Our New World 6

6

            Molly did not wake for several hours. By the time she sat up from the floor it was full dark. The only light in the room was the small blue ON light from her satellite TV receiver box, and the small blinking yellow light of her computer tower. Molly sat on the floor in the dark for a moment, looking at the light. There was a terrible smell in the room. A rancid, spoiled smell. Her left arm was numb from laying on it. She slowly opened and closed her left hand to get her blood circulating again. Her only thought while sitting there in the dark was to wonder just how she had gotten there.

            The memory hit Molly like a slap to the face. Her eyes grew wide and all at once the terror she had felt while talking to Shells returned. She jumped to her feet and fumbled in the dark for the computer mouse. She found it and moved it around furiously to wake the desktop from its Sleep Mode. Shells! SHELLS! Her mind cried as the computer slowly came to life.  It must have been a dream!? It must have! She couldn’t have seen what she thought she saw. And what exactly had she seen? Molly couldn’t answer that. Now the memory of the blood running down Shells neck returned, horribly clear and real. “NO!” She cried to her computer. It was a dream. It HAD to be! What else was there? The monitor came on and the Skype page was still up. It showed the last call that it had made. The call was from Shells.

            Now Molly could see the tears rolling down Shells’ scared face. They turned pink as they met the blood and then continued. The blood seeping from between her pale fingers. Molly began to cry. Snot ran from her nose, she wiped at it and put a call in to Shells. Skype then informed her that a connection could not be made. She tried again. The same message came up. She brought her fist down hard on the keyboard. There was a plastic crack sound as it broke down the middle and several small plastic buttons flew back. She went for her phone. Molly had left it charging on the kitchen counter.

The room was now lit by the soft glow of the computer screen. She grabbed the phone and ripped the phone charger from the outlet. The cord dangled as molly turned the phone on and dialed 911. Her stomach felt cold and knotted. She was still crying.

I have to help her! I have to help Shells! B-because she would help! Molly’s thoughts were an incoherent and jumbled mess. She was right on the edge of hysteria and about to go over.

“911. Where is your emergency?” A calm and rehearsed female voice asked. “My-my friend Shells! She was attacked! Her name is-is Shelly Mitchell, you have to help her!” Molly was almost screaming through her tears. “Try to remain calm, miss. Is your friend there with you now?” Molly was confused for a moment.

 Here? “No no! She lives in…” When she tried to remember the name of Shells’ town, she drew a blank.

“She lives in England. I can’t remember… England, Shelly Mitchell!” Her tears were now choking her voice. She waited for the voice to help her. To tell her that her friend, her only friend, was alright, was going to be fine. “…Miss, you are not making any sense. If you could please try to calm yourself down and I will-” Molly screamed into her phone then tore it in half. She threw the pieces across the room cord and all. She ran for her car keys. They were in a small ceramic bowl on the coffee table.

I’ll drive there! Molly thought as she grabbed the keys and headed for the door. I’ll drive to her house, and I’ll save her! She’ll be fine because I helped her. Because she asked (screamed) for me to help her. And after all that’s what friends do. They help each other. And everything thing will be alright. It’ll be just okeydokey.

She walked out her front door. We’ll be playing online in no time! Not seriously of course, but just for fun. Just so we can talk and laugh and make fun of our bosses. Like always! Her tears had stopped. There was an overly bright, overly wide smile on her face. Molly got to her car, opened the door and jumped in. She will be fine. Shells will be just fine because I will save her. I’ll see her on the computer. She will be all smiles with her curly brown hair and her big green eyes. And there will be no blood on her neck and no people at the door. Just us, laughing…

Our New World 5

5

The friendship between Molly and Shells developed quickly and easily. The two women never stopped playing Duel of Worlds, but after their initial confrontations neither of them played very seriously. Mostly they played game after game to give each other an excuse to chat. Molly was surprised to learn that Shells lived in England. A small city called Leicester. In fact Shells was always about eight hours ahead of Molly in California. So at twelve noon here in sunny California, it was full dark and raining in Leicester. But despite being separated by a half of the planet, they both became close. Shells shared Molly’s love for all things Lord of the Rings. On one Saturday they had a Skype viewing of the entire trilogy so they could talk about the action together. And also spend quite a long time gushing over Orlando Bloom. After the movies they talked about the Hobbit, whether or not they had liked it and their excitement at the fact that Legolas would return for the sequel.

