The Charred Lands: City of Ash

by Josh A. Murphy

“You can start now.” I yelled out to Azaria, my voice cracking with nerves as I did so. Reluctantly, the girl stepped onto the railings – instantly I felt them strain under her weight, but once again they held firm.

  Ahead of me, Wayne had reached the halfway point – but for some reason he appeared to have stopped. I wanted to yell out and ask if anything was wrong, but I couldn’t bring myself to – I was too focused on shuffling across the metal railings. I was just thankful that Wayne had the backpack instead of me, I didn’t know if I’d be able to do this given the added weight.

  My legs were beginning to ache and my hands had grown sweaty by the time I was within a few feet of Wayne – still he remained completely still, staring at me in silence.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, close enough to avoid shouting. I struggled to keep my hair from my eyes as I wrestled against the wind.

  “I’m stuck.” Wayne said, his face as cold as stone.

  “Don’t worry, I’m coming.” I replied, still slowly climbing across the metal railings. The further I went, the harder it got. My entire body began to ache under the strain of carrying my entire weight with nothing but a small metal bar to keep my feet on. I wanted so desperately to charge across to the other side, but Wayne was the perfect example of what might happen if you tried this without care. There was no doubt in my mind that Wayne wouldn’t turn around and come back for me if it was me that got stuck.

  “Hurry up.” He seethed, growing annoyed at how long it was taking for me to reach him. I was still a few feet away, and the added pressure he was piling on me didn’t help.

  “Wait, I can’t risk getting stuck too.” I said – of course, Azaria could still unhook me if I too was to get caught on a stray shard of metal, but I didn’t want to place my life in her hands. Wayne would have to wait – I wasn’t prepared to accidently slip and fall all the way down to the rocky bottom for his sake.

  We were both right in the middle of the bridge now, with equal distance between either sides. Behind me, I could hear Azaria struggling to carry herself across. For a few seconds I stared straight ahead of me - It was almost beautiful. In the mayhem and panic that I was feeling, it made me feel somehow at ease. The river was between two steep cliff sides, with lush, green grass and tall, swaying trees on either side of the river banks. The water looked so peaceful and still, almost reflective. For a few seconds I forgot I was surviving in the end of the world – the picture in front of me almost sounded like the images and memories created by the stories that my Grandpa told me of before the Rise, a world untouched by the ravenous volcano creatures and their fiery wake.

  “Don’t just stand there!” Wayne spat, snapping me back into reality.

  “Sorry,” was all I could manage – thoughts of my Grandpa were returning. I switched my attention to the task at hand, as beautiful as the view from this bridge may have been, now wasn’t the time to be reflecting on things lost – it never seemed to be the time.

  Finally, I reached him. I scanned his entire body for any signs of the fabric of his clothes being caught on a skewed piece of metal, but I saw none.

  “Where are you stuck?” I asked, still scanning him.

  “I’m sorry.” He said, coldly. For a few seconds we both stood in silence, staring at each other. I had no idea what he meant. Just as I was about to open my mouth to find exactly what he was apologising for, he raised his fist. All I could do was stand and watch, unable to block the blow for fear of letting go of the metal railings. His fist connected right on my temple, jolting me to the left. One of my feet slipped from the metal bars, but my hands held firm. I clung to the bars for dear life as I pulled my loose leg back up onto the railings, I held so tight that my hands began to hurt. I didn’t know why he was doing this, but Wayne was going to kill me.

  “Stop!” I pleaded, already a headache was beginning to set in, without response another punch came flying in my direction. This one connected with my cheek. Instantly I felt blood begin to fill my mouth, bringing with it that old familiar taste.

  Something snapped inside me as I saw him reach for his gun. I felt my animalistic nature kick into action. This was life or death, Wayne was trying to kill me and I was well aware of it. No longer did my conscious thinking dictate my actions – instead it was all instinct. I noticed a third blow flying in my direction, this one more of a pistol whip than a punch, but this time I dodged it, I almost let out a hysterical, mocking laugh as I heard his fist strike the cold metal railings with a clank, followed by a slight shriek of pain from Wayne as he let go of the weapon. We both stood there, hanging to the railings as we watched our only weapon fly through the air until it landed with a loud clank as it struck the sharp rocks that protruded from the flowing river below.

