MoonShine & Coffee

 

Withered floorboards groaned under the weight of their chairs. The acidic aroma of moonshine wafted up from the bottle between them. In anticipation of the night, they’d spent most of their precious day making it. A few sips was all they could afford to drink for now. Toni and her husband, Tomas, were one of the fifteen families left among the hundred sent to colonize Mars. Independent of the Earth and with limited resources, everyone was quick to figure things out. Since she came from a long line of liquor makers, it wasn’t hard to work out a way to make the alcohol. She snorted. Over time, it served many purposes and, in times of real danger–saved lives.

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Which brought them to where they were now. Twenty years later, the terraforming failed. Buildings were in disrepair, crops continued to wither in the fields, and contact with Earth was spotty, if at all. Of the years spent on this rocky planet, three hundred and fifteen lives of fellow colonizers were lost. Some to illness, others to self-harm, most to those beasts, in one way or another. The colonization cost was higher than anyone had ever imagined in their idealistic dreams. Unexpected microbes created unseemly things. Even if the isolation and loneliness didn’t drive you mad, the starvation might, and those creatures that creep around in the darkness would.

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Evening was falling fast, and the blood moon would soon rise. The worst time of the month was the perfect time for them. Rotting food in the fields, pumpkins and such, would draw them out. Something about it pulled them from the shadows they liked to play in. Maybe the stench intensified a hunger she and the others couldn’t identify. Over the years, their number grew; she watched them from the windows of their cabin. Basking in the red glow of the moon while feasting in the fields of putrid crops. The beasts now outnumbered the humans. Being outside on the night of the blood moon was a death sentence. At some point, she and her fellow humans became their dessert.

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Toni rose from her seat and picked up the jug. She poured a thin line of liquid along the perimeter of the porch. “Do you think this will hold them back?” Tomas stood and moved to stand beside her near the steps at the landing.

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“No.” She shook her head. “But it should give us time.” Guilt that Tomas was stuck with her in this situation ate at her. She couldn’t look at him.

“Time for what? We either get trapped in the house or die in the fields.”

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There was a thread of defeat in his tone. And it was all her fault. It was her idea to join the Mars project when the call for volunteers went out. They made a lot of sacrifices… a clusterfuck… even the child they lost. Everything was her cross to bear, and this was the only way she could think of to make amends. Only Tomas wasn’t supposed to be part of her atonement. She reached for his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. “We have survived this long. Let’s get through the night first.” Her shoulders slumped under the weight of one more burden to bear.

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“Maybe… it’s been a long time but Earth…” He looked over at her, his gaze hopeful.

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“No one is coming to save us baby.” Toni sighed. “We only have ourselves to rely on. Our neighbors are long gone.” She stared out at the horizon. “I wish you hadn’t stayed.”

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“There is nowhere else I want to be.” His tone was solemn, accepting.

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The sun’s dying light gave way to the rise of the red moon. In the distance, a little girl dressed in white with ribbons tied in her hair skipped up the path. Just visible among the weeds that crowded out the wheat field.

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Th child stopped. She jumped up and down, waving at them. Then disappeared.

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Where there was one, there were many. “Let’s get inside.” Toni closed the gap between them and the door, yanking Tomas with her. It was too late now. Another disgusted snort broke from her. Who was she kidding? It was too late the minute they stepped foot onto the planet.

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She slid the deadbolt in place just as a soft knock cut through the space. The moonshine didn’t hold for a minute. The liquor was losing its potency, or the creatures were getting stronger. Maybe it was the child herself. There was moonshine in her veins. Twelve and a half hours was all they had to hold on before beams of sunlight heralded a new day and another month to prepare for one night.

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Tomas walked over to the console and tapped the screen. Classic R & B filled the room. Drowning out the knocks that seemed to come from all corners of the house. “May I have this dance, beautiful?”

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She took his hand, and he twirled her around the room. “I’m tired Toni.” He whispered in her ear. “I thought we’d have a better life. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

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“We are dreamers Tomas. That is our mistake. We believed liars who sugar coated the fallacy that this wouldn’t be a one-way trip.” She slipped her hand out of his and wrapped her arms around his waist. Laying her head on his chest, his soothing scent wrapped her in a calmness she hadn’t felt since arriving there. They whirled around the tiny room. Tomas softy sang along, his breath flowing against her ear.

