The Charred Lands: City of Ash

by Josh A. Murphy

  “Please… I’d snap him.” Penny chuckled, giving me a playful nudge. As the rest of the table laughed as loud as their lungs would allow, I couldn’t help but feel a little relieved as I awkwardly sniggered to myself.

  Slowly, the mood in the room began to swift as everyone fell silent as the last of the group savoured the last of their vegetables. As much as I enjoyed scoffing them down, I started to take my time after I reached the half way point. I wanted to taste every single pea and every chunk of carrot, and try my absolute best to appreciate their taste, because after all, there was a strong possibility that this might be my last meal.

  “So we’re getting a while off duty… what about him? You think boss will let him join us?” Kelvin asked, once again I found them staring at me.

  “We'll be dropping him off at the other side of Manchester, at the base of the mountain. He's got his own mission that he must complete.” Julian explained, with a sigh. Once again, the kitchen fell into silence.

  “Well there's always going to be a place for you at the Saviour of Man. We'll all vouch for that. You'll need to bulk up a little first though, of course.” Kelvin said, finishing the last of his food.

  “If things don't work out, I'll take you up on that.” I said, feeling a little strange at the thought of joining these people. After all, it had been Saviour of Man that massacred Conrad and the rest of Warrington's people around about a week ago. These people had been the enemy to me back then, now they were almost friends. Of course, I highly doubted any of the people in my company were directly involved with the massacre at Warrington, but they still worked for the same person. Whoever was sending the orders to bombard Warrington and murder the relatively peaceful people that lived there was also the same person who gave these people their orders to recapture the tower. I couldn't imagine myself ever being able to work for someone like that. As much as I liked these people, I knew deep down, that joining them would never be an option – they were a means to an end, or at very least, a short cut to achieving my goal of reaching the Church of Fire; nothing more. Once today's mission was over and they dropped me off at the mountain, we would all go our separate ways and likely never see, or so much as think of each other ever again – they would be just a few more faces in the growing list of people that have come and gone since my mission started.

  Suddenly I realised everyone else's plates had been picked clean, and mine was the only one with food on it. Half a carrot and about six peas – I was hungry, but I didn't want to eat them. Finishing my meal would bring the table’s conversation to a stop, and bring a start to the fighting.

  “Not hungry?” Penny asked.

  “Not really.” I sighed, deciding I couldn't stomach to finish it. Several greedy hands quickly swiped down and picked at my plate, fighting over the remains of my meal until it had been picked clean.

  “Well then… let's load up, and head out.” Julian groaned as he rose from his chair.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Despite how neglected, and derelict the house had been, I felt the warmth drain from me as we slipped back into the alley behind the row of abandoned homes. I was overcome with a bone tingling chill as I saw the tower looming, it was a truly monstrous building that made me feel so small and insignificant. We crept around the side of the homes and stopped for a few moments at the side of the buildings, on the corner that lead to the street where the tower lay in wait.

  I stared at the building for what must have been the hundredth time since I entered Manchester, yet still it had the same effect on me. For all we knew, the building was riddled with hundreds of marauders and maniacs, just waiting for someone from Saviour of Man to appear, so they could cut them down.

  Everyone quickly said their peace as we prepared to slip into the street. Some prayed, some whispered what sounded like goodbyes their families, as though they were here in spirit. Whilst I remained silent, staring up at magnificent structure as I grew ever more nervous.

  I kept a firm grip on my machine gun as we crouched towards the tower, we used the cover of burnt out cars to get as close as possible. Julian, Penny, Mark and I were chosen to head down the middle, whilst Turnip, Keith and Kelvin all flanked around the sides, taking it slower.

  At around the middle of the street, sat a large set of marble steps which led up to the forecourt of the tower, which had been fortified not only by the people that currently held it siege, but also the people before. Small walls of sandbags and whatever else people could find littered the space before the doors to the tower, providing the defenders with excellent cover, but we would use these to our advantage. Thanks to Julian’s careful tactics, we managed to reach the bottom of the steps undetected. Julian counted five guards up there. It was tense, but we had the drop on these guys.

