Ret & Tet #01

Ret was breathing hard through her oxygen mask. She felt Tet shaking underneath her as he was curled up into a tight ball. He too had trouble breathing. As she unwrapped her arms from his delicate body he began to whine softly. She shushed him and slowly sat upright, her ear now cocked toward the entrance to the small hole they were inside. Tet was crouched down in front of her still as she pressed her hand against his back to stand up.

“Move, Tet. I think they’re gone”

Tet didn’t move as she started to get up so she pushed her hand harder, shoving him even lower towards the ground. Her sweaty palm slipped a little.

“TET, GET UP...they’re gone !”

“Where is she, Ret??..” he said, his words sounding like they were falling apart as they came out of his mouth. “I don’t know. They took her.... Or she's out there still, so you need to get up”

He didn’t move as Ret rose and reached her hand toward the crack on the wall. Beyond the crack was a thick cloud of dust, sparkling with all sorts of noxious particles and most likely asbestos. The Wolves hated this dust, even though they looked immune underneath their helmets. She swirled her whole arm into the soup like a paddle, as a vortex materialized and wormholed forward steadily. The puff was nebulous and alive with what seemed like dozens of different shades of decomposition. Leather brown fused with rust swirls in this alchemy, accented by dried flesh purples and the twinkling of snowflakes among the motes. This is fairy dust for lung cancer.

“The dust is still there but it feels like its moving. We need to give it a second and then we’re leaving.” She was right. The dust was moving along with an air current, pulling the cloud down a long hallway. Whatever didn’t settle to the ground traveled with the smog. Tet watched the dust as it progressed and thought of those old cartoon perfume bottles. Once sprayed, the scent slithered through the air like a genie escaped. Just like this.

The Wolves tend to move so fast that their cloaks disturb the air wherever they went. The moving dust meant that, rather than retreating into the debris pile, they continued to scan our building on the far side. They wouldn’t be coming back for a while, especially if they find someone else in the building. Ret snatched her arm back and turned to find her brother cowering in a corner, watching her through red-hot tears. He mumbled to her:

“What happened to Walker?”

“Tet. I don’t know....you’re asking me too many questions right now."

She reached her arm around and felt the back of her head to locate her mask fastener. A sharp flick echoed in their hole as she undid her mask. Her golden, close-cropped hair burst out of the plastic slit, like a wound on a scalp that lead straight to brain matter. Beneath her hairs were blood orange freckles of all shapes, tossed generously all over her goat milk skin which had in it a bit of brown, but not enough. Not as much as Tet, who was born with chocolate skin. He sometimes teased and called her yellow, his reward usually being the evil eye.

Ret’s face steamed like a boiled egg as she deeply inhaled the colder air and let her head fall back. She exhaled toward the ceiling and froze, having no idea what to do next. After wiping her tears she turned to Tet, reached her hands towards him and waved inwards. “Come, I need to take off your mask, its hot as Hell.”

Tet looked into her eyes to see if she was crying like he was. He didn’t want to be the only baby in this situation. Ret was crying. Her tears boiled and her veins rippled through her eyeballs as fear, anger and hate pumped through her blood. The color pink brewed in her cheeks when she was upset, something that Tet knew nothing about. What he did know was that Ret was his big sister and therefore his protector. He unballed himself like a woodlouse and scrambled into Ret’s arms. She clicked his fastener, pulled off his mask and held his steaming face in both hands.

“We have to GO.... I don’t know what happened but we need to find Mom...are you with me?” She was so close that Tet could no longer make eye contact with the pair, so he shifted his gaze from her blue eye to her brown eye and back again.

He whispered back, “She's dead...I know it...

The thought pumped in Ret’s brain and triggered a deep ache. Being frustrated but having no time to deal with Tet, she rolled her eyes and simply grabbed him and turned herself sideways to fit through the gap. From the other side she pulled on Tet and yanked him into the hallway of The Grace Building, where they both lived with their mother. Many families lived in the Grace Building, and no matter how dilapidated it was, it was their home. They didn’t know the others personally, they only heard their radio squeals from time to time through the walls.

The Grace Building was a lopsided 15 floor project housing unit that was among only 3 other buildings left standing after the crash. The entire project complex originally had 25 buildings set around the man-made Faye Lake. Now, the Grace Building was thought to be the only livable structure left, even though it was partially crumbled into a pile of debris. Ret and Tet are from the 11th floor where they live in a 3 walled room, the 4th wall destroyed and is now a sky view overlooking the debris field below.

