The Charred Lands: City of Ash

by Josh A. Murphy

  “Why would you risk your life for us?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I'm not from around these parts; this isn't the world I'm used to. I don't know what kind of people this environment creates, but I'm different. I don't have it in me to let suffering like that happen. I wanted to leave, I really did. But I couldn't. When I saw what they did to her; I had to do something.” I explained, for some reason I felt a twinge in my heart, and a single tear began to fill my left eye. I turned away and wiped it, hoping they wouldn't see.

  “Why don't I believe that?” He asked.

  “What?”

  “Nobody. Nobody, in this world is that kind. They just aren't.”

  “I'm not from this world!” I snapped in response. For a few seconds he stared at me in stunned silence, as though I was an alien.

  “Well, I am... technically, but not this shit! My home feels like a million planets away! I grew up in peace, surrounded by love and trust; I’m not from this world! I don’t belong to the Charred Lands!” I added, feeling my blood boil. I stood there, gun in my right hand, with my left fist clenched, staring at them both. Still, they looked afraid. I slowly placed my gun in my waist and held my hands out.

  “Look, I mean you guys no harm…”

  “Then what do you want?” The guy asked. This annoyed me a little – I just saved their lives – the least they could do was show a little gratitude.

  “I don’t know… a friend?” I sighed. They stared at me for a few seconds, finally, they began to show signs of letting their guard down.

  “A friend?” The frightened, timid girl asked. Her voice was low and hushed.

  “I’m all alone out here. I’ve got a long, long mission that I must complete, and any company would be much appreciated.”

  “Right, fine, we'll hear you out. Follow us – it’s not safe so close to the road. We learnt that the hard way. Let’s find somewhere a little less out in the open to discuss this.” The guy said, before turning and making his way off into the darkness of the forest. I took one final, long look around the dead motorway before following.

  It was great to be off the side of the road, and away from the motorway. Putting some distance between us and the fire did a little to calm down my nerves, plus the trees above provided some cover from an attack from the sky. I had constantly been listening out for any signs of the dragon's presence, but as far as I could tell, it had left us be.

  For a while we all walked through the woods without saying so much as a word. I couldn’t pluck up the courage to break the silence – though a thousand questions rushed through my head. I wanted so badly to hear their back stories. I wanted to sit and listen to them explain how they’ve survived out here in the Charred Lands, what growing up was like for them, and how they came to be alone out here – I knew the time to ask these questions would come once we decided on a place safe enough to stop. The dragon had disappeared back into the nights sky, but we all knew it could still be close by – close enough to hear us talk and come back down to unleash a second wave of destruction.

  “Here should do.” The man finally said as we entered an opening. There was an old, rotten wooden table in the middle of it, I could just imagine children coming here for days out and picnics before the Rise. It was hard to tell in the dark, but I imagined this place would have looked nice in the autumn – with golden leaves and big warm coats – a completely different world that seemed more like a fairy-tale than a reality to me, yet it made me happy to imagine it nonetheless.

  “So, what’re your names?” I eventually built up the courage to ask. For a few seconds, neither of my new companions replied.

  “I’m Wayne.” The boy said, exchanging a nervous glance with the girl.

  “And yours?” I asked, turning to her.

  “I… I don’t have a name.” She said, her voice barely a whisper. I noticed ancient scars that lined her rough, pale face. I stared blankly at her for a few seconds, waiting for either of them to expand.

  “Well, I do... It’s 3942. Or, it was.” She eventually added

  “Yeah – It was. We’ve left that life behind now.” Wayne said, sitting himself down on the old wooden bench, I heard it splinter and crack under this weight, but still he remained seated.

  “That’s not a name… you must have a name?” I said, feeling a great sadness. I didn’t know this girls back story, but already I was beginning to get the gist of it.

  “Don’t worry baby, we’ll give you a proper name – now that you’re safe.” Wayne said, rubbing her arm in an effort to comfort her. She didn’t reply, instead she gave him a slight nod, but continued to stare into space. I couldn’t be sure – but I thought I detected a tear in her eye.

  “I’m guessing you want the gory details?” Wayne said, turning to me. Suddenly the sadness in his voice was replaced by something else. He seemed angry.

  “Well, no but…” I managed, before he cut me off.

  “She was raised in captivity. She never met her parents. She was never given a name, only a number. She was the 3942nd slave belonging to Anarchy’s Children. She never met her parents, never tasted freedom, and never slept in a warm bed. She grew up in a cage in a big muddy hole with the rest of the slaves.”

  “That’s… that’s horrible…” I said, trying to imagine the scene.

  “They did unspeakable things to her – almost from birth. Of course, she was there before they recruited me. The second I laid eyes on her – I knew I had to do something. She looked so afraid in there; well, they all did – but there was something else about her. That’s why I rescued her.”

  “You were part of Anarchy’s Children?”

