They Lie in Wait

Darkness. That was the world I had been born into and that was the world I had been abandoned to try and survive in.

Over thirty years ago, an asteroid hit the earth. As I heard it, the world leaders had gotten together to shoot an asteroid off its path for the earth but it was bigger than they anticipated. Had the asteroid hit the earth as it was, the earth would have been completely destroyed, but the rockets blasted the rock into smaller chunks that moved even faster. Most of these chunks shot off in different directions, getting lost in the void of space. One chunk, the size of Old New York, collided with the earth just off the coast of Asia.

After that, a series of chain reactions destroyed most life on earth. Earthquakes and tsunamis crumbled the things we had built. Volcanoes rapidly formed along the shifting tectonic plates and explosively erupted, filling the skies with ash and smoke. The atmosphere changed, chemicals reacted, and the earth was plunged into darkness.

The first few years, what was left of humanity just tried to survive. Without any sunlight, everything green died. With nothing to eat, many living things starved. It was the scrappier animals who found a way to live, not being picky where their nourishment came from. But even now their numbers dwindle and we see fewer and fewer living things outside of our little communities.

It didn't take long in a world of darkness for rumors to spread about something in the shadow. The rumors then turned to fact as more and more starving monsters became bolder in their own quest for survival.

Some said they were created by the apocalypse. Some said the asteroid brought them. Others said they were always here on earth, but now they have nothing to fear and roam free.

Personally, I don't really care where they came from. All I know is they steal our supplies and kill what few of us are left. So far, we haven't killed any of them, though some people claim they have. No one can confirm finding a body and even fewer would risk going out to fetch a body if they had shot one.

Now, we just do our best to build back up what we can and protect the last of mankind. The darkness is all I have ever known. The darkness will be the death of us.

...

"Do you think they're watching us?" Juniper asked, staring through the links in the twelve foot fence that surrounded our concrete compound. It used to be a prison, before the darkness, but had been partially rebuilt as a fortress, effectively protecting us from those who might cause trouble, monster or human.

I followed her gaze for a moment, then quickly shut down the fear that threatened to make my hands shake. "Aren't you supposed to be helping prepare dinner?" I asked the twelve year old as I shook out another damp sheet and hung it over the wire tied between the poles of netless basketball hoops.

She sighed and kicked a rock through the fence before stomping off to the kitchen to help her mother. The rock skipped over the hard dirt into the graveyard of dead trees beyond the fence.

During the day, a brownish red haze barely illuminated the dying world. In the dim light, I thought I glimpsed a shadow move through the trees, like the rock had disturbed something. My heart skipped a beat and I froze, watching the treeline.

Nothing. I shook my head and went back to work hanging the laundry. In the 12 years I had lived here, nothing had entered our compound that we hadn't invited in. Yet, it was my memories of the 15 years outside the compound that haunted me and kept me on edge. They were out there, the other humans, and they were monstrous.

...

I woke from a light sleep to the sound of my door opening and closing softly. A whisper called my name "Star?"

"Mmmm," I mumbled in response. A weight on my small bed made me smile and a large hand turned me to my back.

"You awake?" Ben asked, already moving his hand from my shoulder, down to my breast, kneading it.

"MmmMmm." I shook my head and closed my eyes, playfully tugging away from the grabbing hands.

"That's ok," he rumbled, "I'll do all the work anyway."

He tugged me to my back and yanked away my blanket and so that I gasped at the sudden chill. His warm body settled on top of me and I sighed into the warmth. When he pulled down my bottoms I lifted my hips and my own hands reached for his.

He pulled away before I could get anything loose. He laughed at my annoyed look and slipped further down the bed, trailing his lips down my stomach to my thighs. "You first," he breathed across my already moist lips then plunged his tongue into my folds.

"Yes!" I gasped, running my fingers through his unruly hair. The man may be needy, but he was also incredibly generous with that tongue. As he explored my folds, I felt his fingers join his tongue, pressing into my ready hole. I bucked my hips at the penetration, trying to find contact for my throbbing clit. He continued teasing, licking everywhere but where I wanted until I groaned with need, impatiently trying to shove his head where I wanted him. He laughed but got the message and I had to bite my fist to keep from crying out when he sucked my clit into his mouth and tended to it.

