The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire (4 page)

Around the
back of the farmhouse was a row of five small houses mainly made
out of wood and scrap metal. Only two of them were occupied, this
is where the Florence and her family lived. Their neighbours were
what’s left of the Olson’s. The rest of the houses were rented out
to travellers in exchange for supplies. The small houses got a
little cold in the winter, but aside from that they were decent
structures considering the situation. For years there had been
plans to construct more permanent, liveable houses within Haven,
but we simply didn’t have the man power or supplies.

I knocked on
Florence’s door, almost instantly she answered. A huge smile split
her face as she wrapped her arms around me.

“
Oh thank God! I was worried sick!” She said as she continued
to hug me. It felt nice to feel her pressing up against me, as
always she smelt nice too. Showers were a privilege in Haven, but
somehow Florence was always able to smell of flowers, which I never
really understood. For a few moments we stood there in an embrace,
her arms wrapped tight around me as though she was meeting a long
lost relative for the first time. For a moment I started to think
she wasn’t ever going to let go.

“
We found some pretty disturbing stuff.” I mumbled to her as I
broke away from her embrace.

“
What did you find?” She frowned, her green eyes wide with
wonder.

“
What’s left of Tony Olsen, for a start.”

“
Oh heavens…” Florence gasped, quickly glancing around to make
sure that neither Tony’s wife or Laura, the one remaining Olsen
child was around.

“
And something else.” I practically whispered, at that moment I
found myself struggling to find the words to tell Florence. The
news that I was about to bring down on here was life changing. Not
just for her of course, but for every single person in Haven. I
knew that if a monster big enough to give birth to eggs of that
size was around, then we were in danger’s path. Florence was a
smart girl – I had no doubt in my mind that she would understand
the seriousness of the situation.

“
A nest.” I finally said, after a few moments of
silence.

Florence
didn’t reply, only raising one eye brow in confusion.

“
It was a pretty big nest. The eggs were huge, like scary big.
We’re not fully sure what’s laid them, but whatever it was killed
Tony, and likely Kyle and Amy too.” I explained, finally this
provoked the reaction I had initially expected.

“
What are we planning doing?!” She panicked, beginning to run
her hands through her thick red hair, something that I had noticed
Florence often does when she’s stressed, she probably wasn’t even
aware that she did it so often. It was a strange habit, I couldn’t
help but wonder if there’s anything I subconsciously do in certain
situations without realising – not that it was particularly
important at this moment in time.

“
My dad’s holding a meeting in the farmhouse soon.” I
explained.

“
Are we in danger?”

“
Immediately no, but potentially, yes. My dad has already broke
the bad news to Andrea about her husband, but we now need to
decide, as a community what to do with the nest.” I said, deciding
not to lie to her. She was far too smart to be palmed off with
false pretences.

“
What are our options?” She sighed, staring at me with her
bright green eyes, they always managed to mesmerise me.

“
Let’s save that for the meeting. I’m sure my dad’s going to
explain everything in great detail so that we can come to the best
possible solution here.” I said. Once again, my overwhelming
admiration for my dad shone through. To me, he was the ultimate
man. Tough, strong and smart, but also loving. He always had the
time for his family, neither me, my brothers and sisters, or even
my mum were ever pushed aside. No matter how swept off his feet he
became with his duties as leader of Haven, he always made sure to
make it up somehow. That’s what I loved the most about him. He was
reliable, dependable and most of all, honest. I wish I could say
the same about everyone in Haven. There’s a few people who I feel
don’t have the community’s best interest at heart – Though I’ve
never openly discussed these feelings with anyone, I do feel that
one day they may become a problem.

Assuming that,
like their father, Kyle and Amy were dead, Haven has fourteen
residents. Of that fourteen, three were under the age of sixteen,
meaning that they’re not required to help out quite as much, that
left eleven adults in Haven that should all be pushing their own
weight and working together to make this place be the absolute best
it can. However, that isn’t the case. Tony Olsen and his two
missing children were always the first to volunteer for duties in
and outside of Haven, but now that they’re gone, I can’t help but
feel that perhaps some of those duties might he passed on to
myself.

The remaining
two from the Olsen family aren’t much use. Laura twenty-three years
old, and much like me, she lacks confidence and strength. But where
I lack physical strength, I personally believe I make up for it
with my head smarts. Laura has neither of these two key assets.
Whilst her mother - fifty-two years young – never lifts so much as
a finger to help anyone other than herself. In the past it wasn’t
so much of a problem because Kyle, Amy and Tony made up for them.
The three of them did more than enough to justify their place in
Haven, but now they’re gone. And in my eyes, Laura and Andrea were
a burden. But what would I do if I was in charge around here? Would
I kick them out, could I really do that to two people that I’ve
known for such a long time? I don’t think so. Even beginning to
think of the moral dilemmas made me feel uncomfortable, but they
hardly seemed to faze my dad. He was always one step ahead, always
calm and always collected. He came with a reassuring confidence
that in turn boosted the belief of everyone around him. That’s why
my dad was, in my eyes, the greatest man I’ve ever met.

Then there’s
Dexter and Antonia Payne. Dexter is considered by many to be third
in command around here, behind my father and uncle. Dexter is a
brilliant asset to the community and brings so much survival
knowledge. He’s tough and reliable. Antonia is a tough cookie too.
As I mentioned before, she and her five year old sister had
survived on their own for days on end in the Wasteland. Most full
grown adults couldn’t even manage that, never mind if they had a
small child to care for too. Florence isn’t a brilliant
survivalist, and has only been outside of Haven on one occasion. I
was worried sick the entire time, and I don’t plan on complaining
about her not heading out more. I’m happy with her being back at
Haven helping out with the farm animals and so forth. It was as
safe as she was ever going to get. She also did a good job helping
her nephew, William and my little brother and sister, Toby and
Amber. She was brilliant with kids. The list of things that she
contributed to inside Haven was near endless.

