The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire

by Josh A. Murphy

  I knew neither Toby nor Amber would leave here on their own; or would they be strong enough to take even one of the automatic machine guns – that meant an adult had been here. I could only pray that mother, Andrea or even Laura had took them out of harm’s way.

  “Hello?” I tried one last time in case somebody was hiding away inside, but just as I suspected, nobody replied. As far as I could tell, everyone had left. But why did they leave me? Did they think I was dead? The more I thought about it the more the blistering pain inside my skull intensified.

  With a sigh, I decided that the barn was empty. I turned around to scan the yards of Haven once again. Still, nothing moved. The dragon’s humongous tail had managed to knock down a part of the wooden fence that belonged to the farm animals, they had either been herded away by someone or all ran away. It felt strange to see the farm yard to empty.

  Even hard to comprehend, was the fact that a dragon, twice the size of the farm house lay atop of what was left of the building – the very building that I had spent my entire life growing up in, the same building where I had instructed Florence to wait for her protection, when all that met her was a horrible, crushing death. There was nothing here for me anymore. Nothing in the farm house was salvageable, of that much I was certain.

  Haven had fallen. The main house was destroyed, the walls were burning and several of the small shacks that housed some of our people had even caught fire. Forty-two years’ worth of growing, building and living had been reduced to rubble in less than twenty minutes. It was tough to swallow, but nowhere near as hard as it was to even begin to comprehend the loss I had just encountered. My Grandpa was dead, of that much I was sure. I had always somewhat prepared myself to lose him, because of his advanced age, but for all I knew, every other citizen of Haven could be dead too. They were my family, every single person who lived in Haven. I had spent my entire life on this planet around them. Though I didn’t share my blood with every one of them, I would have happily spilt it for their sake.

  Then something occurred to me. Several years ago, I had been told of an emergency meeting place, should anything like this ever happen. Just over a mile away was an old forest rangers cabin. It was deep within the trees, away from any real roads – nobody would ever stumble across it. We always kept it stocked with emergency supplies and a few magazines of ammunition. Everyone from Haven had been told about this place and given directions. I had never personally been there, though I had a rough idea of which direction to head in. My bet was that anybody who had fled haven would make their way there and wait for the others. That’s what I hoped anyway.

  I took a long, hard look around Haven’s grounds before heading towards the gates. I was about to venture outside alone, for the first time in my life. I didn’t know what, or who was waiting for me out there – I could only pray that I could find my family.

  I made sure my gun was loaded and the safety switched off as I jumped over a small pile of charred wood where the walls had once been. As I stumbled away from the burning Haven, a sinking feeling began to heighten, deep inside my stomach. I headed on down a dirt path, only looking back after a few minutes of walking. Already Haven was beginning to disappear into the distance, I doubted I would ever see it again. I knew that life would never be the same from this point on. Any remains of my childhood had been destroyed, all that waited ahead for me now was hardship and suffering. Very few people lived comfortably in The Charred Lands. I happened to be one of those lucky enough to be born into a stable environment, with a loving family around me, but no more. For the time being, I was injured, alone and soon to be lost. I couldn’t even begin to think what my next move would be, should I be unable to find the ranger’s cabin.

  Chapter Ten

  I walked for what felt like hours. Each step seemed as though I was dragging my feet through a thick mud puddle, every muscle in my body ached and the pain in my head was relentless. My legs felt like tree stumps, every step seemed to nearly drain me of energy. I had never felt this destroyed in my life. From a quick feel around, I had realised that whatever had knocked me out cold had also given me a nasty gash. Dried blood stained the entire left side of my face, as well as pretty much half of my already scraggy t-shirt. My body felt like it was ready to give up on me. In reality, I had only probably been walking for twenty minutes at an excruciatingly slow pace when I finally collapsed against a tree. Not only was I physically exhausted, but I was mentally drained too. My glasses had been broken beyond all hope of repair. Without them, my vision wasn’t too bad, but I often struggled to read and suffered from headaches – reading wasn’t a problem out here in The Charred Lands, but a headache toppled with the nasty gash on my head might be quite a problem. I felt like my late Grandpa probably did on a daily basis. That thought suddenly filled me with a great sadness.