Molly never had many real friends. It was not that she was unable to make friends. If you were to meet her, she would seem like a completely friendly and sociable person. She could laugh and make jokes and become one of the members of the group. The only problem was that she had trouble keeping them. She had trouble letting people in.

So for Molly, friends came and went, like the slow but unavoidable passing of the seasons. High school friends faded, then college friends, then work friends. She would stop calling or run out of things to say. But for her, this was alright. Molly was afraid. Afraid of having people know personal things about her. For her, letting people into her life in a personal level meant losing a little bit of herself. When people know your thoughts and your secrets, in a strange way, you give them power over you. And if they want, they can use that power to hurt you. To stab you emotionally, and leave a deep wound that continues to bleeds, and never really stops. Not entirely.

Molly resigned herself to never be in that situation. She hadn’t made this thought consciously. This was a feeling from inside her. But nevertheless, she kept everyone at arm’s length, always. The only person close to her in that way had been her own mother. But that was ok. Molly didn’t think that her mother would hurt her in that way. Not her mother. So that was how her life went on for a few years. A while after Shells had become her friend, Molly was terrified at how close they had become. Every day at least two hours were spent chatting together about movies, or books, or work. They tried their best to make each other laugh. Sometimes they made fun of each other’s Facebook photos this closeness scared her.

 Someone from outside had penetrated her self imposed force field, but how? Molly knew, she could feel it. Molly and Shelly just fit together. Like two oddly shaped puzzle pieces, they had found that they fit and used each other to complete the puzzle image of their lives. If they had lived anywhere near each other, they would have been inseparable.

Molly ran as she pushed her third cart down the back isles of Wal-Mart. Past the paint section and then passed the auto section. She came to the back right corner that was the sporting goods. She went into the first of these isles. Off the selves she quickly selected an two person tent, and a sleeping bag. In the next isle she picked out a baseball bat that was about her size. Then in the isle after that she carefully started selecting items. She grabbed two compasses. Two hand crank radios, three flashlights with twelve packs of AA batteries. Two large LED lanterns, two first aid kits complete with everything including water purification tablets. Several boxes of water proof matches and three pocket knives. She then stopped in front of a package containing a survival Parang. It looked like a long curved blade machete with a flat square end. She grabbed two of these along with a large sharpening stone. With another cart full she headed to cash register.

One night while playing Duel of worlds, Shells was disconnected for a few minutes. In the chat box Molly asked her what had happened. Had she forgot to pay her internet bill she asked? Sending a sarcastic smiley face with her question. Shells said that she didn’t know, and that her internet had just gone down. Molly brushed off the incident and started the new match since leaving a match was the same as quitting. Shells then started talking about strange things going on in England. Across the pond, as Molly was fond of saying. Molly asked her what kind of strange things? Shells exited the game again then called her on Skype. Molly accepted the call and a few moments later was talking face to face her. The wonders of the internet age never ceased.

“It started last week.” Shells said. This was a full month before Ron gave Jeremy a ride home from work. As Shells spoke Molly immediately stiffened up. This wasn’t the playful and sarcastic Shells that she had come to know. Her face was pale and serious, and somehow she looked older. Molly could hear Adele playing on the radio in the background.

“Air travel was suspended in and out of the country. And the news stations were somehow brought down.” “What do you mean brought down?” Molly asked now getting a little scared herself. “I don’t know… They just keep running bloody reruns. The Prime Minister says that everything is fine and that all will be business as usual soon.” “But you don’t believe it do you?” Molly asks, already knowing the answer.

