Shattered Horizon

17 Liam

Iris and I headed to the camp where Bo said he was with his family. He'd begged us not to go, but we needed to find Annalina and his folks. Something felt off about him, not like it used to be.
As we walked down the street, passing the old corner store, the leaves swirled around us, their colors blazing in the crisp autumn air. Iris shivered, so I slipped off my jacket and offered it to her. She protested at first, playfully trying to put it back on me. I dodged away, and we both laughed.
"What's on your mind?" I asked.
She hesitated. "You know you have to talk to him," she said.
I rolled my eyes. "I don't want to talk about this right now."
"Come on, Liam," she pressed. "Why are you keeping your feelings bottled up? It's not good for you."
The truth was, I wasn't sure why I was avoiding him. Jealousy, maybe? A fear of overstepping in his relationship?
"Earth to Liam," she said, snapping her fingers.
"Huh? What?" I blinked back to the present.
She sighs "its okay, just know he needs you right now"
My head shakes with disbelief. We follow tire tracks veering off the road and find the abandoned tents. The place is a wreck. We search for Max's body, but all we find are decaying Vry corpses. The smell of rot hangs heavy in the air. Did he escape? Or did they take him too?
A photo lies in the dirt â€" Bo's family. His mother's eyes, his father's strong build, the brown hair... A brother a bit older, so alike. There's Annalina, and another girl, maybe three years older than his brother â€" tall, slim, with long black hair.
Iris joins me, eyeing the picture. "Now that's a cute family," she murmurs.
I slip the photo into my backpack, fingers brushing the locket at my neck. A pang of longing washes over me. Bo had his family until now. Iris is right. It was wrong to be upset about his reunion. I admit it at last â€" I was jealous. I wish I could see my sister, be with my loved ones again, but... they died when my grandfather took me to the cabin.
"Liam?" Iris breaks my thoughts.
"Yeah?" I reply.
"Maybe we should follow the tire tracks?" she suggests.
"Good idea." I zip up my backpack and turn towards her. "Looks like they were in a hurry."
She nodded and we headed back out to the road. "Iris," I said, "about before…"
She shakes her head and smiles, a touch of understanding in her eyes. I look down at my feet as we keep walking. "I will talk to Bo when I get back. I guess I feel jealous that he got reunited with his family, and I feel bad about it. Did I jinx it?" I ask her.
"No, Liam, it's okay to feel that way. I mean, I felt it a little too, but I grew up with a loving family." She pauses. "You lost your parents at a very young age. You lost the only role models you had." Another pause, and her voice softens. "Can I ask you something very personal?"
I paused for a couple of minutes, wondering what she was going to ask me. "Sure," I said finally.
"Um, I saw those marks on your back. I wanted to ask, and I don't want you to thinkâ€""
I cut her off. "My… grandfather used to beat me when I was growing up. Nothing harsh at first, until my great aunt disappeared." I swallowed, the memory sharp and bitter.
"Your great aunt?" she asked.
"Yeah." The night flashed back. "My great aunt and I were outside, and I ran off because I saw something in the woods. I was curious, it sounded like a dog. She followed, and…" My voice cracked. "She was bitten by a Vry. She left a note for my grandfather, telling me to hide until he got back. He read the letter, and he got so angry she'd left. I think he was drinking too â€" I smelled alcohol. He hit me with a rope, hard, again and again." I paused, the sting echoing across the years.
"He said it was my last warning. That no one else would die because of me. Whipped me one last time, then sent me to my room. Minutes later, he came in sobbing, said he was sorry, that he'd never hurt me again. He cleaned my cuts."
I looked at Iris. Her face was tear-stricken, but she said nothing. "After that, he never hit me again. Quit drinking too. He'd raise his voice, and I'd get terrified, but… it's all just a memory now. He's gone." I said
"People come into my life, they save me and protect me from everything, but I'm not too sure why they do it. Just like your brother, Teddy and Simon… why? They didn't know me." My voice dropped to a whisper. "My grandfather was right, it seems like I bring death to anyone I come in contact with." The words hung heavy in the quiet air between us, a weight settling on my chest that even Iris's comforting presence couldn't lift.
