When Days Have No Names

[Navarro0507]

Cannibals

The remainder of the day Jacob crept through the adjacent vent shafts to see what else he could find. He had also been looking for another way out. In a room on the first floor he found that the
others were using it as living quarters, the walls were padded with mattresses to mute the sounds from within. A total of ten beds were put out, so there were more of them that he hadn’t seen yet. He figured the girl wasn’t really a part of the group but actually a prisoner. Women were worth a lot these days. He hadn’t found any signs of his father around in any of the rooms, but then again he couldn’t risk a closer inspection at the time.

He worked his way towards the basement of the building only to find the most grotesque thing he could possibly imagine. The room was completely dark and smelled of rotting flesh. As he lay still in the vent shaft he heard movement from above. The three me unlocked the door that lead to the basement and walked into the room. The light from the doorway allowed him to see what was going on. The basement had five men in it, none of them being father. The men were dying of starvation and completely naked. Some were missing limbs already. The basement was a meat locker. As they came in the men didn’t even bother struggling, they just moaned and screamed, too far mutilated to give a decent fight. Two of the men held down one of their victims while the third pulled out a hack saw and sawed away at the victim’s leg. In minutes of blood curdling screams and the sound of saw on bone almost made Jacob nauseous. He held back the dry heaves, to not make any noise and waited for the men to finish and leave the basement before he made his way back up the building vents.

It wasn’t clear how much time it had taken for the Cannibals to saw off the victim’s leg. After they left Jacob stayed motionless in shock of what he had just seen. He had never had a first- hand experience on what happened in a Cannibals camp. His father had told him but spared the details for the most part. Now it was completely clear to him why his father had opted to raise him far from what was left of society. Those that weren’t Cannibals were meat. And both were ultimately meat for the Beasts.

Jacob waited until nightfall, the coolness that worked its way down the vent allowed his body temperature to cool enough so that he wasn’t sweating as bad as before. He worked his way back up to the roof, the rest of the Cannibal party hadn’t retuned yet. On the way up he heard the other three men dining away on the other man’s leg. Jacob stopped to eavesdrop on them. They spoke briefly of their encounter with Jacob.

“…how could you miss that one?... it looked healthy!

Healthy enough to move out of the way!

“I wouldn’t have missed if that bitch didn’t run up to me… Why the fuck did you let her out of the cell anyways?”

“I was just having a lil’ fun with her boss… it’s better for me to chase her around a bit before I have my way with her.”

“You know you are one sick bastard Pete! …Pass me another piece…”

“We can’t afford to miss anymore free meals Orlando, I feel bad enough we had to lock the other boys in the basement,”

These guys were eating their own. Even more disturbing.

“Having a piece of pussy around in nice, but if she tries to do some shit like that again she’s lunch…”

Jacob had heard enough, he was going to do something. He crept his was up to the roof and decided he would make his stand up there. It was already dark and he was counting on the cloak of night and possibly the unintentional help of another predator. Jacob took out his bayonet and cut himself on the forearm, smeared the blood on the door opening that lead to the stairs. He bandaged himself up with the sleeve on the other side and headed back to the vent shaft.

He took some of the stink moss out and placed it in the opening of the shaft and waited. Jacob felt something approaching, the Aura was stronger in some beast and this one was more than ample. It didn’t take long for a Beast to pick up the scent of fresh blood out in the open. A Skull Cat had been the first to show, hopefully the last. One beast was enough to cause an ample distraction… More than one would cause complete pandemonium.

Skull Cats looked like the great cats of the old world but with all the skin pulled from its face pulled back to its neck, where a mane of skin was formed. It passed by him unknowingly and headed straight for the blood. It stood at the passage smelling the blood before taking a lick. After the taste of fresh blood the Cats eyes glowed red and in began to smell in the crevice created by the half open door. Surely the others bellow felt the Cats approach and were taking position to repel an attack. Once the Cat forced its way through the door the snare went off unleashing a pile of debris that fell from above the inside of the opening.

The bricks and bottles would have been fatal to a human, but the Cat simply evaded the
avalanche with its superior reflexes. It was Jacobs’s opportunity to sneak in with the others being occupied with the Cat.

[Navarro0507]

The Rescue
As the Cat descended the stairs, the others engaged it with a volley of sporadic fire. They shot blindly into the stairwell hoping to repel the oncoming attack. The only things the accomplished was to piss the Cat off and ring the dinner bell for any beasts within distance of hearing the gunfire. Apparently the only reason they had survived so far was a combination of stealth and luck.
The Cat leaped flights of stairs at a time until it pounced on the first one of the others. It knocked him to the floor and mauled his face. The other two broke into a dead sprint down the stairs to get to the first floor. Meanwhile, Jacob crept through the vent shaft to the room that held the girl. When he looked through the grate he saw her curled up in the corner unable to do anything to escape. He kicked out the grate and called her over. At first she refused to move even more terrified that someone unfamiliar to her had made their way into her cell.

“Let’s go… or you Die here!”

