The Charred Lands: City of Ash Read online

  The four marauders slowly made their way up the road, weaving in and out of the ever stationary cars – only now they had company. One of them, a tall man with pitch black hair and a thick greying beard led a young couple along, each with a rope tied around their necks like wild animals. They were holding hands, and crying. As quietly as I could, I crawled a little further away from the motorway to seek cover behind a tree. I crawled backwards, never for one second allowing my eyes away from the small pack.

  Once again, I found myself listening to what they said – they stopped almost directly in front of me and began searching a few of the cars. They smashed windows and kicked off rusty doors like it meant nothing to them. These people had no desire to remain hidden or silent; it was almost as though they had nothing to fear. That was potentially the most threatening thing about them. I couldn’t understand how someone could live in this world without having to worry about what sound and noise might attract. Perhaps they had lived out here for so long that they no longer cared – or perhaps they relished confrontation; the look on the young couple's face seemed to suggest the latter.

  “We’ll stop here for the night.” The woman said, once again firmly asserting her dominance over the rest of the group. All three of her male companions silently nodded and began to make camp. Each of them had large, handmade backpacks full of countless supplies. It almost seemed as though these people were living on the go – without a permanent residence.

  “I’ll get some fire wood.” One of the men said; this one short and fat. My heart began to race in my chest as he made his way off the road, heading directly in my direction. I slowly pulled out my only weapon, and hugged the ground – desperately hoping that the grass would conceal me enough.

  I clenched my eyes shut as I listened to the sounds of the heavy man’s footsteps approaching. They grew louder and louder until it seemed as though he was standing right atop of me. Finally, I dared open my eyes and peer up. The man was standing a few feet away from me, facing the opposite direction. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen me – I guess that was probably because he wasn’t afraid of bumping into anyone out here. Already he had amassed quite an impressive bundle of twigs, he leant down and picked up one final branch and headed back to the road. It wasn’t until he returned to the rest of his group that my heart began to return to its normal pace – but I knew I wasn’t out of the thick of it yet. I couldn’t just up and run away – they would no doubt see me, hunt me down and add me to their pair of captives. So, I remained lay where I was – staring ahead at the group and listening to what I could of their conversation.

  “We’re going to have so much fun with her tonight.” The fat guy sniggered, standing over the terrified couple. At that moment – I decided I had to do something. I remembered how Phil and Oliver had taken me captive and tried to force themselves on me. I remembered how scared I felt in that moment. I couldn’t sit by and let that happen to this pair. Sure, I didn’t know them, but if I left them to be subjected to this, then I’d be just as bad as their captors.

  I thought about the consequences of attempting a rescue – I thought about how it might hinder my progress on my quest to find safety in this world. Then a thought occurred to me; did I really want to live in a world like this? It was bad enough that stuff like this seemed to happen on a daily basis, but if there was nobody who was willing to stop it anymore, then did I really want to be a part of that? What’s the point of living without humanity? I wasn’t sure; but one thing I was sure of was that I would rescue these people.

  Soon after their small fire was set up, the group turned on the female captive. I stuck my fingers in my ears, closed my eyes and let out a little hum to drown out the sounds of her harrowing screams, and her boyfriend’s pleads. I would have liked to stop that from happening – but now wasn’t the right time. I had already begun devising a plan in my mind as to how and when I would rescue the couple.

  After what felt like an eternity they were done with her. Her sobbing continued on for a few hours before they were eventually obscured by the sounds of snoring – only then did I risk a glance up at the road. From where I was lay, everyone appeared to be sleeping. I could see three of the four marauders lying around the campfire, and the young couple who continued to hug each other and cry. I could see the fat man’s stomach rise and fall as he let out pig like snorts in his sleep, I could see the huge bulk that was the man who had the couple tied to him, but I couldn’t make out the other shadow. It was either the small, skinny bald man, or their female leader. This worried me – but I hoped that the fourth was simply out of view.