"Liam," she said softly. She stops walking, and I stop with her. She pulls me into a hug. "You're the sweetest, kindest guy I have ever met. My brother and the rest wanted to help you because you saved my life. They knew the risk, and they did it anyway because they knew this world needed a kind and caring person, one who doesn't think of himself and puts others first." She pauses.
"Look at it this way: Bo and Annalina would have been killed if YOU hadn't opened that door. I could have been seriously hurt, even dead, if you'd stepped aside and run. But you didn't. This cruel, cruel world we live in now needs someone like you!" she says.
"We love you, Liam," she said, letting go of me.
I shake my head. "I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about." She grabs my hand. "Let's go, before it gets too late."
Silence stretches between us as we walk for hours, the tire marks fading in and out. Finally, a white building looms ahead â€" an old military base, maybe, surrounded by a rusting fence.
"Seems abandoned," she murmurs.
I scan the exterior, my heart pounding. "Look." I point to a window on the fourth floor. Faint light flickers within.
"They have lights," she confirms.
We approach cautiously. The front door hangs open, blood splattering the floor and walls of the entrance. A body lies sprawled nearby, a bullet hole in his head. More bodies litter the area, surrounded by spent shell casings. We find a door, the lights flickering above it, and all the doors in the hallway beyond are wide open. Iris raises her gun, and I grip mine tighter.
"Holding cells," I say, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Yeah. Something like you and your grandfather were held in," she replies, her eyes dark.
"Excelly," I mutter.
We continue, checking each room. "Liam, over here!"
I rush to Iris. She's kneeling beside Annalina's backpack. My stomach drops. "They were here. Let's keep looking."
There's another door, leading into a vast communications room littered with papers. Among them, keys glint inside a file cabinet. I open it, a jumble of last names blurring before my eyes. My knees hit the floor as I yank open my backpack, praying Bo's family name is there. I find the picture, turn it â€" Jakob family, 2020.
The photo slips back into my bag. With trembling hands, I search the files until... Jakob! "Iris!" My voice cracks. "One moment!" Her footsteps echo, drawing closer. "What is it?" I thrust the file at her.
She scans the cabinet, searching for her own last name. "S... where's the 'S'?" My fingers trace the Bo family file:
James Jakob Father Deceased
Hendrick Jakob Mother Deceased
Tyler Jakob Son Deceased
Terra Jakob Daughter Deceased
Deceased â€" crossed out, then scrawled in frantic letters: Alive. Holding room 7. For Terra and Tyler.
Bo Jakob Son Whereabouts Unknown
Annlina Jakob Daughter Alive- Holding room 5
My breath catches. I flip the page, and two more names stare back:
Max (unknown) Not related Alive
Kara Jakobs Daughter-in-Law Alive
Transport to Atlanta Georgia, three days,
"Found it!" Iris exclaimed.
She opened the file. I slipped Bo's file into my backpack, my eyes glued to hers as she scanned the Sermona family pages. Every name: deceased. Except hers, and her brother's â€" whereabouts unknown. Then, beside her youngest sister, the word screamed in all capitals: ALIVE. Transport to survivors camp, Atlanta, Georgia.
Iris's eyes met mine. Then she crumpled to her knees. "Iris," I whispered, but she seemed frozen, unable to shape the words.
Finally, a ragged gasp, "She's alive! Liam!"
A bang echoes, and sparks shower the hallway. "See if your family name is in there," Iris shouts.
Nerves jangle as I approach the last drawer of the file cabinet.  I search and search and I don't find it. My hand trembles as I close the file drawer, They're all dead anyway. Why did I even hope they were alive? A wave of bitter resignation washes over me. Yet, something tugs at me. I grab Iris's file and shove them into my backpack. "We have to go," I say, my voice rough.
