Chapter 20 A New Threat
TWENTY
A NEW THREAT
Julia
We pass a massive, crumbing stone wall that’s dividing a long section of brush and trees.
Large piles of rubble are gathered up around it, all covered in vines, moss, and plants with little, white flowers growing off of them.
I briefly pause to sift through a small pile of dirty, broken glass—the colors stealing my attention—only to find there is more glass within the grass all around me.
Pieces press into the ground under my boots.
My gaze flicks to Krellix, who pays no mind as his tail shifts over and through the grass.
A dozen or so more partially collapsed walls appear after the first one, along with even more piles of rubbish.
There is dirt and rocks, rusty metal equipment, old machines, crooked frames, rotting wood, and plastic all gathered where old buildings once were.
All of which have been taken over by the forest completely.
The vines covering everything thicken the further we go until the remnants of the old world blends seamlessly with the forest.
I’m beginning to hear the distant hum of nearby human and machine activity—and the nerves those noises bring sharpen my movements.
With one eye on Krellix, the other on what’s around me, I hurry my steps as I avoid tangled metal fencing, barbed wire, and more weathered glass.
We enter a clearing where the trees thin and follow it for a short time.
Jagged stones soon replace the grass and dirt.
The ground is flatter in this area; we might be walking on what was once a road.
The five of us journey through these old monuments of humanity in silence while Krellix carefully leads us through hidden gaps in between.
His familiarity with this place becomes clear pretty quickly.
Sucked up in the ruined, partially forested landscape, I barely notice when Benjamin pauses to touch a still-standing metal door frame.
He starts to lift the tilted, hanging door for a closer look. I walk over to help him stand the old door upright and back into its frame.
“It’s still intact,” he whispers. “Amazing.” His finger runs over several small bolts at the top of it.
“It’s just a door.” I take one good perusal of it. It’s covered in grime and dirt and there are leaves stuck in the mesh. “I’m sure there is a lot more to see than this around here.”
“I… hope so. My brother would have loved being amongst so much… history.” His eyes drop as his voice falters.
Sadness strikes me and I squeeze his shoulder. “I’m sorry he didn’t make it. I really am. I know it’s been difficult out here and that definitely doesn’t make things easier…”
Silently, he nods. “I’m sorry too. He was there… and then he wasn’t. I didn’t say goodbye. I didn’t have time to react. A blink was all it took for him to be taken away from me. To end his life. It shouldn’t be like that. It’s so… unfair.”
I gently take his arm and face him toward me.
“He went fast, which is how we all want to go. It was quick, meaning there was no pain. He might not be here anymore but he hasn’t left you, Benjamin.
Most people don’t realize this, but heaven and love are the very same thing, the very same place.
When we lose someone… we think we’re losing both but we’re not…
They’re still here with us, inside us, we just can’t hear or see them anymore.
Heaven and love are meant to be felt, and our time together in this crazy life is how we learn that.
Your feelings live, and so he does too, through you. ” I squeeze his shoulder again.
He doesn’t respond, his gaze remaining downcast and I wonder if I said too much, if I should have left it alone.
Why would he want to be comforted by a stranger over something so devastating and…
private? I might have overstepped; I’ve never been in a position to give others much comfort in the past. I shift on my feet and awkwardly wait for him to respond.
Eventually, he shakes his head and pulls his arm away, heading after the others up ahead.
I watch him go before turning my own eyes back to the door.
I take a step away and wipe my hands on my pants, chastising myself, not sure if I can even believe my own words or if I’m full of shit. It’s not like I would know. I don’t have any family I’m still in contact with. My brother and I haven’t spoken since his deployment.
Raising my gaze to where I last saw the others, mere moments ago, motion in the corner of my eye catches my attention.
Before I even decide to move, I crouch and shift behind the door, thankful we just lifted it into its frame.
Hearing the telltale rustling of scales on grass in the opposite direction Krellix and the others went, I hold my breath as I peek around the door and through the brush at the side.
A naga emerges. A yellow and white one.
