With all the horror and the now existing confirmation that these creatures are really real and that they are in our city and have killed, I had one thing, at least for the moment, completely forgotten. I had repressed it, even if I now thought it was impossible. After all, what child forgets to worry about his parents?
Well, I don't want to sugarcoat anything and voluntarily step forward to admit that at that moment, actually since last night, I was a really bad son. I hadn't thought about my parents for a second, but only about Yibo and me. Maybe, well I tell myself at least, it was also because my parents are strong people and I was used to them worrying more about me and I never had to worry about them until now.
For over two hours, Yibo and I sat in silence in front of the TV, watching over and over again the pictures and videos of the surveillance cameras that were being shown incessantly by the news channel, while talking on the phone to "experts" and wanting them to tell us what these things were and where they came from.
We were snapped out of our silent stare as our cell phones rang. Simultaneously, as our parents called us at the same time. While Yibo's parents were calmly talking to him, my parents were scolding me for being such a naughty brat and not even caring about my old poor and helpless parents.
Mhhh, the way they scolded me, they sounded anything but helpless. But I kept that to myself and apologized instead. Yes, they were right, I had forgotten about them. Not intentionally, but I did and for that I was also very ashamed. I don't think this will happen to me again. I think otherwise my parents would put me over their knee and spank me.
After they scolded me, we talked about these creatures. Of course they had also seen the news and of course they were worried. They wanted to know from me if Yibo and I were safe where we were and if we might have seen one of these things before. Neither Yibo nor I told them about this elf-like thing and claimed that we were equally surprised, but had already heard about these creatures from Polish news, but did not believe that they really existed.
My mom, sounding a little hoarse, laughed and said to me that I should not forget that the things that seem most unlikely to us are often real. I nodded, even though she couldn't see it, and yet she knew I had nodded. Another mother's gift, I suppose. She always knows exactly what I do and when and how.
I talked with them for a moment, my dad reminded me that I should always keep the door locked and that we should stay inside and not go outside until the "good" military had resolved the situation, then we said goodbye to each other because my parents were expecting a visit from Yibo's parents. Let's face it, if the four of them are always together anyway, why don't they just move into the same apartment?
Yibo and his parents also said goodbye. Yibo's dad said, in a very stern tone, "If you have to leave town, make sure you get as far away as possible and don't try to join us. We'll be fine here." Yibo promised him, but I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't going to listen to his dad, at least in this matter.
After those phone calls, Yibo and I looked at each other. We didn't need words to make each other understand that we would definitely go to our parents' house and get them "out of there" if it became necessary. We would not leave town without our parents. If there was a way to get to them, we would surely find it!
Now that we knew our cell phones were working again, we grabbed our duty cell phones and called the agency headquarters. However, no one answered. Pah, not even the main office was manned. No working from home.
Fortunately, I still had the private cell phone number of our boss, out of anger at him I had wanted to delete it long ago, but I kept it then, for nostalgic reasons, as for the great friendship we once had. I dialed his number and after the second ring he answered, "Oh thank God Zhan, you're okay." He sounded like a concerned father or grandfather.
"Yes sir." I said.
"Cut the crap sir!" He ordered me in a stern tone.
"Yes Si...I mean yes boss."
"You probably want an apology from me now because I didn't believe you when you and Yibo came to me and told me about that creature, right? Surely Yibo is with you right now?"
"I'm actually calling because we wanted to know what we should do now? Even though our agency is on forced shutdown because of this lockdown, we are employees of the government and we want to know if there is anything we can do. And well, we wanted to know what you know."
My boss sighed and explained, "I know as much as you guys. Nobody tells me anything. There's nothing coming from the executive suite, and believe me, I've tried calling them all. For now, I can only advise you and Yibo, get weapons, ammunition, supplies and be ready to leave the city at any time. My wife and I, well, we went to see our daughter. When things really start happening here, and I assume it will, I don't want to be in the city."
I knew his daughter well. He and his wife became parents very late in life. They had always wanted to have children, but somehow it didn't work out. And then, when they had long since resigned themselves to never being able to have children of their own, his wife got pregnant. And until six months ago, their daughter came to the office at least three times a week to pick up her daddy. Now she's a first-year student attending a small university outside the city. "How are your wife and daughter doing?" I asked.
"Mhhh, they're fine. They are scared, which is only natural. But we're together and that makes them feel better."
"So you're going to stay away?"
"Absolutely. You know Zhan, all they talk about on TV is our city. But these creatures, whatever they may be, have been showing up all over the world and for days, or should I say nights? A good acquaintance from Spain wrote it to me. He says that these creatures always come out when it is dark, because they apparently do not tolerate bright light. And his sources say that this colored fog should probably serve that they can come out of their holes also during the day. But apparently the sun is too strong or the light, I don't know. Anyway, he said as long as it's bright and this colored fog that's settled in the sky doesn't get any darker, we should be relatively safe during the day."
