~ The CDC Calls~
-October, 2024-
Aiden Gallagher was twelve years old when the world crashed and ignited into a hellstorm.
Of all the places he had been when the news broke, he had been at his friend Antony’s thirteenth birthday sleepover. He, Rowan Fisher, Luca Devly, and Ezra Brownsten had made the jaunt to the Wilders' luxury property to celebrate, and it had been quite the day all the way around.
It was about eleven PM, and they had no time limit on how long they had until sleep would eventually just wipe them out.
It had been an awesome day of rock hopping, river exploration, and general tomfoolery within the boundaries of Antony’s family’s twenty-acre property along the Bighorn River right outside the limits of Yellowstone National Forest.
It was absolutely a dream come true anytime you got to head over to the Wilder’s land. Antony's folks were rolling with big money, in a giant three-story monster that his dad called “the Farmhouse,” but really was just that in design, if not in size and build. It was sleek, contemporary, and had every gizmo and gadget a kid could want. The Wilder's had dirtbikes and four-wheelers, and honestly, Antony was probably the most spoiled little pansy any of them had ever met.
He was lucky he was, because initially he really hadn't been that likable. He had come to Canterton, Wyoming as kind of a snooty little bastard.
He had been short enough to give him a complex, and shared his mother’s hook-nosed, chinless profile, and his father’s overlarge buck teeth. It wasn’t a great combination, but he wasn’t bad to hang out with, especially as they got older, and they could be busy and go up to his property otherwise.
Aiden and the rest had come up from the small township, or in Rowan's case, the local Reservation, Wind River. Really, they were nothing but a pack of rough country bumpkins who just so happened to have befriended Antony when he had moved to the area a few years back from New York.
Back then, he had had an accent, and the four of them had been parked on their bikes when he had climbed out of the back seat of his mom's Mercedes, smirking at the alien sight of this random dude getting out across the street from the local bakery in his sleek East Coast swag.
Rowan and Luca had all but rolled their eyes, but Aiden had been the one to have a lick of empathy for those sad, lost-looking gray-green eyes, especially when Antony had glanced over at them all, and then quickly looked away.
Clearly, he had felt out of place and out of sorts and sure as Hell wasn’t from the area.
That had been clear.
Rowan had laughed his ass off when Aiden had suggested they go say 'hi'. Luca and Ezra had looked at him like he was losing his mind, but you know, Aiden was an empath at heart, or at least that’s what his mom told him all the time.
He had never liked bullying people or being the butt of a joke on his end, so really, he had felt for the guy.
Despite his friends groaning and moaning, Aiden popped his kickstand up and pushed over at a quick run across the less-than-busy two-lane street, while the other three had reluctantly followed suit.
But hey, look at them now, living it up in a goddamn mansion on the Bighorn, so you know, karma and all that.
However, on Friday at 11 pm, just when they were getting braced to secretly watch some risky anime on Adult Swim, the TV’s emergency broadcast system kicked on, and the buzz was so awful that Antony scrambled over to the set on all fours to turn it down.
“Holy God.” He snapped it in annoyance while he got the volume.
Rowan scowled at the TV. “Why? It’s like we waited our whole lives to watch this one stupid episode without an adult human here, and now this?” He threw popcorn into his mouth and shook his dark head, looking pretty annoyed by it all.
Aiden smiled at him from where he was stretched out on his belly on the floor, digging into a giant bowl of M&M’s. “It’ll come back on. You…”
He was interrupted when it didn’t come back on, but instead, slipped to an emergency news broadcaster, and the look on the man’s face?
Made them all shut up and pause.
He looked nervous, and that was not usually how News people looked in any realm of life in their experience. The man was clearly sweating, chest heaving like he had just run a mile, and was mid-announcement.
“… National Alert had been issued by the CDC for the states of Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvannia, Utah, and Montana. More alerts are coming in from other states as officials now scramble to take census of how prolific the spread rate is occuring.”
“What’s happening?” Ezra sat up with wide, blue eyes round staring at the screen.
