Only one more month to go. One small month and I will leave this hellish place for good. It doesn’t get lonely up here, but the job. Man, the job is tougher than anything I’ve done before, and I’ve done terrible things in my past. Things that keep me up at night. It was before I was sent here, almost 20 weeks ago. Today, I wouldn’t flinch should I do it again. No wonder, there is no volunteer to come and wait in this desolated house guarding this godforsaken tower. I swear this tower messes with your mind. I am no fool but man, I dare you to stay even a single night in my shoes. For now, there are four other men in the camp. Connor is outside watching the building. I’m happy it isn’t my turn to go and patrol. The tower itself doesn’t look like much. An old metal pillar 15 feet wide and about 100 feet high, not that we climb in it to measure it. Our sole job is to make sure nothing comes out of it. God, this tower could well be one mile judging by the numbers of things that I shoot swarming out of it. That’s the main part of the jobs. You see something coming out of that heavy rusty door, anything, you shout. That’s why we all have rifles here and nobody wanders around unarmed. That’s why they send the worst scum of the earth here, if they catch one, they give them the choice, death or the tower. They all choose the tower, after a week here they all regret their choice.
Today it’s raining, that’s why I am happy it’s not my turn. I hate it when the sky opens the holy valves like it wants to flood this whole place, erase it from existence. You end up guarding the tower wading in one marshy pool of mud. That’s not the worst, the worst is that you have to go close, very close to see something. It is usually a miracle if you catch some movement after the end of your rifle. You can’t hear anything either. With the rain splashing on the ground, it’s noisier than if all the bastards that live here shout together. And I am not speaking some poetry bullshit, poor Billy never knew what took him. So, you circle around the no-go zone, praying to whoever is there to listen that nothing will come out today, but, of course, no one answers. You end up chasing an abomination across the forest through the smell alone. Helpless as a newborn baby, a baby with a loaded gun. I perceive a noise in the entry, I quickly grab my rifles and rush down the stairs. Assad is already there, aiming at the door frame. Connor is standing there, his colossal stature barely fitting in, soaking in a mix of mud and blood. He steps in, dripping on the wooden floor.
“Don’t fucking move Connor, you know you just can’t come now. Drop that axe”
Connor used to be a wood cutter from the north. He was chopping trees all day long until he decided his girlfriend looked a lot like a log. He can’t shoot for shit, but he took the life of half a dozen men with his axe before he was captured. And we were not talking stupid communal police, we were talking about fucking elite force who were trained all their life to find bastards like us and bring them here. He takes another step in, looking helplessly at us.
“I said don’t move. Are you fucking deaf Connor? I will shoot, you know it,” Shouted Assad removing the security. There was only Assad to keep it in a place like this.
“Where is Felicia? Where did she go? Where is she, Jimmy?” Felicia was his little girls. That’s the reason he joined us here. He may have gone cuckoo on her mother, but he loved her with all his heart. If he could see her again, he was ready to do anything.
“What the fuck are you talking about? There is no one but crazy psychos and monstrosities here, what would your sweet little girl do here, thousands of miles from anything else?”
He looks at me with those wide eyes without any expression. He takes another step toward me. I hear a gunshot and a roar. Connor storm on Assam, tackling him against the wall. The shot had blown off half his face, but he was long trained to fight despite that. Under the shock Assam had lost his rifles, he is now grasping for air while protecting his face with his arm from the repetitive axe swing the wood cutter is throwing at him.
I empty my two bullets into him, draw my two pistols and shoot once more. I empty all my magazine in him, his body trembling in spasm after each impact. I cry all along. Friendships you made here are more valuable than anything. You don’t kill one of your comrades so easily. That’s the rest of the job, guarding the guardian.
Assad was badly wounded. He couldn’t hold any weapon for sure. In here this could well mean a death sentence. Hell, I would choose the death sentence a thousand times over being helpless in a place like this. But Assad didn’t care, he thought he was under a divine punishment. You see in a place like this most of us lose all religion. How could anything at least a little good do something so wicked? But not Assam, this guy fought all his life. He grew up in one of those western regions where you receive a gun instead of a teddy bear. They told him that the west was the bad guy, that he should help his country by destroying ours. Hey, we’ve been bombing his country all my life, I even wonder what is left to bomb. No shit, some people get ideas. Long story short he arrives there following the word of his god. The kid then supposes it was only the next test of his god. Oh yeah, I said kid. The poor fella was only 16 when he arrived here six months ago, the last one they sent here. They should really be desperate to send them so young.
