CHAPTER 2: THE BEGINNING (2)
After an entire day of sail, ramie was on the edge the entire time, expecting his health condition to complicate at any given moment.
In this whole day, he spoke little to nothing to Eric, Spending all the time in silence, and only saying one word or two occasionally to check on Eric's health condition for any change.
Spending all the time in anticipation, and knowing that their condition might deteriorate in any moment, had left their mood in the bottom. But what else could they do? Except for hoping for the best…
And when the second day arrived, with no change in their condition, no new symptoms, they finally breathed out a sigh of relief, Feeling that things might not be as serious as they had initially thought it was.
However, they did not stop, and kept sailing.
They still had no idea what had happened back there, and really wanted to have themselves checked, the sooner the better. Besides, they still had not a clue or guess as to why that happened to them in the first place, or the cause of it. And seeing a doctor might provide some answers.
…
As time went by, with no change in his health condition, ramie finally relaxed a bit. Since his condition did not complicate during this period, then chances were that whatever had happened, it might not be as severe as he initially thought it was. At least for now, he knew that he could safely reach the hospital for a diagnosis without collapsing in the way.
There were only few hours till they reach the land; Eric was in the cabin steering the boat, as for ramie, he was sitting at the back of the boat, spacing out, while looking at the sky and the sea merging together far in the horizon.
At this moment, Ramie heard Eric talking on the transceiver with someone.
After few minutes, Eric walked out of the cabin, a pondering look on his face.
"Who was it?" Ramie asked.
"The military! They want all the boats to head to the harbor!"
"The military!?" Ramie was taken by this unexpected piece of information.
"They said they are." Eric replied, also baffled himself.
"Why?" Ramie asked.
"I don't know." Eric shrugged his shoulder, having no idea himself.
Ramie thought to himself; these days were very weird; first, was the inexplicable, strange experience that he and Eric had went through at the sea, and now, the military was suddenly calling for all the boats to head for this harbor.
At once, Ramie's line of thoughts headed toward a certain direction.
'Was there another street riot happening, like the last time…? Not possible, even in the last time when the protesters went violent, smashing everything in their way, the police was still more than enough to handle the situation. So, even if the violent protests broke out again, this time, the police is sure to be well prepared for them, not taken by surprise like the last time… So, why is the army involved now? Damn...! if it was the protests that caused the army's intervention, then how far have things escalated to? Will curfew be imposed, if so, will we be able to reach the hospital?'
Upon these kinds of thoughts, his mood turned gloomy.
For the past decade, the political situation in the country was far from being stable, with one failing government coming after another. With no light in sight, all facts pointed toward a dismal future, especially in the last few months. Riots and protests were not a rarity anymore. It was no longer something to be seen in the news happening elsewhere, commenting on it and taking sides as ones like.
This time around, it wasn't only in the capital, but extending to few another cities, his city included. Though it wasn't on a large scale, still, it started affecting his everyday life.
But if things had escalated to the point where even the army was involved, then it means that the situation had gotten out of control.
This was unexpected turn of event!
Closing his eyes and leaning back on his chair, he blew out a breath, sighing deeply, and fearing what the future might be holding in the upcoming days…
…
Far in the distance, the familiar, majestic sight of the city was unmistakable to the eye. If one was to look carefully into it, one could definitely see a forest of both semantic and metal made buildings that stood proudly, piercing through the sky in unyielding stubbornness.
And now, finally, after a relentless sail for three days, they had at last reached the city. Now, they could finally go to the hospital to solve the mystery. They could also learn of the exact situation in the city and why was the army involved? And what was the reason for it, as well as the overall situation.
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However, even though the city had already entered his line of sight, there was no joy, no glee and no feeling of comfort on his expression, not even a trace.
Staring at the city direction, ramie had a thunderstruck expression, his face pale as paper; a feeling of overwhelming trepidation filled his heart. as for Eric, he stared with eyes half stupefied- half dazed, as if not believing that this was reality, but a mere nightmare.
Far in the distant, pillars of smoke could be seen rising from the city into the sky, echoes of rumbling sounds of explosions were carried to his hearing, at the same time, the burning smell of smoke wafted by his nose, carried by the breeze, even despite the long distance.
Above the city, and upon careful examination, few helicopters could be seen, hovering back and forth, releasing continuous streams of high-speed moving laser-like projectiles…
"This..."
"…"
"…"
"…"
Ramie's though process jammed, overwhelmed by the ominous possibilities that was flashing across his dazed mind nonstop. Each one was worse than the latter. This was not a scene he expected to witness in his lifetime, and in his very city!!! Not even in his dreams.
Rebellion!
Infighting!
War with another country….!
...
Countless possibilities flickered across his mind in a quick succession.
"Not good…"
Beads of cold sweat dripped down all over his back, his fear-grabbed heart, raced, and his frozen mind snapped awake from its reverie, spinning with all kinds of explanations as to what was going on.
He was away for only about a week by now, but things seemed to have escalated beyond possible logic.
Although, the protests had become normality by the time he went for the vacation, it was only on a limited scale, and was still far off from being a serious threat to the existence of the new government. Besides even the most extreme demands that the protesters had come up with, fell short from asking for the government to resign. And that was because everyone knew that these protests were nothing more than exerting a pressure on the newly established government to make some compromises on some long time demanded subjects. Since this new government's existence was good for everyone, and there was really no alternative for it, even despite its flaws.
So, even the craziest protesters did not want the government to fall, nor they had the ability to shake its foundation, since it had came to existence to soothe the dissatisfied, raging public as a form of compromise on the two biggest leading political party's part.
