The Charred Lands: City of Ash

by Josh A. Murphy

  Slowly, the great brute leant in towards me and whispered, “We don’t know if they’re listening. We’re working on it.” He explained. Suddenly things made a little more sense. I hadn’t known Julian and his men for very long, but I knew that they would never simply sit back and accept defeat. These weren’t the kind of people to be depleted of hope so easily. I suspected the metal Julian was messing with would play a part in their plan.

  “Is this a new recruit?” A skinny, bald stranger asked from the other side of the room. I had noticed his staring eyes almost straight away, whilst the rest of the room had been watching me, it was him that stood out amongst the other strangers for some reason. He had a thin layer of stubble on his face, but not a hair on his head. There was something about the way he was looking at me that made me feel a little uneasy.

  “I guess you could call him that.” Julian mumbled, without taking his eyes off the mysterious piece of metal he fiddled with.

  “Well what is he?” The bald man pushed.

  “Dammit Geoff, I’m trying to concentrate.” Julian snapped, finally looking up. He shot him a look that epitomised the expression ‘if looks could kill’.

  The room fell into an awkward silence for a while, before I took it upon myself to explain, “My name’s Zachary Jefford, I’m helping these people recapture the tower. Then I’m heading off on my own way.” I informed, deciding to leave my own motives a little vague. Only then did my mind wonder over to the backpack. Though I already knew it wouldn’t be in the room, my eyes scanned every inch of it as my heart threatened to burst out of my chest.

  “Where’s my gear?” I almost spat, interrupting Geoff as he was about to reply to me.

  “They’ll have it.” Penny simply sighed. I couldn’t help but utter a curse to myself as I let my head fall back against the wall in defeat. I let out a frustrated sigh and closed my eyes in an attempt to compose my thoughts. My mind was abuzz with activity and worry; the same thoughts that always occurred whenever I was without the backpack rang out as usual, reminding me of how screwed I was if I lost the egg or it was damaged. I quickly forced these thoughts to the back of my mind and snapped myself back into the moment.

  My body ached as I struggled to my feet. Every bone in my body seemed to crack in rapid succession. I instantly felt the blood rush to my head and send me dizzy, forcing me to lean against the wall for a moment. After a few seconds, I pushed myself off of the metal and headed over to Azaria; still, she remained sitting completely silent and motionless, staring away as though mentally somewhere else.

  “How’re you doing?” I asked, my voice coming out as nothing more than a dry whisper.

  My voice seemed to snap her back into reality like a punch to the face. She blinked hard and gasped as she became aware of my presence. She grew a little red in the face as she tried to force a smile for me, “Sorry…” She simply replied.

  I parked myself next to her and wrapped my arm around the traumatised girl. She was riddled with fresh bruises, marks and scratches. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind as to what had happened to her since I had last seen her. She tried to force another half-smile on her broken face as a thanks for the comfort. Even though she didn’t answer my question, I decided not to push for an answer. Looking at her made me feel as though I was probably better off not knowing what she felt inside.

  She was completely, and utterly broken. The look on her face painted a picture of the deepest and darkest miseries possible. This girl had been subjected to this kind of torment for the entirety of her life, whatever these people in the tower had done to her was unlikely to be much worse than what she had been subjected to almost every day of existence. This was just another day in the life she had been forced with.

  It wasn’t until just before I had met her that she had been free, and even then she seemed to live under the thumb of Wayne, following him around like a well-trained dog. Simply put, she knew no better. Wayne vanquished her from slavery and torture, but even then she still belonged to someone. In rescuing her, he hadn’t liberated Azaria, all he had done was transfer ownership of her. But then, I arrived, and I killed Wayne, potentially freeing her for the first time in her entire life, but her freedom was short-lived – and now here she was, a prisoner again. I couldn’t imagine how she must have been feeling. Thanks to me, she got to experience freedom, but only for a short while. It’s having something and losing it which can cause the most pain.

