The Carnage Trilogy (Book 3): Aftermath [Who Will Be Left?]

by Birch, Matthew

  Though, as we more or less trace our path around our enemy, observing how it can barely move its stiff joints and stone like legs, the snow cascading down its icy flesh, we notice a particular detail. Is this creature still connected to the Carnage's hivemind? It's a fair question, but seeing how lost and confused it is, the creature that begins to make progress in sifting through the snow, eyes wandering, showing it truly isn't connected like it used to be. Like rubber, its bones are brittle, easy to snap and crack.

  “It's too far gone, all alone, not even the Carnage is aware, the parasite inside it has been slowed to the point that it is lost” Chloe, through her shuddering lips, releases the tugged tight coat around her body. For a brief moment, we wonder what she is doing, only for her raised leg to kick the poor creature’s knee in, breaking it without as much as a huff of effort. No blood or mess, just a mangled leg that forces me to look away from the sight. I hate broken bones. Bones weren't made to be broken!

  “See?” Chloe murmurs, for some reason looking at me?

  Nodding, I give her a glare. I feel like she did it on purpose to harden me up to sights I'd rather not see. I get it, this world is tough, but I can't help it if broken bones make me feel sick inside. Well, I suppose she only cares, unless she is taking her anger out on the creature...?

  “We shouldn't have any problems...” I say out-loud, fighting against the stormy wind. Pulling my coat in closer, I protect what little warmth I have left.

  “Maybe it isn't from the beginning...” Ian speaks up, gaining all of our attention. Lola steps beside me, staying away from the creature as best she can. I mean, it isn't a threat, never was, even more now since it is unable to walk!

  “What are you saying?” Chloe, squaring up to him, seems to glower, her eyes piercing a hole in his skull.

  “What if it is a soldier... from the military base we are meant to be going to...” Ian, gulping, merely speaks his mind anyway. Though it isn't out of it honestly, it is out of fear and the stuttery tone says as much.

  Sweating despite the cold, I say to him and him alone, “I think we all just want an escape by this point. I'd rather live on the dream of the base being there even if it isn't...”

  The way he looks at me after I've spoken proves his own inner doubts. What can I say, Ian, I'm hopeful?

  “Well don't worry because that would never happen anyway!” Chloe, trying to regain some bloody positivity wraps her arms around me and pulls me close for a hug from behind...?

  “Well, shit...” I hear her whisper seconds later. Peering upwards, my fur coated hood falling back a little bit to see the look of crisis creep onto her face.

  Looking in the same direction her shimmering eyes gawk, we see several creatures, all frozen beneath the weight of the incoming blizzard, begin to re-emerge. We must have even walked over some of them, and we would have never known better. Is that what the crunching was? Not the snow, the creatures?!

  “We need to go!” Chloe, shouting, let's go of me in seconds and swiftly, I alongside Lola am being ushered up the steep hill. It grows precipitous, and my short feet can't keep up. We run and run, appearing over the horizon of the hill to find ourselves at a steep drop. Not so steep that you'd fall, but steep enough that the tumble and roll down isn't going to be pleasant.

  “We haven't got a choice-” I whisper, wrapping my hand around Lola's. She's panicking, breathing heavily in fear. We have Chloe and Ian, we need to be strong! Shaking her a little, she breaks out of her trance, her small eyes tremor in despair. She knows what we have to do. If we're lucky, the snow should be thicker at the bottom, hopefully breaking our fall!

  Ironically, now of all times the snow begins to die down, the blizzard ends its blitz, and thus the swarm of creatures who groan and moan flood towards us like a wave-

  With the temperature averaging out, and the force against us becoming more bearable, we are left with some of the creatures jogging at us in a very stupid looking fashion! Steadily, they catch up, getting closer-

  “WELL JUMP THEN!” Chloe shouts behind us, withdrawing her pistol and taking unfocused shots-

  No, we can fight-

  “Please, go-” Chloe glances her wet eyes at us. Why is she...? Why is she crying? What is she doing that for? We can fight-

  She intends for this to be a goodbye?

  “GO!” She screams, and I realise she has to do this because if she doesn't, we'll be stuck at the bottom with a horde of unfreezing creatures falling with us. This is it. I look over the steep slope, staring into the white abyss below. Stepping forward with Lola, we maintain our balance as best we can until we lose it all together-

  Tripping, and breaking out into a roll down the hill, snow and dirt slip into my clothes, freezing my body yet it burns against my body heat-

  Finally, I stop moving, beneath the snow, I pull, kick, and force my head above the surface. Taking an overwhelming powerful breath of fresh air, I regain my senses. The gunshots continue still. Getting higher above the mounds of snow, I finally push my way out! The gunshots stop-

  Chloe-

  Looking up-

  She's running to the right, distracting the horde instead...

  However, some of the creatures still fall, and this time, Ian takes a stand, opening fire with his own weapon-

  They fight for us still...

