Shattered Horizon

07 Liam

Chapter 7
Liam
"Liam, wake up," a voice called. A cold touch pressed against my forehead, and I jolted awake, vision blurred. "Bo... Iris..." I mumbled.
"No, son." My vision sharpened, revealing my grandfather hovering over me. "Pap!" He rose, sitting beside me. "Liam, how did you get here? Why aren't you at the cabin?"
Confused, I managed, "Where are we?"
"Caged up in what I suspect is the raider camp."
I tried to stand, but my legs buckled. My grandfather steadied me. "Liam, you need more rest."
"I'm so glad you're here!" I said, giving him a tight hug. He returned it, and I noticed the bruises marrying his face. "Are you okay?"
"I'll survive. Now, tell me what happened," he urged.
"It's a long story," I began.
"We have time," he reassured me.
I recounted everything: meeting Bo and Annalina, encountering The Whisper, searching for him, then finding Iris.
"That's quite the month you endured," he said, a hint of awe in his voice.
"I wasn't alone. Bo was with me the whole time."
"Im sorry pap," I say starting to tear up
"Sorry for what, buddy?" he asks, a note of confusion in his voice. "You saved those kids from a terrible fate, faced down a Whisper â€" not even knowing what it was. You stood up to those men to protect that girl. You should be proud of yourself."
He gives me a quick hug again, "Can you try to stand up again?"
I get up and I am a little off balance. I grab on to my grandfather's shoulder, "Yeah that is not happening just yet." he says, seating me back down.
My grandfather gets up and goes over to the door banging on it and yelling for a raider I guess. Some guy comes in and tells him to shut up. " I need some water please" my grandfather exclaims to the guy. The guy was very young, maybe a little older than me. I can't hear what the kid said but my grandfather comes back and sits down.
"Everything okay?" I ask
He pauses and says "Liam, we need to talk. The eclipse is coming up. You know what that is right?"
I shake my head and he continues.
"Well, the raider leader craves blood. He wants four lives â€" yours is one because of what you did. I plead with them, offering myself, but they refuse. You killed his son, defending that girl."
"I... I killed someone." I choke out the words, my face going numb. My stomach churns. "I didn't mean to! I just wanted to protect my friend!"
My grandfather's hand rests heavy on my shoulder. "Bud, I know. What they were going to do to her..." He trails off, a shudder rippling through him. "You did the right thing, Liam."
"I need you to be brave again, please," he pleads. "When that door opens, a kid named Frank will walk through. He's in on the plan. He's going to take you away from here, but I can't come with you. Promise me â€" promise me you'll never come back to look for me, okay?"
I stammer, "But Pa..."
"Liam, promise me!" My grandfather's voice cracks with urgency.
I promise him and I start to tear up. He gives me a hug. A boom echoes, followed by the clash of raiders, screams cut short, and the monstrous snarls of Vrys.
"Liam!" A man's voice shouts from behind the door.
My grandfather jolts up, his eyes locking with mine. I scramble to my feet, drawn towards the door.
"Liam!" A girl's voice now, desperate. Gunshots rip through the air, punctuated by the cries of those too weak to fight.
Wait, is that Bo and Iris? They came for me?
They call my name again, and I rush to the door "Bo!" I yell back "In here!"
I shove my arm through the window bars, waving wildly until I feel a jolt of hope as Bo sprints towards me. He grips my hand, knuckles white. "We're here. We're getting you out," he says, his voice surprisingly steady despite the tension that radiates off him. "Iris, the keys!"
Behind him, Iris fumbles, and I hear the jingle of metal before the keys are thrust into Bo's waiting hand. He unlocks the door with a swift, practiced motion. The rusted hinges groan as it swings open, and they surge inside.
Overwhelmed, I throw my arms around Bo. Tears prick my eyes, and my "Thank you" comes out as a ragged whisper. His arms tighten around me, and I feel a tremor run through him. I release him and give a hug to iris.
"Liam we need to go, before more of the deceas…" Bo was cut off
"Vrys" My grandfather said
"Guys, this is my grandfather," I say, a rush of relief washing over me. "He was caught by the raiders too. Pap, this is Bo and Iris."
Bo and Iris step closer, their expressions a mix of concern and respect. "It's an honor to meet you, sir," Bo says, extending a hand.
"Likewise," Iris adds, her voice soft but steady.
"We have to go! Ryan and Teddy won't last long against the raiders and Vrys. And that's not the worst of it."  Bo's voice cracked, the words hanging heavy in the air.
My grandfather cut him off. "We'll talk in the car." His tone was a steel blade, slicing through any hope of delay.
We left the cell, and the corridor pulsed with a monstrous symphony â€" the snarls, the guttural growls of the Vrys, their hunger echoing off the stone walls.  The scent of blood made my stomach churn.  Iris froze, her body rigid.
"Something... something huge is on the way," she choked out. "It tore my community apart. We're next."
I stopped beside her. My own heart jackhammered in my chest, a desperate counterpoint to the Vrys' bloodlust.  "Iris, we need to go. This isn't safe!"
She whipped her head from side to side, eyes darting, seeking escape.  "No! You don't get it. It's... it's different. The others, you can fight off.  But this...it's death. We're all going to die!"
With a sharp gesture, I signaled for Bo and my grandfather to keep moving. Their pace was frantic, but my grandfather shot me a look â€" a grim mix of understanding and frustration. He knew there was no time, but also recognized we wouldn't get anywhere without Iris.
"Just breathe, Iris," I said, trying to inject a calm I didn't possess. "In and out. Can you do that for me?"
