The flower that had been a tight bud only days ago had begun to open, already had a deeper blush of pink. The winter should still be in force but already spring had pushed it back to moderate temperatures and the kind of gentle breeze you don't notice unless you stop and be present in the moment. I stretched out my fingers to touch the silky pink petals, they were cooler than I'd expected, smoother too. I tried to will it to open faster, to see the beauty I knew was inside.
“ Ivan, why can't these flowers blossom sooner? It's already spring. ”
“ Oh my lovely Kade, nature has its way, its timing, and it wasn't ready yet. A few more days of warmth and it would bloom, you just had to wait. ” said Ivan softly.
“ No! I want it to open now! These flowers are selfish, just keeping all the beauty to themselves. ” said I annoyingly. Although I was already twelve years old, I still acted like a child who was going kindergarten. Always hoping to get my elder brother's attention, such childish thought. But I loved it this way, everyday playing with my brother, enjoying the beauty of the nature, running through the sunset...
“ You can't be stubborn, sometimes you need to let go, look around you, maybe there are things that can impress you, worth bringing to your attention. ” said Ivan. He started to look around the backyard “ Hmmm...see....the trees had resurrected, and were standing tall with bright green leaves resting on the branches. It was also beautiful. ”
“ But I just want the flowers... ”
“ Why you just can't let go of your flowers! ” A demonic voice suddenly jumped in and replaced Ivan's fairylike voice. The sky had been covered by smokelike substance and the surrounding had turned dark. I can heard a loud and ear-piercing siren sound throughout the whole area. My parents, neighbors, friends and Ivan, all of them had disappeared. I was spooked so deeply till I couldn't even move my feet. I saw that the sky was falling down, split into many pieces, dropped all the way down just like a fireball. At the next second, the whole world was burning like a living hell. I was crying, kept running and shouting as loud as I could, but couldn't find anyone...
“ Wake up! Wake up, Kade! ”
I opened my eyes abruptly and sat up from the cold marble floor. I was panting, breathing in and out the chilly air. I felt a biting pain in my lungs due to the lungful air that I just inhaled. It was so cold that I could see my breath.
“ Having that nightmare again? Are you ok? ” asked Ivan.
He was holding my shoulders tightly with both of his hands. I could barely feel that his hands were shaking, not from the frosty air but out of fear I guessed.
“ I'm ok... ”
“ Why is it so cold? ” said I while starting to rub my hands together.
“ The Comfort Zone has shrunk. The climax changes faster than we had expected. Depending on the temperature, the Frigid Zone has already caught up to us over last night. We should start moving now. ” explained Ivan.
What? For as long as I could recall, we had just reached here last night after a long long journey across the desolate prairie. Wilco even said that the temperature won't go down more than three Celsius overnight. See, what was happening right now? This wasn't logic?! Oh, maybe everything had gone beyond logic since The Second Impact occurred three years ago. I almost forgot that this world had already become sick, it wasn't the previous one, that planet that was blue and green in color, full of vigor and life. Now it had become a planet that was grey in color, almost fully covered by an ominous mist, full of despair and suffering. It was too realistic to be called a living hell. Perhaps it was an unavoidable phase that the Earth must overcome, such as Ice Age, then our human race will extinct just like the dinosaur. After all of this, maybe a new species will emerge, with four legs five hands and a large head? It's not impossible anyway. If all of this really was unavoidable, then I will name it myself, just like the Ice Age...maybe Dark Age 2.0? Wow, sounded good. Or just as they said, The Second Impact?
“ Elrick just spotted a city in the south. Pack up all your stuff, we are heading there. ” said Ivan.
“ Yes, Captain Ivan! ” I purposely said it in a funny tune to tease him.
“ Stop joking around! ” replied Ivan.
Hence, my lovely and attentive elder brother, musclehead Wilco, hacker Elrick and the gorgeous me, four of us started our long long journey to the city that was temporarily within the Comfort Zone.
***
It wasn't so long after we departed when we reached the edge of the city. Viewing from the borderline of the city, the city seemed already been abandoned, the buildings that was once so beautiful had become ruin, the streets that once thronged with life stood empty. Yet here I were too numb to even cry.
“ Welcome....to....St.....George... ” Elrick read out the signboard word by word as it had already been covered by plants through and through.
