It Comes With the Rain
Police Questioning Transcript 061126
Detainee was found stumbling along Santa Monica Beach. Passers-by noted a pungent odor emanating from the detainee. At time of arrest, he was accosting a family of four. He cooperated with the arresting officer.
TRANSCRIPT
I am all that remains of the old world. Then, I was nothing but a drifter. Nobody. Seeking shelter anywhere I could. When I ran out of friends and family to prostrate myself to, I went to friends of friends. And then friends of friends of friends. Most slammed the door in my face, but there were a kind few who let me waste away on their couch for a day or two days. I was raised honest, so when my allotted time was up I would leave as instructed and continue on.
Now, I am a herald. A warning to you. A witness of the Thing that comes with the rain.
When the Russians said they made contact with the Thing, no one believed them. When they said that Moscow had fallen, consumed by a massive wave, no one batted an eye. Honestly, we all rejoiced. Another problem off our plate.
The Thing traveled South. It engulfed China, India, Australia. Still, we stood by. It’s not our problem. Whatever the Thing was, those countries didn’t have the firepower or manpower that we had. If the Thing even so much as considered crossing to the United States, we’d destroy it. We had no need to care about what happened across the seas. All that mattered was us.
One by one, countries and civilizations were consumed by the Thing. It was only when we lost contact with the UK did people begin to care. That was about a year before my old world came to an end.
I was in Maine when the Thing reached North America. I was among the first to witness its arrival.
First the rain fell in soft droplets, almost indistinguishable from the spray of the sea. Slowly, the droplets grew into large globs of stinking water. I sat on the coastal rocks, allowing the rain to wash me. I opened my eyes and saw the Thing approaching. Slowly. Intently.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It was massive. Its shoulder spanned the entire horizon. Its eyes pierced through the atmosphere and fog. Terrified, I ran and ran and ran. I didn’t stop for sleep or food or drink. Yet, I never grew tired or hungry or thirsty.
After a month I had reached New York. No one seemed to notice, or maybe care, that the East cost was gone. I searched the streets, looking for any sign that what I saw was real. I found only one newspaper that even mentioned the Thing. It was in the back of a stand at a cafe. In an article on the fifth page, a headline read -
“EAST COAST DESTROYED. MILLIONS DEAD.”
I pointed it out to the other customers, pleading that they acknowledge it. Acknowledge that I hadn’t lost my mind. Acknowledge that the Thing was real. The young cashier approached me and told me to leave. I shouted at him, asking if he knew anything about the Thing. He shrugged, then threatened to call the police.
I spent the next week in constant fear. Each passing day I knew the Thing drew closer and closer. In a pawn shop television, the newscaster made an off-handed comment about the impending doom before going on to discuss the latest fashion trend.
I knew that I wasn’t crazy. I couldn’t be. Other people knew it was approaching. Still they did nothing to stop it. How could they? The Thing is massive, unstoppable, incredible. It is a god. An old old god. Neither Heaven nor Hell claim it as their pet. It is from the grand abyss above us and the deep depths below. It is just as much the cosmos as it is the sea it came from.
I heard the Thing approaching again.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
My heart beat in rhythm with the oncoming storm. I felt strength enter my body again and I made haste. I swam through rivers and lakes, climbed the Appalachian mountains with ease. A massive bear sought my flesh for dinner. I tore its gnashing jaw in two and used it as a weapon to defend myself from the rabid beasts of the woods.
Then, all was calm. No mountains blocked my path. No lakes hindered my progress. Everything was flat. The wind graced my face and I felt peace. The strength left me and I collapsed in a corn field. I remained there for many days, feasting on the crop until I could indulge no longer. A farmer and his son tried to force me to leave. I begged them to let me stay a little longer, hoping for the kindness of humanity once more. The farmer insisted by raising the barrel of his shotgun to my head.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
I panicked and lunged at him, allowing the bear jaw to do its work. The son ran, screaming in horror. I reached for the gun and then… Then I don’t remember what happened. All I know is that the bear got his fill of flesh in the end.
I followed the birds’ songs through the vast plains and fields. Nature surrounded me, and for the first time since the Thing revealed itself to me on the coast, I felt peace. When rain sprinkled to the ground I did not flinch nor cower like I had before. Again, it washed over me, cooling me, satiating me. I realized that’s all I ever needed. The satiating Rain.
I would have stayed that way, but then industry reeled its ugly head once more. I found myself on a dark, black path. White dotted lines meaninglessly separated lanes which were then further separated by concrete barriers. It was a highway, of course, but consider the state of mind I was in. For a time, I had forgotten other humans existed. I believed myself to be one of the animals. I suppose in your eyes I still am.
Following the road I found a suburban neighborhood. The road led me to a lonely house on the outer edge of a group of houses. In the driveway was a minivan. I peered inside a window and saw an elderly man sitting in front of a flat-screen. The news was on. In the small ticker at the bottom of the screen, there was a single, brief line of text that said -
“New York has succumbed to the Thing. Military unable to stop it. President suggests a nuclear deterrent is the only remaining option.”