Antony looked terrified, jumped to his feet, and sounded anxious when he announced, “I’m going to wake up my parents.” He hit the archway for the hall at a sprint.
Aiden, Rowan, and Luca sat up and seriously listened to the man on the TV giving the news report for maybe the first time in their young lives.
“This is a National Alert. I repeat this is a National Alert. It is imperative, that you stay indoors, and lock down. If you feel unsafe, several shelters are being opened. Please contact your local emergency municipalities for addresses for safe houses. This should be a final measure ONLY if you feel your safety is threatened.”
They all looked at each other, and Aiden felt a chill roll down his spine.
“Reports of cannibalism, widespread rioting, and panic in the cities is pouring in from around the country, and officials urge citizens to stay indoors, and if possible report any suspicious peoples outside their communities to local authorities…”
It went on, and for two hours, Aiden sat with his friends and Antony’s stunned parents and knew this was no joke.
They showed aerial clips of cities burning, field reporters on streets running into the madness. Everyone seemed like they were trying to figure out what the hell was going on, and Aiden’s first thought was a Zombie apocalypse.
He saw a man fall on the street, several hitting right after him in succession like they had hit an invisible wall, and there were no convulsions like you saw in the movies. Instead, they went almost board straight, like they were in the midst of rigor mortise, eyes open or screwed shut tight, frozen in whatever state they had been when whatever had hit them. People ran over them, through the same forcefield without issue, as if whatever this was, was handpicking its victims.
They watched a reporter run over, maybe the bravest human on the planet, with his camera guy and get a long shot of some poor guy lying in the street.
Aiden would never forget watching the man’s skin ripple like it had bugs sliding under his flesh.
It was abrupt enough that he and Ezra screamed and ran for Antony’s mother, Lauren. Rowan and Luca got closer to the TV, wide eyes rapt on the sight, even while Antony’s father shouted for them to get the hell out of the way. Antony was already slathered in his mother's tight arms.
The reporter screamed when that man sat up, looked at the camera with wild, pinning eyes, and that was the moment Aiden’s entire world skewed.
When his mouth opened, his teeth fell out of his skull, and he screamed with a pitch so high and shrill, it should have shattered the glass. The whites of his eyes broke red, and in Aiden's life, the sight of long, sharper white teeth that broke the gums and lengthened, almost sent him into a coronary. There was a sound like his bones snapped before whatever was happening to him sent the man into the concrete with a wild convulsion, seconds before his skin split apart in a wash of red horror.
It was the most horrific thing Aiden had ever witnessed in his life.
Antony’s mother actually screamed with terror, was on her feet, and yelled, “We have to go!” She shouted it at her husband, but Aiden could not tear his eyes from the screen.
He watched an outpouring of what looked like another body spill from shredded human skin, furred and dark, bigger than the body that it had spewed from, and saw those bloody, red eyes open to the night like a demon born into flesh and fur.
It was almost surreal, like watching a movie as something very large, slavering and feral, was just morphed into this man’s stead. The reporters were yards away and running by then, the camera jiggling wildly over the camera man’s shoulder while the reporter screamed, “We have to get the fuck out of here!”
Rowan caught Luca by the shoulder and whispered, “Skin Walkers.” Just that, as this monster tore over the concrete in pursuit.
All four of them screamed bloody hell when it launched from the earth and vanished from sight; they heard the reporter scream with them, and suddenly the TV flipped off.
Lauren was wild-eyed and threw the remote when they all looked at her with huge eyes.
“We’re going to the basement, boys, until your parents can come. Come on.” She waved wildly at their stuff. “Bring your things, we’ll get dressed down there.”
Not a single one of them argued, scrambled up, and followed the only voice of reason in the whole fucking universe right then.
Shit, but Aiden wanted his mother, he wanted his fucking Dad, and he wanted to start screaming when he thought about his younger brother Dirk sleeping at home, all of nine years old, and wondered if they were even up right now to know what was going on?
It was now 1:30 AM.
“I’ll call your parents again.” Antony’s dad, Jacob, sounded wildly tense but tried to smile at the wide-eyed youths who were scrambling by to follow Lauren.
