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  By Luis DaSilva

  Text copyright © 2014 Luis DaSilva

  All rights reserved

  For the woman behind Danni, who always rests in my mind and heart and who, for better or worse, made me into who I am today.

  “Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.”

  - Arthur Golden

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  PROLOGUE

  HELL FROM THE HEAVENS

  “I don’t think it’s anything special…” the dark, purple-gray sand fell through his fingers. Each grain worn by thousands of years slipped back onto its familiar soil, like in the great hourglass of time. He pushed himself back up off of his knees, standing on this foreign world. The sky was nonexistent, the blackness of space all-encompassing and threatening, one of its sole occupants being a far-off star glowing proudly with a radiant orange. He moved onward, his movements as slow as if he were in water, and he saw his craft, safe and sound in the distance. He took a giant leap onward, hovered in the air for several seconds, nervous that space and the planet were fighting over his captivity, and then landed, bringing up a cloud of fine silt which obscured his dome-shaped view. By the time he reached his ship, he was covered in a purple and alien dust. As he made preparations to enter the vessel, he was startled momentarily as he heard a noise of static. It subliminally reminded him of the classic static on the TV screen; all the black and white pixels moving so quickly reminded him of a busy highway as a child…

  “If you didn’t find anything yet, we’re not going to. Come back…” a disappointing message from someone millions of miles away buzzed over the headset. Even the universe seemed to show its sorrow. A star even farther away than the last burned away all its energy, and then… nothing. Once a brilliant ball of light, and in its dying moments, reduced to nothing. Such was the cycle of the universe, it seemed.

  The astronaut got back into his shuttle. It was a solid white interior of metals, computers, wires, screens, gadgets, anything such a galactic pioneer would need. Flicking a switch on the wall, high-pitched squeals of air re-pressurizing filled the room. He took a deep breath and removed his helmet. He was able to see now with his own blue eyes, and feel his jet black hair released from its compression inside the helmet. At an impressive six foot two, he lumbered around as his legs were getting used to a heavier sense of gravity again, and made last minute preparations for deep sleep, protecting him from the effects of age as his craft roamed its way through the stars. Ascending a ladder into the main cabin, realization set in of how the cold steel bars were barely warmer than the numbing reaches of the planet with no atmosphere. He may as well have been floating in the middle of nowhere, in the center of space… he reached the top, and saw the familiar cabin. Monitor, lights, wiring, cold white plating… the same as the rest of the ship. He relaxed in the only seat in the room: a couch that looked extremely out of place, as if it should belong in a shrink’s office instead. He took a small, dome-shaped device from the table beside him, and took a deep breath. He placed it on his face and immediately felt sleep begin to close his mind shut. He looked at the table again, and did two things: stared at a single, aging photo until the sleeping drugs froze his eyes and body, and re-read a brief note casually written to him years ago:

  Good luck Noah!

  Gabriel and I know you’ll do a great job! Can’t wait to see you again!

  - Love, Mary

  In the tattered photo was a woman who looked to be about in her thirties, a bright ring shining on her finger in the flash of the camera, and alongside her, a young boy, both with blithe smiles…

  A flickering image, mostly static, appeared on the dashboard: two men monitoring the journeys of this modern-day Columbus. As the ship sped homeward, the image became less static, and flickered into something that was more real, something that was really happening…

  “He’s asleep.” the clean-shaven one announced. He looked around the pure-white room to avoid awkwardness, but it was eventually met when his eyes grazed over those of his partner.

  “You STILL found nothing?”

  “Nope…”

  White coat stared at white coat.

  “You can’t keep sending these people out there. They’re wasting their lives, they have a family! Kids! A wife! They’re spending sixteen years out there, round-trip! And it’s for NOTHING!”

