Sanctum (The After Light Saga)

by Cameo Renae

  Chapter 15

  Loud screams echoed around us as the flames grew. It was almost strange, how beautiful fire was. The way it twirled and danced effortlessly, licking, then devouring everything in its path. Black plumes of noxious smoke began to billow, slowly strangling the air around us. Intense heat radiated as the ferocious and unrelenting flames devoured the town. The buildings cracked and popped under the intense heat. Swirls of wind sent glittery specks of fire and ash to float down around us. I was mesmerized, until I reached out to touch one.

  Arvies screamed in pain and began to rush out from the buildings. Gunfire echoed across the town as Rhett’s men picked them off, one by one. Finn threw me behind him and began firing. Buildings surrounded us, and so did the Arvies. They charged out from their hiding places, pissed, and ready to take revenge.

  I focused and stood back to back with him. I already knew, if we had to, we circle right. The dark grey smoke worked its way through the streets, making it nearly impossible to see.

  Then I saw them, milky white eyes, headed directly toward us. In a split second, I raised Hellfire and pulled the trigger.

  Two Arvies dropped to the ground.

  “Finn!” Rhett called. “We’ve got this. Go!”

  “Are you sure?” Finn called back.

  “Oh yeah! We’ve definitely got the advantage,” he said, with his goggles on. They exchanged a thumbs up.

  “Pike, you ready?” Finn called.

  “Ready. I can’t breathe,” he coughed.

  Finn grabbed hold of my hand and we made a dash down the street, toward the exit. Pike stayed right on our heels.

  I heard another scream from the side of me. The smoke was so thick I could barely see it.

  Bam!

  The Arvy dropped to the ground, his arm grabbed my leg. I screamed and jumped back.

  “Got ‘em!” Pike yelled.

  “Thank you. I didn’t even see it coming.”

  “No problem. I’m trying to make it even, just in case you need to carry me part of the way,” he laughed.

  We exited the town and ran as far as we could, until there was no smoke.

  About a half mile away, we stopped for a moment and turned around to make sure we weren’t being followed.

  We weren’t. There was only darkness and the glow of the town. Popping sounds from gunfire echoed through the air as they fired on the Arvies. I hoped they would accomplish their mission and make it out alive.

  The town was glowing in bright and beautiful hues of orange, yellow, and red. It was an eerie feeling. The plumes of smoke billowed upward creating a veil of darkness which swallowed up the moon and star light.

  “They’re doing their job, let’s do ours,” Finn broke the silence.

  “How will we know we’re headed in the right direction?” I asked.

  “Rhett gave me a compass. I’ll find it,” he said confidently.

  “I don’t doubt you will,” I agreed.

  We ran deeper and deeper into darkness, resting only a few moments to drink a few sips of water. We needed to do this. We had to.

  The night breeze was cool and invigorating, giving us the extra boost to keep moving. The only sound was our loud breaths and the pounding of our feet against the dead earth. The feeling of being on the topside, free and running in a vast expanse, was a feeling I couldn’t explain. Amazing, yet tainted, knowing there were Arvies out there. But at this moment, we were safe. I knew this because my mind was completely free from any pain.

  A few hours later, I saw a faint glimmer ahead. The dim light from the half-moon above us reflected off of something metal. As my eyes adjusted and focused, I realized it was the chopper’s windshield.

  “There it is,” I pointed.

  “Thank God,” Pike huffed, out of breath.

  “Good job, Abi,” Finn said. Seeing the chopper shot another bit of adrenaline into us. We kept going, knowing we could rest for a while once we reached it.

  It took us about ten more minutes to finally reach our destination. Seeing the chopper resting silently on its side, in the middle of the desert, brought back a wave of emotion. It was a miracle we’d even survived. Steven really did save our lives.

  When we came close, Finn took the sled off of his back and placed it on the ground. Lifting his shotgun, he motioned for us to be quiet and to stay put. He wasn’t going to take any risks, and I didn’t blame him. We didn’t come all the way out here to get bitten by an Arvy.

