Destiny, and the Red Orb (The Destiny Series Book 1)

by J Deleon

  “I’m not sure. Let’s hope not.”

  “But then what does this mean?”

  “It means that you were right. These monsters are here for a reason. And I think the Red Orb has something to do with it.”

  “Then, what do we do?” Ian asked.

  “Well, first, like I said: we’ll try to find other survivors.”

  “And then?”

  “We try to stop this.”

  Scott

  “We should get moving.” Scott had taken a large traveling bag from inside the house and packed it with a few necessary items. By the time he had finished stocking up, the bag was full and weighed much more than what he was anticipating. He suggested Ian do the same with a smaller one. Ian did so and kept the bag across his torso to even out the weight. “Are you all set?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” Ian looked around the room once more.

  “Good, let’s go.”

  Scott closed the door behind them as Ian went to the street. The sky was once again the dark gray color it had been for the past few days.

  “So,” Ian started, “Where to first?”

  Scott looked up at the sky. “I’m not sure, exactly.” He returned his attention to Ian who was looking tentatively at him. “We’ll head to wherever you saw that Red Orb.”

  “But, I don’t know where I saw it.” Ian replied.

  “Then we’ll walk anyways. We’ll find it somehow.” Scott assured.

  Ian hesitated before nodding in approval. The two started down the street with only the bags they were carrying. Scott feared it would be a long journey ahead of them, but he was certain that they would go where they needed to.

  Jennifer

  “Y—you mean, there’s more—people?” Jennifer was stunned. She was lead to believe that she and Cecily were the only two survivors left. Seeing this man in front of her gave her a relief. She heard children behind the tables the man crawled out of.

  “You two are the only other people we’ve seen since this all started.” The man turned to the fort he crawled out of. “My family, and a few other’s we escaped with, have been hiding in this building.” The tables started to separate as the other’s revealed themselves. There were two ladies, three children (two boys and one girl), another man, and a young adult couple holding each other tightly. “Those monsters are everywhere outside. We haven’t been able to leave here.”

  “One person who was with us went outside to look for help,” the blonde haired lady spoke up, “but that was last night. We haven’t heard from him since.”

  “How did you all survive?” Cecily asked.

  Sean (if Jennifer remembered correctly) turned to Cecily. “We’re not sure. Once the monsters started to fall from the sky, we took shelter here. We barricaded ourselves inside of here and away from them. After a while, we stopped hearing the screams. That’s when we realized that everybody had vanished.”

  “But you didn’t.” Cecily uttered.

  “No.” Sean confirmed.

  “Just ask them already!” A dark haired lady cried as she held one of the little boy’s.

  “Ask us what?” Cecily asked uncomfortably.

  The man faced the floor and then back up to Cecily and Jennifer. “We need your help.” He moved back to the lady and the young boy. “My son, Alex, he was hurt. Our friend, Marty, the one who left last night, went to go find him some medicine, but he hasn’t come back. We’re afraid that if we don’t get some soon…” He didn’t finish the sentence. “You two have already been out there. You’ve made it here alive. May you please help us?” Sean started to tear up.

  Jennifer looked at the young boy. She hadn’t notice the blood soaked sleeve wrapped around his left arm.

  “We have to do something.” Jennifer turned to Cecily quickly.

  “What should we do? I don’t know anything about this.” Cecily replied.

  “Do you know where the pharmacy is, just a few blocks away from here?” Jennifer asked.

  “Yeah, on Maple street.” Cecily replied.

  “Go get as much medicine as you can from there. Whatever you see, bring it. I’ll stay here and tend to his wound now before it gets too bad.”

  “You’re sending her out there alone?” The blonde lady shouted.

  “She can handle herself.” Jennifer replied.

  “I’ll be right back.” Cecily ran to the door.

  “Return safely.” Jennifer said before the door closed behind her.

  Gwen

  The blood started to slow the moment Gwen wrapped the wound with a bandana. She had removed the sharp rock from her knee and threw it aside. Blood started to leak out after that.

  With the bandana wrapped tight around, she tried her best to stand up. It hurt her to apply pressure, but she did it anyways when she started to walk again. She closed her bag, which she opened to get the bandana, and swung it around her shoulder and onto her back.

  The earth finally stood still, but she didn’t know how long it would stay that way.

  The Red Orb that she had seen kept her mind busy the whole walk. The image of it plastered her thoughts. This continued until she couldn’t take it. Gwen stopped walking and rubbed her forehead. She thought long and hard about the vision she had until it was the only thing on her mind. After her mind settled down and her fists unclenched, she came to the conclusion that it was time for her to seek out what she saw.

  Gwen continued onward with no real destination. Instead, she let her subconscious mind and feet guide her to where she needed to be. She knew that if there was a place she needed to be, she would find it.

  Ian

  “So, do you have any kids?” Ian asked, trying to break the silence.

  Scott continued to look in front of him. “No. No kids. You?”

  “I’m fifteen.” Ian replied.