  “She snuck in the back of the shop whilst you were out…” Azaria finally said.

  “I figured. I thought you left me.”

  “I don’t blame you for what you did to Wayne, I hope you know that.” She mumbled, once again staring away at the floor in front of her.

  “I know.” I simply replied, tightening my embrace on the poor girl. To my right, I heard Turnip begin to quietly snore.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  A good few hours passed before anyone moved. Without saying anything, Julian gave Keith a gesture, and as though he had been sent a secret message through telepathy, he placed his ear against the large metal door. He listened for a few seconds, before nodding back to Julian. Without a second’s hesitation, he quickly rose to his feet and crept over to the metal hook that hung from the ceiling. I seemed to hold my breath as I watched him reach up and fiddle with the bolts with the piece of metal that he had been messing with.

  Julian was quickly able to detach the metal hook, and quickly slipped it under his shirt. As quietly as he had stood up, he tiptoed back to the exact same spot he had risen from. Once again, the room fell still.

  I could feel the apprehension in the air as everyone tried to look as natural as possible. The plan had been made, now it was waiting time. The entire room seemed to fall impossibly silent as we all twiddled our thumbs and waited for the enemy to make a move.

  After what felt like a life time, we heard the large metal door clank open from the other side. Everyone instantly sat up and darted their eyes to the entrance. Julian let out a gulp as he went around the room with his eyes, staring at his companions, as though giving them all a silent team talk.

  Slowly, the metallic door edged open. I took a deep breath as the first of the enemy entered, with his gun aimed at nobody in particular. I heard several others quietly talking outside behind him.

  “Stand up.” The tall, one eyed enemy coldly informed as he stopped still in the middle of the room. The door behind him opened wide as three other guards waited with guns. The guard in the middle was a sorry sight. His one remaining eye looked full of anger and hatred, whilst the other was long gone. The rest of his face was marked with old scars and stubble. He looked like a nasty piece of work, but Julian wasn’t intimidated.

  Without warning, Julian, Turnip, and Keith both jumped to their feet. Before anyone else could react, Turnip and Keith slammed the metal door to a close, whilst Julian went for the guard who stood looming in the middle of the freezer.

  All around me others began to jump to their feet, but I remained sat motionless next to Azaria, watching on like the frightened onlookers we actually were.

  “What the fu…” The one eyed man managed before Julian pulled the hook out from his shirt with his left hand, whilst grabbing at the man’s gun with his right. He pushed the armed hand away as he swung down with the metal hook.

  The metal blade sunk itself into the soft neck of the man’s neck as he fired a shot off with his gun. I heard the bullet uselessly strike the metal wall to my left and ricochet away as I ducked for cover.

  The man in the middle of the room let out a harrowing scream as he released the gun from his hand. It dropped to the metal floor with a clank as Julian began to twist and turn the embedded hook.

  Penny quickly grabbed the gun and tossed it in the direction of Turnip, Keith and Kelvin who stood leant against the door, pressed as hard as they could as the people outside desperately tried to force themselves in.

  Julian leant in close to his victim, “This is for the people you killed whil
st capturing this place.” He whispered, before violently yanking the blade out of the man’s neck; blood erupted out as his throat came with it. A smirk split Julian’s face as he watched the one eyed man collapse to his knees, clutching at his neck. The smile quickly disappeared before he brought the hook down once more, this time burying it deep in the man’s skull. He fell limp and silent instantly. Only when the one eyed man’s puddle of blood was about to reach us, did Azaria and I stand up.

  Ahead of me, Keith double checked that the gun was loaded, as he continued to push against the door with Kelvin and Turnip.

  “Ready?” Julian screamed, readying his hook.

  “Let’s do this.” Keith said, patting Kelvin on the back. All at once, Turnip, Keith and Kelvin jumped away from the door. Two marauders fell inwards as the door swung open.

  The pair of scruffy looking men landed in a terrified heap at the foot of the door. As quickly as they had let it open, Turnip, Kelvin and Keith quickly slammed the door to a close once more.

