The Charred Lands: City of Ash

by Josh A. Murphy

  “That bus wasn’t there last time we passed through.”

  “What does that mean?” I frowned, but before she could reply, the answer became all too clear. A gunshot rang out from somewhere. I ducked down a little and clung on tighter to Penny as I frantically scanned our surroundings, but saw nothing.

  “The rooftops!” A man – whose name I didn’t know – screamed as the group all kicked their horses into action. Everyone spread out in different directions as they frantically tried to get out of the grid locked streets. On either side of the buildings around us, countless men opened fire. Some had guns, whilst others chucked stones or spears.

  “You shoot, I’ll focus on getting us the fuck out of here.” Penny ordered. With a gulp, I reluctantly let go of her with one of my hands and withdrew my revolver. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to try and provide some cover fire for the others. I struggled to hit a barn door from a stationary position, but atop of a horse, I knew I didn’t stand a chance of hitting a target. Despite knowing it was essentially a waste of bullets, I opened fire. I knew the revolver packed a punch, but the kick from the first shot almost jerked the weapon right out of my hand. My entire arm seemed to buzz for a moment, but I kept firing.

  We found ourselves at the front of the group, leading the way as the others weaved in and out of the vehicles that I now knew to be strategically placed. What felt like an endless stream of rocks showered us. I heard them clanking off of cars nearby, but as I squeezed the trigger for the sixth and final time, none of them had hit us – just as my bullets had all seemingly gone amiss.

  From nowhere, three skinny, scruffy looking men with long scraggy hair and tattered clothes jumped from behind cars in front of us.

  “Fuck.” Penny mumbled as she released the horse’s stirrups with one hand, she quickly reached for a buttoned up harness that had been strapped over her shoulder. With expert precision, she flicked the button through the hole and reached in, before withdrawing a large, meter long blade. I couldn’t help but admire it as she prepared to swing for the nearest of the three attackers.

  Without warning Penny jolted the horse to the left a little, putting a slight gap between us and the first of the three ground attackers. She swung down the sword with angelic precision. I could only watch as it sliced through him as though his neck had been paper. The blade cut all the way through his throat, falling but an inch short of completely decapitating him. I instantly felt a shower of warm blood cover my face as we sped past him – still I kept my eyes on him, as his head flopped backwards, hanging from the inch of skin that attached it to his neck. For a few seconds he remained upright with blood spraying from his neck like a red fountain, with his head hanging between the back of his shoulders as though attached by a door hinge, before he fell backwards in a dead heap.

  Taking it in her stride, Penny shifted her weight over to the left side, with her second target in sight. Seeing what she had done to his friend must have sent shivers down his spine. He didn’t even try to avoid the sword, he only had time to let out a timid, muffled cry as she swung for him. This time she cut deeper, completely severing his head. He was dead before he knew what had happened.

  “Motherfucker…” Penny gasped as we neared the third one. This guy seemed to have a little more steel about him than the last, as he withdrew his own weapon; a sawn off shotgun. He aimed it at us, too far away for Penny to reach with her sword. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as we continued to gallop towards the aimed weapon, desperately trying to get within the swords range before he pulled down on the trigger.

  A saving grace came in the form of a bullet fired behind us. It took me a little while to comprehend exactly what had happened as the back of his head exploded outwards, and his face was replaced by a gaping hole. I glanced back at the rest of the Brotherhood, just in time to hear a victorious holler from Kelvin; already his attention, and his rifle, had turned back to the attackers on the roof top.

  “Was that Kelvin?” Penny asked as we neared the end of the wreckage congestion. A quick look around confirmed that we were likely out of throwing distance.

  “I think so.”

  “Bastard will probably want a blowjob for that.” She said, “From me of course, not you.” She quickly added with a chuckle.

  “After that shot, I feel a little inclined to give him one myself.” I couldn’t help but joke; that was probably the nerves talking.

  We came to a stop after charging down a few streets and making a few turnings, finally feeling that we had put enough distance between us and the ambush to give our horses a rest.

  “That was fucking intense!” An ugly, almost malformed bald man hollered as we formed a kind of circle near an old, overgrown roundabout.

  “Keep your voice down, Turnip.” Julian ordered in a harsh tone as he trotted his horse into the middle of the group, “Now, is anyone hurt?” He asked. I looked around the group as each of the others seemed to give themselves a little check over.

  “My horse took a rock to the head, but he seems fine.” Mark grumbled.

  “Then I guess we have the right to call ourselves lucky motherfuckers, isn’t that right boys?” Julian grinned, his face splitting smile returned once again. His comment sparked several sniggers from the rest of the so called Brotherhood, “Does anyone know how to get back on track then? We can’t afford too much of a detour.” He added, suddenly seeming to return to complete seriousness. He was able to switch and change between temperaments so quickly that I found it hard to keep up, as though Julian was two completely different people at times. One moment he was all fun and games, the next he seemed likely to smack you across the face for being anything less than one hundred percent focused; I guess that was what made him such a good leader.

  “What do you mean? Aren’t we going back to kick their fucking arses?” An extremely large, muscular man spoke out.

