Shattered Horizon

04 Liam

My ears are ringing, my eyes still closed, "Am I dead? I say out loud
No, I'm not, at least I think I am.
I open my eyes and look around to see the guy laying there motionless and Bo getting up. "What happened?" I asked
Bo says nothing as he moves over to Annalina who was sitting on one of the chairs not saying anything but shaking with my gun in her hand. she must have killed him to save us.
Bo gave her a hug and checked every inch of her to make sure she was okay. He then checks the wound and the stitches came loose she was bleeding really badly, I rushed and grabbed new wrap and sanitized the needle again,
"You did great, thank you annalina," he says in a small voice
I patch her up and tell him to let her rest for a little.
"We can't move her," I say
He shakes his head "we got to go though"
I nod " let's wait a couple days. I don't think they will come back. For a while. But I will keep a lookout in case.
A week passed, I was right, the group never showed up again. The couple of days turned into a week because of the fever Annalina got but she was doing okay now. I think it is about time we find her a real doctor. Maybe my grandfather.

I was in my room, I was making sure I grab what is most important to me.
"Liam" he called out.
"In my room." I say
He doesn't knock and opens the door. I scrambled to find a shirt. He pauses "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to barge in" he says. Looking at me.
"It's okay," I say.
I put my shirt on struggling to get it over my head.
"I walked Annalina out to the car ready to do" he says, slipping into the room a little more.
"Okay" I smiled and I put the voice recorder and my sketchbook in my bookbag.
He comes up to me "hey you have something on your back" he says. "Let me get that for you."
"Okay" I say. He touches my back and I tense.
"Got it." I turned around and we're face to face now. His hazel green eyes look up at me.
"What…" I stumbled "was it?
He hands me a piece of paper, "oh" I start to blush,
"Um" I said " you." I paused, "ready to go?"
I never stumbled like that before. But then again I never had anyone my age in my room before, I never really thought about my sexuality before, i always assumed girls but i'm not sure anymore, something about him…. It's just wow.
He cut off my thoughts "yeah, whenever you are."
He asked if I needed any help. I told him I was okay. He left and checked on Annalina. I grabbed my bag from my room and I went outside to where they were.
"Liam" Bo says "we found this in the back seat," i put my things in the back seat
"What is it?" i ask
"It looks like a journal," he said
He handed me it, I opened it, and in the front of the book there was a small paragraph written to me.
Liam,
There comes a day in every young man life, when you have to leave home, unfortunately when this time comes, I might not be here to help anymore, I know this cabin we have won't last forever, just be careful and know your loved, I gave you all the knowledge I possible could give you, the rest is up to you to learn.
I got you this journal because, I know you like to draw, I was never a supporter of your drawings. I always thought you were wasting your time when you could have been training more, I was wrong for telling you that. I lost my way of living and being a human, I tried to make you into a soldier and forgot you were only a child….
I'm sorry
Don't ever give up Liam, you Mother, Father, and sister would be proud of the person you became. I know I am.

