Unseen

The shared gaze of blue and brown eyes was snapped away by gunfire. Graham whipped his head to the right. Across the vast desert canyon below, he could see his parents’ settlement and the tents surrounding it. It looked as calm as ever, not much different than it had in the fifteen years since they had moved here and set up a medical mission. There was still a tiny brook dissecting the camp, an orchard on the north side, and a massive boulder on the south. It did appear, however, that several plumes of dust had formed on the outskirts.

“What was that?” Naia asked in anxious disbelief.

But Graham had no answer to give her. An orphaned refugee at the outset of the war, she had been smuggled out of the Pacific Hold when she was only five. Graham’s parents had cared for her, along with several other children and the multitude of other survivors who sought their help. Naia now meant more to him than ever, even as they both tried to become who they needed to be.

While their generation may have been robbed of many things in such a world as this, though, Graham and Naia hadn’t heard gunfire since they were both little. The New Mexico desert was, after all, empty. Nothing ever happened out here. Mom had always told the kids that “God’s hidden us,” and Graham had never had a reason to doubt it.

“I’m, uh…”

“Graham?”

“I’m- I’m not sure.”

The softly fading echoes of the shots were interrupted by a flurry of new ones. At this, both teens jumped.

“We’ve got to get off the ridge,” Graham beckoned. “Quick!”

Five minutes later, they had made it down the slope of the canyon, and were huddled next to a shrub at the brook. The gunfire was growing steadier and more intense, now accompanied by screams and shouts.

“Look!”

Naia was pointing to the armored trucks parked by the great boulder.

Latzig.

The ruling family of the Hold, Graham knew, was the only force capable of fielding such vehicles. Before the war, Adrian Latzig had been one of the richest men alive. His company made everything from weapons and vehicles, to software and drugs. The media relentlessly followed his obsession with sex and partying, and his legal exploits suggested he was nothing short of a predator. Dad had often insinuated that Adrian was behind the war breaking out, as it had ended impeccably in the billionaire’s favor, just as justice was about to catch up with him. Now, his reach had finally made its way here.

“Stay here,” Graham suddenly whispered, turning to Naia. “If I’m not back by sundown, you get out of here.”

Naia’s expression was one of both panic and confusion. She didn’t want to believe what she was hearing.

“Follow the brook while it’s dark out. It’ll lead you past the old caves.”

Graham was now close to her, his hands on her shoulders and his gaze locked with hers.

“There’s some food stored there, remember?”

Naia’s quivering lips finally replied in a passionate whisper.

“Graham, they’re my parents too! I’m not leaving!”

Suddenly, the gunfire stopped. Graham looked to the settlement. No movement.

More likely a bad sign than a good one.

Actually, everything had fallen silent. There were no shouts; no birds or anything. The sunshine bouncing off the desert sand quickly began to diminish as a darkness rolled in. Above, thick storm clouds approached at seemingly unnatural speed.

“Ny, listen to me,” Graham pleaded, close enough to feel her breath. “I don’t know what’s happening, but you have to trust me. Just wait here, please!”

Slowly, the fear in Naia’s eyes was replaced with peace, and the panic with composure. She closed her eyes and bowed her head for a moment. Confused, Graham could only guess what she was about to say. She had never been one to conform or take orders. This girl he had grown up with, with brown eyes and black, Persian hair that emphasized her intrepid spirit, was going to lead, not follow. She looked up and smiled softly.

“I can’t, Graham. I just can’t.”

And just like that, Graham accepted it. He knew he had to. There was no point in arguing, and no time to waste. He sighed before standing.

“Alright. Let’s go then.”

Quickly, Naia rose and scurried right into the brook, nearly empty though it was. Graham was right behind her, his eyes peeled for nearby movement.

“If we hang left, I think we can make it to the shed there,” Naia whispered.

Graham hesitated.

“Naia, I think we should-”

But she had already risen and broken into a sprint. Unwilling to let her go alone, Graham got up and ran after her. He chased her with every last ounce of strength, being both terrified and exhilarated at once. His hand grasped the wooden heart that swung from a thread around his neck. Naia had made the locket when she was just ten, scratching her favorite Bible verse on the inside and gifting it to him. That fleeting memory somehow gave wings to his stride.

If we make it through this, I’m gonna ask her.

That’s when he saw it. He first did a double take in disbelief, then found himself unable to look away. Graham slowed to a halt in the midst of the open plain. For above him, centered beneath the swirling, black clouds, was an entity he had only heard stories about; one he struggled to believe in as much as anything else he could not see. Only now, he could see it.

A Seeker?

There was one other thing which Adrian Latzig had always been obsessed with: the occult. Following the war, rumors began to spread of great, hovering machines which he himself had designed. Thick clouds and acute power outages were the only signal of their arrival until they struck. Some said they were living, and some said they were robotic drones. Others said they were some type of hybrid, while still others believed that they were altogether supernatural. But everyone who said anything about them knew that they were the ultimate destructive force. They were the new gods; they were death incarnate. Seekers flashed into view only for split seconds as they broiled their prey with searing radiation, turning the living to a blackened hellscape in the blink of an eye. Or so people said.

