Winds Of The Apocalypse

by Novak, Karina

  Jon nodded.

  "You're right Casey but we don’t even know what she is planning to do or how."

  'World domination' is a pretty broad subject. We won't know where to begin."

  "I bet it has something to do with that pyramid device we saw in the winter cellar."

  Colin said and Casey nodded, agreeing with him.

  "So we have to destroy it. Whatever it is if Utopia built it, it can't be good for us."

  Morgan looked at her.

  "Do we have a plan?” Casey shrugged.

  “Do we ever? Just wing it like we always do and hope for the best?" Morgan giggled.

  "I love your confidence, Casey girl." Casey stuck her tongue out at her brother.

  "Sarcasm is just not your thing dear brother. You better leave it to the pros." She said to Morgan.

  "And that's you?" Morgan winked.

  "You better believe it." Casey puffed her chest.

  “So it’s decided then?” Morgan asked seriously. “We are going up against Utopia now?”

  “Do we have a choice?” Casey asked. “Lead the way. “

  ”I hate this part…” Morgan growled but went ahead of the group anyway, heading outside.

  “Ok…” They crept along the lobby and back outside and just when they were safely outside the school, the ground seemed to move beneath their feet.

  ”Is that an earth quake?!" Casey asked, slightly panicked.

  “Utopia must have activated the device!” Jon shouted as he took off down to the grounds, leaving his friends to run after him in the direction of the winter cellar.

  They could hear people screaming as they got out of the school building in fear that it would collapse on top of them.

  Casey vaguely heard her mother scream but the gang kept running, disappearing through the trees and hoping, for the other peoples sake that they wouldn't see them and follow them.

  They ran down the path and Toby hurried first to the stone structure squeezing his hand in between the stones and opening the familiar passage.

  They all exchanged nervous looks between them and then the teens watched the wall slide away and with mixed emotion they crept inside together, greeted by a terrifying sigh.

  The pyramid was glowing, sending a green beam of light to the ceiling.

  The eggs in the walls were moving, ready to hatch, clearly affected by the beams power. And in the middle of it all stood Utopia.

  The other apocalypses that were still surrounding her slowly faded away as they merged with her gruesome body.

  Utopias black cloth dropped to the floor to join with the dark material that the other apocalypses had left behind them and her disgusting insect figure glowed in the dark of the lair like the machine’s green beam did.

  “Oh fuck…” Colin whispered, clapping a hand on his own mouth.

  ”Shit." Toby's eyes widened and before they were able to do anything else Utopia spotted them.

  Her many eyes zeroed on them, watching their every movement as she reached her white feeler like hand into the pyramid, letting the green light absorb it and with her touch the machine began glowing brighter, dispatching a green white ray of blinding light directly in Casey’s direction.

  “No!” There was a loud scream as Toby jumped in front of Casey, pushing both her and Morgan out of the way to try and protect them.

  Casey screamed as Toby's body was hit by the light right in front of her eyes and then her friend was thrown aside, lifted three feet into the air, spinning out of control and finally crumbling to the floor, limb next to the opposite wall, unconscious.

  “Toby!” Colin screamed in horror.

  “Is he alive?!” Casey yelled, making Utopia gloat at their reaction with her shirking laugh. "For now," She growled and her voice made them all cry out.

  "But you won't be as lucky.” She promised. She twisted her filler into the machine again, only this time the beam shot at her instead of the other teens.

  The light changed its color from white green to purple and Utopias body began to glow remarkably, brighter and brighter accompanied by her evil mind splitting shrieking laugh.

  "OH MY GOD!" Casey yelled, involuntarily reaching out to hold on to Morgan.

  They all watched in horror as Utopia shed her old skin to the ground, her body twisting and pounding, growing in size.

  "OH MY GOD, MORGAN!" Casey's screams echoed throughout the cellar as Utopia got bigger and bigger, her disfigured body cracking the swelling, sending rocks and debris onto the frightened teenagers as it reached the cellar’s low ceiling and cracked it right through.

