They are Among Us

They are Among Us

By:

Gustavo Calvo-Simmons

We were sitting at the library; outside the world seemed to be in peace but the incidents of the mutants were on the rose, we were hiding as at that moment the city was under Marshall Law and we couldn’t do too much. Besides myself, in the library were Doctor Mendoza and one reporter named Vidal who she used to work for the local television station.

The name of the city was Cartagena, it was located on the north coast of Colombia, also it was one of the last cities in the world where the sights of the mutants were contained. The library was located in downtown, not far away from the sea and just close to one of the avenues that passed above the sea itself.

It was quite of a picturesque city, even after the desolation, you could see people walking and doing business, it gave us some hope in humanity as what it was on the northern hemisphere of the Americas humanity has declined. When we arrived, we were looking for shelter or at least some survivors, we weren’t expecting to see the country standing still, we didn’t even know what to expect but they seemed to be doing a good job keeping their marine borders on check.

I was walking near the library when I realized, the alarms went on; a loud set of roars were not far away. I ran as quickly as I could go, I was feeling they were behind us; the chaos was erupting and people were being trampled by the mutants but I found a way to the library where we secured the gates.

The library was constructed in an old mansion, with walls of stone and a big foyer; there, the three of us we were standing, everyone else seemed to begone and go to some other places to find refuge but we were trying to look what was causing the mutant outbreak.

We were watching from the upper floor the streets; we realized something horrible “the mutants were humans, some of them were humans, but what caused the mutation?” Out of nowhere Doctor Mendoza started to sweat, he was hyperventilating, and he looked incredibly concerned. His last words before his transformation were “I am so sorry, they bite me early”.

He started to change, it was almost instantly, but the paradox became that mutated into a gargantuan being; he was a shadow of his previous self, basically animalistic. I understood, while I was running away from the library, all alone because Vidal got murdered by him before we could react, it was the saliva, it made thought “maybe we are all infected?” As I tried to move away, I saw Dr. Martinez monster growing up in size and I knew my end was near if I had stayed close to him.

My first reaction was to go inside a building but I thought that wouldn’t save me as he was smashing everything on the side, so I went and hid on the side of a wall that was separating the beach from the road. I was exposed to other mutants, but by a faith of luck I survived, I saw Dr. Martinez’s monster ran away north, I just stood there in the darkness, praying to God to not be noticed by other monsters.