Her breaths came in ragged gasps. My mind clawed for something, anything, to soothe her panic. I needed to project strength, but a creeping coldness told me her fear might be justified.
"You know," I began, forcing my voice to be even, "you and the others saved my life back there! I'd be just another victim if you hadn't come for me.  That took guts, Iris.  Real courage." A flicker of pride passed over her tear-streaked face, momentarily pushing back the terror.
"I know we're strangers," I continued,  "but there's something in you â€" a fighter's spirit. You belong with us.  We can make it out, I promise."  A hollow part of me questioned the truth of those words.
"But my family, my friends...everything I knew is gone. That monster...it wasn't...it wasn't natural," Iris whispered, her voice trembling. "It was like something out of a nightmare. How could anything get that big?" Tears cut fresh trails down her face, hot against the spreading chill of my own fear.
Her words struck a chord of unease within me. The Vrys were vicious, relentless predators, but their size, their strength, those had limits.  Iris's description hinted at something far worse, a monstrous aberration.  Images flashed through my mind â€" towering figures, unnatural forms â€" unsettling echoes from stories I'd dismissed as mere legends.
"It was a giant," she murmured, the horrifying awe in her voice replacing the pure terror from moments before.
My hand tightened on her shoulder, a futile attempt to offer both her and myself a sense of grounding.  My grandfather had warned us about dangers in this wasteland, but had he shielded us from the worst?  Was this a threat even he couldn't have anticipated?
"I don't have answers, Iris," I admitted, the words heavy in the oppressive air of the corridor.  "But I know this much: dwelling on it won't change what happened. We have to move, to survive." My voice held an edge of desperation now, as much an attempt to convince myself as it was her.
A sudden, deafening GROAN reverberated through the hallway, vibrating through the stone floor and sending a fresh wave of terror through me.  Iris flinched, her eyes widening in horror. "What was that?" she shrieked, her voice cracking.
The guttural growls of the Vrys seemed to falter for a moment, replaced by a tense silence.  Then, from somewhere deeper in the complex, came another earth-shaking GROAN, closer this time, followed by a low, rhythmic THUMP...THUMP...THUMP that echoed with a terrifying purpose.
The ground beneath our feet trembled slightly.  My heart hammered in my chest, a frantic drum solo against the chilling silence that had descended on the Vrys.  Whatever monstrosity Iris had described was coming, and it was closer than we thought.
She got up and we both headed in the direction Bo and my Grandfather went, We heard a yell and we ran in the direction, we got to the end of the hall way were my grandfather and Bo hands where raised. My Grandfather trying to work his way trying to get the other person to lower his gun.
"Stay where you are!" the guy said to us
"Liam" My grandfather turns his head
"Now this is Liam, the one who killed my boy!" the guy said " Very Very noble of you saving the whore!" he looks at Iris
"Leave her Alone!" said Bo
The leader of the raiders takes the gun off my grandfather and points it at Bo.
"Wait, he's just a boy!" My grandfather said "We have bigger things to worry about!"
Thump……. Thump……. Thumpppp….. The snarling of the giant was getting closer and the howls it made…… made me want to melt and turn invisible.
"You should have taught your son more respect for women!" I shouted, my voice shaking with a mix of anger and fear. The gun snapped towards me, a gleaming promise of death.
"My son was everything!"  The raider's face was contorted into a grotesque mask of fury, spittle flying from his lips. "My Eco...he wasn't just brilliant. He understood  women. Knew how to break them, make them serve, make them useful.  He would have ruled this wasteland â€" had them all crawling at his feet!"
Sick revulsion coiled in my stomach. "If he was a leader, then he should have known never to take someone innocent," I retorted, my voice barely above a whisper.
Before I could react, my grandfather lunged. He tackled the raider, sending them crashing to the ground. The gun went off with a deafening blast, the flash blinding me momentarily.
When my vision returned, a nightmare awaited.  The raider lay twitching, a crimson stain seeping across his chest. Beside him, my grandfather panted, his eyes wild. Splashes of blood flecked his face.
Then, a gurgling sound. My blood ran cold. The raider wasn't dead. A mangled whisper â€" a sound that shouldn't have been possible â€" rasped from his throat.  His body twitched, broken and twisted, yet something moved within the ruin. Eyes empty, fixed in a hateful stare, yet filled with a chilling echo of life...or something darker, something refusing to yield. A final shudder wracked his body, then he went still.
A strained silence filled the corridor, the monstrous THUMP, THUMP of the unseen giant now seeming a faint echo. For a few long moments, no one moved.
Finally, I approached my grandfather. When I went to help him up, he fell to his side, rasping for air. The raider had gotten his terrible revenge.
"Pap!" I knelt beside him, the sobs rising uncontrollably. "Please, don't leave me."
He reached out, his touch shockingly weak, and wiped a tear from my cheek.   "I'll always be with you," he whispered, his voice fading with each word. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "So... proud..."
"I love..."  The words trailed off, unfinished.  The light in his eyes flickered, then died.  His hand went slack in mine.
I got up, my legs moving on autopilot. Each step felt heavy, unreal. I drifted towards the wall, the cold stone a distant sensation against my skin. A strange sense of calm descended, even though my body still trembled.
Bo's voice reached me as if from underwater, muffled and distorted. I couldn't make out his words...didn't want to.  My vision blurred, the world twisting into indistinct shapes.
Was this real?  Could a nightmare be this vivid, this relentless? Had my grandfather truly breathed his last, leaving me trapped in this twisted dream?