Once in the hall Ret made the decision to get back to the apartment to find Walker and call mom. Tet has loosened up now knowing he is out in the open for the Wolves to eat. Although he is being dragged, he is beginning to propel himself forward. Ret was smarter and knows that the Wolves just strike and leave, usually taking one person at a time every few months. This information made her more comfortable, she knew they had already left and she didn’t need to hide.

Halfway down the hallway a loud screech cuts its way through the air and hits Ret and Tet.

Ret freezes and looks at Tet, “Shh. Heard that?? Walker !”, Tet finally lights up and beams, “Yes !” His legs have regained their vigor and he runs down the hall, leaping over boards and beams that have fallen. “Tet ! Stop !”, she yells to deaf ears, as Tet cruises through this obstacle course of material. Tet bounds off the floor between board and brick like a parkour genius, wishing for salvation in his apartment. Ret follows, still hollering for Tet to slow down.

Two feet clunk the floor as Tet takes his last jump, dropping him before their apartment door frame. His landing was a relief to his sister, who was sure he’d fall through the floor or worse. Tet stood there for a moment and looked down at his destroyed door before turning to Ret, shooting her a sly smile. Ret appeared in front of him in almost an instant. She got close enough to bump noses and shoved Tet up against the wall next to where the door once was.

“Idiot ! What if you fell or something? WAIT for ME next time, Tet, I swear to God.....” she growled as she rose her fist directly next to Tet’s cheek.

Screeeeeeeech....

They both freeze, staring into each other’s eyes, listening to the guts of the apartment.

Screeeeech....Ret.....screech...

“It’s mom !” Tet said as they crept and re-positioned themselves directly in front of the door way, scanning the apartment before tiptoeing inside.

The floor of the apartment was covered in rubble and misshapen furniture. Every step crunched or crackled, depending on what trash was under foot. The floor around the far back wall was the only area not cluttered, only because it was a void facing the sky and overlooking garbage. Whatever trash that was on this area of floor just slid down, out and into the debris pile. They knew that the Wolves came from the debris pile but they felt safe on the 11th floor. Families on the first 5 floors had it worse, as Wolves came for them almost exclusively, until today.

Next to the void sat Walker. His black button eyes looked back at Ret and Tet, his graying, egg shell fur looked wet and matted down in spots. He had a half smile, a thread detached from where it belonged on a deflated face. The shoulder on his left side had an antennae sprouting out of the top with a small loop of duct tape on the tip. Around his neck was a silver chain with a heart shaped pendant, safely stitched down with thread.

It screeched again as the duo paced toward it, dodging wood splintered across the room. Walker was in an area just within reach but it felt like it would take forever to get there. Ret dove onto her belly and reached for Walker. He was tipping over toward the downward slope slightly as Ret got him. Another screech. Ret sat Indian style and lifted Walker.

“Mom ???”...Ret pressed Walker’s rib and spoke into his chest. Mom’s voice came out of Walker and explained the situation as best as she could, but the signal was breaking: “Ret....Wolves took me... Black Bowl..........please.” Ret pressed the rib again, “Mom, please, are you alright?....”..she let the rib go...Pressed...”Mom?....” She let the rib go and turned to Tet, before looking down at her own hand, letting Walker drop to the floor. She looked into her palm for a few seconds....

Tet was standing there, still where Ret had dove to the ground and was now staring out into the watercolor sky. He had been gazing out into nothing the entire time. Ret grabbed Walker and spoke up: “Mom’s in The Black Bowl....how are we going to get her back?” No response. She turned to Walker and remembered when mom first installed the radio. She had been beating it in our heads for years, “go nowhere without a radio!” To ensure this, she sewed one inside of a teddy bear she found in the debris field. Ret tried to call her mother again, to no avail.

Defeated, she through her head back and spoke to the sky. “Mom, please....I don’t know where The Black Bowl is.....please mom....”

“....I know how to get to The Black Bowl....” Tet said, still looking to the horizon.

___________________________________

For weeks Tet had been watching the Wolves secretly, while they stirred around in the debris pile. He knew they sometimes sifted through the trash and he thought he saw a Wolf sink into the ground at one point. His curiosity drove him to sneak all the way down to the lobby to get a closer look. Soon after, Tet was the first person to discover a tunnel system. Funny thing is, no one knew.

The tunnel dropped straight down from the surface and it’s mouth was so well hidden in trash that if you weren’t looking for it, you wouldn’t find it. From it, a smell that was hot motor oil and sulfur bellowed out. The pit looked like a throat for swallowing swords, it’s walls were ribbed and bronchial. Around the hole’s edges clung trash of all kinds, which fell perpetually down the borehole, since the debris was constantly being fed by the decay of the projects. Ret and Tet had something extraordinary to deal with, and it began right here... With this ugly hole.

To be continued.