Penumbra
Chapter 2
Vibrance
Created By : Fredy
Whitefss.blogspot.com
Leakerfredy@gmail.com
This story is written only for fun, not mean to
offense anybody. Thank you.
Jim was walking to his school carrying his usual shoulder bag and wearing simple plain yellowish T-shirt with brownish jeans. He observed his surroundings as he walked. There were a lot of busy people walking around him. Everyone is busy with their own life issues… Jim sighed. Man…
He entered the school along with many other teenagers. I should start thinking about college instead of focusing on dating… He chuckled. Christmas holiday starts tomorrow… I think I should ask her again… Jim thought. But suddenly, Jim had a flash of Alicia’s text message from yesterday. He kept his head low as he walked, didn’t know what else to think or do.
The school seemed a little quieter as most of the students had taken head start for the holiday. Jim entered the class. He stopped and his eyes quickly turned to Alicia who was reading a book on her table. She was seen wearing an aqua T-shirt with the same pale-bluish khakis from yesterday. Jim was scared for the situation to become awkward. Alicia then noted him and gave him a warm cheery smile. With the smile, Jim was relieved as he believed that there wouldn’t be any awkwardness between them because of what happened yesterday. Jim returned the smile as he continued walking to his seat which was behind Alicia. As he was close by, Alicia quickly start a conversation.
“So, so… do you have any plan for tonight? Or tomorrow?”
Jim was completely relieved seeing her cheery face. “Whoa, whoa… slow down… Wait for me to ask…” Jim said as he sat down.
“Why can’t a girl ask?”
“It makes us men feel… well, unmanny…” Jim replied.
Alicia chuckled. “Well, then, pretend I didn’t say anything…” Alicia said as she turned back to her book.
Jim cracked out a smile seeing her cuteness but he quickly noticed the usual noisiness behind him. He turned to John and Jack who were talking loudly, dominating the whole class.
“Morning, idiots!” Amy yelled as she entered the class. She was energetic as usual.
“Yo, crowface!” Jack replied.
“Hah! Crowface!” John snorted.
“Sup! Amy!” Jim called.
Alicia gave her a smile as Amy sat beside her.
Amy returned her smile but as Alicia returned to her book, Amy’s smile quickly disappeared. I should ask her… Amy thought. She turned to Jim, John, and Jack who were laughing like crazies. But maybe not here… She added.
As the day went on, Amy kept observing Alicia and Jim. They interacted a lot during class. They looked like a perfect couple. This made Amy felt more uncomfortable about what happened yesterday. She looked so happy with Jim, then why would she cancel… Probably just a misunderstanding… Amy shook her head as she returned her focus to the teacher in front of the class.
At the end of the day, Alicia smiled to Jim as she got up with her bag and left. Jim returned the smile as he got up and went to Amy.
“I asked her again. Dinner, tonight!” Jim uttered.
“Woah, nice!” Amy was surprised. “Have you told John and Jack?” Amy asked.
“Told us what?” John and Jack came to them.
“I got another date!” Jim uttered.
“Nice!” John embraced Jim.
“Not nice brah! Same girl, lame!!” Jack teased.
“You even never get a girl!” Amy sighed.
“Hey, I’m a quality man, I pick only quality girls…” Jack crossed his arms, acting cool.
“What quality man?” John snorted.
“Anyway…” Suddenly, Jim’s cell phone rang. “Eh…” Jim was astonished. “It’s a text from Ashley.”
They all went silent. Amy quickly picked up her gray shoulder bag as she got up.
“She cancelled again…” Jim said.
They were startled.
“Eehhh?!” John yelled.
“Really?!” Jack shouted.
Amy had predicted this possibility. “I’m sorry, Jim but I’ve got things to do…” Amy said as she quickly stormed out.
“Eh… Amy???” John called.
Three of them quickly turned to Amy who was soon out from their sight.
Amy ran down as quickly as possible.
“Excuse me, I’m sorry, excuse me…” She uttered as she went pass the other students swiftly. She quickly reached the first floor and then not long after that, the main hall. As she went out from the school, she could see Alicia’s head amongst the crowd whom were walking towards the school gate. Amy quickly caught up with Alicia.
“Alice!” Amy called as she grabbed her hand.
Alicia was taken by surprise. “Amy?!”
Amy quickly dragged her to the garden beside the school.
“Wait! Amy!”
They went to the small pond surrounded with round stones within the garden. There was a wooden bench beside it. They were surrounded with tall green bamboo trees.
“Amy! What is this?!” Alicia pulled her hand away from Amy.
Amy turned to Alicia. “Why do you cancel?” Amy asked.
“What? Cancel what?”
“Plan with Jim… It’s the second time now… I get it that you don’t want to hang out with me or other people. But you acted so close with Jim. Are you giving him false hope?” Amy asked.
Alicia’s face from neutral turned to arrogant. “What’s it to you?” Alicia slightly lifted her head, underestimating Amy.
Seeing her posture, Amy was a little scared. The Alicia before her wasn’t the Alicia she had known. Who is she…? Amy gulped.
“Just so you know, I don’t like being around him. He makes me sick!” Alicia said. Her voice was much scarier than the usual voice she had.
“Who are you?” Amy asked.
“Me? I’m Alic… hahahaha…” Alicia burst into laughter for a moment.
Amy was petrified by the horror.
“Hah… I can’t even say it with a straight face… Who I am is not your business. Beat it!” Alicia said as she pushed Amy back.
Being, pushed back, Amy could no longer hold her anger. She slapped Alicia with her right hand. “Tell me!” Amy yelled.
“You, bitch!” Alicia muttered. Suddenly, she stormed towards Amy as she strangled her.
Amy was knocked off to the ground. She was pushing Alicia back while being strangled. “You are not Alicia!”
“I’ll kill you!” Alicia shouted.
Amy then kicked Alicia back as she got up rubbing her strangled neck.
“Amy!” Jim called as he and John and Jack came to the garden.
“Jim?” Amy muttered as she turned to Jim.
“What happened…?” Jim quickly noticed Alicia. “Alicia!” He quickly went to help her up.
“Jim!” Amy tried to warn her but she noticed that Alicia’s face had dramatically changed.
“What happened?” Jim asked Alicia.
John and Jack were in confusion themselves.
“Ugh… Jim…? Amy? John… Jack…? What happened? My stomach hurts…” She said as she held her aqua T-shirt with a shoe mark on it.
“What happened, Amy? Did you kick her?” Jim asked.
“Eh… I don’t think Amy would do that…” Alicia said as she smiled to Amy innocently.
Amy was stunned by her gaze. Her eyes were showing complete honesty. What was from before…? Amy thought. “I…”
Suddenly, a great earthquake happened. They were all startled by the extreme quakes.
“What the hell?!” John shouted.
Fissures started to form on the ground around them while some of the trees started to fell down. Some of the ground broke out creating massive fissures. Due to the extreme shaking, they all fell.
“Hang on!” Jim shouted.
Screams could be heard from all directions as the earthquake went on. Jim and his friends were holding onto the ground tightly. The pond’s water quickly drained dry into the cracks. Bamboos around them kept falling onto them. What sounded like buildings collapsing could be heard also from all directions.
I didn’t remember any volcano nearby… Jim thought. He turned to Alicia. She was frightened as she hugged Jim’s hand tightly.
The earthquake went on for 10 minutes before it finally stopped.
Jim and his friends were covered by bamboos. They quickly got up from the debris of once the school’s green garden and observed the situation around them. The sight before them was horror. Half of the school collapsed. Most of the surroundings they knew were destroyed. Most people were helping each other up.
“What was before?” Jim muttered.
“What… is… this…?” Amy stuttered. Her eyes were as big as it could, unbelieving the view before her.
“The school…” Jack pointed to the half destroyed building.
Many people seemed to be getting out from the school building. The teacher was in charge of the evacuation.
“Wait, did you guys notice? No one is hurt…” Jim suddenly said.
They quickly observed their surroundings. Jim was right. Despite the catastrophe happened, no one seemed to have been wounded. They could all still get up and walk like normal people except for the traumatized behavior.
“Please stay calm!” One of the evacuators shouted.
“I think we should join the evacuation…” John said.
“Mom…” Amy suddenly muttered. She remembered her parents.
They all turned to Amy.
“I should go home and check on her…” Amy added as she began to run. But she was stopped by a crack sound before her. She turned to the source of the sound. It was right below her. She took some steps back from it. Something was trying to break through from the fissures.
“Another student…?” Alicia muttered.
“I have a bad feeling…” John muttered.
They were staring at the thing coming out from the fissures. A big figure broke through the fissures and stood up before them. The figure had pale dark-yellowish skin and was shaped like human with over-muscled body, wearing thick random cloth and metals combined together that looked like armor and also rusty metal as helmet while wielding a giant rusty two-sided Axe.
Jim remembered the figure but he couldn’t recall from where. “Orc!” He muttered.
“Orc?!” Alicia asked.
They all turned to him. They noticed that a lot of the same figures had appeared around them, coming out from the ground.
“What the…” Jack muttered.
The figure before them turned to them as it let out a frightening roar, “HUMANS!!!”
They all quickly turned to the Orc as Amy took a few steps back to Jim and his friends. They were petrified by its frightening thunder-like roar.
The Orc quickly charged towards them but was one of its legs were entangled by the bamboos below it. The Orc looked down as it was pissed off by the vine. “Gah!!” It shouted as it slowly ripped off the vines entangling its leg.
“This is our chance, let’s go!” Jim shouted, as he took Alicia’s hand and ran to the school gate.
John, Jack and Amy followed him.
“No, humans! Must not escape!” It shouted as it turned to the escaping humans and threw his mighty axe.
“What?” Jack turned around to the trapped Orc. But there was one thing blocking his view and it was coming right towards him with high speed.
The axe struck Jack, bashed him and tossed him back. It then stuck at his right eye.
Jim and his friends turned only to see Jack lying on the ground with his head half open.
Alicia screamed seeing the horror before her.
Jim quickly hugged her and turned her head from the body.
“Oh my God! Jack!” Amy shouted.
John was stunned for a moment.
“Ssshhh… Let’s go! Let’s go!” Jim said as he noticed that Orcs around them had started to hunt. Jim took Alicia to the gates.
John reminded Amy as she slowly turned and follow them.
Screams and roar and gunshots could be heard all around them. Some of them were mixed explosion sound. The evacuation was out of order. People were running without direction. Some even got trampled. They decided to ignore those horrors and decided to focus on their own lives.
As they reached the gate, the view outside the school was no different. There were car crashes everywhere, people running, people wounded, and many other things.
“Mom!” Amy shouted as she ran off to the right side, leaping swiftly over the fissures.
“Amy!” John called.
“I’m going home! Don’t worry about me!” Amy shouted as she kept running through the catastrophe.
“I think I should check on my parents too.” Jim said as he headed forth.
“Wait, I’m coming with you!” Alicia said.
“What?” Jim stopped.
“What?” John was startled. He would be left alone.
“My family is out of town just this morning.” Alicia said.
“Wha…” Jim was stunned by the news. But he decided to prioritize his family first. “Are you sure?”
Alicia nodded.
“Wait! Where should I go?” John asked.
“You can come with us…” Jim offered.
John paused for a moment as he observed the situation around him. Jim and Alicia were about to charge through a dangerous path.
“No, I think I will find a place safe and hide there.” John said.
“Well, then. Take care!” Jim said. “Let’s go!” Jim ran forth followed by Alicia.
John could only see Jim and Alicia running towards the catastrophe before them and slowly covered by the dust and smoke until they were completely gone from his sight.
“Damn it!” John uttered.
Meanwhile, Amy was running and leaping swiftly along the alley with some debris and small fissures. The area around her was silent. No screams, roar, or gunshots could be heard; only Amy’s swift footstep echoing within the alley. As she turned left from the branch, she was stunned. The house at the end of the alley, across the street, was burning.
“No, no!” She ran towards the house.
There was nobody around, not even a dead body; only some burning cars, burning trees, and debris. Amy quickly crossed the street and went to the fiercely burning house. Some of the roof fell and crashed right in front of her, spilling enormous heat and flame as it crashed. She was pushed back by the heat. She fell on her back. Her face and arms were dirtied by the ashes from the flame. As she got up, her eyes were full of tears; could be the result of the heat and the dust or her iron will to enter the house. She stood up and was about to charge onto the house again.
