The Charred Lands: Apocalypse of Fire (6 page)

The smell of
bacon suddenly found its way to my nostrils, my mouth instantly
began to water.

I quickly got
dressed and made my way downstairs, almost being hypnotised by the
sweet smell of bacon. It was a rarity these days; Mum had obviously
decided to cook some because of today’s importance. She wouldn’t
let her family go out into The Charred Lands without first spoiling
them rotten and filling their bellies in the process.

“
Good timing, we’ve got one piece of bacon left and Ruby’s been
eyeing it up for quite some time now.” My mother laughed as I
entered the kitchen. Ruby grinned but said nothing as I sat beside
her.

“
Not going to wish me luck, little brother?” She asked,
sounding as sarcastic as usual. Ruby and I never really got on too
well. It never stretched above the usual sibling rivalry, but for
some reason, out of all my siblings it was her that I always seemed
to clash with. The worst thing was, it was always her who
instigated it. Brandon always treated me with respect, whilst Ruby
seemed to do her best to look for an opportunity to treat me like
shit. I suppose it’s because of how close we are, age wise. She’s
eighteen years old and probably sees me as an easy
target.

“
Good luck.” I simply replied. As usual, I refused to take her
bait. It always annoyed her more if I didn’t reply, than if I had a
full blown argument with her. I could feel her scorn at me as I bit
into my bacon. As usual, it tasted as though it had been sent from
heaven, just thinking about mum’s bacon was enough to make my mouth
water.

“
Are you ready?” Brandon asked as he popped his head around the
corner. Ruby let out a sigh before standing up – I couldn’t blame
her. It was always a nervous occasion whenever someone was
preparing to enter the Charred Lands, never mind to meddle with the
nest of a monster capable of reducing you to a pile of bones with a
single breath.

“
Good luck!” My mother said, throwing her arms around her
oldest daughter.

“
We’ll be fine.” She confidently smiled, almost pushing my
mother off before she left to follow Brandon to the
barn.

“
I hate it when you guys go out.” My mum sighed as she
collected Ruby’s dirty plate, falling into her usual depressive
routine. She did nothing but mope around Haven wasting the time
away whenever one of her children was out.

“
It’s for the good of Haven.” I said, finishing off my bacon,
what I would have done for more.

“
I know that, but you’re all my children, now.” She smiled as
she began to wash the dishes.

Before long
everyone headed out to see off the brave foursome. I did my best to
hide my anxiety as I watched Ruby, Brandon, Timothy and my Dad
disappear down the dirt path on their mission. I couldn’t help but
think about how the Olsen’s had done this less than a week ago, and
now they were all dead. Four members of my family were heading out
to murder the young of a creature capable of causing unspeakable
destruction and suffering. I knew it was for the best, but it was
hard knowing that they were out there, risking their lives whilst I
was stuck inside, twiddling my thumbs.

I decided to
retreat to the solitude of my bedroom to be alone with my thoughts.
I suspected a long day of worry lay ahead for me. I wouldn’t be
able to relax until all four of my much loved family had returned
home safe, and even when that did happen, we would be living with
the fear of having to possibly deal with the consequences of their
actions, there was no telling exactly what destroying that nest
would do to their mother.

In all
likelihood, we were dealing with a dragon nest here. This was bad,
very bad. Up until recently we had assumed that the dragons had all
become infertile due to malnourishment, giving us hope that one day
the dragon breed may eventually be exterminated, allowing mankind
to take a step up in the food chain, but now that looked unlikely.
The world really did seem void of any hope for the future for us
humans. Not only did we face a constant threat from people that
would murder us for what we have, but we have the countless volcano
creatures to deal with. Of all the creatures that the volcanos
spewed, the dragons were the most deadly.

In terms of
defence, Haven was well prepared for an assault from marauders, but
the threat that other human’s posed was nothing compared to even a
single dragon. The entire farm yard was surrounded by a wall ten
feet high, constructed using mainly wood and scrap metal. Wood
would seem like an impractical form of defence against a fire
breathing dragon, but the walls were more to keep out other
threats, like land walking volcano creatures and humans. They were
steady, well-built walls. They had started out as a simple fence,
but over the years they had been added too and thickened. There’s
even a section of the wall behind the main farm house that has a
walk way atop of it. There’s plans to make the walkaway go the
entire way around the wall, but just like most other expansion
plans, we haven’t been able to locate enough supplies for it.

We did have a
little defence against dragons. Atop of the small walk way on the
wall, we had a single harpoon constructed many years ago, before I
had even been born, never had it been used, so I could only imagine
the damage that the twelve foot long harpoon was capable of doing.
It was theorised that the underside of the dragons was their
weakest spot. Everywhere else was coated with near impenetrable
armour, brewed in the fiery depths of the earth’s core. Capable of
withstanding the heat of lava, the armour made the beast’s near
invincible. The only chance man had of killing one of the largest
beasts was to aim for its underside. Its neck was the place to aim
for, only here was the animal void of its impenetrable armour.

The chances
hitting one of the creatures in their soft spot with the harpoon
was small, but even having some form of defence – no matter how
minimal – was reassuring for the whole community.

I almost
collapsed onto my bed, mentally exhausted by the time I reached my
room. All I had done last night was worry about my four family
members, venturing out on perhaps the most dangerous mission of my
lifetime, and from the way today was going, I sensed that plenty
more worry was to come.

Less than a
minute had passed before I heard a knock at my door. For a few
brief seconds I thought that it might have been my father,
returning from the mission already, but it wasn’t. But once I saw
Florence pop her head around the door, I wasn’t too
disappointed.

“
You okay? I saw you slipping off and thought I’d check up on
you.” She smiled, welcoming herself into my bedroom. I immediately
felt embarrassed, Florence had never before been in my room and
right now, it was in a bit of a tip. Dirty clothes littered the
floor, she had to tip toe around them to reach my bed.

