Yesterday's Gone: Season Three (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (56 page)

Boricio saw the recognition all around him — the guns that weren’t being aimed, and the general lack of worry despite the slippery Frankenfucker-looking mutant that looked like someone had sewn half an alien to half a man, almost right down the middle. This was the first mutant Boricio had seen that still had human qualities, save for Charlie, if what they’d said about him was true.
 

Nerdy Die Hard looked plenty worried, but Pirate Boricio shot him a look that said shit was cool.

“I take it you know Girl and Monster here?” Boricio asked, looking at the creature again, with its twisted torso of terror; two claws jutting from a set of charred looking limbs, slick and dangling from its side.
 

Pirate Boricio nodded, his eyes narrowed like he was trying to get the colors the same on the side of the Rubik’s Cube.
 

Boricio looked at Charlie. He knew nervous when he saw it, and sure as shit that was exactly what Charlie was, shifting on his feet and taking a light step back as he pulled the group’s attention away from Girl and Monster.
 

“Did you escape Black Mountain?” Charlie said to the Frankenfucker.
 

Frankenfucker didn’t answer Charlie, turning to the group instead, and aiming his eyes at Pirate Boricio. “He’s lying,” Frankenfucker said. “There was no accident at the Facility, and no alien attack.
He
is the monster.” Then, probably because he saw the same whatthefuck on all the faces as the one being worn by Pirate Boricio, added, “The Darkness is inside him.”

Boricio tensed. Sure Charlie might have been infected, but he wasn’t some evil monster, or
Darkness
, or whatever the fuck Frankenfucker wanted to call it. Boricio wasn’t about to stand by and let anyone say shit about Charles in Charge, not when he’d been as loyal as he had. Sure, he probably wanted to catch up with Callie so he could get to the center of her Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop, but Boricio was sure Charlie’s return had something to do with his allegiance to Boricio, too.

“What fucking
Darkness?
” Boricio said, taking a step toward Frankenfucker, as though he didn’t have a dangerous black claws that could tear Boricio’s flesh like meat from a lobster’s shell. “You’re the one who looks like Alien Raped Predator!”
 

Mary was suddenly in front of Boricio, her mouth hanging open, standing a short half-step in front of her little lamb, whose mouth was hanging even lower than her mother’s.

“Ryan,” Mary said, stepping forward and reaching her hand out toward Frankenfucker’s face, which still looked mostly normal, except for the giant black goiter bubbling on his neck, and an ashen pallor like a shadow spilled on his face.
 

“You know him?” Boricio asked, even though it was as obvious as day.

Miss Mary didn’t need to answer. Her little lamb said, “Daddy?”
 

Holy fucking shit!

They were one John Williams score away from a goddamn melodrama.
 

Pirate Boricio looked as confused as the rest of The Brady Bunch, but he stepped to the front of the crowd, then turned and said, “Everyone stay calm. Everything is okay. He turned to Girl and Monster. “What’s going on, Lisa?”
 

Charlie used the happy reunion and Pirate Boricio’s confusion to drift closer to Callie, pulling her hand into his. She seemed more uncertain than Boricio would’ve expected, but finally softened, then rested her head against Charlie’s body.
 

Frankenfucker said, “I’ll take it Lisa,” then turned to Mary and his daughter. “Yes, it’s me.” Boricio thought the half-alien might’ve been crying, but with the shadows all over his face, it was impossible to tell. “I’ve been searching for you since October.” He looked down. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”
 

Mary choked, then sobbed and said, “It’s okay,” through a harsh curtain of tears as her baby girl shuddered beside her. Neither of them had gone close enough to hug him, however.

Something inside Boricio felt like it was cracking.
 

Ryan turned to the Brady Bunch. “I was being held in Black Mountain, like Charlie. I saw some sort of Darkness — the same Darkness that’s controlling all the creatures,” he looked down, “including me, sorta.”
 

Ryan shook his head, then turned back to stare the Bunch in the eyes. “I saw The Darkness go inside Charlie, and then he just started killing people on his way out of The Mountain. It’s the same Darkness that had been inside the Prophet and John before that.”

“Wait a second, how do you know them?” Mary asked.

“I’ve seen what
It
sees.
It
wants to kill you all, starting with Luca. And then
It
wants the vial.”
 

Before Nerdy Die Hard, and the rest of Team Boricio could turn their guns on Charlie, the boy with the monster inside him suddenly wrestled Callie’s gun from her hand, pushed her three feet from him, then trained his gun on the back of her head. “No one come near me,” he said, his voice somehow . . . different. “I don’t want to hurt her, but I will if you continue to force my hand.”
 

Scary Charlie half-smiled at Callie. Boricio almost winced when he did.
 

Charlie turned to The Bunch, his voice growing soft, then said, “You’re not gonna actually
believe
this fucking freak are you? Look at him, he’s obviously sick!” Charlie swallowed, then turned to Callie. “You believe me, right, Callie? You know I love you. You’re the only reason my heart keeps beating.”
 

That shit sounded as phony as the flavors at Applebee’s. Callie must’ve thought so too. She looked Charlie in the eyes, held his gaze for a second, but then stumbled back a step, then two. Scary Charlie suddenly growled, then lurched forward and reached out a hand, smacking Callie so hard across the face that she flew back and fell onto the road.
 

She screamed and Charlie roared — a horrible, screeching bellow of rage.
 

Maybe a tantrum; definitely a summons.
 

The area all around them erupted with swarms of monstrosities, all charging toward them in an elegant explosion of perfect chaos.

“Well, fuck a duck, son,” Boricio said, “looks like you just screwed the pooch.” He raised his gun to clear Scary Charlie’s head from his body, but Scary Charlie was faster, ducking beneath Boricio’s aim and flying toward him, taking him down at the waist.
 