The doc was left to look for him. I prefer not to be there when he does his job. Besides Connor must have killed at least a dozen creature before he walked to the camp. He had still bits of the tower inhabitant rotting on him. The smell was horrible. Most importantly, we don’t know how long the tower was left unguarded. We need to act and we need to act quickly. I send Haru to look at the tower. I always fought and he would be the first here to break down. If he follows the path of Connor at least he would be some easy meal for the beast. As I send him, I hope that keep them distracted.
I send Chaka to the north. I thought, “Isn’t this is ironic”, considering he came from far in the south. Hell, I heard that there they don’t send prisoners but instead warriors, some glory death bullshit. I’ve done bad things and deserved to be here. The only thing he did to be here was to be born a bit too south and a bit too weak to be part of the elite guard. Heck, I hope to never walk across those who qualify Chaka as weak. To become a man Chaka had no other choice than to come here. He is darker than the night. I may be one hell of a bastard, but I was never racist. After all, we all bleed the same. Expect those monsters from the tower. They bleed a thick black substance that smells worse than a rotting corpse. That’s how you smell them, how you track them. I go to the south.
After what appears to be a few hours I got lucky, or should I say unlucky. The rain had stopped giving us a brief but welcome rest. Yet in this forest I could barely see where I was going. The main thing is not to go out of the perimeter. The government doesn’t trust us, who could blame them really, so they set up a mine field so dense you would think they want to farm them or something, in case we don’t do the job. That is the official reason, I believe they are there in case some of us try to have some funny ideas, like finding an exit from hell on earth. So, I’m looking carefully where I walk when I see it. A couple of footprints in the mud. I follow them, then I start to run. About half a mile, I spot something moving. I used to reach a fly from far greater distance but with this fucking forest you don’t get any clear shoot, I run, exploding branches and bark as a fire at the moving beast. The creature about three feet high looks a lot like a child. The little girl goes as mimicking the scream of my child. I wish I could say I don’t know what they hear like. But I had my demon too, I’m no saint. I had a big drinking problem back then and when I drank, I became violent. Let me just say that living with my wife and small children was not the best at those times, at least for them. I heard a great bam. Dammit, it must reach the mine field. No point going further. When the new guy arrives, I will get some remark from the boss, after all I’m the oldest of the survivors.
I arrive just before dawn at the house. I’m tired. All I’m thinking is to get some rest. In the salon there are few traces of what happened earlier today, one of the guys must have cleaned up or maybe the doc took care of it. I don’t bother to check on them and head straight to my room. I find it in the exact same way as when I ran the stairs what looks like an eternity ago. I quickly fall asleep on my mattress.
When I went down, I see Haru eating his breakfast alone. This is good news; he didn’t serve as a snack to whatever monster came out of the tower. I never really liked him, he grew up in a place over where my grandfather and his fought a long time ago. This was back when we were the good guys. I like that time better. My grandpa receives a medal when I instead am sent here as punishment. Yet after half a year with him we must admit he is a good guy. Not as nice as Assad, but hey no one really is here. I miss him, the last few weeks without him have been tough.
Haru and I sit in silence, I’m thinking about what happened yesterday. I wonder how old my daughter must be now. I sometimes have difficulties remembering certain things since I moved here, but not her face or her voice. I barely notice when Haru finishes his meal and grabs his raincoat. He passes the rifle standing by his waist above his coat and checks if his sword slices correctly. He was the fastest to take it out, you need it when you could be eaten by a beast at any time. He does a head gesture and heads to the tower. I stop him. Even if I don’t like it there was no reason to let him do two shifts in a row. I put on my own raincoat and leave in direction of the tower. He was the quiet type, yet even for him this was quiet. He let me go without any more words. It is never easy when someone leaves us. Connor’s departure yesterday must have affected him like everyone else.
