Tale of The Broken Sword

Chapter Thirty Five : Surviving in a Desolated City

Time Reversal - 17th February, AD 2057

Washington, D.C. – Former City

Everent sat in the pilot’s chair –bloody and battered– for a few minutes before he started to groan in pain.

Warning alarms blared around him, breaking the sergeant from his crash-induced trance. Though he’s in horrible pain, the sergeant knew that he can’t stay any longer in there.

Everent stumbled to a standing position, staggering away to the door and pulling it open. It detaches from the airship and crashes into the ground. He lifted his bloodied hands from the railings and held it up against the metal frame, shaking.

A shallow scratch runs the length of his cheek. His arms are torn up, but he’s still standing nevertheless. He glanced over to see a sharp piece of glass jutting out of his left arm. Luckily, his military overcoat protected him from any further shrapnel during the crash. He felt like hell’s been on him, torturing and tormenting him with pieces of glasses as he cried and bellowed in pain.

What he knew was that he almost died.

The thought struck him as he descended onto the ground, limping away from the airship, and nearly tripping on a crumpled metal. He knew that it would happen. He disobeyed orders. Stole an airship, and flew into the forbidden passage. The price was a two-way trip from hell.

The pinging sound struck his head like a bell. Shaking his head and trying to stave off the thoughts and the pain writhing in his skull. He looked around to see if there’s anything that he could bring along.

An old couch sits in two separate pieces beside the airship’s rear window. Splinter’s of wood, metal and glass shards litter the ground. Remnants of the destroyed furniture and old electronic equipments scattered across the square.

The sergeant looks up towards the building where his airship had pierced through minutes ago. A huge chunk of it has gone missing shortly after the airship cleared away from its interiors. Flocks of paper strewn everywhere around the sergeant as he observed the strange land where he’d crashed.

He’d know that this was the place. The place where his brother had died. But he would feel a certain, distinct aura coming out from the air around him. He stared at the skyscrapers towering above the open square. Unlike Migrath Alsea, this city has a lot of tall buildings and everything in between is definitely different.

The sergeant would have stood there a little while longer, until he heard a blood-curdling howl nearby. Losing his gun during the recent chaos has rendered the sergeant vulnerable to dangers. Searching frantically, the sergeant spied a rifle leaning against the walls of the airship. Someone must have left it there.

Reading his rifle and gripping his chest tightly. The sergeant staggered away from the crash site and into a wide avenue that extends all the way into a park, where a tall structure resembling an obelisk stood in the middle of the park, overlooking the lengthy pool.

The sergeant walked a fair bit of distance before stumbling on a group of scavengers. They looked on to the sergeant before exchanging confused looks with each other.

“Hey!” The one in the front steps forward, loose brown T-shirt rippling in the wind. “Didn’t see you around here before. What are you, a traveller?” His gruff voice echoed along the empty road.

Everent looked at them with a scornful face. The men took noticed of it and take that expression as an insult to him. Everent stepped forward, trying to be diplomatic with the group.

“Is this where you live?” The sergeant stammered.

“Yeah, what about it?” The man chuckles, rattling his hunting rifle and motioned for his own men to surround the sergeant. “We’re the scavengers. And we can be brutal to anyone. So I’d suggest you give us what we want and we’ll set you on your way.”

“What kind of rifle you have there?” One of them said jeeringly to the sergeant. “Must be antique. I want that one too.”

The guy smiles, advancing towards the sergeant. “Well, come over here and I’ll make it quick.”

Within striking distance, Everent grab hold of the scavenger’s arm and twisted it all the way down onto his back. The scavenger bellowed in pain as the Everent kicked the scavenger’s leg and knocked him unconscious with the butt of his rifle.

“Why, you bitch.” The other scavenger cursed as he raised his rifle at the sergeant.

Everent pulled out a pistol from the knocked-out scavenger and quickly aimed it towards the other scavenger. Within a heartbeat, the sergeant pulled the trigger and pumped three sharp shots into the scavenger’s body. The last bullet got caught on his face and blow off his head.

Loosen his grip on to the unconscious scavenger; Everent looked onto the third and the last person. The man stood there, frozen and shocked the actions of the sergeant. Within moments, he took off with his feet barely able to touch the ground.

Sliding the newly acquired pistol in his holster, the sergeant moved on. Everent gripped his chest tighter with each step, trying to hold the pain until he’d reached a safe place to hide and recover himself.

Everent dragged his weakening body through the city’s avenue, trying to ignore the sharp pain on his chest. The smog had been cleared a bit, but it was still not enough to improve the visibility by a hundred percent. Green vegetation surrounded him from all sides, pooping out like mushrooms along the cracked pavements of the avenue.

The heat from the sun pummelled him with each step. He longed for a cold place, a place like his mansion. The sky was nothing but a vast pool of gray, so thick that it could block out most of the sun’s beaming rays.

Everent wanted water. Not only he wants it, but he needed it. If he hadn’t seen the murky green water on the pool, he would’ve drank the water in it. That would’ve caused the sergeant his life. After an encounter with the scavengers, he knew that there will be a scavenger settlement somewhere near here. His plan was to find that settlement. The locals won’t be so kind to him, after all he had done to their own. But he’d sneak in, and grab whatever could before the scavenger’s could do anything.

If the sergeant couldn’t find any signs of civilization in the next day or so, he’d be a goner. He would die of dehydration and the howlers would make a meal out of his remains.

He kicked the dirt, swearing to himself. He was starting to regret that he’d gone out and into the Grand Passage by himself. His stubbornness and impatience has lead him staring in the eyes of death. And there won’t be anyone out there to recover him. He was completely on his own. But somewhere in his heart, he’d thought of that girl he met in the battlefield. His visions of her face gave him a feeling of the warmth embrace around his body.

The land was ripped and there are huge gaps in between the dividind lines of the avenue. With each cave-ins ranging to twenty feet, the sergeant remained cautious as he strode through the empty avenue.

Another twenty minutes passed before he stumbled upon an abandoned truck. It looked as if it was abandoned just days ago. The still-fresh coat of paint on the truck gave the impression that it might contain some fresh, clean water and food.

Everent went towards the truck and pry open the tightened doors with a nearby lying crowbar. Someone must have tried to open it up before the scavengers had found him. The door was half-opened and there seems to be traces of blood on the surface of the brown coloured truck.

After a minute of constantly pushing the door, it gave way, revealing a few boxes of cartons. Everent quickly darted into the van and pulled the cover of the boxes away from the lid. Lucky for the sergeant, there were a few bottles of water with a pile of packed foods stocked in the truck.

After scraping the last of the cold meat out of the tin, the sergeant quickly stuffed the rest into a duffle bag and slings it over his shoulders. That would have last him for three days, at most. With his provisional problems settled, Everent took out a piece of equipment. It was the beacon. The sergeant ripped it out of the control panel after the aircraft had crashed. With the beacon, Everent knew one place that would only take him back home, and he’s heading for it.