Under The Bed

Outside the safety and comfort of the closet, Delvin could hear the world falling to pieces. The house kept shaking violently, even causing some of Mammie's vases to drop to the ground and shatter. The young boy knew she and Pappie wouldn't be happy once they came back from outside. He'd seen those expressions on their faces one time before; it was when Pappie told him that Mama and Papa weren't coming back home like they said they would. That they were sorry for having to leave him, but they would always be watching him. Tears streamed down his face as he thought about it, and of another; what if Pappie and Mammie weren't coming back? What if he was going to be left alone? What was he going to do? There was food in the pantry, he knew that. He also could start the shower by himself and knew the emergency number in case something went really wrong. 
The sound of the front door slamming open caused him to hold his breathe and listen. He could hear rustling, muffled talking. Then his name.
"DELVIN! DELVIN WHERE ARE YOU! OH GOD, OH GOD, DAMN, DAMN , DAMN!." He rarely heard Pappie swear, and whenever he did, Mammie usually popped him on the back of his head. Though from the voices outside, not one of them was her's. The child burst from the doors of the closet, almost falling to the ground before stumbling into a recovery and sprinting out of the bedroom, and into the embrace of his grandfather. The elder Barbossa embraced his grandson as if he hadn't seen him for decades, and feared he never would again. His hold was tight, and a light sobbing could be heard from deep within his chest. Delvin would lightly push away from him, wiping his own tears onto the man's shirt.
"I did what you said, Pappie! I hid until you came back! But under the bed was too scary... I was afraid monsters would get me." He looked over the shoulder of his grandfather and saw unfamiliar figures. They carried guns, and looked like soldiers, almost exactly like the action figures he'd gotten for his last birthday. "Where's Mammie..?" He asked, upon not seeing any sign of his grandmother.
His grandfather's head only drooped, his eyes low and either unable or unwilling to meet his own. And that's when Delvin also saw the red splatters not only staining him, but the men as well.
"Understood." One of the soldiers took his hand from his ear and approached the two of them. "Sir, the rest of the neighborhood has been cleared. We need to get you all out of here and to the shelters immediately!" His hand rested on his grandfather's shoulder, and the older man sighed, before standing, and taking Delvin's hand.
"Mammie will meet us at the shelter. For now, it's just me and you, alright, Delvin?"
=== 2 Hours Later ===
Outside the claustrophobic and stifling constraint of the rubble, Delvin could see his world shattering. The monsters had come. And they had taken Pappie. They'd taken everyone. Everyone... but him. Mammie had always said if an earthquake happened, find a sturdy place to hide under, like a table, or a counter. When the building began to topple, Pappie pushed him into the alcove beneath the staircase, while he was caught by the falling debris. By the time the rumbling stopped, and it was hard to breathe, Delvin found himself trapped and partially buried, unable to move. He could see others, some of them hurt. Some of them unmoving on the ground, beneath debris. He saw Pappie, he was one of the latter. He tried, so hard, to move, to get out. But he couldn't. Not before the monsters came. 
Delvin had seen on television a series about animals from different planets. One of them, Earth, had ones called 'gorillas'. They were said to be like humans, yet larger, stronger, wilder. These.... these must have the things that scared the gorillas. They tore through what walls, bare handed. A woman nearest to them screamed in panic, cowering with her child next to her. It.... hit her. Once. She stopped screaming. Twice. The child stopped crying. And by the third time, it growled, almost as if it were laughing. Another of them entered, looking about before shouting something. This drew more into the room, until there were six in total. They sifted through the debris, dragging out people, some who cried, others who didn't. The ones who moved, who made sounds, they were hurt. The monsters squeezed them until they broke. Hit them until they fell silent, and their fists and hammers were darkened red. 
He watched as one of them dragged Pappie away, his grandfather grunting in pained agony as he was dragged by his arm, which bent in the wrong direction. Delvin didn't know how long he'd been holding his breathe. Nor did he realize how long ago he'd stopped struggling to get out. Had it been before the monsters came? Or was it just after? 
=== ??? Hours Later ===
"His breathing is weak, but he'll live."
Delvin wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep. 
"Get him out of there, and let's move. Don't know when the Brutes will sweep back into the area again."
He could feel pressure being relieved from his body, and his breathing came easier as a result. His lungs ached from a combination of the dust filled air and being compressed for so long, yet, it was relieving all the same. He'd manage to open his eyes as he was lifted off of the ground and placed onto the back of someone. He was greeted not by faces, but by visages hidden behind amber-colored helmets. 
"Pappie...." Delvin said weakly as he shut his eyes once more. The assembled soldiers didn't respond, only beginning to walk through a path out of the rubble, and his carrier followed. As they emerged into the streets, the world no longer seemed like it was falling, or breaking. Instead, it looked as if it were already broken. People, many, many people, were strewn about, like forgotten toys across the ground. They all seemed to be sleeping, unmoving, yet hurt. Red splatters coated them. Some were missing arms, some legs. Some had spikes jutting out from their torsos, their heads. Others had blackened marks strewing their bodies, in strange symbols he'd never seen before. He choked out a cry, a wheeze in reality, when he what remained of a smoking mass of what could have been people and recognized what remained of his grandfather's shirt amongst it.
"Don't worry, big guy, it'll be alright." His carrier said.
"You saying that for him, or for you, Morris?"
"Shut up, Klein! Kid's in shock. Looked like he has some other injuries too."
"Better than whatever the Apes did to these folks."
"Zip it up, both of you." Delvin's eyes by now were heavy once again, but he could tell the general direction of the voice. It was ahead of them, though only by a few steps. We make for Rally Point Victor. Hand the kid off. Shuttles are being prepped, packed, and punched off world as we speak."
"We're just gonna toss him on a tin can and hope for the best? What about his family?"
"Open your eyes, Morris. You probably just stepped over his dad, or mom, or sister back there. Passed them by without so much of a hello. Pretty sure they'd be grateful is we can get their kid off this forsaken world to somewhere else. Far away."
=== 7 Years Later ===
His muscles burned. His heartbeat in his chest like a drum. There was a numb ache in his knuckles, where they'd collided with over 600 pounds of hide and muscle. A sting in his wrist from how he'd twisted it, ensuring that the damage done by his knife was deep and life threatening. The first strike would have been enough. But the second was to make sure it stayed down. And the third was to hear its yelp in pain. It was a guttural thing, unlike the war cries its kind were known for in battle. The monster struggled to move, but it all was in vain. Its eyes burned holes through the visor of his helmet, still filled with hate, with hunger, with bloodlust.
"Salamander-Three! You alright? Hallway entered lockdown as soon as you went through those doors with that Brute! Delvin? Respond!"
Jeremiah's vice broke through the quiet, and along with it, the sounds of battle around them flooded back into his ears. 
"Salamander-Three, all good. Ape's dead." He said, throwing the knife into the unarmored head of the Brute, snapping it back and causing its entire body to go limp. "I'll find an alternate route back."
"Copy. Be careful."
He walked over to the dead monster and retrieved his blade from its skull. "One down."
Category:The Weekly