  I pushed memories of my Grandpa to the back of my mind as I forced myself to my aching feet once again. I couldn’t allow myself to stop, not only would my body stiffen over, but my mind would be given the time it so badly needed to properly process today’s events. I couldn’t afford for that to happen, not yet anyway. There would be a time to mourn the dead, but that time would come when I find some level of safety. I couldn’t afford to break down, not out here in the middle of these woods. That could be fatal. I had to do something I had never been able to do in the past – turn off my emotions.

  Before I had managed even three steps I heard something just off to the right, behind a small row of bushes. I shot my head in that direction and aimed my gun on the foliage. I thought back to when I had shot the dog on my first recon – I had to be steadier this time. I couldn’t afford to be trigger happy, knowing that my family were likely wondering around this area too. For a few moments I stood in utter silence, barely able to take a breath for risk of making a sound. Then I noticed the blood. The leaves of the bush were coated in fresh blood. As much as I didn’t want to risk attracting something hostile, I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t risk leaving a fellow Haven citizen to potentially bleed to death in the bushes. I took a deep breath and started slowly pacing towards the blood stained bush.

  “Hello?” my voice coming out as nothing more than a whisper.

  “Zachary?” A weak voice called back from out of sight. I recognised it instantly.

  “Dad!” I almost screamed, suddenly the pain coursing through my body subsided as I charged through the bush. And there lay my father on the other side. His clothes bloody and his face pale. My father lay resting against a tree, judging from the puddle of blood around him, I would hazard a guess that he had been lay here for quite some time.

  “What happened?” I cried, collapsing to his side. I placed a hand on his pale face. His skin was cold to my touch, as if all happiness and life had been drained from his body.

  “Timothy… He shot me.” He coughed, sending a shower of phlegm and blood flying from his mouth. Even talking was a great difficulty. Before I was able to even begin to comprehend what he had just said, he spoke again, “What are you doing out of Haven?” A thousand questions began to rush through my mind, but still I managed to regain enough focus to give him a reply.

  “We… we were attacked. Haven’s been destroyed, a dragon did it,” I said, deciding not to tell him about Grandpa. Hearing such news in his current condition could finish him off. From the look of his cold, pale face, he didn’t have long left, I didn’t want one of the last things to run through his mind to be the fact that his own father had just died a terrible death... I sensed a great pain in his face, from the news. He let out another grimace of agony, this time more emotional than physical.

  “Where have you been shot?” I asked, turning my attention to more urgent matters.

  “My stomach. But don’t worry about that Zach. Even if we had Haven, I’d still be a goner. I’ve lost too much blood already.”

  “Don’t say that!” I almost spat, pounding my fist against the tree he sat up against.

  “It’s happening, alright?” He sa
id, sounding surprisingly calm. That’s when I realised – he had already accepted his impending death. Tears immediately formed in my eyes.

  “You were just waiting to die here, weren’t you?” I sighed, biting my lip to save me from erupting into a whaling torrent of tears and sobs.

  “Yes. But I’m happy that you’ve found me, now perhaps my death won’t have been for nothing. You being here, it’s comforted me so much. The thought of slowly bleeding out against a tree all alone scared me.” He half smiled.

  “Why did he shoot you?” I finally asked, the question had been burning itself in my head ever since father had told me of his own brother’s betrayal.

  “We had an argument. I couldn’t just stand there whilst he destroyed the eggs…” He sighed.

  “So your own brother shot you over the fucking eggs!?” I spat, feeling my great sadness slowly begin to be replaced by anger. How could Timothy do this!? I knew that the pair didn’t fully agree on the best course of action for the eggs, but now it seemed as though it was all for nothing anyway. Haven had been destroyed, and I’m assuming it happened before Timothy and father had even confronted each other over their disagreements.

