Before the Sun

The twilight of dawn covered the ground. The light slithering over the trees, the fields, the unkempt grass. The shadows cowering away with increasing speed as the early rays shot at the waking world.

Richard tackled Bella, throwing her on the dirt. The bags of vegetables she had harvested scattered. ‘Look out!’ he shouted at her.

She lifted her head and looked forward. Just a step from where she had been running there was a brighter patch, barely distinguished from the rapidly brightening surrounding light.

‘We stayed for too long’. Her voice shook, as she quickly got up and started gathering the spilled produce.

‘Leave it, whatever is in there, that’s it. We can’t wait’, said Serah, ‘We need to move fast, but be careful, we can already barely see them, and it’s getting worse. I want us all safe and sound in the tunnels’.

They moved on, running but vigilant. The sun was chasing them, coming up to disguise the danger. Their team was small, just 5 people, the minimum necessary to operate the machinery for harvesting, and taking care of the fields. They were a team trained for the far fields, but the malfunction made everything slower. The supplies are urgently needed, thought Serah, they need food. What choice did they have?

They kept running, they could see the light drifting between the shadows, like a carnivorous cloud. By the sides of the road, luminous patches, getting harder and harder to distinguish from their own sun.

Luis looked around nervously. The danger disguised the beauty. He had never stayed this late, never saw the world like that. They were more responsible, and returned to the darkness before it got to this. But he couldn’t deny, this was absolutely beautiful. The colours waking up. Nature as it should be seen, not solely by starlight and goggles. With the occasional projector that had to keep moving, so that a swarm won't embed themselves in it. The true appearance of their world, that they lost. He could feel the lump in his throat, but this was not the time. They had to keep going, to get to their oppressive darkness. The only thing that protected them. That allowed them to see the danger clearly, not to be swallowed by it.

‘Shit!’ Luis was shaken from his thoughts by Bella’s shout. The road was bright, ahead of them, too bright. Covered with spots all over. Some of the patches slowly drifted, hunting for their meal. Others stayed in place, hoping the unsuspecting victim would come to them. ‘Have you ever seen anything like this, Serah?’ Richard asked, his voice controlled. ‘No’, Serah said quietly, breathing out the words like a sigh. ‘It doesn’t matter, you know the drill, keep moving forward. We need the supplies. Move carefully, watch yourselves’.

‘Move carefully? This is a bloody swarm!’ Luis muttered through his teeth.

‘Shut it! Would you rather wait until you can’t see them at all?’ Serah’s look was enough to silence him on its own. He nodded and started moving. Then they heard the scream. Luke had fallen. Looking at him again, they could clearly see his foot was missing. Where it should have been was a small glowing void, no larger than a bunny, floating. Richard and Serah approached Luke’s sprawled body, walking quickly while nervously scanning the path ahead. He was bleeding heavily, the red puddle covering the area, the only clean spot being the cause of it all, as it was enjoying its meal. They caught him and dragged him away from his assailant, leaving the precious cargo he was carrying in his cart behind. Luis and Bella watched over them, making sure they did not stumble into another horror.

‘What do we do now?’ Richard looked at Serah, the brightening light reflecting off the sweat on her skin, as he was putting a tourniquet from his bag over Luke’s leg. Luke screamed in agony

‘Leave the cart. We can’t look after it in this situation. Bella! Drop the bags, take Luke. The rest of us will take whatever we can carry off it’.

Bella grunted as she picked up the injured man, sweat pouring onto her from his wearied face.

‘Let’s go! Be careful and watch your step’, ordered Serah, because we won’t be able to take with us anyone else, she thought.

They walked between the pale predators. Side stepping ones that could consume them whole, carefully avoiding small ones that could instantly take a bite off them, leaving a gaping wound for them to bleed out from, and looking around them to escape the drifting clouds, floating almost leisurely with their promise of death.

It has been a long night, and the work was beginning to show. Their breath became heavier, their gait less assured. They were getting tired. The effort of walking through the field was taking its toll. They had to strain their already exhausted eyes to see where the edges of light clouds started. Bella could feel every single step, rattling her body as it reached the ground. The heavy burden of Luke, heavily breathing in her ear, his sweat merging with hers stinging her back, hitting her knees as she moved. And then it got a bit lighter. The breathing stopped. Luis screamed.

