Chapter 25
"Cairo, Cairo, Cairo wake up!" Zara jumped up and down on my chest, her enthusiasm bubbled out.
“Okay, okay small fry, I’m up, I’m up.” I grabbed her around the waist and placed her on the floor, the little girl scampered off in a flash, back to her sisters’ side. Everyone was already awake; an aura of excitement filled the room as we all quietly hoped that our destination to Newport would not just be an empty pipedream. Sharif and Sky had joined us as they pack the final items and readied the girls for the second leg of our journey. I looked at Sky and could not stop seeing her naked smooth body in my mind, her eyes caught mine and immediately I averted my gaze embarrassed, after what I had done.
“Let’s go, let’s go people, the sun is shining and the birds are in the sky, if we don’t move now . . . I’ll surely have to cry” The girls laughed at Smiths dippy rhymes. Once again we were on the road.
As we walked on Smith whistled tunes of pride, sorrow and honour, song sang with his platoon in their days on the battlefield. Zara tried to mimic the old man but was completely lost and eventually opted to make her own rhythmic version of the song. We laughed at the little girl’s attempts; one thing her and her sister were good at was brining joy to the group, even in the most troubling of times. Our pace was moderate, Sharif and I hobbled together each prying the other up as we both settled into a rhythm bounce on our remaining good legs. The Solar cycle had to be abandoned as the load of the girls had caved in the suspension. But nothing could stop us, we had a goal, a direction to a better life and none of us were going to give it up, no matter how long or tedious the walk. We were half way to the library and the girls began complaining, their feet ached and they were hungry, so we decided to stop and rest.
A small park just off the road looked like the perfect spot to stop and replenish, the girls needed the rest and after all, we were in no rush. As we entered the green heaven, I felt a sense of relief, as if I was living once again. Oh how I prayed Newport was real. I could not go back to isolation of that depressing, decrepit bunker. The girls collapsed onto the soft grass and an elated euphoria preoccupied them, blocking out all the heartache they had suffered and embracing them in only that perfect moment. I could only imagine how happy they were to final get out of the sewer.
We made a fire and the group huddled around as Sky began prepping our lunch. There was a sense of jubilance around camp, all of us seemed so happy, so excited for the future, at this stage I was almost certain nothing could go wrong. Sky placed a pot directly into the fire, added water and threw in two cans of mini hotdogs and three cans of beans. The make shift stew simmered down and Sky rationed the food, managing to feed all seven of us yet again. After our bellies were full we huddled around the fire and napped. As I fell asleep, I woke almost immediately to growls and sounds of distress. Once again the food had upset Smiths sensitive stomach and he headed off to the run down lavatory a few meters away. The fire warmed our faces and the soft grass made the most comfortable bedding.
Than From the south side of the park, a huge bang cut through the complete silence in the air. Smith came running out of the bathroom and headed directly to the origin of the noise. Again the bang, Smith immediately pulled out his machete. He circled the structure, but there was nothing. Smith waved at us and raised his thumb, insuring us it was safe, probably just the wind. The old man began walking back to the group.
I sat back down, only to be risen in shock once again as I heard the blood curdling scream of Sky, "SMITH!"
From behind the structure a Reaper came charging at Smith. Before he could turn to face the creature, it had tackled him to the ground. The Reaper raised its head as it pinned the helpless old man to the floor. But Smith was not about to just lay there a give up, he turned and eventual was face to face with the Reaper. The Reaper bit down and the old man managed to place his blade in front of the creature mouth. It tore through its mouth and cheek meat as it tried to bite down on Smith. Smith held strong though not letting the creature get to his face. IN a flash it raised its hand and clawed at his face, scrapping past his eye. The old man flinched from the pain dropping his guard. As he mistakenly moved his blade to the side he exposed his neck. Before he could react the reaper sunk its blunt teeth into his neck, tearing through his corroded arteries.
At this stage I was already running towards Smith and half way there I unconsciously began transforming. The closer I got the more I hoped with tenacious demeanour would allow him to hold on just a bit longer. Smith still fought on, holding the creature back while it sat on his chest, he pushed its face away with his reaming strength, but the creature bit through his index finger tearing the digit clean off. I had to hurry he could not hold on any longer.
I tackled the reaper off Smith; the creature went tumbling through the grass. I stood up and circled the downed Reaper. The creature pulled itself out the dirt and tried limping away. I turned back to see Smiths body covered in blood. I grunted and roared in anger, then walked towards the injured thing; The Reaper was obviously some sort of construction worker when he was still human, I looked at him regarding him as nothing less than vermin which had to be eradicated. I boiled with emotions as I grabbed him grabbed by his neon yellow vest and threw him on the floor. With one huge roar I released all my anger and sent my fist impacting to the side of his head. His hard hat filled up with blood and in a matter of seconds his body went completely lame.
After mauling Smiths attacker I ran back to his body to find every one already around him. Sky had bandaged his neck tightly as she tried to contain the bleeding. Her attempts were futile though, the blood streamed through his neck, like a pump, each time his heart beat a red stream squirted out the incision and soaked through the bandages. She kept wrapping the wound tighter and tighter, but the bleeding was relentless .I looked into the old man’s eyes, he gargled on his own blood, smiled and managed to build up enough strength to say... "Newport, get your asses to Newport."With that Smith was gone.
Sky tried reviving him; it was no good. She placed her head on his chest and wept into his shirt. Sharif held the girls and turned them away from the old man’s lifeless body. I fell to my knees and pounded his chest as I screamed, “Wake up, please I beg you wake up I can’t do this without you!” Tears streamed down my eyes; eventually the professor and Sharif pulled me off. We had lost the head of our family, how would we make it now? Who would keep us together? I sat wallowing by his body for hours, hoping that somehow he would just wake up and shout at me, demanding I get a grip and man up. I felt as if I had just lost my father, I felt as if I had lost all direction. I believed I could protect them; it was my responsibility to make sure they all made it to Newport safely.
04-04-2036
Monday
Diary entry: 7
When I was younger, out at sea with my father would repeat a quote he held dear to his heart, “Failure shall never overcome you if your determination to succeed is strong enough Cairo.” At the time I could not understand what he meant by this. But As I grew older I realised, he wanted me to strive for greatness, he did not want me to give up on my dreams as many in our community had, settling for mediocre jobs in the surrounding fisheries. He emphasised how I should not fall into the trap conformity. He did not want me to be like all the others around us content with the repetitive lifestyle of hauling loads of fish every day. No, my father truly believed I was destined to be a powerful, successful man. Regardless of the fact that when I received my chef diploma and eventually made the move to NYC he was very unhappy and even more so scared about my decision to relocate so far. In time he stood true to his words though and was so proud of my accomplishments he had informed the entire town of his young boy’s success.
In a way I guess I had lived up to my dad’s aspirations and had become somewhat “Powerful”, not in the exact context he believed, but I had become great and important to the people around me. I was their life line, their protector, even though I was still coming to terms with
my new role, I knew one thing. Failure would never overcome me, when I had such precious cargo on the line. I would have to insure I became the biggest, baddest, creature out there and even though I had managed to do so many remarkable things, I still believed many times luck was the reason we had escaped of precarious situations. My role of chef was over; my place a comatose victim had come to an end. Now I had one responsibility, which was getting these six people safely to Newport and no amount of Reapers would stop me! But getting there would be easier said than done. Our last battle had left us in a bad state. Ravaged, picking up the war torn pieces we had left, not having a minutes break as we got ready to push on forward to Newport.