“They must be normal survivors.” I said.
“Okay, then we will continue.” Danny said.
Everyone nodded. Me and Luc walked in the front line with the bow and arrow. A moment later we reached the village. There is a sign board indicating the name of the town we are in. It says ‘Soxenberg’.
“I was here before things were normal.” Parker said looking at the sign board.
People on the village stared at us. We slowly walked through the small crowd.
“Where are you all going to?” A tall man standing near the road asked.
“We were forced to move by the crazies. We are heading to the sanctuary.” I said.
“Crazies?” He asked.
“Yeah. Those mad men? They are all over the place we are coming from. You may also need to think about moving away from here.” I said.
“We thought they were just stories.” He said.
“Not anymore. We have also heard that they are spreading a word about a religion.” I said.
“That sucks.” The man said. “We are kind of stuck with this place.”
“We heard that if you join with the crazies, they will let you go.” I said. “But I wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Who will join with them?” He said. “Do you really think there is a sanctuary?”
“Well ... We have seen many people going to the sanctuary. May be you also have seen them. They must have took this path.” I said.
“We saw no one this way.” He said.
“What? But all of them said they were heading south.” I said.
“Well, then they must had went through the forest or they may had passed here in the night. As far as I know nobody came through here after the war ended. You guys are the first visitors.” He said.
“Okay then, we should get back on the road.” I said. Suddenly I felt that something is wrong. A feeling that this place is not so good coursed through my mind.
“Okay. Good luck on your sanctuary.” He said smiling.
I smiled back. We slowly walked through the narrow road. Kids who were playing stopped all the works and stared at us.
We saw women carrying water from a well to their homes. Parker quickly went near the well to fill his water bottle. We waited for Parker to join us. Parker slowly took water from the well using a bucket attached to a rope and he filled his water bottle.
On the way to us, a woman sneezed on to Parker spraying water from her mouth to Parker’s face.
“Watch it lady.” Parker stormed.
“Sorry. I have this sickness. I am really sorry.” She said.
Parker quickly cooled down. The way the woman talked really cooled him down.
“That’s alright, but don’t repeat this behaviour again. Cover your mouth with a kerchief if you’re sneezing.” Parker said.
“Dually noted.” The woman smiled at him.
Parker smiled at the woman and he quickly ran towards us. We said nothing to Parker. We silently continued our journey.
On the way we saw more people living in the city. None tried to approach us. We also didn’t tried to talk with them. I really wanted out of this place fast. This village we are walking through is lot bigger than any of us had anticipated and about hundred people maybe living in this place.
After some time we exited Soxenberg and a big green field lays in front of us. We walked through the dark road. The place now we are waking is free of trees and it is pretty open. There are wide cracks formed on the dark road there and there.
In the sky sun moved to its highest position.
* * * * *
Chapter 8
A.D. 2087, Path to Sanctuary
After the hours of walk we became too tired. We have now exited the open land and reached a forest entrance. Sun slowly began to set in the horizon. We all crouched down on the grass under a large tree. I drank water from my bottle and I lie down on the grass for some time.
“Where would we stay for the night?” Danny asked.
“There must be a building inside the forest.” I replied.
“We should keep moving at least until we are near a building.” Sophie said.
“Okay, we will continue our walk.” I stood up straightening my shirt.
Everyone stood up.
“We haven’t seen any sanctuary seekers. Are you sure we are on the right track.” Jacobson asked.
“Earlier today when we were on that wrecked building I had a dream about the sanctuary. Dream says we should go south until we see a waterfall.” I said.
“How come you had a dream about sanctuary while we hadn’t?” Danny asked.
“I don’t know, but we don’t have another choice but to trust the dream.” I said.
“Okay, we will keep moving.” Lara said.
We slowly started to walk through the forest. Sound of night started to play in the forest. Suddenly Parker fell down unconscious.
“Daddy?” Hanna screamed.
Maria and Parker were walking in the back. Maria quickly reached near Parker and she began to call him.
“Guys? Parker?” Maria called.
We all stopped moving and stared at Parker.
“He is not opening his eyes.” Maria said with panic.
Sophie quickly reached near Parker and she crouched down near him. She slowly opened his eyes. His eyes had changed its colour to a dark red colour.
Suddenly Parker began to take heavy breaths.
“He is having a seizure.” Sophie said.
“He was normal all this time. How is this possible?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He may have caught this from the village. Didn’t you saw the woman who sneezed on him?” Sophie asked.
“Do you think he will be alright?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Look at him. He is struggling to breathe.” Sophie said.
Parker took heavy breathes through the mouth and he is still lying down with face upward. His body wriggled.
“Daddy, wake up.” Hanna began to cry.
“Your daddy will be alright. Come on let’s go and look for a building to sleep.” Maria led Hanna away from Parker.
“Parker, are you having any pain?” Sophie asked.
Parker is still struggling to breathe and he looks like didn’t understood what Sophie had asked.
Suddenly Sophie fell back from near Parker with fear.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Look.” Sophie said with panic, pointing at Parker’s face.
