Cacophony

Cacophony


“So where we gooiinngg?” asked Courtney
“I know someone that probably knows what to do.” said Chelsea
She had the Doll Maker in mind.
The Doll Maker was a revolutionary
And had a thing for old lore and legend
Maybe he could help guide the girls in the right direction
Or even take Courtney off her hands
Courtney led the way
Her backpack bouncing
Chelsea's head was still raw
Air cool on her scalp
The sun rose as they wandered the street

It was a serene graveyard of a town
Buildings that had been blown open with grenades
Silently bore their wounds
Birds nested in ancient lampposts
Sidewalk overridden with red weeds and blue flowers
Cars aged by decay, overtaking by life
The hum of electricity and symphony of industry silenced
In the wake of destruction
The city had found peace

“What happened here?” asked Courtney
Chelsea kept her hands in her jacket pockets
Her thoughts elsewhere
“Chelsea?”
“Hm?”
“Where'd all the people go?”

Chelsea looked around.
Where were they now? The Forgotten Neighborhood?
No, they had gone in the opposite direction.
This was the South Plains
“How old are you Courtney?”
“Twelve.”
Chelsea nodded
Too young.

“A long time ago, people got into a fight here.
It was a civil war...
That's uh...
When a country is fighting within, itself?”
Chelsea didn't know how to water it down
She could see that Courtney didn't follow.

The little girls eyes drifted
Inside a car, a whole ecosystem had born
Plants and fungi and insects upholstered the rustic skeleton

“Why would people fight like that?”
Courtney asked.
“Well, our country, the Free Republic States...
I dunno...we got mixed up.
There were battles here, I guess
The government trying to stop a rebellion
Do you know what that means.
Rebellion?
Now there's no one here.
It's like this in a lot of places.”

Courtney avoid a pond that had formed in a massive pothole.
“Raphael thinks that's boring.”

“Raphael?” Chelsea asked.

“My friend. I haven't introduced you?!” Courtney almost screamed

Chelsea motioned to lower the volume
“I think so, maybe.”

Courtney climbed on top of a SUV
Her clamoring waking up the rabbits that lived inside

“Uhm...” began Chelsea.

Courtney throw her arms at her right and announced,
Doing her best to sound like a podcaster
The morning glow an orange backdrop
“This is Raphael! Hey is 17, can fly, never grows up, and is my best friend.”

Chelsea looked at the nothing.
She chewed her lip.

“Come on, don't be rude! Say hello!”

“Oh,” started Chelsea “Hello. Uhm, nice to meet you?”
Chelsea didn't know how to speak with an imaginary friend.

Courtney hugged the air.
“He acts weird around you. Maybe that means he doesn't like you.”

“Thanks.” said Chelsea

Courtney giggled.
She hopped down from the car

Chelsea kept an eye out for omens.
Simple magic.
Things that People have forgotten.
The simple warning signs that the Universe throws at you.
You just have to pay attention.

White moths fluttered in the sunbeams
The birds gossiped
The cats trailed the girls from a distance
Sneaking through buses and over skeletons.

“I never thought I would be a queen.
I used to watch the Pixel Movies,
Little Red Robin Hood
Moonchild,
Moonchild was my favorite,” ranted Courtney
“But I never thought I would be a queen.”

“What about your parents? Wont your mom and dad miss you?”

Courtney shook her head

“My daddy isn't around.
I left my mami and sister a note though.
Doesn't matter anyway.”

The two of them cut through the ruins of a Library
The walls gone, but the bookshelves still stood
Tombstones of knowledge
“Doesn't matter?” begged Chelsea

“This is all a Dream anyway. When I wake up I'll see them again.” sang Courtney.

Chelsea bit her lip.

The birds were quiet.

The air still.

Chelsea turned around, her ears straining over Courtney

“Never thought it it would be so far,
On my island in the stars...”

“Shh!”

“What is it?” said Courtney

Chelsea grabbed Courtney's arm
They ran to a forgotten SUV and hopped in the backseat
Pushing through mushrooms and dirt
"Get in here!" she ordered
Courtney hesitated
"Uhm...that's really-"
Chelsea grabbed the girl and yanked her into the car

She wrapped her hand tightly over her mouth
"Just. Be. Quiet."

