Heaven Below

Chapter 1

"Everyone follow me!" shouted the matron as soon as she made sure that everyone was present in the activity room. "Stay away from windows and exterior walls!"

"What's going on?" I asked the boys around me, exchanging glances with Aries, who shrugged with wide eyes. Most of them did the same, and they looked just about as confused as I.

As we began walking down the stairs to the first floor, Jacob, a lanky wisp of a teenager, had us slow down so that we drifted to the very end of the line, behind a cluster of girls who were chattering nervously. Jacob, at a first glance, seemed that he would be clumsy and incapable due to his noodle-esque proportions, but he was actually the brightest and sneakiest one out of us all. He knew everything that was going on at the orphan home, from adolescent gossip to the secrets of the caretakers.

"I heard that there was a warning issued for an attack in Johnston's Square," he said, his voice barely audible over the collective mumbling and scuffling.

We all looked at each other in surprise. Johnston's Square was visible from my bedroom window, and an attack there would surely have dire effects on this place. Aries looked vexed at best, his brow furrowing and his lips pressed into a tight line. His eyes were clouded over with worry. I could understand, as we've always heard about the attacks around us, but since the matron was always careful and moved us accordingly to neutral zones, we had never experienced one before. The only thing we knew about them was the horror they brought to those caught in the crossfire, and that our parents had most likely been victims of them.

"Which side?" asked Romulus, a scrawny boy slightly younger than the rest of us. Unlike the majority of the orphans here, he had been there when his parents and brother had been killed, and he sought to avenge them. "Demons?"

"I could be wrong, but apparently no one can tell, and a lot of people think that it's really going to be an attack."

We all stopped and gaped at Jacob in shock. Even Romulus didn't seem so spirited anymore. Battles were different from one-sided attacks, which already struck fear into most civilians. Battles meant that both sides would be raising hell until one of them was completely demolished, and since both sides were comprised of immortal monsters, that usually meant that everything in the area would be razed.

"Boys in the back!" snapped the matron, her sharp voice piercing through the hall. "Hurry up!"

We all rushed forwards, closing the gap between us and the girls ahead.

"It's definitely something to do with that," whispered Jacob, nodding at the matron. She was almost never like this; our matron was always kind and forgiving. Today, however, her plain face was rigid with anxiety, and we were worried about the reason why.

We followed in silence, the walls of the orphan home passing us quickly, and I suddenly wondered if I would see this place again. The matron had relocated us many times due to the threat of attacks, but this was the place we'd stayed the longest. It had become a habit of mine to run the backs of my fingernails across the bumpy, uneven walls as I walked past, and I had come to find the constant buzz of the flickering lights familiar and comforting. The third location of the Good Hope Orphan Home had become what I perceived as my home, since I knew damn well that I was never going to find another; the clusters of humans left on this earth were too busy trying to survive to adopt children.

The matron was leading us across the living space downstairs when the ground began to shake. The younger kids began to yelp and scream, and the rest of us were panicking as well. Outside, a bright light flashed, searing my retinas, and I heard a loud rumbling sound ripping across the cityscape.

Aries looked at me in panic, blinking rapidly to recover from the sudden flash. We'd never seen the onslaught of a battle before, and I was afraid of what it might bring. Everyone rushed forwards to the matron, who was yelling for us to keep calm.

"Everyone calm down!" shouted the matron, clapping loudly. "Get to the basement! No pushing or running!"

We did as we were told, hurrying down the stairs underground as fast as we could without disobeying the matron. She led us down under the building, her fair hair streaming behind her. Holding the basement door open, she ushered us all in, her eyes scanning behind us. There was crashing and inhuman shrieking outside, and that only terrified us more. I regretted being at the back of the line; it felt like at any moment, the walls would cave in and it would be too late for me.

"Is that the last of you?" asked the matron as I passed through. I nodded, and she let the door swing closed behind us.

Once again, the matron took charge. She whistled and clapped her hands loudly, the sound not echoing in the tiny room. In the dim light of the singular lightbulb, we could all see the grim expression on her face, and the loud rumbling and thundering outside was not helping. I glanced up to see tiny flakes of plaster falling from the ceiling as the violence outside shook even the foundations of the city.

"Help is coming," she announced in a pinched voice. "Do not worry about what's happening outside. We will be rescued and brought to safety soon."

Murmuring broke out between us all, and I realized that not everyone understood the gravity of the situation. Apparently, only Jacob had known that it was a battle. Through the crack under the door, I could see flashes of light and darkness, and I shivered despite the body heat of twenty children that was filling the room.

"Bets that we'll survive?" asked Jacob with a self-assured smirk.

"Half my next meal that we do," replied Aries, rubbing the flecks of dust and plaster that had dislodged from the ceiling between his pale fingers.

"Hopeful, aren't we now?"

"If we die, just remind me to pay you back in Hell." Aries wore a soft grin that answered Jacob's.

"See you there, then," said Jacob curtly. He ruffled his dark hair and shook the bits of ceiling from it. "It won't be long now."

As if on cue, the whole room began to quake, knocking me off balance. I pressed my body against the wall as I fought to regain my footing, and everyone began to shout and yell in alarm. Objects began to topple off of shelves, shattering on the ground, and the matron had directed her attention to calming down the younger orphans. Then, a piercing screech ripped through the air, nearly liquidating my eardrums. We all fell silent, as the primal scream had seemed to have occupied all the sound waves possible. It was a terrifying sound; it wasn't quite human, but the fear and pain behind it was all too familiar. I saw some of the smaller children drop to the ground sobbing, and we all wore chalky, horror-stricken expressions.

It wouldn't stop. I couldn't hear a single thing besides the screech ricocheting in my head, and it was becoming increasingly excruciating, and my vision began to blur into a grainy haze. As I looked around, I found that most everyone was in similar situations as me, as many were in fetal positions with their mouths open--probably screaming along. The matron was holding some of the children, looking around wildly for anything that could've been a threat.

The noise eventually died, leaving my ears ringing and nearly deafened, but the ceiling above us began to collapse from the force of the disturbance, larger chunks of plaster and wood raining down. The furniture from the first floor came too, chairs and tables crashing all around us. I flung myself to the side as I found a bookshelf coming my direction, plowing into an unsuspecting boy next to me. I glanced up at him fervently to find that it was Jacob, his mouth agape and his face panic-stricken as he stared up.

I turned my head to look into the first floor of the house. There were gaping scars in the wall where the floor used to be, and it seemed like a whole other realm up there; it was still brightly lit and nicely decorated as if the normal world was still turning. I could see outside the windows, some sunlight still streaming in. However, much of the natural light had been obscured by the dust and debris outside due to the combat. Before my eyes flashed a dark figure, shadows coiling around its fingers as it leapt towards an unknown enemy. Another ear-splitting scream ensued, but it was cut short by a loud boom and a wave of darkness, which rattled the house on its foundation and sent chills down my spine.

A deafening crashing noise sounded behind me, and pain erupted in my upper arm. I whirled my head around to see an armoire where Jacob had been. My insides churned when I saw that the bottom was bloodied, and I realized that it had my right arm and another body pinned under it.

"Jacob!" I shouted, pulling back, only to cry aloud as agony shot up my arm. I could feel something wet with my fingers, as well as hard, jagged bone, and I nearly collapsed right there. "No!"