Original - With Wrath, the Fall

Randal - Chapter 17: The Blood Fall

The air was thick, gloomy, and uncomfortably foreboding as Lane slipped away. Animals small and big ran through the city streets and flew past the city skies as if in fear of something to come, all heading west. Keagan and Kalvin stood close to each other, their own fear readable on their face.

"You guys mind telling me what's going on? I mean, with you being part beast and all, you can't tell me you don't have a sense of what's happening. Right, dudes?"

Their eyes went to the skies. Kalvin responded, "I cannot tell you what exactly is happening but something is coming, something that shouldn't be."

He grabbed a hold of Keagan's hand more tightly.

I had an urge to look toward the sky. Pillars made of a red thick fluid spiraled upward, the wind roared, earth shook, and the nearby trees seemed to recede or... hibernate? They lost all their leaves suddenly, as if a half season of winter had passed within moments. Then everything went silent, completely silent. Eden and the twins seemed equally afraid as me.

Levvy stared at her sis, her entire body shivering, "Sis, I don't like this at all... Something feels... wrong..."

Letty protectively wrapped around her sister as if to shield her from something, "Yeah... I don't like it either..."

Adriana stared at the sky just like the rest of us her hand grasping something and resting on her chest. Her mind seemed bothered since we met her at the caravan. Her eyes suggested that it wasn't the sky that bothered her. She didn't seem to share the same feelings as the rest of us. She closed her eyes mouthing inaudible words.

Suddenly a horn sounded. Not just any horn but a trumpet, like an ancient one made out of a conch. It drew me right back to the sky. I watched. The pillars seemed to gather in balls in the sky then disperse about. From the sky a single large drop of the thick red fluid fell, my eyes following it. I put out a palm. It landed in it with a hissing sound. Pain surged from my hand and up my arm. I whipped my wrist, the drop hitting the ground.

"What the hell was that..."

The cobblestone where the drop hit sizzled and hissed. More drops fell followed by hail that shattered nearly everywhere it hit. The ground seemed to become a bubbling pool of melted burning stone. I tossed my head around. Buildings were hissing, collapsing as the rain ate way at them. What people survived Lane's onslaught ran screaming in agony as the rain touched their skin peeling it away like a hot knife to butter. My ears rang, blood pulsed, heart raced. I watched people fall. Some collapsing as the rain ate away their tissues, muscles, and bone. Others found themselves caught under the falling rubble.

Fear tugged at me. It wanted me to run. It wanted me to get away as far as I could but I couldn't. I was frozen, completely helpless amongst the hysteria.

Adriana shouted next to my ear, "Pull yourself together Randal! How long can you keep this up!"

"What?"

I didn't know what she was talking about.

Keep what up?

I panicked. I looked at my arms, my legs, my feet, touched my head, everything was normal.

"Hello! We're talking to you!"

I couldn't respond.

Kalvin eased in, "It's no use, he doesn't even know what he's doing right now, not consciously. He's in shock. Luckily, he had the mind to protect us all. Come on, let's go into that building. It seems to be remaining whole. Let's take it as our safest bet."

Keagan picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. I stared back at everything happening in absolute horror.

Blood... Bodies... What's... what's going on... Why... Why do I feel so afraid... Lane did he... No...