  He quietly snuck up to the chopper, and climbed in. I waited, impatiently.

  “All clear,” he yelled.

  I exhaled, not realizing I was holding my breath.

  I jumped in next to Finn, and Pike followed, after dropping the empty containers on the ground.

  “There has to be some kind of light in here,” Finn said.

  “There should be an emergency kit somewhere. I don’t think anyone took it. We were in a rush to get out,” Pike said. “It will have glow sticks, or a flare in it.”

  “Well, we don’t want to use a flare,” I noted. I could smell a hint of fuel.

  “I hope there’s still fuel, and it didn’t leak out or dry up,” Finn said.

  “Nah, there is no way. There are hundreds of gallons in the extra tanks. We’ll have more than enough,” Pike said.

  We carefully checked everywhere for the emergency kit. “I think I found it,” Finn said. He carried a medium-sized white box outside of the chopper. In the dim light, he opened it. “Damn, there is a lot of stuff in here.” He rummaged through the box and pulled something out.

  “Hell yeah,” Pike cheered. “That’s a flashlight. Its hand crank powered. Here give it to me. I’ve had a few of these.”

  Finn handed it over to Pike, and after a few minutes, the flashlight clicked on.

  “Awesome,” Finn said.

  “We even have a few glow sticks in here. He ripped open a foil package and cracked a glow stick. It started to illuminate a fluorescent yellow, and as he shook it, it became brighter.

  “How many are there?” Pike asked.

  “Three,” Finn said, handing me one, before cracking another one, and jumping back into the chopper. There wasn’t much we could take, and we didn’t want to carry anything heavy anyway.

  “I think the easiest way to get the fuel, would be to syphon it,” Finn advised.

  Pike agreed. “I think I have something we can use.” He pulled a small tube off of the front of the chopper.

  I jumped out and began untying the containers from each other, setting them up so they would be easier to fill. Pike seemed to know his way around the helicopter. He said he’d helped out on a few during training.

  They found the extra fuel tank and began to syphon, filling one container at a time until all ten were filled. They were heavy. We carefully set them in the sled, tying them together and down, trying to make them as secure as possible.

  “Let’s rest up a bit before we head back,” Finn said.

  We all agreed, and sat down outside of the chopper to rehydrate.

  “Holy crap. We have food.” Finn held up one pouch of freeze-dried chili mac with beef. “And there is a flint stick, and a plastic spoon. Damn, we scored!”

  I laughed at how adorably excited he was. “Is that still good?” I asked.

  “Yeah, those things have a shelf life of thirty years,” Pike said. “It’s definitely still good.”

  “Well, I’m hungry, so we need to make a fire. Like now,” Finn said.

  We quickly gathered whatever we could use as burning material from the chopper and moved far away. There were lots of maps, and a few manuals. Pike found a small metal box which we could use as a bowl. With the flint and a little fuel, we quickly started the fire. Each of us poured some water out of our canteens, then waited and watched it cook.

  “These MRE’s are great. The government bunkers are loaded,” Pike said.

  “We had a bunch of freeze dried food in our bunker too,” I said. “It all tasted the same, but my favorite was
the beef stroganoff.”

  “Mine was the beef stew,” Finn said. “However, Abi’s grandma used to doctor it up and make it all taste a lot better.”

  “I bet,” Pike chuckled. “We had some great food growing up in the hive. Especially when the Garden of Eden started producing. A few days a month we would get to eat fresh fruits, herbs, and vegetables. That was a nice surprise.”

  “I can’t wait until we can start a garden of our own,” I said. “Seeing the Garden of Eden was like a dream. I never wanted to leave.”

  “It had that effect on people. I remember my first day, it was the first time I’d ever seen fruit on a tree. I was mesmerized. Then, to actually taste it…” Pike moaned and rolled his eyes back.

  I laughed. “Oh believe me. I can totally empathize.”

  “That’s so not fair. I never got to experience the garden,” Finn pouted.

