The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire (12 page)

“
I won’t.” I said, firmly – spitting out blood in front of
Oliver’s feet.

“
Attaboy!” He smiled, rubbing me on the shoulder like a
pet.

“
For that, I shall allow you to eat. Some of your own tinned
food, or Kyle?” He asked, with a sinister laugh.

“
Something canned.” I replied.

Chapter
Fourteen

They didn’t
give me any food. Instead Oliver made me watch him stuff his face
as he stood right in front of me, purposely spilling most of it on
the floor. Shortly afterwards, they took both me and Amy into the
caves, - still tied to our chairs - and left us there in complete
darkness. All the while Amy had remained unconscious, was it not
for her slow, steady breathing, I would have thought her dead. Her
body was riddled with the marks of their cruelty. I couldn’t
imagine the horrors she had been subjected too - I couldn’t help
but think that I may soon be seeing them first hand. I could only
pray that she had been unconscious for most of it.

Shortly after
placing Amy and I inside the cave, Oliver and Phil made their way
off to search for Haven. They took plenty of ammunition and decided
to use the cover of darkness to aid them. They were going to be
bitterly disappointed to arrive and find the place destroyed. There
would no doubt still be some salvageable stuff, weapons from the
barn mostly – but most of the food stock would have been destroyed
when the dragon crushed our house. Very little of anything
important was ever left in the shack like homes either, so I
couldn’t imagine them finding anything of use in there. Part of me
felt bad for sending this pair to rifle through the possessions of
my more than likely deceased friends. I couldn’t help but imagine
them searching through all of Florence’s things like her clothes
and other little personal artefacts. And that was the first time
she had popped into my mind. I felt an enormous sense of guilt.

Florence had
meant so much to me, but with everything going on, and all of the
loss that I’ve suffered, she found herself at the back of my mind
with other trivial worries. It was my fault she was in that house
when the dragon came crashing down. My fault. I told her to stay in
there, and now she was gone – I had hardly given her a passing
thought. Once again, tears filled my eyes. I thought back to what
Oliver said. Maybe in some sick, twisted way he was right. You
don’t cry out here. You can’t cry out here. You can’t afford to be
weak – being weak gets you killed

But I was
weak. I knew it.

At that
moment, I loathed myself. I wished I was more like my Dad, my
brother or even Timothy. They had the guts to make the hard
decisions, hold it together like men and fight. I was a book worm,
a child. For less than a day I was on my own, and already I’m
pretty much fucked.

“
Hello?” A voice called out. At first I was surprised to find
Oliver and Phil back so quickly, I had been lost deep in thought
for what felt like hours, perhaps time had passed a lot quicker
than I had thought, but then I realised - this was a new
voice.

“
Hello!?” I repeated back to them, suddenly filled with
enthusiasm.

“
They’re in here!” I heard the man call to somebody else. I was
facing away from the entrance to the pitch black cave, but if I
twisted my neck as far as it could bend, I could see a rather large
silhouette standing at the mouth of the cave. The guy’s voice was
deep and assured, every time he spoke his voice echoed off the
walls of the cave, almost seeming to shake them. There was no doubt
in my mind that this was an extremely big man. Despite this, I got
the feeling that he wasn’t hostile. It filled me with
hope.

Suddenly a
light was shone into the cave. I had been sat in complete darkness
so long that the light almost blinded me. I wanted desperately to
shield my eyes, but for obvious reasons, couldn’t.

“
I’m here to help you.” The voice said, a hushed whisper
now.

I felt great
big hands place themselves on my shoulder before I heard my hero
lean down and start messing with the ropes which bound my legs to
the chair.

“
Who are you?”

“
There will be a time for formalities soon, but not now. I have
to get you and your friend out of here. Are you hurt? Can you
walk?”

“
I’m fine, but I’m not too sure about her.” I said, nodding
towards Amy.

