Sanctum (The After Light Saga) (7 page)

I
t would be a lot of hard work, sure. We were starting over from scratch, and there were still large areas of the earth which remained uninhabitable. But there
were
places we could build and start over.

U
ntil such a time, all I could think about was surviving…and hope. We had nothing without our hope.

I placed Hellfire back in the duffle and snuggled up next to Finn. Being close to him gave me an inner strength which had grown with our relationship.

I could hear the doctors behind us giving the patients their medication
s, knowing it would be a while before they could get their next doses. I tried to settle my nerves, at least for the remainder of the flight.

We were about thirt
y minutes from our landing zone when Tina turned back to me with a smile on her face. I smiled back, happy to know she was happy. Besides Finn, she was one of my very first friends. It was something I treasured.

BOOM!

The chopper shook violently and started to lose altitude.

In an
instant, chaos broke out.

Tina was
screaming. Pike wrapped her in his arms, telling her it was going to be okay.

The navigator was on the radio, trying to get help.

“Everyone strap in,” the pilot exclaimed. Finn quickly made sure I was strapped in tight before he checked the back. Dr. Banks was securing his patient, so Finn went back to help.

I looked out the window
and saw black smoke swirling behind us.

Fear gripped me
as I realized we were going to crash.

The pilo
t was fighting to keep the chopper in the air. He and the navigator were yelling back and forth. Apparently we had strayed from our course.

We were still miles and miles from our drop-off zone.

“Finn,”
I called. I tried to unbuckle, but it was stuck.

“Stay there, Abi. I’ll be there in a minute.”

My heart and pulse raced, but I was proud as I watched him tighten the strap on the last patient. Then he checked to make sure Dr. Banks was secure before making his way back to me.

“We’re going down!
Everyone prepare for a rough landing,” the pilot exclaimed.

The chopper started to spiral, and the outside world was becoming a blur.

Tina continued to scream, and I didn’t blame her.

Finn
quickly strapped in next to me, wrapped his arms around me and pulled me down. I reached for the duffle, knowing we would need it if we survived. It also sounded like we were way off course, so we didn’t know what we would be running into. I wasn’t about to take any chances.

The pilot
desperately continued to radio for help, but wasn’t getting any response. The navigator became frantic, which made matters worse.

I had closed my eyes,
listening to the chaos around me. Tina was sobbing. One of the patients was repeatedly yelling, “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.”

The doctors
remained positive, and tried to assure him we were going to be alright.

“We’ll be alright, Abi,” Finn whispered into my ear.

I was frozen in his arms, holding them tightly against me.

No matter
what, we had to be alright. We had to survive, and make it to the pick-up zone. We had to get to the other bunker to be with our parents. They needed us, just as much as we needed them.

Hopef
ully they would find out we were missing and send a rescue chopper, or someone to look for us. They had to.

But first, we had to survive.
I said a quick prayer.

Our lives and futures were literally spinning out of control, and there was nothing any of us could do about it. All we could do was hold on, and hope for the best.

There was more screaming as the chopper spun faster. We were dropping quickly, but the pilot held on. The injured men were screaming, putting everyone on edge. I tried to cover my ears.

Chaos and horror filled every one of us.
I had to prepare myself. My breath, my heart, my pulse, became too quick. I started to hyperventilate. Finn squeezed me tighter, trying to be strong for both of us.

“I love you, Abi,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” I cried.

“Everyone, hold on,” the pilot yelled.

I hugged tighter to Finn and we leaned forward, placing our heads between our legs.

The chopper suddenly
hit the ground with a crash.

We all jerked forward
. My head and neck hit the seat in front of us. A small jolt of pain shot through my spine, but it wasn’t too bad. I quickly sat up and wiggled my fingers, toes, arms, legs. They all worked and we were all still alive. Thank God.

But it wasn’t over. T
he chopper shook violently like it was going to fall apart, and as it started tilting to its left side, and then…there were the most horrifying crushing, breaking, and cracking noises. We all stayed down, as the blades hit the ground and flew off.

Besides being horribly shaken, e
veryone was still alive. The pilot did an amazing job of trying to keep the chopper upright. It was a very rough landing, but he saved us.

“We need to get out of here
, now! There are hundreds of gallons of gas in this bird.”

His words sent everyone
into panic mode. All of us scrambled to unbuckle and rush for the door. It was jammed shut, but Finn somehow managed to kick it open.

Finn and Pike helped to get the injured out.

I took our bags and the duffle, grabbed Tina by the arm, and dragged her out with me.

We ran a few hundred yards away and
took shelter behind a large boulder, in case it did explode.

When the rest of the group arrived, we did a quick assessment.
Everyone was shaken, but fine.

We were lost, stranded in the middle of nowhere, with no way to call for help. The heat of the noon-day sun was beating down on us, and there was no place to find relief. The desert surrounded us, for as far as the eye could see.

The navigator took out his maps and compass, and laid them on the rock, while the pilot looked through a small pair of binoculars.

“Hey, it looks like there are
some buildings in the distance,” the pilot noted, pointing to their direction.

There was no way we could see it with our naked eyes. Waves of heat rippled across the desert.

“That’s the direction we should be heading anyway—southeast,” the navigator added.

“Are you sure those are buildings?”
Pike asked.

