Prepped
by Kirsty Syder
Horrific Scribes Extremity Rating:
“You cannot go out tonight. I have been saying for months it’s far too dangerous. We are spending this evening together as a family, and that’s final.”
“I hate you! It’s not real. You’ll see tomorrow when everything’s fine!” Jenny stormed off to her room, leaving Hank and me alone in the kitchen.
“I’m going to give her one hour to calm down,” he said. “After that, it’s time for us to go down to the basement.”
Hank had been preparing for this night for over a year. Ever since the bug became big news. I didn’t understand a word of it. Planes used to fly and doctors used to doctor without computers, so how could a little thing like that make them fall out of the sky or their treatments stop working? Load of old nonsense. You have to show a united front about these things, though. And it had kept Hank busy so I could watch TV in peace and dream of being young again and living in New York.
In fact, that was how I spent the next hour until Hank came up to collect us. Jenny stomped into the basement, a huge scowl on her face, and I followed her down the stairs. When we reached the bottom, she stopped and turned to look at me. Her face had changed to an expression of amazement. Neither of us had been down there in quite a while.
Rows of shelves flanked the walls, with enough tins to feed us for a year at least. They all shone like new in the harsh fluorescent light, so many colours and choices it was like being in a supermarket.
“Come on, hurry up.” Hank bundled us further into the basement, then jogged back up the stairs, where he locked and bolted the door.
He came back down and gestured at some camp beds for us to sit on. Evidently, he hadn’t put the same effort into comfort as he had to sustenance.
“Hank, this is very nice. It’s just like those camping trips we used to take.” I sat on one of the beds and tried to smile. Jenny slumped beside me. The camping trips had been another thing I’d put up with for the sake of a quiet life, at least until Hank found a new obsession and Jenny and I were free to enjoy our girls’ trips to a spa instead.
“This is crazy, Mom. I know you think so, too. I hope we donate all this food to the Goodwill when we get out of here.”
Hank ignored her and smiled at me. “I got your favourite camomile tea. Let me make you a cup.” He poured some bottled water into a small pan and placed it on a camp stove. I let my eyes wander deeper into the basement, to what used to be my laundry room. I saw a safe and several large cabinets that I thought we’d got rid of.
“Hank? Is that the gun cabinet?” He nodded brusquely. “Didn’t we say we’d sell them? After those boys… they were younger than Jenny.” I trailed off, remembering the awful news from last April, how we’d agreed that the guns were more dangerous than they were worth.
“We’ll need them for what’s coming. I’ve got to keep my women safe.” He poured the boiling water over my teabag and handed me the mug. “Those boys just showed how dangerous the world is. It’s everyone for themselves.”
I decided to table the issue until we weren’t locked in the basement. Jenny, however, sauntered over to the small room.
“What’s in this one?” she asked, pointing to the safe I hadn’t paid much attention to.
Hank beamed, thrilled that she was showing an interest. “That, my dear, is our nest egg.” He walked over the cabinet and unlocked it with a key attached to his belt with a metal chain like the ones those kids who hang out at Hot Topic all have. Jenny gasped when she saw what was inside, and I moved closer to get a better look. It was filled with gold. Solid gold bars that gleamed in the light when he took one out to show us.
“Hank, where did this come from?” I gazed at the shiny metal in wonder.
“This is our life savings, my dear. Your inheritance from your parents, and I sold all my shares. It’s all here, safe with us.”
“You took it out of the bank? I thought it was safer there. We could be robbed.”
His demeanour changed in a flash. “The banks aren’t safe, honey. When the computers stop working, they won’t know who had how much money. It’s going to be total chaos. And if you think paper money will be any use in the bad times, then you’re even stupider than I thought. We’ll need this to barter, to keep us safe.”
“Dad, don’t talk to her like that!” Jenny yelled and strode back over to the camp beds. Our precious moment of family harmony ruined again because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
The hours ticked by. I had another camomile tea while Hank drank Red Bull after Red Bull, muttering about having to stay alert. We didn’t talk much, apart from when I went to use the bathroom and Hank insisted on demonstrating the system of buckets I’d have to use after midnight, when the water stopped working.
Midnight finally did come. I wanted to at least sing “Auld Lang Syne,” but Hank said we couldn’t let our guard down for even a minute. I could faintly hear fireworks being set off nearby. I imagined the colours flashing in the dark, my neighbours’ cries of joy. I saw a tear roll down Jenny’s cheek; she must have been thinking of her friends and the fun they’d be having without her. I put my arm around her while Hank prowled around the basement like a fox marking his territory.
The noise from outside had faded away when I heard something else. A groaning grew louder and louder until it sounded like the basement was about to split at the seams.
