Silence of the Apocalypse- Journey Home Read online

  “Katya! What are you doing?”

  Apparently, it wasn’t completely clear what the twenty-two-year-old was thinking. Svetlina was once more looking at her as though she had lost her mind.

  “We might be able to help!”

  “Do you actually have a death wish?!” the blonde snapped quietly “We should just get our stuff… Katya!”

  The red-head had stopped listening. She was pressing forward after the invaders, following the sound of the man who was still not silenced. Her heart pounded hard enough that she could feel the blood pulsating in her ears. In reality, she knew this was a bad idea for her. Levels of stress increased the chances of experiencing an adrenal crisis. She could not really afford one of those occurring. Deep breathes shuddered in and out of her lungs as she tried to keep her body calm. She could barely hear Svetlina’s protests as the female followed her. All focus was on the world around and ensuring that her body kept taking in those long, slow, calming breaths.

  The Nerushi led them a little distance to where the city’s cathedral had stood proudly for time Katya couldn’t fathom. It was harrowing to turn the corner and see the once faith inspiring building gone and replaced by something incredibly daunting.

  The structure that stood there now was like a large foreboding shadow. The mass of matt black was solid and continuous like there was a pitch-black shape etched into the very matter of life.

  Ducking behind one of the broken walls that had surrounded the graveyard that still lingered next to the ‘house of God’, Katya pulled Svetlina down to follow suit. It was surprising that the blonde had followed her, but it wasn’t a surprise that her hands were shaking as they held meekly onto Katya’s backpack.

  There was an echoing creak as the pair of aliens approached the structure, the quadruped making a very specific press on the wall by the left side of the opening. Katya’s eyes squinted to see if she could make out what it had aimed for, it was a slightly lighter shade of black, almost blended perfectly with the wall and the grey concrete floor below. It was that which triggered the creaking, a large slap of the structure’s front swung forward slowly like an assisted door. The sound and the fear of the unknown that lay within caused the protesting from the man to begin anew.

  Katya couldn’t blame him, the ominous feeling given by darkness opening to show a dark metallic industrial visual, lit by a murky Dijon colour made her stomach twist uncomfortably. Walking in there would be like walking into the inescapable jaws of all things fatal.

  Despite that, as the entrance closed, Katya could not fight the voice in her head that said she had to go in. If the Nerushi had dragged that man inside alive, maybe there was a reason for that. And if there was a reason to keep him alive, maybe there was a chance that many more would be alive within that structure.

  “Lina, go to Joanne’s” she commented softly, turning to take the blonde’s trembling hand and pull it from her backpack.

  “What are you talking about? You’re coming with me, right??” The apologetic look that crossed Katya’s face brought panic to Svetlina’s, her voice becoming higher and quicker as a response “No! Kat, you can’t leave me! You’ll die in there! Please! Don’t do this!”

  While the plea was fully justified, Katya couldn’t ignore the thoughts of ‘what if’. What if her best friend was in there? What if her friends from her martial arts classes were in there? Her lecturers? Her classmates? If they were in there she wanted to help. If they were in there… how could she live with herself if she walked away?

  As the pleading brown eyes of her housemate bore holes into her, the red-head let out a sigh.

  “O.K., I’ll get you to Joanne’s… but then I’m coming back. I have to know if anyone is alive and I can’t just leave them there if they are” Her mind flicked to the same thought that had haunted her since the day this started; her family and her closest friends. How if they were alive in her home town, how she would give all she had if someone would step up and help them.

  Before Svetlina could say anything more, Katya tightened her grip on the hand she had managed to detach from her bag and began to guide the blonde back the way they had come.

  Along the way, the girls were surrounded by silence once more. They came across no further terrors as they stepped back onto the main street and paused in front of their original destination. As she stopped there, Katya glanced up and down the street as she noticed something; there were no bodies. No vehicle had anyone left inside. No shop or house had any sign of recent movement. With the number of fights people had put up initially, it made no sense that no one had died in the scuffle. So why were there no corpses?

  She could understand why there seemed to be no living people as the Nerushi had dragged one into that structure already. The lack of the dead though… that made no sense.

  Checking up and down the street one last time, Katya took the hilt of her short blade and smashed it through the glad of the pharmacy dor. The shards of glass fell to the ground around her feet like diamond snow, making the ground glint in the sunlight. It crunched under their feet as the girls headed inside.

  “Even if you are going to Jo’s, you should stock up on antibiotics, so you guys can keep healthy” Her suggestion was intended as helpful, but her tone was distracted as she fumbled through the boxes at the back for her own prescription. Thankfully the words were enough to motivate Svetlina to get stuck in, pulling out common medicines and placing them into her own bag.

  Once they had what they needed, they stealthily and cautiously headed back out onto the street.

