring nightmare terrified me.

"The sun will be up in a few hours," Carter said. "We should all try to get some sleep. It's a long drive to the border."

The back half of the heart-shaped locket hanging on my necklace reminded me of everyone and everything the Chasers took from me. The front half adorned Ava's wrist because necklaces gave her a choking sensation. Gone now, the back half of the locket had nothing to go back to, like me. As somnolence set in, I slipped into another tortured sleep, watching Sheeri and Carter hold each other in an embrace I envied. I had no one. No lover, no best friend, no family. I needed a person. I needed my sister.

New York officially rung in the New Year when the Chasers appeared. Thousands watched the ball drop in Times Square, counting down the last ten seconds to midnight, January 1st, 2017, reveling in the festive atmosphere. That's when the otherworldly monsters uncloaked themselves. They were everywhere. No one escaped. Within hours they occupied in every major city worldwide.

Their origin remains unknown. What we do know is we are their food source. They hunt us with an advanced ability to remain hidden until uncloaked, but that cloaking technology prevents them from attacking. It takes ten seconds for the technology to power down, releasing them to their full lethality. Ten seconds of terror and, in most cases, imminent death unless you had firepower. A lot of it, and often, that wasn’t enough.

Those of us left call it The Countdown.

Before the cataclysmic event devastated earth, I earned a meager salary as a waitress. It lacked glamor, but paid the bills until I could figure out what I desired from life and how to achieve it. Most people have a career in mind from as early as childhood and pursued that dream into adulthood, or traveled a different path to a satisfying career. Not me. I never had an inkling of what my future should resemble, let alone possess the skills to manifest it. A daydreamer often lost in thought, I made a mediocre waitress, at best. I lived just above the poverty line and had no prospects.

The Chasers nullified the social hierarchy, making most all human beings, not just myself, totally insignificant. It doesn't matter how you made a living before the attack. No one cares. Now, it's all about survival. Money is worthless and status equals nothing. We are the antelope, and the Chasers are the lions, stalking us, praying on us, living on us.

The latest working hypothesis suggested that the Chasers couldn't tolerate cold temperatures. That logic had people migrating north in droves, including us. Each communication we received on our radio encouraged us to continue our trek to Canada where the remaining North American leaders fortified cities and towns behind steel walls and electric fences. It could all be conjecture built on wishful thinking, but when options are scarce, people cling to something be it hope, stubbornness or both.

The following morning, we piled our few belongings onto the Jeep Wrangler Chris hot-wired after finding it on the side of the road. Most of the cars on the side of the road either had flats, missing parts or no gas – what one would expect in an apocalypse. At less than half a tank, we wouldn't get far, but it would put us less than five miles from the border. Not that it would shield us from the Chasers.

“Did you see that?” Carter asked, pointing at a grouping of trees at the side of the road with the muzzle of her military issued M249 S.A.W. light machine gun.

It was mid-July, and I squinted behind my sunglasses at the shrubbery and grass. “No, I didn’t see anything.”

"Then why do I get the feeling we should be counting down?" she asked.

The Jeep hit a bump, and as my head bobbed up and down, the tree line parted. Four eerie predators pursued us. Their growls rose over the noisy engine by at least twenty decibels.

Chris slammed the pedal to the floor. “Shoot them!”

Carter needed no prompting. She blindly lit up the road behind us, sparing not an inch of dirt. I covered my ears at the piercing gunfire and screeches in our wake. Bleeding and stumbling, the monsters fell face-down, and slid to a stop on the uneven road.

“How much further can we make it in this?” Sheeri asked from the passenger seat.

Chris glanced at the gas gauge, and his jaw tightened. “A few more miles, maybe?”

Ahead of us, a pickup came into view. “We may be able to siphon gas from that truck,” I said.

“It’s worth a shot,’ Chris said, and pulled alongside it. “Get in the driver’s seat,” he instructed Sheeri. While she scooted over, he retrieved the hose and gas can from the cargo area. “If you hear anything, start rolling, and I’ll catch up with you.”

“We won’t leave without you,” I said. “So hurry up.”

Descending the embankment to the abandoned truck, he acknowledged me with a thumbs up.

“Fuck that,” Carter said. “If any of those things come after us, leave him.”

I pursed my lips at her.

“He’d leave you behind,” she said.

“He just told us to leave him behind at the first sign of Chasers. Can you live with that?”

Carter leaned forward, glaring at me. “I’ve learned to live with a lot. You should too.”

I met her ferocity with my own. “Not intentionally. NEVER intentionally!”

The cynicism in her chuckle grated my nerves. “You will one day. I guarantee it.” Before I could respond, she jumped out with her weapon and continued scanning the area.

Sheeri listened to our conversation, but kept any comments to herself.

Minutes passed, but they processed as hours in our minds. With each second that passed, my anxiety increased.

“Count to five as you inhale, and again as you exhale,” Sherri said to me through the rearview mirror.

“Huh?”

“You’re having a panic attack, I can hear it in your breathing.” She twisted around. “I’m a nurse.”

I nodded and did as she said. By my second inhale, Chris had hiked back and proceeded with unscrewing the vehicle gas cap.

“A little faster please,” Carter said.

He tipped the can to pour in the much needed fuel. “Tell you what, next time, you can siphon, and I’ll play Rambo.”

Carter glowered at him. “You know what? I-“

“Carter, please. We don’t have time for this petty arguing,” Sheeri interrupted, rubbing her temples. “Please stop.”

“Fine,” she said, marching around the car. “I call shotgun.”

Chris replaced both caps and tossed the can back in cargo. “No argument here.” He hopped over the side into the seat next to me.

All four of us stayed hyperaware of the surroundings, listening for the slightest sounds and looking for any faint movements. We had enough gas to reach our destination, but it didn’t improve our safety by much.

Tension remained high on the bumpy road. The tree line whizzing by made me dizzy, and I found myself observing Chris’ profile until he caught me. “What?” he asked.

“Who did you lose?” I asked, removing my sunglasses.

He blinked. “No one,” he said and averted his eyes.

“No one?”

“Yeah. I’ve always been alone.”

“But at the warehouse you said that we all lost people,” I said, tilting my head.

Chris sighed. “You really wanna know?”

“Why would I ask if I didn’t?”

“Okay, fine. My mom.”

I waited a moment before touching his hand. “I’m sorry.”

He looked down at my hand on his and back up to me. “I don’t need sympathy. Like I said, we all lost someone.”

“Yes, we all did, but so few of us have had the chance to mourn.”

“No, I guess not,” Chris said, his gaze boring into mine.

“Hey guys, we made it!” Sheeri announced.

The border meant close proximity to food and shelter. Chris and I kept our eyes locked and intertwined our fingers, accepting each other’s palm. As the Jeep crossed into Canada, I gripped my half of the heart locket with my free hand.