“Ms. White? Ms. White!” My boss shouted from across the room. “Come and
speak to me in my office.”
I exhaled a long
breath and slowly rolled my chair away from my desk. I could already tell that it was going to be
a long day. I used my hands to smooth my
dark brown curls and straighten my black pencil skirt. I groggily stood up and was surprised to see
all of my coworkers staring at me expectantly.
Their eyes were wide and their bodies tense. My eyebrows drew together, was there
something going on that I didn’t know about?
I scanned the room, looking for Drew.
My friend met my gaze for a short while, then shook his head and looked
down at his computer. I shook off the
negative looks I was getting and walked confidently into my employer’s office.
“What can I do for
you Mr. Banks?” I asked as I clasped my hands in front of me.
“Sit down, Ms.
White.” Mr. Banks said, barely glancing
at me.
I reluctantly sat
down in one of the two leather chairs facing Mr. Banks extravagantly carved wooden
desk. Various files, photographs, and
old newspapers were scattered in front of me.
I noticed how beautiful this room would be if it weren’t for Mr. Banks’ cluttering
everywhere. Mr. Banks stood facing the
window, his hand resting on the back of his chair for support. Mr. Banks wasn’t a very old man; he was
probably around fifty years old. But he
had a history of back problems, so he was regularly in a small amount of
pain.
“Ms. White, I have
a problem. And I was hoping you would be
able to help me out.” Mr. Banks turned away from the window and rested his
forearms on the back of his chair. “If I
was to tell you that I had an employee that is an excellent writer and a hard
worker but refuses to write the things I tell her to write, what would you tell
me to do about this employee?”
I could tell by
his sarcastic tone that he didn’t want the question answered. His demeaning gaze quickly alerted me that I was
the one he was talking about.
“I mean,” he began
again, “if this employee would work on the topics I gave to her, we wouldn’t
have a problem. But unfortunately, that’s
not the case. And Jane,” he said,
bringing my gaze up to his as he mentioned my first name, “I’ve already given
you several warnings.”
“I’m sorry sir, I
know. But the issues you’re giving me
aren’t relevant ones. We’re at war, but
the only thing you want me to talk about is the overpopulation of rats in the
sewers or the increasing number of teenage pregnancies? In what world does that
make any sense?” I asked accusingly.
“The people of the
city are well aware that there is a war going on.” Mr. Banks said fiercely. “They’re reminded of it every day as we
continue to receive more and more bad news.
Our job is to be a distraction from that.”
“Just because we
avoid talking about the war doesn’t make it any easier! The people have a right to be informed about
what is going on.” I said aggressively.
“Jane! I’m done arguing with you about this. If you can’t write what needs to be written,
then I’m afraid your contribution is no longer needed here.” Mr. Banks let out a long sigh and stood up
tall. “You’re fired, Jane. Pack up your
things and get out of here.”
My heart dropped
into my stomach, but I didn’t let that show on my face. I looked coolly into Mr. Banks eyes as I stood
up proudly and turned my back on him, slamming his office door behind me.
My coworkers
avoided my gaze as I strode towards my cubicle.
I calmly began to gather up my things.
I was just putting all of the photographs I had gathered of our enemy
into a file folder when the building began to shudder. I froze, and my eyes scanned the windows
around me. Abruptly, something large
thudded the rooftop above us. Some of my
female coworkers cried out in fear and shock.
For a while, all was silent. We tensed,
expecting all of our nightmares to come running at us at any moment. I noticed Mr. Banks just in the doorway of
his office, looking confused and slightly angry. Suddenly, glass windows burst inward as
something flew into the office. I used
my arms to cover my face and dropped onto my knees, ducking underneath my small
desk. Small pieces of glass cut my legs
as I went for cover. My heart began to
beat rapidly as questions swam through my head.
Whatever had entered into the office was moving around, slowly. I tried to gather my senses as I pressed my
head to the floor, straining to see the mysterious figure from underneath my cubicle.
My heart stopped as my eyes took in the hideous creature that had become so
feared. It was the creature the people
of earth had come to call the Thrasher, due to the way it tore down its victims
with its gigantic claws and teeth. The Thrasher was tall, about 8 feet, with
oily, tough, black skin and yellow eyes.
In all my time spent studying and
analyzing these creatures, I never thought I would see one with my own
eyes. But, this didn’t make any sense,
what was a Thrasher doing way out here?
The war had been taking place down in South America, how did the
creature come so far north? Before I had
time to deduce why, a huge crash exploded from the other side of the room as
the Thrasher heaved a cubicle against the wall.
A shrill scream tore through the room as the Thrasher began to attack
the owner of the cubicle. I had never
before heard a more terrorized scream.
Soon the scream ended as the Thrasher finished off its prey, piercing
the victim through the chest with his long claws. Panic and fear gripped me, but adrenaline
urged me to find an escape. I jumped as
another cubicle was hurtled out of the way of the Thrasher. The creature growled with satisfaction as it
disemboweled another victim. I nearly
screamed when someone rushed to join me under my desk, it was Drew.
“What is
happening?” he said in a shaky voice. “Jane, what do we do?”
“I- I don’t know.”
I struggled to reply.
“Come on,
Jane. You’ve been researching these guys
for months; don’t you know anything that could help us?”
Both of us gripped
each other as a body smashed against the wall just to our right; a trail of
blood coming from where the body made impact.
I quickly averted my eyes and tried to focus on the task at hand.
“We gotta move
Jane. It’s coming this way. Follow me.”
Drew suddenly
dashed out from under my desk and scrambled over to the next cubicle. Not wanting to be left alone, I hurriedly followed
him, praying that the creature wouldn’t see us.
As soon as we were safe, I watched,
terrified, as the Thrasher hurled my cubicle out the window angrily.
“Come on, Jane,
what’s one thing you remember?” Drew begged.
It suddenly hit
me, “Fire. Thrashers can’t withstand
fire.”
“Great, that’s
great Jane. Okay, I’ll go get some oil
and something large we can light up from the faculty room, you go and get Mr.
Banks’ lighter.”
I nodded, and
fearfully looked toward Mr. Banks office.
The Thrasher stood between me and his office. I looked up and saw that Drew was already
making his way into the faculty room.
Come on, you can
do this, I thought to myself. Not taking
time to think about what I was doing, I rushed toward the other side of the
room, hoping to weave my way around and back to the main office. I pushed my legs harder than I ever had
before. I flinched at the mangled bodies strewn around me. I ducked as the Thrasher tossed a file
cabinet, nearly hitting me. I slid into
Mr. Banks office and shut the door. I
rushed over to the desk and yanked open drawers until I found the lighter. Not bothering to check outside, I rushed out
to find Drew. We made eye contact from
across the room and rushed toward each other.
The Thrasher saw Drew, and lashed out at him. Drew cried out and fell to the ground as the
Thrasher caught his leg. Driven my fear
for my friend, I dove for the makeshift torch Drew had put together and lit it
up in flame. Slipping from the blood covered
floor, I hurriedly stood up and rushed at the beast. The creature’s eyes went wide as he saw the
fire. I ferociously thrust the burning
torch into the face of the creature, and jumped back as the Thrasher went up in
flames. The creature let out a high pitched shriek and
withered to the ground, until only a pile of ash remained.
I pulled Drew’s
head into my lap and gazed out the window to see hundreds of Thrasher aircrafts
landing and attacking the city. The day
we hoped would never come had finally arrived, and the people of the city weren’t
prepared. We were under attack, and any
chance of survival seemed hopeless.
