“Hold up.” My dad whispered, stopping dead in his tracks. Instantly, Timothy and Brandon froze, withdrawing their weapons before I had even come to a stop. For a few seconds I could only remain where I stood, trying to work out just exactly what had spooked my dad, it was only when Timothy gave me a nudge from behind that I remembered to unholster my weapon and ready it.
“What is it?” Brandon whispered from the back, his voice sounding calm and collected. I on the other hand, felt ready to keel over. Something had alarmed my dad, chances were it wasn’t going to be friendly.
My father nodded to thick foliage to the right of the path. I quickly scanned them, with my gun at the ready. That’s when I heard the rustling.
My first instinct was to squeeze the trigger and fire as many shots as I could at whatever was standing on the other side of the bushes, but somehow I managed to contain myself and stay somewhat composed.
Suddenly something erupted from the trees. I felt my entire body tense with fear as I slammed my eyes shut and fired off two shots before even beginning to comprehend what had jumped out at us. For a few seconds I stood completely motionless, my eyes still clenched shut and my hands wrapped around my gun so hard that they began to hurt. I heard something drop to the ground just ahead of me.
“Fucking hell, Zachary.” I heard Timothy sigh from besides me, a laugh cracking his voice.
“Good shot I suppose.” Brandon chuckled from besides him. Only then did I have the courage to open my eyes. I felt a wave of relief sweep over me as I laid eyes on what I had shot down.
A dog. I let out a sigh as my heart beat began to return to normality. I was certain that it was either going to be one of the Charred Lands many dangerous creatures, intent on ripping us apart, or one of our missing allies.
I felt my father place his hand on my shoulder before he spoke in soft, reassuring words, “You got lucky here Zachary. Thank the stars above that it was just a wild dog. I expect that you’ll stay more composed next time something like this happens.” He warned, I felt my muscles begin to relax a little.
I didn’t reply, instead I simply nodded, unable to take my eyes away from the small dog that I had just put a bullet in. I didn’t feel any remorse for the animal, after all it would make a good meal, but I felt a great deal of disappointment. I knew I had let my team down. Nobody said anything, but I knew what they were thinking. All three of them were writing me off, more than ever now. I knew they were thinking I didn’t have what it takes to survive out here, I knew they were thinking I was weak. But what disappointed me the most was that deep down, I knew they were right.
We continued on in silence, though I knew their minds were all just as busy as mine; all thinking over what had just happened. Though they had initially laughed it off, I knew this would have long lasting implications. It took me less than twenty minutes to make my first mistake in the Wasteland - My father has always done his best to stress that just one, one single mistake was enough to get you killed out here.
Right then I wanted to turn around and run back home. Run back to my books, my little siblings, back to my comfy bed and Grandpa’s stories. But those days were over now. I was sixteen. I was becoming a man and it was expected of me to behave like such. I struggled to fight back tears as we progressed on.
“It’s just up here.” My father finally said as we reached a small wooden gate. It had been a good fifteen minutes since anybody had spoken so much as a word, hearing someone’s voice did a little to settle my racing nerves.
“Guys…” Brandon simply said, his eyes fixed on the sky. I matched his gaze and joined him in staring up. A thick trail of black smoke rose above the treeline, it looked close. Instantly I knew where it was coming from. As did my dad, judging from his reaction, “I knew it,” he mumbled through gritted teeth as he picked up the pace. He quickly vaulted the wooden fence before taking off in a run.
“Come on Zachary” My brother urged, giving me a little shove as he also took off running past me.
I did my best to keep up with my three older, fitter companions as we charged up a dirt path. By the time we reached Barry’s home I was completely out of breath. Gasping for air, I wiped a trickle of sweat from my forehead as I caught up to the rest of the team who all stood motionless, staring on at Barry’s house.
I didn’t want to imagine what had caused such damage to the building. The house had once been a relatively large, single story white cottage. Now, nothing more than three, black, burnt walls remained in place. Smoke rose high into the sky from the still burning fire inside the charred remains.
“This doesn’t look good.” My dad sighed as he began to approach the building.
“Remember; whoever or whatever did this might still be in ear shot so keep the noise to a minimum, lads.” My uncle instructed as he followed my father, his gun at the ready.
It was hard to tell just exactly how long ago this damage had been inflicted on the building, but I would say that it couldn’t have happened any more than three days ago. From the damage to the surrounding trees and ground, it looked as though there had at one point been a large blaze here. The small crackling inside the house was likely the dwindling remnants of it. Every ounce of my being prayed in harmony that whatever had caused this was long gone.
“Dad… I’ve found something.” My brother hissed from behind me. His voice sounding thick with worry, I also detected something else in the way he spoke. Maybe it was fear – an emotion that I had hardly ever seen my brother show. I spun around to see what had startled him, expecting the worse. I wasn’t disappointed.
I felt vomit rise in my throat the second I pieced together exactly what I was looking at. Lying in the middle of a patch of scorched earth lay the remains of a human being. That was all I was able to determine before I turned away and emptied my stomach into a nearby bush.