So rebellion seemed highly unlikely, besides, even if this was indeed the case, neither the army nor any other entity in the country would attack the people. Also, his country wasn't currently in any dispute with the neighboring countries, least not one that causes a war!
So, what was happening…?
A sense of urgency rose in ramie's heart.
At this time, the engine sound of a boat came to his hearing, turning to look to the side, a military boat raising the country national flag was rushing toward them, and one of the soldiers on board ordered them to turn off the engine using a loudspeaker.
Ramie's heart tightened; at last, he was going to learn what has on earth happened in these few days…
…
After checking their ID's, and searching the boat, two soldiers had them sit in the back of the boat that they had rented, watching them, and waving them to sit still without making any movement, as if they were prisoners, while another soldier steered the boat, following the military boat to the harbor.
The two soldiers were obviously in a very agitated state, refusing to answer any question, or even to speak any word, making Ramie feel very restless and nervous regarding what kind of catastrophe had struck this his country, or his city.
When they finally reached the harbor, boats could be seen everywhere, with all sizes and types, floating on the body of water, docked, alongside the harbor. Their types and colors indicated that all of these boats were private boats.
The vigilant two soldiers had them disembarked off the boat, handed them to two new soldiers, and ordering them to send them off to the refugees' zone.
Refugee… zone…??
Ramie and Eric were in daze the entire time, unable to comprehend the situation. The words refugee zone sounded very ominous to them, as if indicating a crisis had befallen the country, and forced people to relocate at a considerable scale.
Both he and Eric remained silent, because whenever they as much as moved their lips, asking anything at all, the solders would bark at them repressively, making ramie's thought process even more agitated and disturbed of what was really happening.
The moment he had stepped off the boat however, his mind fell in disarray; the unceasing rumbles of intense explosions and firearms, the heavy smell of smoke that causes tears to flow out of eyes involuntarily, the number of the fully equipped soldiers moving about hastily with savage expressions, the military gears, vehicles, tanks, the occasionally passing helicopters on dangerously low altitudes, to the point that even the pilot could be clearly made out, and that's not even mentioning the ear-piercing booming sounds of aircraft's shattering through the sound barrier high up in the distance.
The entire atmosphere was fright inducing, far beyond what the average person's mentality could cope with; it was as if the entire world around him came down crushing, falling into a deep pit of hell.
THIS WAS WAR!
There was no other explanation…
Ramie felt as though his entire existence has become exceedingly insignificant in front of the tremendous implication that the sight around was suggesting. He had seen too many documentary war movies in his life, and what was the fuel of war in each and every of them? Off course, what else it could have been other than the powerless, weak civilians!
But if this was war… then who was the aggressor!!!
Though he had already heard the sound of explosions back when he was on the boat, but now that he was here, the reverberating thunderous booms of explosions just few kilometers away, was simply too shocking, causing the buildings in the vicinity to vibrate intensely, which made his heart miss a beat every time, and made him flinch, hard, after every explosion.
But he kept walking, in response to the barks of the two soldiers behind him and Eric, every time one of them lagged a bit. He moved forth obediently with blank expression on his face. Passing by them, were the speeding war machines that were loaded with 'armed to the teeth' solders to their limits.
Solders that were standing up as guards could be seen in front of several building he had went by, turning the place into a military base.
At this point, his stressed mind, started reeling at its max performance, shoving all the gloomy, useless thoughts to the side, struggling to break free from the loop of dark thoughts that swarmed his mind nonstop, sending him into a trance. So that at least he'll have a room to know where to begin processing the situation.
At once, he concluded that without knowing more about the situation, any further speculation would be useless, not unless someone explains the circumstances to him.
His eyes regained some of its clarity and his mind started recovering its reason. His senses were boosted, surveying his surroundings, trying to catch any hint that might indicate the situation.
However at this moment, just as Ramie started regaining his wits, trying to take the initiative, an imposing convoy of military vehicles passed by, on these vehicles, some soldiers were wailing like little children, some had dazed expressions on their faces, some wore a mask of hatred and anger as the stared at the back of the convoy, while others had frightened visage, making him agitated once more.
After few military vehicles went by, a loading truck followed.
However, when his line of sight fell on the truck, his heart almost jumped out of his chest, beating like a war drum, and trembling from the shocking sight that his eyes just perceived.
It was simply too shocking, inconceivable by common sense.
"This…"
"..."
Atop the load truck; laid, an unbelievably huge, blooded, and tattered corpse of creature that he had never seen, not in reality or in any form of media in his entire lifetime.
The size of the thing was approaching the size of the truck that carried it; its thick tail was longer than a small car, the base of the tail was even thicker than some small cars, only slightly thinner than the body. Its large mouth was filled with rows and rows of long, pointed, savage looking teeth that could probably tear apart a car. It also had a wide and strong looking lower jaw, making it look like a mythical creature.
The entirety of body was covered with chain-mail of interconnected gray-colored, pointy-ended scales that have a metallic glimmer to its edges.
The overall appearance of the creature was more than enough to scare the adults witless, traumatizing them for life, and becoming the leading subject of their nightmares. It was the very definition of monstrosity. Especially with those small red eyes that had no whiteness in them, adding a full notch of indescribable atrocity to its appearance.
Then, as ramie stared stupefied, another loading truck followed after, then another, and another, all of them, carrying a varying different types of abominable corpses no less horrifying the first truck's load.
At this moment, a question popped up from among the disarrayed, countless, flashing thoughts that streaked across his bewildered mind…
"Just… what in god's name is happening here…?"
...