  “We’re not getting anywhere without sacrifices, you know that as well as I do…”

  “Send bots out there…”

  “The signal isn’t strong enough, you saw how it took five minutes for even something as simple as a five-second recording to get here.” awkward silence entered once more, and their eyes didn’t meet again. They went their own separate ways after mere moments…

  AUGUST 2, 2043

  The cheap fence rattled as crowds pushed against it, like savage beasts begging for a meal. Cheers, cries, and every voice in between filled the air against the perfect blue sky. Police casually surveyed the area to make sure there were no injuries. A pair of reporters, both garbed in classic tuxedos, made constant updates on when the event would start. Their smiling mugs were bright and clean on the massive screen set into a wall nearby. Their voices were all but drowned out amongst the crowd. It was the only barrier in site, the only other man-made structures being the fence and landing pad; the rest was bare dirt and grassland. In a building far beyond viewing site, lonely and awkward, two scientists felt their hands shake in anticipation and nervousness… mostly nervousness. These two had argued years before about the coming event…

  “He didn’t report back?” the one who was still bearded after so many years asked with wide eyes.

  “No, I dunno what’s going on, he should’ve made reports weeks ago…” the clean-shaven one bit his lip. He suddenly found the other blustering at him mere inches from his face.

  “You fix whatever the hell you did! We can’t afford a panic attack, look at all those people out there!” he angrily pointed outside to the crowd of hundreds. Both were furious by this point.

  “I didn’t ask for them! They practically invited themselves! I don’t need for them to find a dead body!” both were silent as they realized what he had just said. If the pilot hadn’t reported back by now, something had clearly gone wrong… pressure problems? Undetected hull breach? Their eyes were suddenly drawn to the window as they heard cheers outside that were quickly drowned out by the mechanized sounds of landing gear emerging from the craft that finally made it back after sixteen years, utilizing its advanced robotic mind to make a clean landing without any human interaction. Mist covered the window of the main entrance of the craft in seconds due to the pressurized gases it was releasing.

  After it landed, shouts once again began to fight for dominance of being the loudest sound. Anticipation choked the air, and after several moments of no change, the entire crowd became quiet, thinking it may ease the weary pilot out.

  “Do something. And now.” the bearded one stared out the window, petrified. His partner took nervous gasps as he scanned the massive keyboard before him with his eyes, looking for something to delay the inevitable.

  The door hissed open, pure white gas pouring out to obscure an already confusing event. The crowd murmured, what was going on? The gas dissipated as quickly as it came, and… nothing. No hero standing in the doorway, proud to announce his glorious findings, or proudly bearing his country’s flag after the greatest voyage they’ve ever seen. The guards at the event exchanged nervous glances, and one was brave enough to take one step inside. One step inside, looking up and down the met
allic white corridors… no signs of life to the left, to the right, or…

  He felt a very distinct wetness on his head. He shut his eyes tight, and clenched his fists, not daring to look up. The crowd outside mostly gasped in either terror or disgust. Some sort of fuel leak? It would’ve seemed like harmless shampoo gel if he had a moment to calmly think it over, but he wasn’t given that. He felt himself violently thrust upward, grabbed by something grasping onto the gel so stuck into his hair. Pandemonium gripped the crowd with morbid hands, and shouts of terror, not excitement, now filled the air. Gunshots rang out, and the two scientists were utterly helpless.

  “WHAT’S HAPPENING? WHAT’S HAPPENING OUT THERE?!”

  “I DON’T KNOW!”

  “GIVE ME THAT!”

  The bearded one pushed his partner from his seat to get into the computer area. He flipped switches, pushed buttons, rotated dials, all until he got a clear image on the screen.

