The Bryne Runaways (Updated)

Chapter 57

I stand in front of a house in the middle of a dark night in this quiet empty neighborhood. The house in front of me door is widely open. I walk directly straight into the house and once I enter I see that entire place has been completely destroyed. There's glass everywhere, lamps in pieces, shelves of objects demolished into nothing and furniture flipped over. It's all been turned into something so depressing. A picture frame catches my eye and I go to it picking it up from the rubble. I hold it with both hands and see through shattered glass a familiar face. It is my mother. Who is smiling happily next to a baby that I think is me.

Is this my childhood home? Did I live here? I don't recall living in this place, I don't remember who lived with me when I was kid.

Upstairs I hear a noise and I begin making my way up there. I slowly step up the stairs making the wood creak loudly. From down here I can see a light from a bedroom. It is the only light on in the house. I go up the stairs one by one until I'm at the top. Where I am I can already see the bedroom. A baby's bedroom to be exact to be completely destroyed too. Pictures frames were destroyed and the cabinets on the floor searched through. The bed is flipped over and the walls were clawed and has writings all over it. Such as words like "death" "mine" and one that caught my attention and stood out saying "the end of humanity."

From all the rubble around a rocking chair moves back and forth. This is the only object that isn't destroyed. I stop the rocking chair which seems very odd.

I begin to smell something. I swiftly move out the room and downstairs to see the entire house is burning, everything in gushing flames. The room is filled with smoke and the flames begin to rise beside me burning anything in its way.  All the precious memories. All the meaningful objects burning. I look at the picture of me and my mother in my hands begin to burn a beautiful perfect picture. In my hands it turned into light ash and I shut my eyes feeling a deep pain strike right through my chest.

"It all shall burn, the past will not help you"

I wake up by a door opening and closing. It's Uncle Ben. He looks tired. He drops his pack and I get off my back. Uncle Ben makes his way over to the bed where I am, laying himself down with his hand going to his face. I look at him as he just messes up his hair making it go out of place. By the looks of it, he might be tensed.

"What's wrong?" I ask him as he just breathes harshly.

"Nothing is wrong" He sprawls his arms out.

"What did they say?" Uncle Ben gets back up.

"Just the rules, how all this works. Remember the group Dr. Meredith told us to go to?" I nod remembering what she told me as her hands slipped from mine.

"We found them, this is the pack" 

"This is the place we've been walking a long way for" I stare down at the bed. So this is the place where I'll be staying now. This will become my new home for the rest of my life until I die. I no longer wanted to talk about this anymore. It all would make me think about the future and I don't like overthinking. It's too overwhelming. You just have to live in the moment in this world. Thinking about the future is forbidden.

I think to myself saying in my head how'd I end up making it here? I thought I wouldn't have made it but here I am. Still breathing and still looking for answers. It's funny how things are when you don't expect them.

After spending most our time in that small space Uncle Ben and I leave our new room and begin making our way to the Diner since it's time for dinner already. The sky is dark and the air is smooth leaving all the noise behind. It's all silent around here. I begin walking downstairs and I catch a familiar face coming from outside, they had opened the large gates for him. The familiar face I see is Harry who I haven't seen in awhile. He spots me and I run over to him once I get there he pulls me in a bear hug. I hug him back.

"I heard about the camp, I thought you were dead"

"No I was able to escape before the invasion" I say caressing my cast.

"You know about the invasion?"

"Yeah it was on a radio"

"That's us. We are the one signaling the survivors. We are the resistance" He tells me. So they were the ones sending signals on radios. They are the ones I first heard about in Dr. Meredith's office and at that abandoned car.

"Who told you to find us here?" He asks.

"Dr. Meredith"

"She didn't come with?"

"She didn't make it" I say.

"I'm sorry" He says and I just accept. She was my doctor for quite a long time now. She did everything for me, she even sacrificed her life for me. She is brave and is a trigger. I can't thank her enough for what she did. She deserved to live longer but Gordon chose her decision.

"Well you're safe here. No one will want to interfere with you here" He says and I don't know if that is suppose to make me feel better or if I have more people after me soon? Who will go after me? Everyone who wanted me dead is dead.

I hear footsteps coming over and I turn to see Uncle Ben who makes his way over to us. He stands behind me. "Harry" He says.

"Ben mate, it's good to see you here as well" Harry looks at Uncle Ben. I look at Harry and wonder where did he go? He looks dirty like if he's blended in the wilderness. He has a bow on him with no arrows in his sheath. Was he hunting?

"The same thing to you" Uncle Ben answers back.

"Where did you go? I didn't see you at camp" I ask him actually wanting to know why did he flee.

"I had to come back here to tell them about you. I was coming back but when I arrived to the camp it was all....chaos" He says and I want to know more about this chaos. Did he see my friends by the way. I really don't want to lose them. I hate that I believe that they are gone.

"Do you know anything about my friends?" I ask him desperately.

"I'm sorry Norman but everything is all destroyed" He says and in my head I thought instantly about death. Did it spread to the people? Did people escape? Uncle Ben took out a fence with a grenade, at least some of them had to be able to escape. It all confuses me. An airstrike even was there too. I really want to be brought back to what had happened right after we ran for it. I want to know.

We walk into the Diner and I am the last one to enter, I'm getting looks from people in here, especially the chef. I see him through the small window and he had a small goatee, chocolate brown skin and brown eyes looking directly at me until he focuses on the food instead of me. I feel someone next to me and it is Cruz. He has his hands in his pockets looking at the kitchen.

"His name is Pots" Cruz says beside me and that's a weird name. I never heard of it before.

"One of the greatest cooks alive, he can cook anything you can ever plead for" Cruz says and I look up at him. I noticed that Cruz is already grown probably in his early twenties, confident that doesn't make him look like a fool but he had this cool vibe to be around. I also noticed that his lip is busted open and bleeding.

"What happened to your lip?" I ask him and his tongue absorbs the blood and I cringe. Gross.

"The aftertaste of winning a fight pup" He grins and his brow that is cut from a side he raises. What happened to his brow? Another battle scar?

"As much as I want to stay here and chat pup but your friend over there is expecting you" He talks about Uncle Ben who sits in a booth with Harry.

"Not a friend, he's my uncle" I say to him but he's no longer next to me but sitting next to someone else. I catch that someone's eyes and they're the girl's. The only one here actually. I don't know about her. I don't think she likes me I assume but my assumptions aren't always correct. I look away from her and go to my uncle who seems much more comfortable and calm to be around.