“No. We started seeing soldiers in town, just a few at first, but then more and more of them. Driving by in those big vans that they use.” They’re called Humvees, Molly thinks to herself. “But the crazy thing was that I saw tanks, Tanks! Just rolling past the door of my fucking flat!” Molly could see that Shells was in a state of panic, and on the verge of tears

“Hey, hey its ok.” Molly said, trying to calm her down a little, trying to comfort her. “What exactly is going on over there?” Molly asks, trying to get a straight answer out of Shells. “I-I don’t know. They haven’t told us anything! And today, all of the appointments were canceled or they just didn’t show up.” Shells’ eyes were overly bright with tears but she did not cry. Molly looked at her seriously. “What are you going to do Shells?”  There was a pause, she did not talk, and she just looked down at her hands. The song playing in the background was now by Susan Boyle. Molly could not remember the name of the song. “I don’t know…” She says quietly. Shells looked weak and somehow fragile, and in this moment, Molly wanted nothing more than to be there with her. To give her friend a hug and to tell her that everything was  going to be alright. In some way she realized that she loved Shells. Shells was her only friend, and Molly suspected that she was her only real friend too. It was scary how close they had become in such a short time.

“Maybe you should think about staying home from work for a while?” Molly said, trying to smile. Shells just nodded. She didn’t look at Molly. “You know, get some food together, and then lock up all your doors and windows. Try to stay safe.” Molly’s tone was reassuring but firm. “Anything bad happens just call the police.” She nods again. “Shells, look at me babe.” She looks up from her keyboard. “Everything will be ok.” Molly’s smile is bright and real. Shells smiles a little herself. “Get yourself some sleep Shells. It looks like you could use it.” “Screw off.” Shells says and sticks her tongue out at Molly. They both laugh.

Molly reaches the cashier counter. The blonde woman has finished ringing up all of the canned goods and was waiting patiently by her station. Molly tried to smile at her and found that she couldn’t.

“What’s all of this stuff for honey?” She asks casually. It’s for none of your fucking business, Molly thinks. “I’m going camping with my family early tomorrow morning.” This lie comes out swiftly and easily. The cashier looks at her, considering for a moment then return to scanning the items. After about ten minutes of scanning and bagging she reads the total to Molly. She sounds a little amazed at the sum. Molly just pulls out her credit card with her ID from her pocket and hands it to her. The wad of money in her other pocket ready in case the card doesn’t work. The transaction is approved and Molly quickly signs the receipt.

“I think I might need some help with this.” Molly says waving to the three full shopping carts.

The week after Shells had expressed her concerns, Molly had gone online to try to find out just what the hell was going on in Great Britain. After about an hour of Google searches and quick scans of the top news websites. She found absolutely nothing. No mention of anything important going on in England at all. Just a bunch of stories about a new crisis in the Middle East between Egypt and Israel. What the hell does this mean? Was whatever was happening over there being covered up? And why would they do that? Wouldn’t they want the help of the international community of the British had some kind of crisis on its hands? Molly had a lot of questions, but right now, no answers. She gave up.

Molly was a little tired from work. She decided to go take a quick nap. Then jump back into whatever the hell was going on over there later. As she headed for her bedroom, a call came in via Skype. This was strange. Usually Shells doesn’t call until a few hours later. Molly sits in her chair and accepts the Skype call.

Instantly she is filled with horror. There on the other side of her screen was Shells. Shells with her round, freckled face, and her curly light brown hair. Molly brought her hand up to her mouth. There was blood running down the left side of Shells’ neck. It ran red, down the front of her blouse. Her face was pale, almost white, which made the color of the blood stand out brightly.

“Shells whats the-” Molly stops. Coming from her computer are the quick, loud cracks of gun fire. There was also a loud thumping sound. Shells brings her right hand up with some effort and presses it against her wound. There are a series of small gash marks that run parallel to her jaw line. Some of these are still bleeding heavily. Blood runs from between her fingers. Shells coughs.

“They bit me.” She says. She coughs again. It is a harsh rasping sound “The soldiers told us that we had to leave. But they caught us. There were so many.” Now Shells begins crying. Large tears run down her face turning pink as they mixed with the blood. “What?” Molly almost screams. “They caught them. The soldiers. They bit them all over.” She begins shaking now as she cries. “They bit me!” she shrieks. “The radio stopped working. Then the phone. The phone! It doesn’t bloody work! Then they came! From everywhere!”

Molly just sits there; she doesn’t know what to do. Here was her friend, bleeding, maybe even dying, and Molly did not know what to do. She just sat there, not able to process what was happening.