  “No, Keith. We can’t risk it. Nobody died, so let’s just continue on our mission.”

  “That’s bullshit!” Penny spat.

  “No, it’s my order. They’re two-bit survivors, they’re not worth the risk of spilling blood. We find an alternative way around, and continue on with the mission.” He commanded. Nobody replied – I suspected they knew better than to. Instead, I watched as they exchanged annoyed looks between one and another, before agreeing with his word – and with that, Julian lead his horse out of the circle of his men and continued on down the road.

  “So, we’ve got two routes to take.” A man named Will sighed as he caught up with Julian and rode alongside him, slightly ahead of the rest of us. We made our way down the main road at a slow, steady pace, “we can either go that way,” He said, pointing up down the main road, which seemed to become horribly cluttered with cars and obstacles, “or head back into the city, what do you think?” He asked, staring at Julian for an answer. Around me, several of the other men picked up their pace to get involved in the conversation.

  “It’s too risky to head into the city.” Julian simply said, staring straight ahead.

  “It’s worth the risk, we can’t afford another day detour.” A man Will argued.

  “We can’t get through all those cars, it’ll take hours.” Penny pitched in; around me, I heard several of the others agree.

  “Julian, we’ve got little ammo, no food, and the horses are tired. We can’t run around. We have to take the most direct route.” Kelvin protested this time.

  I sat silence for a while, watching the group of Saviour of Man argue amongst themselves about their next moves. I was a little torn, and decided I wouldn’t have an input in this one – I’d go with whatever was decided. Of course, I wanted to get through the city as fast as possible, but I also wanted to avoid danger as much as I could, so it looked like a bit of a catch twenty-two.

  “Fine.” Julian eventually gave in, after realising essentially the rest of the Brotherhood were against him. This was the first time I had seen him give into the others wishes, I didn’t know if he was a strong
leader that seemed to know best, or just arrogant. To me, giving in was the right thing to do. These men were all no doubt tired, grouchy and still a little bit pissed off from the ambush.

  “Don’t come crying to me though, when you’re picking up pieces of your friends.” He said, as he suddenly jolted the horse to the left, and turned off of the main road, and began heading back into the thick of the city.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Once again I found myself overwhelmed by the beauty and the destruction of the city as we charged through its many winding, seemingly endless streets. Each one was almost identical to the last, the only differences being the faded signs of streets and stores that had rusted, rotten and decayed throughout the decades of neglect.

  It didn’t take long for us to hit what I assumed to have been a commercial area. We charged through an unusually wide street that was lined with countless stores that used to sell all kinds of things – most of which I didn’t even know the purpose of. Compared to my life now, I lived a life of privilege at Haven, a life that many these days would have been resentful of. But here, charging horse back down this once high end street, I couldn’t help but be baffled at how comfortable life must have once been for everyone. The fact that we passed stores that’s entire purpose seemed to be the sale of useless junk made me chuckle a little – it was crazy to believe that back then people could afford to throw cash at such trivial things, whilst now a days, every single thing you owned was completely necessary in the fight to survive.

  At one point, we passed an old book store that’s shelves appeared to have remained largely untouched. In the brief second that I could see into the store, I saw countless books all filled with knowledge, ideas, and words of long dead people. I wanted so badly to try and bring the others to a stop so I could have a look around inside. Back at Haven, we had a small collection of old tattered books that everyone must have read a thousand times over, but no matter how many times I read the same old book, it continued to fascinate me as much as it did the last. There was something about the written word that managed to grab my attention and suck it into the pages and carry me away to another world, allowing me a brief escape from the barren world I had grown up in. The prospect of reading a new book was almost enough to make me jump from a moving horse.

  The commercial area was short lived though, and soon enough we found ourselves back into residential and office areas. We were able to pass through the streets lined with stores with ease, hardly any cars created obstructions, it was only then that I was able to experience just how fast these horses could ride; even mine, despite the fact it was carrying two people, it was still able to move faster than I had ever travelled in all my life. I couldn’t help but wonder how much easier my entire journey may have been if I had managed to acquire my own earlier on.

  “It’s up here now, where we lost five men.” Penny informed me as I continued to cling to her waist. She was a confident rider – I felt safe. Though she was never particularly at the front of the pack, she managed to keep the horse at a steady pace and always looked in control of the animal. I had no idea how riding one of the creatures worked, but Penny made it look so simple.

  Ahead of us, the endless wrecked vehicles suddenly seemed to disappear.

  “Halt!” Julian bellowed from the bottom of his lungs as he pulled his horse to a sudden stop – in perfect synchronization every single rider came to a slow and steady stop behind him, as though they had all been anticipating the order.

  “What’s wrong?” I heard Mark call out from behind us – he had spent the majority of the ride at the back of the pack, keeping an eye on our rear in case the people that had ambushed us had decided to pursue.

  “Come take a look.” Julian responded from ahead, his voice dry and drab. He quickly jumped from his horse and took a few steps forward. All around me, the other Brotherhood members did the same.

  “I’m guessing you’ll be needing a hand?” Penny almost laughed as she too jumped down.

