LAYTON KELLY - SAUDADE

Layton Kelly is an aspiring writer who has written a few flash fiction stories. He is also the author of this literary work. 

​Saudade

​            “Is the coast clear out there,” the man asked. “Everything is okay behind us.”
He checked up ahead before he glanced back at the man, “There doesn’t seem to be any monsters up ahead. Move forward with caution, you never know if any of those things are hiding.”
“You go first, I'll watch your back.”
“Right, I’ll signal to you if it's safe to advance.” he brushed his long, scraggy jet black hair behind his ear and he threw his hood up and sneaked forward along the abandoned road. This whole mess is a nightmare, if you would have told me the world would end in a few short days and be teeming with monsters i wouldn’t have believed you. “Alright, the coast looks clear Alan.”
I can’t believe it's only been a few months and all was lost already, the military had already been taken down just last month completely but had been gone to the public now for longer. Is there any reason to even try to survive other than a vague hope of possibly encountering another group? He was caught up in his thinking, only barely catching it. “Alan hide!”
Quickly, Alan ducked behind the nearest overturned vehicle and pressed up against it. He shot a quick glance over the edge of the bent metal, he looked down the old highway, now covered in wrecked vehicles and tattered clothes. He spotted the creature, a hulking distorted mass like that of a bear with all its bones snapped and twisted out of proportion, the mouth took up most of its face. Oh fuck, oh fuck.
Don’t move, Alan, don’t move just stay still and it should-
The air had been pierced with a nearby shrill scream that sent chills that rippled down, Liam’s spine. “Ah! God help me!”
The creature had taken off, it moved with abnormal speed in freakish strides as if a puppet being pulled along by a set of strings by a shaky puppeteer, it uttered a guttural growl.
It passed by Alan’s spot, and offered a clear view of the monster and it’s odor. The smell like that of rotten meat and fecal matter hovered in the air around it, made worse by the rotting bodies within a few of the vehicles. Oh god I'm going to be sick, Oh god.
Some time had passed before, Alan ran forward, stopped next to, Liam he panted heavily, arms like jelly. “Oh fuck man, did you get a good view of that thing? The stench was unbearable.”
“Yeah, I got a pretty good look. We should try to hole up somewhere for the night.”
“Not like anywhere is safe anymore though huh, Alan?”
“Yeah, nowhere is anymore but let’s go for the subway.”
The pair headed out down the ruined streets, the city in ruin, they wandered for hours before they happened upon the old subway tunnels, cobwebs spreading across the walls.
“Looks like nowone really has been here huh, Liam? Not like I would expect anyone to be.”
“Heh, yeah sadly looks to be that way huh?” Liam, pulled out his gun, a silenced colt 45. “Let’s not have our guard down though.”
“Right,” Alan, unsheathed his sword and brandished it in front of himself.
The dark cement walls echoed with distant sounds, far off in the distance.
Alright, seems like other than those faint noises everything should be fine for us to set up camp here in old subway car, it looks busted to all hell but looks okay.
The pair had set up their camp in the small subway car, the day turned to the pitch black night before too long, casting the tunnels into a dark void as if the light switch had been flicked off.
A scraping sound approached, echoing through the pitch black cement tunnels, the noise didn’t catch either of their attention, the pair fading slowly into sleep. “H-elp me,” the faint voice echoed along with the scraping, the voice as if it was underwater was muffled and warped.
“Alan, did you hear that?” lowering his voice, Liam glanced out the window of the subway car up towards the source of where the noise came from.
“Mhmm-” he sighed at, Liam. “I think you just need more re-”
“H-ello?” the voice echoed once more, much closer to the pair than before, the voice more gruff, sounding now as if it was multiple entities.
“What the-”
“H-i th-ere,” The source of the voice ripped the door open having heard the pair. “P-lay?”
“Oh jesus- what the hell is that thing!” Alan dropped his weapon, and frantically picked it back up after and swung at the creature, burying the blade into its torso with a spray of crimson blood that sprayed across the nearby wall and, Alan’s arm causing him to pull his weapon back out. Liam fired off a shot into the creature’s head and it’s body spasmed before going limp with a twisted smile on its deformed, more humanoid face.
“Alan, what the hell was that thing?”
“I-I don’t know but, that was too wei-” Alan crumpled to the ground and spasmed violently, his mouth dripped blood and twitched, the flesh ripping and expanding wider, and wider. “Aaaah!” he screamed out, the only way he could maintain his mental state, his bones creaked and snapped, tearing through his flesh. The flesh reformed just as fast as it tore around the odd joints created, his body going limp, the snapping finally coming to a stop with a sickening crunch.
“A-Alan?” Liam, leaned towards his friend.
He rose up, now towering over his previous friend he cocked his head sideways and looked down at him. “P-lay?”
Alan, no, god why? I-I can’t do this, I can’t do it..
Throughout those cold, dark tunnels a final primal scream of terror cut through the air, The tunnels falling into a deep slumber of quietness.