  Casey looked at her brother.

  They could now hear people screaming, running out of the school building, fleeing from what they thought was an earth quake only to come face to face with the true horror, a giant insect growing practically out of nowhere right before their terrified eyes.

  "Casey!!" Morgan pulled her aside right before a huge chunk of the ceiling came crashing down at the place where she was just standing.

  They both fell, Morgan shielding his sister from the dust and crumbling concrete, screaming for the others to be careful as another piece fell.

  "Toby! Wake up!" Colin screamed as he shook his friend.

  He was finally able to reach him amongst the cellars ruins as the others scattered to get away from the growing beast.

  "Ohh…" Toby moaned his head pounding and his body sore.

  ”What…" He blinked. "What the hell is going on here?!" Toby yelled once his eyes were fully opened and he could see the monster increasing its size.

  "She's getting stronger!" Jon yelled back, attempting to overcome the strong winds that came from the pyramid like machine, surrounding them in dark green suffocating mist and making it almost impossible to see anything but Utopias still developing body.

  "We have to stop her!" May howled, getting to the twins with the others and kneeling at their side behind the barrels they had fallen next to.

  "I never thought that I would die from being squished by a giant cockroach."

  Din bitterly laughed his voice a little higher than usual.

  “What a way to go.”

  Casey gave out a squeak of fear and Morgan shot a warning glare at Din, pushing him slightly.

  "So not the time Din! And you are not going to die! Now be useful! Any ideas on how are we going to stop this?!" He pointed at the giant cockroach.

  "Look out!” Toby suddenly yelled as Utopias body moved in their direction, one of her huge clawed feelers almost reaching them but luckily for the teens the beast was still in the middle of her monstrous transformation so she didn't go too far. The purple rays that still transformed her bound her to the machine, working in the teens favor.

  "The power source!" May breathed. "Inside the beam! There is a lever right in the middle of it! Look! Maybe that can stop her!" Her voice was high and filled with fear, it was clear that the thought of going up to the creature terrified her.

  Jon glanced at her frightened face, his expression frowned.

  "What aren't you telling us?" He asked and May gulped.

  "You saw what it did to Colin by the mere touch of it…Anything Utopia touches is lethal to humans, who ever does it may not survive."

  Morgan huffed at her words and, leaving Casey scrambled up from the floor.

  "I will do it, distract her." He ordered determined but before he could move anywhere Casey had caught him, pulling him back down.

  “Are you fucking deaf?!" She bellowed. "Didn't you just hear what May said?!

  "It's Lethal to humans! I won't lose you again!"

  "Then I'll go!” Jon stated, ready to get up as well. “I’m already dead anyway."

  "No!" Casey caught the edge of his shirt, desperate to protect both of her brothers.

  “You’re considered human too. It will destroy you.” May shook her head, turning to Morgan.

  "Do you forgive me?” Morgan looked at her, confused.

  “What?"

  "Do you forgi
ve me?!" May repeated more firmly. "For almost killing you, for all of this!" She declared, pointing at the glowing machine.

  Morgan looked astonished.

  "We don’t have time for this! We will talk about this later."

  "There may not be a 'later' for anyone of us!" May snapped and Morgan starred at her blankly for a moment.

  Then, his gaze softened as he understood what she was saying to him.

  This was her goodbye.

  He sigh, his throat choked and then he gave her a quick nod.

  "Yeah…Yes. I forgive you." He said lowly and he knew that he had meant it.

  ”Good. Thank you." May whispered in relieve. In another time she would have been happy to know that after this Morgan would have given her another chance to be more then war alias but somewhere not too deep inside of her she knew that she was not getting her second chance now, not in this life time, not with the one that she wanted to destroy the world with.

  "Here" She removed a silver medallion from her neck and handed it to Morgan.

  "What is that?" Morgan looked at the amulet; there was an engraving on it, an angel without a face riding on a huge cat’s back.