A cloud drifted right above Bella’s head, taking Luke’s, and erasing part of her hair. She dodged down, and stumbled, she could feel the warm blood, no longer eaten by the light, gushing onto her, like a ghastly shower. It got into her eyes, she struggled to open them. And then there was a rock. Probably a pretty small one, but placed just right to hit her leg. She stumbled down, her right side caught in a pool of light. The three remaining members of the party had to watch as her right ear, arm, shoulder and part of her torso were gone. Luckily, before she even realised what was going on, she rolled into one of the larger clouds. Two stumps remained, the rest was gone.

Luis, Richard and Serah stood frozen. Richard’s eyes began to water, but he fought back the tears, his eyes had to remain sharp. Luis stuttered ‘What do we..’ but Serah cut him short ‘we leave it! There’s nothing we can do’. More softly she said, ‘we will cry for them later, but we must stay sharp. I think we’re near the edge of this swarm’.

The world was coming alive. The grass looked a vibrant green and the stones covered with colourful lichen, mossy and red.

‘Don’t look back, don’t stop. No matter what you hear behind you, what you see in front of you, you keep going until you get to the entrance. Keep moving!’

This snapped them out of their daze. They once again began moving purposefully. Richard couldn’t help but look back at the remnant of their friends, but he forced his eyes forward as they trudged on.

Serah was right, after a short yet grueling walk they were out of the swarm. They continued on, walking faster with every bit of strength they had left. Richard, who tried to carry as much as he could for the other members of the colony, waiting in the tunnels, was dropping behind. He looked as Serah and Luis kept marching forward. Luis threw a concerned look at him, but Richard just shook his head. ‘Eyes forward, I’m fine’. Luis, visibly reluctant, moved on ahead. They were getting further and further away. Then they disappeared behind a turn. Richard considered dropping some of the produce, lightening his load. But he knew he could do it. He has carried more in the past, after staying awake for far longer. He could do it.

‘We need to see if he’s alright’, Luis said to Serah. ‘He knows his limits and can take care of himself’ scoffed Serah. ‘We can’t even see him anymore, what if he’s…’

‘Eyes forward!’ snapped Serah ‘Enough! We need to get out of here now’

‘I know but…’ Luis started, turning his head, and suddenly stopped. Right in front of him, where his next step was going to land, something seemed off. It was brighter, only slightly so in the rising dawn, as the sun was coming to fully illuminate the world, but still visible thanks to some shadow from the trees. Luis’ breath stopped, his leg hanging in the air. He slowly put it down, avoiding his death as he walked around it.

‘Luis! Talk to me’. ‘I’m …. I’m fine. I got it, eyes forward’.

They kept on walking for about five minutes around the turns of the path. And then they saw the entrance to their tunnels, the metal door closed, the keypad ready for them, to type the passcode in, and enter the safety of the dark.

Out of breath Luis and Serah reached the door. ‘We are here’, Serah said, looking encouragingly at Luis. ‘You’ve done well’.

‘What about Richard?’

‘We need to get inside, he knows the code, he will be fine’.

Serah reached out to the keypad. And her hand was gone. She jumped back, screaming in pain.

‘Serah!’

‘Open the door!’

Luis looked around and saw a stick that fell from a tree on the ground. Hurrying but being careful not to lose any of his own limbs, dooming them both to die there, he picked it up and ran back towards the keypad. He quickly typed in the code.

Serah got to her feet, her face wrapped in pain and they began to step forward into the mouth of the tunnel.

‘Wait!’ exclaimed Luis ‘I will stay here, we must warn Richard, or the same will happen to him’.

‘You need to get inside, if a cloud arrives you will die, you can’t see it’.

‘You need to get inside, you are losing blood too quickly, I am staying here. I will be at the entrance. It is still dark enough here, even with the light spilling in. I will wait for Richard’.

Serah opened her mouth, about to say another thing, but closed it again. She turned around and walked inside. ‘Don’t wait for too long’ she said, her voice echoing off the walls of the tunnel as she was putting her goggles on with her remaining hand.

Luis stayed there, as the skies were getting brighter, watching as the first signs of sunrise appeared.