Flooded Earth - A Gay, Post-Apocalyptic Romance Adventure

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

I was awoken by a noise. A noise so painful, so horrified, so distraught that it felt like ice to my body. That made it three screams that would stay with me forever. Little did I know that it wasn't the last.

I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes and flew down the stairs and out of The Bessie.

Then I saw it.

Lying in the pond, face down, was Crick's body. It lay motionless, except that it was drifting slightly.

Judith and Karen rushed outside behind me. They pulled me behind them and gazed on Crick's lifeless form. There were other people gathering around the edges of the plaza, all surveying the dead body.

"Wha-" Karen started to say but she cut herself short. She, and everyone else in the plaza, had just spotted the second oddity of the scene.

Three men, dressed in dirty black clothes stood in a triangular formation just behind the pond. One of the men was tall and lanky. The length of his limbs were disproportionate to his thin muscles. The man's face was long and cunning with a large nose that stuck outwards at an awkward angle.

The second man was his opposite. He was short and stocky with a square head. The small features on his face suggested a lack of intelligence.

The third figure stood at the point of the triangle. He was huge. His tall height and large muscles made him spread out and stand like a wall.

In his big hands rested Crick's shotgun.

"Where's the boy?" The largest man boomed. His voice was deep and powerful. It induced fear and let off an air of 'no mercy'.

"Who wants to know?" Poofy growled, stepping forward.

"We do." The lanky man said. "My name is Sword. This is Hammer," He gestured to the short stocky man to his left, "and this is White." The huge man made no new movement. Instead he searched around the faces in the plaza.

Judith pushed me farther behind her, concealing me from view.

"Which boy are you talking about?" Poofy continued, "You could mean anyone!"

"This boy." The man named White said and pulled out a water-damaged photograph from a pocket in his black trousers. To my horror, I saw it was the photograph that used to stand on the shaky table next to the double bed in our old room on the boat.They're talking about me!

Poofy cautiously moved forward and looked at the photograph for a second. He showed no emotion on his face.

"Never seen him." he concluded, "Why did you do that to Crick?"

"He got in our way" White replied. "Where's the boy?"

"He's not here!"

"Yes he is. We know he is."

"In fact," the man named Sword said triumphantly, "He's over there! Behind the fat woman!"

Judith didn't move. She simply moved her arm and grabbed mine firmly.

"What do you want with him?" she said, her tone intimidating.

"We will take him off your hands." Sword said. He had a nasty nasal quality to his voice. Not unlike Braint's except this man's voice cut at the air like knives.

"You will do no such thing." Judith replied.

"He is unwanted! Alone! We will look after him now."

"How do you know all this?" Karen asked, intrigue creeping into her stern tone.

"Two weeks ago we picked up a distress call" Sword began, "We marked its location immediately and found nothing but wreckage, this is where we picked up this photo. We searched the area for a while and came across the bodies of the two adults."

My feeling of fear and shock was interupted by the sinking of my heart. The glimmer of hope left inside of me was extinguished.

"We took the bodies and burnt them." Sword continued.

Anger and hatred for the man stood before me swelled inside me.They've burnt my parent's bodies, killed Crick and they want to take me away.

"We found no evidence of the boy until we intercepted a transmission from a ship two days later saying that they'd found the boy. We tracked the boat back here. After meetings with our superiors, it has been decided thatweshall take the boy for you."

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint ya lads" Judith said, "But ya can't have him."

"Surely he's nuisance though! You won't have to worry about providing for him anymore" Sword toyed.

"He's no nuisance. We're managing fine" Karen said firmly, her eyes locked on Sword.

"There's no one to miss him now! No one cares about him anymore!" Sword said exasperated.

"We care." Karen and Judith said together.

"So do I." Poofy said.

"And me." Braint perked up.

"And me!"

"And me."

"And me."

"And me!"

Voices shouted from around the circle. All protesting to the three men stood in the middle of the plaza.

"Well that's sweet" White boomed, and the voices stopped. "But it's not up for discussion. He's coming with us.

"No." Judith growled. "Ty get inside."

"I wouldn't do that." The three men drew closer. White made to grab me but Judith blocked his path, her hands folded tightly across her chest.

"He's staying here." She said.

"No he's not." and with that, the man named Hammer pulled me towards the trio.

White slung up the shotgun and pulled the trigger.

Judith's body fell limply to the floor.