by Sourav Deka
“Wow, I guess we meet again,” I said.
Sam and Bristy protested to speak, but the tape on their mouth didn’t let them.
“We are here to rescue you,” Aaron said.
I leaned down towards Bristy. “So don’t scream. I am going to remove the tape, okay?”
She nodded. I removed her tape and untied her from the ropes on her hands and legs.
She gasped and began to breathe heavily. “Look what your seeds have done,” she said as her face reddened. “Aivor was right all along.”
“No,” I pointed my finger at Ambrose. “All this happened because of him. This bastard did this. He brought back people from the dead.”
“Yeah?” she scoffed. “How did he do that, huh? With the help of your seeds.”
“No, it’s on him,” I tightened my cheeks. “And now I am going to make him fix all this.”
“Fix?” she scoffed. “It’s the end, there is nothing to fix. It’s only about survival now.”
“No, I have an idea. I will tell you all about that later, first we have to get out of here.”
I removed Sam’s tape and freed him from the ropes.
He took a deep breath. “Oh god! It feels so good to breathe freely,” he said.
“Let’s go,” I looked at Bristy. “You can take down the guards outside right?”
She nodded. “I am going to kill that Jonas too,” she groaned. “He kept us here for days. I just needed a chance to escape this.”
We got out of the warehouse. There were five guards roaming outside. Bristy murmured some spell and waved her hand. All the guards crashed into the warehouse wall and hit their head in a second. It happened so fast that they died instantly and their blood splashed in the wall.
“Wow!” Keith’s jaw dropped. “That’s amazing,” he said.
Rowena was with Luke at the north side away from the warehouse looking at us through her binoculars. She saw what happened and drove back to the warehouse with Luke.
“You have a kid?” Sam said.
“We found him when the riots happened,” I said. “He was crying alone in the street, his mother died. So I picked him up.”
“The kid is lucky that he survived this far.”
“Let’s go, we have to go to one of Michael's farms,” I took a deep breath. “Just hope that it isn’t destroyed.”
“Michael’s fields?” Bristy said.
“Yeah, Ambrose can make the reanimation drink from it. I need it.”
“You go,” she clenched her jaw. “I need to kill Jonas and destroy his camp.”
“We will do it together. The farm is not far away, it’s on the road.”
She nodded. “Okay, do it fast.”
I pointed to one of the jeeps. “Take that jeep.”
We entered the jeeps and left the warehouse. It was difficult to work with our old enemies. But now we had a common goal. There was no Aivor or Savor now. The world was a mess. Sam and Bristy didn’t care about the seeds. They just wanted to kill Jonas for the pain he caused them. I knew deep down Bristy and Sam didn’t forget about our past, neither did I. We have fought, tried to kill each other. They blamed the seeds and still believed that the seeds are a curse which needs to be destroyed. But now the world was different, it was all about survival. There was no government, no military, no cops, no doctors or lawyers. There were just humans trying to survive.
CHAPTER 10
The sun was shining in the middle of the sky. Its scorching heat burned our skin and made us sweat. We drove for half an hour and reached one of Michael’s farms. Half of it was burned but the other half was fine. I felt a sense of relief. I was right, the seeds weren’t completely gone. There was still hope.
“Oh thank god!” I said, looking at the farm.
We walked down the farm to grab some seeds.
“So what is your plan?” Bristy asked.
“Ambrose can make the reanimation drink from the seeds,” I said. “We will start bringing back people from the dead.”
“Are you crazy?” Bristy raised her voice. “That drink created this mess in the first place.”
“Yes and now that same drink is going to fix this,” I plucked a seed and glanced at it. “Don’t worry. I am not planning to overpopulate the Earth again. We will bring back only a limited number of people so that the human civilization can continue. More people will help us speed up the process. We can grow crops again, have food. We can dig up and have water, we will harvest rainwater. Fix all the houses and restart everything.”
“It’s not that easy, Ross,” Aaron said. “A lot of people died around the world. Billions of them, even if we start bringing back people, we can’t bring enough people.”
“No we can’t. But if the people who we bring back help us it will be a lot faster. We will even achieve our target in a few years.”
Rowena shook her head. “No, that’s not possible. We don’t have enough food, water, and other resources. Even if we bring back people, the same thing is going to happen again. We don’t have enough resources. They will fight for it and kill each other.”
“We won’t bring a lot of people at once,” I said. “We will do this slowly. We will grow crops. When we have more resources, then we will start bringing back more people according to the amount of resources we have.”
“Ross, we don’t even have resources for ourselves now,” Keith said. “We can’t bring back people now.”
I nodded. “Yes, we can’t. We need resources, a lot of them. That’s why we are going to take over Jonas’s camp.”
Bristy clenched her fists. “I am ready to do that,” she said.
I smirked. “I know you are. But he defeated you before, and kept Sam and you captive. He knows what you can do, so he can defeat you again. We have to be smart. We can’t just go there and attack. We need a plan.”
We heard some vehicles coming our way.
“You hear that?” Aaron said.
I nodded. “Hide, in the crops, fast.”
