From Hell

by C. O. Amal

  Chapter 1

  I stood behind Gavin, and I peeked outside through the window. I couldn’t believe what is happening outside. Those things are collecting the eggs, and they are going to somewhere with those eggs. This egg must be something important to them. Maybe a chicken would come outside if I keep the egg carefully. Why would they need chickens? Oh, perhaps they want to eat. Those hungry things. I wish my mom is here.

  Gavin, Cooper and Martin are liars. They are lying about mom. Yesterday I heard them talking about these things outside. According to Cooper, these things were once normal people. Now they are possessed by demons. My mom must be one of those things. When thinking about my mom, my eyes are leaking with water.

  “Gavin, what are they doing with those eggs?” I asked.

  “Shh … Keep quiet. They might hear.” Gavin whispered.

  I shut my mouth and I watched the demons outside. There were lot of eggs outside. Now there is nothing left. They took all.

  We waited a few more minutes and when all of the infected moved away from the street, Gavin, Martin and Cooper stared at the egg in my hands. Are they going to destroy this egg?

  “This egg must be something important to them.” Martin said.

  “It might be demon eggs.” Cooper said.

  “But these came from the sky. Demons are in hell, right, under the ground?” Gavin said.

  “Anyway, we have to be careful around this egg.” Cooper said.

  “Lizzy, give it to me. I will place it in a safe place.” Gavin said.

  “No. I won’t give this. This is mine and I want to see the chicken which will come outside from this egg.” I said.

  “Haven’t you seen chicken eggs before? This is not a chicken egg, Lizzy. This is lot bigger.” Gavin said.

  Cooper and Martin nodded at Gavin.

  “No. I don’t care what you say. I took this egg, and this is mine. You can get your own egg from outside.” I walked towards my bedroom. I heard Gavin and others saying something about me. But, I won’t give this egg to them, in any chance. This is mine. Mine alone.

  Chapter 2

  “Mama, mama ...”

  I woke up hearing a baby voice. I shifted my gaze at the hole on the roof. I could see stars in the sky, through that hole.

  “Mama, mama ...” I again heard the baby voice. It’s coming from nearby. In fact it is coming from in front of me. I slowly gazed at the edge of the bed. In the darkness, nothing is clearly visible. But in the moon light, I saw the outline of a baby on my bed!

  “What the?” I am confused. I slowly widened my right hand to touch what it is.

  “Mama ...” Then I felt a wet sensation on my hand. The baby is licking my fingers.

  “Gavin ...” I screamed. This is all enough for me. How come a baby ended up in my bed?

  “Gavin ...” I screamed again.

  “Mama ... Mama ...” The kid is still calling me mama. I felt my world turning around me. God, what is happening?

  “Lizzy, what is it?” Gavin came with a candle light.

  “There is a baby in my bed.” I said.

  “Baby? Are you sure you’re okay?” Gavin asked.

  “I am okay, you dump ass. There is a real baby in my bed.”

  “Mamma ...” This time Gavin also heard the baby voice.

  Gavin brought the candle light near the bed. Then we both saw it. It is a baby. A baby with a pair of white wings. Then we saw the fragments of egg shell on the bed.

  “The egg hatched!” Gavin said.

  “Cooper, Martin ...” This time we both yelled.

  “What is it? What is it?” Cooper and Martin came running. Then they too saw it.

  “Is this some sort of demon kid?” Gavin asked.

  “No, it can’t be a demon.” Cooper said.

  “Mama ...” The baby crawled towards me.

  “It is thinking that I am its mamma.” I said.

  Cooper came near me and he lifted the baby from the bed.

  “Mamma, mamma ... Heh … Heh … Heh …” The baby began to cry.

  “It’s a she.” Cooper said.

  “I don’t care it is a female or not. What is it?” Gavin asked.

  “My guess is ... She is an angel ...” Cooper said.

  “Angel, demon, this is really getting out of control. I think I am going nuts.” Gavin said.

