[ WP ] It was a gorgeous early summer day . The sun was shining brightly , the birds were singing , and there was a warm gentle breeze .

`` It was a gorgeous summer day. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing, and there was a warm gentle breeze. Oh, what it was like before they were here! ” 
 
 Frank stopped. His dried lips were in a half smile and his dark eyes stared beyond the ceiling. Using the daylight that poked through stuck blinds, I tried to examine the bandages on his amputated leg. They hadn ’ t been changed since he received new ones almost a week ago. I noted that I should ask the nurse later if that ’ s ok, though I suspected frugality would win over hygiene in any case. 
 
 “ It was a gorgeous summer day. The sun was shining brightly… ” 
 
 “ Oh, God! Would you shut the fuck up! I swear I will kill you before the skinnies even get here! ” From the other side of the room, a freshly injured soldier had gotten up from her hospital bed and was glaring wildly in our direction. A nurse hearing the commotion came in from the hall and went over to her. 
 
 “ Please get him the fuck out of here. It ’ s the same fucking line over and over again! I ’ m begging you. I ’ ll even lay in the hall. I can ’ t take it. I ’ ll even lay in the hall. I ’ ll even lay in the hall… ” 
 
 She started crying and between sobs I could hear the nurse trying to console her. 
 
 Frank started again. 
 
 “ It was a gorgeous… ” 
 
 The girl howled. The nurse looked in my direction and indicated the nearby wheelchair. I unfolded the wheelchair as quickly as I could and got my hands under Frank to carry him into it. As the sobbing and intermittent cursing got louder, I realized I wasn ’ t as strong as I once was and dropped Frank a little too soon into the chair. I quickly looked at the nurse. He gave me an incredulous glance, but Frank had the same preoccupied half-smile and luckily his wounds were left untouched. “ He ’ s fine, see?, ” I said as I wheeled Frank past the nurse, making sure he got a good view. The nurse looked him over, sighed, and resumed consoling the girl. On the way out, I made sure to pick up my rifle. 
 
 I knew the girl's frustration, but, unlike hers, mine had left me quiet. After trying to get through to Frank and only meeting the same refrain, I gave up and just sat next to him during visits. Recently, his incessant repetition became a drone to which I could just blank out to. I wasn ’ t even that close to Frank. The same encounter that had taken his leg had taken a good friend of mine. Sometimes I imagined that it was he, not Frank, who survived, but being part of Frank ’ s unit I thought I should look after him. 
 
 Wheeling him through the hall, I heard shuffling feet, muffled screams, and inexplicable sounds through the walls. Those who survived a skinny ’ s touch were lucky if their minds had survived as well. I ’ d seen a guy who continually tried to escape his restraints so he could spread himself flat like a star on the floor. He wanted to be “ one with the earth. ” Frank could ’ ve been worse. 
 
 “ It was a gorgeous summer day… ” 
 
 Before the skinnies, there were many days like that and now there seemed to be none. I remember even the day they came was beautiful and was spent in blissful ignorance. It was only until the next day that the world began to fear as it began to understand. Creatures had emerged from the deep places of the earth. 
 
 Mining and drilling crews were the first to encounter them and few survived. Reports came in of beings with tall, lanky humanoid forms but where their heads should be were faceless, tumorous horns. We originally called them skinnies to diminish them in our feigned boldness but nothing was more horrifying than to see those towering figures. When they got close enough you could see that underneath their stretched skin, protruded not a skeleton but an amalgam of bumps and lines. And usually when they were that close, there was little hope of escaping. 
 
 As we exited the office-building-turned-hospital, Frank seemed to be saying his refrain a little faster now. 
 
 “ …the sun was shining brightly… ” 
 
 I wheeled Frank down the makeshift ramp outside and turned to go towards the Potomac. I actually had been through Arlington a couple of times long ago and, though it was famous for its cemetery, I always thought of it as a pleasant place. But the empty buildings and roads and the constant cloud cover seemed to disagree and made the old Arlington feel distant. 
 
 There were only a couple soldiers here and there, lounging in front of empty stores, but as we approached the waterfront, larger groups began to appear. We stopped at the barrier and to our right and left patrols were passing the time. Some had cards set up. Others cleaned their guns. But I sensed in all a tinge of fear for what lay across the Potomac, whose dark waters rushed around the demolished bridges that had led to the abandoned capitol on the other bank. 
 
 “ …the birds were singing… ” 
 
 Frank had begun to get more excited and was talking louder. A couple of the patrols gave interested looks at Frank, but the rest were too desensitized to people like him to care. At this point I felt that being outside was too much for Frank and decided to go back. But before I could, a huge flock of ravens suddenly rose from the buildings on the opposite bank, their black bodies multiplying across the cloudy sky. The patrols looked through their scopes to see what had caused the commotion. As they flew overhead their harsh, shrill calls seemed directed at us. 
 
 “ and there was a warm gentle breeze… ” 
 
 I too turned my gaze to DC. Nothing had physically changed about it since we retreated from it months ago, but we all felt something was churning within it. The skinnies had made the city theirs and what they did within lay far beyond any comprehension. The murderous intent that the skinnies had for us seemed to imbue everything. The Washington Monument seemed an evil watchtower and an ancient anger brewed within the memorials. A darkness grew out of the buildings, onto the streets, and threatened to bound the river and vanquish us. The animals seemed to avoid us, not in fear anymore but in disgust. And even the sporadic sun shone disapprovingly upon us. We felt that we had become the trespassers. 
 
 The patrol to our left put down his scope and whispered agitatedly to his partner, “ Shit! Look over there by the pier! ” and, turning toward me, said, “ Can you shut your friend the fuck up? ” 
 
 Frank seemed to get even louder now. His eyes widened and his smile became more intense. 
 
 “ …it was a gorgeous summer day… ” 
 
 I ignored the patrol and looked through my scope. The wind played tricks on my eyes and I thought for a second I saw moving limbs, but it was just a swaying tree. I was about to ask the patrol to specify which pier when I saw it. I could feel my heart beating hard through my chest. The skinny was on a pier and seemed as tall as two men. Its horn bobbed slowly up and down with each step. Its fingers were stretched out, palms facing out, as it slowly lumbered towards the edge of the pier. Once there, it stretched one leg out, hovering for a moment. And then it dropped down. 
 
 “ …the sun was shining *brightly*… ” 
 
 All the patrols around us had seen it now. Some had their walkie-talkies out 
 
 “ There is a skinny in the river! Do you copy? There is a skinny in the Potomac. ” 
 “ They can ’ t go through the fucking water can they?! ” 
 “ Fuck, I don ’ t think so. ” 
 “ Oh, shit! There ’ s more of them ” 
 
 Frank was now shaking his still intact leg. His eyes rolled back. 
 
 “ …the birds were *singing*… ” 
 
 I scanned the bank to the right and saw another skinny, this time smaller. Up on the highway lining the river, I saw two more weaving through abandoned cars, one impossibly tall. I focused towards the buildings and streets behind. 
 
 I couldn ’ t breathe. 
 
 The skinnies were marching towards the water in numbers and at a speed I didn ’ t think was possible. 
 
 “ …and there was a *warm* gentle breeze… ” 
 
 Reinforcements were arriving. I checked my gun for ammo and reloaded. Frank was flailing his arms in the air. I looked again and the front lines of the skinnies were now submerged. An armada of horns began to traverse the waters. 
 
 Frank was singing out loud now and giggling between lines. He was pointing back and forth at all of us around him. 
 
 “... *Oh*! What it was like before *they* were here! ”