“No, Amy!” A man quickly grabbed her right arm.
“Let go!” She struggled to break loose. “Mom!” She turned to the man. It was Howard but she didn’t care much as she quickly punched him in the face.
After being punched, Howard’s lost her arm and was pushed back a step.
Amy continued charging towards the fire.
“Amy!” Howard grabbed her left hand and pulled her back and quickly held both of her arms from behind.
“Let me go!” Amy was struggling as she jumped wildly.
Howard was slowly bringing her back from the enormous heat. His face and exposed skin were covered with black dust and ash from the fire. Her nose was bleeding from the punch.
“Let me go!” Tears begun to slide down her cheeks as she shouted. “Let me go, please…” Her voice was shaking as she began to cry. “Mom…” Her struggling was slowly taming down.
Howard slowly put her down on the middle of the street. Amy sat down and cried as she saw her home burning down. Howard crouched down beside her and hugged her. Amy cried heavily on his shoulder.
“Ssshh…” Howard comforted as he slowly rock her head.
The burning house slowly collapsed as the fire slowly spread to its neighbor.
Meanwhile, Jim and Alicia were moving slowly and carefully in an alley full of debris.
“My house is just up ahead.” Jim said as he helped Alicia jumped down big debris.
They quickly ran towards the end of the alley. The surroundings were strangely quiet. There was nobody around, not even a dead body.
They went out from the alley and headed towards Jim’s home which was around the block.
A wall broke as an Orc came out and hit the ground. Many wound could be seen on its body. It seemed to be dead. Then slowly, a lady walked out from the hole.
“Hmm… Lucky enough to be left behind, unlucky enough to meet me…” Celly said. Her hair was tied up on the back of her head. Her yellow shirt, face, arms, and the kitchen knife in her right hand were decorated with the dark-reddish blood. She looked calm even though she had just battling with an Orc. Her attention quickly turned to Jim and Alicia who were just arrived in front of the house which was a little broken from the massive earthquake.
Jim was surprised seeing a dead Orc before his mother. “Mom! Are you alright?” Jim asked as he went straight to his home.
“Jim! Thank god!” Celly shouted as she returned to the house and opened the door.
They met and hugged each other on the door.
“Hello, ma’am…” Alicia greeted.
“Who’s this lovely lady…?” Celly asked.
“This is Alicia, my… friend…” Jim replied.
“Friend…?” Celly teased.
Alicia gave a warm smile.
“Yeah… Friend…” Jim was a little bit blushing but he was quickly distracted by the blood all over her mother. “Mom, what happened?” Jim asked as he turned to the dead Orc.
Alicia’s smile quickly faded away after noticing the blood. She turned to the dead Orc outside the house.
She killed an Orc… wow, maybe this is why dad always call her being scary… Jim thought
“Er… Not important… we need to get out of here…” Celly said as she dragged Jim into the house. “Jim, go out and find some blanket or any cloth that can be used to create a tent and put them in a bag! Be careful with your steps!” She ordered.
“Okay!” Jim ran upstairs. He carefully avoided the big cracks around his home.
“Alici…a” Celly stared at her for a while. “Could you… eh… check the garage if there’s any metal pipe or some sort…?” She continued.
“Okay!” Alicia replied as she entered the garage through the door to her left.
“That girl…” Celly was petrified for a moment.
“Mom!”
Jim’s voice woke Celly. “Yes, Jim?” Celly quickly went to the kitchen and picked out a lot of knifes.
“Where’s dad?”
“I don’t know, Jim, I was trying to contact him! I’m sure he’ll be fine! He’d better be!” Celly went to her room.
Jim ran down with a black travel bag. “Alicia?” He called.
“Yes?” Alicia replied from the garage.
Jim entered the garage to help her.
Celly had changed her shirt into a pale-bluish one and the blood on her face and arms and knife was cleaned although not perfectly cleaned. She was moving rapidly. She threw the knives into the pale-bluish travel bag with the same model as Jim’s and then some medicines she took from small drawers and then some clothes and then she took out her phone. “Grr! No reception!” She growled as she threw her phone into the travel bag. She then went out from the room and went straight to the kitchen and threw some canned food and drinks to the travel bag.
Jim and Alicia then came out from the garage and went to Celly.
“Mom, are these enough?” Jim handed the travel bag to Celly.
Celly checked the contents for a while before she zipped both bags. Celly handed each of them a kitchen knife.
Jim and Alicia were shocked.
“For protection…” Celly told.
“O…o…okay…” Jim took the knife, followed by Alicia.
“Okay, let’s move out…” Celly picked one bag while Jim picked the other.
They then went out from the house with Celly on lead.
“Where are we going?” Jim asked.
“Out from the city, silly! We have to find the others…” Celly replied.
“But… the city seemed so empty… all of a sudden…” Alicia said. “It might be safe to just stay here…”
“I don’t think it’ll be empty for long, Alie sweetheart…” Celly said.
“Alie?” Alicia muttered.
They followed Celly as they ran through the city to the outskirts. The time passed quickly as it was already around 2. Jim called his mom to slow down as Alicia was very tired even though she didn’t want to admit it. They stopped for a while. Celly seemed impatient. But she could do nothing seeing Alicia was out of breath as she could barely stand. Jim was beside her.
“You okay…?” Jim asked.
“I’m… hah… fine… hah… we should… hah… keep moving…” Alicia replied. She was panting.
“Take a rest… Here have some water…” Jim said as he took out a bottle of water from the bag he was carrying.
Alicia sat down and took the bottle and drank it. “Thank you…” She returned the bottle to Jim.
“Mom… How many days do you think it would take for us to get out from the city?” Jim asked.
“I’ve got no idea… But I don’t think staying here is a good idea.” Celly said as she looked around the buildings around them. Jim joined her.
The buildings around were collapsed or the ones that were ready to collapse at any moment. The sound of building collapsing still could be heard periodically from afar. They knew that finding a place to stay for the night wasn’t going to be easy. Suddenly, they heard a car sound approaching them. They were surprised and quickly turned to the source of the sound. Silver SUV Full Size was visible coming slowly from the city behind them.
“It’s a car…” Jim said.
“Finally… A working car… I thought I would never find one… Let’s hijack that one!” Celly suggested.
“No… mom! We can just ask for a lift!” Jim said.
“Oh… that works too…”
Alicia chuckled. Her breath slowed down as she rested. “Is your mom always like this?”
“Yeah, she’s scary but can be funny and clumsy at times… well, most of the times actually…”
Alicia giggled. “She seemed so calm…”
“She’s always calm. I’ve never seen any other expression out from her.”
“I’m jealous of you.” Alicia chuckled as she got up slowly while the car approached them.
Jim waved his hands.
The car’s side window slowly went down as it came towards them from afar.
“Jim? Alicia?” Amy shouted from the car.
Alicia and Jim were surprised. “Amy!” They shouted.
“Hey!” Amy waved.
The car stopped when it reached them. Amy came out with Howard. They were clean from the black ashes but Howard’s nose was still swelling.
“Howard!” Jim shouted as he greeted Howard.
“Amy!!” Alicia quickly ran towards Amy and hugged her.
Amy was startled. She felt relieved to see that her best friend was still alive but she couldn’t help but remember her other self she met that time. But she tried to ignore that for the moment as this Alice was the kindhearted one.
“Amy, Howard, this is my mom. Mom, Amy, Howard…” Jim introduced.
“Nice to meet you…” Celly replied. “Your nose… is huge…”
“Oh, this… it’s nothing…” Howard replied as he touched his swelling nose.
Amy laughed guiltily.
“You did that?” Jim asked.
“It’s an accident…” Amy innocently scratched the back of her head. “Anyway, we had been searching for you… and other people… It looks like all people suddenly disappeared without a trace…”
“Where did you get the car?” Jim asked.
“Oh, it’s mine…” Howard replied. “Well it’s my Mom’s… but since she’s away…”
“His home is not far from mine… so… haha…” Amy said.
“Sorry for interrupting but I think it’s best for us to keep moving…” Celly said.
They paused for a moment.
“Uhhh… yeah, of course…” Amy said as she invited them to the car.
Their luggage was put on the back.
“Did you bring anything?” Celly asked as she put the luggage.
“Err… no… we didn’t think about bringing things…” Howard replied.
Jim, Alicia, and Celly sat in the middle while Amy and Howard sat on the front with Howard as the driver.
“Where are we going?” Howard asked.
“Keep going east…” Celly replied.
The car was started and the started moving forth. The sun was behind them as they moved across the rumble of a city. They needed to take lots of retour due to the rumble of collapsed buildings were blocking the roads.
After an hour of driving, some shadows passed them from the sky. Jim quickly looked out to the sky. He saw some eagles were flying up high in the sky heading towards the inner city.
“Mom! There are some…” Jim paused as he turned to his front.
There were lots of deer, oxen and figures of dark tall humans riding some of those heading towards them with some of the same figures running behind them. The figures were wearing some kind of simple armor made of the combination of wood, leaves and vines and holding wooden weapons such as spears, bows and arrows, lances and staffs.
“Whoa……” Howard, Amy, Alicia, and Jim were shocked. The car slowly stopped. “I think we should go… back…”
“Elves…” Jim muttered. “Wait… where did I ever see them?” Jim stared at the Elves.
Celly was gazing at them anxiously.
They were waiting for the hordes to pass. Howard was preparing the gear to reverse in case the hordes were hostile.
“Human!” One of the hordes shouted from afar. “Keep going!”
“What?” Howard couldn’t hear it clearly.
The hordes were passing them, making a loud rumbling noise.
“Keeeeeep…” A long shouting was heard. Suddenly, a tall dark figure with long and thin face landed on the hood of the car that startled all of them. “…Going! That way!” It said as he pointed to the east where he came from with his wooden staff. His hair was thick and long and brownish, like soft tree branches. It then went down from the hood and joined the hordes charging forth. Howard then changed the gear and kept going forth. They were observing the massive army charging towards the inner city.
“Do you think that’s where all people are?” Amy asked.
“I’ve no idea… but I don’t think they are hostile…” Howard replied.
They keep driving towards the east. Time passed. The sun was nearing the horizon. The hordes could no longer be seen. Their surroundings were getting yellowish and darker. Howard turned on the light as he kept driving. Alicia was sleeping on Jim’s shoulder. Celly was keeping eye on the surroundings. Amy and Jim were lost in their thoughts about what was happening around them; to Jack. They have reached the outskirts. Few wooden houses could be seen around them. But there’s nobody could be seen.
“I don’t see any people…” Howard broke the silence.
“They must have moved too…” Celly said as she observed the scattering trash on the prairie before the forest. There were little cracks around the area as it was farther from the epicenter.
“Any idea where they are going?” Howard asked.
“Probably south…” Celly replied as she turned to the south window beside Jim.
“Should we turn south then?” Howard asked.
“Yeah… probably a good idea…” Celly nodded.
Howard then turned the steer and headed to his right. They went off road and slowly heading to the forest. The trees were still very leafy as if they weren’t preparing for winter which was late at that moment.
After a while of driving, the car ran out of juice and broke down. They were in the middle of the forest and pretty up high in the mountain that they could see the landscape of their city which was now in rubble. The sun was seen touching the horizon. Celly suggested to finding a place to camp out for the night. She led the way as they went deeper into the forest before they reached a small stream and set up their camp there.
They made a small campfire and sat around it. They were all covered with thick brownish blanket.
“What are we going to do after this?” Amy asked, starting the conversation.
Everybody was silent.
“I’m not sure… but I would suggest that we better find another group fast. Being alone out here is scary!” Celly responded as she stretched both of her arms.
“There is a chance that my parents are still alive… I want to find them…” Amy said.
Howard turned to his right, to Amy, who was sitting beside him.
“Mom… Do you know what’s happening?” Jim asked.
Celly shook her head. “Not really, anyway, we still have to find your dad… ahhh, where’s that irresponsible husband and father?”
“Dad…”
She seemed very calm… Amy thought as she stared at Celly’s behavior.
Alicia turned to her left, to Jim, who looked down after remembering his father. She was sitting beside him.
“Anyway, we need to rest… We have to continue our journey for tomorrow…” Celly reminded.
“Should we keep watch…?” Howard asked.