  "The apocalypses gave it to me for protection,” May explained, taking quick shallow breaths.

  “But I think you will find more use to it than I ever did." Morgan looked at the amulet and then back up at her.

  "What are you planning?" He murmured and May smiled bitterly.

  "I started it, now I'm going to end it." She whispered, leaning forward to plant a chaste kiss on Morgan’s slightly parted lips.

  “I’m sorry.” She whispered and with that she pushed herself up to her feet and ran straight for the glowing triangle.

  "May!" Morgan screamed. "We have to help her!" He yelled and the others nodded in unison.

  They all got up on their feet and began running in the other direction from the one that May took, luring Utopias attention away from the blond girl as she attempted to fix the wrongs she had caused in her sorrow.

  Utopia shrieked and twisted in the purple light, desperate to get to the fleeing teens while May had managed to reach the machine, falling to her knees beside it.

  The power radiated from the beam almost knocked her senseless, driving out incredible vibes of pure force, amplified by all the apocalypses Utopia had sacrificed to make the transformation happen.

  May breathed out and forced her hand under the opening of the triangle, pulling at the lever that was located there, careful not to touch the beam of power that was located just inches from it.

  There was a horrible howl and then black flames surrounded Utopia and with an angry cry she began to shrink back to her normal apocalypse size.

  May let go of the lever, almost collapsing from the effort.

  Half lying next to the pyramid she watched with the others as Utopia got smaller and smaller, finally disappearing from sigh in the terrible green smock screen that had descended upon the room.

  There was a moment of silence in which no one moved and then Colin dared to carefully step closer, waving the smoke away and looking down at the floor where Utopia just stood. "Dude…" He muttered as the others gathered around him.

  ”You have got to be kidding me…" Din breathed at the sigh that was now revealed to them all.

  "All this time…We were actually fighting….a cockroach?!" He laughed, pointing at the white angry looking bug that glared up at them, wiggling its angry feelers at the laughing boy.

  Casey smirked.

  "Imagine that, all of this trouble because of a little tick." She laughed and Morgan grinned mischievously.

  "Want to touch it?" Morgan asked, crouching to see the weird insect from a closer distance. "Eewwww!!! Nnooo!" Casey backed away.

  Morgan laughed again, getting up from the crouching position and taking a few steps back as if readying himself for something. Casey looked back at him.

  "Where are you going?" she asked confused. Morgan smirked.

  "I'm not going anywhere…." He looked at the former queen bee. ”But she will!"

  There was a horrible crunching sound as Morgan's sneaker met Utopias unsuspecting insect body.

  "Eewww!!! Morgan! That’s so grouse!!!" Casey chuckled, shaking her head and looking down at what had remained on the ground when Morgan removed his formally clean sneaker.

  What was ones the ruler of the apocalypse gruesome race was now spare parts and a green blood smudge over the bottom of Morgan’s sole.

  "Suits her right." He groaned, wiping his dirty shoe against the equally dirty floor.

  "It's over." Casey smiled, looking at May who had finally found the strength to get up and join them.

  "Thank you." Casey hugged May and the surprised girl smiled shyly, too overwhelmed to hug back.

  “My fault for starting this…” She blushed. “Now let's get out of here." She asked them, shaking her head.

  “This place gives me the creeps.” She said, wrapping her arms around herself. She couldn't believe that she was going to get out of there.

  The other teens nodded, agreeing with May's request. They turned from the mess that Utopia had left in the winter cellar and were just about to walk through the entrance of the half crumbled stone structure when a weird hissing sound coming from behind them made them all stop and turn back.

  Chapter nineteen: Our final revenge

  "Oh, my god!” Casey breathed, taking a step back, almost collapsing from fright against Morgan. Everyone turned behind her, gasping in shock at the disturbing sigh that emerged from Utopias crashed corpse.

  Green smock was now coming from the smashed insect that was once Utopia, wrapping itself around the eggs in the walls, making them move and beat again after they stopped the hatching process when the gang first destroyed their queen.

