“They’re blocking my shot!” Keith screamed, staring down the sights of his machine gun.
“Shoot through them then!” Mark ordered. All at once, the six remaining Saviour of Man began shooting at the charging trio of Fiders. Though I had a weapon – I was far too afraid to use it.
The bullets tore through the horses, dropping them to the ground instantly – it pained me to see the beautiful, majestic creatures slaughtered, but it appeared to be the only option. I watched Penny’s horse take a bullet, before letting out a cry of pain and collapsing. I felt a tug at my heart as the creature lay motionless in the road – I couldn’t help but pity Penny for how she must have been feeling; after all, she clearly cared deeply for the creature.
“Get down there, Zachary!” Penny called out, grabbing me by the shoulder and spinning me around. I stared down the dark tunnel – my knees felt like jelly. The thought of jumping made me feel physically sick – I was afraid to jump, but not as afraid as I was of the creatures charging down upon us.
Behind me, the team began to let out panicked screams as the sounds of the rapid, scurrying legs approached. I could feel the vibrations as their hideous legs stomped against the ground in rapid succession.
“What are you waiting for boy?” Julian called out from the darkness of the tunnel – but I couldn’t see him anywhere. I had to remain mindful of the egg in my backpack, making sure I landed correctly was monumentally important, one wrong twist or jerk in the air and I could risk landing on my back, crushing the egg, along with my dreams. I was more concerned for the egg than my own safety.
I wanted to close my eyes – but I couldn’t jump blindly, so instead, I took a deep breath and leapt in to the dark tunnel. Even though it wasn’t much of a fall, I seemed to be flying through the air for an eternity, I could feel the wind blowing past me and heard the sounds of the battle up on the street fade as I fell almost in slow motion; finally, I hit the train with a thud. I felt my nose crack against the roof of the vehicle.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Blood poured down my face and on to my lips, giving me that all too familiar warm feeling that I was beginning to grow accustomed to. I could feel a searing pain in my nose, but it didn’t feel broken. I counted myself lucky – I had always been a fan of my nose. The last thing I wanted was a broken, bent nose to help me blend in with the rest of the Brotherhood and their many war damaged features.
Still, above, a few remaining people held their ground and continued to fire off rapid rounds at the colossal Fiders that charged upon them. I managed to turn my achy body around, still on the train roof, and stare back up through the hole in the wall. An endless shower of empty bullet cases rained down around me, landing with clinks and clanks as they hit the metal train around me.
“Retreat!” I hear Penny bellow out, bringing the remaining fighters to a stop. My ears still rang from the sounds of the automatic fire, but soon the sound faded, to be replaced by the hellish growls of the advancing creatures above – they sounded close.
Suddenly the last of the Brotherhood began turning and jumping down the large gaping hole in the cities floor.
From nowhere, one of the long, blade edged Fider legs appeared from over the edge of the road above – in one whole movement it swiped at the falling platoon. Like a knife through butter, it sliced straight through one man, and managed to impale a second.
I sat there, with my backside still on the empty shell riddled train roof as all around me the remaining troops fell down. I couldn’t take my eyes away as the half of a man flew above me, his eyes still seeming to stare at me with a shocked, wide mouth as guts spilled out of his severed stomach, showering myself and everything else in the tunnel in a disgusting waterfall of gore. A moment later he landed face first with a bone crunching smack on the ground behind me, whilst the bottom half of him landed in front, only a brief second after. Ahead, I saw the other victim of the Fider hang in the air for a few seconds, with the tip of the monsters leg protruding through his chest like a man sized cocktail sausage– he was alive, but remained completely silent. He uselessly slapped at the tip of the limb sticking from his chest with drowsy, lazy eyes, before it withdrew from the tunnel – he disappeared through the hole in the underground celling without so much as a sound – I knew neither of their names.
“We need to get the fuck out of here.” Julian finally screamed now that the topside show was over. I scanned the dark tunnel for any signs of him, but I didn’t have a clue where he was. All Around me, the remaining troops began switching on flashlights which cut through the darkness, highlighting small chunks of the forbidding underpass. I quickly withdrew my own light from my backpack, as I reached in, I couldn’t help but slide my hand across the huge egg, searching for any cracks or damages – it appeared intact, somehow.
“Come on, boy!” Julian hurried me as I rose to my feet, still on top of the train. I took a moment to scan the tunnel with my flashlight – it was a dark, dusty, rundown thing; every sound seemed to echo time after time until it faded away into memory. Each foot step, each hushed, muttered curse word, and every deep grasp for breath rang out a thousand times over as the sounds bounced off the seemingly endless walls of the abyss we found ourselves in.
“Name call.” Julian instructed to the gathering survivors of the attack as I slowly climbed down from the train roof. I landed onto the concrete covered tracks with a crunch as several bullet casings scrunched under my scraggy boots. The rest of the Brotherhood all gathered around him in a semi-circle as they continued to scan their surroundings with their flashlights.
“Penny.” He didn’t ask, but said, to which I heard a ‘yes’.
“Kelvin.” Was next, once again he got a reply.
