Mother

There was a peace behind those eyes that she envied. A blankness that spoke of complete unawareness of the happenings around. Those black orbs trailed over the forestry, as the beast chewed through a mouth of brown stained grass. Off in the distance, a siren was giving a low whine of warning, but it was given no mind. It was just her out her. Her and the deer as she drew back the bow, and leveled her gaze.

The deer chomped away unaware. The air beside her ear broke as her fingers loosened.

Snap

Those unfocused black orbs sharpened. With a speed she would never catch, the deer tore through the trees. Her arrow was still on track, moving through the now empty air and disappearing into the bush line. A guttural scream filled the air.

Every nerve told her to run; to ignore the cries of pain tearing through the air. She’d made it this long trusting that gut. Yet this time, this time she couldn’t bring herself to run. Her steps were slow and careful as she crossed the clearing. Pushing back the bushes, the sight before her sent her stumbling back. She took a breath, and then another before moving the bushes again.

The creature was in pain, that much was clear.

The arrow was stuck in a meaty distorted section of its chest, a black puss oozing around the wound. The labored breathing the creature gave might have been due to the wound inflicted upon it, or the grotesque boils and masses of pulsing flesh that covered its exposed skin. It was missing an arm. A green, slightly translucent mass covered nearly half its face, showing off a pulsating infection moving against the ruined skin. A single black eye watched her in pure fury. What clothes it wore had at some point been in the line of fashion, but after all this they were nothing more than tattered rags of black and denim; ripped remains of embroidery reflecting a better time. There were chucks of tangled curled hair clinging to its festering skull; some of it was black and a few were silver strands of age. She was an older female, or had been at one point.

It wasn’t the first creature she’d stumbled upon. It wasn’t the first she’d killed. Kneeling forward, she wrapped her hand around the arrow, ready to pull it from the beasts chest. The creature howled, its fury dulled by its obvious pain. A tug of the arrow set black ooze to flow free.

A sliver of tarnished gold caught her gaze. The grip on the arrow went slack, as her ooze covered fingers went to the necklace around the beasts next. It was small, dented and covered in filth. But the little heart shaped locket was still clear to see, with its engraved flowers and swirls.

“Where did you get this?” She turned her gaze onto the mutated creature. It gave no intelligent answer, just snarled and attempted to swipe at her. Breaking the thin chain to take the necklace, she stepped away from her pray, giving it a full glance over. That filthy near black hair was not too far from her own, nor was the darkened skin under all that infection that different from the shade that she sported. The mass growing across its face made it hard to tell shape, but there was just the slightest trace of a familiar curve to those cheeks. That single eye was just one enlarged pupil, a black orb among all the ruin.

She had to know. Leaning forward, keeping a knee of the creatures remaining arm, she slide down the tattered collar of its shirt, exposing more ruined flesh of the beasts shoulder. And there it was. The half moon with its floral arrangement was distorted from infection, but it was still as recognizable as the day they gotten them.

The siren was blaring louder. The sky was beginning to darkened as the air carried a chil.

Tugging against her own collar, she stared at the ink tattooed into her skin. The half moon and flowers were a beautiful arrangement of pinks and blues against her skin. It was faded slightly, these years having not treated any part of her well, but it still looked so beautiful.

“Mom,” the name was whispered against her lips like a prayer she hadn’t spoke in years. The mutated beast showed no sign of acknowledgment of her name, beyond the continued screams of rage and pain. It continued to struggle against a restraint that was growing weaker by the moment.

A crazed howl tore through the air. The beast broke against her grasp, staggering to its feet. At one point it had been mom, and all the wondrous things mom entailed. Now, now that thing was the farthest thing from the women who had brought her into this world, who’d braided her hair for school, and offered a shoulder for every tear she’d cried. Now, now this thing was a monster that lunged at her with full intent to rip through her throat.

Moving quickly, she dodged, managing to snag the arrow in her grip. Between both their momentums, she ripped the arrow loose. The black puss was flowing heavily from the now open wound. Not allowing a moment for the beast to turn, she drove the arrow into its neck and tore it back out, hitting the festering mass the grew up onto its face. The beast turned, holding onto its gaping wound. Its howls were gurgled, drowned by the black ooze dripping from its lips. With a few chocked whines, it fell to its knees, and then on onto its side where it no longer moved.