I threw my head back as his fingers moved inside me, pressing against the spot that would make me climax even harder. It built quickly and when I came my thighs gripped his head, keeping him in place as he continued working me through the convulsions.

When I relaxed my legs, Ben climbed back up my body. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand looking proud and expectant.

"Fine," I whispered with a roll of my eyes. "I guess I'm awake now."

"So are your neighbors if I had to guess," he grinned. My cheeks heated at the thought

The prison cells turned bedrooms had very thin walls but I hoped he was wrong. The thing about living so close to a small group of people was that gossip and rumors ran rampant and I really didn't feel like explaining this hookup thing to anyone.

"Don't worry, Star, I won't spill your dirty little secret." Ben soothed, trying to hide a look of hurt behind humor, but I saw it.

He ground his cock against my thoroughly moistened lips

"It's not you, Ben! It just..."

"I know... let's not talk about it."

Relief warred with shame but Ben sank his cock into my pussy and in moments, I was floating away again on our little cloud of combined lust. This was the language we spoke so well together, no reason to let emotions mess it all up now.

He sank in slowly, the burning stretch making my brow knit together. The pain was quickly out weighed by pleasure as he moved me. I rocked my hips to meet his thrusts and felt my pleasure building again. Too soon he pulled out and stroked himself to climax on my stomach.

He cleaned me off and picked my blanked up off the floor before showing himself out just as quietly as he had come in.

...

The kitchen was lively that morning, everyone helping prepare a meal for the scouts who had returned from a supply run.

"I heard they spotted one on their way in," Laura chatted as she scrambled eggs from our chickens. "...and had to use a flare to scare it off, that it was pretty desperate to get at them."

Juniper and Emma joined in as I worked and listened.

"Did they actually see it? See what it looked like?"

"If they are that desperate, do you think they might try to get in?"

"Did they see anyone else out there?"

"No one they didn't expect."

"LIVING people, not bodies! Fucking dark."

"Everything's fucking dark."

"Language, girls!"

The chatter quieted down as Ben walked in with a pallet of cans for the pantry.

Laura, nearly 60 and one of the few people with grown children who were still alive, passed me the eggs to run to her son. "Benjamin! You should not be carrying around something so heavy!"

"I'm fine, mom." He grumbled, dodging her attempts to take the pallet from him. I noticed his limp as he carefully made his way to the pantry to put away the goods. "Everyone's got to do their part, even me."

"There's other things that need doing!" Laura argued, but she returned to her eggs and I returned to the canned beans.

"He's doing too much," she mumbled to no one in particular. "He's going to hurt himself."

"He seems like he's doing better," I said, not wanting her to worry so much.

Laura shook her head and pushed around the well cooked eggs. "He's still hurting, not just physically, I can tell. Just trying to bury it in his work. If he could just stop blaming himself for what happened..."

"He knows it wasn't his fault." I spoke before thinking and immediately regretted it.

Laura looked at me curiously, "Has he talked to you about it?"

"No! No, I just mean he must know. He did everything he could..."

I could tell Laura wasn't convinced as she gave me a small knowing smile and went back to stirring eggs. My face heated and I pressed my lips shut. I shouldn't have said anything at all. Now she might get her hopes up, might talk to Ben about it. I really hoped she didn't talk to Ben about it.

Thankfully the food was ready and we didn't have to stand in awkward silence any longer.

...

Breakfast was served in the dining hall like normal, but unlike normal nearly everyone had gathered to hear what the scouts had found.

There were about fifty of us total, mostly children. Twenty adults kept everything running while all the kids who could walk helped with chores. There used to be three other adults around my age but after a misguided adventure into the woods one night they were never seen again. Four snuck out and only Ben returned. That was a year ago and since then only one other person had died. That had been Laura's husband, natural causes, probably a heart attack though there was no doctor to tell us for sure.

The five scouts, three adults and two teenagers, sat at the table at the front of the room. Adrian, the oldest at 35, stood and called the room to attention. Everyone quieted quickly, eager to hear about the world outside our compound.

