From Hell

by C. O. Amal

  The next thing is birds. We usually see a pack of birds in the mornings, but now, birds hardly visit here. And by our neighbour’s house we saw a whole bunch of dead birds. Yeah, we visit our neighbours’ houses when sun is highest in the sky, although, we don’t venture far away from my house. In one of the house we found a whole cartoon of soft drinks. But, our supply of food is running out, and soon we need to go for a supply run again. In the noon time, I was standing in the living room, watching the outside view, when all of a sudden a sand storm hit our house. It lasted about an hour, after which a few inches of sand got deposited on our doorsteps.

  Something definitely is going on. And something inside me is telling me that this is the end of everything. And that something is also telling me that staying inside this house is not a good idea. Whatever this is, the real end is not here yet. This is only a harbinger of what is left to come. And whatever is coming at us, it can’t be anything good for mankind.

  During the first days we saw a few military fighter jets, but that also disappeared as the days passed by. Everything is dead around us.

  Certainly, I am not ready to give up. And neither does Martin and Cooper. Lizzy is still waiting for her mom. Can I tell her that everything have begun to end? Can I tell her the truth? She is giving hope for all of us, but, hope is dwindling in us as the days pass by.

  Part 3 – The Apocalypse

  Prologue

  A misty morning. A city shrouded in dust. Through the mist came silhouette of a few infected. The infected swayed when they walked. All the infected wore torn cloths, and whatever cloths they wore, that’s all are filled with dried blood and dust. Even though they swayed when they walked, they are actually moving in a moderate pace.

  A few minutes later the infected reached inside the city, and they continued to move forward. If someone sees this infected right now, that person definitely think that these infected are going for a particular mission. These infected are that much concentrated on moving. Why they are moving is a mystery only god knows.

  There aren’t any normal human beings inside the city, and even if there is someone inside this city, that person must be hiding in a deep underground bunker. Streets are filled with dust and dry leaves. In fact there aren’t any leaves on the nearby trees. Like a naked man, the trees stood here and there, probably waiting for the inevitable death. It hasn’t been too long since this land got in the hands of this plague. And the plant lives are already dying, even though they are not infected by this plague.

  Suddenly the quietness got cut by a sharp howl of a dog or wolf. The infected on the road quickly became alerted. They stopped moving and they examined their surroundings, like a dog sniffing for any food. Then came a small dog from behind a nearby building. And the infected already set their eyes on this poor dog. But, the dog is already targeted by a group of infected dogs! Yeah, there are infected dogs too. With cold dark eyes, the infected dogs chased the poor dog. The infected dogs are growling on the way. Then all of a sudden the human infected also joined the chase. The infected humans are running with inhuman speed. But, the poor dog is also fast. The infected dogs are very fast.

  A dust wind blew through the streets. And the sound of dogs filled the very atmosphere. Then the poor dog saw its way out. Not far from the current street in which the infected are now in, a small hole is in the wall of a building. The small poor dog perfectly fits in the small hole, and the poor dog rushed through the hole. Unfortunate for the infected, they can’t go inside the hole. The infected made sharp moans and growls. The poor dog took a few deep breaths and it examined it’s surrounding. Light is seeping inside this small room from the air holes on the top of the room wall. And then the dog saw a pile of soil in a corner. The dog slowly walked towards the pile of soil and it saw a hole on the floor. Someone dug this inside this building.

  The dog took the risk and it jumped into the hole. It landed on the ground and it slowly moved forward through the small muddy tunnel. The small tunnel directly leads to a sewer and from the sewer, the dog saw a small young girl and a tall man. The tall man is busy boring a tunnel on the sewer wall. The girl is playing but, she saw the dog.

  “Daddy, look. Can I keep him?” The little girl asked the father with joy. The dog whipped its tail with joy. Finally a home.

  Chapter 1

  A wide room. In the centre of the room, around a table sits ten men in black suits.

  “President, we can’t say how long we would be safe here. According to our Intel, this is global.” A middle aged man with spectacles said.

  President looked at the images in his tablet computer. All the images are of the infected. The infected’s black eyes are zoomed in on a few images.

  Suddenly a soldier in his camouflage uniform came to the room.

  “President, we got one of them. Doctor is preparing for the dissection. You may want to see this.” The soldier informed.

  President stood up. “Then, lead the way.”

  All other men in black suit stood up. President followed the soldier and others accompanied the president. They all entered into a corridor and the soldier led them to the end of the corridor. Before long, they reached near a door, and the soldier opened the door for others. They quickly got inside and now a new corridor lays in front of them. Soldier led them a little deep into the corridor, and he stopped in front of a glass wall. President and others stared at the room beyond the glass wall.

  In the room an infected is restrained to a table and a few men in lab coats are preparing for something. A tall man in lab coat saw the president.

  “President, we are going to examine this infected.” The man in lab coat said.