  Wayne’s face chilled me to the bone. He stared at me, with a fire in his eyes and hatred in his heart. He wanted me dead – and he was doing everything in his power to do so. This was the man whose life I had saved only the day before. Now, for no reason whatsoever, he was trying to end mine.

  “Why are you doing this?” I screamed, somehow managing to back away a little.

  “You’re weak, Zach. You’re slowing us down, and that’s putting Azaria’s life in danger. I’m taking this egg, and I’m getting her to the Legion of Light.”

  “They’ll give us enough to get us all in!” I screamed, holding tight to the bars as I awaited another punch from him.

  “You don’t know that. I need to make her safe. In this world, she’s had nothing but hardship and suffering, you spent your entire fucking life living cosy behind tall walls at this Haven place. You don’t deserve a second shot at safety, you’ve already had your easy ride. It’s time people like me and Azaria got that!” Wayne ranted at the top of his lungs as tears began to fill his eyes.

  “We can do it together!” I said, but Wayne wasn’t interested. Instead of replying, he drove his open hand into my face. His sweaty palm pressed against my nose, pushing me away from the railings. I held onto the metal with all my strength, but it was no good. I could feel my grip weakening as he continued to push, then I saw my chance. His hand slipped down my face a little – without even thinking I sunk my teeth into the skin between his finger and thumb and bit down as hard as I could. Wayne let out a harrowing scream as I felt my teeth pierce the chunk of flesh that I had latched onto – my mouth filled with his blood as it began to seep through the teeth marks, still I didn’t let go. He violently yanked his hand away, but I held firm. Finally, I felt his hand come free – yet still the patch of skin that I had bit down on remained in my mouth.

  I struggled to refrain from gagging as I spat the warm chunk of flesh, and a good deal of blood out. Wayne watched in horror as I let go of the railings with one of my hands and wiped away his blood from my lips. Suddenly the roles were reversed, now I found myself to be the one with the menacing stare. By now, the tears were streaming down his face as blood began to drip down his arm and trickle into the river below.

  “It doesn’t have to go down like this.” I said, giving him one final warning, but deep down, we both knew this had passed the point of return. I stared right at him, trying my best to strip my face of all emotions. Truth be told I wasn’t actually feeling all that much. I wasn’t afraid, and I wasn’t angry. I was in the moment – emotions seemed lost.

  “Fuck you!” He spat, his face turning white as blood continued to pour from the gaping hole in his hand.

  Behind me, I became aware of Azaria’s screams. Only then did I notice that she had been screaming for quite a while, pleading for Wayne to stop what he was doing, but I had blocked them out. I was solely focused on Wayne, and staying alive.

  I stared at Wayne for a few seconds, desperate that he would give in and back down, but he seemed just as intent on killing me as ever. I took a deep breath, held back onto the metal bars with both hands, and swung a leg in his direction. The tip of my boot struck him right in the shin, he let out a cry of pain as his footing slipped – only then did I remember he had my bac
kpack strapped over his shoulders. I panicked, thinking only about the precious egg inside. Once again I released one of my hands from the railings and swiped for the bag, I felt my fingers wrap around one of the straps as Wayne began to fall -I tightened my grip on the railings as I prepared to hold the full weight of Wayne.

  My shoulder almost popped out of its sockets as I clung to the backpack with my left hand. I felt the immense pain shoot up my hand, but I kept both my grip of the railing, and the backpack.

  “Shit!” Wayne cried, in a high pitched wailing scream. He dangled in the air for a few moments, with both arms hooked through the backpack straps, his hands desperately clawed at mine, frantically trying to catch a grip. I was surprised I could hold his weight, but as the seconds ticked by, it grew harder and harder to keep my grip, I knew he had to go, and quickly.