“
Then I’ll have to come back for her, once I’ve got you out of
harm’s way.” He explained. Finally I felt his knife tear through
the last shred of the rope around my legs. It felt amazing for them
to be free once again, I instantly felt blood begin to circulate
properly through them. The stranger quickly got to work on freeing
my arms.

Within minutes
I was free. It took me a minute to steady myself after standing up,
blood rushed to my head, sending me dizzy.

“
Are you sure you’re okay to walk?”

“
Yes.” I firmly said, stretching the stiffness out of my limbs.
I took less than five steps before I collapsed into my rescuer; I
felt his strong arms grab me to prevent me from hitting the
deck.

“
I’m going to have to carry you, we don’t have time for you to
stumble around like a dazed puppy. I’ll come back for your friend
in a minute, don’t worry.”

“
Why can’t you grab her now?” I asked as he picked me up with
ease.

“
You’ll see.” He said, carrying me out of the cave.

“
Wait a minute!” I whispered, struggling to break free of his
grasp. I had managed to catch a glimpse of my bag when they were
bringing me inside the cave, I knew exactly where it was. Finally
he let go and I fell to the floor, landing neatly on my feet.
Without so much as a stumble I crossed the small cave and grabbed
my bag, just as I had hoped, the dragon’s egg was
inside.

“
Right, let’s go.” I said, following my mysterious hero out of
the cave.

We ran out
into the cold nights air, the world around us was deadly silent.
Suddenly I saw something move to my right. At first I didn’t know
what it was, until it spoke.

“
What about the other?” A girl said, she looked no older than
fourteen. She sat leant against a tree with a rifle in hand. Her
voice was hushed and soft. Despite looking so young, she had a
certain toughness about her. I guess that was because she had been
raised in The Charred Lands – I could tell by her clothes that she
hadn’t come from the luxury of a place like Haven. Brown, dirty
tattered clothes that were either too small, or too big for her,
very few travellers ever had nice, clean clothes – aside from
Oliver and Phil that is. Despite living out here in the middle of
nowhere, they both seemed to take excellent pride in their
appearance. Only then did I turn around to get a good luck at the
man who had so kindly set me free. Compared to him I looked like a
baby. He stood easily six and a half feet tall, with stocky
shoulders and plenty of meat on him too. He wasn’t exactly fat, but
he did have a bit of a stomach going on. He had long, scraggy, grey
hair and a beard to match – a real Charred Lands survivor. If I had
stumbled across him in any other circumstance, I would have ran a
mile.

“
What now?” I asked.

“
Come with me.” The near giant said, picking up his tiny
companion. Even I towered over the girl, but she still seemed
capable of kicking my arse. I found it peculiar that the man was
carrying her, like some kind of oversized servant.

I followed the
pair as the man carried her out of the small campsite and through
several bushes with ease. We headed in the opposite direction to
the one beaten path to Oliver and Phil’s home.

After a minute
of walking the man placed the girl down, once again against a tree
before turning to me.

“
My friend here, Lizzie, is paralysed from the waist down. You
must look after her whilst I rescue your friend. Keep a look out
for your captors, should they return, shoot them down.” He said,
handing me the rifle that Lizzie had been holding. I looked at it
like an idiot for a few seconds before accepting the weapon. It was
a bolt action hunting rifle, the biggest weapon I had ever held.
Despite its size, I was surprised to find that it wasn’t too heavy.
Though I had never fired one of these weapons before, I found it to
be fairly basic and easy to understand. I knew I wouldn’t be too
efficient, but having this to guard my rescuer was better than
nothing. I was half tempted to ask for him to retrieve my gun, but
he had already risked so much in saving me, I couldn’t ask for him
to go stumbling around in the dark looking for a
handgun.

“
Watch my back.” He whispered, before returning to the camp
site. He stopped at the mouth of the cave and tentatively glanced
around. Finally, after reassuring himself that the coast was clear,
he disappeared inside.

The seconds
seemed to pass like minutes as I waited in silence with the young
girl besides me. Despite how cold it was, my hands grew sweaty on
the handle of the gun.