  “Well,” I said. “I was wishing you were there to experience it with me. One day, you will get to experience it.”

  “I’ve heard the next bunker has a garden triple the size of ours,” Pike said.

  “Well, I’d want to experience it for the first time with Abi,” he said, flitting his gaze over to me.

  A smile formed on my lips.

  “I doubt that would ever happen. I know in our hive, the only people who could go together were the marrieds. Singles had no say who they went in with, and it was usually their roommate.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I went with Tina,” I said. Pike smiled as I said her name.

  “So, with all the time you two have had together, have you discussed any plans for the future?” I asked him.

  His grin got bigger.

  “Since we arrived at Sanctum, we have had a bit of time to talk a lot about the future. I never realized how much we have in common, and how our goals are so connected.”

  “I’m happy for you. You both look so happy together,” I said.

  “It’s so strange because for all these years we had a mutual infatuation, but it never grew into anything more. I guess it was because we couldn’t show any kind of affection, in fear of her father finding out. He had the power to make me disappear,” he chuckled. “But since we’ve been out, we have had some time to talk and make goals. We want to be together, so it’s just a matter of time. But we all know we most likely won’t be able to see each other for a long time in this the next bunker. I just hope the bunker life will end soon and we will finally have a chance to start lives of our own.”

  “I know, man. That’s the same frustration we have,” Finn said. “Our situation was kind of the same. We also grew up together, and only had each other. We were inseparable, and I was truly blessed to have her there. I looked forward to seeing her bright face, every single day. She completed me. Whenever she was sick, I felt lost. But I was also terrified to tell her how I felt because I didn’t want her to think differently of me. If she didn’t feel the same way, our friendship wouldn’t be the same. I didn’t want to risk it.”

  “Well it looks mutual to me,” Pike laughed, and I blushed.

  “Yeah, thank God,” Finn exhaled.

  “Tina told me the other night, she loves the way you look at each other. You can see the love and respect. It’s like each knows what the other is thinking.”

  Finn and I glanced at each other, and smiled.

  “It’s true. After thirteen years of being so close to him, he knows everything about me. And I never told him how I felt, because I also didn’t want to lose the amazing relationship we had.”

  “I’ll bet Ava put it to the test though?” Pike said.

  “Yes, and I’ll admit, I acted very immaturely. You have to remember, up until that point, I’d had Finn all to myself. I never had to compete with anyone else for his friendship, or feel the sting of jealousy. It was a whole new set of feelings. I guess I thought I was going to lose him and became irrational. It took me a little while to realize our friendship was most important to me. His happiness was something I treasured over mine.”

  “That’s why I love you,” Finn smiled.

  “You two are making me sick,” Pike moaned. “Enough with the love junk! Is the food ready?”

  “It is,” Finn laughed, stirring the pot.

  Chapter 16

  My hunger doubled when the wonderful cheesy aroma hit my nose, making my mouth water and stomach rumble. But I knew the boys were much bigger and needed more calories, especially since they would be taking turns pulling the sled on the way back. I’d just have two bites.

  Finn handed me the spoon. “You first.”

  “Thank you,” I said. I’d lose if I argued, so I took a spoonful. Their eyes were locked onto me, watching my every move. Pike’s mouth opened, mimicking mine. It made me laugh.

  “Sorry, I won’t look. Can you tell I’m hungry?” he said, getting pink in the cheeks.

  I quickly took a bite. It was hot and I had to inhale and exhale through my mouth a few times to cool it down. The taste was wonderful. The cheese was thick, and there were little bits of meat mixed in, which didn’t have much flavor. But overall, to a hungry person, the food was amazing.

  I handed the spoon to Finn. “No, when you’re done,” he said.

  “Yes, you first,” Pike agreed.

  I took one more bite, and then handed the spoon to Finn.

  “You done?” he asked.

  “Mmm-hmm,” I nodded, savoring the flavors of the soft cheesy noodles.

  Finn handed the spoon to Pike. “You first man. Go for it.”

  “You sure?”