Once again I felt as though my companions would be judging me, but as I spat the last chunks of this morning breakfasts out of my mouth, I didn’t really care. There was nothing wrong with being repulsed by such a sight; I would be more concerned for somebody who didn’t feel nauseous at looking at it. I took a deep breath before reluctantly turning back to face the horrors.
“Can we identify it?” My father asked, leaning over the cindering pile of human remains, with hardly a grimace on his face. Nothing more than a chalk black skeletal structure remained. They lay face up, all of their clothes and possessions had been burnt to a crisp the second they had been engulfed. My Grandpa told me that he believed the pain only lasted for a few moments, but during those agonising seconds you felt the most unimaginable, horrific pain possible.
For a few movements nobody spoke, instead we all stood in absolute silence, surveying the bones in front of us. I tentatively took a few steps towards the corpse to get a better look. I didn’t want to look at it, but I knew seeing such things would do me some good, I had to get used to them if I was ever going to be tough. The bones had definitely once belonged to an adult, and were most likely male. It was hard to imagine that one moment somebody had been alive and breathing, with clothes on their back and hair on their head, then a few brief, agonising moments later they were nothing more than a pile of bones. A fate shared by millions all around The Charred Lands since the Rise.
I suspected that if these bones didn’t belong to Barry Deer, then they were more than likely Tony Olsen’s. He was a big bloke, far bigger than his two children, I couldn’t see this skeleton structure belonging to either of them.
“It’s Tony.” Timothy eventually said as he reached for his back pack and quickly pulled out a pair of gardening gloves. Hearing Timothy say that with such certainty sent chills down my spine. Not only had I known Tony for my entire life, but I knew his family as well. I couldn’t imagine how we were going to go home and tell his wife and one remaining daughter that he had passed. Though of course, such duties wouldn’t be placed on my shoulders, but the point remains.
“What makes you so certain?” My father asked, as hi
s brother leant down and started to fumble around with the cindering bones, the gardening gloves protecting his fingers from the heat.
“This.” Timothy simply replied, standing up with something in his hand. I leant forward to get a good look at the item as he held it out for my father and brother to see. I instantly recognised it. A small, charred metal pendant. Tony never went anywhere without it. The only time he ever took the thing off was of a night. There was no doubt in my mind now that this was Tony. He was dead, and Barry’s home had been destroyed.
“What do we do with his remains?” Brandon sighed, pacing away from Tony’s resting place.
“They’re too hot to take back with us.”
“And it’s too risky to wait around here whilst we dig a grave.” My dad replied, scanning the surrounding forests for friend or foe.
The tension was almost unbearable. I couldn’t help but noticed that everyone had the safety on their weapons switched off. They were expecting something here. I quickly readied my own weapon as I scanned our surroundings.
“This is bad.” My brother mumbled to my father, just to my left. From his tone I suspected that he was trying to keep the conversation private. I did my best to listen to their mumbled conversation.
“We’ve never had an incident this close to Haven.” He added.
“Take Zachary back with you and alert the others. We need to be on immediate standby. Your uncle and I will continue to search for Amy and Kyle.”
“Think you’ll find them… alive?”
“No.” My father simply replied after a few seconds of silence.
With that I realised their conversation was over, so I quickly turned to face the other direction as to not make it too obvious that I had been eavesdropping. That’s when I noticed them.
For a few seconds I stood in silence, staring in absolute awe. Never in my entire life had I seen anything so spectacular, so intriguing, but also so worrying. I heard my brother’s footsteps approaching from behind, “Brandon!” I yelled at the top of my voice, temporarily forgetting the need to be quiet.
“What is it?!” He replied, picking up his pace until he was stood beside me. Just as I had, Brandon completely froze motionless and silent when he laid his eyes upon my find.
“Are they…?” I began to ask, but before I could finish my question he gave me an answer.
“Eggs.” He mumbled to himself. I stood staring at the nest. Five eggs, each the size of a football. They were almost all pure white in colour, nothing at all like the chicken eggs back at the farm. I couldn’t help but shudder as I tried to imagine the size of the thing that had given birth to such monstrous shells. And whatever it was, was likely still within the area.
“EGGS!!” Brandon screamed once more, finally snapping into action and repeating it loud enough for my father and uncle’s ears, before turning and taking off in their direction.
“Zachary get away from them!” My dad screamed, running towards me. He almost pushed me aside as he charged to the nest. He took a few moments to scan them before turning back to face me.
“It’s a fucking nest!” He spat, his eyes trained on the skies.
“Destroy them.” My uncle instantly replied, without a moment’s hesitation.
“Are you mad?” Brandon spat, shooting our uncle a poison look.
“You’re okay with having a nest right next to our home?!” He retorted, returning the look.
“That’s enough.” My father replied, his voice returning to its usual calm and collected tone. I always admired my dad for his ability to keep his nerves in situations just like this. Apparently he took after Grandpa for that. Timothy however, was the complete opposite. Ever since his wife’s death he seemed uneven. Losing her changed the way he processed things and how he acted, which I suppose nobody could blame him for. He had a hot temper, and his arrogance often threatened to split our family in half.
