“We need to go. He's creating a death cloud-” I murmur...
No one pays me a piece of their mind.
“It's toxic; it kills everything in its path but him!” I yell, finally regaining my senses. I feel normal again. I feel in control of my own emotions...
Someone shoves me, and I lose my footing as I fall to one side. Who has the nerve? Bouncing back, I see the back of Ed's head? He's shouting, calling to someone? Stepping beside him, I see the unfortunate situation unfold right in front of me. Chloe is there, the other side of the harbour, shouting that she will run north...
But she is more or less on the other side of the port with no way across...
The raucous slam from the Carnage falling back onto the ground instead of lying in the rubble of the command centre cuts off our view. On one bruised knee, he really is struggling to stay afloat here. His life diminishing as the dense toxic cloud doesn't spread nearly as fast as I remember. It's rather, slow? Weakly, he lets the gas cloud submerge him.
I suppose we should run. “Let's go,” I say plainly, our battle is over. The gas cloud divides us, now all we do is a sprint to take us as far as we can. As we run, Ed and I talk casually. We don't get tired. Can't be that fit with the injuries we have?
“What's the plan?” He asks, jogging beside me.
“We can't go north because of the gas cloud and the Carnage. The boats don't work...” I answer, eyes focused on Callum who runs a little while ahead of us by himself. Smart man, keeping his distance, especially now that everyone here is itching to kill him for what he's caused...
“So we go south!” I shout, and this doesn't only perplex Ed, it grabs everyone else's attention as well. I'll explain when we're safe. My last and only plan, the one I never wanted to see through, was to go to the southern airport at the very furthest southern reaches before you meet the ocean...
Chapter 5 - The Big Spilt
Drunkenly, in a daze, as if this was nothing but a bad dream, Ian limps forward. After the attack from that disturbing monster, he was lucky enough that it neglected him after some trials at ending his pitiful life. Unable to comprehend, he still struggles to figure out what happened. Though he'll never know it was just the Carnage calling it back for more biomass. Neck injured, he seems rather loopy, his accident leaving him stiff in places. Following the noises, he eventually sees Chloe and the two young girls up ahead. His exhausted eyes practically tear up at the sight. They are alive, and so is he...
They wave, repeatedly calling something to get his attention, although they will never learn he is in a fairytale dreamland. He has not got a clue what is going on.
By the time Ian realises, it is because he feels something resembling a wall pressing against him from behind. Confused, he is abruptly shaken from his thoughts long enough to look over his shoulder. The grey toxic cloud looms right behind his skull, and he breathes the slightest bit-
Instantly convulsing like crazy, his body freaks, and his mind snaps-
Now able to hear, he understands, they were warning him-
He runs and runs, his legs giving out majorly-
Chloe points down into the main open part of the shipyard. Ian raises an eyebrow, stumbling slightly as he closes in. Ushering the two young girls, Chloe encourages them to leap for it, which they do. They are completely surrounded by the gas cloud. The deathly smoke leaves the Carnage who begins rapidly spreading it now. Starting slow, ending fast, it leaves little option for escape.
“JUMP!” Chloe shrieks, panicking while hopping off the edge without a second thought and into the steep drop below into the water-
Alice and Lola have already taken their chance and leapt as well, all that is left is Ian. With the separation of the main groups, there is no one he can turn to. The smoke closes in, shrouding him, Ian doesn't think as he just leaps-
Falling...
Falling-
FALLING-
Hitting the water legs first, his body submerged beneath the waves as he sinks deeper into the depths. Everything is so dark, his body is drenched, his heart races, his body temperature plummeted as the freezing cold sinks into his skin, turning him blue and ruining his complexion. He kicks against the ocean, persisting in opposition to it, coping against it. He refuses to die by drowning; it's a fear of his. He hates the ocean, but he was left with no choice! Kicking his legs wildly, he pushes and pushes, thrashing his arms until-
He surfaces!
Releasing every last piece of equipment he is holding, he no longer falls beneath the current, being light enough that he can stay afloat. Looking up, he sees the huge smoke cloud overhead, but it spreads no further over the shipyard, the wind from beyond the seas keeps it secured in the port town, and spreading over Valbury. Watching eyes wide in awe, he sees the majestic dive of the Carnage who vaults through the gas cloud. Like an Olympic diver, he goes head first into the ocean, splitting it in two, smashing the ocean into fierce waves that go outward at Ian...
Holding his breath, Ian makes a last-ditch effort, dropping beneath the waves, the salt water burning his eyes; he tries so hard to see-
Panicking-
Panicking-
He screams below the waves...
No one hears him scream...
He takes in water, gulping it hungrily, but unwontedly-
Scared, alone, he can't find anyone...