“Mark.” Again, Mark promptly replied.
“Will.” Julian said – there was no response. I looked around for any signs of Will, though it wasn’t much good – I didn’t have a clue what he looked like. For a few long, awkward moments the rest of the group exchanged glances, as though looking for their comrade, before Julian let out a sigh, and continued.
“Alright then… Keith.” – This was the next name on his mental list – of course, he got a reply, Keith was one of the first to bail out and jump for the cover of the tunnel.
“Turnip.” He said, with a smirk on his face.
“Yes sir.” A large, fat man with a big, round bald head replied. I almost laughed – then I remembered how intimidating the man looked. I couldn’t help but wonder how he had come to be known as turnip.
“Rob.” Julian said – with a finality to his voice – he knew he wasn’t getting a response.
“Right then. Rob and Will; it was a pleasure fighting alongside you both, but the mission has to go on.” Julian said with a cold, emotionless voice. Something about the way he spoke made me think he had said this a thousand times over. Truth be told, it was more than likely true. Julian was clearly a veteran of the Charred Lands, and in this world, that meant you had seen your fair share of killing, death, and pain. I couldn’t help but wonder how many people had died fighting alongside this man, or under his command. Without another word, he took off walking down the dark, winding tunnel. That left seven of us.
“Where the hell are we going?” I asked as I struggled to force my way to the front of the group to catch up with Julian.
“Wherever the tracks take us.” Julian confidently laughed as he continued to walk on into the darkness of the tunnel, using only his flashlight as a guide.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
For a while, I didn’t speak a word, we continued on down the dark tunnel, leaving behind the natural light which shone through the hole in the ground, casting us in complete darkness with nothing but the small beams of light from our torches. It was pitch black down here – I did my best to scan my surroundings as we continued down the tunnel, ever vigilant of any creatures that may have been lurking in the darkness. I didn’t know if it was simply dying echoes morphing into unrecognisable sounds, but I couldn’t h
elp but hear strange noises that always seemed right around the corner.
"What's that noise?" I nervously whispered to Penny, who had taken to keeping by my side.
"Rats, most likely." She said, sounding more hopeful than positive. I decided not to dispute that, part of me was sure that it was something much, much more sinister than rats, but I did my best to try and convince myself otherwise. It was dark down here, and downright creepy - I had to do my best to hold it together and ignore any growing concerns for as long as possible; after all, I was surrounded with some of the toughest guys I had ever come across. Though I doubted any of these people would risk their lives for the sake of saving mine, I knew I was probably in good hands. If anything was to go down, all I needed to do was stick by their sides and I would have a much better chance of survival than if I was on my own.
The tunnel seemed to go on forever. Like a black hole, it seemed to be sucking us down, deeper and deeper into the ground, consuming us in blinding darkness. With each passing step I longed to be up top, back with the Fiders and the Dragons - at least up there I could see them. I felt so vulnerable down in darkness. Anything could be lurking anywhere - every sound seemed to be that of a creature, ready to pounce. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they would probably be able to see us. Even if we didn’t have the flashlights giving away our positions, I knew they were finely tuned predators from the very core of the earth, darkness wouldn’t hinder them.
"This looks like a service room." Julian eventually called out from the front of the pack. We had been trapesing through the tunnel for a good half an hour. In front of him, was a large, metal door - it was the first we had come across since dropping down here, “This has to lead up.” He hopefully added.
"Weapons at the ready.” He ordered, “Anything could be lurking around on the other side of this door." He instructed, pulling out a handgun in case the need for close combat conflict arose. The rest of the group quickly did the same, placing their strapped machine guns over their shoulders, replacing them with much more efficient sidearm, they all kept their lights trained on the door as they positioned themselves around it. I decided to keep to the back, as usual. Not only did I not want to be at the front, I highly doubted they wanted me their either. They knew just as well as I that I was useless in comparison to them.
Carefully and quietly, Julian reached for the rusty handle and pulled the door open. It sounded like it hadn't been opened in years, dust and cobwebs fell from its hinges as it creaked open. Julian peered inside, scanning with his eyes, flashlight, and gun.
"It's clear." Julian said, though something in his voice worried me, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, "Brace yourselves for this, though." He added, with a gulp. He raised his handgun and creeped inside the dark room. I stood at the back of the group, as though waiting in a queue as they each stepped inside the room in single file, each taking it in turns to experience the sights of the room.
I was the last to enter, Julian waited on the other side and quietly closed the door after me. It was hard to tell because of the dim light, but his face looked pale - I never took him as the kind of man to be easily bothered by something, so whatever he had seen in here had shook him to the core.
I was half tempted to keep my eyes peeled to the ground in an attempt to try and avoid seeing whatever it was that this room held in wake, but I couldn’t. Despite knowing full well that I wasn't ready for the room, I decided to look. Already, the other flashlights were highlighting most of the most horrific sights, but I used my own to scan the blood stained room. It was a slaughter; no doubt one of the worst things I had ever seen in my entire life.