  I quickly grabbed the baby from Cooper’s hands.

  “She is mine.” I said. “She is my little angel.” I said proudly. “Now we call her Anna.”

  Martin, Cooper and Gavin are in complete shock, but they nodded.

  Chapter 3

  I took a bottled milk and I poured the milk into a pot. Then I heated the pot. Within minutes, the milk began to boil. I quickly cooled down the milk and I poured the milk into a bottle specifically designed to feed kids. I gave the milk to Anna and she hungrily sucked all the milk. I watched the hungry little Anna and for a moment I lost in thoughts. Gavin, Martin and Cooper are watching me feeding Anna. We were about to lose faith in god when Anna arrived.

  Anna is giving us hope that god is there, watching us. Anna is also the proof that the monsters outside our home are demons. Now god have sent his angels to Earth to save us. But one question is stirring inside me for hours.

  “So, why did they collected the angel eggs?” I asked Cooper.

  Cooper shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “May be to kill the little angels.” Gavin said.

  “Or maybe, at worse, to convert the angels into one of them.” Martin said.

  “But, can angels be possessed by demons?” Gavin asked.

  “We can wait and see.” Cooper said.

  Anna quickly finished the bottle of milk. I set her down on the floor and she began to crawl through the floor. I watched Anna with a little pride. I am a mamma. I played being mamma of dolls, but now, this is for real.

  Time quickly flowed. We saw no infected outside. They may be looking after the eggs. Before long sun began to set in the horizon.

  I took Anna in my hand and I slowly walked towards the bedroom. As soon as I reached the bedroom, I set Anna on the bed. She quickly fell asleep. I sat near Anna and I ran my hand through her white wings. A few minutes later, everywhere plunged into darkness. But, the moon light showed everything faintly. The hole on the roof is still there. I hope that no monsters would come through that hole. I am really fortunate that the hole formed just after the snow fall ended. If the snow fall haven’t stopped, I would have died of cold. I slowly lie down on the bed and I spread the blanket on top of me. And I wrapped my hands around Anna and I closed my eyes.

  On the next morning, when I woke up, I didn’t saw Anna on the bed.

  “Where did she gone to?”

  I slowly stood up and I looked around the room, but she is nowhere in this room. A worry grew inside me. I quickly walked towards the living room and I found Gavin on the couch.

  “Gavin, did you saw Anna?” I asked.

  “I am here, mamma.” Anna said from the kitchen.

  She learn to speak? I walked towards the kitchen and found Anna standing near Cooper. She is wearing a tee shirt and a small trouser.

  “She learn to walk and talk?” I asked.

  “Yeah.” Cooper said.

  Cooper is preparing breakfast.

  “Where did she get the cloths?” I asked.

  “That’s my baby cloths.” Gavin said. I nodded.

  Anna is now a little taller. She is growing quickly too. I am too shocked and surprised.

  “We are preparing scrambled egg.” Anna said.

  I smiled at her. “Do you want milk?”

  “No, I drank a bottle of orange juice.” She said.

  That’s good to hear. Suddenly a screech came from outside. We slowly and cautiously walked towards the front window. Then we saw it. Hundreds of infected are walking through the street. They are going to somewhere.

  “Who are they mamma?” Anna asked.

  “They are bad people, Anna.” I sai
d. “Be quiet.”

  A few minutes later the demons all walked away from our street. Surely, something big is happening. Something in my mind is telling me to run away from this place. One day, I really need to run from here.

  Chapter 4

  On the next day, when I saw Anna, she had grown a lot. In fact, now, she is taller than me. But still, she call me mamma. This is absurd, but I didn’t told her the truth about she coming out of an egg. She asks a lot, and when I don’t have the answers, Gavin, Cooper and Martin comes to the rescue.

  She really want to go out and explore, and more importantly the need to fly arose in her mind. Days quickly passed and she grew all day. After two weeks since she had born, she now looks like my mamma. In fact she reminds me of my mother. We scavenged cloths for her from nearby houses, but still we didn’t wandered away too far from Gavin’s house. But, soon we need to move away from here. The trees are dead and dust is everywhere. Sand storm is getting more common and most sand storms leave a few inches of sand on our doorsteps.

