The Great Awakening

Chapter 6

             “Stay close…”

            Melissa did as she was told, trudging through the mossy street. “I don’t get it… why is it so dangerous if there’s no one around?”

            “You haven’t seen the best part yet…” He said rather seriously, but sometimes Melissa couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. He did that from time to time, last she remembered.

            “Glad to know you find this amusing,” Melissa said harshly with venom in her words.

            Troy looked to her then. “I don’t.”

            They stopped in front of a building. From the looks of it, it was an apartment building at some point. The moss had begun to envelop the sides, and even entering some broken windows. It was too dark to see inside of the rooms or windows, but Melissa was unsure if she wanted to peer inside them anyway, afraid of what she may see.

            “Wouldn’t the Government be watching this place?” It was a question that she should have asked before entering the damned city. “I mean, if I get caught, Jayden and I will get into a lot of trouble, and I don’t want that happening.”

            Troy sighed. “You won’t get into trouble because I’m sure no one is watching. But even so, after tonight, I doubt you’re going to want to live in AngelCity anymore anyway…”

            She was about to object, but he already went ahead of her up the steps. He pulled out a slick black looking tube and attached it to the barrel of his sidearm. Then he pulled out his torch and shined it. “Stay close… don’t wander off, or you die…”

            “Jeez, you make it sound like there are monsters in there…” She was only half joking.

            He cocked the slide of his gun back, loading a round into the chamber. “Nothing I can’t handle…” Then he holstered the pistol and pulled out a machete.

            The inside of the building reeked of a peculiarly sharp stench, worst than the sewers before. Melissa had to cover her nose, but Troy remained attentive, crossing his arms at the wrists, shining the torch forward and pointing the gun in the same direction. As the torch shined on the various objects littered throughout the building, Melissa noted the moss on the walls. The apartment hadn’t been maintained properly, not for a long time, possibly even a century. But moss doesn’t smell like rotting meat. Where was the smell coming from?

            They turned the corner and… nothing. Other than the moss and the rotting desk. Melissa couldn’t help but give a sigh of both relief and disappointment. She wasn’t looking forward to death, but she was looking forward to some sort of excitement. They slowly and silently started down the halls again. Melissa looked ahead, fearful of being in an environment that she was unfamiliar with, as well as being in the darkness. The stairwell they took was also reeking of death. The higher they climbed, the less bearable the stench became. “What am I supposed to be looking at?” asked Melissa.

            “You’ll find out soon enough. Stay quiet…”

            They were now in the halls of the third floor, moving from room to room. Troy had been collecting boxes full of shiny pointed, copper plated objects. On the box were numbers like 7.62, 5.56, .308, .45, and 9mm. Melissa had no idea what the numbers were a representation of. “What are those?” she asked quietly.

            “Bullets… a long time ago, people used these to defend themselves.” He said as he loaded bullets into a magazine and then stopped abruptly, his head perking at the sound of something.