  Now there were new apocalypses waiting to be reborn, stronger by Utopias power.

  Some of the eggs were already cracking, revealing the horror lurking inside of them, more gruesome and uglier then Utopia herself.

  "Morgan!” Casey screamed, seeing the smoke sliding towards them.

  Casey jumped on her brother; getting him out of the way to the floor but making him drop the cat amulet in the process.

  "No!" May ducked for the amulet and, grabbing it off the floor threw it at the fallen siblings, relived to see that Morgan had managed to catch it just before the green smoke caught up to her.

  May’s eyes widened in fear as the green smoke wrapped around her instead of Morgan, glowing for a second and then fading away as a misty claw hand reached into May's body, making sure that Morgan was the last thing that she ever saw.

  May's body became numb, devout of all life and humanity; it collapsed to the floor, empty, dead by Utopias hands.

  "May!" Morgan yelled, attempting to get up from the floor and run towards her, he couldn't let it end like this.

  “She’s dead, Morgan!" Jon ran to him, stopping his twin from risking his life for nothing.

  "Utopia has her soul Morgan! She's dead!" He grabbed his arms as Morgan fought against him.

  “No!”

  "Utopia is trying to revive the eggs!" Colin screamed, bringing the siblings back to their senses, momentarily stopping their turmoil.

  "We have to stop her! Grab the scythes!" Din pointed at the opposite wall where the weaponry of Utopias guard laid abandoned.

  "Destroy them! Penetrate them through before they hatch!" He yelled, running for the divided sections where the eggs lay, weapon drawn and body craving for vengeance.

  Horrible shrikes of pain and anguish filled the dismantled chamber as the gang mercilessly joined Din, piercing the almost hatching eggs, killing the beasts before they hatched.

  "Look at the smock!" Morgan cried out happily as the others continued to penetrate the lairs of the slimy cortex.

  Casey turned and watched, getting a pleasant surprise for ones in this whole conundrum at what Morgan was pointing at.

  The smoke was fading, torn apart and filled with
disturbances, it shrieked and contorted like a bad computer game on an old screen.

  "Keep going! It's working! It's killing her!" Casey howled turning back to the almost destroyed eggs and keeping her murderess path on them as they one by one weathered and died, turning to empty shells and ashes, leaving in moments no trace of their foul existence.

  "Let's get out of here!" Colin screamed after they were finished killing of Utopias offspring's.

  The ground had begun rumbling harder and the structure threatened to crumble around them and bury them in.

  Morgan threw away the scythe he was holding and ran to grab May's dead body from the place where Utopia had left her on the floor.

  Casey caught Jon's hand, throwing away her own scythe as well and then they all ran out followed by a cloud of dust that emerged from the ground as the building collapsed on itself, leaving nothing but debris and rubble.

  "So…" Din looked up ahead at the ruined mansion that was ones their summer school, half collapsed from Utopias earth quack.

  "I guess there is no summer school this year…Or the next one…Or ever." He laughed.

  “Big lost.”

  "Anybody knows how to tell a good story?” Colin asked softly, helping Morgan to lay May's dead body on the ground before them.

  Casey looked at him confused.

  “I can …But why do you need one right now?" Colin gestured at the ruins of the former summer school.

  “Cuss we will need one hell of a great story to explain what happened here. And I don't think that they will believe the monster one, even if they did see it with their own eyes."

  Jon looked at Morgan and the amulet that May had gave him.

  “Hold on to this." He said, turning away from his siblings.

  Morgan stared at him as he began walking away from them.

  "Where are you going?" He asked, laying the amulet in his pocket.

  "Utopia is dead." Jon smiled, turning back for a moment. "The chamber is open so someone has to go and set the poor children's souls free.”

  He took a step forward and hugged Casey.

  “I will be back.” He promised and then he vanished, leaving them to deal with the crowd that was coming for them from the ruined school.