Hear Not
The pin fell, twisting in the air as it tumbled, silver end over silver end glinting in the low light. Danny had been carrying it around for weeks, and for just this purpose – he smiled as it struck, silently.
“Very funny,” Tala mouthed, then made a rude gesture in Danny’s direction. Not for the first time in the last few months she wished she’d taken the time to learn sign language – it was something she always had an interest in, but even with several close friends who were deaf, she’d always muddled along with a combination of hand gestures and lip reading on the part of those who couldn’t hear her.
No one had been expecting what the Enemy threw at them. No one had been expecting what had happened – the irony would be humorous, if the death toll hadn’t been so high.
Danny smiled at her, the big goofy grin she’d always loved, but she turned away. Somehow, he had come through the whole ordeal almost unscathed. Somehow, he’d kept his spirits up and had done a good job of trying to get her through the worst of it, but once she started thinking about everything that had happened, everyone she had lost…
A tear ran down her cheek, and she choked back a sob.
She couldn’t hear it!
Ragged desperation ran through her as it all came crashing back, the moments of the attack she’d tried so hard to ignore, so hard to shove down into the corners of her mind. It wasn’t as though a response was unexpected – the government had demanded unconditional surrender from the Enemy, but their leader was a madman at best, and at worst. In public, he’d agreed to the demands set out, but in private had ordered his generals to prepare a secret strike.
It was a Saturday, bright and sunny – she and Danny were getting ready for a walk in the park. Sudden static came over the radio, a harsh, black noise that sent them both to the ground, grabbing at their ears. They’d both struggled to their feet and headed for the door, convinced the end of the world was coming.
It had, of course – just not as they expected.
The bombs falling from the sky were obvious. Silver cylinders, they covered the sky and sped toward earth like an angry rain. Their impact caused no explosion, no damage to physical property, only to people. The Enemy’s plan had been quite ingenious, in its way.
He had no interest in destroying the land he wanted to occupy, land that had an abundance of natural resources. The right biological agent would have left the ground untouched, but killed those who inhabited it, but that wasn’t what the Enemy wanted either. He wanted conquest, wanted his men to have the satisfaction of killing those who had spoken so poorly of them, of destroying those who walked the streets of the supposedly rich and powerful nation that had passed judgment.
The bombs had left their home intact, left them with cars to drive, but cut off from any sound, silenced and broken. It was only after the first wave of panic had passed that the discovery of a second attack came, one that had affected all sources of power generation in the nation. Power had not simply disappeared overnight – it would trickle off, slowly reducing over a period of months, until they were left defenseless and with their primary mode of communication gone. They were helpless, and afraid.
That was when the killing started.
Tala doubted even the leader had been prepared for the ferocity those in the country he’d attacked demonstrated once they’d been rendered impotent, the fury and fire they let loose upon each other, shattering the already weakened foundations of their nation.
Danny had led her away into the mountains so they would be safe. Together, they’d developed a crude form of signing, a way to communicate even though they could no longer speak. The small amount of paper they’d been able to salvage they kept only for emergencies, and luckily their marriage was strong enough they had a fairly good idea of what the other was thinking, even if they couldn’t talk.
She felt his strong arms go around her shoulders and sagged. He’d been saving his trick with the pin dropping, hoping to make her laugh when she needed it most, and she loved him for it. She just couldn’t bring herself to felt anything but empty.
Movement in the bushes in front of them told her someone was coming, and she and Danny made quickly for their shelter. He’d built it under a large pine, and from a distance it looked like nothing more than a bundle of sticks and leaves. They’d come across a few others of their kind in the woods, most of whom had been unwilling to even look in their direction. Several had wanted to fight, but Danny had managed to scare them off with the old rifle they’d taken from the basement. It wouldn’t fire any longer, but they were the only ones who knew that.
It was the cleanliness of the clothes the four men coming through the trees were wearing that caught her attention, along with the crisp precision of their steps. The Enemy!
Tala was out of their hiding place before she had thought the action through, Danny hot on her heels. She was sure he was screaming, trying to stop her, but all of the frustration, the fear and the desperation she’d been feeling for weeks bubbled over. Crashing into the first of the uniformed men, she took him to the ground, and above her could see Danny strike another one in the face with the butt of his rifle.
She rolled to her feet just as the two still standing managed to take the gun from her husband, and the one she’d knocked over kicked her hard in the knees, sending her face-first back to the dirt.
Danny’s mouth was open wide, and she’d swear she could almost hear something, almost catch the edge of a sound. The men around them began to shake, faces contorted in agony, and then the two holding Danny seemed to melt away, sliding to the ground in limp heaps.
Forcing herself to stand, she smiled for the first time in months. The Enemy had taken something away, something precious – but unknowingly given something in return. This was not over.
- D