No one missed the way he looked at his wife with bleak eyes, nor did they miss Lauren when she glanced back and whispered, “Get the guns.”
After a moment, Jacob nodded, and that was the night the world changed forever.
~
Aiden was in the basement, scrambling into jeans, and could have given a shit over Lauren's presence while he changed. The woman was pacing by the door, chewing her thumbnail, scrolling through her phone while she waited for any of their parents to call back. Every now and again, she kept glancing at them all and smiling tightly with some feigned reassurance that no one in that basement was feeling that night.
She was trying, and Aiden finally broke the odd silence and whispered, “Was that a werewolf?”
They all looked at him, but it was Rowan who shook his head, and those dark eyes looked at him bleakly. “My parents say Skinwalkers. They’re demons, witches, that can take the shape of us and animals.”
Rowan was part of the local Arapaho tribe, and frankly, he had the most bizarre type of beliefs and superstitions. Weird things like not whistling after dusk so as not to call ghosts and bad spirits.
Aiden had always been a little jealous just because it seemed really cool to be a part of culturally. However, hearing that Rowan had just looked at that freak on screen and had a name for it immediately?
Made his skin crawl.
Luca frowned at him from where he was tying his shoes. “Rowan, I don’t fucking think that guy put on a wolf skin, you know?”
“It came out of him.” Ezra sounded beyond scared, and Aiden was right there with him.
“That’s enough.” Lauren snapped at all five boys before she asked in distress, “Where the hell is Jacob?”
They all jumped when the door swung open and Jacob came down the basement steps with a clatter of heavy footfalls on the wood. He had a shotgun and his twenty-two with him, and not a person in there didn’t know how to operate both.
In a place where wolves ran and grizzlies were prevalent, most people's parents insisted their kids knew how to operate a firearm. Aiden had been shooting since before it had been legal and was pretty sure his father had put a BB gun in his hands at birth just to get the sights right.
“I think something is going on in town.” Jacob glanced up under furrowed brows and glanced around at the suddenly terrified faces of the boys and his wife. His hand was shaking when he began to put rounds into the shotgun. “The fire siren is going.”
Rowan looked out towards the small basement window, and that strong profile looked resigned before he just sank down and sat by Luca on a small bench seat against the wall. “My father says you have to do spells to ward them off.”
They all looked at him, even Jacob with high-browed expressions of question.
Aiden felt like he had to swallow down his pattering heart while he pulled his hoodie on, then his jacket, and just put on his backpack in preparation to leave. He wanted to be ready to bolt as soon as his dad showed because he knew, he knew the man would be there, come Hell or high water.
“Dude, stop talking about demons.” Luca looked so tense that it was bordering on anger.
Lauren cleared her throat. “I’m sure…maybe it’s just in the cities. Maybe they’re just calling people to shelters for a meeting?”
“Has my mom called you back?” Ezra looked like he was seconds from crying.
Lauren’s expression was so stricken looking at his wide blue eyes that Aiden felt the first stirrings of panic before he looked at the high window as well. Like he would possibly see some threat coming, or see headlights flashing through the glass to announce someone was there for them.
“No, sweetie, not yet, but I’m sure she’s fine.”
Jacob interrupted the building panic in the room while he hefted his gun and peered around the space with seeking eyes. “Let's barricade the do-”
The abrupt cut-off was so odd that they all turned and looked at the man.
Antony stood up from where he had been crouched, wide-eyed with the first stirrings of true terror shining back from his large grey-green eyes. “Dad?”
Aiden turned, Luca and Rowan both stood, Lauren twisted with Antony, and Ezra looked rooted to the floor. It looked like Jacob Wilder had just frozen in place, and when they all looked where he was staring off to, it looked as if he was staring holes through Ezra.
After a long, tense moment, Ezra sort of slipped to the side, but those fixated eyes didn’t even flicker.
His fingers were in the exact same position, half loading the shotgun, he had gone white-knuckled on the barrels, and was staring straight ahead like someone had hit his pause button.
Aiden felt that first sinking pit of fear hit his gut when Antony whispered again, “Dad?”