"Okay, that there are more creatures was clear to Yibo and me before as you know. So, what are you actually trying to tell me with this information?"
I heard my boss take a few deep breaths in and out, then he sighed softly and said, "I'm saying that it would be better to leave the city. Somewhere where there are no big shady houses or too many people. Out into the country, into the mountains, or to the sea, for my sake. With the sea behind you, you can defend yourself well. In any case, you should go to a place where you can overlook everything around you and where you have a safe place to spend the night."
At these words, I realized that my boss might have more information after all. I asked him about it, but all he said in response was that the other things he heard were just rumors and he was bad at saying what was true and what was not. Anyway, he didn't want to tell me any of these rumors and only let me know what he himself knew to be true.
I was just about to ask him something else when the cell phone signal was gone again. At the same time, the power went out again. I assumed that maybe the cell phone towers were somehow connected to the power network and that when the power goes out, the cell phone towers, yes I know they are called differently, also go out. At least that's what it looks like.
Since we were condemned to inactivity again, we went out onto the balcony. We could still see the cloud of smoke coming from the power station. So the fire department still couldn't get the fire under control. Or had it started burning again? Damn, I was suddenly so tired that it was hard to think.
Yibo then came up with the idea that we could go downstairs and at least take a look at these shelters. Of course only out of pure interest, as Yibo told me. I did not quite believe him, though. However, I said nothing and simply agreed. We put on sturdy shoes and a jacket, took a flashlight, because the crappy stairwell was now unlit and there were no windows through which daylight could have entered, and then we went downstairs.
In the stairwell we then met a few other tenants in the building. Almost from every floor you seemed to see the beams of flashlights in this really freaking dark stairwell. A few of the tenants we encountered in the stairwell nodded or said hello, others walked by us silently as if they didn't see or hear us.
And when we got to the bottom, the basement area, we had to go through the basement door on the right. I saw my basement cubby, which is nothing more than a tiny shed made of narrow boards, and saw how full it was of old things that my ex-wife and I were determined to keep in case they were needed again, but which have never been touched since. I really should clean it up. But everything in its own time, right?
We walked past my basement cubby and to the door with the sign "Shelter 1." I slid the key into the keyhole, it clicked into the lock and I turned it around. Yibo then pulled the round handle and pulled the heavy door open. A faded smell and dust met us.
Flashlights ahead, we entered the shelter. And it turned out to be just a big white room with nothing in it except for a couple of old cots, but they had been eaten away by something. So I wouldn't call it a shelter. Because apart from the heavy door, it didn't look like this room offered any form of protection.
Yibo said that this was a simple shelter like many others he had seen. Then he said that he would like to forgo seeking shelter in it, however. "If the house collapses over our heads, we'll be trapped in there and there's nothing here to provide us with fresh oxygen. Besides, while the door is thick and offers protection, I doubt that door could stop the creatures." He explained to me.
I must have looked particularly worried at that moment, because suddenly Yibo came to me, wrapped his arms around me and said, "No matter what, we can do this." I nodded and clung to him. Then when he kissed me, so sensual and tender, so indescribably beautiful, I wished we could just enjoy our love without worry and not have to worry about escape and those creatures.
But the embrace and the kiss made something else clear to me. Namely how much I missed that we made love with each other. The last time was weeks ago, the night before he had to leave for his undercover mission. Heavens, I missed it so much that just by that kiss and that hug I got so horny that I was afraid I would have an orgasm at any moment just because he was touching me.
And even though I was missing it, and clearly Yibo was too, I suspected that we might not have sex that day or night either. The concern for our survival and also for our parents was just clearly greater than the pressure to finally give ourselves to each other. As long as we didn't have a reasonable and safe plan how to proceed, sex would have to wait. At least I feared it.
After our tender kiss and embrace, we went back and up the stairs again. I hadn't walked so many stairs in a long time and my legs felt all heavy, achy and shaky when we finally reached the top. Yibo, however, looked nothing like me. He is much fitter than I am, which I could see from his abs.
Once we arrived at the apartment, I sat down on the sofa, exhausted, breathing as heavily as an 85-year-old man who had been smoking for at least 70 years. Yibo brought me a glass of water, which I drank immediately, and then he handed me another glass. I felt better after that. He sat down with me, put his arm around me and said that we should finally rest.
I protested that I couldn't sleep anyway, because I had too much on my mind and we still didn't have a good plan. But Yibo just stood up, grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him into the bedroom. He pushed me onto the bed, then jumped into bed himself, grabbed me and pressed me against him and miraculously I fell asleep as well.