[NSW-Fic] What's In A Name? (Title not fixed)

[The_Catto]

Prologue:

 

 

 

“Run!”

 

The same word echoed in my head as I did exactly what it told me to do.

 

Run …

 

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I ran down the debris-covered road, dodging falling chunks of rock and steel as they fell down from the crumbling skyscrapers above. Thunder crackled, lightning streaked and all hell broke loose.

 

What had happened?

 

All I could remember as I continued to run was the man saying on the news that the end of the world had come.

I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t. But as I continued to fly down the street, my heart racing, my mind did its own running. Running through all the facts that I have come to find out during my journey through this night.

 

A fireball from the sky plummeted to the Earth, creating havoc and destruction. I’m not exactly sure how I had made to survive. I awoke to find my house in flames and my little sister screaming. I tore into her room and seen in horror as the four walls of her room were melting, her bed-sheets aflame and smoke rising from the floor. I picked her up and carried her down the flight of stairs and sped out of the front door, not even thinking about my parents just yet. I placed my little sister down on the grass and looked around.

 

What I had seen sent a shockwave of horror down my spine.

 

Smoke, ash, fire were spread across the city that filled out before me. Screams echoed in every volume up and down the rolling hills, buildings crumbled, and there was not a single gap in the smoke covered sky above to see even a glimpse of the night.

 

But that was not all that grabbed my attention. I watched in horror as something flew around the buildings, spitting fire and throwing down balls of light. Explosions eradicated the houses that sat situated in my suburb. Its roar sung in my ears.

A demon of the night: a summary of what fear really was.

The time had finally come. Now I had realized just what had actually happened.

 

The old witch was right!

 

I reluctantly tore my eyes away from the scene of devastation, which was my city and knelt beside my little sister.

 

“Sara,” I said quietly in her ear. For some reason, Sara was always able to calm down if I whispered into her ear. “I have to leave you, but it will be only for a second. I will go and see if Mum and Dad are alright and are out of the house.”

 

“They aren’t here!” said Sara.

 

I looked down into her eyes and asked softly, “where are they, sis?”

 

“Not here!” she repeated.

 

I took Sara’s hand into my own and said more forcefully, “tell me where they are, Sara!”

 

Her big, watery green eyes stared deep into my eyes. Through all the fear and sadness that was in there, I could see my skinny and downtrodden reflection.

 

“He took them,” she whispered.

 

A dead weight landed inside my chest. “Who took them, Sara? Who took our parents?”

She slowly raised her shaking hand and with one point of her index finger, I looked to see the flying monstrosity that was our parent’s captive.

 

A great ship, or plane: whatever you want to call it, was hovering slowly over the center of our city. Its sides pulsed slightly with a soft greenish hue, yet the rest of it was the deepest black.

Giant figures swooped around just below it, forming a circle of protection: all spewing their own fire that rained down upon the victims below.

 

I looked back to Sara and said, “I have to take you somewhere safe, OK. I will get Mum and Dad back, I promise.” I lifted her up and swung her around so that her arms were wrapped around my neck.

 

“Sara, in my side pocket is my phone, can you get it out and dial Brad’s number and hold the phone next to my ear as I run?”

 

“OK,” she said, and a second later I could hear the distinct sound of a ringing tone ringing in my ear as I sped down the street as fast as my legs would allow with the extra weight that was my little sister.

 

“Hello?” came a yell from the phone in my ear.

 

“Brad?”

 

“Yeah, is that you Jack?” came Brad’s reply.

 

“It’s me.” I said. “Where are you? I need to take Sara to the safe spot. Can you get there before I do and warn them that we will be coming in hot, most likely. Tell them to get ready and fortify the building. It’s going to be a long night!”

 

“I’m just running down my street now … to answer your first question,” Brad said. “I have to get Alice before I start heading to Lurii. But I will get there as quick as I can.”

 

“OK,” I said, “call up everybody and send them there and we can – Sara, keep the phone to my ear, plea –,” Her scream pierced my ears and I squinted my eyes to try and forget the pain what that caused.

 

I quickly turned and noticed the thing that I was dreading most.

 

The demon was coming directly for us!

 

“Hold on!” I yelled, as I held onto Sara as tightly as I could without hurting her. I pulled out and swallowed the small liquid capsule that I had in my pocket for safe keeping and I pushed myself of the ground as hard as I possible could.

 

I heard the demons cry of rage and shock as we soared through the air and directly for the choking smog above us.

 

“Take the deepest breath you have ever taken, sis!” I cried. “Now!”

 

We entered the smog cloud and my eyes were forced to close. I pushed harder upwards.

 

My chest started to hurt and my ears rang with an unstoppable high-pitched sound. But as soon I could not hold my breath any longer, I felt the cold feeling of clean air hit my face.

 

“Sis?” I called, “Are you, OK?”

 

“Y-yes!” she choked. “I c-couldn’t hold m-my breath for t-that l-long!”

 

I smiled a little as I said, “At least we’re safe!”

 

‘For now,’ I added in my head.

 

I grabbed both of Sara’s wrists with one hand and looked at the ‘watch’ on my left arm.

