Just A Little While
#1 of Shorties
This is something that was somewhat of a 'vent piece' for me. I needed to vent some frustrations, and I was reading Lovecraft, so I decided to go nuts with this and see where it left me. It is somewhat short, and I might expand on it later, but really it is just to put an idea down and get it out of my head. I just couldn't help but include a mention of one of the most terrifying fictional books every created as well, just to go along with the whole 'psychological' trip.
Hope you enjoy!
Comments, Faves, Feedback, Critiques? They're always welcome! If any of you would be feeling up to seeing this take a turn from your imagination, send me a note and we'll discuss the specifics of the whole deal. I'm still taking commissions, but a funded story would be pretty neat as well.
The child coughed and covered it's mouth and nose as the doors to the transport slid open, letting the air from outside rush into the interior, flooding his nose and throat when it breathed in. Frightened, and hardly able to breathe, the child clung to the mothers' jacket tightly, and listened to the others in the transport talking while they moved about. They were surrounded by a troop of military personnel, all armed to the teeth that were hidden behind facemasks that resembled the monsters seen in the adult book section at the library, drawn on one of the pages of a book older than anything that had ever been seen before. The grotesque looking masks, with wide, shining glass plates that shielded the eyes from view, and the bulging protrusions where mouths should be terrified the child still. Everyone had thought it would be used to the scene by now, but the visage of the plates and the eyeless faces never failed to give nightmares that kept sleep at bay.
"Mommy I'm scared..." The mother looked down at the child clinging tightly to her clothing and stooped down to put her hands on either side of a small face, massaging her thumbs in soft tufts of fur.
"Its okay, baby." She smiled reassuringly and kissed the child's nose tenderly. "You don't need to be afraid, its okay." A whimper was all of the response she received, and instead she hugged the small frame to her own comfortingly.
"Let's go. Out." The barrel of a rifle nudged the mother's shoulder, spurring her back to her feet and prodding her along out of the transport car like the point of a spear, out onto the platform. The child coughed and wretched next to the mother as the smog-filled air flooded still-developing lungs, burned already tearing eyes, and made it's nose run. The mother coughed alongside the child, covering her mouth with her jacket and stooping down to pick the child up in her arms.
"I can't breathe..."
"Cover your mouth, sweetie." The child coughed again, but followed the mother's demand, using it's shirt to cover it's small mouth and nose, blocking out the worst of the acrid smog, but it couldn't filter out the toxic air. The child watched the soldiers walking behind them, heavy rifles trained on them both as they were marched to the end of the platform and down the steps to the gate separating the terminal from the rest of the world. One soldier kept looking away from them, glancing around at the wall for a few passes before the opaque plate was fixed back on them again, but the child could swear it was what the mask was really staring at so much. The child shivered and hugged closer to it's mother as another soldier at the gate raised it's hand and pointed it's own rifle at the pair, indicating for the mother to stop walking.
"Put the kid down." Was the only thing said by the soldier, but the mother didn't move.
"Please, just let me keep carrying him." She sighed against the thick air, her breath coming out in a wisp of vapor in the cold air while she stared down the eyeless mask directly in the reflective faceplate.
"I said put the kid down. The child can stand on it's own." The soldier stepped forward, followed by two of the group behind them, but the mother recoiled and clung to the child tighter. Immediately there was a metallic, rippling clatter of firearms being cycled and turned off of safety, and suddenly all of the barrels were pointed at the mother. The child watched with wide-eyed terror as one of the barrels angled, letting it stare down the length and see the beginning of the spiraled rifle grooves while the soldier holding the rifle seemed almost to shimmer briefly.
"Put the kid down, now!" The command was more direct, and this time held an air of threat, and impatience. Or perhaps it was fear.
"Mommy..." The mother nodded and looked around her, bending at the knees to set her child's feet on the ground, then let go to stand back up. Once the child was free from her arms a soldier delivered a sharp blow to the mother's back with the stock of a rifle, sending her sprawling to her knees with a cry of pain. The child was held in check against a dash to the mother by the touch of cold steel pressed against the back of it's neck, and a few gruff words from the weapon's owner.
"Hold it, kid. Just stay still." The child complied and froze where it's feet were planted in the dirt, watching the mother stagger up to her feet until she was straight again, with a rifle pressed to the back of her neck.
"Hands on the back of your head." The mother complied immediately and was given a shove forward by the firearm. "March."
"Follow them." The child was given a short nudge with the end of a gun and nodded, stepping forward, if only to get away from the feel of the gun against it. They were led to the gate, and commanded to stop just before the steel door while it was winched open like a portcullis. Both were given a brief nudge, the mother stepping to the other side more readily than the child, who looked back at the soldier behind it.
"Take him back with you..." The mother turned around and looked at the soldier, lowering her hands back to her sides. "Please..."
"We have our orders." The soldier pushed the child forward harder, forcing him to stumble forward beyond the gate, then rush to his mother.
"Mommy, what's happening?" The mother shushed her child and looked at the soldiers one by one.
"Please, show mercy...he's just a child!" The soldiers turned on their heels and began marching back towards the station platform, leaving the mother to start to sob as she watched them leave. "How is a child to blame! Shouldn't he be innocent?" She shouted, while the gate began its descent between the two parties and cut them off. At the last moment a soldier turned, boots just visible as they double-timed back to the gate.
"Raise the gate back up! Hold on a minute." The gate shuddered to a stop and started lifting back up, but the soldier ducked under it before it raised fully and got down on one knee in front of the child, looking up at the mother through the facemask. With a sigh the soldier reached back and undid the clasp of the helmet, pulling it off to reveal a fox with startling violet eyes and floppy ears.
"Here..." He pulled the respirator off of the front of the helmet and held it out, putting it on the child's face and tightening the straps. "Just breathe normally, okay?" He pushed a button and instantly the child felt a soft rush of clean air as he breathed, filtered from the toxic air around them.
"Thank you..." The mother looked at the soldier and held her son, who was gulping clean air greedily through the respirator on his face.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do more." The fox stood up and put his helmet in the child's hands. He jammed his hands in one of the many pockets on his chest and pulled out a mask and a few small canisters, and handed them to the mother. "They're not limitless like that one, but they will help." The mother nodded, and the fox took his helmet back and slit it back over his head, lifting the faceplate up so they could see his eyes before he turned and ducked back under the gate. Once he was clear, the gate suddenly dropped and slammed shut with a resounding clang.
"Mommy...how long are we going to be here?" The mother looked at her son and smiled a little, putting her own respirator in her pocket for later.
"Just a little while, sweetie."
"Okay."