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The song ended.

 

In the interim, a soft, childlike lilt seeped through the door jamb. “Please let me in. I’m so cold and hungry.”

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They ignored the distraction. “Speaking of food. While you were working on the boiler, I made a feast with…” Tomas laughed. “Dun, dun, dun…” He released her and lifted the upturned bowl off the table. Beneath it. Two plates with meal packets on them and two mugs of steaming coffee. “We have chipped beef with rice or BBQ chicken with macaroni and cheese. And. Your favorite. Coffee Addict coffee!”

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“Ooo, gourmet MRE’s. Nice choices.” She touched the cups before fingering the packaging. A tiny laugh slipped past her lips. “It’s been years since we had a cup. Where did you find the coffee?”

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“I found a half full container in the back of the kitchen cabinet. But, I warn you it’s pretty bad. I think we brought it with us, and it got lost in our mess.” He shrugged. “As for the food. There was nothing to choose from. It’s all that’s left.” He pulled a chair from the table. The next song started — a pop tune from the late nineties.

“Bummer. Much as I love Coffee Addict coffee I draw the line at drinking stale stuff. That’s sacrilegious. But I love you for the thought.” She picked up the packet closest to her. It was warm. Ripping the top off, she stuck the foil between her lips and squeezed. She glanced at the door. “How many do you think are out there?”

The tapping increased in rapid succession, repeatedly. Tomas sat beside her and cocked his head to the side. “Not enough, yet.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “You are so amazing. I love you.” He rested his head on her shoulder. “I need something stronger than coffee. Want to have a drink?”

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“I love you so much I didn’t want you here. You pour.”

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“We will not keep having this discussion.” He retrieved the jug from near the door and set it on the table. She pushed the tall glasses toward him, and he filled them. “There is no other place I would rather be. Is everything ready?”

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“Yeah.” Heat flooded her body as she consumed the drink. “We have about twenty minutes.”

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Tomas returned to the seat beside her and picked up his drink. “I didn’t think things would end like this.” He snorted, “Not even on our planet.”

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“It was fun while it lasted.” She giggled. The alcohol finally kicked in. Toni downed the remaining dregs.

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“I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. I wish…” He hung his head. “Things just didn’t work out our way.” Tomas caressed her hair before standing.

 

“We’ve done all we could do.” He finished his drink.

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The room was increasingly hot. Knocking became banging, shaking the door and windows in their jambs. Voice, grunts and louder wails drowned out the music. Toni checked the time on her watch. Ten minutes.

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“We’re hero’s.” She wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand.

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“We are sacrifices. They won’t care to remember us.” Tomas wavered on his feet, tipsy.

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Tears rolled down her cheeks. “At least we are together. A family. It’s time to let our daughter in.” Relaxed, accepting, she leaned back in her seat, preparing for what was to come.

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Tomas unlocked the door and returned to the couch, squeezing in beside Toni to wrap his arms around her. The knob slowly twisted. The door gently swung open. In the shadows of the overhang, hundreds of yellow eyes peered back at them. Time stretched as they watched the growing horde hidden in the darkness.

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Tiffany, their daughter, stopped in the doorway. Her white dress was in tatters. The ribbon was filthy and untied. “Mommy, daddy, I’m home.” She sang and smiled. Double rows of razor-sharp teeth filled her mouth. The colony’s mutated children with a hunger for human flesh swarmed into the room.

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Explosions in the distance drown out the death groans of Tomas and Toni as skin is ripped from muscle and bone. Satisfied grunts of kids with full bellies filled the space. Growls erupted as little ones fought over remnants of flesh. The boiler in the basement, surrounded by barrels of moonshine, reached its tipping point, overheating. It blew, incinerating everything within the structure and around it.

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Just outside of orbit. Safe on the ship NASA had sent for them. Those who escaped the twenty-year nightmare stared out of the glass pane at the tiny flash of light that slowly dimmed.

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“We made it.” A colonizer turned away from the porthole. Relief hung heavy around them. Some nodded in agreement as they dispersed.

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No one noticed the little boy who didn’t leave the corner, his chest heaving to catch a breath. A fine sheen of sweat coated his body, drenching his thin clothes. While double rows of stiletto-sharp teeth slowly filled his mouth. 

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The End.