They listened

A distant bird chirped nervous

The buzz of insects in the distance
It grew louder, nearing them.

Beetles creeped over Courtney's legs
Fungi and bark dirtying her legs

Chelsea loosened here grip as they both listened
It was more of a static
A roar of a a winged thing rubbing it's legs on your eardrums

The sound invaded all spaces
The sound became their thoughts
All that was
Was the Cacophony

In the nullifying silence of the deafened, it crawled
It's insect legged body carried it's alien shape through the streets
Wings rubbing together
The machine scanned the terrain
It's many eyes searching for life
It's reflective green carapace and it's Luminescent red eyes
A U.D.S. stamp on it's frame

Marching behind it were U.D.S. soldiers
Seven of them, armed to kill.
A humvee a little farther away.
They followed the mechanical monster
Scanning the buildings and area for insurgents

The sound was everything
It crawled towards the SUV
Chelsea looked away burying her face in Courtney's hair.
She pulled and guided Courtney slowly out the back the opposite side of the coffin
Courtney's mouth demonstrated shouting
The noise so loud it made them sick
Hard to open their eyes

Chelsea shook her head and pointed
She peeked her head over
The Cacophony had it's head in a van
There was cover in the next cover over
But no cover between here and there
A brazen leap behind the monster

A panicked squirrel leaped out from the the vehicle
An eye rolled at it
In complete silence there was a tiny sharp flash
And the squirrel disappeared in the red splatter and smoke
Pieces of asphalt dropping around the shot, a grey smokey haze

Chelsea ducked down and winced
Her head was splitting in two
what an ungodly screech
She poked her head over again
The Cacophony was examining the crater
Precise mandibles picking at brown fur

Chelsea ran out into the open
Courtney struggled
Unable to move
Directly behind the machine

Chelsea tugged hard
Courtney crawled over slowly
The Cacophony's wings hovering over their heads
Chelsea stood and yanked Courtney across
falling down behind a crushed taxi

Chelsea brought Courtney in close
Squeezing the girl tight
The Cacophony gazed into the SUV
it saw footprints in the dirt and the area inside had been disturbed recently

Chelsea looked up
And saw the thing peeking into the SUV
Crawling on top of the car it hung it's head down
On their side

Courtney looked up and saw it for the first time
Her mouth became a terrified howl
Muted by the Cacophony
Chelsea covered the child's eyes as the machine looked up at them

The Cacophony was silenced with a roar
Flame tore away the machine's left
Graciously silencing the insect
Heat cooked Courtney's hair and Chelsea's as debris and molten metal rained on them

The Cacophony was now a scream
It's legs kicking at the sky as half it's body was missing
Sinew and gears writhed with life
Acids and and fuel squirting onto the pavement
The soundscape had been replaced gunfire

The jarring switch pushed Chelsea over the edge
She vomited on her yellow jacket
Dropping Courtney
She wiped her lip
A splitting headache
Bright red bleeding burns atop her head
She steadied herself when bullets rang out around her
She dropped low and reached for courtney
She watched through the rusted cover

MP's
A squad of them
Four were on the ground
Of those four, three were dead
Te fourth trying to patch herself up on the ground
Screaming obscenities
Only three remained standing
They were shooting blindly
Their enemy unseen
Dropping fire at them from every direction

A whistling grenade came from nowhere
Blowing up close to on a soldier
The remaining two were thrown to the ground

They grabbed the woman soldier
Who cried and held her wound as she fired weakly at nothing
They shouted as they retreated to a humvee
A driver was shouting as bullets bounced off his windshield
The soldiers got in as a man in a mounted gun fired into the buildings
The windshield started to crack under fire as the Humvee sped off
A cocktail shattering on the roof of the vehicle, spilling fire over it
Chelsea recoiled from the violence

Courtney lay still
Her eyes shut

“Oh god!”
Her hands frantically searched Courtney for bullet wound
There was a crunch and Courtney looked up
The Living foliage stared down at her
Antlers rising from the creatures head
And then everything went black.