Chapter 8

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Phillip’s Perspective,

A few hours later.

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Rain falls from a blanket of dark clouds outside, pitter-pattering on the roof above me, then flowing down and leaving streaks on the windows of my office. The place newly “elected” Governor Reiss has chosen as my holding location, which I guess is kind of nice.

Outside my office two officers stand guard. I can tell they still stand there because of the pair of shadows in the glass, one tall and heavily built, the other short and skinny. I don’t think either of them were at the banquet when I punched that rich snob, who, by the way, is Robert Reiss, the man who has claimed my position as Governor….yeah.

As I expected he leveraged his past donations to the city, and used the influence of his fellow elites to convince the city council to instate him. I don’t blame them though, without those donations the city would’ve fallen apart long ago, they had no choice.

One of the shadows moves to the door and cracks it open.

“Hey boss,” the massive guard says.

It’s Jethro, one of the guards who was assigned to my security detail as governor. We’d become good friends over the last few years, even though in the beginning it was mostly him making awkward first contact.

“You know I’m your prisoner, right?” I say, a grin on my face.

Jethro can’t help but crack a smile, something that has always looked slightly out of place on his face, which is covered in little scars and blemishes from his lifetime of hardship.

“Is it true? What you said at the banquet…none of them helped?” He asks in a hushed tone, his deep voice barely able to produce sound at such a low tone.

“Yes Jethro,” I reply, knowing how much this must hurt him.

He stands there for a few more moments, his breath quickening and beads of sweat appearing on his face.

“I have to go,” he finally says.

“Jethro wait, what are you going to do?”

“Avenge my family.”

“Jethro, Jethro!”

I call out his name as he storms away from my office, slamming the door behind him.

His shadow continues on, but is stopped by the other guard, they stand only a foot or so away. I hear the faint sound of their voices through the window, both of them gesturing and pointing as they speak.

Slowly the talking becomes yelling, and the next thing I know, the other guard shoves Jethro.

If I know Jethro as well as I think I do, that guard just made a big mistake.

The shadows converge as Jethro and the other guard struggle, then a few seconds later, Jethro throws a punch that knocks the other guard down instantly. He seems to look around for a moment, then disappears down the hallway.

I slip back onto my couch, and take a sip of water. If I try to escape I’ll probably be caught, so instead I’ll bide my time and see what Jethro does.

As usual, knowing Jethro like I do, it’ll be…over the top.

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Flynn’s Perspective,

Three Days Later.

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Rose taps her way down the dirt road, breathing heavily and moving noticeably slower than before.

Me and Sky feel the same way, both of us are exhausted, as well as hungry and thirsty. Sky keeps nodding off and falling forward onto my back, until she regains consciousness whenever Rose takes a heavier step than usual.

I hold Rose’s reins tightly, wishing I had someone in front of me to fall asleep on too.

Sky goes limp behind me again, falling forward and squishing her face up against my back. Guess I’m alone again for a while.

Me and Rose ride in silence for a few more minutes, her stride still slowing with every passing hour. I reach down and pat her neck, then take a deep breath of the late afternoon air. A mixture of hot and cold that fights for dominance, but inevitably the cold air will prevail.

Suddenly Sky stirs from her sleep, sniffing the air and looking around.

“You good?” I ask, my throat aching from thirst.

“I smell….smoke?” She sniffs the air for a few more seconds, then points to our left. “There, smoke coming from that way.”

“Ok,” I say, willing to go anywhere if it leads to food or water.

It takes a few minutes more of riding, but eventually we get close enough to see the smoke rising into the air, coming from a cluster of buildings that must’ve once been a small city. I lead Rose towards the city, keeping my eyes open as much as I can, the sun going down slowly makes it a difficult task.

“I smell people,” Sky says quietly, then a few moments later she adds: “I hear people.”

It takes a few more minutes but I start to hear them too, more than a few voices. It must be a group of people, all of their voices come from straight ahead of us.

Rose carries us around a building, revealing a large bonfire sitting in the middle of a large city center. The fire is surrounded by people that talk and laugh, oblivious to our arrival.

One by one they quiet down, noticing us approaching them. I pull on Rose’s reins and bring us to a stop around 30 feet away. One of the people steps away from their group and comes closer to us.

“Hello strangers,” the man says. “What brings you to our town?”

“We’re sorry to intrude,” I say with as friendly a tone as possible. “We haven’t had anything to eat or drink for two days.”

The man stands there saying nothing for a few seconds. I feel Sky tense up behind me, so I reach back and hold out a hand which she takes and holds on to. A gesture that’s not only for her nervousness, but mine too.

“We’ve got some food and water for you,” he says with a smile. “Come on over to the fire, we’ve got fresh fruits and clean water.”

I watch as the man turns around and walks back towards the fire, then I tap Rose’s side with the stirrups, telling her to bring us closer.

At least 40 people stand around the fire, all staring at us with an intensity that rivals the flames. No children, just adult men and women, all of them look to be middle aged, none too young and none too old.

The man disappears into a nearby shed, then comes back carrying a tray of sliced fruit. The sight of it makes my mouth water, I notice Sky perk up too, the same probably happening to her.

He comes over to us and holds it up so we can take some. I take a few apple slices, and Sky takes a handful of blueberries. We both devour them in an instant, the juices making my desperate thirst die down slightly.

“Come on down and I’ll take you to the well,” the man says, still holding the tray beside me.

“We’ll stay on the horse if that’s ok,” I say. Still trying my best to keep a kind tone going.

“Nonsense, the poor horse looks exhausted, we’ll get it some water too.”

Sky tightens her grip on my hand.

“We’re fine,” I say firmly.

