The Aliveagainers

10 - Echo

"Hey!" comes a sharp cry and my heart jumps.

Priya stands ahead of us and she's stopped and turned to look at us. I can see the pine woods endin' abruptly and she stands in a little strip of grass in front of a corn field. The dim light of the night reflects off her red hair and her pale skin. Goosebumps run up my arms.

"See over there? There's a farmhouse. Maybe we can go ask for help, might be able to call my sister."

Her voice is strange, different. Her accent's gone, and she speaks ... like the old ladies that used to visit the store first thing in the mornin'. Like that lady whose hand I held back in the store.

I look cautiously to my left and right, up and down the length of the cornfield. I know it's pretty much ready for harvest. The stalks rise high up, higher than me. The field rolls gently downwards, then back up again, runnin' up a small hill. It's a large field, sweepin' up to a hilltop. Then I realise what it is. One of them huge solar panels, raised up on a short stump and angled up to the sky. Stars twinkle in its mirrored edge.

A few hundred feet away stands a farmhouse. In the upstairs window there is a dim light.

"I bet he's in there," says Priya, and with that she steps into the corn and is gone.

Késhaun squeezes my hand.

"Let's go, baby. We should stay together."

We walk towards the corn. Even in the dim light I can tell it's yellowed and dry. There's a slight wind and I can hear the stalks rustlin’ together. Lookin’ in reminds me of starin’ through a rusty drainage grate. Inside is nothin' but a murky darkness, heavy and clingin' to the stalks.

I reach out and grab the corn, rubbin' the dry leaves in my hands. The crispness, so dry, is tempered by the softness of the ash that coats it. It feels like paper. I walk within, one hand holdin the boy, the other turnin’ the pages of some unreadable book.

I look up to the house on the hill, tryin' to aim in my head so we move in the right direction.

"Stay with me," I whisper and he squeezes back.

We step in and the corn stalks slip back in place behind us, back to their imperfect standin' symmetry.

We move through slowly, the earth beneath us is wet and muddy and the stalks make it hard goin'. The air smells damp and heavy. Késhaun walks close behind me, trailin' on my outstretched hand. I wonder where Priya is.

I wonder who she is.

A shiver runs through me and I find myself tiltin' my head back to look up. I just seem to want to see the sky. The night above weighs down, broken by a few stars. High, misty clouds have rolled in and it seems that the darkness is wellin' up, spillin' out, and I think it might just drown us here.

A stalk of corn swings and slaps me in the face makin' me gasp.

Then I taste it.

That metallic tang. I feel Késhaun's hand tremblin'. It shakes and shudders and grows in strength. It starts to vibrate and fill the air, a constant rumble that shakes the air around me. There's an electric buzz in the air.

"Kayla..." says Késhaun.

Somethin' moves in front of us and the air seems to tighten around us. A shadow slips through the stalks, movin' closer, and the very air around begins to rumble.

"Let's go!" I shout and start to run, pushin' stalks away, steppin' hard in the thick mud.

We move through quick, blinkin' as the dry leaves cut and swat at our faces and hands. The ground shakes beneath us and then my left foot sinks deep and I slip and fall. A stalk cuts at my face and I feel it tear the skin. Késhaun's hand slip from mine and he calls out but his voice is drowned out by the roarin'.

He reaches down to grab for me and as he does I see somethin' slip slowly out of the stalks above him.

The flowin' dark murk swirls around her and the air tastes like metal. From between the stalks it comes, driftin’ above us, billowin’ in the night, its eyes burnin’ dark and bright together. I can see it's female and there's a strange familiarity to her whispers. She stares right into my eyes and I almost catch what she's sayin.

Never-

Then the rumblin’ seems to explode and I look up as a jet swoops by right above, engines flarin'. The heat hits us with a punch and I see her recoil then slip away into the corn.

Késhaun crashes down beside me as the jet swoops away. A moment later a second swoops by and then is gone.

My heart beats a million miles an hour and I hear the blood roarin' in my head.