The cat had made its way to the second floor by now, deciding not to pursue the two other armed men and picking up the scent of another free meal. The Aura was crippling the girl to the point of a mental breakdown.

“NOW! MOVE! Hurry come to me and I’ll pull you up.”

She nodded girlishly and ran to where Jacob was. Just as she made it to him the Cat breached through the door. She reached up for Jacob’s hands and he pulled her up just as the Cat slammed into the vent opening. The concussion of the collision threw them further into the safety of the escape route. They scurried away on their stomachs trying to crawl as fast as they could. The girl looked back to see the massive paws of the cat reaching in after them as the crawled away.

“It’s dark, I can’t see…”
She said to Jacob, voice cracking with fear.

“Just follow me, don’t make another sound, I’ll get us out of here…”

Jacob led the way to the third floor of the building, knowing that the others were trying to barricade themselves bellow somewhere. They had to make it out of the building soon before all the ruckus from the firefight brought some more beasts. They made it to a room on the third floor that faced the alley. He paused and listened before kicking out the grate. He waited for the opportune moment to do so, and when the shooting from the basement started his moment had come. He kicked out the grate, jumped down, and helped the girl through. They ran over to a partially boarded up window and pulled off enough planks to slip through.

Once on the firescape, he they felt the approach of the other predators had heard the shots being fired. At this point they could feel them coming from all directions except from bellow… for now. They ran down the stairs and climbed down the ladder. When they got to the alley they made their way to the trash bin where Jacob’s gear was stashed. He opens the lid and signaled her to jump in with a quick head nod. He followed her promptly and closed the lid. He pulled out the last of the stink moss and gave her half…

“Quickly, rub this all over yourself!”

They both applied the remainder of the stick moss on themselves. Just then the shooting stopped. Either they ran out of bullets or the beasts had gotten to them, either way they were dead. The screams started, the girl had reached her breaking point terrified because of what was happening, and now the screaming of humans being eaten alive. He grabbed her and pulled her head into his chest. She didn’t fight; she just curled herself into a ball and instantly fell asleep. She would have fit into his shirt pocket if she could. She never woke throughout the night, even as the beasts that had made their way into the alley following their scent walked passed. Jacob sat still, one hand on the girls head to his chest, the other pointing the boomstick at the lid.

He heard every last scream of terror as the beasts enjoyed their buffet. The whole time sitting completely numb to the situation.

[Navarro0507]

So we are Five Chapters in... Who's reading this? Anyone want to chime in on what they are thinking about this so far?

[Syfe]

This thread has become one of my favorite things to look at while I'm on the community website.


Suspenseful narrative.
Excellent imagery.
"Real" characters.




Keep it comin'...

[Juggernaut9473]

finally got a chance to read some of it, i like what im seeing, keep it coming

[Navarro0507]

6.Quiet After the Storm

As the morning came around the girl jumped awake, still startled from the occurrences of the night before. When she noticed she was still safe in the bin with Jacob she stayed still, not even bothering to look up to see if Jacob was awake. Jacob hadn’t slept. He
was exhausted but this was no place to find sleep. The lingering beasts left sometime just before the Sun broke over the landscape. When Jacob could no longer feel them around he knew they had left to find a place to rest.

“What’s your name?” The girl asked quietly.

“Jacob…yours?” he replied.

“Xio… I’m not one of them you know?!?” She said defensively.

“I figured as much, I was around for a lil’ while before I decided what to do next. Where are you from?” He said calmly.

“A place we call Oasis, it’s a small town inside the forest in the middle of the city. The Beasts don’t go there. The cannibals raided the town a few days ago. They took me, and now I’m here.” She told him as tears developed from her eyes.

Jacob remembered seeing the big green mark on the map. In fact a few times he had seen the forest from some of the rooftops of the bigger buildings. He never really thought to venture there being as there might not be much escaping Beasts in a forest, but this new development of the Beasts not going there might be something worth investigating.

“Why do the Beasts, not go there?”

“I don’t know. The just don’t.” She said softly.

Jacob knew she was hiding something. Surely she didn’t trust him completely yet.

“I’ll take you back home.”

“What’s in it for you to get me there?”

“What was in it for me to take on armed men to save you in the first place?”

“Good point.”

“Why are you out here Jacob?”

“I’m looking for my Father.” He could barely remember how much time had passed since he had last seen him.
“A stranger came into the town the day before I was taken. He was badly injured and was being looked after by the healers. Some thought he is what brought the cannibals to the town. We should hurry.”

Jacob jumped out of the bin. His body aching from all the activity and lack of rest. He helped her out of the bin and looked towards the building.

“Maybe there is something in there worth salvaging.”

They quickly entered the building and searched the rooms. There were no bodies. No Blood. Nothing was left to indicate that someone had been there other than the bullet holes in the walls.

“What happened to them?” She asked naively.

“They are gone. There are no remains.”