In the distance, he sees the Carnage swim away below the surface, injured and needing time to recover; it isn't long until the Carnage disappears into the darkness. He has fought, and can no longer sustain himself with the people that are left. Either that or he is planning something else entirely...
Regardless, the incoming wave hits Ian, and he is sent backwards, but having dived down so low allowed him to escape the harsher part of the impact above. But alas, it is still already too late. His head progresses to being faint and he feels like this is it. His lungs burn, his ears pop, and benevolently, he lets his body go slack...
When suddenly, he resurfaces! Fighting back against the surging waves that pound the harbour wall! He takes deep breaths, throwing up all the salt water, like a wave of vomit; he continues to not breathe, too focused on everything else to remember something as simple as breathing-
Until he falls beneath the waves again for what he feels was the last time...
Then, when he opens his eyes, he finds he is on land, being dragged across the stone cold flooring of the shipyard. On a small landing that is almost toppled by the waves, petite waves of water flow over it, lapping at their feet impatiently. He hears Chloe heaving him back with the help of someone else. When he finally comes to, he leaps up, gasping and vomiting more to spare himself of all the salt water-
Gasping, breathing, depletion-
He looks around manically, investigating to solve who spared his life...
It wasn't Chloe. It was a soldier. He falls back, heavily injured; the man who performed CPR on him goes lax on the ground, ceasing all bodily functions as his body goes cold.
“I don't know where he came from...” Chloe says lowly, helping Ian off the ground and onto his two wobbly feet. In the distance, Ian sees Alice and Lola ringing their clothes out-
Looking away, he continues to stare at the still disturbed, but calming sea. “He swam away?” He says in a whisper.
“I don't understand it either, but we need to go now before the gas cloud gets us first,” Chloe says, breaking him from his thoughts.
Head pounding, Ian asks the single question that receives the harshest answer. “Is there a meeting point with everyone else?”
Chloe looks up, past the metal staircase that led down to where they are. “We've been separated... They are on the other side so we have no way of getting past unless we want to walk for miles...”
“They might not even be alive...” Alice murmurs.
Lola looks away.
Chloe nods, looking at Ian, “We go north. It's the last hope we have...” She glances away, grabbing the two girls and steering them towar
ds the metal staircase. “It's where Ed said to go...”
Chapter 6 - North
Ian
Our battle has long since passed, and the adumbrations of our remains are manifested in the way of the destruction we left behind. I am almost ashamed to say I feel guilty. Standing on the higher ground that surrounds the port town, we see for ourselves the smouldering ashes. Dark grey clouds of smoke rise above the imprudently abounding lethal mist that moves all over Valbury city. Only, it doesn't move in the way we expected. More horizontal, it is carried by the wind, making one long line instead of a wider spread area of effect.
Either way, the journey through the northern part of the city disgusted me. Feeling strange, I couldn't figure out how this was ever going to work. Chloe, Alice, and Lola - how do the four of us form any sort of group? There's no real connection here. No teamwork or anything. I barely know them to be honest.
“Fuck it” I hear Chloe grumble to the two young girls as we wander into a middle-class area. Past the broken, forgotten homes and into a mini industrial sector that consists of just offices. These high rise buildings would support hundreds of workers, plausibly aspiring to run extensive businesses.
Sighing, I look away from Chloe who grumpily places her hands on her hips. I myself take a nice seat in the middle of the dented, cracked road. Alice and Lola stop and talk casually, the two girls mostly comforting one another for things that were never their burdens to bear. Bless their hearts. Alice takes her blue cap off, staring intensely at it, before she sorrowfully explains something to Lola.
“We're going up there...” Chloe turns, watching me? I raise an eyebrow, not entirely sure why I've been chosen as the person of interest.
Groaning, Chloe hitches in my direction, curtseying down, she stares me right in the eye. Her voice barely a rustle as she declares, “We are the last two adults as far as we know. We need to look after these kids-” She says, looking back at Alice and Chloe who watch her curiously. Clearly frustrated, she makes a small huffing sound, blowing air in my face before standing back tall again and offering me a hand. “We're a team, got it?” Not taking any answer other than yes, she gives me the chance to seal this deal. We are all we have left in a matter of speaking so it is only logical.
“Fine...” Glumly, I take her hand anyway and she hoists me off the ground...
The initial breaking into the building was fairly simple, we pushed open the front door, and the whole building was ours. It was not untouched, people had come and gone. We travelled the entirety of all floors, checked anything we could. Luckily, we were able to raid and scavenge few things to help us along the way. The supplies we found will keep us going. On command, Chloe raises the issue that we shouldn't go too high, in the event that something was to go wrong. Humbly agreeing, we make our place on the sixth floor, resting in a office space next to a staff room. Already moving on, the two young girls waste no time in preparing their sleeping bags and getting some shut-eye. No one has really slept in days...
I'm surprised I haven't passed out yet.