“It’
s not on the map, but I’ve flown over that area before,” the pilot said. “It’s an old mining town, which is supposedly abandoned.”

Hearing this, I had a fla
shback. An abandoned mining town. It sounded eerie, and I didn’t really want to go through another place with buildings, knowing what the Arvies were capable of.

“I think we should stay away from the town,” Dr. Banks said
.

He wasn’t the only one who was concerned.

“Why would we? By the time we reach the town, it will be getting dark. We will need to find shelter,” the pilot stated.

“
The pick-up zone is a good sixty miles from here,” the navigator added. That town will be our only chance to rest and find shelter from the sun. We’ll need it in order to make it to the pick-up zone.”

“Maybe the chop
pers will see us and pick us up?” Tina said.

“We’re
about fifty miles off course. The only way they could see us, is to fly directly overhead. Even if they did see us, they wouldn’t be able to pick us up. They’re each filled to capacity, and have only enough fuel to drop off the passengers and fly back to the bunker. I wasn’t able to get anyone on the radio before we crashed, so they don’t know where we are,” the pilot added.

“How the hell did we get so off course?” Pike asked.

“Our instruments failed,” the navigator answered.

“So we got the crappiest chopper?” Tina huffed.

“I
t is the oldest, but it’d been working just fine. I’ve been taking it out every day without any problem,” the pilot added. “Our best bet is to get moving. We need to make it into that city before nightfall.”

“What happens at nightfall?” Tina asked.

“Hopefully nothing, but if there is something, we don’t want to find out,” Pike answered.

“No
, we don’t,” Finn added.

Tina gasp
ed. “Do you think those creatures are in the city?”

“We won’t know until
we get there,” Pike answered.

“What about radiation?
Should we be wearing our suits and masks?” she questioned.

“We’re fine,” the pilot said.
“We are far enough from any nuclear plants or blasts. I’m pretty sure this area will eventually be one of the safe zones.”

“Pretty sure?” she squeaked
.

“Don’
t worry. Radiation isn’t our greatest threat right now,” I said, wrapping my arm around her neck.

“Oh Lord
,” she breathed.

“You should have stayed with your
original flight, Tina,” Pike said. “You would have been safe.”

“
Well, it’s a little too late now,” she sighed. “At least I’m here with you. I know you, and Hellfire over there, will keep me safe,” she half-smiled. I could tell she was still shaken and terrified. I didn’t blame her. She grew up in a hive, just like me, but they were two completely different environments.

We grew up knowing there could be threats on the topside, so we were fully prepared.
Only we thought our greatest threat would be other survivors, not mutants. Who knew it’d be both?

Tina, on the other hand,
was trained with knowledge. She was taught how to plant, grow, and cook. The female citizens were never trained to fight because their bunker was already set up with soldiers. And frankly, women couldn’t be put in harm’s way if they were expected to repopulate the earth.

But I believed, in
this new world, it should be mandatory for everyone to learn how to properly use a weapon. It was necessary, for safety’s sake.

Because Tina wasn’t trained, she would have t
o be protected with the injured if we were attacked. I hoped and prayed we wouldn’t. Having the injured with us would lessen our chances of survival, because the soldiers carrying them wouldn’t be able to fight.

I strapped my holster t
o my leg, and inserted a full clip into Hellfire, then attached the rest to my belt. Hellfire was now at my side, exactly where she should be.

“
We should move out,” the pilot said. He and the navigator led the way.

There were three other men with Pike carrying the two wounded men.
Lucky for them, they weren’t too heavy.

“If any of you get tired, let me
know,” Finn offered. They smiled and nodded.

As we walked
, the blaring sun beat down on us. I could barely breathe, and could feel my body slowly become more and more dehydrated. We stopped every so often just to rehydrate. My skin was starting to burn. For thirteen years I wanted to feel the sun on my face, but I never expected it to hurt like this. It was brutal, and hotter than Hades. All I wanted was some shade, but there was none for as far as the eye could see.

I st
arted to get a headache and became nauseous, and knew it was because we were getting dehydrated, but my head injury was probably playing a factor as well. I looked around and could tell everyone else was feeling the same, and yet no one complained. I assumed they were fighting their own demons, trying to stay positive.

After hours of walking, one of the patients began
moaning, then the moans turned to screams. The sun was becoming too much for him. Even though he was covered with a thin sheet, his exposed areas were becoming very red, and appeared to be blistering.

We stopped for a few moments.
Dr. Fox found some salve and rubbed it on his arms, and bandaged them up. Next, he had him swallow a few pills. We were all suffering. I could tell the soldiers carrying the injured were glad for the short rest. The sun was high, and we still had miles and miles to go before we made it into the town.

We carried on, and the dark specks became more visible.
It would be at least a few more hours of walking until we would reach the small town. At least, there were no signs of Arvies around. They would be insane to come out in this kind of heat. I just hoped we would be able to make it into the city and find shelter before the sun started to set. The fear of Arvies coming with the darkness was the only reason why my blistered, weary feet kept moving forward.

We were going along fine
until one of the soldiers carrying a patient dropped to the ground. The patient rolled off into the hot earth, and started screaming as his skin touched the hot sand.

The
soldier was limp.

Dr. Banks and the others ran to his side,
and checked his vitals, while the soldiers picked up the patient and laid him back on his stretcher.