The Desolation [on hold]

Part 2: Child's Play

I am so sorry for all the waiting. I recently got the time to sit back and do some writing. I'll try to update a lot more often :). Anyways I appreciate your support and enjoy the story!

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   The sky was grey and full of gloomy clouds, almost reflecting the mood of the town in all. Alex felt like a python trapped in its own thick coils. Sweat drenched his back and his bone marrow trembled. “Dang, this place is sick!” A grin painted on John’s face. “Dude, this is like a zombie apocalypse aftermath!”

  Alex shot him a look of pure death. A murder of crows passed by, croaking their horrible noises. Their forms looked more alien than anything natural, blobs of black screaming across the sky.

  Alex panted as he kept his persistent stamina up the hill. John seemed to have run out of gas by the time he reached the top, slowly inching his way. From the hill, Alex could see his home about three-fourths of a mile away. The warm green grass carped of the Upper End shone like a diamond.

   The town was two worlds in one. From the moment the fire sputtered and died on the Day, very strange phenomena appeared in the site. Mysterious piles of black powder were found all over the place. Most of the people claimed hauntings of their homes, and grotesque corpses all over town.

   Alex’s father remarked that about three months after the Day, people started leaving. They headed north, east whatever you name it. They wanted to get out, badly. Soon enough the general human activity halted. The roaring engines of cars no longer made pedestrians jump. The warm laughter of the playground turned into a cold and menacing quiet. Only the squeaks of the rusty hinges against the wind occasionally broke it. Buildings crumbled, food rotted, and the people who could not afford to move, slowly and agonizingly lived their frail life.

   The times when the Lower Half was… normal were all but vague memories in the minds of John and Alex. The strange silence was all they remembered.

   “Wow, where did all this fog come from?” Alex squinted to make sure the thick heavy blanket of fog that shrouded the area down the hill. “It’s there, and wonderfully welcoming.” Sarcasm dripped in his friend’s voice.

   Gravel broke loose and skittered about as the boys scrambled down the bleak downward road. A towering dark red iron fence was waiting for them.

  “Ouch! What the heck, the damn gravel went in my sneakers!” Alex chuckled and shook his head.  It’ll help to have a laugh anyway. Terrible things are coming. A flash of fire and bloodshot eyes zipped and left. It felt as if the lump of rock in his stomach got heavier the closer they got. The misty droplets of fog cleared as the sun burst behind the clouds

  John skidded to a stop, nearly bashing his head on the huge three meter tall fence, equipped with menacing curls of barbed wire at its top. “So Alex, any ideas on how to get over this sucker?” he said after a long pause. Alex just stared in a hypnotic like state.

   Guess I have to do all the work around here. “Come on! Look for an opening or something!” The fence was about fifty feet across, abruptly turning at a giant oak tree.

   Alex ran across its length, his hand skimming the coarse pattern. It all seemed like an iron fortress. Impenetrable. John tried to squeeze in his tough build through sharp holes, yet that was only possible if he was a ball of jelly. Alex cringed at the sight of his shirt, a torn mess.

  “Alex!” Alex turned around and saw John looking at a formidable hole a couple meters above his head while simultaneously waving at him. He chuckled. Still the jumpy little boy I met a long time ago. By the time he rushed over, the athlete was crawling up the fence like a spider. The oak tree casted a large dreary shadow over him.

    Shoes dug into the mesh as the boys, grunting and sweating, made their way up. Blisters painfully formed. The trip through the hole was even more painstaking.

   “Ommph!” Alex landed hard on the grassy ground, the jolt rippling through his body. John was sitting on the ground, examining an angry red gash across his stomach. It tainted his tan skin in an unpleasant manner.

   Alex took in the view before him. The school was a football field’s distance away. A peculiar shroud of fog surrounded it, making it look grayer than it actually was. The shadows stated that it was already past noon, and an invisible clock ticked in his mind.

  “What’s that?” John gestured to a deformed object. It had a tar-like black color and clearly smelled of charcoal.

  A wave of nausea swept Alex when he realized what it was. Its images haunted him every single night of his life. A field full of burnt children’s bones.  

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This isn't much, but it'll just be a little treat :)

   “Well would you look at that!” John’s face was smeared with a goofy smirk, consequently terrible for the moment.

      Alex never really recalled how and why the town never torn down the building long after the “mourning” days. Never less bother to clean up a bunch of burnt bones. This is just really freaky.

   The shadow of John focused next to his own. Alex’s heavy breathing threatened to blow all the brittle, dry grass away. John just stood, waiting for his friend to act. His muscles tensed to run, as if it was his automatic response to such a wide area of land.

   Disoriented images of burning hunks flashed. Death’s whisper crawled around every corner. Alex sped up his pace. Something seemed to be watching. Something sinister. His neck itched.

  The sun illuminated the grass into a brilliant green. Objects that looked like burnt textbooks littered the field. Ominous piles of black powder reeked of charcoal.

   “Ya know, why are we walking anyway? We might as well take freaking centuries to get there, or we’ll probably be lunch for some relentless spirits.” He mouthed a “screw it” and with that was off.

   “Hey!” Alex sprinted after his friend, hoping not to trip on the anomalies on the ground. The western wind chilled his ears.

  John continued his running burst, his mowhawk flaying about. “Gahhh!” His shout startled Alex, who nearly fell over him. His gaze gestured to the schoolyard.

   The field was divided by a large thin dune of powder. One half was bare, while the other was grassy and contained many skeletons. And beyond that, the school in all its terrible demise.