Hibernation

(Ray)

Ray observed the newly arrived Erratics lurking beneath him. They seemed to be searching for the one responsible for killing off a few of their kind. Their coordinated movements bothered him. The way they dispersed in a circle and swept through a small area eerily looked like they had somehow planned it. The thought that these creatures were capable of communicating with each other sent shivers down his back.

When the Erratics had moved a little further away from their hiding spot, Ray slowly moved his hand and tapped Meghan's shoulder.

"It doesn't look safe to get down from here." He whispered just loud enough to reach her ears, "There's too many of them around. Let's move along the shelter and get as close as possible to our building before climbing down."

"What? You want to run over this metal sheet? Won't they see us? Or rather won't they hear us? Our footsteps will be way louder than normal." Meghan reasoned.

"They won't if we keep low and take careful steps." Ray said. "If we don't move now, we could be waiting here for a long time."

"Ugh… fine" Meghan sighed, "It's not like these things can climb up here even if they do see us, right?"

Ray wasn't confident enough to agree. Instead he replied with, "Let's assume they can and try to be as careful as possible, okay?"

Meghan nodded in response.

Ray raised himself into a low crouch and turned left. He picked up his cricket bat and started walking cautiously in the direction of F block. His footsteps didn't make as much noise as he feared. They were certainly louder than moving along the concrete road but it didn't seem audible enough to alert the Erratics. Meghan appeared to be doing a good job as well. He could just barely hear the metal thumps her feet made.

Soon, they reached close enough to their building and far enough away from the Erratics. Ray craned his head down and scanned the area one last time before pushing his legs over the edge of the car shelter. He then inched backwards, feet first, using his upper body as an anchor. His shoes touched the roof of a white Toyota. Feeling that it was safe to drop, Ray let go of the metal sheet and landed softly on top of the car.

He looked around again quickly before beckoning Meghan to jump down. She copied his technique, lowering her feet towards the roof of the car. But she accidentally let go too quickly and landed hard on top of it. Ray tossed aside his weapon and threw his arms around her in reflex, saving her from losing balance and toppling off.

"Woah, you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," Meghan said in relief, "my hands slipped. It's so humid out here."

"It is." He agreed and looked down at his feet. "Ahh, looks like we accidentally dented whosever car this is."

"We'll apologize to him later," Meghan said before adding, "Umm… you can let go of me now."

Ray noticed that he still had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. He quickly released his hold and jumped down from the roof of the car. He felt his cheeks grow steadily warmer, fully aware that the humidity had nothing to do with it. He cupped a hand over his lower face in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

Meghan hopped onto the road besides him just as he bent down to pick up his weapon.

"Alright, let's head inside." He said.

Together, they scurried towards the building and entered the narrow passage. Ray moved through it until he reached the back exit of the F block building. He peered inside, just to make sure that it was still empty before stepped through the doorway. He then walked up to the fire exit door and heaved it open.

"Ahhh, we have to climb the stairs again?" Meghan asked with exhaustion in her voice.

Ray thought for a second and then closed the door. "Okay, I think it should be good to use the elevator. I'm in no condition to climb all the way up either."

The two of them stepped in front of the elevator as Ray pushed the button. Within a few seconds, the metal doors slid open and they walked inside, carefully avoiding stepping on the dead body. Ray clicked on the number fourteen as the elevator closed and began to climb.

Meghan looked down at the woman's corpse and suppressed a laugh.

"You're laughing at a dead body?" Ray asked, "That's kinda messed up, you know?"

"No, not that." She replied and told him how she had coerced Samantha into opening the lift without telling her there was a dead Deathless inside. "Her expression was… hilarious!"

Ray cheeks stretched into a wide grin, "you're pretty evil."

"Oh I know." Meghan said with a sly smile.

The elevator dinged as they reached their destined floor. The two of them got off and walked up to Ray's flat. He tapped on the door lightly and waited for it to be opened. They heard footsteps approach, followed by the sound of a lock click. The door swung open and Rody greeted them with a neutral expression.

"You're back." He said, "But damn, y'all look terrible. What happened?"

"We'll talk inside." Ray said simply and entered his house. Meghan walked in as well before Rody closed and locked the door.

"How's Leon doing?" Ray asked.

"Ahh… well his bruise is looking better." Rody replied, "But he's still down in the dumps about what happened to his parents."

"That's understandable though," Meghan said, "Anyone in his place would be."

Ray nodded, "Anyways, let's sit down. We'll tell you what we saw downstairs."

When the three of them had sat down on the couches, Meghan and Ray began detailing everything they had witnessed from their recon mission. They told Rody about the mound of Deathless, the Erratics that somehow managed to dodge attacks, their strange coordinated movements and how they were able to escape in the end.

Rody kept silent throughout the entire narration. He appeared to be taking all the information in. When they were done talking, he shook his head and rested his chin on his fist.