I heard the Thing approaching again.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
I stopped for a moment to ponder how it had gotten so close so fast, then shattered the window with a nearby rock. To my surprise, the man did not stir. I drew closer, a shard of glass in hand. He was asleep and, to my luck, deaf. A hearing aid laid limp on his shoulder. I lowered my makeshift knife and perused the house. I didn’t have much time, as the Thing was approaching. I found an old suitcase and packed it to the brim with food, clothing, valuables, anything that would help me once my strength left again.
Thump Thump. Thump Thump.
It was time to go. I snagged the keys to the minivan and was just about to leave. My eyes wandered back to the living room, to the old man. I couldn’t just leave him there. I didn’t know what the Thing did to people, but I was sure it was no peaceful fate. I needed to save the old man. I approached him. He was still asleep, which was a good thing. Hopefully he didn’t feel the knife pierce his skin his skull his brain.
For the first time in this long journey I had a reliable means of transportation. The faithful steed carried me through the plains and deserts. Even with the strength given to me I doubt I would have been able to survive this leg of the journey without the vehicle. The radio mentioned the mercy I gave to the old man. The world didn’t understand that I did him a favor. They were wasting their time hunting me. Time that should have been spent in the arms of loved ones.
I stopped at a dingy gas station somewhere in Arizona. After giving mercy to the young cashier, I cleaned myself up a bit. Shaved my beard, washed my face. I hadn’t seen the skin on my face for many many years. It was refreshing. I walked out and saw the cashier had not passed yet. Her bloody hands shook intensely while trying to contact the police.
Thump Thump. Thump Thump.
I made sure she was relieved of the pain before paying for what I had used, then leaving.
The minivan took me West for another hundred miles or so before breaking down. It served me well. For the rest of my journey I was on foot, just like how it began. Eventually, I was no longer traveling away from the Thing, just parallel to it. My end was near, I could sense it. I suppose I could have continued North through Canada and onto Alaska. But then I would have spent my final moments cold and alone. No. A beach would be just fine.
As I traveled, searching for a good place to rest, I would occasionally ask those around me if they had heard any updates on the Thing. No one answered the same. It had stopped, it had been slowed, it had spared us, it had already killed us, it was almost here, it wouldn’t be here for another year, even it was dead. Dead? No, it could not be dead. The Thing was too great and terrible to be dead.
Thump Thump. Thump Thump.
I gave mercy to the foolish one who suggested it could be dead.
Eventually, my strength left me again. I felt in my bones that this would be for the final time. Looking back, I saw the Thing’s shape approaching on the horizon. I calculated that I had a few days at most before it finally had caught up to me. I welcomed the thought. I sat down on a busy part of the beach, surrounded by others who no doubt knew their fate was just as sealed as mine. I waited there, legs crossed, eyes closed, listening to the chorus of waves and the approaching drums of rain.
Thump Thump Thump.
No. Not again. I would not spend my final moments like that. I pushed the urge deep down down down into the pit of my soul.
Thump Thump Thump.
I felt it. The Thing was here. I didn’t even notice the typhoon that had formed around me. Rain drenched the beach. Wind swept people away.
Thump Thump Thump.
I stood, ready to face my death that I had been running from for over a year. I opened my eyes, eager to see the Thing that had chased me all this time.
It stared back at me.
At that moment, I knew that I had been chosen.
The Thing lifted me high into the sky the cosmos. I looked down upon the world that once was, now wasn’t. It had completely been consumed by raging storms and hungry waves. What drifted below me was no longer the Earth I knew. I turned my gaze back to the Thing. The infinite, terrible, merciful Thing that had plucked me from the warm sand beaches just before their devastation. One question pierced my lips and drifted silently across the vacuum of space.
Why?
I spent eons in the Thing’s hand, never aging. I watch the Earth be formed, thrive, then die over and over again. Each time was the same save for subtle changes. A new lake here, a larger river there, a missing continent, a new continent. I watched again and again as the Thing made the Earth just to descend down upon it and destroy it. Then it stopped. I peered over its large, lengthy, leathery hand and saw the world whole and intact. The water and land had its boundaries and its order and its stopping points. It sickened me.
The Thing lowered me down to the vile place and set me on a beach identical to the one it had taken me from. I reached down and touched the coarse sand. It was awful. Dry. Unsatiating. I stood and attempted to climb back into the Thing’s hand, but the Thing was gone. It left me here. Alone. I know it will be back though. It won’t leave its disciple here in this wretched place. I know it won’t, for I looked to the sky and saw the color of the rain. The glorious, satiating Rain.
TRANSCRIPT END
Notes - No records or missing persons reports exist for the alleged victims of the detainee, however after further questioning and testing we believe that he believes everything he says is true. Those in the area just before his arrest did state that an unexpected rain shower formed overhead. Security camera footage from a nearby lifeguard station depicts an empty area of beach just before the storm. Thick rain obscured vision, but after it had dissipated, the man had appeared. The man was admitted into a mental institution. A few days following this, the man disappeared from said institution. On the same day, and around the same time of his disappearance, a heavy rainstorm swept through the area.