Chapter 13: Ashes and Echoes
1072 Words
The sky above us is a swirling mass of gray and orange, a chaotic canvas painted by the fallout of the explosion. The ground trembles beneath our feet as the last remnants of the facility collapse into itself, swallowed by the inferno.
For a moment, the wasteland is eerily silent. No creatures, no howling wind, just the faint crackle of distant flames.
“Did we actually do it?” Lila asks, breaking the silence. She leans heavily on her knees, her face streaked with ash and sweat.
“I think so,” Kade replies, though his voice lacks the conviction I’ve come to expect from him.
Finn scans the horizon with his rifle still in hand, his eyes sharp and wary. “No time to celebrate. We need to move before anything else finds us.”
I glance at the others and see the same thing I feel: exhaustion mixed with unease. We might have destroyed the facility, but the wasteland doesn’t feel any less dangerous.
---
We trudge away from the smoldering ruins, our footsteps crunching on the scorched earth. The air is thick with smoke and dust, making it hard to breathe. None of us speak; the weight of what we’ve just done hangs over us like a storm cloud.
After what feels like hours, we come across a small ridge. Kade signals for us to stop, and we huddle together, catching our breath.
“What’s the plan now?” Finn asks, breaking the heavy silence.
Kade pulls out the map he scavenged earlier, spreading it on the ground. “The facility was just one piece of the puzzle. If what that prototype said is true, the corruption has spread far beyond this region.”
“So, we’re back to square one,” Lila mutters, wiping blood from her knife.
“Not exactly,” Kade says. “The prototype mentioned a cure—or at least something that could stop the spread. We need to figure out what that is.”
“And how do we do that?” I ask.
Kade taps a spot on the map. “There’s another facility, farther east. Smaller, but it might have the data we need.”
Finn groans. “Another facility? Great. Because this one went so well.”
“Do you have a better idea?” Kade snaps.
Finn doesn’t reply, but his scowl says enough.
---
As we prepare to move out, a low growl rumbles through the air. I freeze, my hand instinctively reaching for my knife.
“Tell me that was just the wind,” Lila whispers.
The growl comes again, louder this time. It’s followed by the sound of heavy footsteps, crunching on the brittle ground.
“Something’s coming,” Finn says, raising his rifle.
Out of the haze, a hulking figure emerges. It’s massive, easily nine feet tall, with a body covered in jagged, bone-like armor. Its face is a grotesque mask of teeth and glowing eyes, and its arms end in claws that look sharp enough to tear through steel.
“What the hell is that?” I breathe.
“An apex predator,” Kade says grimly. “The facility must have bred it as a failsafe.”
“Failsafe for what?” Finn asks, incredulous.
“For us,” Kade replies.
---
The creature charges with terrifying speed, covering the distance between us in seconds. Finn fires a burst from his rifle, but the bullets barely dent its armored hide.
“Spread out!” Kade yells, diving to the side.
I roll to my feet, drawing my knife as the creature lunges at Lila. She ducks under its swipe, slashing at its exposed flank. Her blade glances off its armor, but the creature roars in pain, its attention now fully on her.
“Over here, ugly!” Finn shouts, firing another round to distract it.
The creature whirls around, swiping at Finn with one massive claw. He barely dodges, the impact sending him sprawling.
“We need a plan!” I shout, dodging a stray swing.
“Hit the joints!” Kade calls out. “That armor’s too thick everywhere else!”
Lila nods, darting in to s***h at the back of the creature’s knees. This time, her blade finds purchase, and the creature lets out a guttural roar, stumbling slightly.
---
Kade tosses me a small device—a makeshift explosive he must have scavenged from the facility.
“Get this under it!” he orders, firing at the creature’s head to keep its attention.
Heart pounding, I grip the device tightly and dart toward the creature. Its focus shifts to me, and it lunges, claws raking the air just inches from my face.
“Come on!” I shout, feinting to the side. The creature follows, its movements slower now thanks to its injured leg.
“Now, Sawyer!” Kade yells.
I dive under the creature, sliding on the loose dirt and jamming the explosive against its underbelly. The adhesive holds, and I roll away just as the device beeps to life.
“Clear out!” Kade shouts.
We scatter, diving for cover as the explosive detonates. The blast is deafening, and the shockwave knocks me flat.
When the dust settles, the creature lies motionless, its body torn apart by the explosion.
---
We regroup a safe distance away, each of us battered and bruised but alive.
“That was too close,” Finn says, collapsing onto the ground.
Kade looks back at the creature’s corpse, his expression grim. “They’ll only get worse from here. The deeper we go, the more dangerous this gets.”
“Then why are we still doing this?” Lila asks, her voice tinged with frustration.
Kade meets her gaze. “Because if we don’t, no one else will.”
Lila doesn’t respond, but her silence speaks volumes.
---
As we set up camp for the night, the wasteland feels quieter than usual. The sky has cleared slightly, revealing a faint smattering of stars.
I sit apart from the others, staring into the fire and replaying the day’s events in my mind. The facility, the prototype, the apex predator—we’re in way over our heads.
But then I think about the people I’ve met on this journey, the bonds we’ve formed despite the odds. And I realize that, for the first time since the fallout, I have something I never thought I’d feel again: hope.
- Writer
