by Amal, C. O.
The field is very big and as far as I can see this place is filled with grass. There are trees there and there and on the trees there are birds chirping so loudly. Sound of birds is actually very sweet and pleasant to my ears.
I walked toward a higher ground and when I reached higher, I looked around. I see grass everywhere but no people. Wait a minute. Far away under a tree nearby a stream there is a young woman sitting on the grass.
“Thank god.” I said myself.
I ran all the way to the lower grounds, towards the small stream. When I reached there I found that woman staring at me.
“Hello, where am I?” I asked.
The woman smiled. I can’t shake away the fact that she is beautiful than all the girls I have seen so far. Her radiant face really is tempting. Her white shirt and white skirt are glowing with radiant colours. For a moment I lost in thoughts staring at her. Silence greeted me.
“Where do you think you are?” She broke the silence.
“Well, this must be a dream right? And you must be an angel from heavens.” I said.
She giggled. “You’re right about the dream part but I am no angel.”
“Then who are you?” I asked. “As far as I know only angels have such a radiant face.”
“I am nature. And my name is Evelyn.” She said.
I looked around confused. “Nature? You mean mother nature?” I asked.
“Yes.” She smiled.
“What am I doing here? And how is this possible?” I asked still confused.
Evelyn paced towards me and when she reached near me, she touched my brow. Her skin met mine and electricity passed through my body. I felt relaxed. I felt I am at peace.
“You looks tired of running.” She said.
“Yeah.” I said. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“You’re here because I called you. I am in danger and I need help from people like you.” She said.
“What danger?” I asked.
“Dawn is near and my time is limited. Go south until you reach a waterfall. Above the waterfall you will find your answers. And most importantly stay away from people. Their words are trickery and they may change your path.” She said.
I still am confused.
“Don’t forget, stay away from strangers until you’re at the waterfall.” She reminded me.
“Joe? Joe? Wake up Joe.” I heard Maria’s voice.
Suddenly light filled my eyes. And I found myself lying on the floor of the ruined building. Maria is shaking me. Outside sunlight illuminated everything.
“Get up Joe. We need to leave.” Maria said.
“I have a dream about the sanctuary!” I said.
“What?” Maria asked.
“It was like the travellers have told me.” I said.
“So where to?” She asked.
“We should still go in the south direction.” I said.
“Okay. Get up fast, Luc is waiting for you. In fact everyone is waiting for you.” She said.
I quickly stood up and took my back pack from the corner. I put on the back pack on my shoulders and followed Maria to outside. I found everyone readied to continue the journey.
“Are we continuing the journey?” Jacobson asked.
“Yeah. We should stick to the south.” I said.
We slowly started our little walk through the now leaves covered road.
Chapter 7
A.D. 2087, Soxenberg
We slowly moved through the road. The road is mostly claimed by nature and there is only a narrow way left now. There are rusted vehicles on the side of the road but trees have grown out of them. Vines have covered most of the trees.
After about an hour of walk we saw signs of human life again. Not far from where we stood we saw a small village of survivors. From this distance we can’t say they are normal or the crazies. Maria took her binocular from her bag and looked. She then handed me the binocular. I accepted it and looked through its scope. I can see kids playing and people talking each other.
“They must be normal survivors.” I said.
“Okay, then we will continue.” Danny said.
Everyone nodded. Me and Luc walked in the front line with the bow and arrow. A moment later we reached the village. There is a sign board indicating the name of the town we are in. It says Soxenberg.
“I was here before things were normal.” Parker said looking at the sign board.
People on the village stared at us. We slowly walked through the small crowd.
“Where are you all going to?” A tall man standing near the road asked.
“We were forced to move by the crazies. We are heading to the sanctuary.” I said.
“Crazies?” He asked.
“Yeah. Those mad men? They are all over the place we are coming from. You may also need to think about moving away from here.” I said.
“We thought they were just stories.” He said.
“Not anymore. We have also heard that they are spreading a word about a religion.” I said.
“That sucks.” The man said. “We are kind of stickered with this place.”
“We heard that if you join with the crazies, they will let you go.” I said. “But I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Who will join with them?” He said. “Do you really think there is a sanctuary?”
“Well...We have seen many people going to the sanctuary. May be you also have seen them. They must have took this path.” I said.
“We saw no one this way.” He said.