“Mom, what’s happening?” Jenny yelled as Hank sprinted to the gun closet shouting about how he was ready for this. A crack appeared in the wall nearest the stairs. Small at first, it widened rapidly until it was big enough for someone to step through. Hank pushed Jenny and me behind him and aimed the gun at the gap.
The smell reached us first. Like burning wood and rotten eggs. Jenny gagged, and even Hank muttered, “What the hell is that?” as it grew more intense and fetid. Grey smoke curled in through the crack. It seemed thicker than normal smoke, its tendrils hanging in the air without dispelling. Then someone walked through the crack. I could tell he was tall, taller than anyone I’d ever met, but shaped like a man.
“Don’t take a single step further,” Hank yelled, his finger tightening on the trigger. “This house is defended.”
“Oh Hank,” the thing from the crack said in a silky-smooth voice with a touch of amusement. “That’s not going to help you.” It stepped forwards out of the smoke. Jenny and I whimpered in terror at the sight, and I saw Hank flinch but remain solid. The thing must have been seven feet tall, with skin so black it seemed like a void in the fluorescent basement light. But what really scared me was its eyes. They were blood red and seemed to glow slightly, with tiny dark pupils trained on Hank. I was so fixated on the first creature that I barely noticed it had been followed by several smaller things, which were closer to my height but with that same black skin and terrible eyes.
Still looking at Hank, the main creature leered slightly and said, “We’re here for our payment.”
“What the hell are you talking about? This is no time for jokes—”
“I am not joking, Hank.” The creature’s eyes flashed brighter red. “This is not a laughing matter. You said you would sell your soul to survive this night.”
“I said no such thing.”
“I think you’ll find you did, Hank. And we are always listening. We already made our payment.” It gestured to the safe. “Did you really think your pathetic investments made up that much gold?”
Hank spluttered at that. “I got a good deal. What do you know about it?”
“More than you, Hank.” The thing moved its terrible mouth into a smile, revealing sharp silver teeth. “And we must thank you for building this little stockpile for us, that will be so useful for our base of operations.”
“That’s enough. Get out of my house!” Hank raised the gun to point at the creature’s head. The creature took a step towards him, and Hank pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened. The only sound was a faint click.
The creature moved in a flash and grabbed the long barrel of the gun. It pulled it downwards. The metal seemed to soften as it bent the gun into a useless pretzel. Jenny and I tried to muffle our screams, but no one was paying us any attention. Hank dropped the useless gun as if it burned him. The smaller creatures glided forwards into the basement and started taking stock of the supplies. One of them nodded at the big creature: “We’ve got it from here.”
The monster grabbed Hank by the shoulders. “You’re coming with me.” It lifted him easily and walked back towards the crack in the wall. Hank tried to reach out towards me, his eyes wet with terror. I was too scared to move. Smoke swirled around their departing forms until we couldn’t see them at all.
Jenny looked at one of the remaining creatures. “What are you going to do to us? Are you going to take us, too?” It looked at us as if noticing us for the first time.
“You’re free to go. We don’t steal. We only take what’s been pledged to us.” It carried on looking at the cans, while another of them was trying to light the camp stove.
“Are you staying here?” I managed to force the words out.
“We take everything he owned. The house, his share of the gold, this lovely cache of food. You must leave, but he didn’t own you. Humans can’t own other humans, not as far as we’re concerned. We’ll be busy in this neighbourhood, though. I think people here will be very willing to bargain.”
Another demon glided over to us and handed me a sack. I took it, feeling the heavy clank of gold bars.
“That’s the payment for his soul. All yours. His debt is cleared.” With that, he moved to a different shelf and looked at the rows of cans.
Jenny and I remained frozen to the spot for a few more minutes, but as the creatures paid us no regard, we thawed out and started to move. I looked back at them once more as we climbed the stairs, their dreadful eyes glowing in the basement light. One of them let out an excited grunt on finding tinned tomatoes and licked his black lips with a grotesque slimy tongue that could reach all the way down his chin.
We left the house and went into the street. Everything was fine, of course. We realised that pretty quickly as we saw a plane flying overhead and heard the bass beats of multiple parties still in full swing. An SUV drove by, winding across both sides of the road, and sprayed us with grey snow. Jenny turned to me and almost smiled, probably trying to suppress an “I told you so.”
“When we get a new place, can it be one without a basement?”
I nodded. “I’m thinking an apartment. No secrets.”
She smiled fully. “No secrets.”
We got in the car and drove away. Everything was fine.
| SPECIAL EXHIBIT 2: Return to the Introduction and Guide | Continue with Coming Soon to a Civilization Near You, Gallery One: New Year’s Endings and read the next attraction, “Smashing in the New Year“ |