“Let me look at it.” Melissa said.
She approached near me and lifted my shirt on my back. “Oh, it’s pretty bad.” Melissa said.
“What is it?” I asked in shock.
“I am just kidding. However, you have a big cut on your back.” She said. “May be those crazies were the one responsible for this.”
“But, I can’t remember I am being cut.” I said. “Is it bad?”
“No. It’s just a scratch.” She said.
Melissa dropped the hem of my shirt and sat back. Maria, Hanna and Sophie came out of the kitchen discussing things. A moment later Jacobson and Luc also got back to the living room.
“I found two sharp knives.” Hanna said to me.
“That’s good. We need knives to cut apples.” I said smiling.
“Well I am thinking more about protecting myself using these.” Hanna said smiling.
“Well, it can be used for that too.” I said.
“So, are you going to marry her?” Suddenly Hanna asked.
“What? Who?” I asked surprised.
“I can tell by the way you two sitting on that couch. You both are perfect lovers.” Hanna said smiling.
Melissa looked at me blushed. I too am in confusion. Maria and Sophie laughed.
“So what did you found out, Luc?” I asked desperately wanted to change the subject.
Melissa took a deep sigh.
“Nothing we could use. All the rooms are clean and tidy. If we want we can sleep on the bed.” Luc said.
“No, it’s better if we sleep together. That way at least we can look after each other.” I said.
Everyone nodded. Jacobson brought blankets from the bedroom and we spread out the blanket on the floor. We all crouched down on top of the blanket on the floor and we slowly lie down.
With pleasant thoughts I closed my eyes.
* * *
I woke up with the chirping of birds and I found myself in that green field. Again the dream!
I looked around and to my surprise instead of Evelyn, I saw numerous people. All are wandering through the grass land. I don’t know what to do. I went near the stream hoping Evelyn would appear any time.
“Go south, Joe.” Evelyn’s voice said in my head.
I looked around and moved in the south direction. Suddenly a big crocodile appeared in front of me. People on seeing the crocodile ran in different direction. Crocodile moved at high speed and it started to kill the people. I ran in the south direction. Before long I saw a group of people coming in my opposite direction.
“Hey, don’t go there. Go south. Sanctuary is on the south direction.” I said.
“But south is that way.” One of the men said pointing in my opposite direction.
“No, south is this way.” I said. “There is a big crocodile that kill people in the direction where you’re going."
“But south is this way.” One of the men said pointing in the north direction.
“Don’t listen to those people, Joe.” Evelyn’s voice said in my head.
“I quickly sprinted in my own way. The group of people went in their own way. Before long I saw a big building. I rushed forward. Then I saw a big waterfall on the side of the building. A big river is flowing through the land in that direction. Suddenly a crocodile appeared out of nowhere and it bit me. My world went blank.
I woke up on the floor of the house panting. Nobody is awake. Outside sunlight started to seep in through the foliage.
A stood up and walked towards the door and I slowly opened the door a little and I peeked outside. Darkness slowly started to flow away from the land and, sunlight crept forward.
* * * * *
Chapter 15
A.D. 2087, Path to Sanctuary
We started our walk from that good looking house. The part of the road we are now walking is mostly free of leaves and flora. We seldom saw vehicles. Forest in this part is very big and healthy, not to mention the animals who thrive here.
Before long we exited the forest and saw a river flowing across the road. There used to be a bridge across this river but now it is nothing more than a wreck. We need to find an alternate path or we are not going to reach the sanctuary.
We all walked through the river bank in search for a path. Then we saw it. Not far away from the wreckage of the bridge there is a part of the river where water is too shallow. There are lot of big stones blocking the water. We all passed through the big stones and reached the other side of the river. This part of the river bank is full of sand and it is free of flora. A moment later we saw the road that leads in the south direction.
For now we are sticking with the road but soon we may need to change our course. A moment later we saw reasons to change our path. In front of us, not far away from the river stood a big tower made of metal and glass. Sunlight illuminated the whole tower clearly. It looks like not a human made structure because we haven’t heard about this kind of towers in our life time and, also there is no human made glass structures standing intact after the war.
The tower is very tall and it may hosts about forty or fifty floors. We are still far away from the tower and we don’t know whether it is a good idea to wander around the tower. Maria took her binocular from her bag and looked through it.
“What the hell?” Maria asked.
“What is it?” I asked.
We all patiently waited for the answer from Maria.
“It looks like the tower indeed is not made by humans.” She said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because, I can see aliens walking around.” She said.
“What?” I quickly grabbed the binocular from her hands and looked through it. “What the hell?”
I couldn’t believe what I am seeing. I swear I saw aliens, who I have seen only on films, walking around the tower. I looked closely. Aliens have elongated head and long pointy ears which tower over their head. They have long hands and legs. And they are wearing a black material around their body.
“I told you.” Maria said.
I handed over the binocular to Luc who also saw the aliens.
“Guys, I can see crazies too.” Luc said.
“What?” I asked.