  “Oh my God…” they both felt their hearts sink at what the monitor showed: Mangled bodies, blood, and bones splattered against the ground and outside walls of the shuttle. Crowds running for their lives, a fallen guard with a wounded leg struggling to aim and fire a pitiful pistol, a child standing firmly in one spot, tears rolling down his chubby swollen face. Their eyes darted about the screen looking for a nightmare. It mostly came in the form of a red blur, too fast for the human eye. It seemed to be man-sized, but was very clearly no man. It was an extraterrestrial red unlike any found on Earth. When it finally stopped for a split second, they both were ready to vomit. It stood at an unimpressive four feet tall, but was monstrous beyond belief: hideous bumps that looked like scars adorned its body. Two grotesque blue eyes larger than the clawed fingertips. Bones sticking out of a back hunched over due to a massive jaw that no normal spine could support. White strips of cloth embedded in its skin in random places. The scientists saw some sort of gel or goo fly from its mouth, and strike another innocent civilian. They became immobilized but not injured… until the demon leapt some twenty feet and devoured another victim, practically whole.

  “Dear God!” the clean-shaven scientist shut the monitor before he could witness any more bloodshed.

  “YOU BASTARD! YOU SON OF A BITCH!” the bearded one threw a punch that hit his partner square in the jaw.

  “THIS IS YOUR FAULT! WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE NOW! LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE!” he couldn’t tell if he was screaming hate or terror. His palms were sweaty and shaking uncontrollably in his senseless rage. Before he could make up his mind, the clean-shaven one stopped struggling, and simply stared out the window. The one who threw the punch turned around just in time to find the glass explode in his face, cutting sensitive skin… and standing where the window pane once was, a red, monstrous beast breathing. Strong, alive, deadly, and hell-bent on total domination.

  Chapter 1

  A GENESIS IN CHAOS

  “Leo, why do you like these?”

  On the aging TV screen was an old monster movie, probably from the 1970s. The ancient VCR underneath it was hacking and coughing, struggling to produce the mediocre image and sound. Two dinosaurs with peculiarly rubbery skin wrestled on the screen. A glimpse of the actual production set could be seen occasionally behind the cardboard background. Danni watched the movie with fatigued eyes, which was a stark contrast to myself. I couldn’t get enough of it, and couldn’t tell if it was an achievement or pathetic that my entire movie case was filled with such treasures. I personally found it impressive that I was able to find them all, between one junk shop, this tag sale, that dusty attic…

  “They’re fun! Sure, it’s an hour and forty-five minutes of listening to Japanese guys with poor dubs, but then you get half-an-hour of THIS.” I stretched out my hand to the absolute masterpiece of cinema on the screen. Danni rolled her deep green eyes, adjusted her glasses, rested her chin in her hands, and kept watching.

  “Oh no! The monsters have escaped! What can we do?!” the words of the man on the fading screen didn’t match his lips. I’ve known for a long time that it was self-parody, but it was still good fun. One rubber suit was thrown into a massive body of water, and the movie started to give a half-hearted attempt to fill all of its plot holes. By the time the credits started rolling, Danni was practically climbing the walls.

  “Geez, about time!” she grinned, “You’re lucky I let you make me watch these.” I ignored her remark and started fumbling around with the relic some more. Every time I pulled a wire or pressed a button, the screen was either blank, a mess of pixels and colors, or a sad combination of both.

  “Problem, techie?” Danni teased. I showed her a smug smirk of approval when I finally got the image to display.

  “Blurry like hell.” she nodded.

  “Oh, quit your whining.”

  “Not whining!” she raised her hands in defense. I got the old, creaky remote and started flipping through channels.

  A cartoon in Spanish; something about a purple elephant and a duck. I could vaguely understand every few words.

  The weather. It was going to rain later today.

  Commercials. What in God’s name is a “Cuddlie”?

  One of the many news stations… bold text rolled across the screen as various politicians and newsmen were arguing, just as they had been since the conception of politics.

  “NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN DISEASE RUNNING RAMPANT IN EUROPE-WHO’S TO BLAME?”

  A variety of flags adorned the conference room; every nationality in the world was represented in one way or another.

  “I’d like to recall the disaster in Germany, if I may…” the Indian representative spoke in his native tongue. It didn’t help our understanding very much that Danni and I dropped into the report in the middle of things.

