After the World Ended (Among the Stars Book 0)

by Amal, C. O.

  We walked along the stream. We are near the mountain because the place now we are walking is a big hill. We slowly climbed the hill. Suddenly someone jumped on top of me and the person and me rolled out along the hill downward. Maria and Hanna screamed. After several minutes I stopped rolling and I found myself in the foot of the hill. Others are still on the top of the hill.

  “Ahh...” A pain coursed through my head.

  I touched the back of my head and I found my hands wet. When I looked at the hand I saw it drenched in blood. I had hit my head somewhere.

  I looked everywhere to see the person who is responsible for this. Then I saw him lying down near me. His cloths are torn and they are filled with mud.

  “Joe, are you okay?” Maria shouted from the top of the hill.

  Suddenly the man stood up and rushed at me. He head butted me in my stomach.

  “Ahh...” I fell down. “What the hell are you doing man?”

  Quickly the man took a knife from its sheath. “You all are gonna die.”

  The man rushed at me.

  Suddenly a gunshot erupted and the man fell down. Ray stood on top of a boulder.

  “You okay?” Ray asked.

  “Yeah.” I said.

  But a pain is still surging through my head.

  “That was a crazy right?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Are you sure sanctuary is this way? The Sanctuary is supposed to be a crazy free area, right?” Ray asked.

  “It’s this way. I am sure.” I said.

  We slowly continued our trek. Before long we saw the waterfall we were searching for. It is very big and water heavily jumped from the top splashing water in every direction. We all stared at the waterfall with joy. Finally we are near sanctuary.

  Maria and Melissa helped me wash away the blood from the back of my head.

  “Ahh...” A stinging sensation passed through my head and I winced.

  “Fortunately the wound is not that deep.” Melissa said.

  “Where did he came from? Will there be more of them here?” Maria asked.

  “There may be more.” Danny said.

  “Guys, there is nothing here. Where should we head to next?” Ray asked.

  “We should stick to south. Since the waterfall is real, the sanctuary can’t be far.” I said.

  We drank some fresh water from the stream and then we began to climb the hill. Before long we saw apple trees and we collected apples in our back packs. We have been eating fruits for days now, but we got all the energy we need from the fruits.

  Sun began to set in the horizon and darkness crept forward.

  “We need to find a place to stay for the night.” Melissa said.

  We all nodded. We finally reached the top of the hill and we crossed the stream. From here we can see tree land below. In a distant we saw another alien building exactly like the one we saw before. The building is surrounded by trees and then we saw it in the sky.

  A gigantic ship or a machine is coming down from the skies. We stared at the thing for some time. It looks like no ship. It is more like a machine or a tripod. It have a ball shaped head and three legs. The tripod landed on the ground near the alien building.

  Maria took her binocular from her bag and looked through its scope.

  “There are aliens all over that place.” Maria said. “And there is those wolfish creatures on the ground.”

  Suddenly a hum sound came from the distant sky. We all looked at the sky and found a gigantic silver coloured space ship flying above us. The ship is moving towards the alien building. The ship have a long almost cylindrical body. And the ship is flying in very low altitude.

  In the horizon sun almost set and most of the places got plunged in darkness.

  “Guys, I found a cave. We can spend the night in there.” Ray said.

  We all followed Ray and Ray led us to the cave. The cave is pretty big and it is perfectly fit for the night. Maria lighted a candle and she fixed it on top of a rock. We all cuddled on the floor in a sitting position.

  “I will stay on guard.” Ray said.

  “Call me when you’re sleepy.” Danny said to Ray.

  Ray nodded. Hanna, Melissa and Maria quickly began their slumber on the cold floor.

  I leaned on to the rocky wall and I slowly closed my eyes.

  Chapter 20

  A.D. 2087, Path to Sanctuary

  As usual I woke up in the green field. This time I saw Evelyn standing by the stream. And what peculiar about today is, there is that alien tripod we saw before resting in the centre of the field. I slowly approached Evelyn. Something is wrong about the way she is standing.

  When I reached near her she abruptly fell down into my arms. Sweat uncontrollably escaped from her body. I wiped away sweat from her face.

  “What is happening?” I asked.

  Her small body perfectly rested in my hands.

  “I am dying...They are killing me.” She said.

  “What? How?” I asked.

  “Heh...Did you saw that tripod like machine over there?” She asked pointing to the tripod in the field.

  “Yes.” I said. “What does it have to do with you?”

  “That machine is draining my energy. You have to stop it or all I have worked for billions of years will be in vain. All my children will die if you don’t stop that machine.” She said.