  Before the two men on the floor were able to steady themselves, Penny and Geoff jumped into action. Penny drove a swift knee into the face of one of the men as she reached for the small handgun in his hand, whilst Geoff chose to elbow his victim.

  “A little help!” Geoff screamed as the man on the floor began to take the upper hand. I saw him grab the clenched fist of Geoff, and pull it towards his mouth. He was baring his sharp, rotten teeth like some crazed, wild animal as he went in for the bite. Julian quickly came to the rescue, bringing the hook down into the temple of Geoff’s attacker.

  “Fuck.” The other marauder mumbled to himself in a fear filled gasp as he watched his friend drop down to the floor, limp and oozing blood, “I give up!” He quickly screamed. He dropped his weapon and raised his hands to the air in defeat.

  “Thanks.” Julian smiled as he leant down and picked up the weapon. Without a seconds thought he brought the gun up to the man’s forehead and squeezed the trigger. He didn’t even seem to blink as he watched the back of the man’s head explode outwards, sending out a shower of blood, brains and skull fragments.

  “Let’s fucking do this.” He then commanded, taking position at the side of the door. Penny quickly ran for the other handgun which remained on the floor, before joining Julian, Turnip, Kelvin, and Keith as they struggled to keep the door closed.

  I watched as the four at the door prepared themselves. Still, I remained stood at the back of the room with Azaria, too scared to get involved with the fighting. It was one thing to attack someone with a gun, simply firing away random shots in hope of doing some damage, but this was hand to hand combat and slaughter, I knew I didn’t have the guts to use my hands to violently murder someone. I had no option but to hang back with Azaria and watch the action unfold.

  I grabbed Azaria by the hand, and led her out of the way, dragging her around the three corpses in the increasingly claustrophobic room. I placed her to the right hand side of the door as the others prepared to launch their attack.

  Suddenly, Keith threw the door wide open. All at once, he, Penny, and Julian took up their positions and began firing out. The gunshots rang out like explosions in the tiny room. I had to cover my ears as they echoed over and over; their sound magnified by the metallic room.

  The enemy returned fire, but from my viewpoint, it looked like we were winning.

  “Let’s move out!” Julian ordered after what felt like an hour of gunplay – in reality it was likely nothing more than a minute or two.

  I followed closely behind as the rest of my companions liberated themselves as they stormed out of the freezer, and into a large open kitchen area. I spotted countless men lying dead or dying as I passed through. Julian took his time, stopping at each one to fire off a finishing shot into each of their heads. A man whose name I didn’t know followed, collecting any weapons or ammo.

  The kitchen was one of the largest single rooms I had ever seen, countless cookers and stoves were lined on all ends of the rooms, with large, ceiling high fridges on the others. Everything had a metallic shine to it, despite the years of neglect. The kitchen, much like most of the rest of the tower, almost looked brand-new.

  I watched the stranger lean down and check over the final corpse, before finding a small handgun. He quickly checked the clip, before sliding it back into the gun.

  “Take this.” He said, as he reached the back of the group. We had finally amassed enough ammo for everyone other than Azaria to have their own weapon. I stared at him for a few seconds, before accepting the piece. It felt great to have a weapon again. I felt a little safer, and more secure. But still, I felt naked without my backpack.

  “The names Carl, by the way.” The young man informed, before turning away to get towards the front of the group.

  I gave the weapon a quick check over, before taking off in pursuit.

  “We’re near the top of the tower, this was the restaurant floor.” Julian informed as we gathered around him at the end of the kitchen. He stopped us dead at a set of double wooden doors. Trying to imagine what waited for us on the other side of them gave me the shivers.

  “The gunplay will have attracted more. We underestimated how much heat we’d face here, that got us caught. We can’t afford to fuck up again, okay?” Julian roared to the forming circle around him. All at once, the rest of the group nodded their heads.

  “Move quickly, and keep low.”