“Nah, I don’t think it’s necessary… Nobody will be ambushing us…” Celly said.
“How do you know for sure?” Amy asked.
“I took a stroll… saw some fire in the city… they, the monsters, were camping… setting up defense or some sort… blah…” Celly explained.
“Wow, mom, are you trained or something? You know a lot about survival and stuffs…”
“Haha… just my past… military training…” Celly giggled.
Military training… now this confirms my dad’s statement about mom being scary… Jim thought.
Hmm… I guess that kind of explain her calmness. Maybe she’s overestimating her survival skill. Amy thought.
“Okay, enough chat, get to sleep…” Celly said as she got up to the small stream and scooped up water with a mug and poured it on the fire until it completely extinguished.
As the fire extinguished, leaving only a few of burnt twigs and branches, the darkness of the night covered them. They all lied down and slowly tried to empty their mind and rest.
Jim was staring into the darkness of the night as he tried to make sense of all that had happened especially Jack’s death.
Amy was staring towards Alicia even though she couldn’t see her clearly because of darkness of the night. She was trying to figure the thing with Alicia’s double personality. Was it only my dream? Then she was slowly occupied with the thoughts of her parents.
Alicia was figuring out her feelings and thoughts. There was a blank on her memory where she suddenly woke up with a sore stomach on the ground with Amy, Jim and friends. What happened back there? And that she wasn’t scared at all during this apocalyptic situation, not even after seeing Jack’s death before her own eyes.
They slowly got lost in their thoughts and slowly went to sleep without realizing it.
The night wore on as it was still as dark as before. The fire from the city was still burning brightly. Some insects and small nocturnal wildlives frolick about in the forest filled with darkness. They were hunting their prey and food. A human figure quickly caught into their eye. They quickly hid themselves while still observing the figure’s movement. It was a girl with a long hair. She was strolling in the middle of the night by herself.
What am I doing…? Alicia thought. Where am I going? She kept strolling aimlessly. Why am I so… empty?
Then she came to a clearing. Moonlight pierced the darkness as it fell upon her as the dark cloud cleared up slowly. She was walking with a blank stare in her eyes.
Am I sleepwalking? Her mind paused for a moment as she observed her feet. I don’t think so… What was I doing before this?
The moon was fully revealed. All the night animals hid themselves from the moonlight. Alicia was still walking with the same slow pace. Her mouth was opened a bit, much less like people lost in their thoughts.
That’s right… I was with Jim and friends… She gazed blankly towards the grasses between her feet as she strolled. Why did I leave? Why did I leave them?
The night breeze blew pass her as her soft silky hair danced with the wind.
I didn’t leave them… She giggled in her thought as her mouth slowly crack a small smile. No, I’m certainly not. I’m getting away from Jim… Her smile slowly disappeared. But why? Why do I want to get away from him? I’ve known him for several years… he’s not a bad guy… why? She kept strolling to the other side of the clearing. I just feel the need to be away from him. But why? She strolled and strolled like a robot. Why…? She tried to find the reason as she slowly walked to the end of the clearing which was a cliff. She was still walking with a steady pace towards the cliff. A cliff? Why am I walking towards it? Well, I can’t think of any reason to stop walking… Her face slowly cracked a smile as she kept walking towards the end which was only a few small steps from her. She kept walking as she stared to the darkness below her. I wonder what it feels like… to fall… She cracked a smile as she took the last step.
Suddenly, a hand quickly grabbed her right shoulder and pulled her back. She was thrown back and fell on her back. She quickly regained her full consciousness. The guy who pulled her was also falling beside her. Apparently, he quickly grabbed her and jumped backwards to instantly nullified the forwards force from his running.
“Jim!” Alicia was surprised.
Jim quickly got up and crawled to Alicia. “Alicia?! Are you okay…?” Jim asked.
“Yeah… why?” She got up slowly and observed her surroundings. “Where am I?”
“You were sleepwalking… I called you but you didn’t answer…”
Alicia noted the cliff beside them. “Did I almost…”
“Yeah…”
Alicia was shocked. “Thank you…”
“It’s okay… let’s get back…” Jim said.
“Okay…”
They stood up and headed back.
What’s happening to me lately? Alicia wondered. She then stopped.
Jim turned. “Alicia?” Jim noted that she was shivering.
“I’m scared…” She muttered.
“Oh, no… Everything is going to be fine…” Jim came and hugged her. He gently stroked her head.
“No… you don’t understand… my life have been completely strange…”
“What do you mean…?”
“My parents are ignoring me… my sister too… I feel like everybody has been avoiding me… I’m scared… I don’t want to be alone…”
“It’s okay, I’m here with you. You will never be alone.” Jim comforted.
“This morning, my parents left with my sister without saying a word. They are somewhat taking her on vacation. I usually don’t care but I cannot hold it anymore. I’m… I’m…” Her tears watered down her cheek.
Jim was pausing over the story she just told him. Her parents…? What kind of parents ignored their child?
Alicia hugged Jim tighter and cried loudly on his chest.
They slowly sat down.
Jim kept stroking her head gently as he said, “Sh…sh… It’s okay. You won’t be alone. I will always be with you. I promise.”
Alicia’s cry quieted down as she turned to Jim. She stared deep into Jim’s eyes as she asked, “Promise?”
Jim stared deep into Alicia’s twinkling eyes with his assuring eyes as he said, “I promise!”
Moonlight suddenly shone brighter as Alicia slowly reached for Jim as she closed her eyes and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you…” Alicia said with a sincere smile.
The night went on as the sun slowly rose from the horizon. Some streaks of sunlight broke through the barrier of leaves above the ground.
“Ugh… Still no signal…” Celly sighed. She was standing at the end of a deep cliff while holding her cell phone up high. “Damn it…”
“Mom?” Jim called as he walked out from the trees behind her. “What are you doing?” Jim asked as he walked to her.
“Oh, nothing… just… searching for signal…”
“Signal…?”
“I’m trying to contact your dad.”
“Oh…” Jim took out his phone and tried to turn it on but it was completely out of battery. He sighed.
“Jim, look…”
Jim quickly turned to his mom who was pointing towards the clear view of the city. He was shocked.
There was a huge crack that was the size about an eight of the city that was clearly visible from their position. Most buildings around it were gone, suspected to have fallen into it.
“That’s…” Jim gulped. But then something else got his attention. He narrowed his eyes as he observed around the crack.
There were some small black dots moving around it.
“Are those people?” Jim asked. “Around the crack… What are those?” He turned to Celly who was looking anxiously at the crack. She didn’t hear what Jim was asking. Jim turned back to the crack and trying to make out what he could from that range.
“Jim…” Alicia called as she walked towards him.
“Take a look at the crack…” Jim said.
Alicia turned to what Jim indicated. She was shocked.
“Something bad is going to happen…” Jim said.
Suddenly, they heard some rumbling noise from the sky. They all turned to the sky. Cloud above the city was slowly forming a giant hole.
Jim and Ashley were stunned by the view. As the hole was formed, many glittering silver dots could be seen coming out from the hole and formed a formation in the sky.
Jim tried to see what the dots were but he couldn’t. They were too far away. But there was one thing he knew for sure. “Are they preparing for battle?”
“What?” Alicia turned to Jim for a while before turning back to the glittering silver dots in the sky before her.
“Amy and Howard should see this…” Jim said.
The silver dots kept pouring out from the giant hole and slowly creating numerous glittering blocks.
“Uhh… Jim, I came to tell you that Amy and Howard had prepared breakfast…” Alicia remembered.
“Oh… Emm… Mom… I think we should get going as soon as we can.”
“Huh?”
“After breakfast and getting as far as we can from whatever those things are…”
“Oh, yeah, obviously… you guys go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute…” Celly said without turning.
After a while, Jim and Alicia headed back, leaving Celly who was still standing at the end of the cliff. Celly was still staring at the dots.
“How are Amy and Howard doing?” Jim asked as he strode along with Alicia.
“They are fine. There are just too many things to accept in a single day.” Alicia replied.
“Yeah, the change is too extreme in a single day.”
Suddenly, orangish light flashed from their back. They all stopped and turned to the source of the light. The glittering silver dots were charging towards the crack while exchanging some flashy orange light which seemed like fireballs with the black dots around the crack.
“What the…” Jim was surprised.
The glittering orange light rose in numbers as both parties got closer. Suddenly, the ground felt shaky.
“Earthquake?” Jim turned to his feet. “Mom!”
Celly turned to Jim but suddenly the quake got extreme. The ground Celly was standing on suddenly collapse. Celly was shocked. In that short moment, Celly fell.
Jim was aghast. “Mom!” He and Alicia quickly ran to Celly. It was hard to move during the extreme quake. They fell a couple times but they quickly reached the edge.
Celly was seen holding onto a tree root coming out from about 6 feet below them with her left hand. she was trying to climb up but the quake slowly shook her off the root.
“Mom!”
“Jim!”
“Hold on! Alicia! Grab my feet!” Jim ordered.
Alicia quickly pressed his feet to the ground with her hands.
Jim then slowly lowered his body as he tried to reach his mom with his hands but they were too far apart.
“Jim, don’t be silly…” Celly chuckled.
“Mom! Try to reach up!”
“No, Jim! You will fall! Alie will fall!” Celly shouted.
“No, I won’t! just try to…”
“No!” Celly shouted angrily.
Jim was startled. Mom…
“Don’t be stupid and risk your life for nothing! Worst of all; don’t risk other people’s life! I won’t forgive you if you do!” Celly shouted. Her face expression was different.
Jim could tell that she was being very serious.
“Alicia! Pull him back up!”
“No, mom!”
“Jim!” Celly shouted. “You get back up there!”
“Mom…”
“I’ll be fine… I promise…” Celly smiled. Her hand was near the end of the root.
“Mom, try to climb up! I know you can do it!”
“No, I can’t, Jim. The sligthest move will make me fall even faster. Listen to me, Jim. This is important and I don’t have much time. So listen!”
“Mom…”
Explosion echo could be heard coming from the city.
“There’s a letter for your dad in the bag! Don’t you dare read it! Give it to him if you see him!”
“Mom…”
“Promise me that you will give it to him!”
“I promise…” Jim’s eyes were tearing up.
“Now… Jim, be safe… I’ll see you soon…”
“No, mom!”
The end of the root where Celly was holding onto then broke and she fell with a smile for her son.
“Mom!” Jim screamed as his mother slowly disappeared into the cloud of dust. “Mom! Mom! Mom!” Jim shouted repeatedly.
The ground around them slowly dismembered as the quake got even more intense.
“Jim…” Alicia called as she observed her dangerous surroundings.
Jim then pushed himself up and stood and rushed into the trees. Seeing that, Alicia followed him with haste.
Amy and Howard were holding onto some trees while the quake lasted. There were blankets scattering all around the small campfire with some cup noodles spoiled due to the quakes. Suddenly, Jim ran passed them without any word with Alicia following him.
“Jim! Where are you going?! Alicia!” Amy shouted.
“Uhh… Accident happened!” Alicia replied.
“What?!” Amy shouted.
But Jim and Alicia were gone without a word.
“Damn it!” Amy tried to reach their bags not far from her as she crawled slowly.
“You are going after them?” Howard asked.
“Yes!”
“Jim! Slow down!” Alicia called.
They were going downhill.
“Where are you going?” Alicia asked.
“I’m going for my mom!” Jim replied as he kept running.
Being too tired, Alicia inevitably tripped and fell. Jim stopped and turned to Alicia who was slowly trying to get up. He then turned ready to leave her but something inside him couldn’t take a step to leave her. He remembered the night he promised her that he will never left her side. That promise stopped him to take a step to leave her. He then turned again and went to help her up.
Seeing Jim came back to help her, Alicia felt as a burden. “I’m sorry…” She apologized.
“It’s okay… Are you hurt?” Jim asked as they rested for a bit. He needed to calm himself too.
“I’m okay…” Alicia smiled.
“I’m sorry…” Jim said as he sat beside her. The quake slowly tired down.
“I’m sorry for your lost…”
They were silence for a moment. Jim was trying to accept everything that had happened before his own eyes. Alicia was thinking of a way to cheer Jim up. While they were lost in their own thought, the quake was gone.
“Alice…” Jim called.
“Yes?” Alicia turned to him.