Boricio growled like a wolf as the gun flew from his hand and skidded across the dirt road.

Boricio punched, clawed, kicked, and tumbled in battle with Scary Charlie as the end of everything erupted all around them.
 

* * * *

CHAPTER 11 — Ryan Olson Part 2

Black Island, New York

April 2012

SIX MONTHS AFTER THE EVENT…

The crazy version of Boricio was exactly that — a crazed ball of raging insanity as he wrestled the Darkness-infected Charlie to the ground.

The Darkness
should have
easily finished Crazy Boricio off, but the crazy bastard managed to get
It
to retreat into the shadows instead, where it crouched and cried with a horrible series of terrible screams, calling for alien reinforcements with an urgency that Ryan could clearly feel in his head and body.

KILL HIM!!
the Darkness screamed.

Charlie was only off of Crazy Boricio for a few seconds before an especially large mutant took his place. The mutant that should have shredded Crazy Boricio to nothing ended up as a pile of nothing itself after a minute spent at the hands of the man’s rage and blade.

Ryan turned to Mary and Paola. So much to say and no time to say it. “Stay safe so we can get through this. I promise I’ll explain everything.” He pointed toward the relative safety of the trucks.
 

“No,” Mary shook her head. “We’re fighting too.” She lifted her pistol for Ryan to see, then Paola did the same.
 

“We’re trained,” Paola said. “And I fixed my jammed gun all by myself!”
 

Ryan could tell by their eyes. NO wasn’t an option, and he hadn’t earned the right to insist. He wasn’t sure how many of the mutants were already surrounding them, or how many more were approaching, and while he tried to see the answer in his mind, the truth was as blurry as the island’s gnarled shadows.

“Okay,” Ryan said, as though permission mattered. His girls were already firing into the dark, bullets slamming into their targets with a horrible squishing.
 

Ryan roared, then charged forward toward a cluster coming at them, shredding aliens with a crazed blend of alien intensity, human cunning, and a father’s need to protect his wife and child.
 

Ryan continued to drop creature upon creature, as the dark hordes continued to close in around them. Both Boricios were out of bullets and fighting beside one another, Bald Boricio using a machete and Crazy Boricio using a knife. Ed still had plenty of rounds, and was taking aliens down one carefully placed burst of gunfire at a time. Mary and Paola stood back to back, firing only at the creatures actually coming toward them, though they were hitting their marks and dropping every one, with Ryan shocked by the accuracy of their aim. Sullivan rotated in small circles, firing into the sound of the gnashing aliens.
 

The girl who was threatened by Charlie showed no fear on her face, though it was twisted with rage as she stared into the shadows, probably searching for Charlie, likely wanting to see him dead as much as Ryan wanted to see his family safe. She finally growled, then ran into the shadows of the forest.
 

Ryan was surrounded by a trio of aliens, quickly closing in around him. He raised his claw and hand as the largest of the three creatures brought him hard to the ground. Ryan gnashed and raged and screamed and bucked his body hard against the ground, thrashing about as he tried to throw the mounting aliens from his slippery body.
 

Ryan’s world was quickly fading to dark as another pair of aliens joined the trio.
 

He was as good as dead.
 

Ryan squeezed his eyes and twisted his head, swaying his body as he tried to grab a final glimpse of his girls.

The first of the five aliens fell, quickly followed by a second.
 

Crazy Boricio screamed, “Come and get me, you slippery soul-eating fucks!”
 

The alien swiped at Crazy Boricio, its claw connecting with Boricio’s arm and spraying a jet of crimson, which rained across the sky and splattered Ryan’s still mostly human face.
 

Bald Boricio joined him, screaming just as loud, though nowhere near as crazy, while waving some sort of giant stick.

Ryan slipped from the bottom of the huddle and saw Mary with an alien charging toward her. She raised her gun, but the alien slapped the pistol from her hand. Paola raised her gun and pulled the trigger but the gun only mocked her with an empty clicking.

Ryan charged forward, closing the distance in less than two seconds, thrusting his claw deep into the alien’s torso, then twisted the blade inside the creature’s body, pulling the alien’s still beating ebony heart from its body, then throwing it into the darkness with a wailing bellow.
 

Mary screamed, terrified, then swallowed her fear and ran toward Ryan. “Thank you,” she cried out, hugging him.

He looked around. Aliens were everywhere, circling them at a bit of a distance instead of attacking, as if they seemed to be moving with less urgency. The hive buzzed with discord in his mind, and there was nothing Ryan could do to filter through the countless lines of chaos.
 

The aliens seemed suddenly confused and Ryan could feel something interfering with their commands from the Darkness. He looked around, but couldn’t discern the source.

Charlie was gone, and his minions had stopped attacking, but at the same time, they weren’t leaving. The aliens numbered in the hundreds, surrounding them on all sides.

Ryan looked around at Mary’s companions. They were still alive, but not for much longer. Ryan had heard enough empty clicking, and had seen enough discarded guns, to know they were out of bullets. Everyone was covered in blood, and the bright crimson with only shadows of black said most of the blood was human. They gathered between the trucks with two old men in the back seat of one of the trucks. Ryan recognized one of the men from Charlie’s vision as Luca — their last true hope.

Ryan didn’t think the old man looked like much of a hope, however.

A man with glasses cried out, “Keenan!” running toward one of the fallen men, 30 yards away from the others.
 

Keenan was lying in a pool of quickly spreading blood beneath him, “Go, Sullivan,” he said, his voice frail. “Get Luca to the house. And take this.”

Ed pulled a glowing orange ball from his tactical jacket, then handed the ball to Sullivan as the two Boricios ran over to join them.