But why do I see it now?

As the initial shock wore off, Graham turned to Naia, who had already made it to the shed. By chance, she glanced at Graham long enough for him to point and warn her of the threat. But she only looked around in confusion. They struggled to communicate for what seemed like an eternity, until Graham started to understand.

She can’t see it.

The darkness was now almost as thick as night. The machine was directly over the camp, with various robotic-looking arms beginning to extend in an ominous posture. For reasons Graham couldn’t understand, he had not yet been vaporized, so he sprinted the remainder of the distance to the shed.

“You don’t see it?” he panted as he arrived at Naia’s side.

“See what?”

Graham didn’t answer. A faint electrical hum could be heard, immediately followed by massive explosions from where the trucks had been parked. The teens shuddered and fell to their knees. Graham clasped his ears, but it was too late. His vision was blurred from the ringing and intense pain. It took several moments to start breathing normally again, and even then, he could barely hear a thing.

So it’s true.

Whatever control Latzig used to have over the beasts had, in fact, been broken. True to the horror stories, they now killed and destroyed indiscriminately.

“Naia, it’s a Seeker. It’s going to kill everyone.”

“What do you mean? Where?”

“It’s there, trust me.”

Her eyes grew wide.

“Did it see you?”

“I - I don’t know… I don’t think so.”

Just then, rapidly approaching footsteps gave way to an armed Latzig operator sprinting past them, out of the camp. He had scarcely gone twenty feet when, before Graham’s eyes, the man caught fire and crumbled to fine, black dust. Naia let out a scream, which Graham quickly suppressed with his hand. His blue eyes once again met her brown ones.

“I love you,” he blurted out, with a quick kiss on her cheek. “Now get down.”

With that, he crouched and quickly made his way up the alley from which the man had come. Fleeting prayers went through his head, even as he started to see the bloodied bodies of people he knew. He stifled a heave; an automatic reaction to the butchery. Up ahead was the central square of the settlement, littered with more dead, and in a tent just beyond, several more operators. All of them were either crouching or prone, staying silent as shadows. Graham ducked behind a water barrel. Above, the machine seemed to be slowly descending, ready to root out any survivors.

“Graham!” came a sudden, elated whisper.

He spun around.

It can’t be.

“Mariah?”

Graham’s younger sister was under a small, folding table, beckoning him to come closer.

“Are you alright?” he asked without moving.

“Have you seen Mom?” she ignored, clutching her side and still whispering. “Or Dad?”

“Mariah, you’re bleeding!” Graham shot back in a panic.

His first instinct was to remove his belt and apply a tourniquet, but he quickly realized that it was of little use on an abdominal wound.

“Graham, it’s mostly stopped,” she winced. “Tim is out there! He went to those trucks to get a gun!”

Now Graham’s eyes grew wide.

Not him, too.

If his youngest sibling was still alive, he was about to get himself killed.

“Mariah, please don’t move. I’ll be right back, I promise!”

As he turned to get up, Mariah instinctively moved to follow him.

“Mariah, don’t move, please! I’m begging you!”

Her stare implied that she was reluctantly accepting the order, and she nodded. Graham got up and sprinted out of the alley, making his way into the central courtyard. The men cowering in the tent only looked at him in terror. Graham glanced up. As of yet, the machine had not obliterated him. It was still rotating calmly, operating as though he wasn’t even there.

Graham continued scanning the courtyard. There was only death and damage all over the camp. Then, he spotted his little brother standing by the blazing wreckage of the vehicles. But Tim wasn’t holding a gun. He had found a rocket launcher, and was taking aim at the group of Latzig men. Graham’s heart nearly stopped. In that moment, though, the wooden locket once again came to the forefront of his mind.

We don’t look at the things that are seen, but those that are unseen.

His gaze drifted back to the Seeker.

“Tim!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

His brother snapped out of aiming, noticing Graham instantly, as did the Seeker. Graham smiled for a moment, ready to die if it could save others. He pointed at the monster he knew no one else could see. Waiting for his life to end, he managed to watch his brother connect the dots, share one last glance, and aim squarely at the Seeker.

A loud ringing came from the tent full of operators. The Seeker turned suddenly to face them. Graham couldn’t help but look around, until behind him, he saw Naia holding a Latzig radio. Evidently, she had hit the “Call” button. At the sound of six or seven of them going off, the Seeker hummed and fired off its lethal beam. Tim wasted no time. As the tent and its inhabitants burst into flames, he took aim at the now-visible machine and pulled the trigger. The ensuing fireworks ended the slaughter on a bittersweet note.

“Thank you,” was all he could manage, in a broken whisper.