Lead And Silver: Part 1
"Jack? Jackie, wake up, bud." - Familiar voice suddenly ripped through warm, heavy veil of dream that didn't want to let go until the last second. - "You have to get up. We need to go..."
"What? Dad? What's happening?"
It was far into the night. Young wolf couldn't say how far exactly: his electronic watch on his bed table wasn't showing any digits.
"Jackie, i need you to do exactly what I say. Get your clothes on, get your backpack, and go into the living room. Your mother and sister are there. I'll be down in a couple of minutes. And don't forget that knife that you have."
"Dad, I'm sorry i didn't said you, I know I don't supposed to... I just..."
"I'm not mad at you son, it's okay, just make sure you'll take it with you."
"What's going on? Why are the light's off?"
"Jack, now!" - Said the tall, massive wolf with black fur now standing not beside his son's bed, but in a door frame, leaving the room.
When the father had that tone of voice, that meant you had to do what you were told.
So he did. His everyday summer clothes, his backpack, a knife that was still somewhat big for his palm, about 5 minutes, and he was in the spacious living room, immediately embraced by his mother: very feminine wolvess with gray fur, darker on the back, and lighter on the front of her slim body.
He almost immediately could feel his shoulder getting a little wet.
"Mom? What's going' on? What's with the power? Why..."
Mother looked him in the eyes. Jack could see the dark, blistering traces coming down her cheeks, even with the lights out, except some battery lamps. She wasn't crying right now, but something was wrong.
Sudden sound of the siren outside the house made the young wolf lower his ears.
"Jack, we're going out of town right now." - Said the mother as she quickly filled Jacks backpack with bottles of water and some food.
"I got the signal! Somehow the 4G coverage still work!" - Exclaimed Tishka, Jacks twin sister sitting on the couch and doing something on her laptop.
"We don't have much details right now, nothing has been confirmed, although some of he experts have that's the seismic activity is the reason for what may be one of the largest power outages of the last decades. Fire and Police departments, as well as medical services, having big trouble with communication. Town officials advise residents to stay..." - Cranky, discontinuous voice spoke through the loudspeakers, often getting cut by the bad signal. - "...Further notice... A possibility of a terrorist attack is not excluded."
"Mom, what's a seismic activity? Why was you crying? Is somebody attacking us?" - Young wolf started weeping because the all of chaos.
"It's an earthquake." - Dad's got down to the living room with two big sport bags. - "Seventh grade, you should know what that is. And i don't think we are being attacked. Directly, at least."
A very noticeable series of metal clicks followed one by one. Dad had his hunting rifle with him, pump shotgun and two pistols. Rifle found it's place in one of the bag, while one of the pistols dad has put in his concealed holster, and the other one he gave to his wife, putting the shotgun strap around his shoulder.
"Just like i taught you, Gray. Slide pulled back, safety's off, seventeen in the magazine, one in the chamber. Finger on the trigger only after you have sights arranged on the target."
"Yes... " - She inhaled and exhaled deeply - "Yes. The car is ready. We should..."
Large explosion outside shook the entire house. Sound of the breaking glass and ceramic dishes could be heard from the kitchen.
"Fuck! Was that the Randy's house?"
"Oh my god..." - Gray holstered her weapon with shacking hands, and Tishka started crying out loud.
"Tish, get it together! Pack the laptop, all the power banks, chargers, batteries. Jack, help your sister!"
"Dad I... "
"NOW!"
"Dave, rucksacks are ready. Food supplies, instruments, MedKits..."
"And what about blood transfusion kit? Surgical instruments, anesthetics, painkillers, stems, gas masks?"
"Too much cases, had to put it in the luggage bag."
Now the disturbing sound of emergency siren could be heard in the distance. For a moment, that got everyone's attention.
You often can hear it in the movies or video games. In fact, one of Jackie favorites had it as a important gameplay element.
But the real thing was incomprehensibly more dread-inducing.
Now he would never want to hear it.
"OK." - Black wolf got to one of the crates, that were put in the living room not long ago. He handed out three two-way radios to the wolvess, and strap one on his belt, adjusting the earpiece. - "Now look. I'm gonna get to the car. Radio already on the right frequency, I'm gonna say when I'm sure it's safe to go. Meanwhile you know what to do."
