CHAPTER 3: THE CEMETERY
993 Words
When they moved off the beach and hit one of the main roads, it dawned on Eli that had unconsciously been avoiding the main roads because of what he saw.
He was still not used to the c*****e. The deep crevices the earthquakes and tsunamis had created from the Meltdown were like dirges that drove his spirit low. The sight of the collapsed buildings, the bunched up and broken vehicles, the debris, the broken glass, the decay! Eli knew he would never get used to the sight, or the grim tales they told.
What unnerved him the most, without equivocation, was the sight of the bones and the skulls. To see those horrendous number of bones and skulls on the streets, in cars, on the sidewalk, in rooms, all bearing testimony to the number of lives lost, really drained a vital essence from him.
"Where do we go now?" Solomon asked when they were at an intersection. "Left, right, or straight ahead?"
"I don't know," Elsie said, sounding anxious. "Robert gave us all copies of the route to the valley, but we lost it during the horde attack."
"We go forward," Eli said briskly. "It will take six hours to get there walking briskly, so we won't today, already too late. We'll find somewhere to spend the night and continue in the morning."
His assuredness and charisma made them exchange looks, and Kate hurried up to catch up with him. A moment later, she slipped her hand into his and held it closely.
Eli looked down at their intertwined hands for a second, then at Kate's sparkling face and the strange expression on her face. He sighed softly but did not attempt to disengage his hand from hers.
"Your family," Kate said softly, but he sensed the tension underlying her voice. "Have you heard from them since the Meltdown? Are they okay?"
"No, I haven't heard from them," Eli replied with a soft sigh. "I hope they're well, though."
She squeezed his hand warmly.
"I pray so too, Eli. Above all, I wish them well."
"Thank you, Kate. That is kind of you."
They were now approaching the centre of the town, and stores were beginning to appear albeit severely devastated. And, predictably, the bones and skulls were many here.
"So, how old are you, Eli?" she asked, a little shyly.
"Eighteen. And you?"
"Twenty, a couple of years older than you," she said with a giggle. "You had a girlfriend?"
"Yes, Jo," he said softly. "I love her a lot. Left her three weeks ago."
She looked at him sharply as she detected the note of sadness in his voice, and they turned a sharp curve in the road and suddenly, mayhem and danger were spread out around them. The road here was comparatively good, with little breaks. The buildings had managed to survive the devastation and were mostly intact. To their left was a Goil gas station, and to their right was a church – Edentime Revival Church.
It was a big church with a big compound and a bigger parking space off the road. The church was walled, with the part facing the road made with beautiful golden metal fencing. To one side of the main church building was the cemetery. It had been walled too, hiding the cemetery from the view of people in the street. The earthquake, however, had ripped the front wall down, so they could now look into the cemetery.
The green grass was had grown wildly, but the stone paths were intact, and so were a few of the tombstones. But most of the graves had exploded open, and the Tombers had come out. They filled the cemetery. Half-rotten and putrid corpses with tattered clothing and melting skin! They snarled and growled with three glowing concentric circles on their foreheads, and purple lights shining ominously in the sockets of their eyes.
It was a horde!
Kate and Elsie screamed!
It was involuntary, and Eli held on to Kate's hand because she almost passed out! Solomon moaned with horror and began to tremble with terror. Ahead of them, Eli calmly noticed that another horde was moving fast towards them.
The screams of the women made the Tombers shriek maniacally and began to pour out of the smashed wall. The ground blasted open where one of the graves was standing intact, shooting the coffin high into the air and towards the street!
Another coffin burst out of the ground, then another, and a third! The others Tombers spilt out of the cemetery with shrieks of fury!
The coffins hit the streets and shattered, spilling out the rotting mass of corpses! The one that hit first and shattered let out a particularly huge man wearing a dirty and tattered black suit with a dirty clerical around his neck.
He had obviously been a pastor once!
His decayed teeth shone a horrible yellow as he held out his hands with the fingers crooked! Half his head and cheek were eaten away leaving him with a frightening look.
The hordes were scrambling through at the sight of the fresh human beings.
"The filling station!" Eli cried frantically. "Make a run for it! Now!"
Solomon took off quickly, so scared that the smile on his face had become almost bestial.
"Katie, let's go!" Elsie screamed as she stared at her daughter who was looking intently into Eli's face.
"I'm not leaving your side!" she said stubbornly. "I can't let you die this death for us!"
"Get out of here!" Eli screamed at her. "Let me take care of this! Go!"
He shoved her after her father.
She hesitated for a bit, then she began to run with her mother beside her. Eli moved backwards after them, and he was heading for the filling station where many cars were parked.
His expression was cold and filled with malice as he looked at the great horde of Tombers snarling their way towards him.
- Writer
