Among the Fallen: Resurrection (5 page)

One father in particular always had her eye, he was her typical type, tall; dark; handsome and older; but he always gave her a smile through the window and he constantly stood alone. He was standing there as he usually was, reading from the same book and hardly noticing the conversing world around him. Today, it would seem, his book had him completely enthralled and he hadn’t noticed her yet. Alex simply sat there staring at him, intensely and psychically sending him blasts of thoughts in the hope that he would look up; but he never did. She slumped back in her seat for a moment or two, looking for a way of grabbing his attention without looking too eager, aside from blatantly leaning out of her window and waving, she hadn’t a clue. Suddenly, she leant forward, pressing her horn and grabbed the attention of every person in the street with insane desperation, waving like a fool to a random woman as the vile pack of parents scowled back at her. The random woman waved back with uncertainty and Alex hid behind a false grin, sneakily turning to her man on the side of the road. As expected, the guy smiled and winked at her as her stomach instantly fell in nervousness, smiling back at him coyly and biting the side of her lip with satisfaction. Suddenly, there was a crack of thunder which instantly stole their moment, the man retreating away and finding shelter within the schools main building.

Alex grumpily leant over the steering wheel and peered into the sky, the grey and meek clouds hovering like bad news. Suddenly, a few drops of rain hit her windscreen and she frowned scornfully as nature dealt her a piece of crap luck. She watched intensely as the darkness slowly dropped over the sky, like a fog of despair as more rain patted on her windscreen. Alex grumbled, slipping further into a weather triggered sulk as the Heavens slowly opened above, scowling as the wolves outside continued to natter.

Suddenly, the school bell went off like a fire alarm and a hundred children spilled out into the yard, all cheering and playing without a care in the world. Alex merely watched as she did every day, the insane mothers chasing and shouting while others stressed and screamed, some smiling proudly while others carried on talking as their children hung from their coats; all collecting the centres of their own little universe. She used to watch as some children were more pleased to get out than others, often wondering what their home life must be like.

She smiled excitedly as a little blonde girl strolled up to the car, colouring book in one hand and a ridiculously big bag in the other; stuffed with rolled up artwork and books of all kinds. Sarah waved and pulled a silly face at her through the window and Alex gave her an equally morose, yet amusing face back and started the car. The door swung open and Sarah climbed in, all legs and noise.

“Hey Terror, how was your day?” Alex smiled as Sarah fumbled around getting comfortable and strapping herself in. The other children waved frantically and obsessively as their parents dragged them through the spitting streets, oblivious of time and neediness of an adult’s obsession with it. As Alex watched all the children get hastily bundled into cars and pulled across the streets, she gazed at them with a smile at innocence of it all. Sarah eventually finished her goodbye waves and there was a sudden clunk as her seat belt snapped into place.

“It was okay thanks!” Sarah said bubbly. “We learnt why water bends light and why objects look bigger in water!” she continued proudly. Alex smiled as she switched on the wipers, her expensive sports car roaring and grumbling as it waited. Sarah sighed as she breathed on the window and doodled hearts and faces on the mist. Alex pulled out cussing under her breath as all the insane parents in their cars decided to all escape at once on the same piece of road. Horns beeped and faces cursed as she simply sat there waiting for her turn, tapping the steering wheel and cursing with a breath of silence. Eventually she got her chance and pulled out.

“So why DOES water bend light and why DO things look bigger in water?” Alex asked jokingly. Sarah pulled out a colouring book and pencils and began to hack at the pages mercilessly on the back seat.

“Dunno, I really weren’t paying attention” Sarah replied innocently.

“Good girl!” Alex laughed.

Alex pulled out onto the highway carefully as her car lost itself among the organized chaos, the roads packed to the brim full of impatient traffic as the skies fell down around her. Horns beeped angrily and red tail lights glared in the rain; cars overtook each other impatiently as the soaking scenery raced passed. She gazed through the windscreen almost hypnotized by the rain and lights before opening her window to get some fresh air on her face, a vain attempt at waking herself up to get them home in one piece.

“Gotta get gas babe” Alex said as Sarah butchered her colouring book.