  “And, if WE may…” the German representative butted in, “…WE would like to recall how we clearly stated that the incident regarding the return of the shuttle was completely exaggerated.”

  The entire room was completely quiet. Nobody dared to make a single sound until one poor soul from off-camera shouted out, “They’re all extremists, you can’t trust them!” An uproar started, papers flying everywhere, everybody talking at once. Only one loud-mouthed British representative was able to quiet the rowdy politicians, and only because of his booming voice.

  “QUIET! We’re… in almost the same position we were in almost exactly one hundred years ago. The disease is new, but the situation of bitter rivalry is not. If we let this disease plunge us into war, we’ll never climb out. Science has advanced far enough that I’m confident we’ll find a cure soon enough, and it’s also evolved far enough to make weapons far beyond what any of us have seen in use yet. I shouldn’t need to give you a history lesson on the past few years. We’ve all been weakened due to years of this… stagnant economy, as well as guerilla warfare worldwide… there are no true world powers left. There are no dominant governments. Some of you are communist, some of you are fascist, France and Britain are the only democracies. Even the U.S. is relying on what is practically a feudalist system, with anarchists running free all o—“

  “Then give us a solution instead of more of your crap!” another off-camera voice called out.

  More chaos. Papers flying everywhere, every language in the world being shouted at once until the screen twitched with its black and white static once more.

  “So? What do you think?” I couldn’t help but ask Danni.

  “Hm?”

  “On the TV. The problems in Europe.”

  “Eh, it’ll fix itself. It always does. Besides, that’s across the ocean. The U.S. is safe, we’ll be fine.” she shrugged.

  Danni stood up, stretched herself out, and walked over to the window. Her platinum blonde hair, sharing a tone with white sand, fell slightly below her shoulders when she leaned over to take a look outside. I got up too, just for the sake of it, and took a glance out the window, my own dark hair falling at my shoulders. I didn’t have much of a problem squeezing in against her average-sized figure, co
nsidering she was so short. Then again, I was only an inch or two taller…

  “I’m just kinda bored.” she answered before I could ask.

  “Wanna go out?” I asked. She whipped her head around so fast that she smacked her nose right into mine, and we both stumbled back. Clutching my thin, sore nose, I realized my mistake.

  “…Outside?”

  “Oh!” she blinked.

  Without another embarrassing word, down the stairs we went, two steps at a time. In the apartment hallway, all the lights were either out or flickering. Danni swung the door leading outside open, letting hazy light into the dusty space. I took a deep breath of the beautiful, polluted air of a small city. The sky was a chalky gray, and proved to be an interesting background to the dozens of humble, crumbling shops on the street, only to be overshadowed by goliath business buildings even further on down. The arcade, the meat shop, t-

  “C’mon, I thought you said you were gonna DO something outside!” She pleaded. I rolled my eyes with exaggeration, and followed along.

  “Stop rushing me!” I defended myself.

  “Better keep me entertained!” she snapped playfully.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because I’m the only one who wants to spend time with you, emo boy.” she ruffled my hair.

  I rolled my eyes a second time and let her go on ahead of me. Even though I was far behind her, I could just tell from her body language that she was scanning the small town square we were now in, looking for anything that would keep the attention of someone who was as impatient as she was.

  As we casually proceeded down the street with little deliberation, one site caught our eye, and then jolted our senses: Shakespeare’s was shutting down!

  Shakespeare’s was an ancient book shop that was established here way back in the 1930s, when our Burybury was but a budding town. The family that had owned the shop ever since its inception took advantage of the lucrative name they just so happened to share with the renowned playwright, only further attracting attention to their little store. It’s quaint, wooden structure always was quite a contrast to the dull bleakness of the gray surrounding it. Of course, this dreariness hadn’t always existed around it, but sprung up with the fall of old shops and the rise of new. There it stood though, proud and fearless of the advance of time.