  Our water supply is running low. Then we all began to feel that staying here is same as dying by demons attacking us. On most nights we could hear them devouring the streets. But still we saw no angels in the sky. Hundreds of eggs must have fell that day, but where did all that eggs is still a mystery, which would soon be revealed by the demons.

  I was sitting near the window, watching outside, when Martin and Cooper arrived after a salvage run.

  “Any luck on water?” I asked.

  “No.” Cooper said. “The north is full of them. They are planning something big.” Gavin and Anna came to the scene.

  “Can I go outside?” Anna asked.

  “We will talk about that.” Martin said.

  Martin and Cooper sat around the table in the dining room. Me, Gavin and Anna sat around the table, nearby Martin and Cooper.

  Cooper looked at our faces. “We may need to abandon this place.”

  “But ...” Gavin said.

  “We understand your connection with this house, Gavin, but, especially since they are more active in the night, we need to move away from here, while we still have a chance. North and west are filled with them.” Cooper said.

  “And we want water to survive.” Martin said. “Trees are dead and all the nearby wells are dry. Our bottled water will last about one week. Then we need to come up with a new solution for water, or we can all die down here.”

  “Okay we will go.” I said.

  Gavin and Anna nodded.

  “Then it’s decided. We will go south, first thing in the morning.” Cooper said. We all nodded. “Then prepare our back packs. This is now or never.”

  Chapter 5

  We started our journey early in the morning. There are no infected on the streets and there are dust everywhere. All the trees we saw are the dead ones, and there is no sign of life anywhere. Even the sky is devoid of life. Where did all the birds have gone to is still a mystery. Also, during the normal days, one can see dozens of dogs in each street. Now streets are empty and vehicles are abandoned. There are wide cracks on the road here and there, most cracks run deep into the ground.

  Anna for the first time used her wings, and impressively, she got it right. She flew up and examined the surroundings. Fortunately she detected no trouble.

  “So, Cooper, where would we rest for the night?” Gavin asked.

  “We will decide when it’s evening. There would be plenty of buildings for us.” Cooper said.

  We nodded.

  There are many vehicles on the road, but sadly all are unusable. Most buildings we saw are a wreck and there isn’t a building with intact front door. When the sun moved to its highest position, we covered a lot of distance. We are now on road whose both sides are filled with dead trees. Then we saw a house and a well, a little deep inside the tree land. We ran towards the well. And fortunately the well is full of water. We found a rope and a bucket nearby, we used them to haul water. Before long the five of us filled our belly with water. Then we sat around the well, on the ground, and we took some protein bars from our back backs.

  Before long we finished our lunch. Then we heard sound of footsteps from inside the house.

  “There is someone inside.” Anna said.

  “It could be a survivor.” Gavin said.

  “Let’s be on our way.” Cooper said.

  “No, they may have information.” Gavin said.

  “Alright, let’s look.” Cooper said.

  We stood up and marched towards the front door. This house is mostly intact. Then Gavin knocked on the front door. We waited for some time, but we heard no movement. Then Gavin tried the knob and surprisingly the door opened. We slowly got inside, with cooper and Martin pointing their guns.

  “Ahh ... John, they could help. For god’s sake, ask them help. Ahh ... God ... I can’t hold back this pain.” We heard someone’s scream, probably a woman. We followed the sound. The sound led us to a bedroom. Cooper opened the door and then we saw two people. One man and a woman. The woman have an oversized belly and the man looked at us with panic.

  The man, John, slowly backed away from us.

  “Please, stay away from us. We don’t have anything.” John said.

  “Oh, god, please, can you help?” The woman asked.

  “Relax, buddy, we mean no harm.” Cooper said.

  John relaxed and he took a deep breath. But, John is looking at Anna with fear.

