The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire Read online

  Florence arrived at Haven along with her older sister, Antonia. Their parents had died after the settlement that they had been staying at fell to the monsters, only Antonia and Florence escaped. At the time of stumbling across Haven, Antonia was fourteen, and Florence was five. It was a miracle they survived for so long on their own. Soon after, Antonia began to date Dexter Payne before eventually getting married – Or at least Haven’s version of marriage - around about five years ago. Dexter and Antonia came to have one child, William Payne, who’s now seven years old. Despite Dexter being third in command here at Haven, they didn’t have the privilege of living inside the main farmhouse, that belonged to my family. Instead, they lived in one of the five small houses that had been constructed by my Grandpa, some years ago.

  Around the back of the farmhouse was a row of five small houses mainly made out of wood and scrap metal. Only two of them were occupied, this is where the Florence and her family lived. Their neighbours were what’s left of the Olson’s. The rest of the houses were rented out to travellers in exchange for supplies. The small houses got a little cold in the winter, but aside from that they were decent structures considering the situation. For years there had been plans to construct more permanent, liveable houses within Haven, but we simply didn’t have the man power or supplies.

  I knocked on Florence’s door, almost instantly she answered. A huge smile split her face as she wrapped her arms around me.

  “Oh thank God! I was worried sick!” She said as she continued to hug me. It felt nice to feel her pressing up against me, as always she smelt nice too. Showers were a privilege in Haven, but somehow Florence was always able to smell of flowers, which I never really understood. For a few moments we stood there in an embrace, her arms wrapped tight around me as though she was meeting a long lost relative for the first time. For a moment I started to think she wasn’t ever going to let go.

  “We found some pretty disturbing stuff.” I mumbled to her as I broke away from her embrace.

  “What did you find?” She frowned, her green eyes wide with wonder.

  “What’s left of Tony Olsen, for a start.”

  “Oh heavens…” Florence gasped, quickly glancing around to make sure that neither Tony’s wife or Laura, the one remaining Olsen child was around.

  “And something else.” I practically whispered, at that moment I found myself struggling to find the words to tell Florence. The news that I was about to bring down on here was life changing. Not just for her of course, but for every single person in Haven. I knew that if a monster big enough to give birth to eggs of that size was around, then we were in danger’s path. Florence was a smart girl – I had no doubt in my mind that she would understand the seriousness of the situation.

  “A nest.” I finally said, after a few moments of silence.

  Florence didn’t reply, only raising one eye brow in confusion.

  “It was a pretty big nest. The eggs were huge, like scary big. We’re not fully sure what’s laid them, but whatever it was killed Tony, and likely Kyle and Amy too.” I explained, finally this provoked the reaction I had initially expected.

  “What are we planning doing?!” She panicked, beginning to run her hands through her thick red hair, something that I had noticed Florence often does when she’s stressed, she probably wasn’t even aware that she did it so often. It was a strange habit, I couldn’t help but wonder if there’s anything I subconsciously do in certain situations without realising – not that it was particularly important at this moment in time.

  “My dad’s holding a meeting in the farmhouse soon.” I explained.

  “Are we in danger?”

  “Immediately no, but potentially, yes. My dad has already broke the bad news to Andrea about her husband, but we now need to decide, as a community what to do with the nest.” I said, deciding not to lie to her. She was far too smart to be palmed off with false pretences.

  “What are our options?” She sighed, staring at me with her bright green eyes, they always managed to mesmerise me.

  “Let’s save that for the meeting. I’m sure my dad’s going to explain everything in great detail so that we can come to the best possible solution here.” I said. Once again, my overwhelming admiration for my dad shone through. To me, he was the ultimate man. Tough, strong and smart, but also loving. He always had the time for his family, neither me, my brothers and sisters, or even my mum were ever pushed aside. No matter how swept off his feet he became with his duties as leader of Haven, he always made sure to make it up somehow. That’s what I loved the most about him. He was reliable, dependable and most of all, honest. I wish I could say the same about everyone in Haven. There’s a few people who I feel don’t have the community’s best interest at heart – Though I’ve never openly discussed these feelings with anyone, I do feel that one day they may become a problem.

  Assuming that, like their father, Kyle and Amy were dead, Haven has fourteen residents. Of that fourteen, three were under the age of sixteen, meaning that they’re not required to help out quite as much, that left eleven adults in Haven that should all be pushing their own weight and working together to make this place be the absolute best it can. However, that isn’t the case. Tony Olsen and his two missing children were always the first to volunteer for duties in and outside of Haven, but now that they’re gone, I can’t help but feel that perhaps some of those duties might he passed on to myself.