“It hurts so bad Molly!” Shells cries, blood and tears drip from her cheeks. The thumping sound gets louder and louder. Molly is crying now. The screen goes blurry as tears fill her eyes.

“Shells! What can I do!? Shells!?” Molly screams at her monitor.

“They’re outside.” Shells says. Another cough. “I can hear them trying to get in.” Her face is filled now, not just with pain but with terror. A wild, primal look that Molly had never seen before. The thudding sound then turned to a splintering cracking sound.

“SHELLS!” Molly screams. “YOU HAVE TO RUN!” Shells, still crying, tries to get up. She falls back onto her desk. More blood trickles from her neck. “SHELLS!” She tries to run again. She stumbles and falls out of view of the webcam, below the computer desk. Molly can hear Shells scream as four figures come into view. They look like men. One was wearing the helmet of a soldier, its cloths bloody and completely tattered. But the soldier is missing a large round chunk of flesh from his right cheek. Molly could see the soldier’s teeth through the wound and also a bit of his cheek bone. The wound was bleeding freely.

The four figures fell to where Shells had stumbled only a few seconds before. Molly could hear Shells screaming. Screaming in agony. She could hear her crying for help.

She could hear her screaming Molly’s name.

Molly vomited onto her carpet and passed out. The last thing that she heard as she slipped from conciseness was her friend, screaming her name.

           

Our New World 4

4

As Ron was driving home there was another car pulling out of its driveway. There was a sharp screech of the tires as the Toyota Camry came to a halt and then sped off into the night. A few blocks away a man sitting in his back patio looked up from his book, startled by the sound. “Damn kids.” He said, returned to his book.

Molly Amberton used her hand to brush the hair from her face as she sped down the street. Mr. Giggles was in the passenger seat. She pressed the ON button on her phone to check what time it was. It was nine fifty PM. The Wal-Mart closes at midnight. That gives me plenty of time, she thought. She was hunched over in front of the steering wheel as she drives at break-neck speeds down Arlington Ave. There will be enough time. There will be enough time. Molly keeps repeating this thought over and over in her head. As if repeating the thought might somehow make it true. In a small way it did calm her panicked mind. She pushed down on the gas pedal a little more. There will be enough time, but there is still so much to do. So much that needs to be prepared. And you just can’t know how much time there is left.

The Toyota was now traveling at about sixty five miles an hour past the Riverside Airport. At the intersection where Arlington and Van Buren meet she made a sharp left turn and headed south. The Traffic camera flashed in her rear view mirror. Molly did not give a shit; she was NOT going to stop. If there had been twelve police cruisers behind here all whaling for her to pull over on their loud speakers, she would have just flipped them the bird and hit the gas. Too much left to do fuckers! She would have cried out.

The right turn that lead to the Wal-Mart parking lot was coming up fast. She took the turn with the tires of her car screeching again as the rubber ground against the asphalt. The Toyota drove right up to the entrance of the store and parked in the handicap spot closest to the door. She was thrown a little forward as she hit the brake hard to stop. Her seatbelt came off and she reached over and grabbed the teddy bear that was in her passenger seat. Molly bit down on the cheek of the brown bear and moved her head back while she pulled down using both hands on the bear’s arms. The head of the bear tore from its neck with a ripping sound as the stiches gave way. She spit the head of the bear out of the driver side window then reached into the hole where the head had once been. Her thin pale hand reached past the stuffing and grabbed hold of what is was looking for. She pulled out a rather large wad of assorted bills of money. It was held together by three red rubber bands.

Molly had started saving this money three years back. About a month after she had started her job at Wells Fargo. Back then she had been saving the money to buy herself a new car. She had still been driving the old eighty nine Ford Aerostar van she had gotten from her mother so that she could drive herself to school. Molly had never liked that old van. So as soon as she started working, she started saving. She was about a month away from buying the car when, for her birthday, Molly’s parents surprised her with the Camry. She had been overjoyed. She then planned on spending the now extra savings on some new earrings, or maybe a necklace, and why not?