“Do you think that there’s a chance for my mom to survive that fall?” Jim asked.
Alicia was startled. She didn’t know what to reply. She didn’t want to give him a negative answer but she also couldn’t give him a false hope. “I… don’t know…I’m sorry.”
Jim sighed. “If she survives… she will search for us, right?”
“Of course, she will!”
“What if she is injured? She won’t be able to find us…”
“Then we have to search for her.”
Jim turned to her.
“Let’s go…” Alicia smiled.
Seeing her warming smile, Jim’s spirit returned. He smiled back as the both got up. Jim then noticed that the quake was gone. “The quake has stopped…”
“Let’s hurry then…” Alicia replied.
They both then continued went downhill. But just as soon as they continued their journey, they met hordes of Orcs who were scavenging through the bushes before them. They were shocked but they quickly turned and ran away.
“Damn it!” Jim mumbled.
One of the Orcs noticed them and shouted at them. “Humans!”
With a single shout, all of the Orcs chased them.
“Ahh… Jim!” Alicia was scared.
“Don’t worry, keep running! Watch your steps!” Jim said.
“Okay!”
The Orcs were slow but restless. Jim and Alicia quickly got out from their vision but they weren’t giving up as they knew that there were preys and they would eventually found them.
“We’ve lost them!” Alicia said.
“Keep running… they won’t give up easily…”
They headed back to their camp. Amy and Howard were waiting there.
Seeing Jim and Alicia returned, Amy got furious as she stood up along with Howard. “Where were you people?! We looked for you!”
“Sorry, Amy, but we’ve got a situation!” Jim quickly said.
“What? What’s going on?” Amy asked.
Jim and Alicia stopped and were catching their breath.
“There… are… monsters… coming this way…” Jim panted.
“What? The big muscular fiends?” Amy asked.
Jim and Alicia nodded.
They then heard noises coming from the where Jim and Alicia came.
“They’re close!” Jim warned.
“Damn it! We haven’t packed yet!” Amy said as she looked around for their blankets that were still all over the place.
“There’s no time! Just take what we can and run!” Jim said.
“Wait! Where’s your mom?!” Amy asked.
Jim and Alicia were startled.
“Uh… she said that she had stuffs to take care of and left…” Jim replied.
Alicia was surprised by Jim’s answer but there was no time to ask about it.
“What?! She just left?!”
“Yeah, yeah! Long story! Let’s move!” Jim quickly grabbed a bag and ran. Howard picked up the bag beside Amy and followed Jim. Amy and Alicia each picked up a blanket hastily and ran. They left the rest of their stuffs and disappeared into the woods.
They kept running and running aimlessly with the noise behind them that kept coming closer and closer by the time. Suddenly, the blanket Alicia was holding got stuck on a tree branch while she was running. She was held back as she tried to pull it off the branch.
Jim and the others quickly noticed Alicia.
“Leave it!” Jim shouted.
“Let’s go!” Amy shouted.
Alicia then let go of the blanket and continued running.
Jim waited for Alicia to run passed him before he continued running behind her.
They kept on running through the woods. They were confident that they could outrun the Orcs chasing them but unfortunately, as they came to a clearing, a rock wall blocked their path. They were shocked by their luck
“What?? No, no, no, no… what do we do?” Howard asked.
“Errr…..eeehhh…” Jim turned around a couple of times to find a way out. The rock wall was too flat and upright to be climbed on. They could try to turn back it was too risky. “Left or right? Left or right? Left? Right? Left!” Jim exclaimed as he turned to the left. They all followed Jim. But soon, they heard noise coming from their front.
“What, they are coming from this way too? Turn back! Turn back!” Jim shouted as he quickly ran back. The others followed him.
They quickly returned to the point where they met the rock wall. Alicia then fell as she was getting too tired from all the running.
“Alicia!” Jim quickly helped her up.
“Alice!” Amy called as she ran to her.
Alicia was panting.
“Are you okay?” Jim asked.
“I’m sorry… I slow you guys down…”
“No, it’s okay…” Amy said.
“Ehhh… Guys… I think we are surrounded…” Howard said as he stared on the right side of the wall.
“No… this can’t be…” Jim stood up along with Alicia.
There was noise coming from all direction.
“What do we do now?” Howard was shivering.
“No…” The blanket Amy was holding fell as she lost herself into desperation.
“What do we do now…?” Howard took a few steps back. He was so scared that his legs felt weak all of a sudden and he fell on his own.
“Howard…” Jim saw that Howard was scared to death while Alicia was too tired to stand and Amy was drowning to her fear as well.
“This is the end…” Howard said as he covered his head with both of his hands.
The noise was getting louder and closer. They could hear the roaring of the Orcs. They could feel the trembling of the ground that got stronger over time.
“This is bad…” Amy muttered.
“Jim…” Alicia called as she hugged his left hand.
Jim turned to her
She was not scared at all despite the situation they were in. She even gave him a smile. “I’m happy that you are here with me… You give me all the courage I need.” She said.
“Alice…” Jim stared deep into her eyes. He was shocked when he saw the sincereness of her words from her eyes. No… I can’t end like this… Jim was angered by his streak of bad luck. First Jack, then mom, then all of us? No… I won’t let it! Jim put his bag down and searched it, shoving many things out.
Alicia was startled. “Jim? What are you doing?”
Amy and Howard quickly turned to Jim.
“Jim?” Amy called.
“I won’t let it… I won’t let it!” Jim exclaimed as he pulled out a kitchen knife. The table cloth wrapping it was released as it was pulled.
They all were startled.
“Jim?” Alicia let go of Jim’s hand as she moved back a bit.
Jim stood up with his anger and fearless will as he stared into the incoming Orcs before him. “I won’t let anyone die on me!” Jim roared.
As the Orcs began to appear from the bushes, Jim charged forth with his knife. “Gaahh!”
Seeing a puny human, charging towards it, the Orc shoved his mighty axe and bashed Jim with the side. Jim was thrown away.
“Arght!”
“Jim!” Alicia shouted.
Amy and Howard were scared.
The Orcs stopped advancing after had the humans cornered. One of the Orcs then picked Jim up by grabbing his shirt. But Jim quickly turned and tried to cut the Orc’s hand. Jim cut the Orc’s hand slightly. The Orc was pissed and kicked Jim’s belly. Jim was thrown a couple of feet away. The Orcs laughed seeing the Jim’s pointless struggle.
“Jim…” Alicia’s tears began to flow.
Amy and Howard were petrified.
The Orc strode to Jim who was suffering the pain from his belly. He could hardly breathe normally after the kick. The Orc slowly picked him up again.
“Humans are weak. Bwahahahaha.” It laughed arrogantly.
Jim could hardly move. “I will kill you…” Jim said weakly.
“Hmmm???” The Orc lowered one of his eyebrows while raising the other as he put his ear close to Jim’s mouth. “What did you say?”
“I… will… kill… you… all!”
Suddenly, Jim was smashed down.
“Arght!”
“Jim!” Alicia shouted.
The Orc then stepped on him with one leg as it boasted, “Talk big? Bwahahaha… You humans talk big! You can’t even stand now! Bwhahahaha! You thin twigs will never defeat me even in a thousand years!” It said as it showed off its overly-muscled body.
“Let Jim go!” Alicia suddenly shouted as she charged towards the Orc with a kitchen knife.
Jim, Amy and Howard were startled.
“Alice…” Amy murmured.
“Gaaah!” Alicia roared as she thrust her knife towards the Orc.
“Hmm?” With a single shove to its left, the Orc bashed Alicia with the side of its big axe.
“Arght!” Alicia was thrown.
“Alicia!” Jim called weakly.
“I love to see you humans’ pointless struggles… Bwahahaha!”
“Tch!” Amy was pissed.
The Orc then left Jim and strode to Alicia. “So, what do we have here? Another puny human?”
“Alicia… Damn it!” Jim couldn’t move his body.
The Orc then grabbed her by the neck.
“Gahh…” Alicia coughed as the Orc lifted her up. Her hands were clawing the Orc’s massive hand with her nails.
“Let go…of…her…” Jim said weakly.
“You want to play hero too? You are too small to play hero. Bwahahahaha!” It laughed.
“Let her go!” Amy shouted as she pointed a kitchen knife and a scissor towards the Orc.
“Ehh?” The Orc turned to her.
“I’ll count to three!” Amy shouted.
“Ehh?”
“Amy…” Jim murmured.
“One!”
The Orc chuckled as it put down its axe.
“Two!”
The Orc then grabbed the rounded wooden shield from his back.
“Three!”
It threw the shield towards Amy.
They were startled. The shield quickly flew towards Amy. Amy didn’t have enough time to dodge. The shield hit and bounced away. Howard fell with both of his hands bruised after blocking the shield.
“Howard!” Amy was shocked.
“I’m… fine…” Howard smiled but both of his hands were shivering from the pain. His bones may had fractured from the impact.
“Hmm… Interesting! This is amusing! Bwahahaha!” The Orc laughed.
“Tch! You will pay!” Amy shouted as she charged towards the Orc.
“Ohhh…” The Orc was attracted by Amy’s fierceness as it threw Alicia aside to the right.
“Ah!” Alicia screamed as she hit the ground.
“Alicia!” Jim called weakly.
“Jim…” Alicia weakly rose her hand towards Jim before she fell unconscious.
“Gahhhh!!!” Amy shouted.
“Come!” The Orc gave her a wide freakish smile.
“Die!” Amy shouted as she was about to cut the Orc’s body.
But the Orc punched her away with its right hand.
“Arght!” Amy screamed. She was thrown.
“They are no match for you, boss!” One of the Orcs cheered.
“Yeah!” The crowd cheered.
“When do we get to play with them?” One of the Orcs asked.
“When I’m done with them! Bwahahahaha!” The Orc strode to Amy who was trying to stand up.
Amy turned to the big figure beside her. Its foot quickly struck her. She was thrown again.
The crowd laughed.
“Amy…” Howard called weakly.
“You humans and your struggles! It’s fun to watch you suffer. Hehehe…” The Orc stood before Amy.
“I’ll… end… your…life…” Amy murmured. Amy took a close look on its attributes as most of them looked and wore almost the same outfit. She noticed that there was a scar on its neck. She memorized it deeply with her hatred and anger.
“Hehehe…” The Orc lifted its right leg, ready to stomp Amy.
“Damn it!” Jim cursed.
“Amy…” Howard tried to reach her with his shivering hands but she was too far away.
“Scream some more!” The Orc shouted as it stomped his foot down.
Suddenly, strong roots broke out from the ground under Amy and caught its foot.
The Orc was startled. “What? What is this?!”
Suddenly all roots broke out from the ground under the Orcs and sustained the Orcs. While the Orcs were struggling to break free, the roots broke out from under Jim, Alicia, Amy, and Howard, and brought them up the rock wall. On top of the rock wall, there was a man with long white beard that touched his shoulder and long unruly white hair with some leaves coming out from it that covered most of his face. The man was wearing robe that was made of fallen leaves and was holding a twisted wooden rod with his left hand. He was raising both of his hands as if he was controlling the roots.
As Jim and Amy felt that they were saved from the danger, they fell unconscious.
“Who are you?” Howard asked as they slowly approached the breaded man.
“No need to fear me. I’m the master of the forest. You have to get out from here! This forest is already swarmed by the Orcs.” The old man replied.
“I don’t think we are in any state to move…” Howard said.
“I understand. But we are already surrounded and they were finding a way to climb up here.”
“What do we do, now?”
“There’s only one way… I will send you to Heaven.”
Howard was startled. “What? You are going to kill us?”
“No. There’s an altar. Let’s go, we don’t have much time!” The old man said while the roots put them down and slowly retracted. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah…”
“Follow me…” He said as he turned and strode away. Then green grasses slowly grow from the rocks under Jim, Alicia, and Amy and slowly passing them towards the breaded man before then disappeared into the rocks again.
Howard followed the man as he ignored the loud roaring and cursing noise from the bottom of the rock cliff.
They strode for a while before they reached a green place on the rocky ground. Within it, there were 12 ancient pillars that were about 20 feet tall and 2 feet radius thick each and were placed in a circular formation around wide circular patterns with strange symbols. There were vines entrangling each of these pillars.
The old man stopped. Jim, Alicia and Amy were put in the middle of the altar. “Step in.”