The tower is not far away, otherwise it can pose a problem if you are miles from what you are guarding. Yet going there is always take time since no one want to be there. I saw Chaka there guarding the tower. I made a sign to free him of his duty, He signs back a relief on his face, he has been awake far longer than security recommends and a good rest should be one of his top priorities. I let him go and start my watches of the tower. The first hour is rather boring. It always takes time for the tower to adapt to the new guardian, then start the real work. At first nothing much, some scratches and snitches. Then the sound grows louder, like if some sick creature is digging in your brain. The door burst open, revealing thousands of black hairless rats the size of a small dog, rushing toward me. I empty my gun in the cloud of vermin. Now I’m used to it, I fucking hate rats. When I was small, my father used to raise me the hard way. He would throw me in the cellar to teach me some discipline. There where rats there, big fucking rats. I was shivering like a leaf down there hearing the noise, crying all night and day. One day he was so drunk he forgets me there for three days. I was growing hungry. When he finally opened the door, there was no more rats down there. Now, having a sworn of rats is a bit like hello from the tower. I hear the sound of a thousand legs. The tower is sending someone to collect the rest. I don’t know how I like it, I mean it does prevent the outside of the tower to be a cover of a thick layer of corps. But it is done by some centipedes likes creatures but around eight feet long. I quickly step back from the entrance to let the creature do is job.
When I heard the noise calming down, I went back to the tower. I was expecting more visits as the tower usually sends three waves at me. What comes next make my blood run cold, the thing standing right in front of me was another me. I raise my gun and aim, it is always a bit hard to shoot yourself, especially when you have to aim in front of you. This time he went out unarmed with his hand above his head.
“Listen, you need to follow me. Your duty is finished, you’ve secured the tower. No one is going inside anymore.” I hold my shoot for a second puzzle at what he was talking about. “ We win the war; we win the right to live. You can come ho…”
I didn’t let him finish I shoot. His body slams on the floor. I don’t look around when the monstrosity took the body inside the tower. Not much later Haru come and let me off my guard duty. He told me Chaka went hunting. We had food but not much and meat was always a nice addition to the menu. Not all that live in the forest was corrupted by the tower. With no other predator than us, we could easily find some animal to eat and replenish our ration toward the end of the shift. I go back home and find it as expected empty. I sit on a chair thinking about what I’ve just saw today. Half an hour later, I see Chaka coming back.
“No news from the doc?” he asks while coming in, removing his muddy shoes on the doorway.
“No. As usual he didn’t stay. I’m glad, I hate it when I have to interact with him. Back down to three, I guess.” I look at him undressing slowly the same cloth he was wearing the day before. As he throws a couple rabbits, I notice he must have been luckier than me last night. There is only mud covering him, no trace of blood.
“What a shame, I hate when we are so few here. Well, it’s better than when we were only the two of us. Remember that time? They went right up to here, they were so many of them I empty all my magazine and I was back to slash through them with my machete. “ He drops his coat and rifle by the hang wire
“Yeah, this was the worst, when we went to the cellar.” He reaches the table and sit where Haru was a few minutes ago. “I really thought this was our last fight.”
“Yeah, right. What a night.” In a fraction of a second, I aim my rifle at Chaka’s head.
“Whoa man, what are you doing?”
“No one ever leaves his weapon in a place like this. And no one goes to the cellar, that is where the doc lives.”
I fire and feel a stinging pain in my stomach. The bastard had time to stab me with the cooking knife before I lay him cold. The horrible smell of the creature blood starts filling the air. I crawl to the lifeless body and proceed to stop my bleeding by tearing apart his clothes. Pain strikes though my brain as I get up. Each step brings me to the verge of collapsing. Downstairs I hear the small tipping sound of a thousand legs. The doc heard the gunshot sound and is coming up to get rid of the body. I must hurry up, in my condition I’m not sure I won’t qualify as a body. I reach my bed and fall onto it. I’ve stopped spilling blood by now, I’ve always had a thick blood. Back to be alone, once I start taking the other, they always figure it out that I know. Haru, the real one didn’t last two days here. He ended himself the first time he saw me killing another version of him. I will have to deal with him, but for now he is guarding the tower. That gives me some hours to rest. Only one more month to go.