Shattered Horizon

03 Liam

Liam
July 2029 (Present day)

I enter the closet and mess up the clothes before closing its main doors. Then, I proceed into the stairwell and shut the door that leads out of the closet. Making my way downstairs, I hear a loud crash as the front door of the cabin hits the ground. The guy enters, rummaging through everything, opening doors, and demanding our presence. I approach where Bo and Annalina are hiding. I hear more banging, followed by an eerie silence.
"They're not here," one of the guys says. "They must be!" exclaims the leader. I'm guessing that was Raja, a loud growl and gunfire erupts, with one of the followers urging the cult leader to flee.
Arrrghhhâ€"the roar of the beast. "What is that?" I ask.
"It nothing I ever heard" said Bo
I realized my home was no longer safe. "We can't stay here," I tell Bo
He slumps down and whispers to me "When me and annalina were passing through the woods, we stopped at this gas station to rest for a couple minutes. I saw a poster that someone hung up that mentioned a transport that is taking survivors to a safe haven but it would take months to get to it on foot.
"Damn, we cannot right now go anyways. There's no way Annalina is going to be up for the trip she needs to sleep. I say
We went silent when we heard a Boom! Arrrghhh again and the last gun fire was shot and yelling stopped.
"Liam" he says "As we were approaching the front door, I noticed a car. Is it working?"
"I am not sure" I reply. "My grandfather was in the process of fixing it for me, but I don't believe he ever finished."
"Do you know where the keys are we can try to start it" he says with hope in his voice
"There around here somewhere, knowing My grandfather he left them inside the vehicle." I say to him
"Okay, once everything settles, will go back upstairs and see if we can find those keys." he says
We wait a few hours and everything seems quiet. I suggest that I go up first to make sure everything is okay and that I'll call him when it's clear.
He agrees with my plan.
Upon returning upstairs, I notice a strong smell of blood in the air. I carefully search all the rooms and cautiously check outside to ensure there is nothing there. It's strange how much I care about them. I feel like I have to protect them. I mean Bo is a guy he should be able to handle himself. Right? This is all confusing. I mean after all this time, my grandfather has been the only person in my life for the past 8 years other than my great aunt and I haven't interacted with someone my age since the outbreak happened. I reach for my necklace and hold it tightly.
When I Return inside, I go into my grandfather's bedroom and yell down to him that the coast is clear. He moves his sister back upstairs carefully.
I attempt to put the door back up, but it is not going to provide any more safety from the outside world . As I enter my room to pack my bags, he knocks on my door.
"Liam," he says,
"What's up? Is your sister okay?"
"Everything's fine, she just woke up, any luck on finding that key?" he asks me. As he walks in to my room
I smile at him and say "No, I thought that it might be in my grandfather's room but it isn't there." I stop what I am doing and take a seat on my bed and I notice him looking at some of the books my grandfather got me when he left on trips.
He then goes to my desk and I see him look and pick up one of my drawing.
"Who is this?" he asks.
"That's Liz, she's my older sister," I answered.
"She's very pretty," he comments. Puts the photo down and walks over to the book shelf again. He picks up a book. "The hunger games." he says looking at the back of the book. "This is one of my favorite books". He said.
I continued doing what I was doing. "Have you read them all?" I asked
He stands there thinking for a couple of moments. "Nah, the library I went to the book was so popular there was a hold on it, I never could get my hands on a copy. He says while returning the book to the shelf. "Have you read any of them?" he asked
"No," I hastated again
"Seen any of the movies?"he asked again
"Nope," I say
"Me either." He says
"What is your favorite book?" He asks
"I really don't have one" I tell him
"Why" he asks
"I have a hard time reading, the words get overwhelming sometimes." I say "If you see a couple you like go ahead and take them" I said
"Awesome, thank you!" He smiles and looks at the books again.
I get up "You can still take a shower if you like too" I say to him. I looked at my bag and I grabbed a shirt and sweatpants and tossed them to him.
"A shower would be great!" he exclaims. "But I can't leave Annalina though and I should help you look for those keys.
"Don't worry, I'll watch your sister and look for the keys while you take one."
He smiles at me and says thank you. I leave my room to give him some privacy and a chance to do whatever he needs to do. In the kitchen, I see that the gift left by my grandfather on the table has fallen onto the floor. I pick it up and open it to find a piece of paper with his handwriting on it. It reads, "Big 16, this would be the year your father would have taught you how to drive, we worked long and hard on it. " Opening the other part of the gift, keys fall out.
Me and my grandfather have been working on his old SUV for a couple years now. He always said that it alway good to have a plan B and away out, if need be fast about it. I still don't know how to drive it, hopefully Bo does.
I go in to check on Annalina and she looks at me without saying anything. I enter the spare room where boxes from the past are stored. Opening one, I searched for some of my sister's old clothes that might fit Annalina. Once I find some, I return to the living room and sit next to her.
"Who are you? Where is Bo?" she asks in a weak voice.
"I'm Liam. Bo went to take a shower, he'll be right back," I explain as she tries to get up and yells in pain.
"Annalina, please don't move, you're still injured," I plead.
"What happened? How do you have water?" she asks.
"You were running from very bad people. We have well water and my grandfather has a generator that makes the electricity run." I say
"Oh" she says tiredly.
I am not sure what else to tell her she is just a child she shouldn't have to go through what she is going through.
"Bo will explain everything to you I promise" I say.
"Can I have some water" she asked
"Sure one moment." I say. Going to the kitchen
I grab a glass of water from the cabinet, I hear a bang from the door crashing in, a flop and a light scream. I hurry back into the living room. I saw a large husky man who was holding her with a gun against her head. He was all muscle from what I could see, he looked like he was in his mid-forties semi gray hair; he must have been a bodybuilder in the past.
"Where the boy!" he asked angrily
I stare at him without saying a word.
"I'll ask one more kid" he says "where is the boy!"
not saying anything again, i drop the glass of water and try to grab my gun from the dining room table, he throws the girl to the side and kicks the table out of the way and punches me in the stomach i fall to the floor. Annalina crawled trying to get into the side room. The man decides to kick me again and again until I couldn't breathe,
"Please stop" I cry out
I see, Bo comes out of the bathroom ready to fight and he gets a couple punches in before the guy overpowers him and knocks him down.
All his attention came back to me he pulls the gun from his side arm and points it to my head,
"Raja will be happy that I killed you. I'll take your body back and then I'll take them two alive. I will finally get that promotion." He says to himself. I hear a gunshot.