Love,
Grandpa
I read it over again, is he not coming back? What does this mean? Why would he leave this for me now? I had so many questions that were not answered.
I reach in to grab my bag. I put the journal they found in my backpack. I reached back out and saw Annlina was sitting there, "You okay?" i ask her
She shakes her head "I want my mommy" she said
I check her forehead, she's burning up, "I know, I'll get Bo okay?"
"Okay" she said in a low voice, and she started to cough.
"Bo" yelled for him, i ran inside and not looking where i was goin i slammed right into him we both fell on to the cabin floor, he moans in pain "Gees, Your heavy" he grunts and then smiles "Sorry" i stumbled off him.
"Its okay" he laughs "What wrong," he asks
"Where did you put annalina cough medication?" i ask him,
"Why it in my bag," he says
"She burning up, Bo we need to get her some more help," i tell him
"Okay," he goes outside and gives her the medication.
A couple minutes pass by and I make sure we have everything we need. I know I'll never see this place again. I close the door as best as possible.
"Looks like we're all set," I say, I get into the car and look for the map. Shit i forgot the map,
"Wait I forgot something, I'll be right back," I said
Bo got into the car, while I ran back inside and grabbed the map my grandfather left in case I needed it. He marked the location where he would be every time he left. I put it in my back pocket and rushed back outside
I got into the car, I put the key into the ignition. I sat there for a moment.
What did you forget?" Bo asked
"The Map," I told him,
"Gotcha, Do you know how to drive this?" Bo said
I remain silent for a couple of moments and say "It should be easy right, do you know how to drive?"
"No, unfortunately. Just don't kill us" he said
We both sat there and I put the gear in to drive and I slowly put my foot on the gas and we began to move slowly. We finally get on the road, I start to go a little bit faster.
"I'm doing it! I'm actually driving!" I say to him excitedly, I take a Quick Look at him.
"The road, Liam!" Bo yelled as he gripped the handle above his seat. I look back to the road and see a deer standing there. I hit the brakes hard and I hear a whimper from Annalina. I kept my foot on the break as the deer started to run off. When it heard the screeching.
"I thought the Vry would have taken them out by now." I say to Bo
"maybe Deers and other animals don't interest them like humans do." he says
We continue down the road, more and more as I am driving, I'm kinda getting used to it. Bo seemed to calm down as well and fell asleep. I looked in the rear view mirror and remembered going the other way to get to the cabin. I cannot remember much of that trip. Once my grandfather picked me up, I looked at Bo and thought to myself the day and night I lost everyone I loved. I knew how hard it was for him, I never saw anything happen, he did and it must be horrible to even remember those things.
An hour passed and I stopped at this gas station that was abandon, I pulled over and got out of the car letting Bo sleep, it was still daylight and I went to the trunk and grabbed the pill bottle and opened it grabbed one and put the bottle back in the book bag, I opened the door to the back seat and sat annalina up, I put the pill in her mouth and told her that she needed to drink the water. she did, I rechecked the bandages to see if it wasn't bleeding anymore and she fell back to sleep. I can't seem to pinpoint if we are going in the right direction or not. I grabbed the map and went back outside enjoying the breeze. I looked at the map and declared that the town should be another 10 miles or so, I have never been there before. My grandfather said that there wasn't much left that he might have had to adventure out even more. I hear the passenger door open and I see Bo get out and he stretches and walks over to me.
"Why did we stop?" he asks
"Annalina need her medication and I wanted to make sure we were going the right way," I explain
"Oh okay" he smiles,
"How can you tell where we are?" He asks
He gets as close to me as he can and looks down at the map waiting for an explanation.
"Um, Well, right here is where the cabin is" I say, showing him the X mark on the map and we need to go here to the circle spot on the map.
"What if your grandfather isn't where we are looking" he asked
"I'm not sure, if he isn't I did leave a message telling him what happened and where to find us.." I said
"What happens when they come back and finds that letter, were all dead," he said
"Don't worry, I hid the letter only where my grandfather would know." I say.
He nods and looks at the map. " Crack"
"Did you hear that?" I asked
"Yeah, could be a deer or an animal," he looks up from the map walks over to me and puts his hand on my shoulder, the touch of his hands were warm " If it was the dead it would have came out by now" he said
I turned around again, were face to face again, i look down
"Um, going to check for supplies in the gas station okay?"
"Nothing in there" he says
"Okay" he says smiling
We hear another "Creak" . I turn around and he looks at me "Scared?" he asks with a smile on his face, I blush and "Um no, but I think we should just keep moving." I told him heading back to the car.
Yes I was scared, Leaving the cabin fully scared me and excited me at the same time, He excited me too finally having someone my own age with me and i felt something else between us I couldn't place,
"It's okay to be scared," he smiles "I'm scared too". He says to me
We both get back into the car, he puts his seat belt on and so do I, I take the car out of park and continue down the road.
We finally made it to town, we drove down the abandoned streets to scope things out, I stopped the car in front of an electronic store, we got out and he checked on his sister.
"Is she okay?" I ask him
"Yeah she's okay" he says
Looks like we have a couple hours before it gets dark, I haven't seen a Vrys yet, which is very weird since my grandfather told me story's about how he had to take down a couple at a time when he was out.
"Where do you think the Vry are at?" I say to Bo
"I'm not sure, it very odd that they didn't hear us, Let check out some of the stores, just be cautious" Bo said
"What about annalina?" I asked
"She passed out" he says "I don't think she will wake up anytime soon,"
I nodded at him,