A Boa Constrictor.
My heart stills. Not just a Boa, but The Boa. The same one that had been skulking around Zaku’s for the past few weeks.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. My teeth clamp as my arm slowly snakes behind my back to grab my firearm. Has he been following us all this time? Did he just find us now?
I slink backwards until I’m behind the nearest tree, racking my brain as to what to do. Seeing another broken wall nearby, I decide it might be best to try and hide—if I can make it in time.
Backing up again, I dodge quietly around the trees and shuffle behind the wall, praying the Boa didn’t hear me well enough with the machinery humming in the distance.
If I’m lucky, he won’t be able to smell me either.
Krellix said there were a lot of odd smells right now.
I’m praying he’s right. I’m still partially wet from this morning, too, and I haven’t broken out in a sweat yet.
Not being able to see the naga from where I’m hiding, I remain still, waiting for something to happen. Unfortunately, if I don’t keep moving, the naga is going to smell me or catch the trail of the others—if he hasn’t already been following us all along.
Listening to the grass shuffle as he moves around, I curse under my breath.
The abrupt rumbling of a ship flying towards us sounds in my ears and I nearly cry out in relief. I don’t waste a second, shuffling towards another wall that’s sticking out of the one I’m following. I round its corner, using the noise as a cover.
Suddenly confronted with a wild array of bushes and no clear path left to go, I lower my body to the ground and squeeze between them and the wall. Peering around slowly, I spy yet another wall, this one unattached to the one I’m beside. It’s a short ways ahead of me just past the wild brush.
Just as I’m pulling my legs into the bushes, I hear a hiss and the naga’s tail appears on my other side, sliding through the grass left. I freeze, watching as it coils out of sight, briefly entranced by the yellow and white patterning along it.
If he gets a hold of me… I don’t know what will happen and I don’t want to find out.
The ship flies past but the noise from it remains nearby, like it’s making a landing.
Listening to its distant vibration, I search for an escape, uncertain how much time I have.
There’s a large, dirty red circle with a line through it on the wall to my right, through the bushes.
I’m not sure what it means but I crawl toward it, only pausing briefly to glance behind me.
Seeing the Boa’s tail gone from the grass to my left, I work my way through the rest of the foliage, ignoring the sticks scraping my body and tangling in my hair.
Once I’m in front of the wall, pressed against the moss clinging to it, I push up onto my knees and clear the branches over the circle.
Discovering a crack in the wall under it, I don’t even hesitate, quickly squeezing through it.
Emerging on the other side, I find myself in a dimly-lit, cement, rectangular room.
It appears to be a dusty, old place with several small openings high up on the walls that allow light in.
Vines creep through and over the deeply slotted windows, making the interior dense with shadow.
I scurry to the back wall within and bring my rifle forward, aiming it at the small crack in the wall, waiting for the Boa to emerge. Next to the crack and to its right are a pair of shut double doors. A quick glance around reveals them to be one of two sets of doors in the room.
The silence returns as the ship finishes making its landing.
Several tense minutes go by but the Boa doesn’t appear and the doors to the room remain closed.
Unrelinquishing the tight grip on my gun, my ears prick for any sound coming from outside. Hearing rustling, I shuffle forward and peer through the tangled vines of the window closest to the crack.
Suddenly, a buzzing sounds in my ears and the naga’s tail bursts out from around the corner of the building to hit something I can’t see. That is until a drone sails through the air and crashes into the outside wall above the crack. I jerk back from the slotted window and re-aim my weapon.
After another stressful several minutes of holding my breath and waiting, I force myself to move away from the wall and search for a way to escape.
The longer I stay here, the more I risk him discovering me.
Also if I don’t get back to the others soon, Krellix is going to come search for me and possibly walk into a trap.
Olivia and the others could get hurt… Turning around to get a closer look at my surroundings, I spy a rusty sign on the wall across from me.
Maintenance Room.
Authorized Personnel Only.
Next to it is a small map. It shows the entrance to a series of underground tunnels, all beginning with the door to my left.