“ Where are we? ” asked Wilco.
“ I know here, this city just laid beside Las Vegas. ” answered Ivan with confidence. “ St. George is a city in southwestern Utah. ”
“ Hey guys, you have to see this... ” shouted Elrick from a distance away.
We rushed to the place where Elrick standing and turned to the direction where he was staring. There was an enormous plant at the middle of the crossroad, it was nearly 5 meters tall and its roots writhed like snakes, intertwined, spreading out all over the surrounding roads. There were many big red flowers attached on its stem and roots, it was even several times larger than the Rafflesia. It also had a stinky smell that was more powerful than Rafflesia's pervaded around the air near the giant plant. Above the flowers, there was a cluster of little black dots hovering around them, letting out a sound of “ buzz....buzz....buzz... ”.
“ Get down! Lower your body! ” whispered Elrick. “ It's the Killer Bee! If they find out about us, they will sting us to death! ” Elrick didn't seem like he was joking around.
“ Why do we have to scare them? They are just bee! Bee don't attack people recklessly, do they? ” Wilco asked in reply.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“ They are not ordinary bee we see everyday, they are mutant bee due to the aftermath of The Second Impact. So was the enormous plant called Rainmaker. There is a symbiosis between the Killer Bees and the Rainmaker. ” explained Ivan.
“ There is also one more species that involved in this symbiosis relationship. It is a kind of mutant ant called Stinger. ” Elrick butted in.
“ The flower of Rainmaker has an ability to secrete a kind of corrosive liquid just like the Rafflesia, but the liquid will evaporate and be released into the air. The worst is that there is a kind of unknown substance in the gases released by the Rainmaker, it will react vigorously with the ozone layer and hence causes the intense acid rain that is powerful enough to crush everything. Besides that, the living of Killer Bees and Stingers rely on the liquid that Rainmaker secrete. It is their food source so of course these two deadly poisonous fellow will protect the Rainmaker at all cost. ” Elrick continued.
“ How do you know all of this? Where do you get all this information from? ” I asked curiously.
“ Hehe, of course the net, military classified deep web. ” responded Elrick with a smiley face.
“ Anyway, lets take a detour. The Killer Bees seem to be a formidable enemy for us. ” said Ivan.
We prowled around the buildings like an animal, hoping to find some food or weapon to defend ourselves. There were some people out here killing each others, plundered their resources in order to survive. It will be disaster if we accidentally bumped into them. This is because Ivan was the only one with weapon here. Not to mention that it was an old shotgun kept by our grandfather.
After searching for almost half an hour, we rendezvoused in front of the dried up fountain as planned.
“ There is nothing here, not even a bottle of clean water. ” said Wilco while panting.
“ Me too. I can't find anything useful. This place seems like already been scavenged by others. ” Elrick wiped away his sweat with his sleeve while talking.
“ Hey look! There is a supermarket on the next street, maybe we can find something useful there. ” said Ivan while pointing at the alley which will eventually lead us to the supermarket.
“ You are right! There must be some leftovers. ” agreed Elrick.
Suddenly, a loud sound of gunshot was heard. At the same time, I could feel that something flied over my left shoulder, slightly below my ear. I stunned and was standing there as dumb as a wooden chicken.
“ We are under attack! ” Ivan quickly pulled my hand and hid beside the fountain. Wilco and Elrick turned around and hid behind a SUV.
“ Pow! Pow! Pow! ” the marble-made fountain endured the shots from the unknown enemy. The fragment of the fountain scattered all over the place as we being assaulted by powerful firearms out of nowhere.
I was scared at the very moment. I was covering my ears with both of my hands and I can't even open my eyes. I was kneeling on the ground, shivering, I felt helpless. I kept holding back my tears as if it will burst like a waterfall.
Ivan held me tightly in his arms. Leaned my head against his chest. His chest was so warm. I felt so secured while being in his embrace. I hoped that this moment could become eternal.
I had a vague flashback, back to the beautiful world before The Second Impact, he was holding me tightly when I was attacked by a dog, whispering softly in my ear, “ It's ok, I am here. I will always be by your side no matter what happens. ” The 10 years old girl back then stopped crying, “ Really? ” The boy didn't hesitate to answer, “ It's true! I am your big brother anyway. ”
“ Promise me... ” I held out my little finger.