  I slowly pulled out my small handgun, as well as an old rusty knife. I gave the blade a quick check over, it wasn’t particularly sharp, but it would do the trick – it was the knife I planned on using. The gun was only a precaution – if I could cut the rope tying the young couple then that was perfect; but I knew I might have to use it on more than just rope. The gun, was for if hell broke loose. I readied my weapons and slowly rose to my feet. My heart felt ready to explode and every ounce of cowardice in my body begged me to turn and run – but I wouldn’t. I knew I needed to do this.

  CHAPTER THREE

  My palms grew sweaty as I slowly tiptoed towards the marauders camp. The ground ahead was lined with small broken shards of glass. I scanned the floor – I didn’t see a way around them. It was tough to make them out in the pitch black night, but I could just about see them. Broken glass seemed to have littered every inch of the motorway, as though put there purposely by the marauders to protect them during the night. The glass changed things – I hadn’t accounted for that. I planned on taking as long as I wanted to sneak up and silently cut the rope, but that wasn’t possible now. Suddenly, another idea came to mind.

  I quickly reached inside my backpack and pulled out my flashlight. I didn’t have any spare batteries, and had been saving this for an emergency, but I figured now was as good a time as any. Without turning it on, I carefully aimed the flashlight, almost like a gun; trying to predict where the beam of light will hit once I turned it on. I aimed at the young couple; they were facing away from me and hadn’t yet seen me. After assuring myself that my aim was true, I flicked the flashlight on. The beam tore through the darkness, instantly the young couple spun around, covering their eyes to shield them from the light. Instantly, I flicked the light back off – I had their attention now, I just prayed that they kept cool and didn’t wake any of the marauders.

  I stared silently at the confused, scared couple. They remained completely still, both their eyes locked on me as though waiting for me to do something – in truth I didn’t exactly know what to do next either. I had succeeded in getting their attention, but that wasn’t even half of the task at hand. I was half tempted to throw them my knife so that they could untie themselves and make a run for it – but their hands were tied. Never in a million years would they be able to catch it if I tossed it to them; if I missed and the blade hit the ground around them, it would surely wake their captors.

  I gestured for them to remain silent, before stepping onto the motorway. I heard a crunch of glass beneath my boot; instantly I froze. I locked my eyes on the three sleeping shadows – still I couldn’t see the fourth marauder, but they remained motionless. I took another, daring step, once again the glass didn’t wake anyone. My confidence increased somewhat with each step. I took my time, taking a step every few seconds and pausing between each to ensure that I hadn’t disturbed anyone. Slowly but surely, I was getting closer and closer to the young couple. It seemed to take an eternity, but eventually, I was close enough to make a few details out about them, even in the pitch black Charred Lands night.

  They were a scraggy, rough looking pair. The lad couldn’t have been much older than me, he sported weak, spikey facial hair and a full head of mousey brown hair, his clothes were worn and torn, several sizes too big for him and stained with dirt and god knows what. The girl wasn’t much different either – long, dark brown hair that looked kno
tted all over, and she had a sad face. Her eyes looked soulless; void of any happiness and hope. I had no doubt in my mind that these two had lived out in the Charred Lands for quite some time, they didn’t look to have come from any kind of luxurious background, like myself. They looked tired and frightened, though I couldn’t blame them.

  Another step brought another crunch of glass that seemed to echo around the motorway. Just off to my left, some five or so feet away, the fat man stirred in his sleep. I tightened my grip around the handgun, expecting him to jump from his sleeping position at any second, but instead he tossed onto his side and continued to snore. I figured I owed a lot to the man’s snoring; it was no doubt doing some good to mask the noise I was making.

  I turned my attention back to the couple, another few steps and I would have probably been close enough to risk a whisper or two. But then I heard something behind me – glass breaking. I swung around, gun in hand, only to see the female leader of the group – her shotgun trained on my head.

