Our Broken World

Chapter 3

I immediately start running as fast as I can. I cannot let Mikey get taken by some crazy gang. How the hell did they find him? And how the hell did they end up in the same spot as us? 

My legs hurt from running so fast, but at least I reach the cottage very quickly. I dart into the house within a second. I check under the sink, but he's not there. I call out his name, but I am met with silence. Mikey's nowhere to be seen. Where is he? A thousand horrible thoughts – fears – pierce my mind in that very same moment. 

I can hear the engines nearby, so I have to assume they've taken him. Horror spreads through me. I can't let him get taken, I say to myself desperately, but also angrily.

I run outside and try to follow the engines. They went into the forest, so that is where I run. I had no idea I could run this fast. My legs are working on their own, carrying me through the forest almost at the speed of light. Or at least that's what it feels like to me. Because I swear I've never run so fast in my entire life. 

The people who took Mikey are in the forest with their vehicles, on uneven terrain, so they can't drive too fast. I'm catching up to them and I almost reach them, when I hear him.

Mikey is yelling from the car, screaming, and I'm sure he's fighting too. The sound of his desperate cries weakens my knees a bit, and I almost trip, but I quickly catch my balance and regain my speed.

I start running even faster, until I can see the silhouette of the car. I yell out to Mikey, thinking maybe I can distract them, but no one can hear me over the sounds of the roaring engines. I'm still too far away. I try directing the light from the flashlight toward them, but the batteries are almost empty, so it's barely working. I've been using this same flashlight for quite a while now.

My soles hurt, my muscles ache and my body is giving up, but my heart and my soul are not ready to quit yet. They are relentless. Of course they are, it's Mikey we're talking about.

I yell out again, but still get no response.

I realize I've just ran out of the forest, onto a clear road and I'm falling behind. Suddenly the car and the motor bikes speed up on the road and they're gone before I know it. Just like that, they disappear out of my sight.

I yell out again, but they're already too far away. I'm still running, even though Mikey's cries have already disappeared and so have the sounds of the engines. I finally stop and fall to the ground. My legs can't hold me anymore. My body can't stand. I don't know whether that's from the physical or the emotional pain. Because I just lost my little brother, I realize.

I can't think straight. I can't think of anything else, but the fact that my little brother, who I was supposed to protect, has been taken by a gang. The fact that I just lost the only person in this world that meant anything to me. The fact that I couldn't save the one person I was supposed to keep safe.

I start sobbing, but that soon turns into a desperate outburst of tears. I just lie there on the road and cry, cry, cry. I yell and curse myself for being so stupid. How could I have gone to get water when it was already getting dark? We could've gotten water the next day on the road, or I could've gone to the river in the morning. That way I would've been there to protect Mikey when those men came, or I would've at least been taken with him, to watch over him as much as I could. At least I would've known where they are going. Where they are taking him.

Did I really need to go get that fucking water almost in the dark? Why the hell did I need to do that, god damn it!

I am so mad that I start punching the road and I keep doing it even after my hand hurts. I want it to hurt, because I want to punish myself for what I just did. For what I just let happen.

I eventually stop punching and calm myself down a little. I realize it's night and I have to get the hell out of here, out of the open, somewhere inside, otherwise I won't get a chance to go after Mikey. Which is exactly what I'm going to do, I decide. I don't have a choice. I need to at least try and save him. Even though I have no idea how.

I get up and try to find my way back to the cottage, but it's dark and I'm afraid I'm just wandering around aimlessly. My flashlight is barely giving any light and I know it's gonna die any second now.

I can feel the anger swirling up inside me again and I think about how stupid my actions were that led to Mikey's kidnapping, but I push the thoughts away and focus on getting back to the cottage. That is my objective right now, so that is what I try to do.

I'm walking through the forest, when I hear a low growl behind me. I stop dead in my tracks and turn around, but it's so dark I can't see anything. I use the flashlight in an attempt to see what's in front of me, but I realize it's not working anymore. Then I feel something heavy slam into my legs and one of them is suddenly overcome with sharp pain.

I yell because of the pain, but I don't lose my balance. The thing – probably a Mixed, or maybe an animal – attacks again, slamming into my torso this time. It knocks me over to my back and I try to grab whatever I can reach. I manage to get a hold of some fur and push the snarling thing away from me. It's on top of me now and I can see its ugly face. It's a Mixed, for sure.

It looks kind of like a mixture between a dog and a lion, but it's got small oval ears, like a mouse.

In the areas where the radiation from the nukes spread, animals were affected, and some of them went crazy. They reproduced with other species, and so mixtures of animals, abominations that we simply call the Mixed, came into existence. They're uglier than animals, but also a lot faster, stronger and a lot more dangerous, because they're several animals combined.

The one that's standing over me, snarling, trying to bite me, is particularly ugly and strong too. I'm having a lot of trouble keeping its deadly face away from mine. It bites into my forearm and I yell out in pain, but I use the chance to grab a rock with my other hand and smash it over the Mixed's head.

I am not going down like this. I will not be eaten by some appalling abomination. No way in hell!

The Mixed reels back a bit and I quickly jump to my feet, kicking it in the gut, just for good measure. Then I turn around and sprint in the direction I think leads back to the cottage, but I really have no idea where I'm going.

As I run, I can hear the Mixed catching up to me, but I'm still faster. I know I can't slow down or trip, or it will get to me and probably kill me. It won't miss a second chance.

I'm in luck because all of a sudden I see the cottage on my right. I turn and start running toward it  and when I reach it, I run through the front door, slamming it closed and positioning the chair under the handle, so the Mixed can't get through.

The rabid hybrid of an animal slams into the door, squealing a bit. Then I can hear it growling again, loitering around the house, as I quickly close all the doors and any windows that are opened. Thankfully none are broken, so I should be safe until the morning.

I lie down on the sofa and stare at the ceiling in the darkness. The Mixed is still outside, snarling and circling around the house, probably looking for a way in. I can only pray that it doesn't find one.

I listen to it, trying to keep my mind occupied with something else other than Mikey. I try not to think about him, but it doesn't work. I feel tears running down my cheeks, but I know I can't sob, because if I let out a sound, the Mixed will probably attack again, smashing the window or slamming down the door. If that happens, I'm screwed.

So I just lie on the sofa completely still, in the dark, in complete silence, while hot tears run down my cheeks. Before I know it, I am overcome by my own kind of darkness, which most people would call a nightmare.