“
See anything?” The girl asked.

“
No.” I said, squinting against the darkness. Every time the
breeze moved a bush I almost squeezed down on the trigger. Shadows
seemed to move across the darkness of the woods all around. The
more I focused, the more the trees seemed to come to life and twist
reality. I shut my eyes and shook my head.

“
Keep it together. We’re both fucked if those guys sneak up on
Conrad.” She said, I was surprised by her harsh tone. She didn’t
sound like she wanted to be here, but I couldn’t blame her given
her condition. I wanted to ask her so many questions right then,
but it simply wasn’t the time.

Then I saw
them.

“
They’re here!” I almost screamed as my voice broke. I saw
Oliver and Phil make their way down the well-trodden path towards
the camp, each with a well-stocked bag draped over their
shoulders.

“
What the fuck are you waiting for, kid? Shoot them!” The
paralysed girl spat. Without hesitation I raised the gun, aimed up
my shot and squeezed the trigger.

I could only
watch in agony as a piece of bark blew away from a tree just to the
left of Oliver. I missed. Both my captors ducked down to the ground
as I readied the gun to fire again.

“
Who the fuck is fucking with us?” I heard Phil call out
through the night’s air.

I let my gun
do the replying. Once again I pulled the trigger, not aiming at
anything in particular. The bullet hit somewhere in the grass, I
didn’t hear a scream or a cry of pain, so I could only assume I
missed.

“
You really shouldn’t be doing this.” I heard one of my captors
call.

Suddenly I saw
a head pop up, I quickly readied the gun for a third shot before
sending another bullet flying in their direction. Once again, I
missed.

“
Are you actually hitting anything?” I heard Lizzie moan
besides me.

Without
warning, Phil and Oliver jumped to their feet and took off
charging. I hastily tried to reload, but with each shot, my hands
grew more and more clammy, in turn making it harder to operate the
latch to click a new bullet into the chamber. I screamed a little
with anger as the pair charged towards the mouth of the cave.

“
What’s happening!?” Lizzie spat from behind, facing away from
the camp.

I didn’t
reply, I was too focused on popping another bullet into the
chamber, and I did – with excellent timing this time. I held my
breath, aimed the gun, waited a moment, then squeezed the trigger.
This time my shot was true. Phil, leading the pair, let out a cry
of pain as a cloud of blood exploded from his left leg, he
instantly collapsed to the ground, clutching at the wound. Oliver
almost jumped over his downed companion as he continued on running,
completely unfazed.

“
I’ve been shot!” Phil cried out, almost laughing. I felt a
great sense of pride at actually hitting the target, but the job
wasn’t done yet. I quickly reloaded the gun once again, but before
I was finished, Oliver disappeared from view. My stomach sank as I
watched him charge into the cave. Surely, from all of the shooting,
Conrad was aware of their return, but still – I had failed from
keeping the pair off his back.

“
Did you kill them?” Lizzie asked, starting to annoy me a
little. I would have felt a little less pressure if she hadn’t been
pestering me the whole time.

“
Oliver made it into the cave.” I sighed, keeping my aim
trained on Phil in case he built up the strength to crawl to the
cave. Instead the downed man remained on the floor, clutching at
this injured leg.

“
You fucking idiot!” Lizzie spat. I was already beginning to
take a dislike to the girl. For such a young, pretty thing, she had
a harsh tongue on her.

“
I got one of them.” I argued, though I knew that wouldn’t be
good enough for her, truth be told it wasn’t good enough for me
either. They were both out in the open, an experienced shooter
would have nailed them both.

For a few
moments we stood in silence, watching the mouth of the cave,
hoping, almost praying that Conrad would emerge unscathed and
alive. I listened out for sounds of a commotion inside, but heard
nothing – other than the sounds of insects chirping and Phil
moaning in pain. I thought about firing another bullet into his
skull, but I didn’t think I had it in me to murder him in cold
blood, he wasn’t going anywhere or doing anything in a rush now
anyway.