  Joanne lived down one of the cobbled side streets, her family running a traditional butcher’s shop with a large outhouse for storage. The shop was, of course, empty, a faint smell of raw meat lingering despite the time that had passed. There were trails of old blood on the floor through the shop, the garden and originating from the outhouse which stood with its doors wrenched off their hinges.

  “Oh, God…” Svetlina’s voice was so quiet that it was more like a whisper of the air.

  “It’s OK. They might not have found them” Even Katya didn’t believe her words in those moments. With the lack of people, they had seen, what was the likelihood the invaders had missed a whole family?

  Tentatively, Katya approached the entrance to the storehouse, her right hand gripped onto the hilt of her blade, thumb rolling over the gold laced handle absently. Raising her other hand, she pushed her fringe from where it threated to fall over her right eye. The stench of meat and blood in the storehouse was still strong enough to make even Katya wrinkle her nose in distaste. The warmth of the spring days outside was only making the smell fouler. As an anatomical biology student, the redhead was used to smells of dissections, but this was on a whole other scale.

  The sound of Svetlina’s gag as she entered was more natural a response from the average person.

  Glancing around the room, a small confused frown caused Katya’s eyebrows to furrow slightly. All the stored meat was gone. The smell at its level hinted that the meat had not been removed until recently. That was only a fleeting thought though as it became clear that the storehouse contained no threat to them. More importantly, the heavy metal entrance to the bunker on the floor was not open.

  With a burst of speed, powered by hope, Katya rushed across the blood-stained floor. Her wavy locks swaying around her cheeks as she slid to a halt by the bundle of plastic once used in meat transport; it covered the floor and the entrance in a haphazard manner as though thrown aside in a hurry.

  Rustling sounds filled the store as Katya shoved the plastic out of the way to leave the whole of the bunker door visible. The property had once been an inn, the storehouse holding barrels and a wine cellar. That cellar had been updated in the wars to be a thicker walled bunker.

  Hope danced in her stomach as the slender fingers of her right hand sealed themselves around the handle and tugged to no avail.

  Locked!

  Someone was inside!

  The girls shared a look w
here optimism caused the respective blue and brown hues to sparkle.

  It only took a moment for Svetlina to bang on the metal door.

  “Jo! Joanne! Are you there?!” She called through, causing tension to seize Katya’s muscles. Being loud seemed unwise, but the blonde was desperate. Not that anyone could blame her, she could well be close to safety and to find out if her best friend was alive and well.

  Taking a few steps back, Katya opted for simply keeping watch for anything that might hear her housemate.

  “Jo! It’s Lina, please answer me!” Ah, the sound of desperation was raising the tone of the blonde’s already high vocal cords. Thankfully that sound got through to whoever was there.

  Svetlina fell silent as the clank of the lock moving came from the door. With bated breath, Katya stayed with her eyes locked on that spot; a part of her still on edge in case something vicious came of that bunker.

  It felt like waking up from a garish nightmare as the door was lifted and the cheeky rounded face of Joanne’s father popped into sight. Katya could feel the tension in her cheeks as a smile pulled widely on her face.

  There were still people who were ok.

  “Girls! Oh, thank ya wee souls!” His friendly Scottish attitude shone through even at the end of the world. “Come on, get down ‘ere.” With that, his balding head vanished allowing Svetlina to follow and Katya to descend, closing the bunker door behind her and latching the lock tight once more.

  Chapter 3

  Joanne’s parents had always been what one might call ‘survivalists. They had all sorts of plans for apocalyptic settings. This was very clear by how kitted out the bunker was; boxes of canned food lined the walls of the entrance and hid under the bunk beds. There was certainly enough here for a lengthy time of survival.

  “Lina!” The sound of three voices merged together as they reached the candlelit area of the bunker. The blonde was swiftly engulfed by a flurry of arms, two small sets of Joanne’s young twin siblings wrapped around her legs while Joanne’s arms wrapped around her shoulders.

  The atmosphere that filled the room was full of relief and joy. It was truly heart-warming to witness. A smile pulled on Katya’s lips even though it wasn’t a scene she could intrude on. It did not dampen her emotions of happiness and hope, however.

  With that smile, she held out her hand to Joanne’s mother. “I’m so glad you guys are ok!”

  “Of course, m’dear. Though it felt like a close call at times” Mrs Dawson was a well-rounded woman with a kind face. Her green eyes held an air of calm patience to them; probably coming from years of dealing with a hyperactive husband and three children.

  “True! When they came into the storehouse I thought I would mess myself”

  Katya had not realised until that moment how much she missed the sound of proper laughter. Not those half-assed chuckles she gave after trying to lighten the mood; no, Mr Dawson’s laugh was a proper belly laugh, one that one might associate with jolly laughter at Christmas.

  “What do you mean?” The Nerushi getting so close but not finding the family cried out as unusual. Mumbling thanks to Mrs Dawson who ushered Katya to sit down and take a bottle of water. The red-head kept focused on the father who had managed to detach one of the twins from Svetlina.

