S1, E13 The Strangers

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

0:30

This is Ed Falco on the air, reading The Strangers, a novel in 19 episodes. In episode 12, Severn and the kids retreat to the cave Matthew and A'isha have outfitted as a fortress against attacks by the dogs. in part by turning dumpsters into fortified sleeping units. As the episode concludes, they've all gone to sleep for the night. And that's where we pick up episode 13. The smell woke Severn first, and then he bolted upright when he noticed a fluctuation in the light visible through the narrow window above his head. Sometime before retiring, Matthew or A'isha must have turned the lights on over all the dumpsters. They hadn't all been on before he fell asleep, but now as he peeped out into the cave and readied his assault rifle, he saw a semicircle of light beams splashing off the rock floor of the cavern, illuminating the chamber. He heard movement in one of the dumpsters, and then saw the barrel of an assault rifle appear in one of the windows. The dogs, if they were in the cave, would be staring up into the krypton lights. They shouldn't be able to see a thing. From a dumpster almost directly across from him, Matthew's deep voice came booming through the quiet. They're here, he yelled. They're near. Get ready. A moment later he yelled again, Let me know you hear me. When no one responded, Severn thought the others must be thinking the same thing. They didn't want to give away their position. Matthew, as if reading Severn's thoughts, yelled, They can locate us by smell. There's no hiding. I'm ready, A'isha yelled. After Tommy and Vi echoed her, Severn called out, I'm good. He had the urge to shout a question, Has anyone seen them? But he repressed it. The smell made it obvious that they were near. The cavern reeked of them. Given the intensity of the odor, he guessed they were close, hiding in the shadows or in any one of the myriad corners, crevices and niches surrounding the stalagmites rising around the circumference of the chamber floor and the stalactites hanging from the ledge and the intricately patterned roof of the cave. In the white beam of light from the Krypton lamps, the rock formations of the chamber took on an eerie, orangish glow. Some of the stalactites at the top, where the limestone was thickest, seemed to glow with a delicate, lemon ice tinge. There were rough shadows and bulging tunnels and hidden corners everywhere. A million places to hide around the circumference of the empty chamber floor. Severn put his ear to the narrow window and concentrated on listening for movement underneath the constant sound of dripping water and the low, barely audible hum that was the sound of the chamber, of air and water moving quietly through it, of rock formations themselves adding weight and heft at a glacial pace. The metal of the dumpster wall was cold against Severn's cheek where it touched the narrow rectangular opening. He leaned into it and waited. For an eternity that was probably only a few minutes, he heard nothing, and then a sound like someone stepping in a puddle of water. He quickly scanned the cave, looking for the source of the sound. A shadow near the entrance of the chamber moved and took the shape of a dog on all fours. He aimed quickly. But before he could pull the trigger, the dog had leapt in a blur, and by the time it hit the cavern wall, it looked more like an ape than a dog, transforming mid leap. Severn pulled the trigger, and was jolted by the kick of the rifle as it spit out rounds. Even as he was firing, and as the others joined him, unleashing a cacophony of rapid gunfire, he knew the dog was gone, safe from their bullets. The thing had hit the cavern wall and bounded up to the ledge and out of sight. In quick succession, Matthew screamed, On the ledge! On the ledge! And A'isha shouted, Look behind you! Followed by Tommy yelling, Here! Here! And firing at the cave wall over his dumpster as first his light was smashed and went dark and then the other lights behind each of the dumpsters were smashed or knocked. Severn's case, he was sure blown out by his own fire, as he started shooting before seeing the dog. He had hoped to anticipate where it was going, and to fire before it got there, as Matthew had done. He succeeded only in doing the packs work for them, and shooting out the light himself. The gunfire stopped for an instant, and then started again, this time down into the chamber. By the time Severn turned around, the last of the lights down there were also out, and the cave went black and silent. Matthew's deep voice issued out of the darkness. They're so damn fast, he said, with a note of awe, and then he laughed quietly. Vyse said, in a calm and small voice, I'm lying on my back, with both rifles pointing at the lid of this thing. They still have to come get us. Muffled by metal walls, her voice sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a well. Severn called out, Turn on the lights inside the dumpsters. That'll help us see who they go after. He had hardly finished speaking before the lights went on almost simultaneously in four dumpsters. He reached for his own lamp alongside his mattress, but before he could turn it on, he was jolted by an impact that felt like being rear ended in a car. It threw him across the darkness, where he cracked his head into the ragged edge of the metal from one of the windows, and then he was flying over the ledge and tumbling through space with warm blood sticky in his hair and on his shoulders, the crate and the mattress and the second assault rifle banging around him as if he was inside a washing machine. When he hit the ground, the fall was cushioned by the mattress and pillows in what might or might not have been a piece of good luck. If he survived the fall, only to be killed and eaten by the dogs, that was no luck at all. Dazed, he felt around for the gun. Still in a dreamy haze of thought and action, and somewhere in the midst of groping through the darkness, he came fully awake and started frantically feeling around for one of the assault rifles. He found it. And strapped it over his