Howard stood in the middle of the altars with his unconscious friends all around him.
“Take care of your friends.”
Light burst out from the strange symbols and the circular patterns under them and in a blink of eye, they vanished along with the light.
He entered the school along with many other teenagers. I should start thinking about college instead of focusing on dating… He chuckled. Christmas holiday starts tomorrow… I think I should ask her again… Jim thought. But suddenly, Jim had a flash of Alicia’s text message from yesterday. He kept his head low as he walked, didn’t know what else to think or do.
The school seemed a little quieter as most of the students had taken head start for the holiday. Jim entered the class. He stopped and his eyes quickly turned to Alicia who was reading a book on her table. She was seen wearing an aqua T-shirt with the same pale-bluish khakis from yesterday. Jim was scared for the situation to become awkward. Alicia then noted him and gave him a warm cheery smile. With the smile, Jim was relieved as he believed that there wouldn’t be any awkwardness between them because of what happened yesterday. Jim returned the smile as he continued walking to his seat which was behind Alicia. As he was close by, Alicia quickly start a conversation.
“So, so… do you have any plan for tonight? Or tomorrow?”
Jim was completely relieved seeing her cheery face. “Whoa, whoa… slow down… Wait for me to ask…” Jim said as he sat down.
“Why can’t a girl ask?”
“It makes us men feel… well, unmanny…” Jim replied.
Alicia chuckled. “Well, then, pretend I didn’t say anything…” Alicia said as she turned back to her book.
Jim cracked out a smile seeing her cuteness but he quickly noticed the usual noisiness behind him. He turned to John and Jack who were talking loudly, dominating the whole class.
“Morning, idiots!” Amy yelled as she entered the class. She was energetic as usual.
“Yo, crowface!” Jack replied.
“Hah! Crowface!” John snorted.
“Sup! Amy!” Jim called.
Alicia gave her a smile as Amy sat beside her.
Amy returned her smile but as Alicia returned to her book, Amy’s smile quickly disappeared. I should ask her… Amy thought. She turned to Jim, John, and Jack who were laughing like crazies. But maybe not here… She added.
As the day went on, Amy kept observing Alicia and Jim. They interacted a lot during class. They looked like a perfect couple. This made Amy felt more uncomfortable about what happened yesterday. She looked so happy with Jim, then why would she cancel… Probably just a misunderstanding… Amy shook her head as she returned her focus to the teacher in front of the class.
At the end of the day, Alicia smiled to Jim as she got up with her bag and left. Jim returned the smile as he got up and went to Amy.
“I asked her again. Dinner, tonight!” Jim uttered.
“Woah, nice!” Amy was surprised. “Have you told John and Jack?” Amy asked.
“Told us what?” John and Jack came to them.
“I got another date!” Jim uttered.
“Nice!” John embraced Jim.
“Not nice brah! Same girl, lame!!” Jack teased.
“You even never get a girl!” Amy sighed.
“Hey, I’m a quality man, I pick only quality girls…” Jack crossed his arms, acting cool.
“What quality man?” John snorted.
“Anyway…” Suddenly, Jim’s cell phone rang. “Eh…” Jim was astonished. “It’s a text from Ashley.”
They all went silent. Amy quickly picked up her gray shoulder bag as she got up.
“She cancelled again…” Jim said.
They were startled.
“Eehhh?!” John yelled.
“Really?!” Jack shouted.
Amy had predicted this possibility. “I’m sorry, Jim but I’ve got things to do…” Amy said as she quickly stormed out.
“Eh… Amy???” John called.
Three of them quickly turned to Amy who was soon out from their sight.
Amy ran down as quickly as possible.
“Excuse me, I’m sorry, excuse me…” She uttered as she went pass the other students swiftly. She quickly reached the first floor and then not long after that, the main hall. As she went out from the school, she could see Alicia’s head amongst the crowd whom were walking towards the school gate. Amy quickly caught up with Alicia.
“Alice!” Amy called as she grabbed her hand.
Alicia was taken by surprise. “Amy?!”
Amy quickly dragged her to the garden beside the school.
“Wait! Amy!”
They went to the small pond surrounded with round stones within the garden. There was a wooden bench beside it. They were surrounded with tall green bamboo trees.
“Amy! What is this?!” Alicia pulled her hand away from Amy.
Amy turned to Alicia. “Why do you cancel?” Amy asked.
“What? Cancel what?”
“Plan with Jim… It’s the second time now… I get it that you don’t want to hang out with me or other people. But you acted so close with Jim. Are you giving him false hope?” Amy asked.
Alicia’s face from neutral turned to arrogant. “What’s it to you?” Alicia slightly lifted her head, underestimating Amy.
Seeing her posture, Amy was a little scared. The Alicia before her wasn’t the Alicia she had known. Who is she…? Amy gulped.
“Just so you know, I don’t like being around him. He makes me sick!” Alicia said. Her voice was much scarier than the usual voice she had.
“Who are you?” Amy asked.
“Me? I’m Alic… hahahaha…” Alicia burst into laughter for a moment.
Amy was petrified by the horror.
“Hah… I can’t even say it with a straight face… Who I am is not your business. Beat it!” Alicia said as she pushed Amy back.
Being, pushed back, Amy could no longer hold her anger. She slapped Alicia with her right hand. “Tell me!” Amy yelled.
“You, bitch!” Alicia muttered. Suddenly, she stormed towards Amy as she strangled her.
Amy was knocked off to the ground. She was pushing Alicia back while being strangled. “You are not Alicia!”
“I’ll kill you!” Alicia shouted.
Amy then kicked Alicia back as she got up rubbing her strangled neck.
“Amy!” Jim called as he and John and Jack came to the garden.
“Jim?” Amy muttered as she turned to Jim.
“What happened…?” Jim quickly noticed Alicia. “Alicia!” He quickly went to help her up.
“Jim!” Amy tried to warn her but she noticed that Alicia’s face had dramatically changed.
“What happened?” Jim asked Alicia.
John and Jack were in confusion themselves.
“Ugh… Jim…? Amy? John… Jack…? What happened? My stomach hurts…” She said as she held her aqua T-shirt with a shoe mark on it.
“What happened, Amy? Did you kick her?” Jim asked.
“Eh… I don’t think Amy would do that…” Alicia said as she smiled to Amy innocently.
Amy was stunned by her gaze. Her eyes were showing complete honesty. What was from before…? Amy thought. “I…”
Suddenly, a great earthquake happened. They were all startled by the extreme quakes.
“What the hell?!” John shouted.
Fissures started to form on the ground around them while some of the trees started to fell down. Some of the ground broke out creating massive fissures. Due to the extreme shaking, they all fell.
“Hang on!” Jim shouted.
Screams could be heard from all directions as the earthquake went on. Jim and his friends were holding onto the ground tightly. The pond’s water quickly drained dry into the cracks. Bamboos around them kept falling onto them. What sounded like buildings collapsing could be heard also from all directions.
I didn’t remember any volcano nearby… Jim thought. He turned to Alicia. She was frightened as she hugged Jim’s hand tightly.
The earthquake went on for 10 minutes before it finally stopped.
Jim and his friends were covered by bamboos. They quickly got up from the debris of once the school’s green garden and observed the situation around them. The sight before them was horror. Half of the school collapsed. Most of the surroundings they knew were destroyed. Most people were helping each other up.
“What was before?” Jim muttered.
“What… is… this…?” Amy stuttered. Her eyes were as big as it could, unbelieving the view before her.
“The school…” Jack pointed to the half destroyed building.
Many people seemed to be getting out from the school building. The teacher was in charge of the evacuation.
“Wait, did you guys notice? No one is hurt…” Jim suddenly said.
They quickly observed their surroundings. Jim was right. Despite the catastrophe happened, no one seemed to have been wounded. They could all still get up and walk like normal people except for the traumatized behavior.
“Please stay calm!” One of the evacuators shouted.
“I think we should join the evacuation…” John said.
“Mom…” Amy suddenly muttered. She remembered her parents.
They all turned to Amy.
“I should go home and check on her…” Amy added as she began to run. But she was stopped by a crack sound before her. She turned to the source of the sound. It was right below her. She took some steps back from it. Something was trying to break through from the fissures.
“Another student…?” Alicia muttered.
“I have a bad feeling…” John muttered.
They were staring at the thing coming out from the fissures. A big figure broke through the fissures and stood up before them. The figure had pale dark-yellowish skin and was shaped like human with over-muscled body, wearing thick random cloth and metals combined together that looked like armor and also rusty metal as helmet while wielding a giant rusty two-sided Axe.
Jim remembered the figure but he couldn’t recall from where. “Orc!” He muttered.
“Orc?!” Alicia asked.
They all turned to him. They noticed that a lot of the same figures had appeared around them, coming out from the ground.
“What the…” Jack muttered.
The figure before them turned to them as it let out a frightening roar, “HUMANS!!!”
They all quickly turned to the Orc as Amy took a few steps back to Jim and his friends. They were petrified by its frightening thunder-like roar.
The Orc quickly charged towards them but was one of its legs were entangled by the bamboos below it. The Orc looked down as it was pissed off by the vine. “Gah!!” It shouted as it slowly ripped off the vines entangling its leg.
“This is our chance, let’s go!” Jim shouted, as he took Alicia’s hand and ran to the school gate.
John, Jack and Amy followed him.
“No, humans! Must not escape!” It shouted as it turned to the escaping humans and threw his mighty axe.
“What?” Jack turned around to the trapped Orc. But there was one thing blocking his view and it was coming right towards him with high speed.
The axe struck Jack, bashed him and tossed him back. It then stuck at his right eye.
Jim and his friends turned only to see Jack lying on the ground with his head half open.
Alicia screamed seeing the horror before her.
Jim quickly hugged her and turned her head from the body.
“Oh my God! Jack!” Amy shouted.
John was stunned for a moment.
“Ssshhh… Let’s go! Let’s go!” Jim said as he noticed that Orcs around them had started to hunt. Jim took Alicia to the gates.
John reminded Amy as she slowly turned and follow them.
Screams and roar and gunshots could be heard all around them. Some of them were mixed explosion sound. The evacuation was out of order. People were running without direction. Some even got trampled. They decided to ignore those horrors and decided to focus on their own lives.
As they reached the gate, the view outside the school was no different. There were car crashes everywhere, people running, people wounded, and many other things.
“Mom!” Amy shouted as she ran off to the right side, leaping swiftly over the fissures.
“Amy!” John called.
“I’m going home! Don’t worry about me!” Amy shouted as she kept running through the catastrophe.
“I think I should check on my parents too.” Jim said as he headed forth.
“Wait, I’m coming with you!” Alicia said.
“What?” Jim stopped.
“What?” John was startled. He would be left alone.
“My family is out of town just this morning.” Alicia said.
“Wha…” Jim was stunned by the news. But he decided to prioritize his family first. “Are you sure?”
Alicia nodded.
“Wait! Where should I go?” John asked.
“You can come with us…” Jim offered.
John paused for a moment as he observed the situation around him. Jim and Alicia were about to charge through a dangerous path.
“No, I think I will find a place safe and hide there.” John said.
“Well, then. Take care!” Jim said. “Let’s go!” Jim ran forth followed by Alicia.
John could only see Jim and Alicia running towards the catastrophe before them and slowly covered by the dust and smoke until they were completely gone from his sight.
“Damn it!” John uttered.
Meanwhile, Amy was running and leaping swiftly along the alley with some debris and small fissures. The area around her was silent. No screams, roar, or gunshots could be heard; only Amy’s swift footstep echoing within the alley. As she turned left from the branch, she was stunned. The house at the end of the alley, across the street, was burning.
“No, no!” She ran towards the house.
There was nobody around, not even a dead body; only some burning cars, burning trees, and debris. Amy quickly crossed the street and went to the fiercely burning house. Some of the roof fell and crashed right in front of her, spilling enormous heat and flame as it crashed. She was pushed back by the heat. She fell on her back. Her face and arms were dirtied by the ashes from the flame. As she got up, her eyes were full of tears; could be the result of the heat and the dust or her iron will to enter the house. She stood up and was about to charge onto the house again.
“No, Amy!” A man quickly grabbed her right arm.
“Let go!” She struggled to break loose. “Mom!” She turned to the man. It was Howard but she didn’t care much as she quickly punched him in the face.