  The remaining two from the Olsen family aren’t much use. Laura twenty-three years old, and much like me, she lacks confidence and strength. But where I lack physical strength, I personally believe I make up for it with my head smarts. Laura has neither of these two key assets. Whilst her mother - fifty-two years young – never lifts so much as a finger to help anyone other than herself. In the past it wasn’t so much of a problem because Kyle, Amy and Tony made up for them. The three of them did more than enough to justify their place in Haven, but now they’re gone. And in my eyes, Laura and Andrea were a burden. But what would I do if I was in charge around here? Would I kick them out, could I really do that to two people that I’ve known for such a long time? I don’t think so. Even beginning to think of the moral dilemmas made me feel uncomfortable, but they hardly seemed to faze my dad. He was always one step ahead, always calm and always collected. He came with a reassuring confidence that in turn boosted the belief of everyone around him. That’s why my dad was, in my eyes, the greatest man I’ve ever met.

  Then there’s Dexter and Antonia Payne. Dexter is considered by many to be third in command around here, behind my father and uncle. Dexter is a brilliant asset to the community and brings so much survival knowledge. He’s tough and reliable. Antonia is a tough cookie too. As I mentioned before, she and her five year old sister had survived on their own for days on end in the Wasteland. Most full grown adults couldn’t even manage that, never mind if they had a small child to care for too. Florence isn’t a brilliant survivalist, and has only been outside of Haven on one occasion. I was worried sick the entire time, and I don’t plan on complaining about her not heading out more. I’m happy with her being back at Haven helping out with the farm animals and so forth. It was as safe as she was ever going to get. She also did a good job helping her nephew, William and my little brother and sister, Toby and Amber. She was brilliant with kids. The list of things that she contributed to inside Haven was near endless.

  Then there’s my family; the Jeffords. There’s nine of us in total, counting me. Obviously my Grandpa is too old to really contribute anything other than good advice and plenty of experience to the group, so he’s obviously not an issue. Then there’s Toby and Amber, aged eleven and seven respectively. My two other siblings, Ruby and Brandon are brilliant for Haven. Both of them are tough, natural born survivors and warriors. Much like Brandon, Ruby is a fitness freak. She’s a tough, independent woman who could kick pretty much anyone’s arse, none more so than mine. My mum is in charge of pretty much all the cooking and washing around here. She’s got an infini
te list of secret recipes and cooking idea’s that usually go down a treat. It’s hard to come up with anything new or fresh to eat these days, but she manages to make the best of whatever we can grow or produce in Haven. I’ve heard that what’s left of the world is ravaged by poverty and hunger, but not in Haven. We have a good, steady income of goods being produced on the farm yard all year around. Sometimes of a winter things can get a little scarce, but after living off of the land for forty-two years we, as a community have learned how to make do during such times.

  I’ve already mentioned my dad, so finally, there’s my uncle Timothy. He’s twelve years younger than my dad, and spent his entire life in Haven. He’s a cold man now. He scares me sometimes. But he wasn’t always like that, something about him changed after his wife was murdered, the Wasteland has a habit of changing people right when they think they’ve survived the worst, the second people get comfortable in this world, it turns around and bites them, and this world bites fucking hard. Some people are able to shrug off hardships and take them on the chin, but nobody expected him to recover from losing his pregnant wife. I was next to her corpse when he discovered her, face down and limp on the floor. I saw the look in his eyes as his entire world fell apart around him. Something in his soul seemed to disappear, and it’s never quite returned. I really do worry about Timothy sometimes. But aside from that, he’s generally useful for the community.

  Already I noticed people were making their way into the farm house, that meant one thing. The meeting was about to begin. I took Florence by the hand and lead her over. As I made my way across the field, I couldn’t help but feel like the future of Haven might be decided within the next few minutes.

  “What if Haven is attacked?” Florence sighed, with sadness in his eyes. I could tell that, just like me, she was reflecting on her childhood around here. I thought back to the countless days that the two of us had spent running around the fields of Haven, almost care and worry free. Those days had long gone now though. We had grown up together and had already began our journey into adulthood.

  “I dread to think.” I replied, keeping my head down as I made my way over to the farm house, as to hide my tears.

  Chapter Five

  The farmhouse filled quickly after I arrived. Since I had been present at the discovery of the nest, my father instructed me to sit at the front of the large meeting room, just in case anybody wished to ask me anything. Everyone above the age of sixteen was present, aside from Andrea and Laura Olsen, and my sister, Ruby. Ruby had already told my father that she would agree with whatever he felt best for the safety of both Haven, and the family, and with that she had been given the responsibility to keep watch on the walls whilst everyone else attended the meeting. Never was there a time to leave the walls unguarded, never mind after today’s discovery. Whilst the Olsen’s were left to mourn their lost ones in peace.

  I couldn’t help but sense the apprehension in the room. The faces of all of Haven’s residents told a story of worry and dread. It was rare meetings like this were called – and they were never called for positive reasons. From the hushed voices circling around the room, people were beginning to suspect that something big had happened on our mission outside of Haven. They weren’t wrong. Due to the absence of Andrea and Laura, people were beginning to suspect that we had located the bodies of the missing Olsen’s – I wished that was the only purpose we had for calling this meeting.

  “Thank you all for coming on such short notice.” My dad said as he stood in front of the four rows of wooden chairs. Half were empty. Haven could have easily catered for more people, but we chose not to let anybody else in. We were happy with the numbers we had, everyone had a job and most people worked together. We didn’t want to risk letting the wrong sorts in. But now, looking at so many empty chairs, I couldn’t help but feel that now was the right time to expand. But that was for another meeting, on another day – right now we had far more important issues at hand.

