The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire (10 page)

I slowly
climbed onto the couch and did my best to make myself comfortable.
Despite how tired I was, I couldn’t quite seem to drift off.
Perhaps it was the knowledge that there were two bloody corpses a
few feet behind me, or the countless things rushing through my mind
about my newly deceased family members. I lay there for what felt
like hours, crying and sobbing like a child. I eventually drifted
off into a nightmare fuelled sleep.

Chapter
Twelve

For a few
brief sweet seconds, I awoke without a clue of the pain I had
endured over the past day. I opened my eyes, heavy and groggy,
staring at an unfamiliar wall. For a few moments I thought I had
drifted off in the dining room back at the farm house in Haven.
Then it all came rushing back to me like a tsunami, sweeping over
my body of emotions, destroying everything in its wake. I was
almost too scared to move from the couch, feeling unable to face
the two corpses once again.

I eventually
built up the courage to turn around and check on the corpses; of
course they remained exactly as they had been last night. And of
course, the cabin remained completely empty of life, aside from
myself. A small, hopeful part of me had been praying on my mother,
or my siblings, or anybody else from haven being here when I woke.
But as usual, my ill hearted hope was soon to be crushed.

Pretty much every muscle in my body ached, and every bone
cracked as I stood from the couch and let out a stretch. The room
had already begun to smell a little, no doubt from the two bodies
rotting away inside. I didn’t have the courage to move them,
even
thinking
about touching the dead girls made my skin crawl. No, the only
possible solution was for me to move on. The longer I lingered her,
the more the bodies would rot and skink the place out - and god
knows what the smell would attract.

I quickly had
a search of the cupboards and draws; father told me we always kept
an ample selection of supplies at the cabin for this exact reason.
I quickly found a relatively large backpack, perfect for storing
whatever supplies I can gather up, along with the dragon’s egg
outside. I had almost forgotten about the egg, and cursed myself
for leaving it outside – anybody could have stumbled across it and
took the thing, leaving me without any options at all. With the
other residents of Haven being no shows, I had no options but to
set off alone. Surely, had they been heading for the cabin, they
would have arrived by now. Yet still, I made sure to leave a small
few supplies behind, just in case.

Overall I
managed to take five tins of food, and just as much bottled water,
a small box of medical supplies, as well as some batteries and a
torch, there would be no end to the usefulness of that out in The
Charred Lands.

It was a tough decision to leave the cabin, but a necessary
one. Every part of my being hoped that other family members had
escaped Haven and were still alive and well. I felt as though this
cabin was my best chance of ever seeing my mother, or little Toby
and Amber again, but they should have arrived by now; I hated
thinking about my little brother and sister alone out here, perhaps
they
would
be
better off dead. Something told me they had either already left the
cabin by the time I arrived, or headed in a completely different
direction all together. A part of me was slowly beginning to lose
hope of ever seeing them again, alive or dead.

I took one
final look around the cabin, making sure I wasn’t forgetting
anything, before heading back into the outside world. I was
pleasantly surprised to find the sun high up in the sky. Seeing it
there, shimmering in a rare opening in the smoke clouds gave me a
tingling sadness in my heart. I thought back to the days in Haven
where everyone would be out in the field enjoying the rare sun. I
pushed those memories to the back of my head – they were in the
past now. I had to focus on the here and now.

It didn’t take
me long to forget about how nice the sun looked above, I soon
turned to hating the thing. The backpack was quite heavy, making
walking that much harder, coupled with the sun, they had me
struggling within ten minutes of walking. My plan was simple. I
knew of a large town, some three hours walk away from where Haven
had been located, called Warrington. This is where the Charred
Landers were located. They were a large community based within the
rubbles of Warrington. From what I had been told, they were an
unruly bunch of survivors with no clear leaders, no set laws,
living off of a survival of the fittest policy. I knew it was a
risky move, but I didn’t really see any others options. Once I got
there I could get better directions to The Church of Fire, or at
very least find out the best route to take to Manchester.