  “I think so.” I said, blushing a little. With that, she reached out her hand and helped me climb down from the animal. It felt strange to have my feet back on solid land and have the feeling begin to return to my arse.

  Mark, along with myself and the rest of the riders made our way towards Julian, who stood completely still a few feet ahead, his eyes locked on the ground – at first I couldn’t tell exactly what had caused him to bring us to a stop, but as I got closer, it became more and more apparent

  Ahead, the road had collapsed inwards, revealing a large, dark tunnel as though the ground was being swallowed by the earth. Little light managed to reach down there, casting the tunnel in gloomy, grey shadows. I squinted against the seemingly blacker than black darkness, trying to make out what the large object in the middle of the tunnel was. The hole was huge – the entire width of the street had collapsed inwards, making this road completely unpassable. I did my best to hide my frustration at all of the setbacks and delays; it seemed as though ever since I had bumped into these people we had come across nothing but trouble.

  “What’s that?” I asked, pointing to the large, metal looking tube.

  “It’s a train.” Julian quickly clarified. Instantly, I remembered stories my Grandpa had told me of these things; it was strange to finally see one and not have to imagine what it would have looked like. It was hard to imagine how large, metal cans were able to drive around underground in tunnels, transporting hundreds of people at a time from place to place.

  “I don’t remember this?” Kelvin mumbled as he peered over the edge.

  “It must have just happened.” Julian figured, kicking a few loose pieces of asphalt into the pit. They hit the metal of the train roof with a clank, sending echoes ringing out through the dark subway.

  “What the fuck do we do now?” A rugged, bearded man spat.

  “Looks like we’re taking the long route now anyway, Keith.” Julian smirked in response.

  “What a fucking surprise.” Keith growled – I stared at the mountain of a man. Though the majority of the people here looked like they could snap me in half like a twig, Keith was especially intimidating. He had a curly, pitch black beard that went all the way down to his chest, and mean, hollow eyes. He wore a sleeveless black shirt, showing his large, muscular arms – the veins in his biceps seemed to bulge every time he moved. Just looking at him scared me a little, I had to quickly divert my eyes away from him when I caught him glancing in my direction.

  These were a tough group of survivors, the likes of which I had never seen before. The fact that they all felt so calm and collected in the middle of Manchester made it abundantly clear that they were used to this environment – they may even have grown up in these streets. If the rest of the Saviour of Man were as tough as the Brotherhood, then Warrington didn’t stand a chance – suddenly I found myself thinking back to Lizzie, and how I had left her in a war torn town that was under siege by Saviour of Man.

  “No good’s going to come from standing and staring at it. We can’t afford to waste the time. Every minute we spend out here, is another minute that those bastards in our base of operations can make themselves comfortable. We need to get back on our horses and look for an alternative route.” Julian finally ordered with a sigh, turning back to his horse – that’s when he completely froze. The colour seemed to drain from his face as he stared past the rest of his men with unblinking eyes. I stared at him for a few seconds in confusion, before I began to feel chills running up and down my spine – he had seen something. Slowly, everyone began to turn around as they caught on to Julian’s fright.

  Fiders – and a lot of them.

  “Fuckkkkk.” Keith mumbled in a long, elongated sigh, as though the sight of the creatures didn’t scare him, but merely inconvenienced him.

  “Nobody move.” Julian commanded in nothing but a whisper. We all froze – as still as statues, watching the creatures scurry about around a hundred feet up the road from us. Thus far, they didn’t seem to notice us. They wal
ked around on all eight legs, slowly making their way in and out of the wrecked cars in some kind of humungous pack.

  “Can we get back on the horses?” Penny asked, though she didn’t sound confident – something told me she already knew the answer.

  “By the time we were up and on them, they’d be upon us.” Someone else replied.

  “We’re going to have to hide.” Julian informed.

  I shot him a look of pure confusion. I scanned the surrounding buildings, they were all either barricaded or completely destroyed – leaving us with only one option.

  “Down there?” Mark almost spat – his voice rising above the level that I would have deemed safe; still, the creatures scurried around up the street unaware of our presence.

  “It’s the only way – they’re going to see us any second now, we need to get down there as quickly, and quietly as possible.” Julian said, fearlessly turning his back to the creatures to get down the hole.

  “How’re we going to get back up, and what about the horses!?” Penny worried – staring at her horse with affection in her eyes. Despite how brutish she was, in that second she looked like an innocent, loving child.

  “We can worry about that later, we haven’t the time now.” Julian said – he scanned the rubble covered train below, it was quite a drop, but it was manageable.

  “I’ll go first.” He said – which wasn’t a surprise to me.

  He steadied himself for a few seconds, before he lowered himself down. I watched as he fell into the dark tunnel – he hit the metal train with a clank that echoed out, before sliding off and disappearing into the darkness of the tunnel.

  “I’m okay!” He quickly informed.

  From behind us, I heard a roar.

  “They heard him!” A man whose name I didn’t know screamed, without warning he barged past me and jumped. All around me people began to panic and load their weapons.

  “They’re coming!” Penny screamed, aiming her weapon. Ahead of us the horses were startled, they frantically began to run amok around the street.