  “Well where are Brandon and Ruby?” He finally asked, getting yet another pressing question off my chest. I still had so many more to ask, but judging from my father’s increasingly sporadic breathing, something told me I simply didn’t have the time to ask them all. I began quickly chalking up a mental list of all the things I needed to ask him, not only about what happened, but any final questions about surviving alone in The Charred Lands. Directions to the ranger’s cabin would have been useful too.

  “He pulled his gun out and shot me without any warning, Brandon and Ruby tried to pull out their weapons to defend me, but before they even managed to ready their weapons Timothy had turned on them. I watched him put a bullet right between Ruby’s eyes. My own fucking daughter.” My dad spat, before erupting in a coughing fit. So now Ruby was dead too. Seeing my Grandpa dying at the hands of the dragon hurt. It tore my heart out, but it was easier to comprehend than trying to imagine just what would have possessed my own uncle, Ruby’s own uncle to murder her in cold blood. A small, dark part of me had always been prepared to lose my grandpa. He was an old guy, especially in this day and age, but not Ruby. Then my mind turned to my brother. I waited for my dad to finish his coughing fit before asking, “What about Brandon?” I finally asked, with a gulp. I was dreading his answer.

  “Timothy shot him too, I’m not quite sure where, but he fell behind a bush and didn’t come back out… Think of that what you will. Timothy quickly destroyed all of the eggs, all but one, before running away like the coward he is, leaving me to bleed out.”

  “Why did he spare one of the eggs?”

  “I was holding it when he shot at me. Truth be told, he might have even been aiming for it when he fired. I don’t know, perhaps I’m just trying to find a logical explanation as to why my own fucking brother shot me. Your Grandpa’s going to murder him; he absolutely adored Brandon and Ruby. That’s if he’s stupid enough to head back to Haven without a fucking brilliant cover story.” He sighed, his voice sounding weaker and dryer by the minute.

  Hearing him talk of Grandpa pulled at my heart strings like something horrible. My dad was dying, of that much I was sure. I didn’t want to burden him with the knowledge that even more of his family had died. He needed to die thinking happy things.

  “Where’s the egg now?” I asked, scanning the immediate surroundings for one. The small opening was filled with fallen leaves, blood and dirt, but no eggs.

  “I’m glad you asked, son. I dropped it about a five minute walk away; it was getting too heavy to carry. I need you to look after it.” He said, suddenly he didn’t seem like a dying man - instead he seemed one hundred percent focused and determined.

  “… why?” I asked.

  “You know the stories of Mogbane? They’re true. Out there in The Charred Lands, he rides atop of his dragon like a king. If Haven is destroyed, then I think it’s your best shot of having a comfortable life. Take the egg to The Church of Fire; it’s up in the mountains near Manchester. Once you get there, you will have two options. Either live with the people of The Church and raise your dragon and sore through the skies alongside Mogbane, or alternatively you can sell the egg. They would pay a very, very handsome price. It would be enough to earn yourself citizenship to Light Legion.” He said, finishing with yet another coughing fit. This time his breaths became more wheezy and short, I knew he didn’t have long now.

  I could hardly believe the things my dad was telling me. I had heard plenty about The Light Legion, but never in all of my life did I suspect that I had a chance of gaining citizenship there. It was perhaps the largest community in all of The Charred Lands, with an estimated population of five thousand. They live in a vast system of underground tunnels and cleaned out sewage systems. All manholes and entrances have been secured and welded shut, leaving only the one entrance. Due to their monumental population, they have long stopped taking in new citizens. Apparently hundreds of innocent men, women and children have died on their door stop, begging for entrance up until their final breath. But of course, everyone had a price, especially in The Charred Lands. If I could retrieve the dragon egg and sell it to The Church of Fire, I would likely be able to come up with enough funds to earn entry for pretty much every surviving citizen of Haven. But The Church of Fire was a long, long way away. This was no hour trek, this would take days, or even weeks – and that’s assuming I didn’t get lost along the way. I knew I had to retrieve the egg and keep hold of it, for now at least. It was my father’s dying wish, I couldn’t betray that. Besides, this seemed to be me only option at the moment anyway.