“We’ll discuss this once we’re safely back at Haven. We can’t stay here and talk about this in the open.”
“There’s no safety to be found at Haven, not with this nest here! What do we do when their mother comes back?” Timothy grinned, his eyebrows arching down in anger.
“The implications of doing that could bring a reign of fire down on us. We have to carefully think this through before we take action. Now, I’m through talking about this here.” He finished, before taking off walking in the direction home.
The journey home was a lot quicker. We disregarded all of the stealth that we had employed whilst making our way to Barry Deer’s home. Instead we took off in a light jog, heading straight for home. We didn’t even bother to stop off and collect the dog that I had shot down either. There was no time for stealth, or any breaks. Though we hadn’t known it, we had been living in the wake of a monstrous creature for God only knows how long. Every second that we spent out here was potentially bringing us closer to an attack from the beast. The sooner we got home, the sooner we could begin to prepare.
Chapter Four
Upon our return to Haven, I was greeted like a hero. My Mum, Grandpa and little brother and sister eagerly awaited my return. Though in all honesty, I felt far from a hero. Today’s mission had been nothing short of a disaster. I knew that wasn’t my own doing, but still I couldn’t take pride in today’s venture outside. We brought with us dire news. Not only had we finally gotten confirmation that Tony Olsen was dead – along with his two children, Amy and Kyle in all likeliness – but we also brought with us the revelation of the nest.
In truth I was proud of myself for venturing out on a full mission, but I knew mistakes had been made on my part. There would no doubt be plenty of lectures and lessons to come. It was a surreal feeling, being back in Haven. I had spent my entire life here – but after being out in the Charred Lands, I began to appreciate it differently. I had been told a thousand times over how harsh the outside world was, but seeing the damage and destruction first hand really gave me a whole new understanding of just how special this home really was.
I didn’t know how to even start to comprehend the implications of the eggs. Only two times in the past had I ever seen monsters so close to Haven, but on both occasions they had passed by without any trouble. But now, one had destroyed our neighbour’s home and likely murdered him, along with three of our citizens, before it settled down within the area. It was a miracle it hadn’t stumbled across us already.
I couldn’t help but look at Haven differently. As my mother and younger siblings hugged me and congratulated me on my first recon, I found my eyes wondering around the various buildings inside of Haven. I had spent my entire life here, I had grown up here and matured into the person I was. I knew very little about the outside world, but for the first time in my entire life, I began to suspect that this wasn’t going to be a permanent home. Should whatever spawned those eggs decide to attack us, Haven would surely fall – just as mankind had forty-two years ago.
Suddenly I was filled with a sense of emptiness. I felt as though all hope in my world had just been drained into a black hole. I had already known that the Wastelands were a harsh, unforgiving place where death lurked around every corner, but now that I had experienced them first hand, I saw absolutely no hope out there, only perilous times and fear. I didn’t know how I, or many other people here inside Haven could cope should we be forced to leave our homes. No less than my Grandpa. He may have been as fit as a fiddle during the early years of The Rise, but now he was an old man. Perhaps the oldest living man in all of the lands. At eighty-four years of age, he simply couldn’t survive out there.
I pushed such thoughts to the back of my mind as I detached from my mother’s loving embrace, from my demeanour she could tell something was wrong, but neither of us said a word, instead I forced a smile for her, before making my way over to the barn to store away all of my supplies. I looked ahead and saw my father, tentatively making his way across to Tony Olsen’s wife. It was clear for her to see from my father’s body language that he wasn’t bringing good
news. Tears were streaming down her face before he even reached her.
I shook my head as I entered the barn. Timothy had already told us that we would be holding a community wide meeting tonight in the farm house, that’s when we would decide what was to happen with the new found nest. As much as I didn’t feel like it, I knew I had to be present. Everyone over the age of sixteen had to attend, unless special circumstances arose, I couldn’t imagine Andrea or Laura Olsen being forced to attend after hearing confirmation of Tony’s death.
My first taste of the Wasteland had been an eventful one. I always took stories of the Wasteland with a pinch of salt, as though perhaps everyone had been exaggerating about their harshness to scare me into behaving, but it seems as though all those stories that my family had told me were true after all. I figured I had around half an hour before the meeting was called, so I decided to pay Florence Hill a visit. I packed all my gear away inside the farm house, before heading off to look for her.
Florence was my best friend. She came here just over a decade ago, and we instantly clicked. I remember the first time I laid eyes on her long, ginger hair. The Wasteland had a way of ruining people’s innocence, or adding a harshness to their face, but not Florence - I was immediately struck by her beauty. Not only did I find her incredibly cute, but I was also made up to have somebody else around my age in Haven. Before Florence arrived, I had only Amy Olsen, and my sister Ruby for company. I never really got on well with Amy, she always seemed a bit too stuck up for my liking. She looked down upon me because I had glasses and wasn’t very strong, whilst worshiping the ground that my older brother walked on. Straight away Florence and I made friends and have spent pretty much every day together since.
The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire Page 2