We could see a vehicle with some people coming our way. They were at a far distance so we couldn’t see them clearly. Before they could reach us, we all ran and hid in the crops. After a couple of minutes, the vehicles stopped near the field. We were peeking through the cops to look. It was Jonas with his people. I guess he found out what we did. He was searching for us.
“I can kill him here,” Bristy whispered.
“No,” I whispered back. “You failed once. If you fail this time there will be no one to rescue you again. Just stay hidden and wait for them to leave.”
“I am scared Ross,” Luke said in a low voice, grabbing my arm tight.
“It’s okay, it’s okay Luke. He can’t see us,” I said.
They kept searching the area for a couple of minutes and left in their vehicles.
“They are gone,” Sam said.
We all came out of the crops.
“He knows,” I said.
“He will kill us,” Keith said, anxiety swirled around him. “We don’t need his place, his food. We can start over somewhere else. There are seven of us, we can do it, grow our own food. That was the plan, right Ross? Why get in a fight with him and risk our lives?”
“If we try to do that, it will take months, Keith. He already has a lot of crops, water and all the resources. It will speed up the process. We can take him. With Bristy and Sam on our side, it is possible.”
Keith sighed. “It won’t end well, Ross. You have seen what they can do. His men are crazy.”
“And you have seen what Bristy can do. We can do it.”
“If they catch us, there will be no mercy, Ross.”
“I know, but we won’t get caught. We will……………………..”
Someone fired a shot, and the bullet went through Keith’s head and his blood splashed in my face. A hole was made in his forehead and he fell on the ground.
“No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Rowena shouted. “No, no, no, no, not again,” she cried.
I looked around.
There was no one to be seen.
“Run!!” I shouted.
Another bullet was fired and it hit Rowena’s back. She fell in Aaron’s arms.
“No, no, no, Rowena,” Aaron tried to hold her.
“Go, run,” Rowena groaned and died in Aaron’s arms.
“No!” Aaron protested and picked her up.
“Leave her Aaron,” I grabbed his hand. “She is dead.”
“No!!!” he protested.
I grabbed his shoulders. “Look, we have Ambrose. We will bring them back later, okay?”
Aaron pressed his lips and nodded. He didn’t want to let her go, but deep down he knew I was right. We had Ambrose and the seeds. We could make the reanimation drink and bring them back later, but for now we had to save ourselves, so we ran towards the crops to hide. Luke was crying in the middle of the road. I forgot to pick him up so I went back, but it was too late, a jeep arrived. It was Jonas with his men. I quickly turned around and ran away, they aimed their guns and fired, but I dodged the bullets and went through the crops. They came after me but couldn’t find me. I hid in the crops and found Bristy, Sam and Aaron. Like them, I kept my mouth shut trying to control my breathing and crouched.
Jonas picked up Luke. “Ross!!” he shouted. “Come out, come out wherever you are.”
Bristy began to murmur some spell. I grabbed her hand. “Stop,” I whispered.
“I can take him out now,” she whispered back.
“No, he has Luke.”
“Come on, Ross! Show yourself,” Jonas said. “Luke here is waiting for you.”
We didn’t respond and watched Jonas from the crops. He was using Luke to lure me out.
Jonas took out his gun and pointed it at Luke’s head. “I don’t want to do this, Ross. I don’t like murdering a child.”
“We have to surrender,” I whispered.
“No,” Aaron grabbed my arm. “He will kill us in a heartbeat.”
I pressed my lips. “He is going to kill Luke.”
“He is bluffing, he won’t kill a kid.”
I shook my head. “We don’t know that.”
“I gave you a home, gave you food, water, everything and what did you give me in return, huh?” Jonas yelled. “You ran away, killed my men, freed my prisoner, and stole my food. You son of a bitch! I should have never trusted you.”
We stayed silent. But he wasn’t going to give up so easily.
“So you want me to kill the kid, huh?” he took a deep breath. “I will count to three. If you all don’t show up, I will shoot the kid. I am not kidding.”
Luke was crying his eyes out. I didn’t know what to do. What if he wasn’t bluffing? What if he really kills Luke? He is just a kid. I can’t let him do that. I had to think of something.
“We should go,” I said.
“No, he is bluffing,” Aaron said.
“What if he isn’t? He is crazy, Aaron. He may kill the kid.”
“We will be dead if we went there, Ross,” he hissed.
I looked at Bristy. “Are you sure you can take them out?”
She nodded.
I had no choice. I had to rely on Bristy’s magic. I couldn’t risk Luke’s life.
“One, two, three……………,” Jonas sighed and looked at Luke. “Sorry kid, you have to die.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” We came out of the crops raising our hands.
Jonas smiled. “Ah, finally.”
“Bristy, do it,” I said.
Bristy murmured her spell and waved her hand, but nothing happened.
Jonas smiled. “What happened? Your magic didn’t work?” he said.
I glanced at Bristy. “What happened? Do it.”
Bristy looked at her hand. “I don’t know, my magic is not working,” she said.
“You are not the only witch in the world Bristy,” Jonas said. “I have a witch too, warlock to be precise, far better than you,” he glanced at Stan standing next to him. “Remember him, the muscular Stan? He is a warlock, he knows magic too. But he didn’t know how to stop another witch from doing magic, but guess what, a week ago he found out how to do that in some book in an abandoned library when he went to scavenge some items.”