  “People your age can have kids.” Scott assured. “So, no?”

  “No.” Ian answered.

  “It’s just been me.” Scott continued. “I don’t mind it, though. I had my work to worry about.”

  “Well, that’s all gone now.” Ian replied, a bit too rudely than he intended.

  Scott laughed. “Not all gone. I still have my duties.”

  “And when we finally see somebody else, then you would have completed your destiny.” Ian smiled.

  Scott returned a smile. “Well, I’m sure I’ll think of something else. I always have to have some purpose to serve. I get through with one task, I find myself another.”

  “Well, that’s constructive.”

  “What about you? Don’t you think you serve some kind of purpose?” Scott asked.

  “Not really. I just think we’re here. Maybe if things were still normal, I could have a goal or something to achieve; like going to college or something. Now, I’m just trying to not die.”

  “You should try to make yourself a goal now. So you won’t completely lose your mind. We just might be the only two people left. Do you want to spend the rest of your life with nothing to strive for?”

  “I guess not.” Ian considered.

  The two walked down the long road. No trees, bushes, or any sight of life near.

  “It’s going to be a while.” Scott now broke the silence. “We better get used to this.”

  The thought made Ian uncomfortable. He wanted to see his old friends again, be back in school where everything was easier. He missed the sounds of the hallways, the energy at sports games, and the silence in the classes as the teachers taught. Now, a different silence bellowed inside him—one he would trade for anything else.

  Cecily

  The roads were quiet. Buildings had fallen over, roads were destroyed, and cars were clustered together into one large pile. Cecily ignored this and, instead, went around the wreckage. She needed to get to the nearest pharmacy and fast. Not only because there was a child who needed medicine as soon as possible, but because the monsters that had taken over could show up at any moment.

  The destruction barricaded parts of her path,
making her route longer than what she felt comfortable with. Down the alleys and through the streets, Cecily maneuvered her way through and to the street with the pharmacy.

  Cecily could see the large, dented sign just above the building that read Joe’s Pharmacy. She gave out a sigh of relief as she started towards it.

  “VVRRRAAARRRGGHHH!” A loud scream was heard closer to her than she would have liked. It wasn’t the screech that the monsters gave out, but it seemed to come from the same host. The noise was unlike anything she had ever heard before. Her feet now sprinted down the cracked sidewalk and to the pharmacy.

  Once she made it to the door, she opened it wide and shut it fast behind her. She leaned against the door, panting with her eyes shut. Not a moment later, she opened her eyes and remembered her mission.

  The pharmacy was a wreck inside; pill bottles spilled everywhere. The shelves were off their nails and the glass was shattered into pieces. The gray sky gave out an off hue into the building that distracted Cecily for a moment.

  “Medicine. Medicine.” She repeated as she scrambled around for anything that could benefit them in the future.

  She grabbed the largest bag she could find behind the counter (which still wasn’t big enough in her opinion) and started to stuff it with bottles. She grabbed all other items that may be of use.

  Her bag was now full. She tied the handles together and slipped her hand through.

  The ground shook right before she was able to leave. She fell to her hands and knees to try and keep leveled. The shakes felt like footsteps—one short shake after another—and were coming closer. Cecily crawled behind the counter and peeked through a shattered window next to her.

  Outside, she saw three of the monsters that had been terrorizing them, but they weren’t alone. To her confusion, she saw something that she couldn’t understand. There were four, human-like, creatures standing in between the giant monsters. They had the same physique as a human adult, the same stature. There were two blue colored ones and two pink colored ones, but their eyes were different than any human’s. They were a dark blue color with bright red pupils.

  One of the human-like creatures looked up at one of the monsters and started to, what Cecily assumed, speak to it. Cecily couldn’t understand the way the creature communicated with the monster. All she could hear was different noises that the monster seemed to understand. It looked to her that the creature was treating the monster like a dog. The monster sat down as the creature spat at it. The four creatures started to argue with each other as the other monsters sat down as well.

  Cecily covered her mouth and cried as quietly as possible. She stared out at the scene in front of her, hoping she would be able to make it out alive.

  Adam

  Adam knocked twice on the door of his parent’s house. The house had taken damage, but it was well enough to be standing. It was a small home with paint chips all around. The lawn was once a dirt home for the small patches of grass, but now was torn to pieces. The windows were shattered and the porch shifted.

  His journey was a long one, but he made it to his family’s home alive. After a long two days of hiding, walking, running, and taking shelter from the disasters that continued to come, he found his way to his childhood home.

  “Hello?” Adam went to a shattered window to look inside.

  The inside of the home looked exactly the same as he remembered it, only a mess. He saw the same pictures that were hung up, lying on the floor. The same furniture that he once sat on and ate dinner with his family at, now thrown around the floor and broken. The family television was lying flat on the floor along with the rest of the entertainment system. It saddened Adam more to see his old home torn apart.