Alex pulled into a gas station and got out with a stretch. As her tank filled up, she gazed around as life hurried by, the rain making everything but the red and white lights of the road invisible. She walked up to the kiosk raiding her pockets and slapped a bill on the counter as she waited patiently for someone to turn up. Eventually, a tall skinny ratty looking man strolled out of the toilet rubbing his hands on his pants like some kind of Neanderthal, deprived of manners, social etiquette and hygiene.

Sarah looked up as Alex stood a few meters away awaiting the attendant’s attention. She wiped her misty faces from the widow and looked up into the sky with awe at the rain. Suddenly, she sat back and stared into the front, hypnotized by Alex’s keys as they slowly jingled in the car’s dash. Her big shiny green eyes blinking a few times as the glittery metal had her almost hypnotized, the rain silenced around her in lost concentration.

Back at the kiosk, Alex sighed as the attendant strolled leisurely towards her.

“Twenty-eight dollars lady” the irascible and haggard oaf said as he picked his gums with probably the same finger he used to empty his bladder. Alex looked at him profoundly and disgusted without saying a thing and waited for her change. She considered buying sweets or some candy for Sarah, but when she spied Mr Hygiene she soon changed her mind in fear of catching something; she even considered leaving her change behind but in the course of habit she had already walked away with it. She strolled out onto the forecourt and fumbled for her keys before noticing them through the window, already in place in the dashboard. She looked at them puzzled then looked at the key slot on the petrol tank flap, her mind suddenly filled with strange whispers and inaudible chatter. She blinked and shook her head, rolling her eyes creepily and got in the car. Alex turned to Sarah at the back.

“Sarah babe…” she said pointing out of the rear window. “See that man in there?” she said pointing out the attendant that served her. “That’s what happens when you drop out of school!” she said jokingly as the attendant waved at them. Sarah waved back at him with a grin and Alex sighed as she flopped back into her seat and buckled up.

“I swear to God, sometimes I think I’m alone in life!” Alex joked quietly.

The car started and she set out again onto the freeway. Sarah sat doodling and scribbling as Alex navigated a ton of Japanese metal in and out of crazy rain blind traffic. Suddenly, Sarah turned in the back seat raising a pen and her book.

“Would you like to do some, Gauge?” Sarah asked innocently.

Alex looked at the empty backseat with a smile through her rear view mirror, Gauge was Sarah’s imaginary friend and was part of the family, like most imaginary friends she was and always would be the best friend Sarah would ever have; but Alex was more envious than concerned.

“Sarah?” Alex said softy “I have been meaning to ask; hold on!”

Alex slowed down quickly so the guy behind her had to slam his breaks on, grinning with a satisfying smile. “Asshole!” she barked proudly. Sarah just stared at her, waiting for Alex to get back into character. “Anyways, what does Gauge look like?”

Sarah looked at her puzzled. “You still can’t see her?” she said sweetly and confidently. Alex shook her head with a smile and continued to glare at the driver behind her through her mirror as he drove behind just feet from the boot of her car. “Well she looks a bit like you sis, except Gauge is a bit prettier” she said innocently.

“Just a bit prettier?” Alex laughed coyly with her attention clearly behind her.

“Okay, a lot prettier, just didn’t wanna upset ya!” Sarah smiled sweetly before continuing her mission to ruin her colouring book. Alex was getting more and more concerned with the erratic and worrying behaviour of the idiot behind her, made all the more intimidating by the fact could not see anything out of any window in the car. Alex picked up her phone and looked at briefly before realizing it had no signal, swiftly throwing it back on the dashboard, clearly aggravated.

She eventually turned off exit 89 and watched in relief as the car that had been on her tail the whole way home, drove on and continued his way up the freeway. Alex glared through the rain as she neared the security post into Blackwater approach and waited tolerantly behind another car, watching as the dark and mysterious soldiers strolled around the car in front and checked identification. She stared past the blockade and over the trees in the distance, looking at the lights of Blackwater’s tallest skyscrapers as they glimmered in the far flung darkness. She suddenly reached into her glove box and pulled out her pass and waited patiently as Sarah amused herself in the back seat. Alex watched the wipers on her windscreen working frantically as they lashed at the torrential rain, gazing from the window as they eventually let the car in front through. As the car’s lights vanished into the darkness, Alex pulled up to the checkpoint and watched as the hooded soldiers approached her car, their glass like round eyes glowing red with neon trimming, blurring and tracing within the downpour.