  “Only for a little over a month. I had been heading across country in search of sanctuary with my parents and little sister when they came across us - a small band of maybe six or seven, they slaughtered my entire family, leaving only me alive. They had me face down in the ash of the Charred Lands, with a gun against my head until one of them decided I was worth of joining them. I didn’t want to work with them – but right there, lying next to my families bodies, I knew it was my only shot at survival. So I went along with them. I let them train me up, show me their ways, drank their water and ate their food – all the while I was plotting. Originally, I just wanted to kill as many of them as possible. That is, until I laid eyes on her. She changed everything. Suddenly I didn’t just want to go out in a blaze of glory, killing as many of them as I could before one of them put me down – but I wanted to escape with my life, and with her.”

  “How did you do it?” I asked, completely and utterly captivated by his story.

  “I killed three guards before I unlocked the slave’s cage. As quickly as I could, I ran in and grabbed her. There was around fifty slaves still alive in total – I let them out to create a distraction. Whilst the Anarchy’s Children slaughtered the fleeing slaves, I took her and slipped out a quiet back exit.”

  “Those people on the roadside, were they from Anarchy’s Children?”

  “Yes. Someone must have spotted me – that group had been chasing us for the best part of three days. We managed to evade them successfully until before – they would have killed us for sure if you didn’t show up… or worse, took us back to face the wrath of the Bloodhound.”

  “The Bloodhound?” I asked, this being the second time I had heard someone mention it. Last time it had been one of the marauders, yet even they spoke of it in fear. Whatever this ‘Bloodhound’ was, it was almost definitely a very, very bad thing.

  “Bloodhound is the leader of Anarchy’s Children. He’s horrible. Absolutely horrible. He oversees all of the torture, the rape, and the murders. He gets his kicks out of it. He’s the last of five original people who formed Anarchy’s Children – he’s responsible for creating a community that’s sole purpose is to extract hurt and death onto this land. He’s the worst man to walk this earth.” Wayne explained, with each passing second I could see him getting more and more irate from his story. I could tell that thi
s was aggravating him, but who could blame him. He clearly cared deeply for this girl – not only had they subjected her to an entire life time’s worth of torture and punishment, but they had also murdered his entire family.

  “It’s so hard to imagine that things like that really exist. I’ve heard stories about such places from travellers that passed through my old community, but I never believed them. I just could never wrap my head around it – the world seemed so much purer, so much better from the perspective of the home that I grew up in.” I sighed, missing Haven deeply.

  “Well they’re real – and something tells me if you don’t end up dead before the end of this quest, you’ll end up there too. Everyone out here does. Nobody gets by fine, least of all nice people. You seem alright – I guess; but what you did was stupid. If it was the other way around, we would have left you to die. The quickest way to get yourself killed around here is to make other people’s shit your own.” Wayne snapped. His statement filled me with mixed emotions; I guess I had spent so much time worrying about who was good, and who was bad – as if it was that simple. But Wayne signified everything wrong with my presumptions. Wayne didn’t exactly seem like a bad guy, but he certainly wasn’t good. I guess he was just looking out for himself. He didn’t care about others, he didn’t even care that I had risked my life for him – all he cared about was his self, and his girl. It frustrated me referring to her as ‘girl’, but I also refused to call her by her number.

  “Have you given any thought about a name?” I decided to ask, turning my attention to her.

  “I… I haven’t really had time.”

  “We’ve got time now.” I said, forcing a smile for her. Wayne looked around nervously before butting in - “It’s not safe here; it’s quiet – but not safe. We don’t have time for this.” He said.

  “What about Florence?” The girl said, suddenly her face changed a little – she didn’t look so afraid anymore, so broken – instead she almost smiled. I tried to smile – but I couldn’t. Hearing that name brought back a flood of emotions that I had been trying so hard to block away. Of all the names in the world, she had to say that.

  “I don’t think it suits you.” I said, feeling a little insulted that she chose that name – she didn’t deserve it. As far as I was concerned, there was only one Florence.

  “Azaria.” Wayne said, with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

  “Why?” She asked.

  “It was my sister’s name. It would mean a lot if you took it.”

  “Azaria it is.” She smiled, placing a hand on his cheek. For a few seconds they sat in silence, staring into each other’s eyes. I began to feel a little uncomfortable as the seconds ticked by, half expecting them to strip off naked and go at it right in front of me.

  “Right, can we go now…” Wayne said, standing from the bench.

  “Ready when you are.” I simply said.

  “Wait…” Azaria said. Though I didn’t know the girl, thinking of her as Azaria felt strange – I couldn’t imagine how strange it must be for her to finally have a name to call herself after however many years of being alive, known only as a slave number.

  “What?” Wayne sighed, growing frustrated.

  “I’m hungry… you got anything in that backpack?” She asked. My heart skipped a beat for a second, I was still yet to inform the couple about the contents of my backpack and the details of the mission.

  “Yeah, just a little.” I said, mentally making a list of my remaining supplies. I didn’t have much, but I figured I had to share the rest of them with the pair. I had enough for a small bite to eat each, but after that I’d be all out. All I’d have in my possession then was the handgun, a small amount of ammo, the precious egg, and of course, something that I kept forgetting about – the grenade that Conrad had given to me just before we entered the heart of Warrington.

