When The Lights Go Out- Part II

       Another two years had passed and we were still living out of fall out shelters. Because our water supply had been contaminated by the fall out, we had to build a water purifying machine. This machine would then take oxygen from the water to filter into the shelter, it also gave us a supply for our mask when we had to go out. Where we once lived in small groups of about six to a shelter, thinking it would be easier to move around if we were attacked by the Damned, we could no longer do that because they had begun to get wiser. We would find larger shelters so we could have more of us to fight them off when they came for us. We still had to watch how many people we had in a shelter so as to not use more oxygen than we could make So we had built sensors that would keep tabs on the oxygen level and had humans to monitor them keeping a round the clock eye on the sensors. Sometimes this would be the most boring job you could be asked to do, but it all came down to survival of the fittest. At the present moment the Damned were winning this particular battle.

       As our human population diminished, the Damn's population increased, leaving us to feel like we were fighting a losing battle. Sometimes when we were fighting they would get to one of us and drag them away but not kill or wound them, they would use them for bait trying to lure more of us out to save them. If it did not work then they would kill them and throw there remains (parts they did not eat) in the direction they thought we were in. This was really hard for any one of us to stomach. One particular time we were out scavenging for food, ammo, and any technologies that would help us survive, when we happened upon one of them by there self. Now this was something we had never seen before and did not know what to make of it. One of the young boys in my group started to take aim and I stopped him. I couldn't believe it, this was my friend in the army before all this happened. I was at a loss as to what to do. I looked around at my group of scavengers and realized all but one of them were just kids not more than sixteen or seventeen years old. Had it really come to this using children to fight our wars. I looked at Sam, my Sargent and told him we had enough supplies for now so just take the boys back to the shelter and I would be there soon. After a slight disagreement about me staying behind he followed his orders and took them back

       After they had got safely away I brought my gun to bare on my old friend and slowly started walking out towards him, he was eating something, to my amazement it was a squirrel. I thought all other life was gone. I called to him and he whirled around quickly to face me. He growled than ask me in a deep gruff voice, that was no longer human, why was I not afraid. If the truth be told I was scared shitless, but I couldn't let him know that. Keeping my riffle on him I reminded him we were friends at one time and I wanted to help him. His face twitched and contorted and almost screaming at me saying “there is no help for me I am dead” and lunged at me. I fired my riffle at him three times hitting him in the chest. He fell and I turned to go with sadness in my heart for him. As I did I heard a noise behind me, so thinking there was more of them I turned back, riffle at the ready. I looked where my friend had been but was no longer, he got up and ran off into the woods. This frightened me so I double timed it back to the shelter. When I arrived at the shelter I banged on the door for them to let me in, but first I had to be scanned for any possibilities of infection from the virus that had plagued our very existence. They did this as quickly as possible knowing it was me outside the door. Once inside the outer door, oxygen was released into the chamber before the inner door was opened and I had to remove my suit then I could enter. When I reached the inside I quickly gathered the men up and told them of my new discoveries. Never before had any one of the Damned gotten up after being shot. We talked about this for a while and came to the conclusion my friend was one that had been brought back from the dead with the Liquid of Life and not merely turned by the virus. This presented a whole new set of problems. If this was the case and the original ones could not be killed by shooting them, could they be killed at all, and why have we not seen any of them till now. I also told them that my friend spoke where as the others seemed as though they could not. This gave them a side of intelligence we didn't know they had. I then told them about the squirrel my friend had been eating, this gave us hope that maybe some how some way the animals were surviving too. We had a lot of things to consider in this new turn of events, but I was tired so I decided to rest while they figured out what our next move was, after all I was only a leader outside the shelter not inside.

       As I was heading to my barracks Sara walked up to me and slapped me across the face. She said that Charlie had done something stupid like that and gotten killed. Sara had become attached to me since she lost her husband to the Damned, brutality murdered and devoured like a bore in a pack of starving wolves. Sara and I had become close but we were in no way lovers. It was just nice to have someone there to share your thoughts and fears with, now she was giving me the third degree over what I done. Let me tell you when she got started all you could do was sit back and take it. She didn't care that I get new information on our adversaries or that this was my job, she just knew she didn't want to be left alone again. I told her I was sorry and she smiled at me, gave me a hug, and told me to go get some rest.

       I awoke with a startle as the sound of loud voices rang down the corridor of the shelter. I jumped up to go see what the commotion was all about, as I stepped from my barracks someone grabbed my and with a look of fear in there eyes began screaming “there here, there here they found us” I knew just what they were talking about. Every time the Damned found one of our shelters they would began to tear it a part. I ran to my station preparing for battle. When I got there Sara was already there getting it ready for me to began defending our shelter. Each one of us had a job to do, Sara's was to make sure I had ammo and would run for anything I needed in the heat of battle. We watched as they stood on a hill just outside of the range of our guns. Silence fell across the whole shelter, and then all hell broke loose as the Damned started running towards us. We started firing trying to conserve ammo as we did but not wanting to take any chances either. There were so many of them, as the first wave hit us I thought it would never end. We lost some of our power and it became semi dark in there. They were going for the generators first. If we had no power we could not fight back. They just kept coming and kept coming there were so many of them and they were so fast and so strong, we couldn't get them all. After what seamed like an eternity we thought all was lost, this was it, they had finally won. Just as we had given up, something we had not seen in a very long time, it started to rain. Slowly at first and we noticed that the Damned started howling in pain. The rain was hurting them. It was like acid on there skin they ran for shelter under anything they could find. It started raining more and more and as it did light began to shine through. The Damned ran howling in pain, the shelter erupted in shouts of victory and thankfulness. It rained for two days and the more it rained the more the sky began to clear. Finally our prayers had been answered . The fall out toxins were disappearing and we had more daylight even in the rain than we had in four year. Was it finally over, I hoped so. Now it was time for the Damned to hide in shelter. At least during the daytime anyway.