After the coming of the Darkula,
survival is all that matters...
A story in the tradition of the 'Man's Action Adventure' pulp magazines.
There's movement, from the floors below. So she's pacing on the raw stalks of nerves.
Strange days. Scared of what every sound portends. Been sealed up here for a month, keeping the mad world at bay. Keeping to shadows. But she steps out into the stairwell, in her white leatherette jacket, cinched at the waist, black stretch-pants and high-heel boots. She steals a glance down, sniping glimpses past the dust, the garbage and the giant bug carapace. There are figures moving in and out of shadows. Three men, no four. But yes, they are men. Can't be sure these days.
Out beyond the skyline of city blocks the mauve radiation-glow shimmers across the river. Watch the skies. Between the stars, pinpoints of light flit and dance. Since the coming of the Darkula you hide from the sky. And the empty streets below are ghost-haunted by rad-mutants, and others. Those warp-infected by alien microbes. A distant explosion climbs the sky, roiling a deluge of vivid flame.
Stand still. Let them see you. They're pointing up at you. One of them climbing the stairwell towards you. An impulse to turn and hide. Fight the terror. Wait. As he gets closer, you can see he's tall and bearded. A soft denim hat. And a high-velocity rifle slung over his arm. The others stumble up behind him, they're armed too.
The man-tall creature-shell is precariously skewed, furred with mildew, its interior liquefied to green slime. The man halts on the level directly below, squints past its segmented obstruction, and looks up.
'You alone here?'
'Yes, I'm alone. Been here since it began. Hiding out.'
He visibly relaxes, but stays alert. Flattens against the wall as he lopes up the last stairs. Brushes past her. Kicks open the door and levels the rifle at no-one.
It's only then he fully eases. 'I'm John Roxton Lord. You got supplies here?'
She shakes her head. 'I'm Grace. I did have supplies. Stockpiled it ready. But I've been here a month. There's not a lot left. You're welcome to what little I've got.'
When he makes to move into her apartment, she follows him. Heavy drapes curtain across the windows. The TV is dead. He sits on the chair arm. Three more guys file in behind him. An eager younger kid, maybe nineteen, heads for the kitchen and begin ransacking the freezer. Tries the faucets. No water, of course. An older paunchy guy slouches off his cap and mops his sweaty forehead with it. She watches them warily. The fourth guy stands at the door, covering the stairwell, in case this is a trap.
'So where is everybody? Your partner. Your family.'
She pouts. 'Don't want to talk about that... There were four of us after it hit, after everyone else fled. That bug attacked and we managed to kill it. But one guy was wounded, got sick. They had to put him down. Eventually, my other friends, Rael and Miko, they ventured out, scavenging for supplies, and never returned. I'm guessing they were killed. Can't be sure. But there's only me. Where exactly are you making for?'
Roxton looks up at her. 'Earthfort. It's a military stronghold upriver from here. Two, three days away.'
'I heard something about that on TV, when there was TV, before it went down.' She laughs bitterly. 'Is it real?'
'We've gotta believe it's real. A bunker. A consolidation centre, to organise and strike back. Rico here...' he indicates the youth, 'he's a smart boy, he's wired a solar-nav which picks up signal-guides.'
'Will you take me with you?'
He glances this way and that. 'Sorry, can't do that. It's hazardous out there, we cover for each other's backs. You'd slow us down. You stay here, where it's safe, until things normalize.'
'You're a liar. You think things will normalise? This is it. It's not gonna get any better. Not yet. Not for a long time. If ever. These are shit days. And I can't stay here. Like I say, food's about gone. I'd starve.'
'Sorry. You're safer here. We can't take you.'
'You must.'
The young guy - Rico, comes back. 'Truth. Nothing here, nothing.'
The porky man turns, makes to leave.
'Wait, you can't go, please. You can't just leave me here like this.' She stands to block their path back out onto the landing level. The sky behind her changes colour. Ripples like some vivid aurora borealis effect. That's the way they arrive, the Darkula, from whatever alien continuum that spawned them. More incoming.