  “Here we go.” Julian whispered. Already we could hear the guards, laughing and joking to themselves in harsh, vile tones. Rarely in the Charred Lands did anybody have any real education, but something about these people stunk of idiocy. They sounded like thick, stupid men. It was people like these who would kill without question, following the orders of the smarter, more manipulative leaders.

  With a sigh, everyone quietly and carefully gave their weapons a final check over. Everyone was packing major firepower, even I had a large machine gun capable of inflicting horrific damage, yet this did nothing to help my nerves. We were expecting the enemy to have a range of weapons at their disposal, usually these kinds of people tended to have much lower grade firepower, but these guys would no doubt be packing whatever they took from the men they murdered here. We took the stairs two at a time, keeping our backs hunched and knees bent, we needed to remain out of sight for as long as possible.

  “Rats!” I heard a dry, harsh voice slither to his companions before we had even managed to reach the half way point of the steps.

  “Move!” Julian screamed, aiming his weapon as he began to almost leap up the stairs until he reached the top.

  And then… the silence was eradicated. The sound of gunfire began to echo around in my head as Julian was the first to squeeze his trigger, bullets bounced off the concrete stairs and sank into the sandbags as the guards quickly returned fire.

  I felt bullets whiz by me as we continued to charge up the staircase. I saw the head of one of the guard’s peak over their makeshift wall of sandbags, for a moment he seemed to stare right at me, before his head disappeared again. I readied my own weapon and kept it trained on where I had saw him. I had no doubt in my mind that he spotted me, I was his target. I cursed aloud, venting my frustration at being seemingly chosen. As I reached the top of the staircase, I almost froze as I kept my weapon trained on the sandbags he cowered behind, waiting for him to re-emerge from his cover. Surely enough, before I had a chance to process another thought, he stuck his head out. Without thinking I squeezed the trigger of the machine gun for just a moment, but it was enough to send out a hail of bullets in the man's direction. The power of the weapon was phenomenal – only the first few bullets would have been anywhere near accurate, the rest would have been sent askew by the force of the recoil; but those few accurate bullets were enough. Straight away the man's head jerked back violently, sending a spray of dark red blood up in the air before he fell backwards and vanished from sight.

  Finally, Penny and Mark joined Julian and I at the top of the staircase. Julian’s aim was as true as my own as I noticed another two corpses lay besides my third ever human kill. Whilst I admired Julian’s handy work, the other three quickly took cover behind some sandbags.

  “Don't just stand there!” Julian screamed as he took a moment to reload. Only then did I realise I had been stood in the open, numbed by the knowledge that I had just ended another man's life. I quickly snapped back into action and leapt for cover besides Julian.

  “See, we’re tearing through their defences, not too bad, aye?” Penny grinned.

  “You just had to fucking say it.” Mark screamed from my left, only a moment later. As I peered over the top of
my cover, I noticed another three guards charge out of the tower with their machine guns at the ready. They quickly took cover of their own and waited for us to make the next move. The courtyard fell deadly quiet.

  “Back to five. Let's make quick work of these.” Julian whispered to me, he gave me a quick pat on the back before turning his attention back to the enemy. All of a sudden, the brief moment of silence was instantly shattered as multiple people opened fire all at once.

  I popped my head around the side of the sandbags and surveyed the small battlefield; it was a good few feet between us and the enemy, they were dotted around taking cover by large concrete support beams, thick metal benches, or other sandbag walls.

  From nowhere, a third barrage of shots began to ring out. I looked to my left to see the rest of our squad arriving. Kelvin, Turnip and Keith charged in from the left hand side of the courtyard with an abundance of confidence as they ran and fired at the enemy, like a second wave of horseback generals in a grand historic war.