  “What have we here​?” She smiled, her dirty, rough face shown no signs of fear, despite my best efforts to try and look intimidating. I did my best to keep my gun aimed at her, but my nerves caused my arm to shake and twitch something awful; whereas she was completely calm. She was stone cold motionless.

  She looked exactly like something stripped from a nightmare; a shaved head, fearless demeanour and downright intimidating apparel. She wore all black, and all leather. Knee high boots, a crop top that just about concealed her cleavage, and tight black pants, all covered and lined with sharp, metal spikes. She had a large, black tattoo covering half of the left side of her face – some kind of dragon. Just looking at her sent shivers running down my spine.

  “Wake up, boys.” She called out in an arrogant mocking voice, keeping her gun aimed on me. I didn’t dare look away from her, but from behind I heard the fat man's snores abruptly stop.

  “What the fuck?” I heard a tired, groggy voice mumble.

  “Wake up you fat shit, we’ve got trouble.” Another voice spat.

  Suddenly I could hear them coming up behind me. The sounds of broken glass could be heard getting closer and closer, until I felt a gun press itself against the back of my skull.

  “Look what your stupidity has done.” The woman laughed, finally lowering her weapon. And that was that. I was fucked. A thousand thoughts ran through my head in a moment; I thought about Haven, I thought about my family, and I thought about Lizzie.

  Then I heard something. The woman’s eyes switched from me, to something else. She stared off into the distance behind me for a moment, before snapping into action.

  “Guys!” She screamed, aiming behind me. Without thinking, I jumped to the floor. I heard a gunshot behind me; I didn’t know who fired, or what at, but as I hit the ground and felt glass pierce my skin, I was almost positive that I wasn’t the target. Ahead of me, I saw the woman run for cover; only then did I dare to turn around to see what the new danger was.

  A dragon. It soared through the air with its sights set on the motorway. This creature wasn’t even half the size of the monster that had destroyed my home, but still it scared me to my core. I wasn’t sure what I was more afraid of, the dragon, or the marauders. All around me, the gang of four opened fire on the creature, suddenly I seemed to be the absolute least of their fears. I took advantage of this – jumping to my feet, I limped over to the couple. The tall, muscular man that had them tied to his waist had his back to me. Part of me wanted to put my gun to the back of his head and blow his brains out, but I couldn’t. Instead I swung my gun with all my might and struck him on the skull with the butt of the weapon, he hit the ground like a sack of shit. I kept my gun trained on him as I leant down and began to work on the rope with my dull knife. The rope was thick and tough; my arm began to ache as I relentlessly carved away at it. Finally, it snapped.

  “We need to get the fuck out of here!” I screamed at the young couple, still all around me, the marauders continued to open fire on the dragon in the sky. It was hard to say exactly how old this creature was, but still the damage it was capable of inflicting was horrific. I knew just from looking that this dragon wasn't an elder – like the dragon that had destroyed Haven, this dragon had likely been born during the early stages of the Rise, back when it was known that the elder dragons were rapidly reproducing. I took off running before the young couple had even made it to their feet. I couldn’t risk staying out here on the open motorway for much longer, I had freed them, that was my part done. I didn’t care if they followed, their imminent freedom was all that mattered to me.

  I hadn’t even made it off the road when the sky seemed to light up. Everything in the pitch black night illuminated as the dragon behind me unleashed its deadly arsenal. I could feel the heat scorch the hairs on the back of my neck as I ran as fast as my legs would allow. I practically jumped from the motorway, landing face first in the grass as flames tore through the air above me. It was hot, almost unbearably so. I heard the dragon let out a ferocious roar, high up in the skies as the dragon’s flames disappeared; but the fire didn’t.

  All around me, trees, cars, and pretty much everything else in the general area caught fire. The fire ripped through the trees with horrifying speed. I forced my aching body to my feet and scanned the motorway. The dragon was high up in the sky, circling above to come back down for another attack. Several of the cars on the road were up in flames, sending thick black clouds high up in to the sky.

  “Hello?” I dared scream, desperate that the young couple had survived.