I looked at Parker’s face. We all saw it. There is a sudden growth of hair in his face and his lips began to protrude out and it bent in an unusual way. He is still struggling to breathe. We don’t know what to do. We hadn’t seen this kind of illness before.
Suddenly thick hair began to appear on his hands and legs. His face quickly covered in fur! His face is indistinguishable now.
We all stared at Parker in horror. Sophie became speechless. I crouched down on the ground and I moved my hands to touch him, but Sophie quickly stopped me.
“We don’t know what it is. You may catch it.” Sophie said.
I nodded. I looked at Parker again and the sight was horrific. Fur growth in Parker’s body stopped and now he looks like an ape! Seriously, an ape!
“What the hell?” I asked myself.
“It’s mutation. Instant mutation.” Sophie said.
“What should we do?” Jacobson asked.
“We need to leave him.” Sophie said. “If we stayed with him we may also catch the infection.”
“But what would we say to Hanna?” I asked.
“Hanna won’t recognize him. We can tell he went back to the village and he will join us in the sanctuary.” Sophie said.
Suddenly Parker or what was left of him stood up. We all almost fell back with fear. Then he made an unholy screech and ran away into the trees.
“What the hell was that?” Danny asked.
“Guys, it’s almost night. I found a place to sleep.” Maria called us from a distance.
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We looked each other in the face, mouth opened. We actually don’t know what to say. A sadness and confusion filled our face. Far away near Maria, Hanna looked at us.
I slowly walked towards Maria.
“Is my daddy alright?” Hanna asked.
I don’t know what to say to this little girl. I also don’t want to scare Maria and Hanna.
“He is okay. He went to that village we saw earlier for some water. He will join us in the Sanctuary.” I somehow said.
Maria’s stare pierced my eyes. She looks like understood that I am lying.
“What? How could he leave me here?” Hanna asked.
“He didn’t leave you Hanna. He will come back as soon as possible. He said you should stay with Maria.” I said.
Maria didn’t ask me anything. “We should go and sleep.” Maria said to Hanna. “You can sleep with me.”
Maria led Hanna away from me and they both entered inside a small house. The house looks good. There are lot of vines on its roof.
A moment later Jacobson and rest of my group joined me.
“What did you told her?” Luc asked.
“I told exactly what Sophie had said. She thinks that he will join us in the sanctuary.” I said with sadness.
Everyone nodded. We slowly entered inside the house and found Hanna already in sleep in the living room. Maria is lying down near Hanna patting her head. As soon as Maria saw us she stood up and came near me.
“What the hell happened?” Maria asked.
“Parker mutated into…” I don’t know its right to say.
Maria’s eye widened. “Mutated into what?”
“Into a monkey.” Luc said.
“What the hell? And where is he?” Maria asked.
“He ran inside the trees.” I said. “It’s my fault.”
Maria’s jaw dropped. “How come it is your fault?” Maria asked.
“In the dream I was warned about strangers. Evelyn, the girl in the dream, told me to stay away from strangers until we reach the sanctuary. I should have told you about this.” I said.
“Those people in the village may be carriers of this disease.” Sophie said.
We all nodded. Rest of the night we didn’t dared to utter a word. We slept in the living room thinking about Parker and the mysterious illness.
* * * * *
Chapter 9
A.D. 2087, Path to Sanctuary
I woke up with the chirping sound of birds. When I opened my eyes I found myself in that green field again. The dream world!
I looked around and saw no one. Evelyn must be here somewhere. I walked through the long green grass and finally reached near the stream where I saw Evelyn last time. She is not here. She must be the one who called me here but where is she?
“Evelyn? Where are you?” I called.
“I am here, Joe.” Evelyn said from behind me.
I looked behind me and suddenly Evelyn magically appeared in front of me.
“My friend turned into a monkey like being. Do you know anything about it?” I asked.
“I told you to stay away from strangers. Many diseases are spreading through the land. If you want to survive you must reach the sanctuary fast.” Evelyn said.
A breeze blew past us. Evelyn’s long shiny hair danced in the wind. She tucked some strands of hair behind her ear.
“But we aren’t anywhere near a promising place. Also we didn’t saw any sanctuary seekers on the way. Did they all reach the sanctuary?” I asked.
I really want answers, and Evelyn is the only one who could give me the answers I want.
“Joe, there are unknown forces at work here. I am not trying to scare you. You need all the courage and strength to reach the sanctuary. You haven’t fully understood what our world have become. There are things here who want to eat you up. I called many to the sanctuary and many lives were lost on the way.” She said.
“Is there any way I could help my friend?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I really wanted to help you but I cannot really do anything at this time.” She said.
“But aren’t you the Mother Nature? There must be a cure to the diseases somewhere in you.” I said.
She giggled. “Joe, you really don’t know anything, do you? If I have all the powers I need, I would never have called you in the first place. My kind are being hunted down.” She said. Sadness loomed in her voice.
“So there are more things like you here?” I asked.
“Not here. They are far away in other planets.” She said.
Suddenly light start to pour in from all the place. I had to close my eyes due to the high intensity of the light.
“Joe, wake up.” Maria’s voice can be heard from somewhere. “Joe?”