  When no one else is left, they fight for us-

  “COME ON, ALICE!” Little dainty hands grip my body, lifting me up with an almighty heave; Lola has me back on my feet in seconds. Without a second fleeting look, we run, sprinting as far as our legs take us! Pushing through the trees, bushes, branches, and any other obstacle that comes our way! Burning settles in, muscles ache, heart skips a beat-

  And we stop, resting, slumping against a tree-

  Vision blurry from the intense run-

  I don't eat nor drink enough to sustain myself-

  Lola practically flops in the snow, so now I have to be the one to lift her, half walking and half wobbling in her direction. Dropping down next to her, I tap her head. “Come on, we need to keep moving!”

  She groans in annoyance.

  Narrowing my eyes, I poke her again, and this time she lifts her face out of the snow. “F-fine-” She mutters - her face red as she can't find her breath.

  Pacing ourselves now, we take a gentler jog until we come across a small shelter, a breath of fresh air, our salvation. An old gas station in plainer terms, buried, abandoned, ruinous with the splintered wood and peeling paint. We scour for a little while, looking around, everything else is either white in snow or a dark shade of the green forest. Luck comes for us when we find a small hole in the back part of the shelter, near the ceiling where a big lump of snow gives us the leverage we need to go up so high. We feel level with the building, despite being on its roof. Caved in, the weight of the snow broke this part of the ceiling and slips back into the building. Skimming down like I'm on roller skates, we leave the lump of snow and enter the dingy building, the only light being from outside.

  Staying low, we remain undetected, using the light we have to see what we can. We walk, search, exploring what remains until we realise we are completely and utterly alone. Shyly, we catch a sparingly used glance at one another.

  “What now? Lola asks dismally, face sunken with doubt.

  “All we can do is the wait...” I reply sedately, with no real form of reassurance or comfort in my tone.

  “We have lost everyone now...” Lola replies, losing her spirit entirely.

  “You still have me...?” I whisper, taking a seat on the snowy, cold floor. Smiling, I give her my brightest grin.

  Lola looks up, half-heartedly smiling. The two of us come together for a hug because now, we are all we have left. The next generation...

  Chapter 15 - Play Time

  Alice

  1 hour and 10 minutes until the passing

  Thrusting my hand forward with a swiftness that would have a warrior jealous, before twisting so brutally, not even the most dis
turbed person in history could face it, before pulling back so expeditiously you'd have never seen it coming; my little example of how to kill a creature as efficiently and effectively as possible comes to an end. After my little presentation, I wonder if an explanation is needed. Lola watches happily, learning what I know. After the tumble in the snow, our guns were jammed beyond repair and with no offence to Zack; I can only retain so much information on cleaning and fixing a weapon. So, now all we have is a knife each, the memories of the past being our teacher. Mine being Ed, Lola's being Callum. There is no debating whose technique was better because we hope to develop our own in time. Eventually, with the time passing by without a hint of a plan or idea, we end up play fighting. Pretending to do martial arts, brawling, and soon enough using the same knives we've dirtied on creatures against each other. Laughing, messing around, it only lasts so long until Lola makes a mistake, her blade inching too close and slicing my arm-

  “I'm so sorry!” Lola goes on and on, begging me to forgive her. She's so worried, all fixated on my cut. She cut me, and yes, it stings like hell, the blood gently trickling over my forearm and hand...

  But Maya, Marcus, or even Ed would say it isn't worth getting angry over. Lola isn't my enemy. She is my friend, and accidents happen. So I shake my head, and stop her bitching, shutting her up long enough so I don't hear one more hurried apology. “Honestly, it's fine. We just need a bandage...” I bite my lip slightly, thoughts rushing through my mind about how we are alone now. I'm just happy the knives were clean. We have to fend for ourselves. There's no one here left to do it for us. Our problems are our own, and we must be the ones to solve them.

  “I don't think a bandage will be enough...” Lola turns away, and I am not sure if it is because she is looking for something to use or because she is upset about cutting me.

  Ignoring her, I begin my own journey of exploration around this desolate place. There honestly isn't much, and looking high and low doesn't take you far when all you can see is its emptiness. My arm bleeds and bleeds until the clotting begins setting in. So blood loss isn't my problem, its infection. Not parasite infection, just general infection. Though, being up here, it might not be too bad. Maybe the snow will help?

  Instead, I find myself in the back storage room where it resembles the rest of the building, except for a single turned-over crate of towels on the floor. None of them is definitely clean, so I take the best looking one which is just a beach towel-

  A beach towel, in the northern highlands of the resort... Unless there is a winter themed water park nearby that has been covered by the snow, this doesn’t make much sense to me.

  Taking the white beach towel back to Lola who brightens in happiness that I found something to use, she lends me her knife and we work together on cutting it down to the size we need. When we're ready, I slip the overly large coat off my shoulders and let it drop before carefully prying my long sleeves up, the knife went through the fabric of all I was wearing. If I wasn't wearing anything this could have been a lot worse.

