Yesterday's Gone: Season Three (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER)

that sent him to the ground, gasping for air.
    Fuck!
    Boricio scrambled to his feet, searching for the mutant, grabbing his blade again, but didn’t see the beast until it knocked him to the ground again and landed on top of him, pinning his arms beneath its tree-sized legs. It stared down into Boricio’s eyes with its cold, black eyes full of nothing, and Boricio felt a chill which momentarily paralyzed him.
    The mutant raised its bladed hand high and shrieked something akin to a battle cry. The scream reached into some part of Boricio and hurt his insides.
    Boricio stared up, still paralyzed — not by fear, but by something he couldn’t quite comprehend. It was something that he’d never have time to figure out before the blade ended his life.
    The mutant’s death blow was cut short by two shots, however, sending it to the ground, shrieking.
    Boricio looked up to see Mary standing over him, offering him a hand up.
    “Thanks,” he said, smiling as she hoisted him up.
    It looked like she wanted to say something, but instead she spun around and started emptying her gun into another charging creature instead.
    Boricio grabbed his gun again and loaded a clip as Mary kept him covered. Callie ran toward them, and crouched as she reloaded her pistol.
    “Stay here and protect the kids in the truck, can you?” Boricio asked.
    Callie looked inside, saw Old Man Luca and Paola, and nodded.
    Mary yelled, “I think someone needs to go get Luca.” He followed her gaze to Luca, cowering behind Nerdy Die Hard, who was holding his own while protecting the man-kid, tearing through creatures with an M-16, probably faster than anyone else. However, he was so focused on pulling the trigger at the approaching horde that he was leaving Luca in danger from a growing mass coming from the other side.
    Boricio said, “I’m on it,” then ran to Luca and dragged him back toward the relative safety of the truck where Paola was hiding. As he got Luca settled inside the truck and told Paola to keep an eye on him and scream if she needed anything, the creatures began to recede. Boricio looked up, slowly shaking his head and trying to understand.
    This isn’t right.
    He looked around at the crowd of creatures, and sure as shit, every one of them fuckers was falling back into the shadows. The aliens had never seemed smart enough to retreat simply because they were being decimated, at least they’d never shown those sorts of smarts before. Predator’s guess was back — this time saying the creatures were getting called like puppies to the mama bitch.
    Boricio looked down at Luca, who looked like he wanted to say something, though he seemed too tired, or maybe too old or too RipVanWhateverTheFUCKed to do anything other than lay splayed across the back seat like a half-dead body.
    Boricio moved his eyes from Luca to the Brady Bunch and, crap on a cracker, saw Charlie strolling toward them, his eyes straight ahead and a stride that said he owned half the goddamn island, along with Park Place, Boardwalk, and all four of the fucking railroads.
    “Be right back, kids,” Boricio said to Luca and Paola and shut the door of the truck and jogged over to the group to see what the hell was going on.
    Charlie stopped walking, his eyes on Boricio and waiting.
    Pirate Boricio asked, “How the hell did you get out?”
    Charlie’s face suddenly feigned distress. “There was a disaster at the Facility. The aliens got in and went on a full rampage. I barely managed to escape the elevator shaft. Everyone is dead.”
    Charlie was an emotional kid, but there wasn’t a drop of feeling in his story. He said that shit like he was ordering off a menu, without seeing nothing he liked.
    “Wait,” Nerdy Die Hard said, “Everyone is dead? Everyone?”
    He reached for his two-way radio and tried to reach someone.
    The radio only offered silence and static, however.
    “How?” Nerdy Die Hard asked, staring at Charlie. “How?!”
    “I dunno,” Charlie said, backing up, hands out defensively. “They tried to kill me, too.”
    “You motherfucker!” Nerdy Die Hard said, enraged, aiming his M-16 at Charlie’s face.
    “Woah, wait a second,” Boricio said, stepping between them. “He said he didn’t do it!”
    Nerdy Die Hard put the gun down, collapsing to the ground in tears. “Oh God, Teagan. Becca.”
    Boricio swallowed, looking back at Charlie, trying to suss out what he didn’t like about his story.
    Nerdy Die Hard stood up, glaring at Charlie,