“Keep heading south.” Evelyn’s voice can be heard faintly.
I opened my eyes and found myself in the living room of the house we slept through the night. Maria was shaking me hard.
“How many times do I have to call you? Do you need an alarm clock to tell you that it is morning? What the hell is happening with you?” Maria asked a series of questions.
I massaged the back of my head and stood up. “Another dream about the sanctuary.”
“Why you’re the only one seeing these dreams?” Maria asked.
“Does it matter?” I asked. “We all are going the same way.”
“Well I am curious. So what does the dream say about this sanctuary?” Maria asked.
“We have to keep heading south.” I said. “Where is everybody?” I looked around.
“Hello! Unlike you, they are already up and are currently waiting for you outside.” She said.
“Okay. Then let’s move out.” I said.
Maria nodded. We slowly exited the house and found others standing near the side of the long road. It was mostly night when we came to the safety of the house and now the road can be seen more clearly. There are rusted cars there and there and yellow and brown leaves are everywhere on the road.
“Did you had any dreams about sanctuary?” Luc asked.
“Yes. Didn’t you?” I asked.
“No. No one but you had the dreams. So what does it say?” Luc asked.
“We should keep going south.” I said.
“Okay. Then, move out.” Danny said.
Everyone nodded. We slowly continued our journey. Hanna and Maria held their hands each other and Hanna began to sing a song.
Wind, wind, swing me in to the sky
Rain, rain wet me from the sky
In this day, under the shining sun,
Kiss me on the cheek.
In this day, under the shining sun,
Fall from the sky like fireworks.
Wind, wind, swing me in to the sky
Rain, rain wet me from the sky.
We all sung Hanna’s song a few times. We enjoyed our walk. A cool breeze flew through our fingers cooling us down.
Suddenly a shriek came from behind us. We all turned back and saw what it is. Three big wolfish dogs are running towards us. We all froze for a moment with panic. The wolfish dogs are running with their mouth open, showing the sharp teeth.
“Run!” Somehow I managed to say.
We bolted into a run through the wrecked road.
* * * * *
Chapter 10
A.D. 2087, Path to Sanctuary
We all ran at the maximum speed we have mustered. Before long we saw a big wall and there is a metallic gate in the centre of the wall.
We rushed towards the gate and as soon as we reached there we started climbing through the gate. Maria helped Hanna to climb up and then she climbed. Me and Luc first reached the other side of the gate.
“Hanna, jump! I will catch you.” I said.
Hanna quickly jumped into my hands from the top of the gate. Jacobson, Sophie, Maria and Danny safely started to climb down. Lara is pretty slow. She barely reached the top of the gate.
Suddenly the screech of the dogs came from near the gate.
“Lara
, hurry.” I yelled.
Suddenly it happened. One wolfish dog jumped onto Lara and it clawed her back. Lara fell down from the gate. She was nearly on top of the gate but sadly the dog caught her.
Maria held her hand across Hanna’s eyes since showing whatever going to happen next to a young little girl is very dangerous.
“Lara?” Danny began to thrash the metal gate screaming out loud. “Let her go you bitches.”
Lara is in pain now. She finally stood up and began to climb again but one wolfish dog came from the side and bit her in the head. The dog is actually tall as a grown man.
Me and Luc released our arrows from our bows through the gaps on the gate. Arrows hit the dogs in the chest but the dog who bit in Lara’s head crushed her head. Arrows are ineffective against these creatures. Blood and brain matter sprayed everywhere. Some of the blood sprayed on top of Danny who is still crying and thrashing at the gate.
One dog bit on Lara’s limp leg and dragged her away from the scene. Other two dogs stared at us growling for some time. Then they also left the scene. Me and Jacobson quickly went near Danny and placed our hands on his shoulders.
“Come on, Danny, we still are not safe.” Jacobson said.
“My freaking wife is dead and you’re telling me to continue the journey?” Danny stormed at Jacobson.
“Come on Danny, you know better than this. We need to reach sanctuary or we all are gonna die like this. Do you want that?” I asked.
“I just need a little time.” Danny went to a side and cried like a baby.
“Give him some time.” I said.
“There may be more of those things here too. We can’t stay in the open.” Jacobson said with worry.
“We will continue our journey but he needs a little time to settle things down.” I said looking at Danny.
Suddenly growl came from the forest beyond the gates from where we have escaped a little while ago.
“Come on Danny, we need to go.” I called Danny.
Danny is still crying. Jacobson quickly went near Danny and he forced him to move. We all continued walking. Sharp growls and shrieks came from behind us. We didn’t mind it. Panic is already in our core but we actually don’t have time to fear anymore. This is how the world have become now. If you hesitate, lives will be lost. It’s survival of the strongest now.
“What happened to Miss Lara?” Hanna asked Maria.
“She is in a better place now. Don’t talk about it, okay?” Maria said don’t wanting to scare the little girl.
Hanna already lost too much. First her daddy, now her friend, but the little girl doesn’t know that. She is still young, not the type of person for this new world. One day or another she needs to know the truth but not today.