  “Help!” I heard a small, timid voice scream in response. I bit my tongue and ran back onto the motorway, the forest behind me was quickly burning and falling – trying to escape that way would be suicide. I had no option but to face the open road. The black smoke would help somewhat, depending on the wind, it might just provide enough cover from above to hide myself from the dragon – but that was wishful thinking.

  “Here!” I heard another voice scream, this one a man’s, it was hard to hear over the sound of the ancient vehicles melting and crackling in the fire – sweat dripped down my forehead from the heat they emitted. I squinted to see through the smoke, then I made out a horrifying scene.

  Just up ahead, I could see three silhouettes through the smoke. The tall, muscular one from the marauders was standing, gun aimed at the cowering couple. All around them fire ravaged and spread, slowly making its way towards them.

  “They’ll eat me alive if I kill you guys, but if you were to ‘accidentally’ get killed in the fire, then I guess that’s no one’s fault.” I heard the man say, he had perhaps the deepest voice I had ever heard in all my life – the ground seemed to vibrate when the six and a half foot giant spoke.

  I didn’t have time to think, I had to act. I pulled out my weapon and began to fire off shots through the smoke. I squeezed the trigger time and time again, until it clicked empty. Ahead of me, I saw the large shadow fall to the ground; moments before the young couple jumped to their feet and took off running towards me.

  “We have to go!” I heard the man scream as he helped the girl run alongside him. They charged straight past me and took off running down the highway. I took one last look at the large, unmoving mass that was the tall marauder. It didn’t seem real, I had just shot a man down, but strangely enough I didn’t feel guilty. I stared for another few moments before a roar from above snapped me into action.

  I ran to the roadside one last time, picked up my precious backpack, and took off running after the couple. It was hard to give chase with the weight on my back; the egg seemed to weigh a tonne on its own – never mind with all the added weight from my rapidly dwindling supplies.

  Just up ahead of me, I saw two burning heaps. Black, crispy remains lay flat on the road. At first I didn’t register what they were, but as I ran closer and closer, it became clear. The first was easy to distinguish – large and round; I had no doubt in my mind that this was all that was left of the fat marauder. Just a f
ew feet away from the fatty, lay another. The identity of this one, I couldn’t be sure. It was either the woman, or her small, bald companion – I hoped the woman. She was a ferocious, horrible human being. She scared the hell out of me; her being dead did the rest of the world a favour. For a moment, I almost thanked the dragon.

  I skipped past the two corpses and carried on running into the night, leaving the burning cars, trees and bodies behind me. Just up ahead, running into the darkness, I saw the young couple disappear off the road.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  My lungs felt ready to collapse when I saw the young couple ahead, just off the road. I fell to a steady jog as I reached them.

  “Cheers for leaving me!” I couldn't help but yell as I caught up – instantly regretting shouting so loud. One of the Marauders were still unaccounted for, and worse, the Dragon could still have been in earshot.

  The couple both stared at me in utter silence, with eyes wide. Suddenly I felt a little bad, I guess I couldn't blame them. They didn't know me, they owed no loyalty to me. I was just a random guy in the Charred Lands, for all they knew, I could have been just as bad as the Marauders I liberated them from.

  “Look, I'm sorry, I'm just not used to situations like that.” I quickly added as I reached them, feeling somewhat guilty for losing my temper at them.

  “Why did you do that?” The boy asked, pushing the girl behind him, and placing himself between me and her. He was afraid – afraid as hell – but he was willing to face me for her safety.

  “I... I couldn't sit by and watch that happen, I just couldn't.” I sighed, holding out my hands in a plea of peace, to signify to him that I meant them no harm, yet still he didn't let his guard down. I was armed, they weren't – I couldn't blame him for acting like this. I just needed to prove to him that I was a good guy, potentially the first he had ever met in his entire life. There was no doubt about it – both of these two were born and bred out in the open of the Charred Lands, they were rough and scruffy; yet still afraid. I took this as a good thing.