 

“We have twenty kilometers before we reach Lurii,” I said to Sara.

 

“But I didn’t want to get there this way. It was the only capsule I had with me … I hope Sam has some more that I can use.”

 

“Excuse me, brother?” piped up Sara, “can I ask you a question?”

 

“Sure thing, little sis,” I said as I turned and started toward in the direction of our destination. “What is it?”

 

“We’re flying!” she cried in a matter-of-fact-but-I-don’t-believe-it kind of way.

 

“That’s not really a question,” I laughed.

 

“How though?” she cried

 

“I promise,” I said, “I will tell you everything once we reach Lurii.”

 

“What’s Lurii?” Sara asked.

 

“The safe spot,” I said simply, “where we go in times of need. Now be quiet sis, I need to concentrate and I wouldn’t like to be talking if that Demon comes after us again.”

 

That kept her quiet.

 

For ten minutes we sailed across the sky. Everything seemed so peaceful up here, compared to the fire down below. No screams could be heard, no smoke could be seen (apart from the cloud that was below us, that is) and nothing was being destroyed.

 

I looked up however when I had the faint notion that we were being watched.

 

High above, in the blackness of the star imprinted canvas there was a faint golden light that began to grow every minute. It was moving slow, but it was moving towards Earth.

 

“Great,” I thought. “What could it be this time?”

My attention however was brought to a stand still when I heard the familiar beeps from my locator that we we’re reaching Lurii.

 

“Sis?” I asked, “How are you feeling?”

 

“Cold, scared, hungry,” she said, ticking them off with her fingers (I had to hold her arms even more tightly so she wouldn’t fall … poor kid … not fully understanding what was going on. “Oh, and did I mention c-cold?”

 

I smiled.

 

“It’s alright,” I said, “we’re here. But you will have to hold your breath one more time as we have to go through the cloud again, but looking at it from here … It’s not as thick as it was back home.”

We plunged into the cloud, taking another deep breath. A minute later we exited, spluttering loudly as even I, myself, could not hold my breath for that long after such a journey.

 

I looked down to the ground and my heart began to fill with hope. We were above a large field with no fires or smoke or screams to be seen or heard. But there was a faint light down on the ground and I aimed towards it.

 

As we slowed to a halt and softly touched upon the wet, dewy grass, Brad ran up to me. Alongside him were his girlfriend Alice, our friends Mitch, Sam, Danielle and Kristy.

 

“Jack!” they all cried.

 

“Thank god your safe,” said Brad.

 

“She was right!” exasperated Kristy. “The witch was right!”

 

“I know,” I said as I placed Sara softly down so she could stand on her own two feet and let my back have a rest. “And I now think myself foolish for not believing her.”

 

We walked slowly over to the soft light that was protruding from the ground and I lifted up a large mound of earth to reveal a tainted staircase.

 

“Oooh!” said Sara. “So this is what you have been doing all this time!”

 

I smiled at her and said, “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you the rest.”

 

“Please, tell me!” she said smiling happily.

 

“I will,” I said. My smile faltered however, when my thoughts drifted towards our parents. “I will have to. But not now … now you need sleep and I need to think. Alice?” I added as I turned towards her.

 

“Would you be able to take Sara to a bed so she can try and get some sleep? I need to talk with Brad for a moment.”

 

She nodded and took hold of Sara’s hand and led her down the staircase.

 

After everybody else followed, I looked around the field and once I was certain nobody was lurking around, I walked in and closed the earth door behind me.

 

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“Brad, this is not just coincidence,” I said.

 

“I know, Jack,” replied Brad. “Alright. Now. We’ve noticed the old witch was right about the arrival, but what else has she been right about? Nothing … perhaps it was just a simple fluke that she had finally got a premonition that actually came true. She couldn’t have known otherwise.”

 

“Unless,” I said slowly as something finally dawned. “Unless she is in league with them. If she is, that could spell doom for us all.”

 

“She is powerful,” nodded Brad, “but not that stupid … I think.”

 

“Not helpful,” I said.

 

“Listen, Jack,” said Brad, “I know what your thinking, and you cannot do it. If you are right, and she is in league with them, then you go to your death. I will not let that happen.”

 

“It won’t happen,” I said. I smiled, even though we were not related in any way, I thought of Brad as my brother. I had known him for that long that he could even tell what I was thinking. “But I have to do it. We won’t know otherwise,”

 

“And if you go, and she is in league with them, we probably won’t know anyway, because you won’t get back!” countered Brad.

 

“You want to come, don’t you?” I said, finally realizing what was scaring him most.

 

“Of course I do!” he said angrily. “I never miss out on the action you know that! But it’s not just that either,” he looked around to see if anyone was around, and said quietly, “its Alice. I think I love her Jack, and if anything happens to her, I won’t know what to do with myself.”

 

A placed a firm grip on my best-friends shoulder. “Nothing is going to happen to her, or any of us,” I said. “That’s a promise,”

 

“Either way,” he said, “I’m still going with you, whether you like it or not,”

 

I laughed and clapped his shoulder tight, “I wouldn’t have it any other way!”