You Are Me 

Part 3 - Voices

I offered her a sponge and to slowly fill a bucket as soon as I made a spot for her in the closet. After a bit of thought, she nodded and I set the bucket under a trickle in the shower.

Meanwhile, she surveyed the two closets and came to the same conclusion I did.

I watched as she ducked around and tried to find spaces under the bed. But, in their great wisdom, the college had made the beds either too low to put anything under or so high that there was no protection at all. She mused on making a hollowed bed but soon went back to looking around. I noticed that she seemed most comfortable sitting on the ground. I felt quite comfortable there as well, especially with my back against a wall near the closet.     

I worked on the "for two" hiding space. It would be an even closer fit.

When I was done, I roused Myra from her spot resting on the floor and invited her to test out hiding. I still had my old stop-watch, but the first run was just for practice.  

I went first because of my larger size, but she soon followed me. I already knew my way to the back. She stumbled a little but noiselessly. Once we were in the back of the closet, I set the cover down in front of us and Myra helped to position it. I couldn't see as well on her side, but I figured she would definitely take care of keeping herself fully-covered.

Myra sighed and muttered, "I wish we could trade places."

I noted my reasoning, but she quickly responded, "I understand why."

We tried a couple different arrangements. No matter what, being pressed against her wasn't particularly comfortable in an area that felt smaller than an old phone booth even without the junk. And her leg kept finding really sensitive places on me to hit. Not the least bit of a turn-on.

After just about bruising one another, we found an arrangement which worked. It was close and not painful. Plus, I could see how I might still place a false wall. I smiled for a moment.

Then the door chimed twice.

We pulled even closer. I felt but couldn't hear Myra's breath against my shoulder. I listened for footsteps. There were sounds but they seemed to come very quietly and mashed together so that I wasn't sure I was hearing some faint twitching of my own joints against the closet or them.

I waited for their announcement, but it didn't come. Another change, like their absence from the courtyard. I had to wonder.

The first clear sound was the creak of a door. I thought I heard a whisper. They weren't likely to whisper. Even if the intruders were human, we weren't safe.

As they came into my room, I could tell they didn't move like the women did. Their footsteps were unequal. They were individuals. Clearly still human.

They stayed around the bed area, where I'd left a lot of my collected resources. I could feel Myra twitching against me. I braced her and waited.

Two people in a group would be helpful. Three perhaps as well. At four, it was dangerous. I remembered the three guys in the dorm across from me, four days ago.

I hadn't bothered to remember their names. They advanced most of the theories about the women. Back then, they were just occasionally-spotted and the RAs had locked and braced all the doors. Plans were made to apportion resources. I was still hoping to find my family back then. I thought Ethan might even suddenly show up.

It wouldn't take long before we crumpled from within. Leadership didn't matter, just what you had and what you didn't want to share. Blood soon started to flow. By the time they came en-mass, our grand defense dissolved and they picked off dorm by dorm easily.

As I heard the two milling about, I wished I'd gone out to find a gun.

They stayed around, moving with care long enough for my legs to go numb and me to forget about Myra pressing into me.

If I were optimistic, I might try crying 'Help me!' in the manliest voice I could manage. But I couldn't tell how trigger happy these guys might be if they had guns. At least Myra wasn't making a noise or a move.

I was worried they might clear me out when one of them screamed. In all my concentration on them, I realized I'd just missed two more chimes at the door.

After a string of expletives and a burst of gunfire, I heard them again.

"Despite your good struggle, you are one of us."

The gun sounded small but loud. Probably a handgun. A mirror shattered from a ricochet. I worried about them accidentally firing through a wall and into us but there was really nothing I could do about it now.

Even if the gun was something heavy, I doubted it would've done much. The screaming, firing guy was met by their footsteps soon after the mirror broke. The other guy ran right through my room. He plowed right into my window with a thud and glass splintering. And he didn't even have the courtesy to make it through before footsteps met him.

I tightened my lips as their screams changed and quieted. Their coughing vanished. It didn't take long for all resistance to be silenced. Then, they spoke in four stereo voices, "You are me. We are one. All together…forever."

They broadcast a few varieties of their chants. The resources must have made them suspicious for more. I really hoped they didn't put the scouting of the earlier three together with these two additions. If they waited us out then we were doomed.

But I hid any kind of reaction and so did Myra. They spoke a couple of times and moved around. I figured we were safe. Then they started opening things, storage areas especially. And all of them were a lot smaller than where we were. I felt Myra tremble against me. I gave her a little pinch and she relaxed.

I hoped against all hope that they wouldn't try this closet and, if they did, that I didn't have the barest spot showing of us. If they had some kind of heat vision then we were probably already doomed.

I practiced an idle thought of throwing something on them, even if that meant throwing Myra as a sacrifice. It wouldn't work. Even if I knocked over one, they would convert Myra and there would still be three others to get me where I wasn't looking. And I had no idea what condition the converted bastard had left the window in.

Too many variables. No chance.

As I did everything to silence my own potential shakes, at least two of them positioned themselves right in front of the closet. No matter how much willing I did, I still heard it creak open with a muddled grayness tinting the darkness

The fact I couldn't see them was good. But I could smell them. They had an amazing perfume. The kind a girl would put on when going somewhere special. It was strong and permeated them and everything. I'd caught a whiff of it after one of their passes. It nearly overpowered me.

I could hear them pawing at the crap in the closet. They spoke, as though right next to my ear, "You are me. Embrace us. We will all be one, together. There is no other way."

This close, their perfect drone felt almost musical. Thankfully, they weren't Sirens. And I braced myself for their words. Myra was holding up too, but I could feel her pressing against me to the point it really hurt. I felt like I was her conjoined twin.

If you'd told me over a week ago that my final moments would be with a pretty girl mashed against me as several other chicks wanted to get their hands on me, I would've given a smart-ass smile and a thumbs up. 

But this was Hell.