  “Look, Zach, pull me up.” He screamed, tears rolling down his face more than ever before.

  “I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking, just pull me up! I won’t try it again.” He continued to beg, his wide, watery eyes stared at me. It was a stark contrast to the face that I had found staring at me only a few moments ago.

  “Please Zach! I just need to look after her, I need to make sure she’s safe!” He cried.

  Once again I found myself staring at him. I wasn’t really thinking about too much, other than the pain that was coursing through my body. I felt ready to rip in half under the pressure of holding myself to the railings and Wayne.

  “Zach, please, pull me up!” He cried, a little anger returning to his voice – how typical of him.

  “No.” I coldly said, almost in a whisper; it seemed to echo around in my head for a few moments, numbing me to my core as I realised I had already made my decision. For a few seconds, we both remained silent, staring at each other. Then, I began to shake the bag. I swung it from left to right, up and down, desperate to slip Wayne out of the straps.

  “ZACH PLEASE!” He screamed, the anger replaced by fear once again. I didn’t reply, instead I continued swinging and shaking the bag. My arm was beginning to cramp up and numb in areas, but I surprisingly held tight.

  Finally, Wayne’s right arm slipped free of one of the straps. He let out a scream that seemed to echo for miles around. With a few more swings, he would certainly fall. I don’t know why – but the thought of killing him didn’t faze me in the slightest, it felt right – as though I was doing the world a favour, and giving Wayne the karma he deserved for murdering that old man back at the cabin.

  “Just let go – you’re going to die.” I almost whispered once more. I knew Wayne likely didn’t hear me, but I didn’t really care.

  “Please!” He cried once again. With that, I started swinging again. Finally, his remaining arm slipped from the strap.

  I watched as Wayne fell, he seemed to drop in slow motion – I couldn’t force myself to look away from him. He almost hypnotised me with his eyes as he fell, making me watch his death in all its detail. He fell with his face to the sky, screaming as he uselessly flapped his arms. After what felt like a life time, he struck the concrete blocks on the shallow river bed with a wet, harrowing splat. I could have sworn that I heard his bones break and snap. His screams fell silent the second he slammed down against the concrete slabs.

  I remained there for a while, one hand holding onto the metal railing, and the other holding the backpack which swayed in the wind, staring at Wayne’s body. The water around him turned red in seconds – it was a grisly sight, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t look away.

  “Zach!” I heard Azaria call from nearby. I turned to see that she had managed to catch up to me, and was clinging to the railings only a few feet away.

  “I’m sorry.” Was all I could bring myself to say. Though it was in self-defence, I had still killed her boyfriend – the only person she had in this world. I didn’t feel bad about killing Wayne, after all he tried to kill me – but I did feel bad for Azaria. I stared at her for a few moments. Tears streamed down her face as she stood clinging to the railings, staring at me. She looked heart broken.

  I quietly slipped the backpack over my own shoulders and continued to make my way across the bridge, trying to ignore the fact that I had just murdered a man. It may have been self-defence, but for the second time in two days I found myself trying to ignore the fact that I had just ended someone’s life. At that moment, I could only pray that doing such an act never got easier.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “You son of a bitch!” Azaria cried as she jumped from the railings onto hard ground. Finally we were across the bridge and onto the other side, but as she charged at me, with clenched fists, I almost wished we were back on the railings.

  “He tried to kill me!” I pleaded, desperate to avoid yet another barrage of punches, the blows from Wayne were enough for one day.

  “Wayne begged you to stop, you didn’t have to kill him!”

  “I’m sorry Azaria, but I wasn’t willing to spend the rest of this quest sleeping with one eye open. He would have tried something! Maybe he would have killed me on another occasion, or slipped away in the night, but I couldn’t trust him anymore!” I screamed, clenching my own fists. At that moment, I decided that I had had enough. I wasn’t going to sit here and let her hit me over him.