Molly had used a pair of scissors to cut Mr. Giggles’ head off. She then placed all of her saved money into the bear. Taking great care, she had sewed the head of the bear back on and put the teddy at the foot of her bead with all her other stuffed animals. Molly had done this to keep her money safe until she decided what do with it. Now at this moment, she knew where this money was going to go. She stared at her hard earned money for a second. The night was hot, and there was a sheen of sweat on her face. Molly got out the car and headed for the door. She stepped on the head of Mr. Giggles as she went. Molly didn’t notice.

She ran for the automatic doors of the large store. As the Molly entered she ran to the shopping carts and pulled one free. The two cashiers both gave a curious look as Molly almost ran by their stations. The panic that she had felt in the car was slowly getting stronger.

Molly, unlike Ron, had come to the realization that something was wrong soon after the strange events started happening.

 She was a person who liked to play Internet card games. A few months back she had gotten somewhat addicted to a two player monster and magic card game called Duel of Worlds. When you started playing you had to sign up for an account using an e-mail address. From there you signed in and started preparing your two decks for gameplay. One deck was comprised of creature/monster cards like the Red God Tree, or the Armor Lion of Flame, and the other spell/magic cards. The object of the game was to overpower your opponent. The first player to lose all of their creature cards loses the game. The spell cards where used to weaken your opponent’s creatures or to strengthen yours. In the game, the more wins you rack up, the stronger the creatures you can unlock with your account. Needless to say, Molly had spent a great deal of her spare time playing this new game.

 Like with all games of this sort, at first you lost to almost every player you face. But after a while you started learning which cards work best, which combinations to use and how to set up your two decks. When Molly encountered a card that she liked and worked well, she would write it down and add it to the appropriate deck later, using the online card search engine. Slowly but surely Molly moved up the ranks, facing stronger and stronger players from around the world. This was one of the wonders of the digital age. She could be sitting in her little home in sunny California and be battling a person online who lives in Japan.

 While you played there was a little chat bar on the left side of the screen. The players used this miniature chat room to explain their moves to each other to avoid confusion. They were also used to call in administrators if one of the players is suspected of cheating. Although, the chat box was very often also used to sling profane insults at one another when the game wasn’t going in a person’s favor. Posts like-

You fucking shit hole!

Go suck monkey dicks!

Or.

Drink bleach you fucking bitch!

Were often left for the winner as the loser quit the match and left the game. Despite many sore losers Molly thought the game was fun. And it was through the game that MollyKills951 had come to know ShellyBird112.

            Molly tore through the store pushing here blue shopping cart. She ran for the Drinks isle, and made a sharp left into it. She grabbed all of the cases of bottled water that she could and filled her cart until no more would fit. The cases where stacked six high, with two stacks in the cart. Molly then turned and pushed the cart as fast as she could without knocking over the cases of water. She stopped in front of one of the registers. “This is all mine.” Molly said, pushing hair out of her face. She was a little out of breath. “Are you alright miss?” The cashier asked looking a little worried. The cashier was a blonde woman who appeared to be in her later thirties.

            “I’m fine, I gotta go get more!” Molly called out as she grabbed another cart and headed off again. This time she was headed for the canned goods isle.

            ShellyBird112, Shelly Mitchell, or Shells as Molly had later come to know her was a twenty six year old dental assistant. At least that is what she had told Molly. One day they had been randomly selected to play against each other. The match had been terribly difficult and had dragged on for over an hour. Shells was good. She was VERY good. Her spell deck was flawless and her plays were brilliant. Molly narrowly lost the first game. Molly cried out for a rematch, as at this point in her Duel of Worlds career she was no longer used to being the loser of a match. Shells was happy to give her a rematch. This game had taken longer than the first, but this time Molly had come out on top; but just barely. Shells said through here chat box that she was surprised that she had lost. She hadn’t lost a single match in weeks. Molly replied that really, they were tied, and that the third game would be the tie breaker. Shells agreed on the third match but said that she had to go run a few errands. They would probably take about an hour. Molly agreed to come back and have their third match. Shells said to look for her in the player pool in an hour. They both signed out.

            Molly was in the canned foods isle, dropping can after can of food into her basket. She wasn’t really looking at what she was getting, nor was she checking the price of any of the items. When the cart was filled to capacity, Molly pushed it to the blonde’s register, next to her first cart.

