CHAPTER 2
West Arvada
It was October the 25th's night. The chaos of the day had calmed and Stability
seemed to rise as the hushed silence grew louder. The angels seemed calm
and did not seem to respond with as much hostility as they did during the hours
of the sun. 2 people James and Mark led a small cluster of people around the
town towards somewhere that would seem safe to survive in. James was a
people person. He had been the town's police chief and knew round about
everyone while Mark was an army man who had just come to his hometown for
the holidays. "We have lost a lot of people moving about" whispered Mark as he
tried to speak to James. "We lost 10 from when we started. It's a good thing that
the heathens have stopped moving but we will not survive tomorrow like this if
they become active again". James remained calm yet had an expression of
grief and sadness "These people trust us, if we can get to that school, we might
be safe." "MIGHT BE? You don't even know if that plan will work, do you?" spoke
Mark angrily yet quietly. "What choice do we have other than work with our
instincts?". Mark did not say any other word as their conversation had seemed
to have gathered the ears and attention of a few. They passed through the now
silent town, a shell of its former self and worked their way towards the local
school avoiding angels as they went along. The angels seemed calm and would
only attack when someone was close to them. They had found out the hard way
when a member named Hosea had gone towards an angel who had been his
son once. As he went near the beast, it led out a terrific roar and slashed at
him. The angel tore the guy apart in front of everyone and went back to its rest.
The angels seemed to slumber. Their eyes perpetually open but unresponsive
due to the branches sprouting out. "How do they even see or hear or anything?"
said someone. Mark without shifting his gaze from the front replied "these
things should not exist to begin with. And it has not even been twenty-four
hours since they appeared, I am sure we will have time to study them if we
survive. Now let us all keep quiet and work towards our destination." The group
was filled with hushed cries and panic. As they creeped forward bit by bit the
board "Arvada West High School" came into view. The group came forward
slowly walking towards the gate. Mark opened the gate which opened with
ease but took a lot of effort in keeping it quiet. The group went towards the
security cabin checking for signs of angels but found none. "Okay people, we
will stay in the cabin tonight and see what the main buildings have in store for
us tomorrow. And if there are monsters inside, I am sure the plan has failed
and we will die regardless" James said. People were uncomfortable and scared
but did not object. They were tired and sad. Everyone slowly found a spot in the
small cabin and tried to go to sleep when everyone started complaining about
hearing a ringing sound accompanied by severe headaches. "Nothing is as it
should be in this world. Has the god abandoned us finally?" someone asked. No
one paid any attention to him as everyone just tried to sleep clenching their
heads.
As the rays of morning sun hit the unyielding fields and silent buildings, the
people of group were awakened by horrific screams. The same screams they
had heard the day before. The howls of angels. They were active again. "Seems
like the abominations also like to sleep at night. They just wake up early." said
Mark in a grim tone. Unwillingly everyone stood up and made their way out of
the cabin accepting the worst that could happen. As people crossed the
doorway, they looked at the main gate to the block closed shut. "At least they
can't come in this way. All we have to worry about now is just what angels are
left inside the compound." People unwillingly nodded and started walking
towards the other 3 gates. Two of them were already closed but the 3rd one was
open wide with an angel standing right outside. Unmoving and unfaltering.
James climbed on the nearby wall and shouted some slurs aloud to get the
angel's attention while gesturing the others to take the change and close off
the gate. When he got down, Mark grabbed James by the collar and shouted
"you don't know what they could do. What if it would jump to get you or better
yet, what if there are other ones inside and you got their attention?" James did
not have an answer but he did his best to remain calm as everyone else
seemed discomforted by Mark's words. James uttered a small sigh from his
mouth and said "I wasn't thinking straight. It seemed like the only way. Let's
make our way inside the buildings" The group was then split into 2 sub-groups
by Mark and James connected by a pair of radio transmitters or walkie talkies.
As the people walked towards the buildings, a strong smell stroked their noses.
Everyone knew what that smell was. Seeing no other option and have accepted
their demise they opened the gates.
What they found were students. Or what remained of the kids. Walls covered
with blood and guts. Floors covered with bodily fluids. As they made their way
further inside the scene became worse. Not just grownups but little kids
dismembered. With shattered bones and ribs lying all over the place. A few
people threw up their bowls on the sight while a few ran around hoping that
their own kids would be safe by some miracle only to find their child's
dismembered bodies. Yet no one found a single angel around the school. The 2
parties regrouped. "No angels here." "None there either, maybe they moved out
yesterday after murdering the kids." The aura of the place was grim and sad.