  “You murdered him, you’re no better than the marauders you rescued us from!” She screamed, still storming towards me with her clenched fists tight by her sides, and a face which could only be described as that of a rampaging bull, with a red cape in its sights. She went to swing for me, but I saw it coming. I stepped to the right and dodged the blow, before she could turn to throw another, I gave her a quick shove in her side. I was careful not to do it too hard, I didn’t want to hurt her, or aggravate her even more; despite my restrain, the shove sent Azaria falling to the floor. I prepared myself, expecting her to jump right back to her feet and have a second attempt at attacking me, but she didn’t – instead, she remained completely still and silent, her face pressed against the cold, moss covered concrete of the road.

  “Are you okay?” I almost screamed, fearing that I had hurt her – but she didn’t reply. For a few seconds, I stood like a statue, too afraid to move for some reason, with my eyes locked on the motionless girl, eventually, I became aware of a sound. It was subtle at first, and hard to make out, but it quickly got louder and clearer. Only when I realised she was sobbing did I let my guard down and allow myself to be overcome with a wave of relief.

  I forced away a frown and turned around, I couldn’t bear to stand and face her whist she dealt with the grief that I had inflicted upon her. I took some time to scan our surroundings. Finally, after what felt like a life time, I had reached Manchester. I couldn’t help but grow a little nervous as I looked ahead and scanned the large city, riddled with destroyed buildings, tall sky scrapers, and seemingly ever burning fires. It looked as though the stories of this city were true. It was dead, it looked as though my companion and I were the first people to enter this city since the Rise, all those years ago; but that illusion was quickly shattered, somewhere in the distance I heard gunfire – but it sounded distant. It was a very surreal reminder of the dangers that awaited us.

  The entire city looked forbidding, as though a million spirits of the dead from Manchester were ushering me away all at once, willing me to leave them in peace. I wanted so badly to turn away, or swallow my pride and walk around the city; which of course would add an entire week to my journey, but I wouldn’t allow myself. The only way I was going to get to the Church of Fire was to travel through this city, and I knew it.

  It was astonishing to see so many structures that had long been abandoned, they baffled me. Up until I left Haven, the farm house where my family and I lived had been the only pre-Rise structure I had ever seen. I couldn’t help but imagine thousands upon thousands of people going about their lives here. I could almost imagine the buzz of activity and the cars and the pedestrians. But now of course, they were all gone. Likely dead, or dying out
here in the Charred Lands. The entire place seemed almost alien to me, the thought that people could have gone about their lives without fear seemed incomprehensible.

  “What now then?” Azaria asked, still lay on the ground, wiping away tears from her eyes.

  “I’m not exactly sure.” I said, still scanning the city, desperately trying to come up with my next move. I figured all I could do was to start walking; but the idea of heading into the dead city gave me the chills. It seemed foolish just to walk down the main road and hope that I could pass straight through without running into a psychopath, or one of the volcano monsters, or both.

  “Wayne would have known.” She seethed. I decided to let that comment pass. Of course she was going to be angry, I just had to hope that it passed before her sly comments turned into actions.

  “Let’s head up here for a little while to see if we can find anything. We desperately need supplies.” I said as my stomach let out another rumble. I hadn’t had a bite to eat since Wayne and Azaria raided the last of my supplies. Like I theorised earlier, if the cities were as dead as I had been led to believe, then surely something usable would have been left behind. There had to be something out here that we could eat – that wouldn’t kill us of course.

  Slowly, Azaria forced herself to her feet. She stood silently, burning a hole into me with her eyes, a look of pure hatred on her face. I returned her stare for but a second, before I forced myself to look away, I didn’t want her to think I was challenging her.

  “Come on.” I gulped, as I took off walking down the main road. I suddenly felt all alone again.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  It was hard to walk down the city street, with constant reminders of a world that once was lingering around every corner. The streets were riddled with burnt out vehicles and long decayed corpses which were now nothing more than skeletons, littering the road like leaves in autumn. The buildings were a sorry sight too. All of the windows were either smashed, or clouded over to the point where you couldn’t see through – yet I couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching me through each and every one; as though the spirits of Manchester were now keeping a watchful eye on me after failing to heed their warnings to stay away.