Then there’s
my family; the Jeffords. There’s nine of us in total, counting me.
Obviously my Grandpa is too old to really contribute anything other
than good advice and plenty of experience to the group, so he’s
obviously not an issue. Then there’s Toby and Amber, aged eleven
and seven respectively. My two other siblings, Ruby and Brandon are
brilliant for Haven. Both of them are tough, natural born survivors
and warriors. Much like Brandon, Ruby is a fitness freak. She’s a
tough, independent woman who could kick pretty much anyone’s arse,
none more so than mine. My mum is in charge of pretty much all the
cooking and washing around here. She’s got an infinite list of
secret recipes and cooking idea’s that usually go down a treat.
It’s hard to come up with anything new or fresh to eat these days,
but she manages to make the best of whatever we can grow or produce
in Haven. I’ve heard that what’s left of the world is ravaged by
poverty and hunger, but not in Haven. We have a good, steady income
of goods being produced on the farm yard all year around. Sometimes
of a winter things can get a little scarce, but after living off of
the land for forty-two years we, as a community have learned how to
make do during such times.

I’ve already
mentioned my dad, so finally, there’s my uncle Timothy. He’s twelve
years younger than my dad, and spent his entire life in Haven. He’s
a cold man now. He scares me sometimes. But he wasn’t always like
that, something about him changed after his wife was murdered, the
Wasteland has a habit of changing people right when they think
they’ve survived the worst, the second people get comfortable in
this world, it turns around and bites them, and this world bites
fucking hard. Some people are able to shrug off hardships and take
them on the chin, but nobody expected him to recover from losing
his pregnant wife. I was next to her corpse when he discovered her,
face down and limp on the floor. I saw the look in his eyes as his
entire world fell apart around him. Something in his soul seemed to
disappear, and it’s never quite returned. I really do worry about
Timothy sometimes. But aside from that, he’s generally useful for
the community.

Already I
noticed people were making their way into the farm house, that
meant one thing. The meeting was about to begin. I took Florence by
the hand and lead her over. As I made my way across the field, I
couldn’t help but feel like the future of Haven might be decided
within the next few minutes.

“
What if Haven is attacked?” Florence sighed, with sadness in
his eyes. I could tell that, just like me, she was reflecting on
her childhood around here. I thought back to the countless days
that the two of us had spent running around the fields of Haven,
almost care and worry free. Those days had long gone now though. We
had grown up together and had already began our journey into
adulthood.

“
I dread to think.” I replied, keeping my head down as I made
my way over to the farm house, as to hide my tears.

Chapter
Five

The farmhouse
filled quickly after I arrived. Since I had been present at the
discovery of the nest, my father instructed me to sit at the front
of the large meeting room, just in case anybody wished to ask me
anything. Everyone above the age of sixteen was present, aside from
Andrea and Laura Olsen, and my sister, Ruby. Ruby had already told
my father that she would agree with whatever he felt best for the
safety of both Haven, and the family, and with that she had been
given the responsibility to keep watch on the walls whilst everyone
else attended the meeting. Never was there a time to leave the
walls unguarded, never mind after today’s discovery. Whilst the
Olsen’s were left to mourn their lost ones in peace.

I couldn’t
help but sense the apprehension in the room. The faces of all of
Haven’s residents told a story of worry and dread. It was rare
meetings like this were called – and they were never called for
positive reasons. From the hushed voices circling around the room,
people were beginning to suspect that something big had happened on
our mission outside of Haven. They weren’t wrong. Due to the
absence of Andrea and Laura, people were beginning to suspect that
we had located the bodies of the missing Olsen’s – I wished that
was the only purpose we had for calling this meeting.

“
Thank you all for coming on such short notice.” My dad said as
he stood in front of the four rows of wooden chairs. Half were
empty. Haven could have easily catered for more people, but we
chose not to let anybody else in. We were happy with the numbers we
had, everyone had a job and most people worked together. We didn’t
want to risk letting the wrong sorts in. But now, looking at so
many empty chairs, I couldn’t help but feel that now was the right
time to expand. But that was for another meeting, on another day –
right now we had far more important issues at hand.

“
As many of you may have guessed we made a very important
discovery whilst out in the Charred Lands earlier today.” He
explained, before pausing for a moment, as though struggling to
word what he was going to say next.

“
Yes, those of you who are assuming we found Tony’s corpse are
correct.” Timothy stepped in.

The small
crowd let out a gasp as people began to whisper amongst
themselves.

“
However, we found neither of the children, so they may still
be alive out there.” My dad finally spoke, trying his best to
remain hopeful, though his voice shown no signs of positivity. He
knew – just as we all did – that Kyle and Amy were likely dead,
too.

“
But that’s not all…” My father sighed. Everyone instantly fell
silent as their eyes once again turned to the front of the room. I
knew what was coming, yet still I felt a great sense of
tension.

“
We found a nest out there. From the size of the eggs, we know
it belongs to the Monsters.” He finally said after a moment’s
silence. Once again the statement was met with a gasp, followed by
yet more hushed, panicked voices. I wasn’t surprised to see that
people were more concerned with the discovery of the nest than
Tony’s body. He was a liked guy – but when someone disappears in
the Charred Lands, there’s very little hope for them. After the
first few days of his absence people had begun to accept that he
was more than likely dead.

“
What are we going to do!?” Antonia Payne called out from the
crowd, her voice thick with worry.

“
This is why we’ve called this meeting.” My dad quickly
replied, his voice booming across the room, rising above all of the
panicked whispers.