She had absolutely no clue on how the Beasts operated, then it was true, the Beasts really didn’t go to Oasis. But why? They finished searching the building and managed to recover one of the rifles with six rounds that were next to the perch. There wasn’t much else of interest in the rest of the building. He put his bag up on the table and pulled out the map. Oasis was a few blocks North of where they were and it started making sense that his Father might have been heading there. Although, there was no Guarantee that the stranger was his father it was the only lead he had.

“They had water here…” She interrupted his thoughts

“Find something to take it in and fill this for me…” He passed her a tin canteen.

“…Please…”

His father had taught him how to survive. His mother had taught him two things before she passed. To read and to say please. She said they were the two most important things anyone should know in the world. Father, always looking just grinned and nodded. Jacob barely remembered what his mother looked like even though it had only been three Summers ago that she had passed. He didn’t want to forget her but maybe the exhaustion and the confusion of the whole situation was blocking him from pulling up anything other than the thoughts that were necessary to survive.

Xio came back with a water jug and the canteen in hand. Jacob pulled out his snack bag and passed her the last piece of Jerky he had left.

“Eat it slow, it’s the last I got and you should be home by nightfall.”

He smelled the water and then took a sip. He could feel the water work its way through the back of his throat and almost felt as it disappeared right into his skin. Before he knew it he had thrown back the entire canteen.

“Is there any more?” He asked

“Maybe, enough to fill that one more time…” She replied softly.

“…Please…” He handed her the canteen and looked for the easiest route on the map to get to the forest.

It wasn’t easy, his father always made corrections on the map of things that no longer existed or ways that were blocked by fallen buildings. He had taught Jacob how to read the map and mark it for corrections, so before they left he took out a bic and marked the kill zone on the map. Maybe one day all that information will be useful. When Xio came back they packed up the rest of the gear and left the building heading North.

[Navarro0507]

7. No Rest for the Wicked

They walked as fast as they could heading North to gain as much ground as possible before the heat of the Sun became unbearable. Jacob was completely exhausted basically operating on nothing more than muscle memory. There were parts of the day when he had no recollection of how far they had gone or what he had seen the blocks before. When he realized his lack of vigilance he decided it was time to stop and rest for the remainder of the day.

They found a fueling station at the end of the block and Jacob went in to make sure it was clear. Xio stood outside with the rifle and kept watch. Moments later Jacob came to the front door and waved her in. They moved around what little furniture and displays were around to create some chokepoints if anything were to discover their location. Jacob broke some glass bottles across the floor of the entryway. It wouldn’t cause much damage but would at the least be an extra alarm.

They took shelter in a back room that was most likely the office of the fueling station. The room had another exit to an adjoining utility closet which had a ladder to the roof of the building. Locking yourself into a room with no other exits was always a bad idea, sooner or later whatever defenses man created would be overrun by the beasts, whether by numbers, strength, or shear will power the beasts were completely adept at hunting humans.

“I’m going to try to rest for a lil’ while since the Sun is still up, can you wake me before sunset?” Jacob asked.

“Sure” Xio replied without looking at him.

“What are you thinking?” He asked her.

Xio wasn’t sure how to answer him. The truth was she didn’t know how much she could trust him. The fact that he saved her warranted some sort of trust, but at the end of the day he was a stranger and him escorting her home could have its ulterior motives.

“I don’t know… Worried I guess” she replied flatly.

“You’ll be home soon.” He told her as he tried to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

“I know...” That’s what she was worried about.

Jacob woke up and Xio was nowhere to be found. The Sun had set hours ago and Jacob had slept through it in his exhaustion. He quickly picked up his gear and left it in the room in preparation to fly. He looked all around the fueling station and the only thing he could gather was that she took the rifle and a canteen. She was going to attempt to make it back home by herself. You never really know how prepared someone was to brave the Cities alone but if they girl took off there was no questioning her bravery.

“There is a thin line between bravery and stupidity…” his father would always tell him. Jacob was trying to decide if the decision the girl made to leave was either brave or stupid, ultimately deciding that it was both. He considered shacking up for the night knowing that he could possibly rest for what was left of the night without alerting any beasts. But for some reason he decided that he had to go find the girl.

He checked the straps of the bayonet and fixed the boomstick to a short strap on his chest. The rest of the gear would remain in the office of the fueling station and he would the chokepoint if he needed to make a getaway. In the dusty sidewalk outside the fueling station he saw the first set of the girl’s tracks. They were heading North, she was really going to attempt to get home, at night, alone, with a rifle and six rounds. She wasn’t brave or stupid, she was mad.

[Navarro0507]

So I hand't written anything else since the day I stopped writting this... I'm thinking about continuing the story if there's enough interest... Since the forums have gone through an overhaul, I'de like to see who wants more...

[UNLUCKY NUM13ER]

I never even saw this, but I'll give it a look through. If you feel you can continue then go for it!

[Navarro0507]

Luck, I'm pretty sure I could write a whole short on this... Thinking I might go all out and make a graphic novel out of it... FC is my barometer on how good the story is.... That's why feed back is encouraged...lol... Thanks for the support boys.