“What? But all of them said they were heading south.” I said.
“Well, then they must have went through the forest or they may have passed here in the night. As far as I know nobody came through here after the war ended. You guys are the first visitors.” He said.
“Okay then, we should get back on the road.” I said. Suddenly I felt that something is wrong. A feeling that this place is not so good coursed through my mind.
“Okay. Good luck on your sanctuary.” He said smiling.
I smiled back. We slowly walked through the narrow road. Kids who were playing stopped all the works and stared at us.
We saw women carrying water from a well to their homes. Parker quickly went near the well to fill his water bottle. We waited for Parker to join us. Parker slowly took water from the well using a bucket attached to a rope and he filled his water bottle.
On the way to us a woman sneezed on to Parker spraying water from her mouth to Parker’s face.
“Lady? Watch!” Parker stormed.
“Sorry. I have this sickness. I am really sorry.” She said.
Parker quickly cooled down. The way the woman talked really cooled him down.
“That’s alright, but don’t repeat this behaviour again. Cover your mouth with a kerchief if you’re sneezing.” Parker said.
“Dually noted.” The woman smiled at him.
Parker smiled at the woman and he quickly ran towards us. We said nothing to Parker. We silently continued our journey.
On the way we saw more people living in the city. None tried to approach us. We also didn’t tried to talk with them. I really wanted out of this place fast. This village we are walking through is lot bigger than any of us have anticipated and may be about hundred people may be living in this place.
After some time we exited Soxenberg and a big green field lays in front of us. We walked through the dark road. The place now we are waking is free of trees and it is pretty open. There are wide cracks formed on the dark road there and there.
In the horizon sun moved to its highest position.
Chapter 8
A.D. 2087, Path to Sanctuary
After the hours of walk we became too tired. We have now exited the open land and reached a forest entrance. Sun slowly began to set in the horizon. We all crouched down on the grass under a large tree. I drank water from my bottle and I lie down on the grass for some time.
“Where should we stay for the night?” Danny asked.
&nbs
p; “There must be a building inside the forest.” I replied.
“We should keep moving at least until we are near a building.” Sophie said.
“Okay, we will continue our walk.” I stood up straightening my shirt.
Everyone stood up.
“We haven’t seen any sanctuary seekers. Are you sure we are on the right track.” Jacobson asked.
“Earlier today when we were on that wrecked building I had a dream about the sanctuary. Dream says we should go south until we see a waterfall.” I said.
“How come you have a dream while we didn’t?” Danny asked.
“I don’t know, but we don’t have another choice but to trust the dream.” I said.
“Okay, we will keep moving.” Lara said.
We slowly started to walk through the forest. Sound of night started to play in the forest. Suddenly Parker fell down unconscious.
“Daddy?” Hanna called.
Maria and Parker were walking in the back. Maria quickly reached near Parker and she began to call him.
“Guys? Parker?” Maria asked.
We all stopped moving and stared at Parker.
“He is not opening his eyes.” Maria said with panic.
Sophie quickly reached near Parker and she crouched down near him. She slowly opened his eyes. His eyes have changed its colour to a dark red colour.
Suddenly Parker began to take heavy breaths.
“He is having a seizure.” Sophie said.
“He was normal all this time. How is this possible?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He may have caught this from the village. Didn’t you saw the woman who sneezed on him?” Sophie asked.
“Do you think he will be alright?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Look at him. He is struggling to breathe.” Sophie said.
Parker took heavy breathes through the mouth and he is still lying down with face upward. His body wriggled.
“Daddy, wake up.” Hanna began to cry.
“Your daddy will be alright. Come on let’s go and look for a building to sleep.” Maria led Hanna away from Parker.
“Parker, are you having any pain?” Sophie asked.
Parker is still struggling to breathe and he looks like didn’t understood what Sophie have asked.
Suddenly Sophie fell back from near Parker with fear.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Look.” Sophie said with panic, pointing at Parker’s face.
I looked at Parker’s face. We all saw it. There is a sudden growth of hair in his face and his lips began to protrude out and it bend in an unusual way. He is still struggling to breathe. We don’t know what to do. We haven’t seen this kind of illness before.
Suddenly thick hair began to appear on his hands and legs. His face quickly covered in fur! His face is indistinguishable now.