  “Proceed.” President said.

  The man in lab coat quickly went near the infected. He took a surgical blade and then he wore the face mask. The infected is making short moans and he is wriggling violently. The man in lab coat held the infected’s head in his arms and he analysed the infected’s face.

  “As seen before, this thing’s eyes are all dark. I am going to test his blood.” The man in lab coat looked at president.

  “Proceed, doctor.” President said.

  Doctor shook his head. He then drew a small line in the infected’s right arm with the surgical blade. Suddenly a black fluid poured outside.

  “Looks like the blood is black in color.” Doctor said. Other men in lab coats stared at the infected with shock and horror.

  Suddenly the infected began to utter a series of unknown language.

  “Looks like it can speak, in another language.” Doctor said with shock.

  “What the hell are you?” President muttered.

  Chapter 2

  President and the officials sat around the table.

  “So, anybody have any idea about what we are dealing with here?” President asked.

  “It could be a terrorist attack.” One of the men said.

  “But, we know, there are no terrorist with this kind of power.” President said. “Our Intel suggests that this originated from somewhere in Wyoming, through a naturally occurring tunnel. Did anybody have anything about that?”

  “Mister President, we do think that this is done by a terrorist group right under our nose. They may have been hiding inside those tunnels.”

  “Do anybody have any other suggestions, like a plague virus escaped from a research facility?” President asked.

  Then a female official stood up and she went near president. She has a tablet computer with her and she showed an image on the tablet to president. “Sir, this came from Chicago. After whatever this is, escaped from Wyoming tunnel, there was a series of earthquakes. Look at this.” The image showed a big deep trench like crack on the road. "This happened after the earthquakes, and immediately after that, a black smoke escaped from that crack, infecting our people with this plague.” She showed a new image to president. Now this image shows a stream of black smoke like thing escaping from the crack.

  “What are you suggesting?”

 
“No terrorist have world-wide power. So, I think, this is something else.” The female official said.

  “What something?”

  “It’s just figment of my imagination.”

  “Shoot it.”

  “I think, this is a demonic work.”

  Suddenly president and others broke into a laugh. “Demons? For god’s sake, we studied politics to get here. We know religions are a crap. We don’t believe in these things.”

  “But, you may want to change your beliefs, mister president. Do you remember that the infected in that room spoke?”

  “We think it spoke. It may be producing a distinct sound that we haven’t heard before.”

  “No, sir. That’s not any distinct sound. According to my religious knowledge, that’s an ancient language. I have heard it before. But, I am afraid, I can’t translate it.”

  President and officials looked at the woman with shock and fear.

  “We have to think about religious ways fast, before this thing get out of our control.” The woman said.

  “This is out of our control.” A tall man stood up showing a live video in his tablet computer. The video shows an army of infected marching through a street with an infected shooting commands at the followers by motioning its hand. And suddenly the group split up and they moved in four different directions. There could be at least thousand in one group. “This a satellite video from Boston.”

  “Okay, everyone, this might be demons. Now go back to work. We need to find a way to save our people.” President said.

  Suddenly everyone stood up and they immediately left the room.

  President stared at the image of the army of infected in Boston. “What the hell are you planning, bitches?”

  Chapter 3

  Pop! Pop! Pop!

  A sudden gunfire reverberated through the facility. President and his assistant quickly shifted their gaze at the exit door with panic. A moment later, a female soldier ran inside the room and she closed the door. She also dead bolted the door. The woman took deep breaths. Tears of fear are uncontrollably oozing down through her eyes.

  “What is it?” President asked.

  “The infected ... The infected ... It bit our doctor. It somehow gotten loose from the table ... Then ... Then many came.” The woman said between hiccups.

  “Many came?” President asked with complete fear.

  “The infected we captured ... It screamed and many of those things got inside through the front door. They are everywhere. Sir, I don’t want to die.”

  “Nobody is dying here. Is there any way out from here. If somehow we could get to the helipad, we could fly away.” President said mustering courage.

  Pop! Pop! Pop!

  More gunshots came from the nearby corridor.

  “There is a way out from here through the rest room window.” The woman said as if it is revealed to her from the heavens.

  “Okay. Then, let’s get out of here.” President rushed towards the door which lead to the rest room. The female soldier and the assistant followed him.

  Chapter 4

  President, the soldier and president’s assistant broke the window of the rest room and somehow they hauled themselves outside. As soon as the three of them entered into a corridor nearby the restroom, the female soldier ran in the left direction. President and his assistant followed her.

  Pop! Pop! Pop!

  Gun shots came from their rear. The three of them increased their speed. Suddenly the female soldier came to a halt near the end of the corridor. She quickly began to type in a password for the door on a nearby computer system. A moment later, with a loud thud, the door budged. The three of them entered inside and president closed the door behind him. Then they saw a staircase in front of them. The three of them quickly began to ascend the stairs.