"Ben and Jeremy helped us unload the canned goods and freeze dried foods we found in an abandoned bunker near town. It was a good haul and we should be well stocked for the next few months before the next supply run."

He then listed off all the additional supplies that had been found, letting the right people know so they could collect and distribute as needed. The bunker they found had looked nearly untouched which is an incredible rarity nowadays. They entirely filled the old truck that was kept running with pure will power.

"No one was hurt and a large amount of quality supplies were procured. It was a successful trip and Andrew did great on his first run." Adrian pulled Andrew to stand and the 15 year old looked much the worse for wear. "Because he did so well," Adrian continued, "he is now officially a member of the scouting team!"

There was a round of applause that gradually quieted, but instead of a return to normal conversation, the scouts were met with more silence. Finally, young Juniper shouted out, "Did one of 'em really come after you?!"

More silence.

Adrian pursed his lips, clearly not wanting to speak on the subject, but the entire community waited for an answer.

"Yes," he finally answered. The newly inducted scout shuddered and sat back down. "We saw one of them last night on our way back home. It tracked us most of the day but when the sun set it took its shot. Luckily, we were ready and lit a flare to keep it back. It didn't like the light, like we know they don't, and stayed away after that. By the time we made it back it had moved on."

That was it. No details, no descriptions, just the short report. Juniper tried to ask more questions but her mother pulled her back, understanding that the men had shared all they were going to share for now.

Conversation started up again, starting quiet and gradually returning to the normal small roar that a room full of families tends to generate.

As I served breakfast, I noticed Ben looked my way more than once while I did my best not to look back. Laura was watching us now too. Ugh, I really needed to put an end to this...

...

I sat outside watching the sky fade from brown to black. The night was silent. Those who remembered earth before the darkness didn't like being outside at night. They all said it was too quiet.

I liked the quiet though. When you live in close quarters with little to no privacy, it's nice to get away from the noise. Even at night, children cried, people snored, and couples fucked. Silence was hard to come by.

The night turned the sky from dim to dark and the outside world became cloaked in blackness. The occasional wind would russel through the hollow trees, making the trunks whistle and creek. Staring into the darkness, my mind wandered, thinking of what could have been had my parents survived, had I had a home, were I not stuck in this compound.

The wind blew gently, and a whisper through the trees reached me where I sat. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I wasn't entirely sure why. I saw nothing, heard only the trees. The whisper came again as if it were calling to me. I knew it was just the trees, but it almost sounded like a voice but I couldn't understand it. I leaned forward, straining my ears to hear...

"Star!"

I jumped to my feet and whirled around to face a startled and confused looking Ben.

"Hey? You ok?"

I huffed my relief, kicking myself for getting so jumpy. "Yah, yes, sorry, I was... um... What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you," he said, still a bit spooked by my reaction. "Juniper said she saw you sneak out. I bribed her with a butterscotch not to tell anyone."

"Oh, thanks for that."

It was an unspoken rule not to go out at night. After what had happened with Ben's wife and our two friends, everyone avoided being outside during the more active time for the monsters.

"So why are you out here?" He asked, leaning against the building I had been sitting against.

"Just looking for some quiet before bed." I said, sitting back down.

"Sorry to disturb you."

"It's ok..." I looked back toward the woods. "Your mom knows about us."

"She does?!" He sounded a little alarmed as he sat down next to me.

"Well, not everything, but she suspects something is going on."

"Huh... was she mad?"

I laughed, feeling irreverent. "I think she's relieved!"

"Hmmm..."

"Sorry, I just mean she worries about you and... she's glad you're finding a way to move on."

His hand gradually made its way to my knee as we talked and I was immediately acutely aware of the contact.

He looked at his hand, avoiding eye contact when he said, "I could, you know, move on..."

Shit. I really didn't want to have this conversation.

"Listen, Ben-"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

A piercing scream cut through the night and Ben and I both shot to our feet. The scream was coming from the forest and sounded very close.

"HEEEELP! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!"

Ben sprinted toward the fence, panicked impulse dictating his movement.