Blinking my eyes, from the office chair I sit in, I swivel around to see Chloe blankly watching the city from the open window. She's lost everyone and everything...
“You okay?” I murmur, forcing myself up and to her side. If we are to be a team, we need to be there for each other right? If we are all we have left then I will do what I can.
“All I see is the gas cloud... Not a flare or signal or anything...” Not even mad, upset, or angry as she deserves to be, she instead accepts the circumstances we are in now. This gas cloud rivalled the capital city. So Valbury shouldn't be difficult. Though, the pattern it creates, the one lone stretching line has our attention. There is no way south unless we want to spend weeks travelling around it.
“I feel like we've been cut off purposely...” Chloe whispers, glancing at me.
“Well it would take weeks to travel around it so I hope you're not-” I speak to be interrupted.
“No, I would never say that. We are going north. I just hope by some miracle everyone else will be there...” Hopeful, the promises she makes herself don't do much in the way of reassurance.
“At least we're not at risk of it coming our way...”
Chapter 7 - South
Maya
Scratching continuously, I channel my nails into my hips, forcibly seeking to remove myself of the excessive itching that provokes me into misery. I don't understand what I am suffering from, I simply need it terminated. Paying intimate attentiveness to everyone else who got what we are officially designating the 'Branding', I see what they're up to.
At the moment, we are on the outskirts of the city in a small park, literally in the children park section. I rest on the encircling grassy patches for picnics.
First things first, Holly is untouched, lucky for her, mostly hiding away in the fight out of fear. She got bruises at best. Steve wondered off, did nothing, can't blame him, he's untouched, lucky for him. Matty put up a good fight, minimal injuries, however no branding. Chris, the tank, got nothing at all, lucky for them both.
Then there is us - the branded. Ed has the branding imprinting onto his left leg. Robert has been branded on the whole of his skull, but it has worsened on the right side, leaving him half-faced. Lastly is Zack with the immense scarring across his entire spine. The only person I am unsure of is Callum, who after being beat for several minutes, has wept in the corner about his daughter for an hour now.
The branding is hot to the bone, leaving that area of the body tingling without end...
Everyone used to argue monotonously. I am not even sure what the purpose is any more. I suppose we all saw that and acted on it. Now, we are all fairly chilled despite our problems. Respectful of one another, Robert and Ed calmly discuss what the next best plan of action is. We got to figure something out sooner, rather than later. Zack, still in shock, is tended to by Chris. His burns are beyond ours like it went and sunk deeper, either that or it is because his nerve endings along his spine have been fried and will forever burn him. Matty, however, mingles with Holly and Steven, learning their story, mostly to figure out how the mystery that is Steven who has everyone perplexed, survived. I can see why he is doing it. The three of them are on the swings, not messing around, just kinda fitting onto them while they talk.
Ed separates from Robert, patting his back one last time before approaching me. I watch him as he nears, paying close attention to his solemn expression. Lying down beside me, he immediately holds my hand gingerly in his, treating me delicately as he wraps his hand around the back of my head, shifting his fingers through my short cut hair so that he may kindly pull me in for a sharing kiss. I don't feel alive from the embrace any more. I don't feel the same. It's not him, I swear. I'm just, so scared...
Pulling away, his lips separate from mine, and I know I love him because I want him to come back. Opening his arms, he invites me in. Bounding into him, we fall back onto the soothing grass. Holding me close, I lay my head on his chest.
“I hope Alice has my hat still...” I whisper, only to elicit a laugh from him. His gentle chuckle dies down, and I see him smile for the briefest of moments.
“I bet she'll protect it with her life...” He replies nicely.
Frowning, I tap his nose and lean up as to look him in the eye. “I said I hope she has it. I don't want her to die for a blue cap. I'm sentimental, not delusional”
Ed closes his eyes, throwing his head back. “I never want to forget the times we shared. We had good times during bad circumstances. But it will never change how I feel about you...” He remarks sweetly, and for a moment my heart flutters long enough to remember why I fell in love with him.
“I can't wait to escape...” I mutter, moving up his body so that I am looking right down at him.
His eyes open partly, and he pushes his neck up. Smiling lightly, I offer him another kiss before we go back to our cuddling position. “I want the two of us to live happily together... I'll do whatever it takes...�
�� He says, and for once, I really do feel safe because of his commitment to me.
I don't feel the same. I remember him as the little kid who couldn't defend himself. Now, I feel like some lost little girl and he's the big strong man. I'm not sure what changed. I started strong, now I feel so weak. Has the constant death of people I loved and liked damaged me beyond repair? Or is it something else? The frailty and promise that comes with love along with the closeness of the sentiment between us; has it weakened me? Am I scared to die, or to fight because I worry I'll lose him?
The Carnage Trilogy (Book 3): Aftermath [Who Will Be Left?] Page 3