“They are on the north part of the tower and are bowing down before an alien. It looks like we found their god.” Luc said.
I grabbed the binocular from Luc’s hand and looked through the scope in the north direction. And I saw what he had said. There are hundreds of crazies gathered around there. I looked around the building and then I saw something else too. In the east part of the building there are cages and inside the cages there are monkey like people. I kept it in mind and gestured at Luc about it. I gave the binocular to him and he also saw them. We silently stayed there. We both didn’t dare utter about them near Hanna.
“So this disease may be spreading by those aliens.” I said.
“Yeah.” Luc said.
Maria seemed to have not understood what me and Luc are saying but she hushed her mouth since she know we know what we are doing.
“So can we move?” Danny asked.
“South is through that tower. We may need to go around it, through that forest.” I said pointing at a nearby forest.
“So, let’s go.” Jacobson said.
“Okay.” Luc said.
We slowly, silently, started our walk. Before long we reached inside the forest.
“Melissa, Sophie, you guys need to be a little bit faster.” I said when I saw them far behind us.
Melissa and Sophie ran rest of the way to reach near us. Suddenly Luc and Jacobson stopped moving and they motioned at us to stop. We all stopped and looked in front of us. A little panic started to crawl through our legs. Whatever they have found might not be a good thing. Suddenly a monkey human thing rushed at us. We all dodged the violent monkey but sadly on the way the monkey scratched at Sophie’s hand and it ran away. We all sighed.
“Ahh ...” Pain coursed through Sophie. I can clearly hear her curses.
 
; Jacob went near Sophie and examined her hand. There are two long scratch marks running through the length of her hand. And blood prickled on the scratch marks.
“You okay?” Jacobson asked.
“Yeah, I am fine.” Sophie said.
We all sighed deeply and we continued our walk.
A moment later Sophie stopped moving and she cuddled into a sitting position under a tree.
“Sophie, are you okay?” Melissa asked.
“I ... I can’t breathe.” Sophie said.
“What?” I asked.
We all rushed towards Sophie. Sophie is actually struggling to breath. Her tired form lie down on the ground. Then we all witnessed the change. Within moments hair excessively grown throughout Sophie’s body and she changed into a monkey. Her lips bent in an unusual manner. A moment later she began to breathe normally. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at us like we are the aliens.
“Mom ...” Luc began to cry.
“Sophie, honey ... Are you ... Are you in there?” Jacobson also began to cry.
Suddenly Sophie or what was left of her stood up and ran away from us.
“Mom ...” Luc followed her.
Suddenly a growl came from where Luc had disappeared.
Next I heard a scream from Luc. And that was it. He was gone. Jacobson ran for his son.
“Luc ...” Jacobson screamed on the way.
“No, Jacob ...” I said.
But it was too late. From behind a tree I heard Jacobson’s scream too. This time the scream was short. That was it. He too was gone. The five of us ran through the forest away from the growl and screech.
* * * * *
Part 4 – The Sanctuary
Chapter 16
A.D. 2087, Path to Sanctuary
We ran at full speed through the forest. There are no one pursuing us, but we ran. Maria is carrying Hanna in her hands. The weight of Hanna decreased Maria’s speed. Melissa and Danny are running in the front line.
Before long we exited the forest and reached a big agricultural field. The once corn grown field is now nothing but a barren wasteland. Unlike most of the places in today’s world, nothing is growing in the field, not even shrubs.
There are farming houses there and there on the sides of the fields. Large barns and other farming buildings stood there and there. Nothing had damaged in the war.
We ran towards the nearest house. We are pretty much thirsty and all the apples we had were in Jacobson’s bag. So now we have nothing to eat. We quickly reached the nearby house and we all got inside the house through the unlocked door. I quickly dead bolted the door.
Maria took her binocular from her bag and looked through it.
“There are wolfish dogs in the forest edges.” Maria said.
I grabbed the binocular from her hands and looked at the forest edges. Those mighty creatures are in fact wandering through the forest, may be searching for us.
“What should we do?” Melissa asked.
“We will continue towards the sanctuary.” Danny said.
“Yeah. Sanctuary is our only hope.” I said.
“What happened to Miss Sophie and others?” Hanna asked.
“You don’t have to worry about them, honey. They are in heaven now.” Maria said.
I looked around the house and spotted a well in the backyard. I hauled water from the well and gave it to everyone. We all drank water and filled our stomachs. We also found orange trees not far from the backyard. We collected ripened oranges in our back packs and also we ate several of them.
In the sky sun moved downward casting long shadows through the land.
“All this time I thought some human had released the plague on human kind and created the crazies. Now I understood that the aliens are the one who responsible for this.” I said.
“I am agreeing with that. These aliens may be thinking about conquering the world.” Melissa said.
“In my dream, this girl named Evelyn said that she is the Mother Nature and she is in grave danger. May be this aliens are the one who is trying to kill her.” I said.
“But after the war, didn’t you watched the sudden growth of flora everywhere? So whatever the plague was it promoted the growth of flora, that way helping the Mother Nature regain her lost forest lands. All we ever done was cut down trees and destroying mother nature slowly. So how could be the aliens killing her?” Melissa asked.