"Mom... Mom, what's going on? Why the siren is wailing?" - Tishka asked, anxiously pressing her backpack against her chest.
As wolf walked to the door, he got into a shooting stance, placing his shotgun buttstock on his right shoulder. Only few seconds pass, and he was outside.
"Kids, come here. You finished packing?"
"Mom, where are we going?"
"To your grandpa's house, sweety, out of town." - She stroked the hair of a young wolf in a comforting manner.
"Now, me and dad not gonna let anything happen to you, but Tish, Jack, you've got to promise me" - Mother placed other sports bags on the luggage and put on her big travel backpack. - "Never let out each other out of site. Always help each other, no matter what." - While she was saying it, she was adjusting radios on the belts of the kids.
"Radio Check, over." - Was heard in all three earpieces.
"Loud and Clear, Dave, over."
"We're on the move, i don't see any threats, you need to leave now, I'm starting the engine. Over and out."
"Guys, you promise?"
"Yeah..." - twins said in unison.
"Copy that, Dave. Over and out."
With that, rest of the family quickly got out of the house and made its way towards the large black jeep with closed top and a wide bull bar. There was plenty space for cargo, and as soon as everything was in order, car started moving towards the main road.
"Jack, Tish, close your eyes! And don't open them until I say so..."
The heat from the burning house was noticeable from several meters. The reason, though, that the mother asked her kids to close their eyes, was because of the several burned bodies laying on the ground, one of them with the rib cage split open like a can.
"Fucking hell... " - All that David could say, driving the car. - "What was that..."
Just yesterday, two families were together on the barbecue, Jack and Tish played with the neighbors kids, family of five lions. The youngest cub was only three years old.
Mother was trying to hide her tears, but it would seem like she could fall into hysteria at any moment. She just saw her best friend, lioness Leila, with whom they would often spend time behind a glass of wine at their house terraces on Friday evenings, talking, laughing, smiling, and complaining to each other about their husbands.
She just saw her, and it was nothing more then black, frozen in the obscure pose and fried to the bone carcass lighted by the burning flames of her house.
As strong as she was, now mourning has devoured each thread of her existence, she let out a sob that made David's heart stop for a second.
Smart, funny, witty and sharp on the tongue wolvess that he married looked like she was about to lose all hope. Her eyes, wide open, were telling that she more than anything wanted this to be a nightmare. She was experiencing a strong episode of depersonalization. David was dealing with this kind of trauma often when he was in the army, studying psychology and behaviorism between missions of, rather, questionable morality, and later, after several months of specialized training and acquiring Doctoral Degree in psychology, he officially became military psychologist, however, his unofficial role was somewhat different.
Never the less, even in his worst scenarios, he could imagine that this awful thing is going to happen with the love of his life. With the woman, who would never hurt a fly, but the opposite: she was a doctor at the local hospital. And while she saw a lot of serious injuries, nothing could prepare her for this.
Some of the houses looked like their owners did what their family just did: left in a hurry. Some houses were barricaded from inside. But now and then you can see, that some of the folk didn't have so much luck. Something got to them. Something terrible, indescribable, something that was killing with the sole purpose to leave the body mutilated beyond recognition, skinned and dismembered. Luckily, most of the details was hard to see because of the dark.
But at the same moment, whatever did this, could still be around.
Dave pushed the pedal almost to the floor.
Everything was looking like the hell itself decided to relocate specifically in their quiet, suburban neighborhood. Nothing made sense.
"We almost out of town. Jack, try to call grandpa."
"Okay" - Quietly answered young wolf and reached to his pocket. As expected, the cellphone grid was down. - "No signal... Sorry."
"Alright. Don't worry, grandpa is waiting for us, I'm sure. We'll be safe there."
Several miles of pitch black darkness was separating them and a place, as they had planned some time ago, could provide a shelter in case of an emergency. Gray's parents live there.
Emergency - yes. But all of this was more leaning towards "The End Of The World" kind of situation, especially with such scarce amounts of information about what actually is going on and just plain horrifying scenery.
Dave tried to find out something through the car radio. Nothing but static.
Nothing but static, darkness and screaming siren.