“ Yes, I promised. ” said the boy with a smile.
***
The gunshots stopped after a minute or two. The city had come back to its eternal silence.
Just when we were going to peep out from behind the cover, another gunshot has arisen, but far away from us.
“ Looks like someone is here for the party too! ” whispered Elrick.
“ Seems so. It's our chance! Lets move out! ” replied Ivan.
“ It's too dangerous for us to reach you there without any cover. We will split up. ” said Elrick while hiding behind a SUV with Wilco.
“ Ok, we will meet up at the supermarket. ” Ivan answered them with an OK gesture.
Ivan stood up slowly after ensuring there wasn't any enemy in sight. “ Come, can you stand up? ” I rose to my feet haltingly. I can feel that my limbs were still shaking. “ Great! We are heading toward the supermarket. Move between cover, come. ” said Ivan.
We sprinted past the sea of cars and stopped behind a yellow school bus. “ Damn, that was tiring... ” I was quite out of breath. “ It appears that they are fighting here just now. ” said Ivan while examining the blood spilling all over the ground.
I noticed that there was a gun under the school bus so I picked it up out of curiosity. “ It is a Glock! ” said Ivan with an amazed expression on his face.
“ Where do you find it? ” asked Ivan.
“ Under the bus. ”
I automatically handed over the gun to him. “ No, no! You keep it! ” Ivan shaked his head.
“ But... ”
“ You found it so it is yours now. Plus, I already have mine. ” said Ivan while patting his shotgun. “ You still remember what I taught you, right? ” asked Ivan.
“ Yes, Captain Ivan! ”
After a few seconds of eye contact, we burst into laughter.
***
We finally made it to the backdoor of the supermarket after a long sprint.
“ Do you think they will be someone in there? ” I asked.
“ Maybe....but don't worry I will protect you if something happens, as usual. ” said Ivan.
“ Huh? What do you mean by as usual? ” I stood there pouting.
“ Haha, nothing nothing. ” Ivan opened the door and walked in carefully.
“ Ceh! Never mind, I'll forgive you as long as you keep your promise. ” I followed after him.
“ I am sorry, what did you just say? ” Ivan turned around with a puzzled expression on his face.
“ It's nothing! ” I finished my word angrily and walked past him rashly.
He grasped my arm tightly out of the blue and pulled me back. “ What are you doing, you idiot.... ” he indicated me to stay quiet by putting his forefinger on my lips.
“ There is someone inside here. ” whispered Ivan.
I looked outside the backdoor, it had started to rain. Oh god, what a great timing!
“ We can't escape now! ” said Ivan. “ Take up your gun. Hold it tight. I'll go from left. You take right. ” ordered Ivan.
I nodded in response. I tried to act calm but my heart keep beating vigorously. This great pounding, this great pressure; every beat. I couldn't hear it, but I could feel it. I could feel that my burning blood was flowing through every inch of my body faster than usual.
“ Ok, stay calm. Don't worry! I got your back. ” Ivan comforted me. I swallowed down my saliva and started to move toward the rack in front of me where the sound came from.
I could see two cloaked soldiers talking to each others through the crack of the rack. One of them was leaning against the wall, he seemed had been shot.
“ …...It's NASA! NASA!....... ” I vaguely overheard their conversation. I strode over the obstacles on the floor carefully, moving closer to them.
“ Can you make some sense out of this? The asteroid flies through space towards Earth. If we didn't launch a rocket to intercept it, force it to change its orbit, it will crash into us directly. ” the soldier who was standing shouted.
“ But it failed anyway, the asteroid blew up, scattered into small pieces, rained down like Heaven's rage...destroying everything and spreading the sunlight-blocking dust and soot along with the unknown gases that cause acid rain. Is this the result they hope for? ” said the injured soldier.
I stunned after hearing all of this. Was this the truth? It wasn't as the news or government official announcement said, the asteroid split into pieces due to the friction with the atmosphere, and then bombarded our homeland. Were we being deceived? What the heck was all of this?
Just when I was immersed in my own world, I accidentally kicked a tin on the floor. A clear sound “ Crik! ” came out, this sound suddenly pulled me back to reality. “ Oh shit, they must have heard it! ” I mumbled.
I guessed I had no choice so I ran out from behind the rack and shouted aloud at them.......
“ Freeze! ”