After Night Falls

After Clarification

The next hours were harrowing. The group knew that they were safe while the hatch to the tunnel was closed, but that was also the exact source of their fear.

If the monsters at the top of the ladder used to be normal people, as Cameron would have them believe, then it was the concern of many that they might remember how to open a door, such a seemingly simple motion.

For the first few hours, Cameron had tried to soothe their worries, but the more questions the group asked, the more concerned they became.

Especially when it came to how the sickness was spread.

"We weren't entirely sure. We don't even know how it started," Cameron admitted. "But there are a few, sure-fire ways of spreading," he clarified, looking uneasily at Brad.

"Like what?" he demanded.

"Well saliva," he admitted guiltily, "when a person who was infected, and people kissed, drank from, even ate the same food as them," he continued, "they eventually became sick."

Axel swore, standing up from his crouched position. "How long?"

"It could take anywhere from a week to a month," Cameron answered, "we never really got to do a lot of research."

Max cocked her head. "That wasn't prioritized? At least determining a general idea of when the symptoms appeared couldn't have been that difficult; All you'd have to do is observe."

"We did," he replied, "that's why we have as much as we have. It's also why we don't have anything else..."

"Why is that?" Axel asked.

"They got bit pretty quickly."

"All of them?" Max specified, "they didn't wear protective gear?"

"We weren't exactly planning for this disease when we packed our bags for a new planet," he countered. "Our doctors knew basic medicine; We weren't hooked up with experts. There was only so much we could learn."

Axel interrupted any response Max could have had. "Anything else we should know?"

"We have a theory that whatever the illness is, it feeds on Melanin for a while, so you get pale before you turn. We don't know why though."

"Okay. Any more?"

"They don't go out in the sunlight, they appear to have a lowered intellect, they're scary as hell, I don't really know what you want me to tell you."

"Then that's all you know?" Axel pressed.

"Yes."

"Then name one reason why we shouldn't throw you to the monsters and use the distraction to run."

Cameron inhaled sharply. "Well for one it would be highly improbable for you to actually get away with it," he explained, "there are too many of them for you to get away and if my people found out what you did, they'd have justice."

"It's a big planet, I'm sure we could find a way to get away, if we didn't kill them first," Axel threatened.

"Look, why would I be here if not to help you?" he asked.

Axel scoffed. "I don't need to know why you're here, I just need to know if you're a threat."

"I'm not," Cameron claimed.

"I can't trust that."

"I know," he confirmed, "so maybe trust this. I'm doing my best to get you out of here alive."

"We're trapped here," Axel countered, "how do I know we aren't just waiting on your people. How do we know those things upstairs aren't yours?"

Cameron sighed. "You don't."

"Then you tell me what we do next," Axel said, stepping closer to him.

"Wait out the night," Cameron offered. "It's the only safe option."

"Safe?"

"Well," Cameron admitted, "safest."

Axel stared Cameron in the eyes. The silence was heavy, as the whole group watched them.

"Well," Axel started, "I do believe that that seems to be the smartest course of action, although not desirable."

Cameron nodded slightly.

"We'll have an eye on you all night."

"Understood."

Axel nodded and returned to his corner. The rest of the group shifted awkwardly where they were sitting.

"So," Crystal broke the silence, "what's it like in your village?"

"Hard," Cameron confessed. "It's hard to pick up stakes three times in a few short years."

"I can imagine," Jane sympathized.

"But it's still kind of serene," he confessed. "Everyone is happier here than they were on Earth. It was a much-deserved chance to start over."

"I understand that," Jane said.

"We all do," Crystal expanded, placing her hand gently on Jane's shoulder.

"What happened to you?" Cameron asked.

"My parents died in an accident a few years back," Crystal confessed, "and Jane's mom went AWOL on them years ago. Dad died last year of cancer."

"No siblings?" he asked.

"None," she explained, "we had each other though, so that was enough."

Jane smiled sadly, looking down at her feet.

"Well my sympathies to you both," Cameron replied grimly.

The group all settled quietly, Brad huffing, the girls bar Marie leaning in together, supporting one another. Jake watched them all, noting Axels steely glare, drilling a hole into the floor, and Marie tightening her hold around her arm. They all had stories. Reasons they'd left.

No one else offered to tell their tale. Telling their stories wouldn't change them, they'd decided, only offer up old injuries to the scrutiny of strangers. And none of the group wished to relive their nightmares.

Thus, they sat in silence, until hours later, when the scraping and the growls finally stopped.