  “I don't know how to tie a knot...” I find myself admitting when she wraps it around my arm only to step away. Giggling, Lola steps back in to prepare to tie a knot.

  “Well you are lucky Joey taught me!” She grins, gleaming at me.

  “Yeah, he was nice...” I state, faltering a little in my expression.

  “Trust me; if Joey was still here then things would be so different...” Finishing trying the knot, she seals the perfectly sized beach towel in place; we have our makeshift bandage. It's cute, seeing what we've come up with. Lola doesn't get upset; she agreed with me about her uncle and moved on. Numb, or looking on the bright side, I'm not sure, regardless, the crunching of the snow and the lazily taken footsteps alert us of another presence.

  The defenceless entrance shows three creatures scrambling inside. They slip and slide on the snow pile as they come crashing down to the floor. Shooting up, Lola reaches for her weapon in seconds. Doing the same, with my good arm, I prepare my weapon. I don't feel confident enough to take on three creatures. Even if it was just one it wouldn’t be any better.

  What we need is a plan of action, and like a pair of twin sisters, our in sync minds think the same thing as the enemy draws near. Without a word, Lola seems to have a spring in her step as she thinks of something. Raising an eyebrow, I genuinely watch in wonder as she skips behind one of the near empty, useless shelves. Shouting, swearing, cursing, she takes the attention of the creatures, guiding them towards her. Smiling, I follow suit, copying her perfectly. It isn't long until the three creatures are on the other side, and we prepare to push as hard as we can when their arms reach through the gaps-

  Crushing, but not killing, the creatures survive the shelf barring the fact they are now rendered useless as they cannot move. Our last problem is the little straggler at the back of the group who just wonders in through the hole and slips down the slippery slope. We both watch as it groans in pain, struggling to get off the ground after falling on its ass.

  “I'll handle this-” I say, ricocheting towards the creature where I prove my demonstration was correct without failure. Using the exact technique Ed has taught me to end the creatures living in one easy strike. Behind me, Lola finishes off the creatures one by one with a swift downwards stab through the brain.

  “We did it!” Lola squeals, twisting around on the floor from her knelt position to see me.

  “Yeah, we did...” I say, forcing a smile. We shouldn't be happy. This isn't normal...

  “Alice-” Lola stops, eyes wide as she stares behind her-

  The snow crunches again-

  Spinning around as quickly as I can, I come face to face with...

  Ian, it is Ian, and he is perfectly fine. He's exhausted though, and as he limps into the shelter, he overlooks us with a weak smile. “You girls did well... Sorry I couldn't make it sooner... I was going to avoid the creatures but for some reason, they kept going in here so I got curious...” His voice is coarse, he needs water urgently, however, our supplies disappeared with Chloe...

  So that begs the question, doesn't it?

  “Where is Chloe?” I ask naively. I know it is a trivial question because the real thing I should be asking is what happened to her.

  Looking away, Ian avoids my eyes. This tells me everything I need to know...

  “We can't stay long... We'll get going soon...” Ian, head down to the ground, seems to choke up a little as he wonders deep into the shelter, entering the back room and leaving a very nervous, jittery Lola with good old depressed me.

  I've lost everyone. Now I have Lola.

  And God knows I am not going to even count Ian!

  Chapter 16 - Little Note on the wall

  Alice

  50 minutes until the passing

  Pressing into the flooring of the gas station, I swivel the knife, indenting the floor and scratching in the nought that wins me the game! Lola makes a shallow gasping sound, confused as to how she lost in the first place. She gets overdramatic, reviewing the game and making sure I wasn't cheating. She even steals the knife back, checking I hadn't rigged it, but it only makes me laugh harder at her faked stupidity. It's nice, playing a game of noughts and crosses to pass the limited time we have left. Sounds depressing and it is, but when you've lost your family, your life, and everyone you've ever known...

  You'll know how I feel...

  Little moments like this are all we have left. Some of us go numb, some of us get angry, and some of us just get pushed to the edge and we do things we'll regret. Some people, sometimes, do something they don't live to regret.

  Walking by, the heavily taken footsteps of Ian pass us. He's finished scouting the area, making certain we are protected. Though we know the real reason was to check for Chloe or the military base. By the speculations on his face and the blighted body, we see how little hope he has left. Ian Carter, a cowardly engineer who survived long enough to have the responsibility of two little girls. It shouldn't be this way. He nev
er asked for this. He once had a family he cared for like I once had a family who cared for me. As he walks, we see what little remains of the man. The diminishing life he has is insignificant. Does he feel a burden? Are Lola and I the problem, would he feel freer if we weren't the predicament?

  “Are you okay?” I ask, my eyes having observed him the entire time.

  Stopping in his place, he releases a pent-up sigh, his frustration escaping him. “Yes...” He looks at me, smiling widely as tears well in his eyes. “Can I ask you, girls, something?” From across the room, the man drags himself further away from us, moving towards the back room, our conversation feeling one-sided as he substitutes himself away.