  Suddenly pale spots appeared on Evelyn’s body.

  “How do I stop it?” I demanded.

  “You’re near sanctuary. Not far away from the cave there is a building. It is hardly a Sanctuary. I led you to a place where you can find the things which can help me from these abominations. Destroy the machines or you all are gonna die. If I die, you die.” She said.

  Suddenly light swept in from every corner. I had to close my eyes due to the high intensity of light.

  “Please, help me.” Evelyn said.

  “I will do what I can.” I said.

  Suddenly light covered everywhere. When I opened my eyes all I saw was dust clouds. The place where I am standing is devoid of greenery and there is only dust here. There is no chirping of birds, there is no pleasant sound of forest. There is no sound! I can see the sun glowing at high intensity in the horizon. The whole land is nothing but a barren wasteland.

  Suddenly the place I am standing disappeared and dust covered everywhere. I began to free fall through the dust clouds. I quickly closed my eyes.

  “If you don’t destroy the machines this will be the result.” Evelyn’s voice reverberated in my head.

  “Machines? There are more machines?” I asked.

  Suddenly I fell hard almost knocking the wind out of me. I woke up in the cave floor panting.

  Sun light swept in through the cave entrance. I found everyone awake. They all are standing outside the cave. I walked towards them.

  “Thought you might be dreaming. So we didn’t called you.” Melissa said.

  “I know where we should go.” I said.

  “So where to?” Ray asked.

  “There is a building not far from here and Evelyn said that the tripod thing we saw yesterday is killing her. We have to destroy that machine.” I said.

  “Hold on there. Who is Evelyn?” Ray asked.

  “She is the Mother Nature. She is the one who is calling me in my dreams. The aliens are here to kill her. If she die, we die.” I said.

  Ray nodded. No questions from anyone. Silence fell between us.

  “So where is this building actually?” Finally Danny asked.

  “She said it is near here.” I said.

  “Okay we will search around the cave.” Ray said.

  We quickly began our search. Before long Danny called everyone and he showed us the building. It is right inside the mountain and there is no one near the building. We slowly approached the building.

  There is a picture of our country’s flag drawn at the entrance.

  “I know this building.” Ray said. “It’s our military bunker.”

  Ray swung opened the
big metal door. We all slowly got inside. There is darkness everywhere inside the bunker. Maria quickly kindled one candle and she fixed it on top of a table in the corner. Now everything slowly start to become visible. There are empty tables all over the big tunnel. We all walked through the long tunnel which is directly in the heart of the mountain. Before long we found a door which leads to another part of the tunnel.

  Maria kindled another candle and fixed it near the entrance. Ray opened that door and we all entered into another tunnel. Here leaning on to the walls stood rows and rows of guns. Ammunition lay in a corner. We found several heaps of ammunition there and there. Our mouth widened at the sight. A moment later we saw boxes of TNTs neatly stacked in a corner.

  “Yeah, this is what I am talking about baby.” Ray said with joy.

  “Now we are going to destroy those machines and kill those bitches.” I said.

  Everyone nodded.

  We are the only one who reached this sanctuary. We had seen hundreds of people seeking this sanctuary when we were living in New Soberfield but it seems that those people had lost their path.

  Part 5 – Destruction

  *****

  Chapter 21

  A.D. 2087, Sanctuary

  After eating the fruits we have collected for breakfast we immediately began our study on the guns. Ray taught us everything we need to know. Back when everything was normal I was not much into guns. In fact I entirely hated the idea of war but now things have changed. If you can’t keep up with this change you can’t survive here.

  I hadn’t used to the names of the guns and Ray told me these guns are advanced assault rifles which are fully automated machines which shot high calibre bullets. And this guns are fed with magazines having 30 bullets.

  I filled my bag with magazines for my gun and also Ray taught me to use revolvers. I took two revolvers with me. Revolvers are very short hand guns and according to ray these are very essential in a close combat.

  After we have done with our study on guns we all armed to the teeth and readied ourselves for the war. Maria will be staying with Hanna in this compound. She is also armed to the teeth. I told Melissa to stay with Maria but she is not ready to do that. She says that she want to kick some alien butt. Can’t blame her. These days every human thing who have still normal mind left in their body wants to kick some alien butt.

  After everything was done, the sun began to set in the horizon and darkness began to conquer the land. This is the time we have been waiting for. We planned to take those aliens out in the night.

  We all are equipped with night vision helmets and Ray is our sniper. With silenced shots he will clear a path for us and the three of us will lay kindled TNT everywhere. We really are going to kill those fuckers and we are gonna send them straight to hell.