The room that we found ourselves in was cluttered with tell-tale signs of survivors. Essential supplies littered the place. Empty rusty cans and water bottles littered the floor, they looked like they hadn’t been touched in decades. Was it not for the bodies in the room, I may have suspected that this rubbish had been from before the Rise. I had seen my fair share of bodies since stepping foot outside of Haven, in all stages of decomposition, but this was by far the worst. I counted eleven small, dusty skeletal remains, and two large, adult skeletons. Though their flesh had long rotten away, dark, dried stains painted the floor in a dark brown. The eleven children were lined up, one by one with their hands tied and faces covered. They were executed - at the other end of the room, the two adults had once been hung. A rope for each of the piles of bones still dangled from the sky, now nothing more than another obstacle for the spiders to cover with their silky webs. I could only assume their corpses had fallen free of the nooses once they deteriorated into skeletons. Besides them, rested two empty handguns.
"What the hell happened here?" Keith gasped.
"I don't want to know." The peculiar man named Turnip replied as he walked up the line of dead child skeletons, admiring each one.
"Shot in the back of the head, every single one of them." Julian explained.
"Can we get a move on?" Penny shivered, with a tear in her eye. It was strange to see her show emotion, or anyone else for that matter. I always assumed that people as tough as these guys lacked it, especially sadness. It was clear to me that despite how long these people had been living out in the Charred Lands, this was probably the worst discovery they had made. It made me feel a little better about the way I was feeling inside.
This was no doubt the darkest, most disturbing thing I had encountered. These children were tied up and murdered by two adults, who I could only assume had been their carers’. As far as I could see, it looked as though all of the cans and bottles were empty, meaning the small group of survivors were out of supplies. It looked as though the adults had opted to make the children’s death as quick and painless as possible with a bullet to the back of the head, as opposed to a slow and bitterly sad death at the hands of starvation. It was clear to see that the adults here had tried their best to shield the children from what must have been happening on the surface at the time. The walls were a tribute to what the children must have been thinking at the time. Crudely drawn stick figures labelled Mum and Dad with shoddy houses and shining suns were a recurring theme on the chalk covered walls.
With that, we decided to head through a lightly barricaded door at the other end of the room and high tail it out of the children’s execution room. I took one last brief look around the room, it was enough to embroil the image in my mind forever. I knew what I had seen here would stick with me forever. This room had been sealed away like an ancient chamber of memories of what had happened directly after the Rise. Things like this belonged in the past, nobody needed to know things like this happened. There was a story to be told here, and no doubt some snooping around may have led me to an answer as to how this came to be - but we couldn't bear to stand around in here any longer - nobody could stomach another moment in here.
Finally, I heard the Keith snap off the final piece of wood which had been nailed across the door.
"Rest in peace." Julian muttered as he made his way out of the tomb.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The room lingered in my mind for quite some time. It was such a barbaric, horrific scene; eleven dead children and two adults. Were the children murdered out of mercy, or something else, something darker? I guess I'd never know. Some things were better off not knowing I suppose - the less I snooped around in that room, the better. Some realities are far worse than anything that can be mustered up in an imagination. They seemed like mercy killings to me, and I was happy to remain with that assumption.
The barricaded door brought us to a concrete set of stairs which took us to an old, dusty train station - finally, after what felt like a life time, we found natural light. It was great to be out of the tunnel and maintenance rooms and back up topside.
We exited through a door labelled 'Maintenance' and emerged into the small train station. The words on the sign were barely visible, eroded away by decades of decay and dirt.
"Anyone have any idea where we are?" Julian asked, scanning the tr
ain station with his beady eyes. We were stood on one of two sheltered platforms, whilst the tracks in between them had no roof - for a while, back down in that dark tunnel, I was beginning to suspect that we would never see the dim light of the Charred Lands’ sun again. It was great to be back outside and smell the smoke filled air once again. I never thought I would be grateful for that woeful smell. Of course, I had long grown used to it and quite often simply ignored it, but on the occasions that I caught an extra strong whiff I was reminded of all the damage that had been inflicted upon the earth.
“We shouldn't be too far from the tower – we should be able to see it now, once we’re outside.” Mark figured, unfolding some old maps that he had in his backpack to confirm his reckoning.
“Yeah – we probably walked around about three miles down there, and it was much more direct than the route we would have taken if we were up top. Being down there actually might have done us some good.” Kelvin almost laughed as he made his way over to Mark to help his friend inspect the maps.
“You did well down there kid, you kept it together.” Julian smiled as he approached me. I found it a little frustrating. Firstly, he called me kid – I hated that, and secondly; it pissed me off to no end that he felt obliged to congratulate me on avoiding a mental breakdown, or completely freaking out– ridiculous. I knew, and everyone else that came across me quickly knew that I wasn’t the toughest survivor, but I was fucking getting there. I had travelled a great distance and seen many things in the short time that I had been out in the Charred Lands; I knew I survived when so many others wouldn’t. Unlike most of my current companions, I was still bothered by sights that we came across, and things still scared the hell out of me, but I was getting better.
The Charred Lands: City of Ash Page 11