Eighteen Weeks After: A Short Story

Part VII

The sound of my rapid breaths was all I could hear as I ran the length of the highway, decrepit vehicles with open doors and shattered windows flying past me on either side as we approached the overpass that lead to the city. I could see it now – the silhouette of a society long fallen – like a shadow against the wall of the storm, looming near yet so far from our grasp.

Before the missiles had dropped from above and fires had blazed through each and every street that once had been called home, the town in the distance would have stood twice as high, with skyscrapers reaching towards the heavens and towers stretching to the skies. But now, squinting into the distance, all I could see were ruins – the shell of something that had once been great; of buildings that had crumbled in on themselves and roads that had long been void of the living.

I strapped my hope tight to my chest, refusing to let the claws of doubt and despair cling to the faith that told me I would again feel the warmth of my sister's embrace and hear the laugh that had always been bundled in her youth. I kept the memories of her childish grin that could brighten even the darkest of days and the clear blue gaze that radiated with her spark of innocence locked firm behind my eyes, drawing from them the strength I needed to push onwards.

The road was solid beneath my flying feet, each tread that pushed me closer to salvation sending a jolt of shock pounding through my bones like the tremor of an earthquake as a crack of thunder and a strike of lightening ruptured the dark sky above. My heart lurched into an impossibly faster beat of fear, my muscles turning numb as I drove them to their very limits in a sprint, the pack over my shoulders tugging on my spine and pulling against the force of my limbs.

My lungs burned and my heart thrashed in my chest as I urged my arms to pump harder and my legs to turn faster. Around me I could hear the first drops of rain tapping against the brittle bitumen and corroded cars, their beats erratic and unpredictable. With each passing second the rhythm of the patters accelerated alongside the panting of my breaths, biting at my heels and nudging me closer to the safety I prayed existed within the limits of the city.

I heard Kael hiss in pain at my tail as thunder clapped overhead and the hammering of the raindrops multiplied, and that was when I felt the first of the liquid bullets bite into my flesh, tearing at my fair skin as it rolled down my forehead and left a blazing trail of fire in its wake.

I hastily tugged the hood of my jacket over my head, willing it to remain in place against the amplifying winds that whipped around my face as I ran for my life. Already I could feel my body pleading for me to slow, my muscles burning with fatigue and my lungs igniting with the heat of my blood as I strained to sprint faster. The contours of the city became nearer as the overpass raced beneath our feet, and Kael advanced into my peripheral view with the lengthy strides of his long legs as we fought against the sting that accompanied every bead of toxic rain that showered down on us from above.

The droplets assaulted the fabric of my jacket, sinking into the material and threatening to tear through to the precious skin beneath. As the agonizing blaze in my chest and the fiery scorch of my muscles intensified so did the water that fell from the skies, and all of a sudden it was like the faucet of the heavens had been released and the menacing patters morphed into a sinister downpour.

Suddenly I was thrust into a pain that was impossible to escape. The unbearable burns that fired at my skin like hundreds of shards of flaming shrapnel roused a desperate cry of agony that lodged itself tight in my throat and craved to be released. I struggled to grip my hood in a fight to shield my face against the raging rains as we stumbled our way through skewed vehicles that had been abandoned along the span of the overpass, the outskirts of the broken town mere feet in the distance.