After being punched, Howard’s lost her arm and was pushed back a step.
Amy continued charging towards the fire.
“Amy!” Howard grabbed her left hand and pulled her back and quickly held both of her arms from behind.
“Let me go!” Amy was struggling as she jumped wildly.
Howard was slowly bringing her back from the enormous heat. His face and exposed skin were covered with black dust and ash from the fire. Her nose was bleeding from the punch.
“Let me go!” Tears begun to slide down her cheeks as she shouted. “Let me go, please…” Her voice was shaking as she began to cry. “Mom…” Her struggling was slowly taming down.
Howard slowly put her down on the middle of the street. Amy sat down and cried as she saw her home burning down. Howard crouched down beside her and hugged her. Amy cried heavily on his shoulder.
“Ssshh…” Howard comforted as he slowly rock her head.
The burning house slowly collapsed as the fire slowly spread to its neighbor.
Meanwhile, Jim and Alicia were moving slowly and carefully in an alley full of debris.
“My house is just up ahead.” Jim said as he helped Alicia jumped down big debris.
They quickly ran towards the end of the alley. The surroundings were strangely quiet. There was nobody around, not even a dead body.
They went out from the alley and headed towards Jim’s home which was around the block.
A wall broke as an Orc came out and hit the ground. Many wound could be seen on its body. It seemed to be dead. Then slowly, a lady walked out from the hole.
“Hmm… Lucky enough to be left behind, unlucky enough to meet me…” Celly said. Her hair was tied up on the back of her head. Her yellow shirt, face, arms, and the kitchen knife in her right hand were decorated with the dark-reddish blood. She looked calm even though she had just battling with an Orc. Her attention quickly turned to Jim and Alicia who were just arrived in front of the house which was a little broken from the massive earthquake.
Jim was surprised seeing a dead Orc before his mother. “Mom! Are you alright?” Jim asked as he went straight to his home.
“Jim! Thank god!” Celly shouted as she returned to the house and opened the door.
They met and hugged each other on the door.
“Hello, ma’am…” Alicia greeted.
“Who’s this lovely lady…?” Celly asked.
“This is Alicia, my… friend…” Jim replied.
“Friend…?” Celly teased.
Alicia gave a warm smile.
“Yeah… Friend…” Jim was a little bit blushing but he was quickly distracted by the blood all over her mother. “Mom, what happened?” Jim asked as he turned to the dead Orc.
Alicia’s smile quickly faded away after noticing the blood. She turned to the dead Orc outside the house.
She killed an Orc… wow, maybe this is why dad always call her being scary… Jim thought
“Er… Not important… we need to get out of here…” Celly said as she dragged Jim into the house. “Jim, go out and find some blanket or any cloth that can be used to create a tent and put them in a bag! Be careful with your steps!” She ordered.
“Okay!” Jim ran upstairs. He carefully avoided the big cracks around his home.
“Alici…a” Celly stared at her for a while. “Could you… eh… check the garage if there’s any metal pipe or some sort…?” She continued.
“Okay!” Alicia replied as she entered the garage through the door to her left.
“That girl…” Celly was petrified for a moment.
“Mom!”
Jim’s voice woke Celly. “Yes, Jim?” Celly quickly went to the kitchen and picked out a lot of knifes.
“Where’s dad?”
“I don’t know, Jim, I was trying to contact him! I’m sure he’ll be fine! He’d better be!” Celly went to her room.
Jim ran down with a black travel bag. “Alicia?” He called.
“Yes?” Alicia replied from the garage.
Jim entered the garage to help her.
Celly had changed her shirt into a pale-bluish one and the blood on her face and arms and knife was cleaned although not perfectly cleaned. She was moving rapidly. She threw the knives into the pale-bluish travel bag with the same model as Jim’s and then some medicines she took from small drawers and then some clothes and then she took out her phone. “Grr! No reception!” She growled as she threw her phone into the travel bag. She then went out from the room and went straight to the kitchen and threw some canned food and drinks to the travel bag.
Jim and Alicia then came out from the garage and went to Celly.
“Mom, are these enough?” Jim handed the travel bag to Celly.
Celly checked the contents for a while before she zipped both bags. Celly handed each of them a kitchen knife.
Jim and Alicia were shocked.
“For protection…” Celly told.
“O…o…okay…” Jim took the knife, followed by Alicia.
“Okay, let’s move out…” Celly picked one bag while Jim picked the other.
They then went out from the house with Celly on lead.
“Where are we going?” Jim asked.
“Out from the city, silly! We have to find the others…” Celly replied.
“But… the city seemed so empty… all of a sudden…” Alicia said. “It might be safe to just stay here…”
“I don’t think it’ll be empty for long, Alie sweetheart…” Celly said.
“Alie?” Alicia muttered.
They followed Celly as they ran through the city to the outskirts. The time passed quickly as it was already around 2. Jim called his mom to slow down as Alicia was very tired even though she didn’t want to admit it. They stopped for a while. Celly seemed impatient. But she could do nothing seeing Alicia was out of breath as she could barely stand. Jim was beside her.
“You okay…?” Jim asked.
“I’m… hah… fine… hah… we should… hah… keep moving…” Alicia replied. She was panting.
“Take a rest… Here have some water…” Jim said as he took out a bottle of water from the bag he was carrying.
Alicia sat down and took the bottle and drank it. “Thank you…” She returned the bottle to Jim.
“Mom… How many days do you think it would take for us to get out from the city?” Jim asked.
“I’ve got no idea… But I don’t think staying here is a good idea.” Celly said as she looked around the buildings around them. Jim joined her.
The buildings around were collapsed or the ones that were ready to collapse at any moment. The sound of building collapsing still could be heard periodically from afar. They knew that finding a place to stay for the night wasn’t going to be easy. Suddenly, they heard a car sound approaching them. They were surprised and quickly turned to the source of the sound. Silver SUV Full Size was visible coming slowly from the city behind them.
“It’s a car…” Jim said.
“Finally… A working car… I thought I would never find one… Let’s hijack that one!” Celly suggested.
“No… mom! We can just ask for a lift!” Jim said.
“Oh… that works too…”
Alicia chuckled. Her breath slowed down as she rested. “Is your mom always like this?”
“Yeah, she’s scary but can be funny and clumsy at times… well, most of the times actually…”
Alicia giggled. “She seemed so calm…”
“She’s always calm. I’ve never seen any other expression out from her.”
“I’m jealous of you.” Alicia chuckled as she got up slowly while the car approached them.
Jim waved his hands.
The car’s side window slowly went down as it came towards them from afar.
“Jim? Alicia?” Amy shouted from the car.
Alicia and Jim were surprised. “Amy!” They shouted.
“Hey!” Amy waved.
The car stopped when it reached them. Amy came out with Howard. They were clean from the black ashes but Howard’s nose was still swelling.
“Howard!” Jim shouted as he greeted Howard.
“Amy!!” Alicia quickly ran towards Amy and hugged her.
Amy was startled. She felt relieved to see that her best friend was still alive but she couldn’t help but remember her other self she met that time. But she tried to ignore that for the moment as this Alice was the kindhearted one.
“Amy, Howard, this is my mom. Mom, Amy, Howard…” Jim introduced.
“Nice to meet you…” Celly replied. “Your nose… is huge…”
“Oh, this… it’s nothing…” Howard replied as he touched his swelling nose.
Amy laughed guiltily.
“You did that?” Jim asked.
“It’s an accident…” Amy innocently scratched the back of her head. “Anyway, we had been searching for you… and other people… It looks like all people suddenly disappeared without a trace…”
“Where did you get the car?” Jim asked.
“Oh, it’s mine…” Howard replied. “Well it’s my Mom’s… but since she’s away…”
“His home is not far from mine… so… haha…” Amy said.
“Sorry for interrupting but I think it’s best for us to keep moving…” Celly said.
They paused for a moment.
“Uhhh… yeah, of course…” Amy said as she invited them to the car.
Their luggage was put on the back.
“Did you bring anything?” Celly asked as she put the luggage.
“Err… no… we didn’t think about bringing things…” Howard replied.
Jim, Alicia, and Celly sat in the middle while Amy and Howard sat on the front with Howard as the driver.
“Where are we going?” Howard asked.
“Keep going east…” Celly replied.
The car was started and the started moving forth. The sun was behind them as they moved across the rumble of a city. They needed to take lots of retour due to the rumble of collapsed buildings were blocking the roads.
After an hour of driving, some shadows passed them from the sky. Jim quickly looked out to the sky. He saw some eagles were flying up high in the sky heading towards the inner city.
“Mom! There are some…” Jim paused as he turned to his front.
There were lots of deer, oxen and figures of dark tall humans riding some of those heading towards them with some of the same figures running behind them. The figures were wearing some kind of simple armor made of the combination of wood, leaves and vines and holding wooden weapons such as spears, bows and arrows, lances and staffs.
“Whoa……” Howard, Amy, Alicia, and Jim were shocked. The car slowly stopped. “I think we should go… back…”
“Elves…” Jim muttered. “Wait… where did I ever see them?” Jim stared at the Elves.
Celly was gazing at them anxiously.
They were waiting for the hordes to pass. Howard was preparing the gear to reverse in case the hordes were hostile.
“Human!” One of the hordes shouted from afar. “Keep going!”
“What?” Howard couldn’t hear it clearly.
The hordes were passing them, making a loud rumbling noise.
“Keeeeeep…” A long shouting was heard. Suddenly, a tall dark figure with long and thin face landed on the hood of the car that startled all of them. “…Going! That way!” It said as he pointed to the east where he came from with his wooden staff. His hair was thick and long and brownish, like soft tree branches. It then went down from the hood and joined the hordes charging forth. Howard then changed the gear and kept going forth. They were observing the massive army charging towards the inner city.
“Do you think that’s where all people are?” Amy asked.
“I’ve no idea… but I don’t think they are hostile…” Howard replied.
They keep driving towards the east. Time passed. The sun was nearing the horizon. The hordes could no longer be seen. Their surroundings were getting yellowish and darker. Howard turned on the light as he kept driving. Alicia was sleeping on Jim’s shoulder. Celly was keeping eye on the surroundings. Amy and Jim were lost in their thoughts about what was happening around them; to Jack. They have reached the outskirts. Few wooden houses could be seen around them. But there’s nobody could be seen.
“I don’t see any people…” Howard broke the silence.
“They must have moved too…” Celly said as she observed the scattering trash on the prairie before the forest. There were little cracks around the area as it was farther from the epicenter.
“Any idea where they are going?” Howard asked.
“Probably south…” Celly replied as she turned to the south window beside Jim.
“Should we turn south then?” Howard asked.
“Yeah… probably a good idea…” Celly nodded.
Howard then turned the steer and headed to his right. They went off road and slowly heading to the forest. The trees were still very leafy as if they weren’t preparing for winter which was late at that moment.
After a while of driving, the car ran out of juice and broke down. They were in the middle of the forest and pretty up high in the mountain that they could see the landscape of their city which was now in rubble. The sun was seen touching the horizon. Celly suggested to finding a place to camp out for the night. She led the way as they went deeper into the forest before they reached a small stream and set up their camp there.
They made a small campfire and sat around it. They were all covered with thick brownish blanket.
“What are we going to do after this?” Amy asked, starting the conversation.
Everybody was silent.
“I’m not sure… but I would suggest that we better find another group fast. Being alone out here is scary!” Celly responded as she stretched both of her arms.
“There is a chance that my parents are still alive… I want to find them…” Amy said.
Howard turned to his right, to Amy, who was sitting beside him.
“Mom… Do you know what’s happening?” Jim asked.
Celly shook her head. “Not really, anyway, we still have to find your dad… ahhh, where’s that irresponsible husband and father?”
“Dad…”
She seemed very calm… Amy thought as she stared at Celly’s behavior.
Alicia turned to her left, to Jim, who looked down after remembering his father. She was sitting beside him.
“Anyway, we need to rest… We have to continue our journey for tomorrow…” Celly reminded.
“Should we keep watch…?” Howard asked.
“Nah, I don’t think it’s necessary… Nobody will be ambushing us…” Celly said.
“How do you know for sure?” Amy asked.
“I took a stroll… saw some fire in the city… they, the monsters, were camping… setting up defense or some sort… blah…” Celly explained.