            “Can you start ringing me up please?’ Molly asks the cashier. She still looks a little worried. “Sure, honey. No problem.” She begins scanning the cases of water. Molly grabs a third cart. “Just a few more thing that I need.” She says as she pushes the cart away from the register. “Ok, honey.” Is all the cashier says as she begins scanning the cans. This time Molly runs to the pharmacy isle. From the selves she grabs several boxes of bandages, gauze, medical tape, aspirin, and other pain relievers, cough syrup, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and finally vitamins. She moves on and adds several boxes of tampons, toothpaste, soap bars, and about six bottles of shampoo. All these things had brought her cart to about a quarter full. She grabbed a giant pack of toilet paper and shoved it into the rack under the cart. Molly headed for the last stop.

            Molly sat in front of her computer and waited about two minutes. She then logged back into her Duel of Worlds account and opened up the card search engine. Molly was going to fine tune her game decks to give her an advantage in the third game against ShellyBird112. She was a very strong player and Molly thought that she might need some kind of an edge to win. ShellyBird was a fan of using extra draw spell cards in combination with counter defense spell cards. Most of her creatures were deceptively weak, probably so that her opponent would be compelled to attack. At which point she would use the counter defense. This was a very good strategy, as it had pinned Molly in a corner in their first game. A good strategy, but not one Molly couldn’t get around with some creativity. Molly spent the hour adding spells that could counter ShellyBirds’ play, along with a few different creatures to throw her opponent off. She then removed all useless cards like summon creatures, and potion cards. They would be no good against ShellyBird112. MollyKills951 was ready.

            When the hour was up Molly and ShellyBird both joined the player pool. Molly sent ShellyBird a match request. It was immediately accepted. They were both brought to the game screen and their decks were reset and in starting position. In the chat box ShellyBird wrote GL, which means Good Luck. Molly replied HF. Have Fun. The game was on!

Molly could never remember playing harder than she did in the tie breaker match against ShellyBird112. About five minute into the game, Molly was completely stunned to see that ShellyBird had also updated her deck. And just as Molly had done, she had added spell and creature cards to counter act her attack style.

Run errands my ass!!! Molly types in the chat box. LOL, your one to talk love!!!! She responds back. And adds an emoticon smiley.

The game was tough, and it lasted almost two hours. Molly carefully thought through her every move, trying to consider every possible outcome and eventuality. ShellyBird did the same.  Both competitors employed brilliant plays and counter attacks. Both praised each other’s successful moves, and clever reversals.  The match dragged on, with neither player refusing to give in. Towards the end Molly had developed a headache.

Finally, it came down to one creature card each. Molly had the Blue Wolf of Fate and ShellyBird had the Chaos Raven. ShellyBird had one unused spell card. Molly had none left. Whosever creature died in this round would lose the match. It looked like MollyKills951 had the upper hand, as her creature was by far the strongest of the two. Molly could feel the swell of her imminent victory in her chest. Her hands were sweaty and there was an almost crazy smile on her face as she sat of front of her computer. Molly declared the attack and her opponent would then have to declare defeat. But ShellyBird did not. She used her one remaining spell card. Molly looked at her screen, her mouth hanging open.

The card was Attack Destruction. This cards effect was that if one creature attacked another, regardless of the creatures attack strength, both creatures were destroyed instead of just the weaker one, at the same time. Both of their creatures where destroyed. This was a tie. ShellyBird112 adds another emoticon smiley to the chat box, but this one with its tongue out.

Molly beat down on her computer desk with her fist. “AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!” She screamed into her empty living room. She hit the desk with her fist again and then shoved the hair from her face. After all that? After I played as hard as I could? A tie!? Molly’s mind raged.

Then, looking at that little face with its tongue out, instead of screaming again, Molly started laughing. The laughter started slow then rose. It came in rolling waves that made her midsection hurt. She laughed long and hard. Tears rolled down her face and for a second she thought that she would fall from her chair. She was laughing at herself for thinking she had won, and for her crazy response after they tied. Molly laughed, and somehow she knew that, wherever ShellyBird was, she was laughing too.

From that day on Molly and Shells, even though they would never meet, became best friends.

Molly pushed her blue shopping cart and headed for the sporting goods section at the back of the store.