The Greenland Diaries: Day 49

I was gung-ho at the start of last night. I was pretty sure I could venture into the darkness and the Drum, and not be humiliated or killed.

That confidence didn’t last long. About eight hours give or take.

Last night, I took Snowy and waited outside my house where a couple of trees had toppled over in leafy bunches. They were sticky and sweet smelling in the heavy air. Both snowy and I started panting beneath the dull twinkles of the sun. We hid there until about seven, that’s when the Drum started.

It’d been a while since I’d been outside for it.

I forgot how the air simmers and stirs. The shadows stretch, pulled by some phantom hands. The dark shapes are contorted enough to snap, like some bizarre black elastic. The Drum starts the moment the bands give way. It’s waiting for that quick leathery motion.

Snowy let out a little whimper the moment the Drum started. I think she just wanted me to know she didn’t approve of our little endeavor.

For the night, I had brought along my M16, my 22, a pistol, and four grenades. I wore my vest, along with boots, a pair of orange goggles, and some black gloves. I wrapped Snowy in this homemade sock of patched Kevlar. I was worried some sort of debris, or those poisonous thorns might hit her.

They came out of the shadows, rising like shifting petals inside the sunlight. At least ten of them spawned around my house, including one just above me. It was one of those bigger monsters, with the dark spore swept shoulders and red twisted skeleton. Its face, I wanted to see it, but it was hidden beneath the black cloud of shifting fibrous scales. I don’t know why I’m so fascinated with them.

A few shots of gunfire hit the big one next to us. It immediately raised its mutilated arm up to deflect the bullets. The arm bubbled up in a row of fleshy flowers. A man and woman, covered in dirt and blood, were charging the monster. One of them threw something. It looked like a ball. I quickly curled over Snowy. Something burst next to us. The monster absorbed the entire explosion. A few pieces of debris ripped my ear, side, and knee. The beast’s massive form teetered and tottered, I was worried it would fall right on top of us and crush us, or at least realize we’re there and then kill us.

It was occupied.

They shot it a few more times, before it charged. I didn’t see what happened to the man and woman, but I know it crushed them quickly, in one long trail of pulpy flesh and blood. I heard the woman scream, but not the man. I don’t understand why they attacked it like that. I don’t understand it at all.

The one night I wanted to actually do something, these two idiots provoked one of the big monsters. We crawled back inside the house as soon as the full night came, and the shadows stopped meandering in the dusk. A few of the orange streetlights started flickering at the end of the block. I thought the power was out everywhere. It must’ve been some sort of glitch.

At least tonight taught me not to fight these things head on.

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