  The four of us marched towards the exit. Suddenly we stopped. In front of us stood one, two, three...Ten people. We don’t know they are crazy or not, so we immediately raised our guns at them.

  “Speak.” Ray commanded.

  They looks scared. Chances are they are sanctuary seekers.

  “We are looking for the sanctuary. Evelyn...Huh...The dreams told us the sanctuary is here.” The leading man said.

  In the new group there are three men, two women and five children. They all looks strong. Must have gotten through a lot.

  “Yes. This is the sanctuary.” Ray lowered his gun.

  Rest of us including me, lowered our guns.

  “Did Evelyn told you that you’re here to save her?” I asked.

  “Yeah. She did told us everything including about those machines.” The man said.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “I am Berry.” He said.

  “So Berry, do you guys know how to shoot a gun?” Ray asked.

  “Of course.” Berry and the two other men produced their revolvers tucked under their shirt.

  “Sweet. We are going to destroy the machine and a building tonight. Are you guys going to join us?” Ray asked.

  “We would like to if we have some ammunition of course.” Berry said.

  Others in Berry’s group nodded.

  “Come with me.” I led them to our armoury.

  At the time we reached the armoury as I have guessed Berry’s and his men’s eyes widened.

  “Take everything you need.” I said.

  They quickly took many ammunition and assault rifles and revolvers. I also showed them TNTs. They filled their bag with TNTs. They seemed to know everything about guns and explosives. I gave them a lighter to light the TNT and Berry accepted it.

  Berry and group are just here but we need to hurry or there won’t be anything left here to enjoy.

  Berry and team told me that their path was very tough and they had been through a lot. There isn’t much people coming to sanctuary for sure. The mission to save the world is in the hands of a handful of people. We need to succeed tonight. The longer we wait the stronger the enemy gets.

  Crazies are thinking that the fucking aliens are their god so they will do everything in their power to stop us. I hope there won’t be any crazies in that area. Crazies are pretty much dangerous. They are the one who ended our world but of course the real end of the world is not yet here.

  “My mind was full about war and I forgot to ask you that do you guys ate anything.” I said.

  “We ate fruits that we gotten from the forest. We all are fine. Thank you for asking.” Berry said.

  Others nodded.

  We all stood at the entrance of the sanctuary. We all are equipped with night vision helmets.

  In the horizon sun slowly went down and darkness started to cover everything.

  We all started our journey by climbing down the hill.

  In the night everything is visible to us in green colour and we saw the tip of the building from the hill. We increased our pace and kept ourselves alerted.

  Chapter 22

  A.D. 2087, Near Alien Tower

  We strolled through the forest in pitch darkness. After about half an hour of walk we reached near the alien tower. We stood near the forest edges and examined our surrounding. There are small light bulbs all over the building and we can see aliens walking through the tower.

  We found the killer machine not far away from the tower. There is a metal rod that came out of the machine’s lower part of the ball head. A part of metal rod is inside the ground and there is also a glass chamber having a blue liquid on the back of the tripod looking machine. The glass chamber wasn’t there yesterday, so it must be a recent addition.

  There is a hum sound coming out of the machine which indicates that the machine is in its working state. We slowly approached the alien building. Ray is still inside the forest on top of a tree. He is examining our surrounding for any danger.

  There are no aliens outside the building. We quickly began our job. We laid TNTs everywhere around the building. Me and Berry walked towards the tripod looking machine and we laid TNTs there also. The tripod looking machine is gigantic and fortunately there is no one around. From each TNTs we extrapolated the fuse wire with extra fuse wire. And with the long fuse wire’s one end in our hand we marched inside the forest.

  So far no aliens have seen us.

  “Ahh...” Berry cried out loud.

  When I looked at Berry I saw a man standing atop Berry. The man hit Berry in his head using a piece of log. It looks like Berry is unconscious.

  “Traitors...” The man screamed at high pitch sound.

  He must be a crazy.

  Ray quickly silently shot down the crazy. Suddenly the whole place got illuminated by a blue light. The aliens detected our presence.

  “Joe, light the fuse.” Ray shouted.

  I quickly took the lighter in my hands and I kindled the fuse wire.

  Shh...

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  TNTs exploded with a loud bang. The legs of the tripod broke from the main body and the machine fell down. Blue liquid splashed everywhere.

 
A moment later the alien tower collapsed. We stood in the forest edges and watched the scene with excitement. The aliens inside the building must have dead. The long mighty tower fell on top of the tripod. Dust covered the entire place.