Broken In Time

The rain wouldn’t stop, it came down in sheets, filling the cracks and washing away any scarce sign of life that was there before. Charlotte shivered as the wind whipped through the broken house she was hiding in. There wasn’t any real houses standing anymore. Not since they came. Those who had survived hid underground or moved constantly from one location to another to avoid being found. “If there was a hell, this must be it” thought Charlotte with a snort. She could see the water rushing down the hill into the lake at the bottom, which had been growing steadily for the last week. Pains of hunger cut through her thoughts and she reached for a root she had been chewing on the last three days to stave off the numbing hunger. She doesn’t remember the last time she saw another person, not in real life, just the fading photo in the broken locket hanging around her neck.

She remembers seeing one of the invaders 5 years ago when she was 11. It had been feeding on a rabbit in the woods, she had frozen and hadn’t moved till it left 4 hours later. It was grotesque, shaped like a caterpillar with long legs under it, allowing it to move at terrifying speeds, as well as climb trees. Only weakness they had was that they couldn’t smell or hear very well at all. After it had left, she had went to bury the remainder of the poor animal.

Charlotte was all alone. She had been alone for 12 years, how she managed to survive she barely understands, yet here she is with the broken locket still clinging to her thin skin that stretches across her collarbones. It has been her mission since that day coming across that creature and finding the locket to find the girl in the photograph and become her friend. She has walked 1000’s of miles alone, sometimes stumbling through hot days and shivering with cold during the rainy season. The cities are all laid to waste, she hasn’t seen a fully standing house since the invasion, and she barely remembers that. Just the stench of fire and burning from that night.

Charlotte pulls the ragged sleeping bag up around her chin as a tear slides down her cheek. “I miss you mama” she whispers. It has been so long she barely remembers what her mother and father looked like, or even if they were alive. She tugs the heart locket out and opens it up, her own 4 year old face smiling up at her. She got this with her dad on her mothers birthday that awful year when she lost it all. “Why did this happen daddy?” A sob catches in her throat as the tears start to flow steadily, matching the rain, tears from above. As she starts to drift to sleep, she can hear her mother singing to her, her favourite lullaby.

Charlotte awakes with a jerk. Her face crusty from the tears she was crying in her sleep. A scream pierced the night. She scrambles out of her sleeping bag and pulls out her knife as she rolls it up quickly and melts into the surrounding woods. Another scream pierces the silence of the inky dark night. A shiver runs up her spin as she slowly and silently moves forward. This is why she has survived so long on her own, she is able to move more silently than a mouse, her fathers nickname for her. She wants to run the other direction, but something inside of her draws her towards the screams. Maybe it’s that she hasn’t seen another human in almost 9 years, and that was from a distance. “Help!!” Another scream for help pierces the night. She starts to run, not as cautious as she normally is. She sees a fire up ahead, bright orange breaking up the inky night, she sees a silhouette of a small child with flames surrounding it, a crawler just outside the flames trying to find a way through, focused on the child, tasting it’s fear. She slows down and watches for a moment, the crawler hasn’t seen her or noticed her yet. She pulls out her knife and crawls up behind it, terrified, but knowing she has no choice, she can’t just leave this child to die. Moving quickly before it notices her, she jumps on its back driving the knife into its small head, a horrifying shriek shatters the air as the crawler collapses. Shaking she rolls away from it and its putrid smell. She’s covered in its blood.

“Are you ok?” Charlotte calls to the child. “Help me.” Is all the child can manage to get out before collapsing in a heap. Charlotte runs and jumps through the wall of flames, her shirt catching on fire. She rolls over to kill the fire and rushes over to the child. He’s tiny, looking only to be 4 or 5. She picks him up, looking around for a hole in the wall, there’s a small hole that has burnt itself out, she rushes towards it as fast as she can. Tripping, the boy goes sprawling from her arms, she quickly picks him up and rushes to her pack, pulling out the precious water she has and putting it to his lips.

He awakes with a jerk, crying out “HELP!”

“Shhhhh!”

She clamps a hand over his mouth and looks around nervously.

“You don’t want another of the crawlers finding us do you?”

His eyes widen in horror and he shakes his head violently. “Mama calls them demons,” he whispers.

“Where is your mama?” She whispers?”

He whimpers “she ran away to keep them away from me, two of them followed her. Is she ok?”

“I’m sure she is” Charlotte whispers, knowing that she is probably dead, but not wanting to tell him this.

“Can you help me find her?” He begs, tears streaming down his shallow cheeks.

“Yes, but we have to make sure we’re safe first ok?”

“Ok.” He wimpers.

The heart locket falls out of her shirt as she bends over him, cleaning the cut on his cheek.

“That looks like mama’s locket in my photo!” he whispers as he pulls a dirty and ragged photo from his pocket.

Tears well up in her eyes as she sees the photo, the woman laughing with a little girl, throwing her up in the air, the locket frozen in time around her neck.

“Could it be?” She whispers. “Mama?”