Wings of the Apocalypse

Chapter 5: Surviving in the abyss

Chapter 5

Surviving in the abyss

Lily woke up inside her car, aching all over. She was surprised she’d even been able to sleep in such an uncomfortable position, her car was small enough as it was, so it left her with hardly any room to move about while she was sleeping.

She sat up and gazed outside the window, it was still dark she wasn’t sure if it was dark with the night or the cloud. She jammed her key into the car and looked over to the see the time on the dashboard, it was 9am. It should be light at that time instead all there was outside was the pitch black darkness there was of yesterday.

She turned her head back to look at the dashboard, she saw something worrying, there was only enough fuel for another thirty minutes. She’d used most of it up the day before in her mad dash to get out of London, now she was stuck in the middle of nowhere in pitch black darkness and had no idea where the next petrol station could possibly be. And to add to the list of growing problems, she was hungry and thirsty.

The situation was only just beginning to sink in for Lily. It was only now she’d realise what a fool she’d been to just take off without actually thinking things through beforehand.

Tears began to well in her eyes, she was going to die out here, trapped in the darkness alone.

She never even had a chance to say goodbye to anyone. That was just going to be it, she was going to die in this wasteland.

Lily wiped the tears away from her face, she had to be strong but it was so difficult. The odds were against her. But it wasn’t impossible to survive.

She sat back in the driver’s seat thinking to herself. She refused to die like this, if she was going to go down she’d go down fighting. People had survived in worst situation. Like one man who’d been trapped in the desert for days all by himself lost in the sands but he didn’t sit down and cry about it. No, he continued walking until he eventually found help.

Perhaps her problem was a little different to his, but either way she was going to try, it was human nature to try. It was the will to live that ran through her telling her to get up and stop crying.

Suddenly she remembered she had a torch in the car somewhere, frantically she began searching under the seats trying to think where she had put it. Lily opened the glove department. She had to feel around her surroundings, since she couldn’t see anything. Her hands traced over something cold and metal.

“Yes!” Lily cried out triumphantly.

She fiddled around trying to find the on switch, when she found it she was dazzled with light, temporally blinding her.

It still worked, a sudden sense of victory washed through her. She switched the torch off as the car was plunged into darkness again. She needed to save the battery life she couldn’t all waste it in one shot like she had before with the petrol.

 Lily pushed the car door open and stumbled out. Being lost in the middle of nowhere reminded her of a memory from a few years back.

It was her 17th birthday and her parents had brought her a car since she had just recently got her driver's licence . She was so excited that she decided to go on a joy ride by herself. She just drove and drove for hours not bothering to check where she was. Hours later when the fuel had ran out she’d found herself on the edge of the motorway stuck. Luckily at the time she had her mobile on her and was able to call for help. But needless to say her parents weren’t too pleased about her incident.

Lily sighed, she mentally cursed herself for leaving her mobile back at the apartment. She’d only meant to go shopping for a couple of minutes to get food. but now she wished so much she’d brought it.

Lily switched on the torch and looked around her, she was standing at the edge of a forest. There was no sign of any houses, meaning no hope of any humans nearby she could ask for help.

Lily paused trying to think of basic survival skills, she knew that she needed food and water but where exactly was she going to find any?

She turned the light towards the forest that lay before here, it was her only hope.

She turned her back to the car hoping she would be able to find her way back to it if she got lost.

She marched on toward towards the forest, the path in front of her was straight, so she turned the torch out to save energy and slowly began to walking trying not to trip over. Lily constantly turned her head from side to side expecting to the see guy with wings nearby. If what she heard on the radio was true then there were lots of them. Perhaps it was some sort of alien invasion she wondered.

Everything she’d once believed seem to no longer be logic if there was an Invasion going on how come nobody knew anything about it? And who else was alive?

Surely Lily couldn’t believe she was the only one.  Lily froze as she heard a crunching noise, she stood still for a moment before turning the torch on, it was just her nobody else was here she reassured herself.

She looked below her feet. The ground was covered in twigs and branches, she wasn’t on the gravel pavement anymore. She laughed slightly feeling foolish for being scared of the branches.

She shone the torch around her, Lily noticed the lack of leaves on the trees which was unusual since it was spring time, could this long period of darkness be having an effect on nature so soon? Lily wondered.

 Lily shivered, it was cold without the sun and the fact she was only wearing a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt didn’t help.

Lily had no idea what she was doing. She was in the middle of a decaying forest. Did she honestly believe here out of all places she’d find food and water? It wasn’t like there was going to be a service station a few miles ahead.

The feeling of despair rose through her again, it was pointless there was nothing here and she knew it, but instead she kept walking. Maybe she’d come across something she could eat like a mushroom. She sighed, remembering how most were poisonous.

She kept running different scenarios through her head, imaging if she came across a lake. But it didn’t seem realistic as she was in a forest with only trees.

 She turned around and shone the light behind her, she couldn’t even see her car anymore. All the trees looked the same. It was impossible to tell which way she had travelled. She’d out done herself again.

She was now lost in a forest, Isolated from the rest of the world. She’d regretted the idea to go into the forest in the first place, she should have just got in the car and drove onto the motorway again. Even if the car could only go a little way there could have still been a possibility of finding someone.

She didn’t want to die alone, not like this.

Suddenly she felt an ice cold hand on her shoulder, that was it she’d been caught.

Her hopes, her dreams, they where all over.

She let out one piercing scream before turning to face what lurked behind her.