"Ben! Stop!" I shouted, running after him, trying to grab his arm, his shirt, anything to make him stop.

"It's her! It's Trish! She's here!"

"It's not her, Ben! Trish is dead! Don't go out there!"

"Stay here," he shouted back at me.

I caught up to him right as he started scaling the fence. Grabbing his shoe I tried to pull him down and caught a glimpse of the tear streaked panic on his face. The scream came again, a little closer this time. Ben kicked my hand away and continued his climb. When he reached the top he took off his jacket to drape over the barbed wire and pulled himself over.

Thinking of nothing but stopping Ben from getting himself killed, I followed, scaling the fence quicker than he had with his bad knee and landing on the other side just feet behind him.

He ran faster than I thought he was able to as I chased after him, shouting his name. My pleas were drowned out by the screams of the unseen woman. The trees surrounded us and the darkness made it impossible to see. Not ten steps in I lost track of him.

"BEN!" I shouted, hysterical at the thought of losing my best friend.

Footsteps were moving toward me and I stumbled backwards, terrified of what was in the dark. A hand grabbed my arm and I shrieked.

"It's me!" Ben. "Come on, I got her, we need to go!" I took his hand, letting him lead us out of the woods. When we left the forest the soft lights of the compound illuminated Ben and a woman hanging over his shoulder. Not Trisha.

She looked unconscious and blood was streaming down her head, but other than that she looked ok.

"Who is she?" I asked, breathlessly. We were nearly to the fence.

"I don't know." He sounded sad. I knew he was disappointed but he had to have known it was a false hope, right? There was no way his wife was alive and if Ben thought for a second that she was he never would have fooled around with me.

"We need to go to the front gate," Ben said, looking at his jacket still draped over the top of the barbed wire twelve feet above us and adjusting his grip on the limp woman. I nodded and we jogged toward the front of the compound.

I kept an eye on the trees, as we moved. Something was out there, or someone, and we were on the wrong side of the fence. They could be watching us right now.

The front gate came into view and Ben shouted to whoever was on guard as we approached. Peeking back at the treeline, I saw something. Something was moving along with us, just out of the light, and it was big.

I stumbled, terror interfering with my ability to run. Ben didn't notice as I fell behind and I struggled to get my feet back under me while keeping an eye on the trees.

"It's here!" I shouted at both Ben and the guard. "It's in the woods!"

Ben kept running but looked back at me, realizing I was no longer at his side. We were so close, not fifty yards away.

Something roared and my heart stopped. It was right beside us.

Ben entered the gate ahead of me and laid down the injured girl. Ten yards.

He turned to meet me and I felt it. Right behind me.

The world slowed to a crawl. Something wrapped around my waist and pulled me back violently. Ben's eyes went wide with horror and he ran toward me, reaching out to grab my outstretched hand, but the monster was too fast. Wind screeched in my ears as I was shot through the air, pulled off my feet and moved at impossible speed into the blinding darkness of the forest.

In moments, Ben was a tiny dot in the distance, the compound becoming a shining speck that was soon obscured by skeletal trees. Then nothing.

I heard nothing but my own breath and the wind in my ears. The tight grip around my waist began to hurt and as I struggled it became tighter until I couldn't breath. I felt my eyes close as I succumbed to the lack of oxygen, knowing they wouldn't open again.

...

This must be death. Darkness and pain. Not so different from life, which was a disappointment.

No, no this felt too real to be death. The pain was acute and I could smell something burning. My eyes dragged open then quickly closed again as a bright light assaulted my vision. Most lights at the compound were kept dim, both to conserve energy and to avoid needing our eyes to adjust to the darkness outside. Only the artificial grow lights for the food were ever this bright.

I managed to open my eyes again, squinting against the light that seemed to be actively trying to blind me. I saw the source, a torch not far from me, shining brightly enough to illuminate the earth around me. The ground was bare and there were no trees or anything else I could see past the sphere of light.

The torch seemed to create a distinct boundary around where I now stood, a circle of light that ended abruptly in a wall of oppressive darkness. I moved to the torch, shielding my eyes and intending to put out the blinding flame.