He stares at us blankly, then his eyes narrow and he drops the tray of fruit, it crashes to the ground with a thud, sending fruit bouncing off in every direction.

“Now,” he says.

Suddenly the crowd around us bursts into motion, running towards us like a crowd of mindless zombies. Rose neighs and threatens to rear up.

“Get back!” I yell, the friendly voice I was using earlier nowhere to be found. “Back!”

Sky screams as multiple people grab and pull her off the horse. She tumbles to the ground and gasps as she hits the ground. A cloud of dust appears around her.

“Sky!” I scream, jumping off the horse and diving towards her.

I’m caught by the man who offered us the fruit, then thrown to the ground. Pain explodes through my back as someone kicks me, then another and another.

A second smaller crowd forms around Sky, surrounding her like a pack of vultures. I faintly hear her voice over the sound of the crowd.

“Get away!” She screams.

They ignore her and continue moving closer until a high pitched scream appears from the center of the crowd, from Sky. It burrows into my ears and sends pulses of pain surging through my head. The crowd around me covers their ears and cries out with pain, the kicking stops. Giving me a chance to climb to my feet.

A screech appears from beyond the crowd, a Lurker.

It smashes into the crowd sending people flailing to the ground in every direction, then leaps onto a man and uses its claws to dig into his chest. Another Lurker comes into view from behind the first, pouncing onto a woman that was in the crowd that surrounded Sky. It screeches in the woman’s face, then engulfs her head in its jaws, I look away, and hear a sickening crack a second later.

The first Lurker climbs off his victim, who now lies motionless on the ground, and comes towards me. I reach for my rifle, but stop when the creature ignores me, instead walking past and attacking another person from the crowd.

I push away the confusion that rings through my head and run to Sky. She lies on the ground surrounded by the bodies of the crowd that once threatened her, blood splashed across her face and jacket.

She watches as the Lurkers tear through the crowd one by one. Only breaking eye contact when I hold out a hand to help her up. We watch silently as the Lurkers disappear into the darkness, chasing down the remainder of the town's citizens.

I try to speak, but can’t manage to put together a comprehensible sentence. I take a deep breath and steady myself, then turn to face Sky.

“That scream, it was you….right?”

She nods slowly, her eyes wide like she’s in shock.

“The monsters…..” she says in a quiet tone. “They listened to me.”

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Phillip’s Perspective,

Seconds Later,

Haven City.

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I dream of the first time I spoke to the city as governor on a stage set up outside city hall. It was disastrous of course, half of them couldn’t hear me and the other half probably wished they hadn’t. The paper I wrote my speech on had been rendered useless by my horrible handwriting, and the parts I managed to remember weren’t quite poetic.

I’ve just started reciting the city's official slogan when a knock appears from inside my podium. Weird.

Suddenly I’m awake, lying across the couch with my favorite blanket draped across me.

A knock appears at the door, three taps in quick succession, each one strong enough to rattle the glass panels of the door.

“Phillip, Phillip it’s Rick!”

It takes more effort than I’m willing to admit, but eventually I succeed in ignoring my intense desire to stay under the blanket, and climb off the couch.

“Coming!”

I swing the door open and dodge Rick as he barges into the office.

“What’s up?” I ask, trying to figure out if he’s angry or just slightly more anxious than usual.

He makes his way across the office and plops down on my couch.

“The council set a court date for you, two weeks from today.”

“Good,” I say, pushing the door closed. “How’s it going out there?”

“Steadily getting worse,” he says with a sigh. “Everyones furious with the people from The Hills, but the city council still sides with them. There are protests every day at the gates, with more people joining them every day.”

Looks like Jethro did what I thought he would, almost. Instead of going straight to the hills for revenge he decided to tell everyone the truth, he chose the more explosive option..impressive.

Rick heads to one of the windows behind my desk that overlooks the city. I join him a couple seconds later and track his eyes to the gate that marks the start of The Hills.

Outside of the gate is a crowd that looks to be around 100 strong, give or take. Some hold signs, alternating between waving them and thrusting them up and down. While others move and shake their fists, probably accompanied by a chant we can’t hear.

Armed guards stand on the other side of the gate, pacing back and forth as the crowd continues.

“Looks like a few more have shown up this time,” Rick says. “More guards too.”

A few of the protesters split from the rest and dig around in the dirt, then rejoin them.

“D’you see that?” I ask Rick.

“Yeah….are they-”

He stops as the crowd begins throwing rocks over, and through, the gate. The guards step back, one of them without a helmet flinches and falls to the ground, covering their head with their arms.

One of the guards points at the crowd and yells something, then a second later the other guards raise their weapons and point them at the protesters, their barrel-mounted flashlights shining into the crowd.

The protesters move closer, apparently this is the last straw.

Gunfire rips through the city, bullets mow down the first row of protesters and strike a few of those in the second. Everything quiets down, both sides seem equally shocked.

Rick shakes his head. “This just got a lot worse.”

The protesters charge the gate, slamming into it hard enough that it seems to flex slightly on its hinges. They throw more rocks than before, pelting the guards with dozens upon dozens of them. Another guard falls to the ground, dark liquid dripping from his head.

Suddenly the guards open fire again, spraying into the crowd without restraint this time. Countless people fall to the ground lifelessly. Many others try to escape but are struck by the bullets as well.

We stare in silence as the crowd disperses in every direction, leaving a small pile of bodies where they once stood.

Rick’s face is pale white. “That’s it,” he says weakly.

“What?” I ask, still trying to process what just happened.

“We’re not recovering from that,” he says with a weak chuckle, not of humor, but of a need to lighten the mood.

“They just started a war.”