“Wow, mom, are you trained or something? You know a lot about survival and stuffs…”
“Haha… just my past… military training…” Celly giggled.
Military training… now this confirms my dad’s statement about mom being scary… Jim thought.
Hmm… I guess that kind of explain her calmness. Maybe she’s overestimating her survival skill. Amy thought.
“Okay, enough chat, get to sleep…” Celly said as she got up to the small stream and scooped up water with a mug and poured it on the fire until it completely extinguished.
As the fire extinguished, leaving only a few of burnt twigs and branches, the darkness of the night covered them. They all lied down and slowly tried to empty their mind and rest.
Jim was staring into the darkness of the night as he tried to make sense of all that had happened especially Jack’s death.
Amy was staring towards Alicia even though she couldn’t see her clearly because of darkness of the night. She was trying to figure the thing with Alicia’s double personality. Was it only my dream? Then she was slowly occupied with the thoughts of her parents.
Alicia was figuring out her feelings and thoughts. There was a blank on her memory where she suddenly woke up with a sore stomach on the ground with Amy, Jim and friends. What happened back there? And that she wasn’t scared at all during this apocalyptic situation, not even after seeing Jack’s death before her own eyes.
They slowly got lost in their thoughts and slowly went to sleep without realizing it.
The night wore on as it was still as dark as before. The fire from the city was still burning brightly. Some insects and small nocturnal wildlives frolick about in the forest filled with darkness. They were hunting their prey and food. A human figure quickly caught into their eye. They quickly hid themselves while still observing the figure’s movement. It was a girl with a long hair. She was strolling in the middle of the night by herself.
What am I doing…? Alicia thought. Where am I going? She kept strolling aimlessly. Why am I so… empty?
Then she came to a clearing. Moonlight pierced the darkness as it fell upon her as the dark cloud cleared up slowly. She was walking with a blank stare in her eyes.
Am I sleepwalking? Her mind paused for a moment as she observed her feet. I don’t think so… What was I doing before this?
The moon was fully revealed. All the night animals hid themselves from the moonlight. Alicia was still walking with the same slow pace. Her mouth was opened a bit, much less like people lost in their thoughts.
That’s right… I was with Jim and friends… She gazed blankly towards the grasses between her feet as she strolled. Why did I leave? Why did I leave them?
The night breeze blew pass her as her soft silky hair danced with the wind.
I didn’t leave them… She giggled in her thought as her mouth slowly crack a small smile. No, I’m certainly not. I’m getting away from Jim… Her smile slowly disappeared. But why? Why do I want to get away from him? I’ve known him for several years… he’s not a bad guy… why? She kept strolling to the other side of the clearing. I just feel the need to be away from him. But why? She strolled and strolled like a robot. Why…? She tried to find the reason as she slowly walked to the end of the clearing which was a cliff. She was still walking with a steady pace towards the cliff. A cliff? Why am I walking towards it? Well, I can’t think of any reason to stop walking… Her face slowly cracked a smile as she kept walking towards the end which was only a few small steps from her. She kept walking as she stared to the darkness below her. I wonder what it feels like… to fall… She cracked a smile as she took the last step.
Suddenly, a hand quickly grabbed her right shoulder and pulled her back. She was thrown back and fell on her back. She quickly regained her full consciousness. The guy who pulled her was also falling beside her. Apparently, he quickly grabbed her and jumped backwards to instantly nullified the forwards force from his running.
“Jim!” Alicia was surprised.
Jim quickly got up and crawled to Alicia. “Alicia?! Are you okay…?” Jim asked.
“Yeah… why?” She got up slowly and observed her surroundings. “Where am I?”
“You were sleepwalking… I called you but you didn’t answer…”
Alicia noted the cliff beside them. “Did I almost…”
“Yeah…”
Alicia was shocked. “Thank you…”
“It’s okay… let’s get back…” Jim said.
“Okay…”
They stood up and headed back.
What’s happening to me lately? Alicia wondered. She then stopped.
Jim turned. “Alicia?” Jim noted that she was shivering.
“I’m scared…” She muttered.
“Oh, no… Everything is going to be fine…” Jim came and hugged her. He gently stroked her head.
“No… you don’t understand… my life have been completely strange…”
“What do you mean…?”
“My parents are ignoring me… my sister too… I feel like everybody has been avoiding me… I’m scared… I don’t want to be alone…”
“It’s okay, I’m here with you. You will never be alone.” Jim comforted.
“This morning, my parents left with my sister without saying a word. They are somewhat taking her on vacation. I usually don’t care but I cannot hold it anymore. I’m… I’m…” Her tears watered down her cheek.
Jim was pausing over the story she just told him. Her parents…? What kind of parents ignored their child?
Alicia hugged Jim tighter and cried loudly on his chest.
They slowly sat down.
Jim kept stroking her head gently as he said, “Sh…sh… It’s okay. You won’t be alone. I will always be with you. I promise.”
Alicia’s cry quieted down as she turned to Jim. She stared deep into Jim’s eyes as she asked, “Promise?”
Jim stared deep into Alicia’s twinkling eyes with his assuring eyes as he said, “I promise!”
Moonlight suddenly shone brighter as Alicia slowly reached for Jim as she closed her eyes and kissed his cheek.
“Thank you…” Alicia said with a sincere smile.
The night went on as the sun slowly rose from the horizon. Some streaks of sunlight broke through the barrier of leaves above the ground.
“Ugh… Still no signal…” Celly sighed. She was standing at the end of a deep cliff while holding her cell phone up high. “Damn it…”
“Mom?” Jim called as he walked out from the trees behind her. “What are you doing?” Jim asked as he walked to her.
“Oh, nothing… just… searching for signal…”
“Signal…?”
“I’m trying to contact your dad.”
“Oh…” Jim took out his phone and tried to turn it on but it was completely out of battery. He sighed.
“Jim, look…”
Jim quickly turned to his mom who was pointing towards the clear view of the city. He was shocked.
There was a huge crack that was the size about an eight of the city that was clearly visible from their position. Most buildings around it were gone, suspected to have fallen into it.
“That’s…” Jim gulped. But then something else got his attention. He narrowed his eyes as he observed around the crack.
There were some small black dots moving around it.
“Are those people?” Jim asked. “Around the crack… What are those?” He turned to Celly who was looking anxiously at the crack. She didn’t hear what Jim was asking. Jim turned back to the crack and trying to make out what he could from that range.
“Jim…” Alicia called as she walked towards him.
“Take a look at the crack…” Jim said.
Alicia turned to what Jim indicated. She was shocked.
“Something bad is going to happen…” Jim said.
Suddenly, they heard some rumbling noise from the sky. They all turned to the sky. Cloud above the city was slowly forming a giant hole.
Jim and Ashley were stunned by the view. As the hole was formed, many glittering silver dots could be seen coming out from the hole and formed a formation in the sky.
Jim tried to see what the dots were but he couldn’t. They were too far away. But there was one thing he knew for sure. “Are they preparing for battle?”
“What?” Alicia turned to Jim for a while before turning back to the glittering silver dots in the sky before her.
“Amy and Howard should see this…” Jim said.
The silver dots kept pouring out from the giant hole and slowly creating numerous glittering blocks.
“Uhh… Jim, I came to tell you that Amy and Howard had prepared breakfast…” Alicia remembered.
“Oh… Emm… Mom… I think we should get going as soon as we can.”
“Huh?”
“After breakfast and getting as far as we can from whatever those things are…”
“Oh, yeah, obviously… you guys go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute…” Celly said without turning.
After a while, Jim and Alicia headed back, leaving Celly who was still standing at the end of the cliff. Celly was still staring at the dots.
“How are Amy and Howard doing?” Jim asked as he strode along with Alicia.
“They are fine. There are just too many things to accept in a single day.” Alicia replied.
“Yeah, the change is too extreme in a single day.”
Suddenly, orangish light flashed from their back. They all stopped and turned to the source of the light. The glittering silver dots were charging towards the crack while exchanging some flashy orange light which seemed like fireballs with the black dots around the crack.
“What the…” Jim was surprised.
The glittering orange light rose in numbers as both parties got closer. Suddenly, the ground felt shaky.
“Earthquake?” Jim turned to his feet. “Mom!”
Celly turned to Jim but suddenly the quake got extreme. The ground Celly was standing on suddenly collapse. Celly was shocked. In that short moment, Celly fell.
Jim was aghast. “Mom!” He and Alicia quickly ran to Celly. It was hard to move during the extreme quake. They fell a couple times but they quickly reached the edge.
Celly was seen holding onto a tree root coming out from about 6 feet below them with her left hand. she was trying to climb up but the quake slowly shook her off the root.
“Mom!”
“Jim!”
“Hold on! Alicia! Grab my feet!” Jim ordered.
Alicia quickly pressed his feet to the ground with her hands.
Jim then slowly lowered his body as he tried to reach his mom with his hands but they were too far apart.
“Jim, don’t be silly…” Celly chuckled.
“Mom! Try to reach up!”
“No, Jim! You will fall! Alie will fall!” Celly shouted.
“No, I won’t! just try to…”
“No!” Celly shouted angrily.
Jim was startled. Mom…
“Don’t be stupid and risk your life for nothing! Worst of all; don’t risk other people’s life! I won’t forgive you if you do!” Celly shouted. Her face expression was different.
Jim could tell that she was being very serious.
“Alicia! Pull him back up!”
“No, mom!”
“Jim!” Celly shouted. “You get back up there!”
“Mom…”
“I’ll be fine… I promise…” Celly smiled. Her hand was near the end of the root.
“Mom, try to climb up! I know you can do it!”
“No, I can’t, Jim. The sligthest move will make me fall even faster. Listen to me, Jim. This is important and I don’t have much time. So listen!”
“Mom…”
Explosion echo could be heard coming from the city.
“There’s a letter for your dad in the bag! Don’t you dare read it! Give it to him if you see him!”
“Mom…”
“Promise me that you will give it to him!”
“I promise…” Jim’s eyes were tearing up.
“Now… Jim, be safe… I’ll see you soon…”
“No, mom!”
The end of the root where Celly was holding onto then broke and she fell with a smile for her son.
“Mom!” Jim screamed as his mother slowly disappeared into the cloud of dust. “Mom! Mom! Mom!” Jim shouted repeatedly.
The ground around them slowly dismembered as the quake got even more intense.
“Jim…” Alicia called as she observed her dangerous surroundings.
Jim then pushed himself up and stood and rushed into the trees. Seeing that, Alicia followed him with haste.
Amy and Howard were holding onto some trees while the quake lasted. There were blankets scattering all around the small campfire with some cup noodles spoiled due to the quakes. Suddenly, Jim ran passed them without any word with Alicia following him.
“Jim! Where are you going?! Alicia!” Amy shouted.
“Uhh… Accident happened!” Alicia replied.
“What?!” Amy shouted.
But Jim and Alicia were gone without a word.
“Damn it!” Amy tried to reach their bags not far from her as she crawled slowly.
“You are going after them?” Howard asked.
“Yes!”
“Jim! Slow down!” Alicia called.
They were going downhill.
“Where are you going?” Alicia asked.
“I’m going for my mom!” Jim replied as he kept running.
Being too tired, Alicia inevitably tripped and fell. Jim stopped and turned to Alicia who was slowly trying to get up. He then turned ready to leave her but something inside him couldn’t take a step to leave her. He remembered the night he promised her that he will never left her side. That promise stopped him to take a step to leave her. He then turned again and went to help her up.
Seeing Jim came back to help her, Alicia felt as a burden. “I’m sorry…” She apologized.
“It’s okay… Are you hurt?” Jim asked as they rested for a bit. He needed to calm himself too.
“I’m okay…” Alicia smiled.
“I’m sorry…” Jim said as he sat beside her. The quake slowly tired down.
“I’m sorry for your lost…”
They were silence for a moment. Jim was trying to accept everything that had happened before his own eyes. Alicia was thinking of a way to cheer Jim up. While they were lost in their own thought, the quake was gone.
“Alice…” Jim called.
“Yes?” Alicia turned to him.
“Do you think that there’s a chance for my mom to survive that fall?” Jim asked.
Alicia was startled. She didn’t know what to reply. She didn’t want to give him a negative answer but she also couldn’t give him a false hope. “I… don’t know…I’m sorry.”