  I carefully placed the backpack down before unzipping it and rooting around for any supplies inside. I felt my hands slide past the warm dragon egg and past a clip of ammo, until they reached a small bag containing the last of my food. With great reluctance, I pulled it out and offered it to my two new companions.

  Wayne almost snatched the small bag from my hands, before ripping it open and peering inside. For a few seconds he stood in silence, scanning what was left of my supplies, before reaching in and handing the last of my Warrington grown bread to Azaria. He then took out my single remaining bottle of water and took a gulp from it, before once again passing it to his female friend. Within moments the entire bag, and the bottle were empty.

  I stood in silence for a few seconds, watching them finish off the scraps of my food. I could feel a growing anger inside of me, but I squashed it before I allowed it to show – after all, who knows exactly when this pair had last ate. I was about to ask for any last crumbs or drops of water, when we heard something.

  “The fuck’s that?” I asked, regretting it instantly. Without so much as a word, both Wayne and Azaria hit the deck. For a few seconds I remained upright, staring at the pair like an imbecile, before I snapped into action; I jumped to the ground, landing in the long, overgrown grass face first.

  I listened out for the sounds, almost beginning to doubt that I had ever heard them, until the sounds of rustling came once more. I peered around in the darkness, yet still I could see nothing.

  “Do you have that flashlight?” Wayne asked.

  “You really want to go shining that thing around in the darkness?” I asked, taking the rare opportunity to point out someone else’s stupidity, rather than my own.

  “Not really…” Wayne replied, sounding a little embarrassed.

  Then I heard another noise; a clicking of sorts. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what could possibly be making the noise, but whatever it was, was scurrying around in the grass, and it wasn’t too far away from us. Judging from Wayne’s reaction to the noise – he knew exactly what was making the sound.

  “Fuck.” I heard him mutter as he jumped to his feet.

  “What?” I asked, as I struggled to mine.

  “It’s a Volcveetle!” He said, as though it had been a stupid question. Though I had no idea what this was, I could only assume it was another one of the many creatures that spawned from the volcanos all those years ago. I squinted out against the darkness, desperate to catch a glimpse of the creature. Already, I heard Wayne and Azaria making a run for the safety of the tree line – that’s when I spotted it.

  It was no taller than a small dog in height, with four small, stumpy legs, and an evil face with two glowing, orange eyes. It had a round, rock like, black body with a small, perfectly circular head which seemed to be almost entirely made up by its eerily bright eyes – but none of this really caught my attention, what did was its large, pointy stinger. It looked like a walking rock, with a scorpion’s tale and an alien head – a truly horrific creature. What’s worse was the fact that the monstrosity seemed to be staring right at me, and I stared back.

  For a few seconds, we stood completely motionless, as though each waiting for the other to do something – all the while, the creature never once stopped clicking. The sound could only be described as that of the bones cracking in an old man, but constant, and much louder. Then suddenly, it moved. I could only watch for a few moments as it slowly raised its tail high in the air, the sharp, black stinger seemed to arch itself in my direction – I could stare no longer. Though it pained me to turn my back from the creature, I spun around and took off running into the darkness, praying I was heading in the same direction that Wayne and Azaria had took off in.

  I couldn’t help but be struck by how fearless it seemed. We humans loomed large over it, but the monster came at us with only the intention of attacking us on its mind. It didn’t fear us at all, it only wanted to kill. I dreaded to imagine the damage that its stinger would inflict. Even though I had never seen a scorpion first hand, my Grandpa had read to me about them from a foreign wildlife book we had back at Haven. They seemed like horrible creatures,
but this Volcveetle made them sound like butterflies in comparison.

  “Guys!” I couldn’t help but call out, in fear of getting lost, for a while I had been aimlessly running without really trying to follow the pair, I was too busy thinking about the creature that had just stumbled across us – just as I expected, they didn’t reply. I didn’t know if they were out of earshot, or simply chose to ignore me, I figured it was most likely the latter.

  I charged back onto the motorway, and that’s when I saw my companions; only, they weren’t alone. I quickly pulled my handgun out as I approached them.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Wayne and Azaria both stood side by side, frozen in fear as they stared down the barrel of a sawn off shotgun. The trio stood in the middle of the road. Still, broken burnt out cars lingered all around them – the fire just up the road still ravaged and slowly spread car to car, it seemed like the flames would be upon them within minutes.

  “I thought you fuckers would have been smart enough to get far, far away from me.” The female leader of the marauders smirked as I approached, gun aimed right in her direction. She had survived, but only just. I had no doubt gunned down her tall companion, whilst the dragon had done us a favour and burnt the other two to a crisp – but even the flames of the beast weren’t enough to stop this woman. The entire left side of her face had been burnt and scolded beyond recognition. One of her eyes swayed uselessly, twitching as the last of the nerves in the left side of her face died. I couldn’t imagine the pain that she must have been in, yet still – she managed to find the strength to continue to pursue us. Once again, I detected no fear in her. Even with her horrific burns and the pain that they must have been causing her, she managed to aim the gun steadily at the couple without as much as a twitch or sway.