It was like someone just knocked Jacob over. It was so abrupt, Ezra screamed, and Aiden shot back and hit the wall, chest heaving while he stared down at the man now blocking their only means of escape.
As soon as Jacob went off balance and collapsed, Lauren was the first to break the shocked following stillness.
“Boys.” She was snapping her fingers to the door, eyes wide on her husband.
Aiden would never forget in his life the cutthroat nature of that woman when she hurriedly reached down, snatched up the fallen shotgun, and just passed the twenty-two over to Antony before training the barrel right at Jacob's head.
“Get to the stairs.”
Holy shit. The man was on the steps. Aiden felt almost petrified when he saw, to his dawning, growing horror, something ripple under Jacob's flesh just like they had seen all over the news.
Lauren’s shout was the only thing that jolted the five of them from their frozen moment of terror.
“Get the fuck to the steps!” She yelled it and in his fucking life, Aiden had never, never jumped as he jumped over Antony’s father in a mad dash to get up the steps to the door.
Rowan and Luca were right on his ass, and he scrambled at the door lock while Ezra pounded up the stairwell after them.
Lauren all but threw Antony up after them. “Go to the car now!” She shouted it, leapt the man half sprawled on the floor, and walked backward up the steps, eyes boring holes into the shuddering figure twitching at the bottom landing.
They all jarred and looked back with horror when a gasping, rasping sound of sudden air intake sighed through the atmosphere like some nightmare come to join the party.
Aiden had the door open, heard the pound of Lauren's feet, the pull back of the hammer, but Antony had paused in the doorway before he screamed so loudly the other four stopped their scramble to whip back around.
Aiden somehow heard him over his racing heart.
“Oh my God!”
He didn’t see Lauren but heard her clear-as-day scream, “GET THE KEYS AND GET TO THE CAR, ANTONY!”
Antony broke and bolted for the kitchen and adjoining garage. Not a second later, a haunting and dark sound filled the house behind them.
God help them, but it sounded like the scream of a kettle before deepening and turning into a growl that reverberated through Aiden’s entire body.
“Holy fuck!” He didn't even recognize the pitch his own voice hit in that moment, while they were chased through the lower level by that terrible bass horror.
They followed after Antony, a gunshot shattered the quiet with a booming crack that sent them all in a scramble after their smaller friend, like the fires of Hell had erupted behind them all.
Antony was pulling at the keys, almost hysterical, and could barely get them off the hook, his fingers were shaking so badly. It was bad enough that Rowan cursed him and then caught his flailing body when Ezra shoved him aside seconds before a second shot cracked off.
There was the distinct sound of pounding feet on wood, and it was finally Luca who began to push them all into motion. He was wild-eyed, snatched the keys from Ezra's hand, caught Aiden and Rowan by the collars to jar them into gear, and shoved them for the side door. “Go!”
He took the twenty-two from Antony's shaking hands while Ezra dragged the nearly hysterical youth to the door, and not a second later, Lauren barreled in.
She looked wild, crazy, and blood splattered, spotted them, before she screamed desperately, “Go, now!”
Aiden was at the door and only caught a glimpse of the woman running for the kitchen's knife block, grabbing a butcher's knife, and then backtracked to the doorway just in time for something to explode into sight.
Aiden didn’t know what he was looking at; it was as if his brain shut down with a new level of fear unlocked, and all he knew was that it was massive, seven feet at least, of twisted dark nightmare.
It was furred, red-eyed, and muzzled. Its mouth opened, and it screamed at a depth of barrel-toned pitch so haunting it came out like a howl, but Aiden knew it wasn't the same as wolves or coyotes. Those he knew. This vocal was dragging, rolling, and hit a man's chest like a thunderclap in the atmosphere.
Aiden saw the flash of scrambling claws when it staggered through the door, dragging a mangled leg behind it, and horrifically Aiden made direct eye contact with the blood-eyed monster, but past that, he had no clue what the fuck happened.
Rowan yanked him in, Ezra slammed the door, Lauren started screaming, all while Luca yelled frantically, “Get in!” He hit the garage door opener as he shouted it.