  After several minutes, the long staircase ended in front of a door. The female soldier opened the door and they saw the sky. They rushed outside and president closed the door behind him.

  Now they are on top of the facility, and around them they could see buildings. Then they spotted a helicopter resting nearby.

  Suddenly a screech came from below. The three of them went near the edges and saw a sea of infected rushing inside the facility. Then they saw several nearby buildings on fire. Far away, a wild fire is ravaging a dry forest. President turned towards the helicopter.

  “Where would we go?” The female soldier asked.

  “We could go to USS Mariner. She is near the coast. Entire navy will be there.” President said.

  “But, we need a pilot.” The soldier said.

  “Don’t worry. I can fly a helicopter.” President said.

  The three of them quickly got inside the helicopter.

  Pop! Pop! Pop!

  Gunshots came from nearby. President switched on the rotor, and a moment later the helicopter rose from the platform. Then the helicopter began to rush through the open sky.

  Chapter 5

  The helicopter rushed through the sky. There aren’t much buildings on the ground, and before long they passed the blazing forest. The female soldier looked outside through the side door and saw the whole forest burning away.

  “How long will it take to reach there?” The woman asked.

  “May be a couple of minutes.” President yelled.

  The three of them are wearing head sets, but, it’s very loud inside this small helicopter. Before long they entered inside a city. Below fire began to consume most buildings and a sea of infected or normal people are walking through the street. Those might be infected but, from this height they couldn’t be sure about that.

  Far away President and team could see a wide open ocean. Suddenly the radar in front of the president began to beep.

  “What is it?” The female soldier asked.

  “Something is coming at us at an incredible speed.” President said.

  Epilogue

  The female soldier and president’s assistant peeked outside through the rear window. The radar continues to beep indicating that something is directly coming at this small helicopter.

  Panic surged through the three of them. What will it be? Perhaps an unknown missile. Or perhaps a rogue fighter jet.

  “Did you see anything?” President yelled.

  “No, I don’t see anything. May be the radar is faulty.” The female soldier said.

  “No, this is something else.” President muttered.

  Then the female soldier and president’s assistant saw it.

  “Is that a bird?” The female soldier asked.

  “What? A bird?” President asked confused.

  Then they saw it clearly. A man with large wide wings is coming at this small helicopter.

  “What the?” Female soldier asked with shock.

  Suddenly the man with wings took a metal rod attached to his back, and he began to beat at the back rotor using the metal rod.

  “Ahh ...” Female soldier screamed.

  “What is happening?” President asked. He still haven’t seen the man with wings.

  Suddenly the helicopter began to shake. The man with wings pounded on the back rotor with the metal rod for a final time and, the back rotor broke away from the tail. Suddenly the helicopter lost balance and it began to descend quickly. President worked on the gears in vain.

  “Ahh ... Ahh ... Ahh ...” The three of them screamed and the helicopter crash landed.

  Boom!

  With a bang the helicopter exploded into pieces.

  Part 4 – A New World

  Prologue

  An intense winter. Snow fall hasn’t stopped for several days, and the roads and vehicles are mostly covered in snow. There are buildings all over the place, and a quietness filled the very atmosphere. From near a tall brick building came a woman in tight clothing. A hood is on her head and she have wrapped her arms across her chest.

  The brick building is one of the few tallest building in this place. The colour of bricks of the building have become a little grey, most pr
obably because of the intense snow fall.

  There are vehicles on both sides of the road, and when she walked, her feet plunged in snow. The snow is in fact very loose and it’s a fortune that she could walk in this loose snow without much delay.

  She walked in a moderate pace and she is looking everywhere. She is pretty much alerted, and she stopped in front of a big mall. The title board showed the name of the mall – ‘Hoffmann’s Advanced Mall’. She then looked around her and then she slowly walked towards the front door of the mall. She slowly opened the door and she quickly got inside. Due to the long snow fall, the visibility through the glass walls is very low. And there isn’t much light coming from the windows. In the semi darkness, she slowly navigated through the mall. Before long she found a stair case to the upper levels. She took the stair case. She quickly reached the second level and she walked towards a section where canned foods are placed. As soon as she reached there, she took a plastic carry bag from under a table and she quickly filled the bag with canned goods. She is barely checking what’s inside the cans. She is so focussed on getting food, whatever it is.

  She was about to leave when a man hurriedly got inside the mall. She clearly saw the man from the second level. Then suddenly something began to thrash at the glass walls and cracks began to form on the wall.

  “Oh, god, please.” The man began to cry. He is not in much clothing and he shivered. He actually don’t know what to do. The woman wanted to help him, but she is also in shock.

  Suddenly the glass wall broke and through the now formed hole, an infected dog rushed inside. The man ran towards the nearest aisle, but the dog jumped on top of him. Then three more dogs came inside. Each dog bit the man in several places.