Wings of Death

Pitch Dark

“Nathan…. Nathan…Nathan. Wake up son”, the dull voice kept on droning.

It was pitch dark in the room. Gradually Nathan came to his senses.  He felt claustrophobic and started gasping for air. Suddenly a small source of light was visible. With squinted eyes, he saw his dad holding his cell phone in front of him. The screen had developed a crack but it was still working.

“Dad, where are we? Where’s mom?”

Nathan looked around the dark room impatiently.

“She is resting on the chair. Everything is going to be fine”.

Mr. Browning had managed to find the keys just in the nick of time. After unlocking the basement door he had carried his wife and son down the stairs and into the dark room. With his last ounce of strength he had locked the door once again.

“Listen, there is a power cut. We can’t switch on the lights or the T.V.”

They had a backup generator but it was in the storage room upstairs. It needed to be switched on manually.

“Dad, I need to call Alex and make sure he is all right” said Nathan. He had finally managed to regain his composure.

The phone kept ringing but Alex was not picking it up. “Come on! Pick up the bloody phone!” Nathan muttered under his breath.

After trying for the third time, he finally got Alex on the line and he hurriedly blurted out, “Hello. Nathan, I can’t talk right now. I am with my brother Joshua; we are hiding in a parking lot. I am sure you have seen the news. Those things are just outside man. I will call you later, man. Bye”,

In the meantime Mr. Browning decided to check on his wife. Lisa had regained consciousness but she was still trembling from head to toe.

“Calm down, we are all safe now. It is going to be alright”, said Mr. Browning reassuringly and passed her a bottle of water. “Here, drink this. It will make you feel better”.

Nathan was still thinking about those creatures. What were those things? Where did they come from? Why isn’t the army doing something? These questions kept revolving in his mind. Isn’t this exactly what he had wished for? He always used to say, “We need an apocalypse dude. That’s what gamers were born for!” However, now that the apocalypse was finally here Nathan was terrified of it and instead of trying to save humanity; he was only thinking about saving himself. Perhaps he had come to the realization that the re-spawning mechanics worked a bit differently in the real world. Or maybe he was still waiting to discover his secret superpower. Whatever the case maybe, Nathan knew that it was a grave situation and he had to find out more about these creatures before trying to be a hero.

“Beep beep…beep beep” Nathan’s phone rang. He had received a text message. The message was from Margaret, it read:

“We are hiding in our basement. There is a power cut. My battery is about to die so I can’t call now. I hope you guys are safe.”

Margaret and Nathan had been friends ever since they were toddlers. They had gone to the same school, ‘Montana High’. Margaret was a cheerful 21 year old girl. Her parents had moved to New York when she was just 2 years old. She loved reading books, binge watching doomsday related movies and studying about different organisms on earth. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend Jonathan. Nathan had always been there for her during these trying times. She considered Nathan to be her greatest source of strength and was always ready to help him out of tough situations. She was caring and kind but if anyone said anything against Nathan she would not back down from a fight. Nathan became lost in her thoughts. Thinking about her always made him happy. She was the only one who knew about his dreams; she was the only soul he would trust with his life.

“Come here son, they are showing something important on the news.”

Nathan snapped out of his thoughts and went up to his dad. Mr. Browning held out his cell phone in the dark. The newsreader looked confident this time. The reason behind this sudden change in her behavior became evident very soon when she emphatically declared:

“The army is here at last! We will not let these creatures take away our freedom. Our soldiers are going to wipe out these monsters in no time. There’s no need to fear anymore. “

The screen behind her was now showing how soldiers were pouring out into the streets armed with assault rifles and sub-machine guns. The heavy tanks and armored troop carriers were rolling out onto the streets. The army and the air force were ready to take the bull by its horns. Something strange was happening, the red-winged monsters were nowhere to be seen. Everyone was looking at the sky anxiously. It was cloudy now. Had the monsters disappeared in thin air? Could they be hiding behind the clouds? It was a long and grueling wait. Just the corpses were scattered on the street. There was blood everywhere. All the houses had broken windowpanes and shards of shattered glass were strewn on the deserted streets.

An hour had passed. The tanks kept moving forward, the choppers were still buzzing in the sky but the soldiers had started losing focus. They were convinced that these creatures were scared and had gone into hiding. By now the army was in a relaxed state. The commanding officers asked their squads to regroup.

The soldiers had started walking back to their respective forward command centers. Suddenly, a faint scream was heard. The skies began to clear and the sun shone like a glazing diamond dipped in fire. The shrill screams became more prominent now. In a minute the sky was enveloped in a sheet of red. The monsters started flying at great speeds and they kept emitting a shrill cry. Having sighted their targets the soldiers opened fire. The machine guns started buzzing and the chopper started firing guided missiles at the monsters. Everyone was expecting a m******e; it seemed the army would crush these insolent monsters like maggots under their boots. It was a m******e indeed! The bullets just ricocheted off their wings and scaly limbs. Even the .50 cal armor piercing rounds fired by the heavy machine guns had no effect. The choppers managed to knock out a few of them using guided missiles. Their bloodcurdling screams became louder with every passing minute and soon the soldiers started bleeding to their deaths. The choppers started losing stability and came crashing down one after another. These creatures were flying so high that none of the tanks could aim at them. Once again the streets were overflowing with blood. Soldiers were collapsing on the ground and spitting blood.

The newsreader turned pale in horror. She tried to say something but her words stuck in her throat. It was all over, the hunters became the hunted. Humanity’s last hope started crumbling like a house of cards.