The dirt path
between the woods seemed never ending. Trees on either side of the
small road seemed to wind on forever, all I could say was that I
was grateful for the cover from the sun that the tree line above
provided.

Eventually,
after a good hour of walking I reached a clearing in the trees,
though it hadn’t always been this way. The ground was black for
miles ahead. A fire had ripped through this part of the woods and
destroyed everything in sight, flattening thousands of trees in its
wake. The path became obscured by black dust and char – All I could
do was continue on straight ahead through the charred wasteland. I
could only imagine how ferocious the fire must have been, miles and
miles of woodland had been turned into a flat, barren landscape.
This being just one more example of the power of the sky dragons –
I imagined that Haven probably looked somewhat like this by now. It
pained me to think of my home in such a state. Once again I found
myself focusing on the past, so I pushed the thoughts to the back
of my mind.

It was tough
to navigate across the burnt opening, with each step brought a
crush and a snap beneath my feat. I was also weary of any charred
corpses. Fire turned everything it touched black; I kept expecting
to stand upon a burnt corpse, buried in the rubble of the
woods.

As far as I
could tell, the fire had most likely ripped through here a few
weeks ago, probably sometime before the heavy downpour we recently
experienced. We had three days of constant rain, without that I
could have seen this blaze heading straight for Haven. At the time
the rain was quite annoying, but now I supposed I was quite
thankful for it. Then I remembered, it didn’t matter anyway, Haven
had perished nevertheless. Once again I found myself thinking back
to Haven, but before I could shake my head to vanish the thoughts,
somebody spoke out.

“
You there.” A voice called, husky and deep. I instantly froze
in my tracks. My gun was tucked into my belt. Even an experienced
drawer wouldn’t be able to get the drop on whoever was behind me. I
didn’t recognise the voice, and I had always been told not to trust
people you didn’t recognise in The Charred Lands. All I could do
was raise my hands and turn around to face the stranger.

Standing a few
feet away, with their guns aimed at me, stood two men. I squinted
against the unusually bright sun to try and make out any details
about them.

They were
comically different in size. One of them, a bald fellow, his face
covered in stumble and dirt, wearing a tattered black shirt and
grey joggers stood several feet shorter than the other, a tall,
slim redhead with pale skin and a boyish face with a well looked
after blue polo shirt, accompanied by what had once been a nice
pair of jeans. Though neither of them looked particularly
threatening, their guns certainly did.

“
That’s right, keep your hands in the air, boy.” The smaller
one said, his voice mumbled, but harsh.

I did as
instructed as they began to take hesitant steps towards me.

“
Aren’t you a little young to be travelling alone?” The ginger
one asked, though his tone didn’t sound particularly hostile, he
kept his gun trained on me.

“
I’ve been living somewhere, but it’s gone now. I’m heading to
Warrington.” I said, my voice almost getting caught in my throat. I
was worried sick. I had absolutely no way of turning these odds in
my favour. These two men had their guns aimed right at me, and mine
was tucked away in my belt. I was theirs to do with whatever they
pleased. All it took was one wrong answer, one quick movement and
they could squeeze the trigger and end my life in a matter of
seconds. Sweat began trickling down my forehead as my heart rate
seemed to double.

“
So you’re alone then.” The short, balled one replied, with a
tingle in his eye and a smirk on his face. I didn’t like that one
bit.

“
I am.” I confirmed, I didn’t see any point in lying; doing so
might just end up getting me shot… faster.

“
He’s alone.” The short one repeated to his ginger friend, as
though he hadn’t heard it the first time. They both exchanged a
small smile between themselves.

Suddenly they
both lowered their weapons.

“
I’m Oliver Bell.” The ginger one said.

“
And I’m Phil Webb.” The short one added. Though they no longer
had their weapons trained on me, I still felt just as
uncomfortable.