  “As many of you may have guessed we made a very important discovery whilst out in the Charred Lands earlier today.” He explained, before pausing for a moment, as though struggling to word what he was going to say next.

  “Yes, those of you who are assuming we found Tony’s corpse are correct.” Timothy stepped in.

  The small crowd let out a gasp as people began to whisper amongst themselves.

  “However, we found neither of the children, so they may still be alive out there.” My dad finally spoke, trying his best to remain hopeful, though his voice shown no signs of positivity. He knew – just as we all did – that Kyle and Amy were likely dead, too.

  “But that’s not all…” My father sighed. Everyone instantly fell silent as their eyes once again turned to the front of the room. I knew what was coming, yet still I felt a great sense of tension.

  “We found a nest out there. From the size of the eggs, we know it belongs to the Monsters.” He finally said after a moment’s silence. Once again the statement was met with a gasp, followed by yet more hushed, panicked voices. I wasn’t surprised to see that people were more concerned with the discovery of the nest than Tony’s body. He was a liked guy – but when someone disappears in the Charred Lands, there’s very little hope for them. After the first few days of his absence people had begun to accept that he was more than likely dead.

  “What are we going to do!?” Antonia Payne called out from the crowd, her voice thick with worry.

  “This is why we’ve called this meeting.” My dad quickly replied, his voice booming across the room, rising above all of the panicked whispers.

  “The way we see it is we have two realistic options. We either destroy the nest, to prevent the area becoming flooded with Monster spawn, or we leave them be and hope that they never come into contact with us.” My father expound. Instantly the room fell into silence as every single person present began to think over their options. I had already made my mind up. I knew what I wanted to do to them the second I laid eyes on the nest.

  “I thought they couldn’t reproduce anymore?” Dexter Payne called. Despite being third in command here at Haven, he hadn’t been given a heads up about the meeting. He, just like everyone else who hadn’t been present at the time of the discovery was hearing this for the first time.

  “That’s what we thought. There’s no doubt that in recent years the monsters haven’t been able to reproduce. We placed this down to sustained malnourishment. Once most of life on earth had been drained many of them went into hibernation, turned to cannibalism or simply starved to death. I fear we may have an Elder on our hands here.” My dad said, with a gulp.

  That last part shook me right to my core and sent shockwaves around the room. Never for a second had I considered that the eggs may belong to one of the original eleven elders. An Elder. Twice the size of the other monsters, and ten times as deadly. Grandpa had told me the story of how the civilization crumbled a thousand times over – it was because of the eleven Elders. These Elders brought about the destruction of entire cities and brought countries to their knees.

  The year was 2014. There was no warning signs – nobody could have predicted what happened. One day, people in a country called Iceland awoke to find the Island’s largest volcano to be on the brink of erupting. Surrounding cities and towns were evacuated, but it wasn’t just lava that was sent erupting into the air. The volcano gave birth to something. The very first Elder. A dragon, the size of an airplane, stretched its wings high above Iceland, the country’s scared and confused citizens could only stand and stare in curiosity as the monstrous creature took flight above. Their curiosity soon turned to panic as the creature began to rain humongous clouds of fire down upon them. Thousands were burnt alive by the beast. This dragon came to be known as Greyhorn. All around the world, another ten dragons were born from the largest volcanos, each extracting their own fiery hell upon the people of earth. Despite their best efforts, the Elder dragons proved near invincible.

  It wasn’t just dragons that the volcano’
s gave birth too. Countless creatures, all monumental in size soon followed. Even today, travellers describe new creatures that haven’t yet been documented.

  The Eleven Elders began to spawn young too – an estimated three hundred dragons ravaged the skies and scorched the lands at the time of the last official estimate. By the time most of civilization had been destroyed, seven Elder Dragon’s still remained. It is said that their spawn would take centuries to reach their size and strength, or even to be able to breed for that matter, yet still they were ferocious creatures, capable of unleashing unspeakable waves of destruction with a single breath.

  It was because of these Elder dragons - and the other countless creatures that followed them out of the fiery depths of the earth - that mankind had been near destroyed. It is because of these that the remaining humans must fight for their very survival in a harsh and hostile world. These Elders created the Charred Lands.

  And now it seemed one may have settled down, right at our door step. The implications of this were unthinkable.

  There was a chance that the nest didn’t belong to a dragon at all, rather another one of The Charred Lands many mutant monsters – but the damage done to Barry Deer’s house was pretty much concrete evidence that a dragon had been in the area. The other creatures rarely ever reached sizes above that of a car, I couldn’t imagine anything that size being able to give birth to such large eggs.

  I had never seen an Elder Dragon in all of my lifetime; few who had were alive to tell the story. They were deadly, destructive creatures. On two occasions younger dragons have flown over Haven, and several times I’ve witnessed other monstrous creatures scatter past our walls, but never have I come into direct contact with the beasts which brought about the end of society.