Chapter 3
The Meeting
It was raining heavily; a little girl was sitting in an old motel shack with her
mother. The rain reminding her of the cow herd with bells in their necks
mooing and grazing through the grasslands. The mother was kneeling in front
of a painting of Christ with a cross on beads clasped in her hands shivering.
The room was wrecked and wicked. Floor boards and the wooden walls
cranking with the wind and the bucket under the broken roof collecting water.
The girl maybe around 5-10 winters was hungry, her stomach's growls in
uncertain intervals interrupting the rattling of rain. She sitting patiently,
waiting for her mother to complete her prayers and chanting. Her stomach
growled again, irritated her mother shouted in a raspy tired voice "Shut it girl
will ya? I have enough shit to worry about here. The food is on the side stand
eat it before I hit ya in the heads." The girl stood up and walked towards the
mounted stand which also worked like a table. Placed upon it was the three
day old watered-down beef and lamb stew and a few slices of bread. Not
complaining about the quality of the food the girl started eating. Suddenly the
door of the shack burst open "Call for Mrs. Garcia" the lady at the door shouted.
The mother shuffled outside the shack on quick feet. The room fell into silence
only to be broken by loud noises of thunder following lightning. The tattered
curtain om the window was flailing heavily as the shattered window pane was
whistling with the gushing of the wind. The girl ate her dinner alone late at
night and left half the bread with three quarters of the stew for her mother.
She stood up and went towards the window to peek out. All she could see were
the hundreds of little houses with smoke coming out of their chimneys and the
comparatively large brick building at the right. It was the hospital where her
father was admitted after her got the plague. A woman was seen rushing from
the hospital to the motel. She was the nurse of the hospital bringing messages
to the people in the motel about their loved ones in the hospital. As the girl
started counting and racing the water droplets falling on the window, the door
burst open the nurse standing in the center. "Luna I'm sorry. Your father is no
more and your mother just collapsed. We found the clumps on her. You need to
be strong girl." Tears started pouring down Luna's face as she stood up and
went with the nurse.
Eric's mind was overflowing with thoughts about everything, his daughter,
Mama Luna, Mark and the situation he was in. It all felt surreal. Just a few days
ago everything was fine. At this time, he would be going to his regular job after
dropping off his daughter at school. Suddenly an overwhelming feeling of guilt
washed over him from his inability to save his child. He was also feeling a bit
heavy on his breath. As he came to his senses, he was surrounded by at least a
dozen people listening to James talking about various things such as food,
water, electricity and walls and gates. He was standing in front of a whiteboard
with some planning laid out on it. It was all boring talk with eric finding no
purpose of his presence there. He could be helping with the tower construction
or assisting mama luna with food. Eric's mind was running fast with thoughts
recounting various moments from his life. Playing catch with his father, his
first day at school. Graduating high school and getting married. James now was
giving his words on how best to survive and people were raising their concerns
about their situation. How there wasn't enough food and they are running out of
fuel for the generator. How they can't remain trapped in there forever. James
was listening to the people calmly and presenting solutions like farming fast
growing things such as mushrooms and a few crops which they already have
the material like seeds for. "The fuel cannot be helped. We have no way to get
more of it. The best we can do is save it and use it sparingly. If anyone has any
ideas, please suggest it to me after the meeting" After he said this his speech
shifted to a dark tone as he asked one of the members present "Gizzel, how is
the process going?" The woman in weird black leathery trench coat and a
ghoulish looking mask replied with "I am working on it. We will have a
definitive answer soon enough." Eric knew nothing on what just transpired. He
asked the bloke sitting beside him what James and the woman were talking
about. "You know, the kids." The man replied grimly. "What kids" asked eric.
"OUR KIDS. THE ONES IN THIS SCHOOL. WE FOUND THEM ALL DEAD." Eric backed
up in his position as the sudden change in the seemingly calmly grim tone of
the man had startled him. "One of the kids was his" whispered the person
behind Eric. "A boy of about 5 as far as I know. Gizzel is trying to speed up the
decomposition process in the basement. It reeks there. Some people say that
they found some kids half turned in here." "Half turned into what" Eric asked
even though he knew the answer in his mind. "The monsters or angels or
whatever they are calling them" "How is that even possible and how did they
even die in the middle of it" "Yeah that's what the research is about we think.
We don't really know what they are planning on doing or what they are. Only a
few people know what's going on in there" "That sounds a bit ominous, don't
you think?" said Eric. "Yeah, I suppose but we don't know how they died or if
they can still become the angels" "true that" replied Eric. The two then talked
about the weird dreams and headaches and the trans like state people seem to
go into when sleeping. They both agreed that it was weird and something
bigger was going on. It was a given that all of this was supernatural as nothing
for the past few days had been naturally normal.
As the two were talking James had already stopped talking with Gizzel and
now was talking to someone named Elijah. Elijah was the sort of tinkerer of the
place. He had repaired an old radio and turned it into a two-way communicator.