“
This is the part where you tell us your name.” Oliver said,
sparking a giggle from Phil. Without a word Oliver gave Phil a
somewhat playful slap over his bald head.

“
Excuse him, he’s a little git when he’s baked.” The taller of
the pair smiled. I had no idea what he meant by baked, and I didn’t
fancy finding out either. They were quickly acting less and less
hostile towards me, but I still wanted to be out of their company
as soon as I could.

“
So, where are you off to then?” Phil asked, rubbing the spot
on his head where his companion had whacked him.

“
I’m not sure.”

“
You certainly look like you were heading somewhere specific.”
Oliver replied, almost instantly.

“
How would you know?” I asked, raising my eyebrow in suspicion.
Now that their guns were pointed at my face, I suddenly felt a
little confidence return, though I was still quaking in my
shoes.

“
We’ve been following you.” They both said, almost in perfect
synchronisation.

“
For a good half hour.” Oliver quickly added.

Suddenly I
grew infuriated. Not only at them, but also myself. I had let my
guard down, and as a result of that, anything could have happened.
I had always been told to keep an eye on your back in case you were
being followed. Had I been heading back to Haven, I could have led
literally anybody back to our front door step. It was an amateurish
mistake. Amateurish mistakes get you killed out here – I was yet to
discover if this one would be fatal, that all depended on Oliver
and Phil’s true intentions.

“
Why were you following me?”

“
We figured it would be irresponsible of us to let such an
unprepared child roam The Charred Lands alone.”

“
I’m not a child!” I snapped, losing my temper and clenching my
fists. I noticed Oliver clock my fight ready fists with his red,
glazed eyes before tightening his grip on the gun, but never for
one second did the lukewarm smile slip from his face.

“
Of course you’re not. But you’re not prepared, that much is
true.” Oliver said.

“
I am.” I said, shaking my backpack to prove the
point.

“
Nope.” Phil said, and without warning his right fist swung
around and hit me in the face. The blow knocked me sideways, I fell
to one knee, but managed to avoid falling flat on the ground. I
knelt there for a few seconds, feeling a numbing pain whiz through
my jaw. I instantly felt my eyes fill with tears.

“
Wasn’t prepared for that, was you?” Phil laughed.

“
Why the fuck did you just hit him?” Oliver spat, slapping his
bald companion over the head once again, this time a little harder,
and without a hint of playfulness.

“
But he’s right.” Oliver quickly added, turning back to me with
his mocking smile returning to his face once again.

I turned to
them, my face red with embarrassment at my tears. I felt like a
child again, facing the wrath of my older sister, Ruby.

“
You
really
don’t look ready to me.” Phil laughed, kicking out my hand
from underneath me. I fell to the black charred grounds below,
instantly inhaling residue, I began to cough ferociously as I stood
back to my feet. It was at that moment that I had had enough.
Without so much as giving them a warning I reached into my belt and
pulled out my handgun, I began to swing it in Phil’s direction
first, but before I could so much as get him in my sights Oliver
grabbed my arm and knocked the gun from my grasp.

I let out a
cry of pain as he twisted my arm behind my back and pushed me down
to my knees once again. He pushed and pushed on my arm, it felt
ready to pop out of its joint at any given moment.

“
Big mistake that, boy.” Oliver whispered as he forced me onto
the ground. Once again I inhaled a great deal of soot, provoking
yet another barrage of coughs which caused my throat and lungs to
burn as though the dragon itself had set fire to them. Only then
did I remember my cargo. The egg.

“
Stop, I’m just a boy.” I screamed as Oliver continued to bend
my arm, still it didn’t pop out of place. Once again tears filled
my eyes, I felt ashamed of admitting what I really was – a boy. A
weak, pathetic child stuck alone in The Charred Lands. I hadn’t
been alone out here for even twenty-four hours and already it
looked as though I had fucked it. I had done nothing but make
mistake after mistake, which had lead me to this very
situation.