“Damn it!” I said in a low voice. This wasn’t going to go well. We are screwed, he was going to kill us.
Jonas walked towards me and narrowed his eyes. “Now what should I do with you?”
“You treat your workers like shit,” I said. “Make them work for long hours and what do we get in return, just a little food and four hours of sleep?”
“Oh someone is angry,” he half smiled. “I am the one who gave you all the food. I am the one who kept you alive. If it wasn’t for me, no one in my camp would have survived.”
“No, your workers made food for you. You never did anything,” I clenched my jaw. “Your workers did all the hard work, not you.”
“I started it. I made it happen,” he punched me, my lips bled. “I started a new civilization,” he punched me again. “It’s an apocalypse, Ross. I provided a chance to start over,” he yelled and punched me again.
I fell on the ground but I picked myself up and wiped the blood from my lips. “You are a dictator,” I said. “You are not their leader, you don’t deserve to be.”
He chuckled. “You know about leadership?”
I raised my chin. “I know a lot more than you do.”
He kicked me in the stomach, I fell on my knees. “I made a mistake thinking that I can trust you. But now you are going to pay for what you have done, slowly and painfully,” he looked at his men. “Bring them back to the warehouse.”
His men tied our hands and took us to the warehouse where he kept all his prisoners. We were helpless and were back to where we started.
CHAPTER 11
They took us inside the warehouse and locked us up in the basement, the same basement where they kept Sam and Bristy captive. It smelled like shit and I vomited after entering there, I couldn’t even imagine how Sam and Bristy spent their days there. Jonas took Luke with him in the jeep. He kept crying and punching his hand trying to get away from his arms, but his little hands couldn’t do anything to a monster like Jonas. I was helpless. I couldn’t do anything, my hands were tied and I was back to being Jonas’s slave again.
“Oh no, not again,” Sam said.
Stan kicked me, I fell on the ground. “I will make sure that you experience a slow painful death,” he said in a heavy voice. “This will be your hell.”
He left the warehouse with his people. We stayed there with our hands and legs tied, struggling helplessly in the basement.
“We are dead,” Aaron said.
“No, we will figure something out,” I said.
Bristy gulped. “Well, he can’t kill Sam and me.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I know your bodies are spelled.”
“They are right, we are dead,” Ambrose said tonelessly.
“No, we have to think of something. We can’t die here.”
The whole day passed. We stayed there locked up without food and water. Is he going to starve us until we die? If he doesn’t kill us, we would die there anyway. The dirty smell was unbearable, I vomited again. Maybe it’s the end. I looked at Aaron. He closed his eyes and gave up. I remembered Keith’s words. I should have listened to him, but now it was too late. This time Jonas isn’t going to spare us. We know what he and his people does to their enemies, they doesn’t even spare their own people. What they will do to us? My throat got dry and my stomach churned. I didn’t want to give up and kept thinking of a way to escape this. No, this is not the end, I said to myself. I can’t die here, I won’t. I will make it, we will all make it. Jonas can’t win. I will find a way.
******************************
The next day Jonas showed up with his men. Stan had a big bag in his hand. We were sleeping. Stan kicked us. “Wake up,” he shouted.
We opened our eyes. Jonas looked at his men and signaled them to leave. “I want to enjoy this alone,”
he said.
His men left the basement. Jonas took out a hammer from the bag.
“So now what? You are going to torture us?” I said.
He hit my leg with the hammer, I screamed in pain. It was so painful that I felt like my leg was going to burst up. It made me remember those days when Aaron and I were held captive by Gloria in her dark room. But this time I doubt someone would come to save us.
“Oh I am going to enjoy this,” Jonas gave a devilish smile.
“If you want to kill us, just do it,” Aaron said.
“Don’t worry. I will end it,” Jonas leaned down towards Aaron. “But slowly, very slowly. You all betrayed me. Death will be too easy for you,” he hit Aaron with the hammer in his leg.
“I will kill you, you son of a bitch!!!!!” Aaron screamed so hard that it felt like the whole room shook a bit.
Bristy kept murmuring spells in hope that it works. Jonas slapped her. “What happened? Little witch? Your spells won’t work, I have protection,” he choked her.
“It’s easy to hit someone when they are tied up. A real man will fight like a man,” Sam said.
“No, I don’t think so,” Jonas hit Sam on his head with the hammer. Sam fainted. Jonas’s face drained of color, it looked like he didn’t want to kill him. But I guess he did. He slapped Sam’s face trying to wake him up. “Wake up! You can’t be dead so soon, I am not done yet.”
Sam didn’t wake up. His head was bleeding.
“Ah, let’s try something else then,” Jonas searched his bag and took out a scissor. “How about I cut your fingers? That may wake you up, isn’t it?”
Jonas was going to chop off Sam’s fingers, but just then the ground began to shake and a black man wearing a green jacket and black pants crashed inside through the roof like a superman. He landed on the ground and gave a smirk. I smiled. I was glad that someone came to save us. It was Tanner.