The enlarged empty black eye started at her, taunting her with the actions she’d committed. With the mass on its face drained of most its fluid, it was almost possible to make out her mother’s features.

Her knees gave out. A chocked sob tickled at her throat, threatening a scream of pure anguish to rip through her lips. Biting into her knuckles, she breathed deep. Tears blurred her vision, unable to be cleared no matter how much she tried to blink them away. She felt like her insides had been hollowed out, and left bare.

“Mom! Mom?” The hushed calls of a young voice echoed through the trees. Gathering herself as best she could, she rose to her feet. A flash of tarnished gold caught her gaze, and she grabbed the locket she’d thrown down at some point. “Mom?”

Pushing through the bushes, she grabbed the younger girl’s shoulders and turned her around. “Don’t make so much noise.”

The young girl had the gall to smirk at her. She patted at the blade strapped to her leg. “I know how to defend myself.”

That she did. She looked over the child, far too small for her age of ten and sporting cuts and bruises that a child never should. Her thick black curls had been tied into a pom at the top of her head, giving a clear display of her youthful face. There was early signs of malnutrition that helped carved out those sharp cheekbones against her honey darkened skin. Despite the world she grew up in, there was a light to her glistening black gaze.

“Are you crying?” Her daughter asked, stepping closer. “Are you okay? You’ve got….stuff all over you.”

Glancing down, she saw just how filthy she was. Black ooze covered nearly the entire of her pant leg and splattered over her torso and neck. She would need to burn these clothes when they got back. Dragging an arm across her face, she tried to dry off the last of the tears clinging to her cheeks. “I’m fine honey. It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

She didn’t seem convinced, but thankfully dropped the line of question. Sirens were growing louder now; an overbearing scream in the air. The sky had turned, darken masses overtaking the reddened sky. Thunder rolled, a booming bellow under the high pitched metallic alarm.

“We need to get to the shelter,” she spoke clearly, turning back to her daughter. The girl’s confidence dropped visibly as the thunder rolled heavier. There was a patter of rain hitting the tops of trees.

They took a step forward, checking the clearing before she sent her daughter dashing through to the next set of trees. Before following, she looked down at the dented locket in her hand. Clicking open the latch, she was greeted to an aged set of photos. A much younger image of herself smiled a toothy grin with thick braces overtaking her smile. Opposite that, was a photo from her parents weeding day; of the two of them looking so happy and ready for the little family they would create.

“Mom?” Her daughter’s confused whisper moved through the trees.

Loosening her fingers from around the locket, she let it drop onto the forest ground. The soft thud it made from landing among the brush was lost to another roll of thunder that rocked the air. She crossed the clearing, taking her daughter’s hand and making their way back to the rundown shed they were hunkered in.

The thunder rolled violently. Lightening lite up the evening sky as a heavy rain pour began. The furious howls of the infected tore through the air as they too cowered from the burning rain.

Their temporary shelter would hold for now until they found somewhere more secure. The little girl crossed the room, burying herself under a ratted blanket as her mother sorted through the remains of their supplies. Watching as her daughter lite the lantern, and grabbed a book she’d read a thousand times, she set to work cutting open a can of beans and checking that their water supply was still drinkable.

“Can I read to you mom?”

The innocent little question caused her to stop. Her hands shook ever so slightly around the battered can. She turned to her daughter, offering the warmest smile she could bare. “Of course, Susie. I’d love to hear.”

Her own mother’s body lay mutated and deformed a mere couple hundred feet away. She’d changed out of her stained clothes, and washed the blackened blood the best she could. Her mother’s hallow black gaze remained imprinted on her own.

Susie’s sweet little voice picked up where they’d left off in the novel. She read slowly, stumbling over a few words and doing all the voices that she could manage. The shakiness in her hands began to settle as her daughter got more and more invested into the novel.

At some point, she’d have to deal with the emotional fall out of what she’d done in the forest. The mutated beast might have been a monster determined to kill her, but it was a monster that at some point had been her mother. And everything a mother entailed.

But it was not to be dealt with now. Susie needed her. And as long as her daughter needed her mother, she would hold it together.