The Wasteland Chronicles

Chapter 7

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Wake up! Wake up for gods sake!"

Thump. Thump. Thump...

*******

Dawn rose slowly. Dancing around the hazy clouds, the sun shone down onto the pristine white RV. The thick clouds were tinted orange, their tips were vibrant in colour, while they danced amongst the relatively gloomy skies. Connors eyes flickered briefly, his dazed state latching onto him, and his almost nonexistent breathes drew short. His body wouldn't move. His skin was white and sickly, cold to touch. Voices, sounds, rung in his head. He could hear Tara screaming, and Marlon moaning..

Yet despite all the seeming chaos that was arising around him - all he could see was black. He could hear it over everything. Thump. Thump. Thump. What was this infernal sound? So loud, yet it played in the background. It sounded like it was so far, yet so prominent. Similar to a wolf, the way it would howl in the night sky. Where you can hear it no matter how far away, and it remains so loud. No matter how far off, it's intense cry would still play in your ears. Nobody heard wolves anymore.

Infuriated, Tara screamed back at Jasper "This is all your fault!" Her face was flustered, red, enraged. Tears swelled in her eyes and in the anger of her screaming there was a powerful emotion. Sadness. Fear. Hopelessness. Her face was drained of all positive emotions. "How is it my fault? I was caring for my fucking boyfriend! You're her motherly figure!" Jasper snapped in response, he stared at the barren highway in front of them and sighed shakily.

"Jasper, please."

"What? What is there to 'please' about. You damn well left that little girl back there. We're a days journey away now, no good going back."

Tara bit her lip, tears swelling in her eyes. Suddenly she burst, filling her palms with salty tears as she sobbed into her hands to cover her face. Jasper frowned, shaking his head blatantly. His eyes were stone cold, seeming to show little care about his wounded boyfriend or the abandoned girl. "...how?" Tara blurted out, sniffling a little, "She was only, what? Nine... I left her. She's going to die cold, and alone. Because of me." Yet Jasper refused to speak another word, his mouth sealed shut. He simply shook his head in response. His eyes twitched, shooting across the landscape like a vulture searching for prey.

Tara felt her heart sink like a stone. It was heavy in her chest, the mere thought of leaving Harlow gave her so much burden. She sighed, looking down at a sleeping Marlon. Tara's scarf was stained a deep crimson, she sighed. Such a makeshift bandage wouldn't work. The RV bounced. "Christ, Jasper. At least control the thing," Tara yelled, her nails clawing into the uncomfortable RV seat. She looked down at Marlon, who was sleeping on the sofa that was part of a table set. The sofa had old blood splatters, clearly the previous owners didn't get a happy ending.

Tara sat there, next to Marlons dirty boots. She drifted off into her own thoughts. Troubling dreams of Harlow. She remembered the moonlit night of the car crash. It was only a day or two back, so it was still fresh in her mind. As if her world was collapsing in on her...

*******

She was there. Small, a shadow in the moonlight. A silhouette of a haunting reminder. Standing by the wreck of the steaming SUV. She shuffled towards Tara.

"Help."

"Please."

"Just help..."

Her childish whispers got progressively louder as her pace increased, her face suddenly illuminated. Her eyes choked in blood, as the blood streamed down her face messily, Harlow's face was pale and lifeless, her eyes with no emotion. She reached out a gnarled hand with claws for fingers. Slowly, her body shifted...

Her arm's were bare in the moonlight, her white shirt turning a dark crimson from blood. Giant marks in her arms, sores, dissolved deeper. Her pale flesh and blood sparkled, catching Tara's eye. As the deep red blood seeped from Harlow's arms, it became an odd pigment of yellow-green. It was like vomit, and her feet dragged as she outstretched her frail arms.

There was a scream.

*******

"My arm!" Marlon screamed in agony, his voice making Jasper's blood curl. Tara snapped her eyes open, briefly darting over at Jasper with a look of despise before noticing Marlon. Alarmed, she hushed him quickly "Shush, baby. It's fine, it's fine. I've got this, let me just take a look..."

Slowly, she unravelled the scarf, now stained crimson, and gazed upon the gaping wound. A deep wound, bleeding and disgusting in it's form, caved into his shoulder. The skin had been torn clean off, and his condition was horrible by clear observation. Tara felt an immediate sense of panick, her heart thudding. She bit her lower lip, the raising volume of Jasper's enraged voice pestered her as she attempted to focus on more immediate problems.

She placed two fingers near the wound. Marlon screamed, tears choking his eyes. Flooding them. Drowning them. Tara cringed, calling out to Jasper while attempting to keep her tone polite "Hey! Do we even have any medical supplies? I'm not a doctor, but this wound needs cleaning and maybe some stitches before we can even think about getting him in a bettter condition. Bedrest alone won't do it."

Jasper simply shook his head in response, his eyes hollow as they took an immediate focus on the landscape.

Everyone dies. Everything dies. It's the ultimate equaliser - death.

When things went to shit, Jasper had to rely on that phrase. You have to detatch to survive, because eventually everything and everyone around you will die. You will die. He kept it in the back of his mind, a friendly reminder that - in the end, everyone is fucked.

"Jasper, are you sure?" asked Tara, ripping him back into reality. He nodded, which brought Tara to a very nervous state. Lily, Hana, Harlow. Now Marlon? No, no this couldn't be happening. They were falling so quickly.

Just like an army, falling one by one.

T'was no different for Tara. But in the tense room filled with the painful atmosphere of Marlon wailing, and Jasper dominating, with Connor potentially dead therefore unable to stop it, what could she do? She held back tears, blinking quickly and re-wrapping the scarf around Marlon's shoulder. Marlon shot up his head at her, smiling a little. She returned a pitiful smile at him, it must be horrible...

The world's gone to shit, your boyfriend won't do anything but get angry, abandon others, and threaten lives. Next thing you know, you've got some demon-dog biting into your shoulder, ripping out your flesh. Hell wasn't a fantasy land anymore. Here it was.

Tara cautiously stood, the RV making various bumps in the rocky road. Tara pulled herself along the wall towards an inanimate Connor. She grabbed him by the shoulders and frowned, tears forming in her eyes. She shook him violently.

"Wake up! Wake up for gods sake!"

"Please. Please wake up. We need you."

"I need you."

*******

Author's Note

Terribly sorry for not posting in weeks! With school returning, slow internet, and a general lack of motivation for this chapter, I couldn't get it in soon enough! Hope you enjoy though, I've decided instead of just theming my book as a graphic horror, to take on a more physcological darkness. You might notice a more mystery theme as well in the upcoming few chapters.

Hope you enjoy!