The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire (3 page)

“
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 his 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.

Florence
arrived at Haven along with her older sister, Antonia. Their
parents had died after the settlement that they had been staying at
fell to the monsters, only Antonia and Florence escaped. At the
time of stumbling across Haven, Antonia was fourteen, and Florence
was five. It was a miracle they survived for so long on their own.
Soon after, Antonia began to date Dexter Payne before eventually
getting married – Or at least Haven’s version of marriage - around
about five years ago. Dexter and Antonia came to have one child,
William Payne, who’s now seven years old. Despite Dexter being
third in command here at Haven, they didn’t have the privilege of
living inside the main farmhouse, that belonged to my family.
Instead, they lived in one of the five small houses that had been
constructed by my Grandpa, some years ago.