I walked on ahead, looking through the windows of the abandoned store, I wiped away some of the dust that was on the windows when I appeared in, The shelves were empty with only left with things that weren't worth anything to someone's life.
I keep walking down the street, I look back and Bo is on the other side of the street looking into the drug store. I see him shake his head and he moves on to the other one.
I heard someone call my name.
"Bo, do you hear that?" I ask him to look in his direction.
"No, Give me one moment--" he says, his voice trails off as I continue to fellow theses whispers that called my name. I come upon a side street that I see something slumped on the ground that looks like my Grandfather.
"Pap" I asked
It stays silent and doesn't move, the whispers stop, I step closer to him and I hear shallowing breathing.
"Liam don't" Bo says "It's not your grandfather, please step away slowly, be as quiet as you can be."
I get closer to it and I smell something like cookies being made. My mom's cookies? I haven't smelled that scent in years. I stop before getting to him, he gets up drunk taking off his belt, "I told you……." i hit the back of the building tears swelling in my eyes, the scent is gone and i smell alcohol, my grandfather gets closer, i'm not in the alleyway anymore, i'm in the cabin i look around "My sister my poor sister……." he says the belt in his hands, "Ill make you pay for what you done to her!" i close my eyes im breathing heavy,
I hear a familiar voice, "Liam" he shouts out to me, "Bo" I whisper back, then my mind switches to the day I opened the door, he smiles at me with his green eyes no more, "Bang!" i look down and i see a gunshot in my stomach red coming out, there a"Bang" again, i hear a scream unlike anything i heard before, and reality comes back. I saw this thing, its skin was pale gray, nearly transparent, showing rotting muscle and a pulsating network of black veins.
"What is that?" I asked
Bo grabbed my hand and we ran as fast as we could. We hear another scream "Vrys" I say as we turn the corner there were maybe six of them now creeping up on us slowly. I took my gun and started to fire it as one of the Vrys caught me off guard and grabbed me away from Bo's hand. I'm on the ground trying to fight the Vry off of me, I hear a rife go off and the Vry falls on to his side. I look up, Bo shooting some of the other Vrys so it wasn't him with the rifle. The thing was getting closer and closer, the voice whispering and changing its voice to people of my past. I heard another rifle shot and it went through the side of the thing. It screeches loudly and slowly runs in the other direction. I get up and watch the remaining Vrys retreating the same way as the thing was going.
"Liam you okay" I hear worry in his voice, he helps me up.
"Im okay" I tell him
"Good! What do you think that was?" he asks
"Its called a Whisper!" a unfamiliar voice said
We both look back, a woman walks up to us, her red hair and blueish eyes, she is tall wearing a black shirt and jeans.
She looks at us and smiles, "Iris" she says continuing to look at both of us.
"Um Liam" I say " This ... .This is Bo "I don't take my eyes off her.
She continues to smile at us, she puts out her hand and I keep stare at her, "Liam'' Bo nudges my shoulder, "yeah…" I say looking at him, then looking at her then, I blush and then I back up and take a step behind Bo, "Sorry about that," he shakes her hand, "Straight guys" he says as he smiles back at me "Sorry" i say blushing, again another beautiful person comes in to my life and i don't know how to react.
"Thanks for the help there" he said to her, "if it wasn't for you I don't know if we would have made it.
Her smile fades as we hear the screech of it again, "We need to get going, the Whisper will heal fast and come back even more aggressive." she says
Bo looks at me, "We have a car," I tell her.
"A car, how?" she asks "I haven't seen them running in a long time,"
"My grandfather fixed it" i tell her
"We can drop you off, but we can't stay" I tell her looking at Bo
We hear the car door open "Bo" annalina small voice echos, he runs over to her, "we need to a find someone to help Bos little sister" I tell her,
She said "Okay. My camp has a healer. We can take his sister there and see if he could help her. I cannot promise anything but maybe he can help."
"Thank you," I say
She shrugs, "It's cool, we like to help as many people as we can. She smiles at me.
We hear the screech one more time, and we look at each other and run to the car.