We all stared at Parker in horror. Sophie became speechless. I crouched down on the ground and I moved my hands to touch him, but Sophie quickly stopped me.
“We don’t know what it is. You may catch it.” Sophie said.
I nodded. I looked at Parker again and the sight was horrific. Fur growth in Parker’s body stopped and now he looks like an ape! Seriously, an ape!
“What the hell?” I asked myself.
“It’s mutation. Instant mutation.” Sophie said.
“What should we do?” Jacobson asked.
“We need to leave him.” Sophie said. “If we stayed with him we may also catch the infection.”
“But what should we say to Hanna?” I asked.
“Hanna won’t recognize him. We can tell he went back to the village and he will join us in the sanctuary.” Sophie said.
Suddenly Parker or what was left of him stood up. We all almost fell back with fear. Then he made an unholy screech and ran away into the trees.
“What the hell was that?” Danny asked.
“Guys, it’s almost night. I found a place to sleep.” Maria called us from a distance.
We looked each other in the face mouth opened. We actually don’t know what to say. A sadness and confusion filled our face. Far away near Maria, Hanna looked at us.
I slowly walked towards Maria.
“Is my daddy alright?” Hanna asked.
I don’t know what to say to this little girl. I also don’t want to scare Maria and Hanna.
“He is okay. He went to that village we saw earlier for some water. He will join us in the Sanctuary.” I somehow said.
Maria’s stare pierced my eyes. She looks like understood I am lying.
“What? How could he leave me here?” Hanna asked.
“He didn’t leave you Hanna. He will come back as soon as possible. He said you should stay with Maria.” I said.
Maria didn’t ask me anything. “We should go and sleep.” Maria said to Hanna. “You can sleep with me.”
Maria led Hanna away from me and they both entered inside a small house. The house looks good. There are lot of vines on its roof.
A moment later Jacobson and rest of my group joined me.
“What did you told her?” Luc asked.
“I told exactly what Sophie said. She thinks that he will join us in the sanctuary.” I said with sadness.
Everyone nodded. We slowly entered inside the house and found Hanna already in sleep in the living room. Maria is lying down near Hanna patting her head. As soon as Maria saw us she stood up and came near me.
“What the hell happened?” Maria asked.
“Parker mutated into…” I don’t know it’s good to say.
Maria’s eye widened. “Mutated into what?”
“Into a monkey.” Luc said.
“What the hell? And where is he?” Maria asked.
“He ran inside the trees.” I said. “It’s my fault.”
Maria’s jaw dropped. “How come it is your fault?” Maria asked.
“In the dream I was warned about strangers. Evelyn, the girl in the dream told me to stay away from strangers until we reach the sanctuary. I should have told you about this.” I said.
“Those people in the village may be carriers of this disease.” Sophie said.
We all nodded. Rest of the night we didn't dare utter a word. We slept in the living room thinking about Parker and the mysterious illness.
Chapter 9
A.D. 2087, Path to Sanctuary
I woke up with the chirping sound of birds. When I opened my eyes I found myself in that green field again. The dream world!
I looked around and saw no one. Evelyn must be here somewhere. I walked through the long green grass and finally reached near the stream where I saw Evelyn last time. She is not here. She must be the one who called me here but where is she?
“Evelyn? Where are you?” I called.
“I am here Joe.” Evelyn said from behind me.
I looked behind me and suddenly Evelyn magically appeared in front of me.
“My friend turned into a monkey like being. Do you know anything about it?” I asked.
“I told you to stay away from strangers. Many diseases are spreading through the land. If you want to survive you must reach the sanctuary fast.” Evelyn said.
A breeze blew past us. Evelyn’s long shiny hair danced in the wind. She tucked some strands of hair behind her ear.
“But we aren’t anywhere near a promising place. Also we didn’t saw any sanctuary seekers on the way. Did they all reach the sanctuary?” I asked.
I really want answers and Evelyn is the only one who could give me the answers I want.
“Joe, there are unknown forces at work here. I am not trying to scare you. You need all the courage and strength to reach the sanctuary. You haven’t fully understood what our world have become. There are things here who want to eat you up. I called many to the sanctuary and many lives were lost on the way.” She said.
“Is there any way I could help my friend?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I really wanted to help you but I cannot really do anything at this
time.” She said.
“But aren’t you the Mother Nature? There must be a cure to the diseases somewhere in you.” I said.