  Cooper crouched down near the woman. “Is it near?”

  “Yeah. I am having pain since yesterday. I think the water is broke.” The woman said.

  Cooper ran his hand through the woman’s forehead. “Don’t worry. I have done this several times.” Cooper stood up. “Guys, please give us a little privacy. John, you stay here.”

  Anna, Gavin, Martin and me exited the bedroom and we waited in the living room. We heard the scream of the woman several times. Then a few minutes later we heard sound of a baby.

  “Mamma, what is happening to that woman?” Anna asked.

  “I ... I don’t know.” I frankly said.

  “That woman is having a baby.” Gavin said.

  Martin looked at us and smiled. Now Anna might have dozens of questions, but surely I may not have answers to them. A few minutes later, John and Cooper came outside. John is carrying the baby. Anna looked at the baby with curious eyes.

  “It’s a boy.” Cooper said.

  We smiled at John. “Is she alright?” I asked.

  “Yeah. She is fine.” Cooper said. “She is now sleeping. She need rest.”

  And that’s how we met John, Rose and baby Joe.

  Epilogue

  Sound of wings lingered in the very atmosphere. Survivors peeked at the distant sky through the windows. Then they saw it. Hundreds of angels are flying towards the city.

  “Mamma, can I go with them?” Anna asked.

  “No. Stay with us.” Lizzy said.

  “They are not like you.” John said.

  “What do you mean by that?” Anna asked.

  “I saw a few of them yesterday. They were eating a poor man.” John said.

  “What?” Anna is confused. “But ...”

  “They are possessed by demons, Anna.” John said.

  Part 6 – Is this the End?

  Prologue

  A deserted town. Occasionally a wind blew from the north, carrying dust. There are buildings everywhere and a quietness filled the very air. From near a mall, Veronica increased her pace. The two plastic carry bags full of stuff are considerably slowing her down.

  A worry is in her face. She turned around a big mighty building and she walked in the south direction. As she reached near a public library, she took a deep sigh. She is near her destination. Suddenly with a screech an infected arose from behind the library.

  “Ahh ... God ...” Veronica screamed and she bolted into a run. The infected continued to growl and shriek. It’s running at inhuman speed.

  When Veronica thought, it’s over, she drop
ped the supply and she increased her pace. Suddenly something fell down behind her with a short yelp. She could no longer hear the footsteps of the infected. She stopped running and looked back. Then the sight horrified her further. A man with a pair of mighty wings is standing on top of the infected. The man have a bloody sword in his right hand and the dark blood of the creature steadily dripped from the sword.

  Veronica froze for a few moments without knowing what to do. Then she slowly walked backward.

  “Lady, it’s okay.” The man with wings said.

  Veronica stopped walking and she just stared at the man with wings. “Who are you?” Veronica finally asked.

  “Name is Juniper. I am an angel.” The man with the wings said.

  “Angel?”

  “Yeah. And these are people possessed by demons. They are beyond help. That’s why I had to kill him. Where are you living?”

  “Oh … That building.” Veronica pointed at a brick building near by a river.

  “Are you living alone?”

  “No, I have three kids.” Veronica said. “They are technically not mine, but, now they are mine.”

  Juniper nodded. He walked towards the dropped supplies and he took the carry bags from the ground. Fortunately nothing was spilled from the bag. Then he walked towards Veronica. “What’s your name?”

  “Veronica. You are actually angel?” Veronica couldn’t believe that he is an angel even though his wings verified that.

  Juniper nodded. “I know a good place. There are survivors. You might want to come with me.”

  “Where is your hideout?”

  “It’s near here. A few minutes’ walk. Come on, let’s get your kids and we can go together. You shouldn’t live alone.”

  Veronica nodded.

  Juniper led her to her hideout. They didn’t spoke on the way, but by the look of it, Veronica have hundreds of questions. Before long they reached her hideout. Veronica knocked on the door and Mia opened the door for them. In the doorway Mia froze by looking at Juniper.