Everyone agreed to clean up the place and give the kids a burial.
2 days went by without incident. On the 3rd night a man arrived with a child in
his arms, banging on the doors to be let in. How he had found the place and
knew there were people inside no one knew. The man identified the kid as Ellie
and said she needed urgent medical attention. When he was let inside with a
rope ladder thrown over the wall, the man collapsed. The girl had severe fever
and had severe slashes ranging her stomach and chest. No one could do
anything without any medical supplies but they helped keeping her alive as
long as they could. The girl died soon after her father woke up. She was buried
in the only named grave around the center of the buildings. The man just sat
there around the grave even as droplets started falling down from the heavens
above.
Eric woke up from his sleep. His chest pounding from a nightmare he had
already forgotten. Each time he tried to remember a mist of dread came over
him. After convincing himself that remembering the dream is not worth the
dread, he got up, stretched his body, and took a look around. Someone had
carried him to his room during the night without him noticing, that or he
sleepwalked. A lot of weird happenings were going on these days anyways. His
eyes crossed the raincoat laying nearby. He picked it up and stuffed it in his
long trench coat pocket and walked out. As Eric left his room, he heard his
neighbor again from last night shouting at someone followed by sobbing voices.
Not wanting to pick up unnecessary disharmony, he just walked past without
paying any mind to the man or his people. He had decided to have a look
around the settlement and attend the meeting that Mark had been talking
about. Eric steered his legs down the stairs and down the hallway meeting and
greeting a few people with good mornings. As Eric walked past a clearing, he
plucked a few dandelions and carried them to his daughter's grave. He placed
the dandelions on the lump of dirt Ellie's decomposing body was beneath. A
strange goo was now oozing from the dirt no wonder the result of last night's
rain interacting with the remains. Eric pecked the gravestone and thought "I'll
make something of this life." As he walked astray the path, he began
meandering the compound. He saw that the ground that the children once used
to play in was now tilled with potatoes, probably taken from the kitchen pantry.
Three or four people were working on the field. The potatoes hadn't grown
much but it was evident of what they were due to Eric's interest in gardening.
As Eric looked around, he saw a weird basket filled with some weird slime like
material. He walked towards one of the workers and asked about the slime.
The worker grew discomforted and nervous and said "That is just the fertilizer
we are using. It makes the potatoes grow faster and healthier." The guy
shuffled away not wanting to continue the conversation further. Eric
discomforted by the person's behavior opted to walk away and continue his
walk.
Eric came across a few people building a wooden tower like structure on the
wall near a gate. Mark was working with the bunch helping a wooden log
upright for the others to nail it. The tea guy was there too, standing on the wall
and shouted "hey, listen can you pass on the hammer here?" Eric looked up and
complied then asked "Hey what is your name?" The person probably not
hearing him over the noises of hammers and logs asked "What?". "What is your
name?" reinstated Eric. "Tony" The guy replied. Eric said "Nice to meet you,
Tony." The guy smiled and resumed his work. Mark walked up to Eric and said
"You seem to be doing fine". Eric replied with "Yeah, I decided to take Mama
Luna's advice and help around." "So, you coming to the meeting at noon? We
will need more people for what we are planning." "Yeah, I will try to be there"
replied Eric. Mark nodded, said "Yeah be there. It starts in about an hour at the
office." and resumed his work. Eric said yes and he too went along his way.
As he reached the gate-2, he saw a couple of people perched up on the wall
staring dreamily outside "Hey!!" Eric shouted. The people's trance seemed to
break as they looked around in shock. "How the hell did we come here" "No
clue, I remember going to sleep in my room" The two discussed. As they looked
down the wall, they saw something and jumped back and fell on their backs.
"That's one of those demon spawn, why do we even call them angels?" Eric
climbed up the wall hanging on it by his arms and looked down. Sure, enough
the wooden blank yet dark stare of an angel looked back at him. The angel
screeched a terrible howl which startled Eric as he stumbled and skipped
backwards. He saved the fall with his legs landing on his feet. He stretched his
legs to avoid straining and walked up to the other 2 people "You two alright?"
"Yeah, except we don't know what happened. We slept in our room at the 3rd
floor but when we woke up to your voice, we were here." Said one guy. The
other one checking his watch said "hey its almost time for the meeting." "Oh
yeah, I almost forgot about that. Are you two going there too?" asked Eric.
"Yeah, we are. Want to join us?" said the first guy. "Yes, let us go." Said Eric as
the three of them walked in the direction of the head office.
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