Chapter One: The Day Of Awakening (part II)
(continued from Monday - Sept.18, 2017)
"Help!"
I wasn't entirely sure if that was exactly what I heard, so I killed the engine of my bike and came to an idling stop. I focused my sense of hearing properly.
"HELP!"
That was definitely someone's scream and I registered it coming from north of where I was. I ignited my bike and slid a quick U-turn and rode fast but cautiously, keeping my ears trained to the direction of the scream. I realized that I was drawing closer to whoever it was as the voice became louder and I rode.
I had rode my bike to an intersection - with a still burning car blocking the west face of it while a fuel supplier take lay fifty feet away on the opposite direction, burning vigorously. Bricks on the road had lost its formation - several of them sticking out of the ground while others had crumbled, cracked and dissolved in the heat.
I scanned the intersection, did a full 360 standing at a fixed point. Could hear the scream, but the supposed victim was nowhere to be seen.
"HEEELP!"
A woman's voice, and the fright and anguish was easily registered from the crackling sounds her scream had.
I got off from the bike, mounted it and started to case the intersection with caution. There were large chunks of walls from nearby buildings fallen on the road with several piles of wooden planks and boards scattered randomly everywhere. I lifted some of the planks and closely inspected underneath the slabs of concrete compounded on one another.
A minute later I found the woman, lying under a large pile of concrete debris with her waist down buried in rocks and wood. Her forehead had a concussion with blood oozing from the injured area all the way down to her neck.
"Oh my god! You... you are..." she stuttered and mumbled words trying to fashion some reason or inquiry.
"Are you okay? Wait, let me try to get you out of this" I tried to sound reassuring, to comfort her and hopefully avoid her breaking out another shriek. That could attract some unwanted attention and I have yet to conclude if the Reavers were fully sensitive to sunlight.
The slabs and chunks of cement and wall and concrete pillars with iron bars protruding out of it; heavier than I could lift. Also have to be careful not to drop the rubble on top of her. I used to be an army man and I could carry more than my weight, but it's been years since I have been pushed into such situation.
Slow and steady with all my might I tried lifting one girder after the other and the chunks and created an opening for the woman to escape out under the rubble.
The pressure from the debris pressed on the woman was relieved as I noticed her frown and fear transitioning into hope - or at least the expression people have when they get a good news. I lifted up the thick cement slab which lay atop her waist and she dragged herself out using her hands.
"Thank y..."
A thundering zap sound behind me and rushed to look at the woman.
I gasped to breath but I froze on my feet, the woman I had just saved sat idle with half of her head splattered open. Bloodied portions of her brain and anything that held her head intact were painted on the brick-laid road.
She must have felt it - her eye, with whatever part of her head was still joined to her neck, showed of immense fear. She must have felt death and the pain.
The zap sound burst and killed the brief moment of silence and horror I was struck with when I saw a rank of four armor-clad figures emerge out of the blazing truck roughly ten feet away from me. I sprinted back towards my bike, and tripped on a bent up iron bar from a cement pillar laying vertical to the ground.
"F......"
(to be continued)