Jim sighed. “If she survives… she will search for us, right?”
“Of course, she will!”
“What if she is injured? She won’t be able to find us…”
“Then we have to search for her.”
Jim turned to her.
“Let’s go…” Alicia smiled.
Seeing her warming smile, Jim’s spirit returned. He smiled back as the both got up. Jim then noticed that the quake was gone. “The quake has stopped…”
“Let’s hurry then…” Alicia replied.
They both then continued went downhill. But just as soon as they continued their journey, they met hordes of Orcs who were scavenging through the bushes before them. They were shocked but they quickly turned and ran away.
“Damn it!” Jim mumbled.
One of the Orcs noticed them and shouted at them. “Humans!”
With a single shout, all of the Orcs chased them.
“Ahh… Jim!” Alicia was scared.
“Don’t worry, keep running! Watch your steps!” Jim said.
“Okay!”
The Orcs were slow but restless. Jim and Alicia quickly got out from their vision but they weren’t giving up as they knew that there were preys and they would eventually found them.
“We’ve lost them!” Alicia said.
“Keep running… they won’t give up easily…”
They headed back to their camp. Amy and Howard were waiting there.
Seeing Jim and Alicia returned, Amy got furious as she stood up along with Howard. “Where were you people?! We looked for you!”
“Sorry, Amy, but we’ve got a situation!” Jim quickly said.
“What? What’s going on?” Amy asked.
Jim and Alicia stopped and were catching their breath.
“There… are… monsters… coming this way…” Jim panted.
“What? The big muscular fiends?” Amy asked.
Jim and Alicia nodded.
They then heard noises coming from the where Jim and Alicia came.
“They’re close!” Jim warned.
“Damn it! We haven’t packed yet!” Amy said as she looked around for their blankets that were still all over the place.
“There’s no time! Just take what we can and run!” Jim said.
“Wait! Where’s your mom?!” Amy asked.
Jim and Alicia were startled.
“Uh… she said that she had stuffs to take care of and left…” Jim replied.
Alicia was surprised by Jim’s answer but there was no time to ask about it.
“What?! She just left?!”
“Yeah, yeah! Long story! Let’s move!” Jim quickly grabbed a bag and ran. Howard picked up the bag beside Amy and followed Jim. Amy and Alicia each picked up a blanket hastily and ran. They left the rest of their stuffs and disappeared into the woods.
They kept running and running aimlessly with the noise behind them that kept coming closer and closer by the time. Suddenly, the blanket Alicia was holding got stuck on a tree branch while she was running. She was held back as she tried to pull it off the branch.
Jim and the others quickly noticed Alicia.
“Leave it!” Jim shouted.
“Let’s go!” Amy shouted.
Alicia then let go of the blanket and continued running.
Jim waited for Alicia to run passed him before he continued running behind her.
They kept on running through the woods. They were confident that they could outrun the Orcs chasing them but unfortunately, as they came to a clearing, a rock wall blocked their path. They were shocked by their luck
“What?? No, no, no, no… what do we do?” Howard asked.
“Errr…..eeehhh…” Jim turned around a couple of times to find a way out. The rock wall was too flat and upright to be climbed on. They could try to turn back it was too risky. “Left or right? Left or right? Left? Right? Left!” Jim exclaimed as he turned to the left. They all followed Jim. But soon, they heard noise coming from their front.
“What, they are coming from this way too? Turn back! Turn back!” Jim shouted as he quickly ran back. The others followed him.
They quickly returned to the point where they met the rock wall. Alicia then fell as she was getting too tired from all the running.
“Alicia!” Jim quickly helped her up.
“Alice!” Amy called as she ran to her.
Alicia was panting.
“Are you okay?” Jim asked.
“I’m sorry… I slow you guys down…”
“No, it’s okay…” Amy said.
“Ehhh… Guys… I think we are surrounded…” Howard said as he stared on the right side of the wall.
“No… this can’t be…” Jim stood up along with Alicia.
There was noise coming from all direction.
“What do we do now?” Howard was shivering.
“No…” The blanket Amy was holding fell as she lost herself into desperation.
“What do we do now…?” Howard took a few steps back. He was so scared that his legs felt weak all of a sudden and he fell on his own.
“Howard…” Jim saw that Howard was scared to death while Alicia was too tired to stand and Amy was drowning to her fear as well.
“This is the end…” Howard said as he covered his head with both of his hands.
The noise was getting louder and closer. They could hear the roaring of the Orcs. They could feel the trembling of the ground that got stronger over time.
“This is bad…” Amy muttered.
“Jim…” Alicia called as she hugged his left hand.
Jim turned to her
She was not scared at all despite the situation they were in. She even gave him a smile. “I’m happy that you are here with me… You give me all the courage I need.” She said.
“Alice…” Jim stared deep into her eyes. He was shocked when he saw the sincereness of her words from her eyes. No… I can’t end like this… Jim was angered by his streak of bad luck. First Jack, then mom, then all of us? No… I won’t let it! Jim put his bag down and searched it, shoving many things out.
Alicia was startled. “Jim? What are you doing?”
Amy and Howard quickly turned to Jim.
“Jim?” Amy called.
“I won’t let it… I won’t let it!” Jim exclaimed as he pulled out a kitchen knife. The table cloth wrapping it was released as it was pulled.
They all were startled.
“Jim?” Alicia let go of Jim’s hand as she moved back a bit.
Jim stood up with his anger and fearless will as he stared into the incoming Orcs before him. “I won’t let anyone die on me!” Jim roared.
As the Orcs began to appear from the bushes, Jim charged forth with his knife. “Gaahh!”
Seeing a puny human, charging towards it, the Orc shoved his mighty axe and bashed Jim with the side. Jim was thrown away.
“Arght!”
“Jim!” Alicia shouted.
Amy and Howard were scared.
The Orcs stopped advancing after had the humans cornered. One of the Orcs then picked Jim up by grabbing his shirt. But Jim quickly turned and tried to cut the Orc’s hand. Jim cut the Orc’s hand slightly. The Orc was pissed and kicked Jim’s belly. Jim was thrown a couple of feet away. The Orcs laughed seeing the Jim’s pointless struggle.
“Jim…” Alicia’s tears began to flow.
Amy and Howard were petrified.
The Orc strode to Jim who was suffering the pain from his belly. He could hardly breathe normally after the kick. The Orc slowly picked him up again.
“Humans are weak. Bwahahahaha.” It laughed arrogantly.
Jim could hardly move. “I will kill you…” Jim said weakly.
“Hmmm???” The Orc lowered one of his eyebrows while raising the other as he put his ear close to Jim’s mouth. “What did you say?”
“I… will… kill… you… all!”
Suddenly, Jim was smashed down.
“Arght!”
“Jim!” Alicia shouted.
The Orc then stepped on him with one leg as it boasted, “Talk big? Bwahahaha… You humans talk big! You can’t even stand now! Bwhahahaha! You thin twigs will never defeat me even in a thousand years!” It said as it showed off its overly-muscled body.
“Let Jim go!” Alicia suddenly shouted as she charged towards the Orc with a kitchen knife.
Jim, Amy and Howard were startled.
“Alice…” Amy murmured.
“Gaaah!” Alicia roared as she thrust her knife towards the Orc.
“Hmm?” With a single shove to its left, the Orc bashed Alicia with the side of its big axe.
“Arght!” Alicia was thrown.
“Alicia!” Jim called weakly.
“I love to see you humans’ pointless struggles… Bwahahaha!”
“Tch!” Amy was pissed.
The Orc then left Jim and strode to Alicia. “So, what do we have here? Another puny human?”
“Alicia… Damn it!” Jim couldn’t move his body.
The Orc then grabbed her by the neck.
“Gahh…” Alicia coughed as the Orc lifted her up. Her hands were clawing the Orc’s massive hand with her nails.
“Let go…of…her…” Jim said weakly.
“You want to play hero too? You are too small to play hero. Bwahahahaha!” It laughed.
“Let her go!” Amy shouted as she pointed a kitchen knife and a scissor towards the Orc.
“Ehh?” The Orc turned to her.
“I’ll count to three!” Amy shouted.
“Ehh?”
“Amy…” Jim murmured.
“One!”
The Orc chuckled as it put down its axe.
“Two!”
The Orc then grabbed the rounded wooden shield from his back.
“Three!”
It threw the shield towards Amy.
They were startled. The shield quickly flew towards Amy. Amy didn’t have enough time to dodge. The shield hit and bounced away. Howard fell with both of his hands bruised after blocking the shield.
“Howard!” Amy was shocked.
“I’m… fine…” Howard smiled but both of his hands were shivering from the pain. His bones may had fractured from the impact.
“Hmm… Interesting! This is amusing! Bwahahaha!” The Orc laughed.
“Tch! You will pay!” Amy shouted as she charged towards the Orc.
“Ohhh…” The Orc was attracted by Amy’s fierceness as it threw Alicia aside to the right.
“Ah!” Alicia screamed as she hit the ground.
“Alicia!” Jim called weakly.
“Jim…” Alicia weakly rose her hand towards Jim before she fell unconscious.
“Gahhhh!!!” Amy shouted.
“Come!” The Orc gave her a wide freakish smile.
“Die!” Amy shouted as she was about to cut the Orc’s body.
But the Orc punched her away with its right hand.
“Arght!” Amy screamed. She was thrown.
“They are no match for you, boss!” One of the Orcs cheered.
“Yeah!” The crowd cheered.
“When do we get to play with them?” One of the Orcs asked.
“When I’m done with them! Bwahahahaha!” The Orc strode to Amy who was trying to stand up.
Amy turned to the big figure beside her. Its foot quickly struck her. She was thrown again.
The crowd laughed.
“Amy…” Howard called weakly.
“You humans and your struggles! It’s fun to watch you suffer. Hehehe…” The Orc stood before Amy.
“I’ll… end… your…life…” Amy murmured. Amy took a close look on its attributes as most of them looked and wore almost the same outfit. She noticed that there was a scar on its neck. She memorized it deeply with her hatred and anger.
“Hehehe…” The Orc lifted its right leg, ready to stomp Amy.
“Damn it!” Jim cursed.
“Amy…” Howard tried to reach her with his shivering hands but she was too far away.
“Scream some more!” The Orc shouted as it stomped his foot down.
Suddenly, strong roots broke out from the ground under Amy and caught its foot.
The Orc was startled. “What? What is this?!”
Suddenly all roots broke out from the ground under the Orcs and sustained the Orcs. While the Orcs were struggling to break free, the roots broke out from under Jim, Alicia, Amy, and Howard, and brought them up the rock wall. On top of the rock wall, there was a man with long white beard that touched his shoulder and long unruly white hair with some leaves coming out from it that covered most of his face. The man was wearing robe that was made of fallen leaves and was holding a twisted wooden rod with his left hand. He was raising both of his hands as if he was controlling the roots.
As Jim and Amy felt that they were saved from the danger, they fell unconscious.
“Who are you?” Howard asked as they slowly approached the breaded man.
“No need to fear me. I’m the master of the forest. You have to get out from here! This forest is already swarmed by the Orcs.” The old man replied.
“I don’t think we are in any state to move…” Howard said.
“I understand. But we are already surrounded and they were finding a way to climb up here.”
“What do we do, now?”
“There’s only one way… I will send you to Heaven.”
Howard was startled. “What? You are going to kill us?”
“No. There’s an altar. Let’s go, we don’t have much time!” The old man said while the roots put them down and slowly retracted. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah…”
“Follow me…” He said as he turned and strode away. Then green grasses slowly grow from the rocks under Jim, Alicia, and Amy and slowly passing them towards the breaded man before then disappeared into the rocks again.
Howard followed the man as he ignored the loud roaring and cursing noise from the bottom of the rock cliff.
They strode for a while before they reached a green place on the rocky ground. Within it, there were 12 ancient pillars that were about 20 feet tall and 2 feet radius thick each and were placed in a circular formation around wide circular patterns with strange symbols. There were vines entrangling each of these pillars.
The old man stopped. Jim, Alicia and Amy were put in the middle of the altar. “Step in.”
Howard stood in the middle of the altars with his unconscious friends all around him.
“Take care of your friends.”
Light burst out from the strange symbols and the circular patterns under them and in a blink of eye, they vanished along with the light.
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