"Have you made any connections with some other people out there?" asked
James. "There has been some feedback coming but no one seems to talk or its
a dump radio communicator some poor soul left on after he died or
transformed. Looking at the frequency, its no more than 30 miles out from
where we are." Responded Elijah. "But might there be a chance that it is
another band of people like us, stranded." Continued James. "Yeah, it is possible
that it is another small community like ours but without a tinkerer like me
there." "So, there is a chance that there are others." "Yes…." Elijah replied
awkwardly.
"Mark would like to announce something now, this is not something we both
agreed on but we would like a vote on this." Said James. Eric knew this
was what Mark had called him to the meeting for. Mark came up to the
whiteboard and sighed "I don't know if I can convince anyone for what I
am about to suggest and, in all honesty, my own plan sends shivers
down my spine". Eric's curiosity was peaked as it seemed that the other
people were listening closely too. "We are trapped in here food is scarce,
and as good as it might taste, we cannot only rely on the mushroom tea
and slow growing vegetables. The medicines are running low and we are
running out of both options and time." People were looking grim at the
revelation that mark had just hit them with. "We are also running low on
water and the efficiency of the water purifiers is degrading. The water
pipelines of the city are also getting more fucked by the day. I hate to
say all this but before putting on my proposal, I have to make our
situation clear. James is a great leader and a man of people. He has
carried us far and is doing his best to keep everyone working efficient
and together." Mark turned to the whiteboard and drew something that
looked vaguely like roads and blocks. Resembling an overhead view of a
place. "I secured a map of the city before arriving here, it is in my office,
planted securely and is too important for this operation I am about to
suggest." Everyone looked as Mark took a red marker and drew a line
from one building along the roads towards a what seemed like another
building. "This is my plan. When I was studying the map, I found an
armory not very far from where we are. It is around 3 miles away from
us and is probably loaded to the brim with firearms. I suggest the
formation of a group of people who would be ready to accompany me
outside the gates at 2 days later at night and retrieve some firearms.
That red line I just mapped is the route we will take. We will pass
through some suburbs and we might run into some angels." Everyone in
the room felt silent as the sounds of outside could be heard in. "I know
this work seems risky and might lead to death, but we all have a
common enemy, those tree eyed freaks we call angels as far as we
know, whenever someone goes even remotely near them, they scream,
grown, chant and kills the person. We remember Josh as the brave soul
who tried to kill an angel with a knife, The moment he stabbed the beast,
it grew out even more hideous branches with eyes and ripped josh into
two." People were even more grim and a few looked so pale that they
just left the room. "I know I said a bit much." said Mark. "Yes, as it seems"
replied James. Mark sighed and said "If someone else wants to leave you
might. What I am suggesting isn't for the faint of heart anyway" Noone
moved. It seemed that those who wanted to leave had already left. A few
people were even looking up at the board with a glimmer in their eyes.
"What is the blue line?" Eric asked. "It's the second part of our plan. Once
we reach the place, there is bound to be a GPS and a tracker there. At
the time we leave from there, we make sure the area is secure and we
leave boarding all the gates. Then once we reach back to WA, a digging
operation starts which connect both places making it an outpost of
ours." "It is a high-risk mission and even you will put your life on the line
for it." said James. "We have tried everything at the angels except guns.
It's a small hope of mine that the guns will somehow help us. It is high
risk; high reward mission and I would rather die out there fighting the
cunts than die here cowering." The general amount of people present
were against the idea of such a mission as they spoke out their
frustrations with the plan. "What if the guns don't work?" "How do you
plan to solve our food crisis with this plan?" "Why do you want to get
more people killed foe a cause of your own making?" Even though there
were a few people who showed a genuine interest in the plan including
Eric. He had found the idea good as it gave him something to prove his
worth on. 'Mama Luna said everyone has their worth, if I help with the
expedition, it might help Ellie's soul rest knowing her father didn't lose
hope.' Eric thought. The people with glimmer in their eyes looked at each
other and stood up. Mark looked at the bunch and understood their
meaning "There are still a few who aren't cowards left among us it
seems. As for how this will solve our food and water crisis, if this plan
works, we can use the same tactic to travel further out through
underground tunnels and find more sustainable sources of
nourishment." James waved his head in disbelief. "Whoever wants to
apply for the expedition, please do so in Mark's office. This meeting had
some other points to be discussed but seeing as half the people will be
missing, we will have to wait for another meeting. You may all go to the
places you ought to be." Said James as he left the room. Mark looking at
the people interested said "Are you all sure about this. Meet me in the
office around 10 in the night and we will debrief the plan and make it
work according to everyone. You may all go too." Eric left the room
feeling a weird proud feeling. In his gut he felt like he was doing
something right for once. He went to the tower that was being built and
helped there, went to canteen to eat his food, took a shower and went to
his room for a nap.
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