  “Alright. I’ll take the egg to The Church of Fire.” I smiled, stroking away a single tear from my dad’s cheek. His skin was now even colder to my touch. I didn’t like that at all.

  “Thank you. You’re heading in the right direction for the ranger’s cabin too; it’s about ten minutes away.” He smiled, before something in his eyes changed. Suddenly his smile turned limp and the fire in his eyes seemed to die.

  “Dad?” I cried, giving him a quick slap on the face, but he didn’t react, instead his head slumped forward as his entire body fell limp as he let out an elongated exhale.

  “Dad!?” I yelled once again, this time twice as loud. He was dead. I felt instantly nauseous and weak as I wrapped my arms around him. I locked him in a tight embrace. I didn’t want to ever let go. I squeezed and squeezed, I squeezed as though hoping to force life back into him. I felt like the child that I really was. I cried for hours as I hugged my dad.

  After what felt like a life time I finally released his limp, cold body from my arms and stood to my feet. I wiped away a torrent of tears from my cheeks and turned around. Instantly, I felt lightheaded - before so much as five steps I passed out.

  Chapter Eleven

  I must have been out for quite some time. The sun above had long disappeared by the time I finally came to. The skies were hidden by the black smoke of fire, this time likely hailing from what’s left of Haven. Though I couldn’t be sure, for a moment I thought I may have seen the twinkle of a star above. My Grandpa always meant that seeing a star in The Charred Lands brought good luck. Luck. Even thinking of the word made me churn a little inside. There was no fucking luck in The Charred Lands – only death, suffering and loss. All you can do is survive, luck doesn’t play into it. Sooner or later, everyone here is going to die; today made me positive of that.

  I looked to my dad, he was lay in the exact same position as he had been before I passed out. It pained me so much to see his limp, unmoving corpse lent against the tree. It was so much harder to look at him than it had been with my Grandpa. At least with my Grandpa, the fire had burnt him beyond recognition, but the corpse leaning against the tree was still very much my dad. He looked just as he had when he was alive, only now… he wasn’t. I kept expecting to see him wake up,
as though he had been sleeping the whole time. But he wasn’t going to wake up. He was going to rot and decay until he was nothing more than a pile of dirty bones. I couldn’t stand to think of his rotting corpse decomposing away against that tree. For a moment I thought of burying him, but I couldn’t stomach touching him.

  With tears in my eyes, I stumbled to my feet and practically ran away from my father’s resting place, I couldn’t stand to look at his body anymore. I felt like another moment besides his corpse would have driven me insane. I charged through the nearest bush, heading towards where my Dad had told me he left the one remaining Dragon’s egg.

  It took me less than a few minutes to stumble across the large, white shell. Even in the darkness it stood out for all to see. From what I could remember, dad had rescued the whitest shell of the lot. Only now, a red bloody hand print marked it’s otherwise perfectly white surface.

  I stared at it for a while, wondering exactly what I was going to do with the thing. Just as father wished, I would take the egg and head to the ranger’s cabin. Hopefully here I would find other survivors from Haven, then we could come up with some answers as to what our next move might be.

  I picked it up, immediately struck back by how heavy the thing was. It was incredible to think that inside this thing, was a baby dragon. The spawn of the monster that was responsible for destroying my home and murdering some of my family and friends. I suddenly felt a great urge to smash the egg against the nearest tree and piss on the foetus that it spilled, but the thought soon subsided. It was my dad’s dying wish that I look after this egg. It was because of this very egg that my dad was dead. Timothy shot him because of this fucking egg. Despite how much I wanted to smash the thing right there and then, I gritted my teeth and resumed my journey to the Ranger’s cabin.