Aiden stopped screwing around and launched himself inside the truck. Antony was hysterical, and only Ezra got him settled into the back between them. He wrapped his arms around his panicking friend, clutching Antony's face into his chest with his own terrified, huge eyes on the door, but frankly, he barely looked like he was doing any better than Antony was.
Rowan dove into the front passenger, Luca put it in reverse while Rowan was still shutting the door, and thank God for being rednecks at the core of them.
It wasn’t the first time Luca had driven around the countryside, helped his dad farm all the time, and had to know how to move a truck day to day.
That skill came in handy that night.
He twisted and gripped Rowan's seat before sending them shooting out in a near peal-out of shooting gravel into the pebbled driveway.
“Holy fuck!” Rowan screamed it, but Luca was tight-jawed when the door of the kitchen entry slammed outward, never once taking his eyes off the road even while what had been Jacob Wilder shot out into the night.
He wasn’t dragging anymore.
Lauren was nowhere in sight, and like a nightmare, the speed this creature hit in sudden pursuit of the four-wheel drive Tundra was insanity.
Luca finally looked when his four friends began to shout, and almost panicked. Shit, but he didn’t even have time to take it out of reverse.
“God! It's coming!” Ezra's voice hit a whole new octave that early morning. He pounded Rowan's seat frantically with building terror, eyes huge on the sight of that freak tearing down the drive after them.
Luca set his sights, couldn’t look again, and picked up speed down the long driveway. “Not fucking helping me, Ezra!” Luca screamed back.
Rowan and Aiden were white-knuckled on their overhead handles and doors, Antony had officially devolved into a mode of panic and anxiety so bad he had bent forward, hands over his face while he sobbed, but frankly tonight, no one was going to give the guy shit over his nervous breakdown.
Aiden was beyond shock, and the whole time Jacob accelerated with some newfound surge of speed, Rowan began to pray in his native language. Ezra was flipping his own shit, but Luca, thank God, drove that goddamn truck like their lives depended on it.
Tonight it did.
Then, he had to crank the wheel.
It sent them all careening hard to the left. He twisted back around, put it into drive, and that monster was on them that fast. Everyone but Rowan and Luca screamed when it jumped and hit the roof of the cab so hard the metal buckled immediately under the force of impact.
Aiden hit a new pitch of terror when he saw the sharp stab of claws crash through the roof of the cab and tear back the steel in a scream of shearing metal before long, triple-jointed fingers caught the newly formed lip.
Luca didn’t even look, hit the gas so hard while he slammed it through its gears, that Jacob's hand vanished. There was a bang when it hit the Tonneau cover, and Aiden twisted in time to see a dark shape bounce and hit the dirt road.
For a second, it looked stunned, but it was a critical second.
Luca hit sixty and was gathering more velocity, Antony and Ezra were beyond hysterics, Rowan was still fucking praying and Aiden could only watch with horror as that creature tried to give chase.
Thank God, it slowly began to fade into the distance as Luca hit a serious turn of speed away from Antony’s childhood home.
Ezra was beyond sane anything when he screamed, “I have to go home!” He was still clutching Antony, and his fingers had bleached white knuckled on his smaller friend's body.
Luca just glanced at him in the rearview and Aiden had never seen him so serious, so cold, or so goddamn set.
For a kid who was just beginning to become the man he would be in the future, all of five foot six and a hundred pounds soaking wet, Luca sure as hell proved in that moment he was more of a man than the rest of them. More tenacious, and surely more driven and focused.
Aiden would never, never forget the look in those dark brown eyes in his life: set, determined, and uncompromising.
By the time the sun broke over the small town of Canterton, Wyoming, the town was in literal chaos, was on fire, and all around them the world faded away.
From one second to the next, their lives had changed forever, and their paths were irrevocably and forever tied to each other.
Good, bad, tragic, or beautiful, the future had been set that night. They drove that night away from Antony’s father, heading forward toward Yellowstone National Forest and into an unknown future, and left the world as they knew it behind.
The Reform had arrived, and it was an October no man would ever forget.