“Evening, Miss Beaumont!” the dark and featureless soldier bellowed with a cold electronic voice as he took her identification without even examining it.

“Hey, Hank, you alright?!” she smiled as he ran her identification through the system.

“I’m fine, Alexandra.” He said as he peered through the passenger window. “Evening, Trouble!” he joked at Sarah as she hacked away at her colouring book. Sarah smiled and gazed at him inquisitively, staring over his carbon-fibre armour and hidden face.

“Have you shot anyone today?” Sarah asked innocently. Alex smiled at the soldier, awaiting his response and secretly amused by her sister’s blatant confidence. The soldier tilted his head and nodded, leaning towards Sarah as his glowing eyes cast her face in red light.

“Not today, but looking at that colouring, someone certainly deserves shooting!” the soldier joked with his icy cardinal voice. Sarah looked at the soldier as he stood up, her face stricken with panic.

“Sarah. he’s joking!” Alex chuckled as she watched Sarah’s bottom lip tremble in her mirror. The soldier laughed as the keypad on his arm lit up, her identification suddenly clearing. The soldier held up his hand to his comrade, and the barrier immediately rose.

“Okay, Alexandra!” the soldier nodded friendly. “See you tomorrow; have a good night!” he said as he stepped back.

“Have a good shift, Hank!” she said chirpily as she gave him a wink, starting the car and passing through the checkpoint.

Alex drove away from the check-point as Sarah waved at the soldiers from the back seat, finally entering Blackwater approach. As the lights of the highway vanished behind her, the dangerous road before her suddenly dropped into lethal darkness. Five long miles of random, forest entrapped night, today with the added charm of torrential rain.

Alex watched her sister as she coloured her scrapbook with chaotic hard streaks that only a six year old could do, messy flashes of colour and crude felt tip blends of silly colours that painfully bled over the edges. As Alex changed gear she sighed as she navigated the long dark narrow roads, the noise of the car’s engine drowned out in the torrential weather; her head lights a mere glowing fog in the distance.

“What are you colouring there?” she said lovingly to the content little girl as she wore the paper away with heavy handed scribbles.

“Dunno actually, the lines have gone, an elephant or something rubbish” her little sister said innocently. Alex laughed at little Sarah, her eyes filled to the brim in happiness and a huge sense of pride that was irreplaceable. Suddenly, Alex frowned.

“Wish this rain would go away, I can’t see anything” she sighed as she squinted her eyes, leaning into the steering wheel. The rain hammered continuously at the bonnet, her wipers working overtime battling the wrath of nature’s downpour.

All of a sudden from nowhere, something ran out in front of her from the darkness, her car hitting it with a deafening crash as her bonnet folded like foil; her seat belt smashing across her chest as the car suddenly flipped over. The two sisters screamed out in sheer terror, their cries of panic drowned out by the crunching of metal and the shattering of glass; rain spraying around their stricken faces as blood was splashed from window to window; the shattered pieces recoiling around inside as the car screeched along the tarmac, shredding its soft top violently. The world outside spun in a blur and Alex’s head slapped from left to right continuously, her spine jolting and twisting fiercely. She slammed her eyes shut as the glass bounced off her skin, her mouth and eyes filling with blood and the screams from Sarah behind, piercing her ears agonizingly.

All of a sudden, it all stopped!

Alex held her bleeding head and slowly opened her eyes. As she hung strapped in her seat, she mumbled silent words as her brain slowly caught up, her car rocking and creaking perilously.

“Sarah? Are you okay Sarah? Sarah?!” she whispered distressingly.

Sarah hung unconscious, but breathing. Alex fumbled around with her seat belt desperately then all of a sudden she froze, catching sight of something outside. She glared out of the crumbling windscreen into the water splashed darkness, straining her eyes and her vision stricken with red.

She strived to focus on a dark body that clambered to its feet a few meters from the car. She frantically wiped the blood from her eyes as she tried harder and harder to see if the person she hit was okay. Its massive bulk was bigger than a bear, rising slowly and deliberately; its features obscured by the darkness and rain. It slurred to itself and brushed itself down before arching its spine, dropping back its head before roaring into the sky like an animal.