  The enemy were confused and without a leader, spread out and firing in all directions – we had them. I aimed my weapon again and squeezed a few shots off at a young lad directly opposite me; they missed. Right now, it looked as though we were about to smash through their preliminary defences with ease, and I knew my input wasn’t exactly necessary, but I kept firing sporadic shots regardless. I didn’t quite fancy killing another living being, because it wasn’t absolutely crucial to my own survival, if I didn’t kill them, one of my companions surely would.

  “Eat it, mother fucker!” I heard Keith bellow out, his voice sounding even more frightening than usual. I glanced over at him and saw a smile split his face as one of the enemy yelled out in pain. The shots being returned to us grew lesser and lesser, until Julian finally jumped over the sandbags, “Move up!” He screamed – and then suddenly, the gunfire stopped.

  I rose to my feet and scanned the courtyard – the walls were riddled with new bullet holes, and the ground was thick with fresh red blood. We knew there would be plenty more guards inside, but for now the battle had come to a pause. Silence was in the air once more, but the sounds of the machine gun fire remained echoing in my head. My entire body was abuzz with activity, I was so in the moment and numbed to the rest of the world. All I could think about was the feeling of shooting the machine gun, the sight of one of my bullets tearing apart the face of an enemy, and what was to come once we stepped inside the tower. Everything else seemed sub-sequential.

  “Well done guys.” Julian rallied his men with a war cry. Without hesitation, he reloaded his weapon and led him men to the main entrance. I stood there for a few seconds, watching them line up on either side of the double doors to the entrance. I wasn’t afraid as I joined them, I didn’t feel any nerves, I was almost excited to face the enemy.

  “The lobby is two stories. I spotted at least one behind the main reception, and if they're smart they'll have a sharp shooter positioned above the escalators. Watch your heads, keep low, and find cover.” Julian quickly instructed; his entire body seemed to shake with adrenaline, and all the while, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop a smile from cracking his face.

  “How you feeling?” He said, turning to me. I answered with a nervous nod of my head, and a smile.

  Julian was the first to charge into the lobby, followed by Penny and then Keith. I did my best to keep to the back of the group. Mark and I were the last to enter.

  “Watch the second story, kid.” Mark said to me as he prepared to enter. Already I could hear gunshots from inside – both automatic and single fire. I gave Mark a nod and a pat on the back as he charged through the entrance to the lobby. Reluctantly, I quickly followed. I felt like I was entering the belly of the beast.

  It was clear to see that this had once been an extremely smart place. Marble walls and floors, expensive wood with golden metal trimmings made up the majority of the lobby. Unlike pretty much everywhere else in the Charred Lands, this place didn’t seem derelict or run down; pieces of furniture initially from elsewhere in the tower littered the hallway, and bullet holes riddled nearly everything, but aside from that it could have almost looked new. It was clear to see that this place had been built to last.

  A large, wooden reception stood directly in the middle of the massive room, behind it I saw two guards, already shooting their weapons at someone else. Behind the reception was a pair of long defunct escalators which lead to a second level – that's where I spotted the sniper.

  Mark was but a few feet in front of me when the man with the rifle squeezed the trigger, I saw the flash, and even over the sounds of the constant machine gunfire, I heard that one shot above all the others, it almost seemed to echo. Within a millisecond of the flash from the top of the escalators, the bullet hit home. I felt blood soak the entire front of my body as Mark fell backwards with a gaping hole in the back of his head, landing on the old marble floor with a wet thud.

  Warm, sticky blood seemed to cover every inch of my face – I would have been sick, but the adrenaline pumping through my veins wouldn't allow me. I jumped over the fallen comrade and slid behind the same sandbag barricade as Julian.

  “Mark's dead!” I screamed, desperate to make my voice heard of the machine gun.

  “Then we need to pick up the slack – kill twice as many, okay?” He said, without so much as a hint of emotion in his voice. Hearing the news of the fallen man didn't even make him flinch.

  I heard another rifle shot – this one seemed to uselessly hit a piece of cover, or a wall behind someone, because nobody collapsed – everyone continued fighting as enemies began to fill the lobby from every possible door. I placed the machine gun on top of the sandbags and began to fire away anything that moved. It was far too hectic to pick my shots, this was pedal to the metal, all-out war now.

