Darkness in a Sky of Embers by Catori Sarmiento

Author:Catori Sarmiento [Sarmiento, Catori]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Three Ravens Publishing
Published: 2022-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

9

S he needed sleep. How long had she been awake? She couldn't remember. The adrenaline had not left her yet. Her muscles were still tense and ached. She hadn't bothered to remove her lenses or her uniform. She smelled of sweat and musk, but she didn’t care.

Madeline kept hearing the sizzling whispers as she imagined tentacled spines grasping her arm. She rubbed her skin to ensure it was still human. Restlessness made her stand and walk to the door. Before she could think beyond the whispers, she was in the clinic asking to see Rostein.

“It’s past visiting hours,” the man at the desk said.

Visiting hours were during the day when she would be out in the field. The man scrutinized her name badge, then her face.

“You with Ordnance?”

“Yeah,” she said proudly, hoping that it would give her the privilege of bending the rules.

Instead, he said, “You can’t keep those in for so long.” He put his forefinger to the lid under his eye and made a single, purposeful, swipe, “They’re already getting purple.”

Madeline didn’t like him telling her what to do, so she left, and wandered. Wanting in that moment to talk to her sister, her mother, her father, anyone, she went to the community center door. She opened it and walked purposefully to the telephones lining the wall. As before, there was a line behind the single phone. Not wanting to wait, she tried the other telephones. Each time she put a receiver to her ear, there was nothing. She heard snickers from those in the line and turned around to leave.

Returning to her room, she turned the television on. She desired distraction, even if it was interrupted by static and delays. After a thorough shower to cleanse the grit and sweat, she removed her contacts to place them in the container. With her naked eyes exposed, she had to squint against the light. Her eyes watered, irritated at the change in scheme. She looked at them in the mirror. The man had been correct. The rims around her eyes were a dull, bruised purple.

Madeline sat on her bed, pulled out a pen and notebook, and began writing a letter. After three pages, her restlessness faded, her eyelids closing involuntarily. She fell asleep on the bed, still covered by a towel with the sporadic television murmuring in the background.

She found herself awakened abruptly by the familiar tone of the telephone sounding off. The call was always the same. She squinted against the neon red numbers that read 12:30, grunted at the hour, and forced herself to rise in bed.

Can’t they take a day off?

With the rising temperatures, night hours became more common. It helped to stave off heat exhaustion but came with the added difficulty of trying to spot Mites in the darkness. She blinked several times to correct her blurry vision, replaced the contacts, and quickly dressed in yesterday’s uniform and tied her boots. She took up her gear that sat next to the door: the backpack, vest, and belt that all clinked together when she heaved it onto her shoulders.

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