Suddenly, a slimy, writhing mass bursts from the corner, its tendrils snaring my leg. "Irisss!" I scream. I scramble for anything to grab, and Iris opens fire. The creature releases me with a hiss, and I drop to the floor. Its ear-splitting screech forces Iris to her knees. I cover my ears as the grotesque thing slithers out of the room with unnatural speed.
"What was that?" Iris yells, her voice tinged with shock.
"I'm not sure," I get up and help her up. We step into the hallway, everything swallowed in an unsettling darkness. Iris takes her bag off and reaches in for a flashlight. She returns the bag over her shoulder and flicks the beam on, piercing the gloom.
My breath hitches in my throat. Down the hall, something moves â€" a monstrous silhouette against the dim light. Iris gasps as the shape resolves â€" a writhing mass of raw, pulsing muscle, slick with something that gleams sickly in the beam. Instead of a head, tentacles writhe like a nest of serpents, each tipped with a wicked barb. Two hulking claws, the color of midnight, cut through the air, leaving shimmering trails in their wake.
"What in God's name..." Iris whispers, her voice trembling.
Then it screeches. The sound isn't just loud; it's an assault on our senses, a physical force that makes my bones vibrate and sends a jolt of agony through my skull. For a moment, the world blurs. My ears ring, a high-pitched whine drowning out everything else.
Iris and I shoot the monster, bullets sinking into it like pebbles in the ocean. Do you see a way out? The monster surges forward, forcing us back step by agonizing step. The hallway ends in a cold, dead end of brick.
"No," Iris pants, the gun clicking empty in her hands. She tosses it aside, a flicker of despair in her eyes.
"Me too," I echo, my gun useless. We slam against the wall, nowhere to run. I glance desperately and spot a door. It swings open, revealing a small room... and a glimmer of hope.
"What now?" Iris asks, her voice tight as we back inside. The door is thick, heavy metal, maybe buying us a few precious minutes.
I run to the window, but one look down tells me it's a death leap. "I'm not sure," I admit, banging on the door like a drumbeat in my skull.
"How long will it hold?" she presses. But I'm not listening. My eyes have landed on the medical table - and the four big oxygen tanks strapped to it. Each one bears a bright red sticker: EXPLOSIVE.
"Do you have any type of lighter?" I ask her, my mind racing. Could this be a way out...or the end of everything?
I untie the oxygen tanks, their metallic hiss filling the room as they hit the floor. The monster's blows dent the door further inward with each slam. One tank remains. I set it down gently, a ticking time bomb. Iris hands me the lighter we snagged for Joanna â€" a flimsy, plastic thing. I rummage through the cabinets, finding stark white cloths - old pillowcases - and douse them in rubbing alcohol, the sharp smell stinging my nose. They become crude fuses, tied to the tanks.
"Iris, behind the table! Now!" I shove the heavy metal table against the wall.
I yank open the oxygen valves, and a deafening rush of air fills the room. Grabbing the soaked pillowcase, I flick the lighter. Nothing. "Come on!" I mutter, the monster's snarls growing louder. Another flick â€" sparks, but no flame.
The door explodes inward. A flash of light, and the pillowcase ignites, the flame racing toward the tanks. I dive behind the table, shielding Iris. A blinding explosion, the monster's screech piercing the roar of the blast. I peek over the table â€" flames lick the air, and a blackened shape retreats down the hallway.
Grabbing Iris's hand, we stumble out into the smoke-filled corridor. The monster is gone, a trail of fire and ruin marking its panicked escape.
We crept down the hallway, footsteps echoing on the worn floorboards. At the bottom of the creaky steps, the front door loomed. From within came that dreadful sound again â€" a guttural snarl, followed by the sickening rustle of tentacles. Suddenly, they lashed out, ensnaring Iris and hoisting her into the air. In a flash, I hurled my knife toward her. Iris caught it, a flicker of desperation in her eyes, and sliced herself free. The creature shrieked, an ear-splitting wail of pain â€" but still, it wasn't the high-pitched scream we feared.
I pulled Iris to her feet. "Run!" We bolted out the front door, the creature's enraged howl propelling us back the way we came.