  With that, Julian charged through the double doors. Instantly, gunfire began to ring out. As though completely fearless, the group began to file through the exit, and into the next room. I dragged Azaria by the hand, and led her forward.

  The next room made the kitchen look tiny by comparison; it was nearly the size of the entirety of Haven. I kept low as the bullets flew above, hitting the wooden wall behind me. The room was littered with countless tables, most of them broken or flipped upside down.

  On the other side of the room, I counted some seven Anarchy’s Children crouched behind chairs, tables, pillars. They shot at us with single fire weapons. As I quickly knelt down behind a large wooden table of solid wood, I couldn’t help but wonder where the machine guns they confiscated from us were. It didn’t make any sense that they wouldn’t use them, meaning there was likely even more, better armed guards elsewhere in the tower.

  “Conserve your fucking ammo!” Julian screamed to Kelvin as he randomly shot his handgun in every which direction.

  Suddenly, above all the other sounds of the shooting and the shouting, I heard a peculiar sound; a repeated metal clank that seemed to be getting rapidly closer. At first the sound stumped me. I hadn’t even had a chance to fire off a single shot at the enemy yet, but something about the sound made me almost too scared to.

  Luckily, Julian had no such fear. He peered over the table, clearly intrigued by the metal sound. Almost instantly a look of panic split his face.

  “Get down!” He screamed. “Gas!”

  Everyone but me instantly darted to the floor. I knelt there for a few confused seconds before I too hit the floor. I had no idea what he meant by gas, or if it was related to the metal clanging I had heard.

  I heard it first; a strange, seeping sound as though some vile creature was relentlessly hissing, some few feet away from me. The sound was coming from just behind the table that we hid behind. Secondly, came the smell. I had never smelt anything like it, but whatever it was, seemed to cling to my nostrils and burn them. The thick, smoky cloud soon followed.

  Suddenly it felt as though my lungs were about to burst as I covered my face with the cloth of my sleeve. I coughed and coughed as I struggled for air, but it was no good.

  All around me the rest of the squad did their best to cover their faces as they each began to violently cough and gag on whatever the thick smoke was. It seemed to be consuming the entire room, poisoning us one by one.

  I began to feel lightheaded, and before long, the world turned to black.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Once again I fo
und myself slowly returning to consciousness at the hands of Anarchy’s Children. Unlike last time, I found myself to be strangely cold this time. It wasn’t until I opened my eyes that I realised why.

  We were outside, with a view that seemed to stretch across the entirety of Manchester. The view was a dead giveaway to our location. We were on the roof of the mammoth tower, all knelt down in a row, staring over the edge. Behind us, I saw the mighty helicopter that promised my way out of here. It was an amazing machine, larger than any car I had ever seen before. Looking at it, I had no idea how the thing was capable of flight.

  Despite our situation, I was almost sucked from the moment by the beauty of our view. The city below might have been derelict and destroyed, but it was a sight to behold. From up here, I could see Piccadilly Gardens and its humongous wheel, yet even that looked minute. The rest of the city looks miniature too, as though it was some kind of model city.

  It was Julian’s voice that snapped me back into reality. My entire head was clouded and dizzy, the view managed to grab my attention in all of the confusion. I was still trying to piece together what was going on.

  “We're not telling you anything.” Julian smirked. We were lined up, side by side. They had us all, apart from Azaria. Even the three other survivors that had been taken hostage when we captured the place were lined up with us. Yet the girl was nowhere to be seen. The wind up here was the most powerful I had ever felt, it almost seemed as though a sudden gust could carry me up and blow me off the edge at any moment.

  All around us were members of Anarchy's Children, I counted twelve – and standing directly in front of Julian was their apparent leader; I recognised her instantly, it was Leaz. Still, her wounds looks as though they should have been enough to kill her, yet remarkably, there she was, controlling everything.

  “Not telling us anything?” She laughed, switching her gaze to the others. She scanned the row of Saviour of Man, smirking to herself as she picked a target. “Right, fair enough.”