  Adam crawled inside through the window and looked around. He picked up an old family portrait of him, his parents, and his sister standing outside by the tree he used to climb every day after school. He set the pictures back on top of the fire place and continued on.

  The kitchen looked worse than the living and dining room. Plates and bowls were shattered on the floor, pots and pans were thrown all over the counters, and the food was strewn everywhere. Adam stepped over all of this to make his way down the hall.

  The hallway that lead to all of the rooms looked to be in the best condition. Only a few paintings and pictures were lying on the ground. Adam pressed on, searching through every room.

  The first was his room. Aside from the mess from the earthquakes, his room looked fairly the same. His old bedsheet was still on his bed, his posters still hanging on the walls, and his old clothes that he had grown out of were still hanging in the closet. But remembering his childhood was not why he was there. Adam left the room to continue his search.

  There was nobody inside of the other rooms. His sister’s room still looked the same as well as his parent’s room, but there was no sign of any of them. After going through the house over and over again, Adam soon realized that they were gone as well.

  He sat in his room, staring up at his ceiling like he used to. Adam stayed there, lying on his bed for the remainder of the day and slept there for the remainder of the night. Too sad to go on, Adam decided to just lay there and let the monsters find him. This continued until the next day.

  The sky was still gray, the world still silent, and he was still alone. Adam waited until he would finally hear another monster near him so he could give himself up; but instead, he heard something different than the shriek of one of them.

  Adam sat up on his bed, alert. He heard the sound of voices for the first time in two days. They weren’t normal voices, however. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he knew there were other people now.

  Adam jumped out of his bed and went to his window to listen more closely. The voices were at a lower register than he expected. The words weren’t of any language he had heard of. He listened as best as he could to try and make out what he was listening to.

  After a moment of trying to understand it all, Adam decided to try and see who was outside.

  Instead of seeing fellow human’s, or even the monsters, he saw strange looking people. The two of them resembled human’s, but with some differences. Both of them were of a pinkish color with short, dark hair. They wore dark brown rags over their bodies and no footwear.

  Adam didn’t know what they were, but he knew they weren’t human. He wondered what they could be when one of them noticed him. It pointed at Adam before he could take cover. Adam heard the two speaking to each other again before hearing footsteps coming his way.

  Jennifer

  “Here, just—just keep applying pressure here.” Jennifer tried to do as much as she could while Cecily retrieved the medicine.

  “It hurts!” The young boy, Gabriel, cried.

  “It’s going to be okay.” His mother, Lela held him.

  “Cecily should be back anytime now. It’s going to be okay.” Jennifer repeated for the tenth time. She constantly glanced at the door, worrying for Cecily.

  She’s going to be okay. She told herself.

  Sean approached the three and kneeled down beside them. “How’s it looking?”

  “It’s not too bad, but we do need the medicine for the pain.” Jennifer confirmed. “Let’s just hope she makes it back.” She worried.

  Cecily

  The voices of the creatures continued on. Cecily watched cautiously as she tried to figure a way out. She considered sneaking out of the window and sprinting down the road, but the monsters would catch up to her for sure. She then thought of taking a different route, but that seemed to be even more dangerous and time consuming. She, instead, opted out for a middle between the two.

  Cecily slowly walked to the other side of the building and stepped out from the window. She was out of sight from the creatures and the monsters now which gave her a bit more comfort. She then headed towards an alley, opposite from where she came from. She made down to the alley and sprinted down it once she felt she was out of sight.

  She merged the tw
o routes and was back on track to the building Jennifer was at. Having to go back around the damage of the streets and through a few buildings, Cecily made it back to the building with the bag of medicine tied to her wrist.

  She opened the door with a swing and hurried towards Jennifer.

  “Thank God you’re back.” Jennifer went towards her.

  “No time.” Cecily gave her the medicine. “I need to talk to you.”

  Gwen

  The old knife tugged on Gwen’s hair as she cut it, pulling her with every slash. Once she was finished, she closed the knife and put it back in her bag. She stood up from the rock she was resting on to continue her journey.

  She had been walking for as long as she could focus now with little to no water sources or food. Gwen, back before the end of the world, relied mostly on hunting and harvesting for her food whenever she was out in the wild. She had grown accustom to hunting for survival, always being one with nature. But there were no animals to be seen. She would come across a dear every few days, but nothing to keep her from starving.

  It had been days since her last full meal and she was starting to feel dizzy. After walking a long distance, she sat down to rest for a moment.

  Now she was back on her feet, trying to find food and water. The Red Orb crossed her mind every hour of the day, she even dreamt of it every night, but at the moment, finding food was her main goal.

  Before she was forced to fall down on her knees, she heard rustling in the trees. She knelt down and took off her bow and an arrow in which she used for hunting.

  A deer was still and in sight of Gwen. She set up her bow and arrow and aimed them towards the deer. She readied herself and shot the arrow. It pierced the side of the deer, making it fall over and whimper. Gwen stood up and ran towards the injured deer. She took out the old knife and stabbed the deer until it stopped breathing.