Lost Hope

 

-Look! Over there! Niklas pointed towards a factory building. -We have to get going!

There was something on the roof. A waving flag,

They walked on, as fast as their tired legs could take them. Georg knew he was a burden, he knew Niklas would be better off without him, but he said nothing. Niklas wouldn’t leave him, that he was sure of.

Rocks, bricks and rubbish everywhere. They stepped over what they could, walked around what they could not. The smell of toxic smoke lay over what once had been a city. A screaming scavenger. An explosion in a distance.

-Hurry up! We’re almost there!

-Wait! I… I can’t…

Niklas stopped, looked at his friend. The last months had been hell for everyone. The first days they had seen it on the news. Attacks all around the globe. Some talked about aliens, but there were no spacecrafts. Others screamed about demons, but they were of flesh and blood like the rest of us.

Sometimes he thought the lucky ones where the ones dead.

Soon the news had stopped. The gunshots and the screams had come closer. Then everything went wrong. Niklas missed his parents, but he knew Georg had taken the loss of  his little sister a lot harder.

Something moved on top of a building.

-Fuck! Georg said, looking around. -They’re here!

-Run!!!

They ran towards the factory. The monsters came out from the piles of broken concrete, out from the ruins, of the flames. They moved fast, wiggling unnaturally like some kind of scorpions.

Georg fell. Niklas stopped, pulled him up on his feet. A monster jumped down on the path in front of them. Another came crawling up from behind.

.-I’m sorry, Nick! I’m so sorry…

Gunshots. Automatic rifles. The monsters looked up towards the factory. One of them was penetrated by little holes. Black blood poured out. The other screamed towards the shooters and ran off. Niklas held Georg by the arm. They stumbled the last way towards the big iron factory gate. It opened a bit. They fell in.

-Close the gate!

They were led in through the parking lot by people with guns. Niklas and Georg sat down in a corner. They were given blankets and food.

-Where do you come from, a red head girl said. She introduced herself as Jess.

-We’re from Tarskow, Niklas said sadly. -Or what used to be.

Silence.

-What are these creatures? Georg looked towards the gate. His lips shook. His eyes moved unceasingly.

-They just seem to appear. It’s like they come from another world, from nowhere and everywhere.

-At least they can be killed. A big guy, a Rambo figure. He held a AK47 in his hands.

Georg and Niklas slept under a roof that night, with full stomachs. They hadn’t done that in a long time. They almost even felt safe. The distant explosions held them in the real world.

The next day they were shown around the facility, given guns. Two old AG3’s, automatic assault rifles, high speed bullets. They were told where to go if there was an attack, how to follow the protocol.

Georg was sitting on a bench, trying to get used to having a firearm by his side. Something appeared on the other side of the yard. A dark creature, with two horns on its head.

It had its eyes fixed on him.

It came running. Georg got his rifle up, but lost it on the ground. He screamed. The monster jumped towards him. Shots. It flew aside, rolled on the ground. Stayed down.

Another one appeared. Then another.

Gunshots everywhere. People running back and forth, monsters appearing in thin air, from nowhere.

Rambo stood on a high point, shooting monster after monster. Georg got his gun up. He shot. It felt like it would break his shoulder.

Behind some barrels Niklas was shooting. He didn’t think he was hitting anything. His hands were shaking, his shoulder hurt. The monsters were there, inside their barracks, their forth. They were being invaded.

A monster appeared in the air behind Rambo. Fell down on him. Blood splashed as it ripped him to pieces like a paper sheet.

-Noooo! Jess screamed, shot towards the monster on the tower. It jumped down, disappeared. They kept appearing. One by one the human fighters were reduced into open sacks of blood on the ground. Georg ran towards Niklas. A monster came running towards him. Jumped. Grabbed him.

-Georg! Niklas wanted to look away, but couldn’t. The only family he had left was gone. He shot. The gun beat his shoulder over and over until he had no bullets left.

On the ground lay a red haired head. The last of the fighters were shooting desperately. There was no chance of victory, no hope for mercy. Despair was all there was left. Some tried to run, but there was nowhere to hide.

Niklas sat down on his knees, tears running down his cheeks. Three monsters came running towards him. Only one of them reached him while he was still alive.

 

 

Beyond Faith and Reason