TBWL#3: Into the year 2050
1075 Words
Heaven doesn't seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with tears to return to earth; and the angels were so angry that they threw me in the middle of the swamps at the top of Wuthering Pass; where I wake up in the unknown. I don't know what happened, but I woke up in the same state I had fallen asleep. How did I survive on the verge of dying?
Calixto Dalton.
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Maharlika | 20 years after the war.
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Calixto's Point of View.
"Wake up, my dear son."
"Brother..."
"Uncle..."
I can hear a familiar voice. Could it be my mother and sister, with her child? I am glad they are alright. I tried to open my eyes, but something is stopping my body to react.
What is this odd feeling?
I wanted to caress my beloved family, but my hands won't lift a finger. I can hear them, and I wanted to tell them that I am alright, but my voice won't come out. What is this cold and eerie feeling as if I am floating in the sea? Something is not right inside my body. I can feel a weirdness that is twisting my inner body as if they are changing or destroying the structure of cells.
"Get away from me!!"
I can hear a scream then my head hurts as the fragments of memories flashed in my mind. I can still remember a sharp object punched its way through my neck, causing a gaping hole in its wake that quickly filled with blood and gushed out. I fell to the ground, a pool of blood forming around me. How did I end up in this nocturnal state?
Someone had tripped over, and the next I knew was getting out of the thing we called a capsule. The woman is about to scream, but I touched her mouth to prevent her from creating noise.
"Ssshhh." I held her somewhere which I, myself, do not know where it would lead us.
I don't know what is happening, but the place had turned into a ruined place. Am I still in Maharlika? Perhaps, the country is still at war? The building had collapsed, and the technology which the people had built fell into useless.
We passed several dead bodies, whereas others are decomposing already. I tried hard not to vomit with the unwanted smell coming from the rotten bodies. It smells like there are a million dead and rotting rats around us. The smell gets into our throat, and I can't even taste how awful it is. It makes me literally run to find some clean air. Even then, it lingers and I can’t quite get the smell away. Even though I can no longer physically smell it, y'all remember it and it takes quite a while to get over it. I cannot properly describe it in simple terms, it is like a powerful, pungent, disgusting odor that I can only describe as garbage that can be left to ferment in high heat for an extended period of time. We ran outside and found the road was empty. Where are the people of this country?
We kept on walking until we found the nearest establishment in the empty field where the building we just came from. I am uncertain what possessed me to enter an abandoned warehouse. The location itself screams danger to me since there’s no telling what’s inside. The only thing brightening up the darkness inside is the natural sunlight filtering in from the door, while the windows are heavily coated with dirt and debris. Within the sun’s beaming rays, I can see pockets of dust floating in the air. The smell of the warehouse is musky and the silence is deafening. The silence is making my body tremble in fear of surprise danger. I was expecting bombs, teargas, and bullets. But only a deafening silence welcomed me. My head suddenly hurts; it feels like someone is hammering my head. I can hear screams and the melody of deaths... It is unbearably painful.
"Are you alright?" says the woman beside me.
"D-don't touch me," says I. I could barely utter a word because of this pain that paralyzes me.
I closed my eyes, and suddenly a memory had returned…
There is a war and I went to the site only to find a body of men dripping on their own blood. Few of them had broken bones and broken skulls. I remember that time. I was about to leave when I heard footsteps. I turned around only to find a guy who looked like he lost his sanity. His eyes speak nothing but an enormous void of space. I kept on walking backward but the guy was aimlessly walking in my direction. I shot the guy directly in the heart, but surprisingly he did not die.
I closed my eyes and the next thing I heard was a gunshot. When I opened my eyes, I saw how the head shell had cracked and his blood splattered on my face. I was about to speak if only the guy had not shot me. A sharp object punched its way through my neck, causing a gaping hole in its wake that quickly filled with blood and gushed out. I fell to the ground, a pool of blood forming around me.
"I-I think the day walker is here..."
Although my head is still unbearably in pain, I was able to turn around. My eyes almost plucked out upon seeing a scary creature. "W-what the hell is he?"
My heart started to tighten... my breath became heavy as the cold sweat ran over my palm. My body had frozen as if someone had nailed me on the ground. I wanted to run, but my body won't budge. My heart was thumping, and my eyes were popping. I was spellbound and paralyzed with fear. I could not move. Their crazy, diseased white or decayed-looking eyes had terrified me.
"What are you doing? Why are you still standing like a fool?"
The woman is panicking as a guy in five feet height is slowly approaching us.
"T-tell me this is just a dream."
The woman slapped me, "This is not a dream! We are in 2050 and those walkers will devour us."
"What do you mean?" If today is the year 2050... then did the world stop or I leaped into the future?
- Writer