“
I’m fine, just a little worried.” I sighed, deciding not to
put up a macho bullshit shield. I had known Florence for far too
long to try and act all brave and tough around her. She had seen my
soft side plenty of times; I think it might even have been that
side of me which she preferred.

“
I’ll do my best to keep your mind off of things.” She smiled,
sitting beside me and placing a hand on my shoulder. Her touch made
my skin tingle. She always brought a warmth with her, a warmth that
could brighten up even the darkest of days.

I returned the
smile, and for a few silent moments we stared into each other’s
eyes, neither of us letting our smiles go. I couldn’t help but
think about how stunningly pretty she was. Her green eyes seemed to
mesmerise me, just as they always did. Countless things ran through
my head, things to say, things to do, but I remained silent.
Finally, it looked as though she was about to say something, when a
noise came from outside. It was a strange noise, but one that I
knew all too well. Though I had only heard it on several occasions
in the past, I knew exactly what it was, and exactly what it
meant.

“
Fuck.” I almost spat, jumping from the bed and charging
towards the door. The warm moment that I had just shared with
Florence now far from my mind. Behind me I heard he stumbling to
her feet to follow me.

Still, the
sound coming from outside the farm house continued to sound out, I
knew this wasn’t a drill. This was real. The siren grew louder as I
made my way towards the exit, we were under attack.

Chapter
Eight

I charged out
of the farm house and into the strange world outside. I scanned the
yard, all around people frantically ran back and forth. I spotted
my own mother handing out weapons to anyone available. My Grandpa
slowly limped his way across the yard with my two younger siblings
by his side, they were running for cover.

I could hear
panicked shouting and screaming combined with the sounds of Dexter
Payne shouting out orders from somewhere. All I could do was stand,
numbed still by shock as I watched everyone run around, desperately
preparing to defend Haven against a currently unknown
assailant.

“
What’s happening?!” I heard Florence scream from behind me as
she finally caught up. For a few moments I couldn’t reply, all I
could do was watch my family and friends go about their
duties.

“
Zachary!?” Florence spat, giving me a quick push from behind
to snap me into action.

“
Oh, erm, I don’t know…” I managed to stutter. With a roll of
the eyes and a sigh, she pushed past me and took off running
towards her older sister, Antonia, who was helping my mother hand
out weapons. I felt numb with terror. Only a few times in the past
had I heard that siren wail out – only drills of course, but this
was real. Something, somewhere was attacking us.

Only then did
I think to look to the skies - and there it was. A dragon, five
times the size of any that I had ever seen, and a thousand times as
frightening. I watched the creature circle through the orange skies
above, it glided so elegantly - was this not a creature of such
brutal destruction, it would almost have been a joy to see. The
first thing I noticed was the size of its claws and talons. Its
front legs sported almost man sized talons, as sharp as razors,
whilst its back pair had a set of claws, somewhat thicker but
equally as sharp. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what damage they
were capable of inflicting. The dragon was an absolute killing
machine. Designed to murder and destroy. Its entire body – bar one
small patch under its neck – was coated in a thick, grey, rocklike
armour. I recognised this dragon straight away from Grandpa’s old
stories. This was Grayhorn. The very first dragon to be birthed
into the world. It was a humongous, terrifying specimen of
destruction, larger than even the other Elders.

For a few
moments the creature of monstrous proportions circled above Haven.
Never, in all if its forty-two year history had a dragon been this
close to the settlement. There was no doubt in my mind – or anybody
else’s for that matter – that it had seen us. We just didn’t know
what it planned on doing yet. I could almost feel the tension
pressing down on my throat as almost everyone frantically ran
around preparing for the attack, for all the good it would do.

“
Fucking do something then, boy!” Dexter Payne spat at me as he
charged past, a large hunting rifle in hand. His voice seemed to
hit me like a ton of bricks, snapping me out of my awestruck
gaze.

“
What can I do!?” I panicked, looking around for something I
could do; only then realising just how much the people here needed
me.

“
Well, you could kill that bastard for a start!” He frantically
laughed, without so much as breaking his stride as he continued to
storm towards the south wall. I knew exactly what he was heading
for.

Above, I heard
a monstrous roar that seemed to echo for miles around. I looked up
just in time to see the creature swoop down. All I could do was
stand and watch as it arched its wings and plummeted towards the
earth, Haven in its sights.

My mother,
Antonia Payne and Laura Olsen began to open fire from where they
stood, their small automatic machine guns were no match for the
dragons armour, it didn’t so much as flinch as it swooped down. The
bullets seemed to bounce straight off the creature’s thick grey
armour, adding to my growing sense of doom.

In a single
movement the dragon pulled up just before it reached ground level,
for a few seconds it glided across the ground like a majestic
arrow, heading towards its target. An arm stretched out, and to my
horror, I saw its left claw wrap itself around Antonia. I horrid,
deafening scream rang out as the beast shot straight back up into
the sky without so much as slowing down. Her screams grew distant
as it dragged the woman high up above haven, disappearing into the
orange and black smoke clouds that constantly cast the earth in
shadow. And just like that, she was gone.

For a few
horrifying moments Antonia’s screams fell silent. Everyone in Haven
stood completely frozen, their eyes and weapons all locked on the
black smoke clouds above. Then finally, Antonia’s screams returned,
they grew louder and louder until she fell back into view, this
time dragon-less – the creature was nowhere to be seen. I could
only watch as she plummeted towards the earth at the speed of a
bullet. She hit the barn yard roof with deafening crunch; I heard
pretty much everything in her body break on impact, even from all
this distance away. She instantly fell silent as she rolled off the
barn roof and landed in a broken, tangled heap in the grass
beside.