  “If I wasn’t, I’d already be taking a bite,” he laughed.

  Pike grinned and took the spoon. He scooped up a big mound of cheesy noodles. As soon as it hit his mouth he exhaled, “Oh my God. This is so good.” He cradled it in his mouth, sucking in deep breaths to cool it off. He closed his eyes and moaned as he swallowed. He took a few more bites, which emptied half of the pot, then handed the spoon over to Finn. “It’s all yours.”

  Finn took the spoon and dug in. The heat didn’t affect him, because he liked everything extra hot. I don’t think he even breathed in between bites. In less than a minute, it was all gone.

  “Man. That was amazing,” he said, scraping the remnants. “It’ll fuel the tank for a while, but I could have eaten at least three of those packets.”

  Pike chuckled. “Yeah, as a pre-dinner snack.”

  “Let’s digest and rest up for the long journey. We should reach there around sunrise, since we’ll be traveling much slower now that we have the fuel.”

  “Good,” Pike huffed. “I almost lost a lung trying to keep up with you two.”

  “I’ll take the sled first,” Finn offered. You just keep watch and make sure we aren’t being followed.

  “Deal,” Pike answered.

  Finn put out the fire, instantly making the area dark.

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ve got your back.”

  “I know you do,” he said coming awfully close, wrapping his arms around me. I could see the stars shining brilliantly behind him, but they were dulled by the sparkle he had in his eyes.

  “Get a room,” Pike teased. “Good Lord, the chopper is just over there.”

  Finn and I laughed.

  “One day, we will have a house of our own, and we’ll have Pike and Tina over to our place for some cheesy beefy macaroni. He’ll love that,” he winked, then leaned over and gave me a quick kiss.

  “Yes, I will. And I’m totally going to hold you to it,” Pike said. “I really do like that cheesy crap. It kind of makes me want to do this,” he said, flailing his arms and kicking his legs about in every direction.

  We all burst into laughter at his silly dance.

  “It’ll be our first double date,” I said excitedly.

  “I know Tina would love that,” Pike said. “But first, we have to do some major extermination.”

  “Well then, we should get moving so you can get back to her,” I said.

  I helped attach t
he straps from the sled onto Finn and made sure everything was secure. Ten gallons of fuel was a heavy load, but I knew he could handle it. He took off in a quick powerwalk. Pike took front, and I stayed behind.

  The sky was clear, except for dead ahead. About fifteen miles away, there was a blemish in the sky, a haze from the smoke. I could almost catch a hint of it on the breeze, and also the faint hints of gas fumes from the containers.

  Being on the topside wasn’t all we thought it would be. Aside from the Arvies, it was dead silent. I could barely remember what it was like before we went into the hive, but we did have an abundance of National Geographic videos and books to watch while underground. Those had given us a glimpse of what the world used to look like. Lush, green, and filled with life. I’d dreamt of what kind of wildlife we’d see when we came to the topside.

  Things like birds flying, crickets chirping, the buzz of bees, or barking dogs. Anything would have been better than dead silence.

  My grandfather said there would probably be cockroaches which survived the fallout. That’s all we needed, another pest to rid from the planet. But I still hadn’t seen one yet. So, he could have been wrong, or we just weren’t looking hard enough.

  All those National Geographic videos would be documentation of what the earth used to be like. It would never be the same.

  We were lucky there were still a few areas on the globe that could support life. Like Rhett’s town.

  My mind kept spinning on what the future would be like, but I couldn’t get my hopes up. Reality had a way of crushing dreams. But I knew, as long as I had Finn by my side, everything would be alright.

  I followed behind, and watched his strong figure leaning forward, pulling with little effort. His strides were long and quick, sweat on his muscular arms glistened. Sometimes it was hard to take my eyes off of him, but I had to make sure we were safe.

  The soft glow of the fires ahead gave us a visual, a pinpoint of exactly where we needed to go. We stopped a few times to take sips of water, and catch our breath, but not for long. Pike took the sled for about a half hour, and then gave it right back to Finn.