Page 11 of The General’s Captive (The Rift #1)

The base.

Jerome County jail.

Strengths – Barbed wire fencing and security gates. Lockdown protocol in place. Watch tower erected. Alarms installed.

Weaknesses – Wall within the fence needs completion. Second watch tower needed. Needs extra generators.

Notes – Next meeting, mention the need to double up on security detail for night shifts. Kevin no longer on watch tower duty, as I will kick his ass the next time I catch him sleeping!

“ F ear will get you killed…”

I awoke with a start, my breathing coming fast, sweat trickling down my back, and my uncle’s words echoing in my head.

Words I had once ignored before the Rift, probably because my life used to be so sheltered.

Back when I didn’t really know what real fear was.

Most of my anxiety had once centered around whether my high school crush was going to ask me to prom or if I was going to get invited to the after party.

Whether my grades were high enough to get me into my school of choice or if I would make any friends on campus when I started.

Pointless shit like that.

The thought of being killed, eaten, or maimed weren’t really on my radar.

And like so many others my age, before the Rift, I had thought I was invincible.

Nobody wakes up every day expecting to die.

Well, that was until the Myths arrived, which meant every day after was one you were grateful for surviving.

I hated it when my mind went back to those days.

The first months had been the most brutal.

Algebra, a fucking pointless place taken up in my mind, where I soon wished I had learned useful stuff instead.

Just something as simple as making a fire, building shelter, hot wiring a car.

Okay, so I couldn’t exactly see them teaching that at girl scouts but still, I would have googled that shit and a million things after it.

There wasn’t much chance of me getting back to sleep now, so I sat up in bed and turned my battery powered bedside lamp on. The base had power, but it was from generators and those needed fuel. Fuel we didn’t waste for frivolous shit.

The dim light didn’t disturb anyone, and I had no one bunking with me in this jail cell, for now.

Over the last two and half years I had been here, I had lost count of how many had come and gone.

How many hadn’t survived. Some I mourned, some I didn’t have long enough with them to mourn.

A lot of the time, I hated myself for how hardened to it all I had become.

Then I remembered all the times I had silently cried myself to sleep after losing someone.

I shifted to sit up on the lumpy mattress, ignoring the way it groaned.

Then I did what I always did when I was restless, I picked up my journal and smiled to myself.

Three years ago, this was supposed to be pages filled with memories of my last summer of freedom.

Before I poured all my energy into studying to become a veterinarian and putting a childhood dream into motion.

And now, it was nothing more than a book documenting every strange creature I had faced on my journey here, and since then. It was the only thing that centered me. That, and putting my skill with a pencil to good use and drawing the details of each Myth I had encountered.

I recorded detailed descriptions of the creatures and how I had managed to either kill them or escape them. And as the years went by, the quicker these pages filled. Not just aiding me to survive, but now others here at the base, because I shared everything I knew.

Now, nearly every day, I would read the field guide from cover to cover so I could confidently continue to save those around me… like they had saved me. But right now, because my heart ached, I opened the book to the one Myth that had changed my life forever…

Two and half years earlier…

Time had lost all meaning. I slept when I had to, and continued my journey when I had enough strength. Eventually, I had no idea where to even try and get to anymore. What with all the barricades and fences the government had put up, it was like they weren’t trying to help us at all!

Any hope of trying to make it back to my parents was diminishing by the day.

I had tried to keep track of the days and weeks, but they quickly turned into months until, finally, I stopped counting.

At a rough estimate, I would say it had been at least five months, maybe six.

And in all that time, I was still no closer to making it out of here. I wasn’t sure I even would.

Then I came across a couple, who, thankfully, hadn’t been out to rob me or worse, and they told me where they were headed.

That there was a place where people were finding sanctuary in a town called Jerome.

By this point, I wasn’t even offended that they hadn’t suggested I travel with them, because I didn’t blame them.

These days, it was difficult to know who to trust, because that could get you killed quicker than a Myth.

The sun rose above Costco as I crossed over the abandoned parking lot, trying to duck down between the discarded cars.

The Five Guys restaurant I passed had been totally ransacked and stripped of anything useful.

I was in the town of Pocatello and, usually, I would stay away from populated places like this, because that was where the most Myths would hunt.

But there was also more chance at finding supplies here, and it was likely that Costco hadn’t been stripped bare like most of the smaller stores.

That was because nobody liked the big, open spaces because there were more places for Myths to hide.

No, usually, it was a run in, grab what you need, and get the hell out to safety type of gig.

Costco was not one of those places.

Yet despite that, here I was, hoping it was worth the risk.

Well, by this point, it was take the chance or starve because I was down to my last supply of energy bars and I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten anything other than junk food. Fresh food like fruits and vegetables were a thing of the past, unless it came from a can.

Not that I was particularly hungry after seeing a rotting corpse half hanging out of a car, but I was sure as soon as I got inside… that would change.

Unfortunately, I had seen enough dead bodies to last me a lifetime. Most of which, weren’t exactly whole or intact, because with the loss of limbs and all the entrails strewn around, most had died awful deaths.

At first, I had cried and vomited the entire contents of my stomach up every single time I saw one but after so many months, I had become numb to it. In the end, I just told myself that they were at peace and no longer being forced to live out this mythological, apocalyptic nightmare.

It was impossible not to feel like you were being held captive by the creatures, even though, technically, I still had my freedom.

One thing I had noticed, which gave me the heebie-jeebies, was the lack of animals.

There were no coyotes, no deer, not even any birds.

I hadn’t even seen any domesticated animals such as dogs or cats.

Hell, the only cows I had seen were at an abandoned dairy farm where the poor things had been trapped and had all perished from starvation.

Putting that depressing memory aside and, with it, the smell of rotten beef and sour milk to the back of my mind, I entered the Costco.

The front entrance had the roller doors halfway down, as if someone in a panic had tried to shut out the creatures but failed and decided to run instead.

The blood staining the floor would certainly suggest as much.

Inside, it was like most of the stores I had come across on my journey, just on a larger scale. Of course, it had been looted and I had to laugh because I saw half of the electrical goods had been taken.

“Jesus, seriously… humankind is being hunted and killed by mythological creatures, so what do we need… oh I know… a PlayStation and a big ass TV… genius people,” I muttered to myself as I stepped over what was most likely a super expensive television at one time, now completely useless to the world.

“Idiots,” I grumbled again.

Scanning the store with narrowed eyes, I spotted what I was looking for, surprised to see any left.

“Bingo,” I said when I saw a packet of AA batteries that had slipped behind the display and someone had missed in their haste to grab them.

But this wasn’t for a flashlight, nor anything practical, for that matter.

I already had one of those wind-up camping lanterns, realizing this was far more practical after I had found it in someone’s garage a few months back.

No, this was for the one thing that kept me sane.

I had found it when going through a thrift store a few weeks ago, intending on grabbing some new clothes.

Which meant I had walked out of there wearing what I did now.

A pair of pale blue jeans, a burgundy, long sleeve T-shirt, a black thermal jacket, and a blue hoodie.

One that I currently had tied around my waist because I didn't want it taking up precious space in my bag and it was too warm to wear both.

I had also grabbed a few extra T-shirts, which were rolled up in the bottom of my bag so that I had spares.

Then I found it, just sitting there among the electricals. The old-fashioned, portable CD player that looked as if it was from the early 2000’s. I had then raided through the CD bargain bin, and come away with Elton John’s greatest hits, a mixed pop hits from 2005, and a best of 80’s rock.

After first checking that I was alone and feeling pretty confident that no creatures would be hanging around a Costco, I popped in the batteries, put on my headphones, and pressed play.