shoulder just as the dumpster was hit again, the impact lifting it high in the air. This time he grasped the mattress and held it under him and when the dumpster hit the ground it again cushioned his blow before he tumbled out of the thrown open lid and landed on the slick rock surface of the cavern floor surrounded by dark. He scurried back until his head hit the ragged rock of what he guessed was a stalagmite. It was round and rough and thick and wet, and he pushed back against it until he was sitting up. All this took only a few seconds, and then he was by himself in the dark holding an assault rifle in both hands and listening to the confused shouting of Vi and Tommy calling out questions to Matthew as they tried to figure out what had happened. From his position on the chamber floor, the light shining out of the dumpsters were like an array of lighthouse beacons, each rectangular beam shooting out several feet into the surrounding blackness. The light beams hovered over him and left him with a sense of being underwater. Looking up from the bottom of a deep pool of night. When the lid of one of the dumpsters flew open, a wash of dim light shot up to the chamber roof, suddenly lighting a field of stalactites. Matthew's booing voice shouted, Tommy! Before his echoed syllables could be soaked up by the wet black air, a second dumpster flew open, releasing its portion of light, and then A'isha was yelling too, shouting at Vi. Severn understood that the kids had figured out what had happened, that his dumpster had been thrown over the ledge. He wanted to shout up to them, to tell them to stay where they were, but the words were frozen in his throat, and he realized that he was listening, listening with his whole body. He didn't dare speak for the noise of his voice interfering with his listening. He heard nothing but the distant voices from the ledge. Around him, all was still, but for a nearby drip of water against rock. He smelled the pack. The rank, disgusting odor of them was all around, close enough that he could taste it. He was waiting. He didn't know exactly what for, a sign of some kind, the slightest sound. He had never in his life listened so intently. It was almost like watching, like seeing every sound. From the cave wall behind him a noise like an animal sliding and scurrying interrupted the silence and was followed by barking and vies shouting for sage and then almost simultaneously by a crash and a pathetic whelp of pain and then again silence. Severn knew what had happened as if he had seen it. Sage had climbed down through the chambered tunnels coming for him. One of the creatures had barred Sage's way. Sage has barked and the creature had killed her with a single swipe of its talons. Severn knew what had happened and he felt nothing. His senses were a spotlight focused on only one thing. The sound. The sign that would tell him when they were coming for him. The shouting from the ledge grew more intense. Severn seemed to have compartmentalized his listening. He could hear what was going on above him, but he was paying it no attention. Tommy and Vi had strapped on miners lanterns and were starting down the chamber wall. Their light had swooped across the chamber floor, though they hadn't located him. He was near the entrance to the chamber, blocked from their view by a fence of stalagmites. He had been able to map his location in the few moments of their searching, the beams from the lanterns crisscrossing the cavern as they shouted his name over the background shouts of Matthew and A'isha urging them to return to the protection of the dumpsters. Now they were descending the cave wall coming for him. And it reminded himself of Matthew's recounting of the previous attack. The packs peel off one victim. And leave the others for another time. He was the one they had peeled off. He was the one they would come for. He waited, and someplace in his mind a voice speculated on the malleability of time. From the moment he had been thrown down from the ledge to the current moment of his waiting, he guessed only a few minutes had gone by, and yet it felt vividly to him like a much longer span, hours at least. He thought that thought about the malleability of time and then he heard what he was waiting to hear. A sound like air disturbed by a bird's wings. A disturbance of air like a flutter. All this time, he had been holding the assault rifle in both hands, aiming it directly in front of him. And at the sound of the fluttering air, he pulled the trigger. The Recoil From The Firing Slamming The Stock Into His Chest And Shoulder. He Held It Tight And Kept Firing Even After The Bulk Of One Of The Dogs Hit The Ground To The Left Of Him And Slid Away A Dozen Feet Into The Dark. He Held It Tight Until The Magazine Was Empty And The Rifle Went Silent And Lifeless In His Hands. Wrapped In Darkness The other beasts came. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were there. He could hear their feet moving over rock. He could hear their breathing as they approached him and stood around him in a semicircle. He nearly choked on the unbearable stench. One of them made a muffled, crow like noise that sounded agonized, and another made a sharp, command like cackle, and then they moved away. He heard them pause and then a shuffling and shifting of weight that he knew was the lifting of the dead one, the one he had shot and killed. Behind him, two beams of light crossed the chamber floor. Like Matthew before him, he had no idea why the pack had spared him. They had peeled him off. Surely they had intended to kill him. Then he killed one of them and they spared him. Like Matthew, before him. The beams of light moved slowly over wet rock. Severn hesitated another moment, trying to piece together the puzzle. And then he let it go as one more mystery and called out to Tommy and Vi. They're gone, he called. I'm here. And then Tommy and Vi were standing over him in their ninja outfits. Vi's long hair pulled back in a ponytail. You should have listened to Matthew and A'isha, he said. And he surprised himself with the anger in his voice. You should not have risked your lives