  Finally, my machine gun stopped spitting bullets and began to click empty – it seemed to take me an eternity of hopelessly squeezing down on the trigger to realise why it wasn't shooting. In front of me, body after body was hitting the floor, riddled with bullets. It was impossible to tell if I had actually hit anyone, deep down, I hoped I hadn’t.

  I ducked back down and released the empty magazine, throwing it aside with my left hand as I reached for my ammo belt with my right. Within a few seconds I was loaded up again and ready to resume my fight. I couldn't believe how quickly I had readied my weapon; adrenaline was one hell of a drug.

  This time, I decided to be a little more conservative with my ammo. I wanted to pick my targets and keep them pinned down until I hit a true shot. Without even needing to inspect the lobby in front of me, I already knew who my first target would be. I peered back over and tried to carefully aim for the man with the rifle at the top of the escalators – he was facing to the left, trying to pick off either Keith or Kelvin. I was determined not to allow this man his second kill of the day, I wanted to make sure Mark's was the last life he would ever end. I squeezed the trigger. A barrage of bullets riddled the metal stairs below him, but none struck home. Instantly, he turned to face me – aiming his weapon right in my direction. I prepared myself to squeeze the trigger again, but before I could, he fired his weapon.

  I was sent flying backwards as my weapon jerked out of my hands, flying off in two directions – the barrel of the weapon almost hit Julian on the side of the head, whist the rest of the broken gun landed somewhere between me and Mark’s corpse. I looked down at my hand, my right index finger was twisted and snapped to near beyond recognition.

  For a few sweet seconds, I didn’t feel any pain, but as I stared down in horror at my disfigured finger, the pain quickly set in. I began to sweat as I frantically tried to ignore the pain, but it was an impossible task.

  “Fuck boy, you best straighten that out!” Julian yelled to me between gunshots.

  He was right, and I knew it. With a deep breath, I wrapped my left hand around the twisted, warped finger. For a split second I knelt there, too afraid to do anything, until I forced myself into
action. I twisted the finger, and with a snap and a crack, it popped back into place. Numbing pain soared through my hand and up my arm, sending me instantly lightheaded. Only when the initial shock of the surge of pain subsided, did I realise exactly how lucky I was to only have a fucked up finger.

  I lay there for a few moments, completely numbed by fear. I had been but a few inches off having my life cut short in the exact same manner as Mark, but my gun took the bullet for me. The fact that I was even breathing right now, and that my insides remained where they belonged, was a miracle. A broken finger was a blessing in comparison. As much as it hurt, I did my best to ignore it and continue fighting.

  The marauder at the top of the stairs had a damn good aim, but as I shrugged off the shock of my near death experience, I grew more determined. I peered back around the sandbag, already the shooter had turned his attentions elsewhere. Part of me prayed he thought me dead, that gave me the advantage once again. My machine gun was broke, but I still had the revolver. It packed a hell of a punch; I knew I couldn’t risk firing it with my right hand, instead, I needed to use my left. I wasn’t the best of shots as it was, never mind with my weak hand.

  I reached inside by belt and pulled out my side arm, Davey's revolver. I took a deep breath, aimed. As much as I tried, I couldn’t keep it steady, my aim was all over the place. Eventually, I pulled the trigger. By sheer dumb luck, the shooter at the top of the escalators fell backwards. I couldn't believe the overwhelming sense of joy that swept through my body. Trying to keep the momentum going, I turned my attentions to the next target. I scanned the lobby, struggling to locate an enemy. Finally, I spotted one. As far as I could see, the skinny fighter was the last standing. An elderly man, perhaps in his sixties was stood behind the bullet riddled reception desk still, frantically aiming in every possible direction, not likely aiming for anything in particular; even with the distance between us, I could see the fear in his face – he knew it was over. I aimed my weapon, but before I could fire even a single shot, someone else dropped him, and once again, we were shrouded in silence. I was so used to the thunderous noise of the gunfire that the silence almost seemed deafening.