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.