“I don’t know, but I think that they are preparing Mother Nature for the harvest.” I said.
“What else did the dream told you?” Maria asked.
“Evelyn said that there are more like her in different planets and she also said that her entire kind are being slaughtered.” I said.
“So there must be life on other planets too.” Melissa said.
“The aliens are the proof for that.” Danny said.
“So the wolfish dogs may be here because of the aliens.” I said.
“But those dogs hunted down crazies too.” Danny said.
“May be those dogs are here to hunt down humans.” I said.
“Why are they killing humans like this? Why create crazies?” Danny asked.
“May be they done his because they may have seen us as a threat. We may be the only one who could save Mother Nature from death.” I said.
“That does makes sense.” Maria said.
“So are we going to continue our journey now?” Melissa asked.
“It’s about evening. We can stay here for the night and we will move at the first light.” I said.
“Okay.” Melissa said.
Melissa went near the glass window and she sat on a chair looking outside. Danny sat on the couch and slowly closed his eyes. Maria and Hanna went deeper inside the house searching everywhere.
I took a chair from the corner and sat near Melissa.
“Anything bad?” I asked.
“No. It looks like they moved away.” Melissa said.
I took a deep sigh.
A few moments later, darkness slowly crept forward through the land.
* * * * *
Chapter 17
A.D. 2087, Path to Sanctuary
Birds chirped all around me. I slowly walked through the green field. Suddenly a crocodile jumped in front of me. It opened its mouth and rushed at me. It is a normal sized crocodile but its sharp teeth alone induced panic inside me.
I ran away from the crocodile in the north direction. I know I should be going in south direction but that crocodile is following me. I stopped on top of a small hill and breathed heavily. I can see that the crocodile had stopped pursuing me and it went in another way.
I slowly retraced my path and within minutes I got back to the place where I saw the crocodile for the first time. I increased my pace and I walked towards south. A moment later I reached a small tree land. I entered inside the tree land and moved forward. Before long a building whose whole roof covered with vines came into view. I rushed forward.
The building is single storied and I could peek inside through the small walls. The building’s roof is made of metal sheets and it is several feet above the main walls. In a corner I saw a door that leads inside the building. I slowly approached the door and opened it. I don’t know what I will find in this building but checking inside it is worth a shot.
I entered inside the building. Sunlight seeped inside the building through the gap between wall and roof. There are no windows in the building, doesn’t need one. The room I am in is empty. I opened another door and entered inside the next room.
Surprisingly I found four humans inside it. They all are men and they were all sitting on the floor with sad face. I can see a door in a corner which supposedly leads to another part of the building.
“Hello, what are you all doing here?” I asked.
I don’t know what they are doing here and I don’t know whether they could help me but I asked them anyway.
“What are we doing here? Didn’t you saw the crocodiles outside? The whole place is covered in water. We a
re fortunate we are in this building in the middle of this crocodile filled lake.” One of the men said.
“What lake? I didn’t saw one.” I said.
“Then your eyes have some problem. Open this door and see for yourself.” One of the men said.
A lake? I slowly approached the door and opened it.
“What the hell?” I asked myself.
There is a lake in front of me. Suddenly a crocodile swam towards me. I quickly swing the door to close it but sadly I couldn’t close it. I swear the door perfectly fitted the doorway earlier but now the door somehow shortened.
“What the?” I said myself.
“Hey. What happened to the door?” I asked.
But I didn’t get a response from the men. When I looked back, there were no signs of them. They must have escaped. The crocodile is rushing towards me. Suddenly water starts to pour in through the doorway. The place seemed to be sinking. I rushed outside the way I came inside earlier. Fortunately the building wasn’t surrounded by lake. I found the tree land from where I came.
Suddenly the whole building sunk in to the lake and crocodiles rushed towards me. I bolted into a run. There are dozens of crocodiles pursuing me. I rushed in the south direction. Before long I saw the men who I saw from the building. They are also running away from the lake in the south direction.
“Hey, you could have told me that, that building was about to sink.” I said.
“Go away, man. We don’t know you, to help you.” One of the men said.
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I have just heard from them. Did all the humanity left them? Aren’t they humans?
“We told you to go away.” The man reminded me.
“Whatever.” I overtake them and rushed in the south direction. A moment later I looked back and saw the crocodiles who are still pursuing me. There is no sign of those men.
“Keep heading south.” Evelyn’s voice said in my head.
“Please tell me what the hell is going on.” I asked.
Sadly no response came from Evelyn. I rushed forward. Before long I saw a big crowd. They were all going in the west direction.
“Hello, where are you all going?” I asked.
“Don’t go in the south direction. There are gigantic crocodiles who eats people.” One of the woman said.
“What?” I asked. I am really tired of running. South was my only hope but now there is no hope left in me.
“Don’t listen to them Joe. Don’t follow the crowd. Go in your own way.” Evelyn’s voice said.