  “There was continuous movement up there during the second week we were down here” He started with a soft smile. “I don’t know what they were doing but they never opened the door”

  “They didn’t even try?”

  “Not once, even when a bang sounded, causing the twins to scream… Nothing” Mr Dawson nodded with a bemused look on his face.

  “We figured whatever they were doing managed to mask the screams” Joanne had finally joined them, giving Katya a gentle squeeze of the shoulder. Even now she recalled the red-head wasn’t great with acts of affection with anyone but those closest to her heart.

  “Wow, you guys have got a lot of luck”

  “Tell me about it! Though you girls must have more luck to have made it here” Mrs Dawson looked impressed even though Katya’s head immediately shook in disagreement.

  “Some luck, but there isn’t many walking around out there now”

  “Some?! Kat, you managed to kill one!”

  “What?!”

  Svetlina’s statement caused all members of the Dawson family to look to Katya with stunned expressions.

  “So cool!” One of the twins exclaimed.

  “How?” Joanne barely sounded like she believed what she had just heard.

  With a small sigh, Katya launched into an explanation of her lucky blow and the weaknesses in the bipedal Nerushi she had discovered after.

  “They have some kind of building out there, and they dragged someone in there alive” The red-head continued, her blue eyes averting to the floor as though afraid to see the reactions of what she was about to say. “Now I know how to kill them, I’m going to go in to see if anyone is alive.”

  Silenced descended for but a moment before the rumble of that Scottish accent filled the room.

  “Are you insane?! That would be suicide!”

  “But there’s a chance! I can’t leave my best friend in there if there’s even a minimal chance I can do this!” Finally, Katya looked up, looking to the parents with desperation in her eyes. As mature as the girl could be, right now she looked like a defiant child.

  “Kat, you can’t be serious…”

  “I am. He had helped me with so much if he’s alive I have to try!” Stubbornness really did win out with Katya. She might call it determination but at this point in her life, she was stubborn as a mule. “I’m not asking you guys to come with me, just don’t stop me”

  Perhaps her determination hit home, or maybe it was just that none of those she spoke to was all that close to her. Either way, the response she got was a soft sigh and a nod from Mr Dawson.

  “Oliver is a lucky guy” Joanne chuckled softly, causing Katya to flush slightly.

  “Most would do the same thing for someone who is basically family” The red-head retorted.

  “Maybe, but you’re literally taking on the unknown. I couldn’t do that”

  With a shrug of her shoulders, Katya pushed herself to her feet. It was a common thing for people around her to hint at her having more than a friendly feeling to the man she called her best friend. Not that it mattered, she didn’t see her plan as impressive, it just seemed to be the obvious thing to do.

  Though no one else made any attempt to stop her. All expressions Katya saw as she left were those of concern and resignation that they may not see the red-head again. Not that Katya thought much different in those moments. She knew her idea was insane, but she just had to try – even if it cost her life.

  “You should take this with you then” Svetlina spoke out, holding out the flip knife Katya had given her earlier. “You’re going to need it more than me now”

  Unable to argue with that Katya gave her housemate a small smile as she took the knife and pushed it into her pocket before giving the blonde a quick but tight hug.

  “Thanks, I’ll see you soon”

  As the lock of the bunker clanged shut behind her, Katya once more found herself in the haunting silence. Tightening the backpack against her body she let a sigh leave her lips.

  “Well, here goes nothing” She mumbled to herself.

  There was no sign of any alien invader on her way back through the centre of the old city of York. There was no sign of any other person either, the city was dead. The only time she paused was outside the armoury shop; feeling the need for another, a longer blade which would perhaps give her benefits the smaller ones wouldn’t.

  The sharpest she could find was a properly made katana, steel folded beautifully and its weight light and manageable in one hand. Positioning a sheath onto her back beneath the backpack and made sure the katana was in easy reach of her arm. It made her feel safer to have multiple lengths with her blades.

  The twisting feeling of fearful butterflies went
ignored as she moved to her destination. That deep black colour seemed to tower over her as she approached. The darkness of it must have been messing with her perceptions, she had never felt so smell before.

  Half of her mind was still screaming at her to turn back and stay safe, that instinctive part for survival that humans just couldn’t get rid of completely. Katya had always put others before herself, admittedly this was a new extreme, but it was still that same self-sacrificing nature that drove her to stand in front of the structure and push the toe of her left boot into the area of the door she had seen the beast press earlier.

  That same echoing creak filled the air, the opening of such an expanse made her feel like she had wandered into a sci-fi movie. Though, she doubted that any actor portrayed the level of dread that pooled in her stomach as accurately as she felt it now. Never had she seen the reflection of her torn thoughts in the eyes of someone on the big screen.