Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 18

"Jesus Christ!" Arthur Edwards exclaimed. His mouth was gaping wide, his hands pressed into the sides of his head in shock. "What the hell was in that barn?!

Lacey's face was also at a loss for words. "I don't know...There's no machinery or anything in that barn, just the horses."

"-And the infected," Isaac blurted out without thought. When he spoke he felt vibrations in his chest, intuitively it assured him that had to be the answer.

"Shit." said Paul uneasily.

"So they're flammable...." said Sergeant Evan Samuels affirmatively.

"I think so." Isaac answered. "Now that I'm thinking about it, every time I've had their blood on my sword, it smelled like fumes or some kind of oil."

"Yeah I've noticed that smell too," Sean agreed, he wiped off his sword with a black stained white towel. "I was wondering what it was, but now I know."

The group stood in awe and revelation as they watched the pyre before them burn to the ground. The bodies of the dead were nothing more than charred limbs and bone, burning the high grass around them. The fire burned quickly, and after a minute it seemed as though it was already dying down. Most of the fire stayed contained within the area of where the stable used to be. The flames from it burned brightly behind him, flashing flames to and fro with the wind.

"So we can just use fire on them? Because if so, then we could make some flamethrowers." Arthur said as he spoke with excitement. "Think of how awesome that would be."

"Yeah right," said Rob banteringly. "You see how big of an explosion they make when they catch fire? You don't want to be near those things with flames. That's a trap right there."

"True that," Duke added though his eyes never left the sight of the fire.

"You know what we could do? If we made some flaming arrows, we could shoot them with fire from a distance." Isaac suggested looking over at Lacey with her bow in hand.

"That's not a bad idea right there." said Rob approvingly.

"Alright, so what do we do now?" Jess asked looking for further direction of the days plans. "Should we get the chickens or what?"

Lacey peered at the field and then back at the others. "We can worry about the chickens tomorrow. They should still have food and water in their coup so they should be fine. Right now I just want to get to my brother." She strapped her beautifully crafted wooden recurve bow over her shoulder.

"Let's get a move on then," Evan suggested to his friends.

"I'll grab my keys and follow you there." Lacey ran inside as the others sprinted to the trucks.

Warren's truck was still running out in front of the house, and the steel front bumpers were painted black with the blood of infected. There didn't appear to be much damage even after running over several infected. The grill protection held its ground against them. The engine sounded fine and still ran, the body didn't suffer any harmful disfigurations other than a few minor dents. But since Warren was already gone, Isaac took the responsibility of driving the truck home.

While he was adjusting his rear view mirror to his preferred setting, he happened to notice Lacey in the window hugging a fluffy white and orange cat. She put it down on the table and pet it a few times before walking out to her light brown Saturn. He smiled to himself and thought, She's just like me. Can't leave without saying goodbye to her kitty.

When he heard the sound of the old engine running, he put Warren's truck in drive and slowly drove on the gravel road away from the carnage. The vehicles sped quickly from the gravel road to the pavement, and onward to the Gray Fort a few minutes down the street.