"Lord, you guys went through all that?" he asked, "Dammit, I should have been there."

"I think we'd have been caught off guard regardless." Ray replied.

"Yeah, maybe. But I could have helped fight the Erratics." Rody said, "What do you think is up with that mound of Deathless? That makes no sense to me."

"Okay," Ray said, sitting forward. "My theory is… that the Deathless can't function at night for some reason. Come nightfall, all of them gather around and go into a kind of hibernation. That must be what the mound is. Just a big heap of sleeping Deathless."

"What?" Meghan asked, "But the Erratics weren't sleeping. In fact, I think they were much harder to deal with than before. The way they dodged your attacks… I legit freaked out"

"Yeah, I don't think that applies to the Erratics. I think it's just the regular Deathless that go into hibernation." Ray said, "Also, didn't it seem like the first Erratic we encountered was kinda acting as a guard?"

"You mean the one near the mound?" Meghan asked. "Hmm… Yeah, a bit. You think it was trying to protect the sleeping horde?"

"Sure looked that way to me. It even called for reinforcements, remember?"

Meghan nodded. "So, the Deathless hibernate at night while the Erratics become more dangerous. But during the day, the Deathless roam freely whereas the Erratics are not as coordinated or as volatile. Kinda sounds like they're making up for each other's weaknesses."

"It's still just a theory," Ray said. "We'll know for sure tomorrow morning."

"Great, we'll talk then. Can we eat something now?" Meghan asked, "I'm starving!"

"Ahh, right. I think we all are." Ray said, "Does noodles sound okay?"

"Anything is fine." Said Rody.

Ray nodded and got to his feet. He walked into the kitchen and began preparing five portions of instant noodles. He chopped up a few vegetables into the pot and added some much needed spices for additional flavour. After about ten minutes, he lifted the pot from the stove and scooped the noodles into five bowls. Rody came over a picked up a bowl.

"I'll—uh, go give this to Samantha," he said, "She's still in the guest room."

"Why? She doesn't want to eat with us?" Ray asked.

"Well… I kinda had a long talk with her earlier," he started, "after you guys went downstairs. It… wasn't pretty. I think she needs some more time to cool off."

Ray nodded and watched Rody slink away to where Samantha was. He then picked up a bowl and walked up to the master bedroom. He knocked twice before opening the door.

"Hey, I made some noodles" he announced as he walked in.

Leon was sitting with his back against the bed rest. He looked hazily over at Ray and said, "Oh… Can you just keep it on the side table? Thanks."

Ray set the bowl down and look at him with concern, "Ahh listen, Leon… if you ever need anything, we're right out—"

"I know" Leon said, cutting him off.

Ray nodded slowly and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. He pressed him lips together as he re-entered the living room.

"How is he?" Meghan asked as she helped herself to a bowl of noodles.

Ray merely shook his head and dropped his gaze to the floor.

"He'll get better, don't worry" she said, "C'mon, I've got your portion too. Let's eat."

Ray sat down on the couch just as Rody returned from the guest bedroom. He brought over the last remaining bowl from the kitchen and sat with them. They ate together in silence. It wasn't a very filling meal but their starving stomachs welcome every morsel with gratitude. Once they were all done, Rody picked up the empty bowls and went over to the sink to wash them. Ray and Meghan remained in the couches, resting their weary bodies on the soft fabric.

Rody returned to the living room and wiped his wet hands on his T-shirt. "I'm gonna go try to get some sleep." He said, "It's cool if Samantha and I take the guest room yeah?"

"Yeah," Ray nodded.

Rody wished the two of them good night before disappearing into the guest bedroom.

After a few minutes, Ray stood up and stretched. "We need to rest too. I think I might pass out the instant my head hits the pillow."

"Same," said Meghan, rising to her feet. "I guess we're roomies for today."

Ray gave her a confused look at first before suddenly realizing what she meant.

"Ohh, my room's the only one left. Ahh… I wasn't thinking about that. It's fine. You can have it. I'll just plop down on one of these couches."

"Huh? Why?" Meghan asked, "There's two beds in your room, no?"

"Well, yeah but… wouldn't it be—I don't know—awkward… sharing a room?"

Meghan shrugged, "Not for me." She said.

"Oh," Ray said in surprise, "Umm… okay then."

As they entered his room together, Ray couldn't help but feel a little flustered. He quickly got into his bed and pulled the covers up to his chin. Meghan sat down on the empty bed to his right and tied her hair up into a messy bun. Ray's heart skipped a beat as he promptly turned away and focused his attention on the floor.

"Good night," Meghan said as she fell back into the bed.

"Yeah… sh—sheep well." Ray spluttered.

"Pffft… what did you say?" Meghan asked, suppressing a laugh.

"Nothing!" he replied loudly.

Ray began to question whether he would actually get any sleep that night.