like that. It was foolish. They didn't seem to hear him. Tommy sighed in a way that said he was relieved to find Severn alive. Vi said, you're hurt, and knelt to him. She pulled off the black top of her outfit, revealing a white cami beneath it, and went about gently blotting away blood from Severn's face. From the ledge came the booming sound of dumpster lids thrown open, and Matthew yelling, Are they gone? Tommy called back that they were, and that Severn was alive, and then he too took off the top of his outfit and joined Vi intending to Severn's wounds. You're a mess, he said. You're covered in blood. What the hell happened? In the light from the kids lanterns, Severn saw that his clothes were streaked with blood. Must be the dog's blood. He remembered the splash of something wet hitting him as he fired. He had pulled the trigger and felt the hot splash and sensed the creature veering away in mid air, changing directions at the last moment. The firing of the gun, the wash of blood, the creature crashing to the ground beside him and sliding away into the dark. It all happened simultaneously. In an instant. You got one of them? Vi asked. She had dipped her black top in a nearby pool of water and was dabbing it his forehead. Severn nodded. The others could have killed me and didn't. Like Matthew, Tommy said. Like Matthew? Severn answered. Vi folded the top into a rectangle and tied it around Severn's forehead. Where's the body? She asked. Severn looked toward the entrance to the chamber, which was dimly visible in the light from Tommy's lantern. They carried it away. The body? Matthew emerged from the shadows behind Tommy and Vi, followed by A'isha. They both had miners lanterns strapped to their head. You killed one of them, Matthew said. Are you sure? A'isha stood back behind Matthew, the beam of her lantern fixed on Severn. It hit the ground like it was dead, Severn said, and it never moved again. I'm figuring it was dead. Plus there's this, he said, and looked down at the blood all over him. He pulled himself to his feet, took off his shirt, crunched it into a ball and used it to wipe blood from his chest. You don't look like you're hurt too bad, Matthew said. Severn held out his arms and examined himself. Don't appear to be. Good, A'isha said. Let's get back up on the ledge. It's not safe here. Vi grasped Severn's forearm, as if to keep him from leaving. Sage, she said. When everyone was quiet in response, she added, she could still be alive. It's possible. Severn took an uncertain step forward and was pleased to discover that all this part seemed to be in working order. Other than a slight throbbing in the back of his head and a little soreness all over, he felt alright. You might not want to see this, he said to Vi. We'll look, Matthew said. And he and A'isha started for the cave wall. A'isha put her hand on the small of Matthew's back as she moved alongside him. Severn and the kids watched and waited in silence as Matthew and A'isha searched for Sage. In the corner of the chamber floor, Severn's green dumpster lay on its side, the mattress, pillows, rifle, and electronics scattered in front of its open lid. It didn't take long to find Sage. While Matthew waited near the chamber wall, A'isha returned to explain that Sage was still alive, but needed to be put down. Are you sure? Vi asked, and then said, let me see her before you do it, when A'isha nodded, indicating she was sure Sage couldn't be saved. Sage lay stretched out in a puddle of water and blood when they reached her. Matthew had covered her with his black pullover and he knelt beside her bare chested, his hand gentle on the back of her neck. From the way the pullover was draped over her body it was clear that her entrails were spilled out. The big lad's eyes were open but unfocused and she didn't register any response as Tommy and Vi knelt by her head. Vi kissed her and then got up and started to climb back up to the ledge without a word. Tommy patted Sage's head once and then followed Vi. Matthew said to Severn, Why don't you go with them? I'll do this for you. You too, he added to A'isha. You don't need to stay. Severn said, She doesn't look to be in any pain. He had been standing back a little bit watching. He was bare chested and blood soaked and already thinking about washing up in that hidden chamber's pool of clean water. I'll do this, Matthew said again. You go on. Severn knelt to Sage, meaning to pat her one last time before he gratefully left Matthew to do what needed to be done. When his hand touched the lab's head, though, Her eyes suddenly sparked to life with a familiar light of recognition and her tail wagged once weakly, moving the pullover. Sage, Severn said, the word coming out soft as a whisper. Girl, he said, as he patted her again. With Matthew watching, his mouth dropped open in surprise. The lab's response only lasted a few seconds, and then the light went out of her eyes. And a moment later, her jaw went loose and her tongue flopped against her teeth, the tip of it hanging out of her mouth. Matthew touched Severn gently on the shoulder. When Severn looked up, he saw tears in Matthew's eyes. It's okay, he said. The words felt devoid of meaning, but he found them comforting and so repeated them. It's okay. Matthew seemed to dissolve at Severn's words. He buried his head in his knees and quietly sobbed. Severn put his hand on the young man's back and waited in the dark for him to regain his composure. That was episode 13 of The Strangers. New episodes will be available twice a week on Mondays and Fridays until the novel is completed. If you want to read ahead, an inexpensive digital edition of The Strangers is available from Amazon, Barnes Noble, and other online bookstores. This podcast is an experiment in alternatives to traditional publishing. If you'd like to support it, And more like it in the future, please consider becoming a subscriber or supporter. If enough listeners choose to do so, that will go a long way to help ensuring the podcast's success and continuation. In any event, I'm Ed Falco, I wrote The Strangers, and I hope you'll come back for the next episode.