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Praesidium

Isaac is the Boss

By Jade StephensPublished 3 years ago 35 min read
1

The shadows were encroaching into what little light there was in the room. The dark was dominating. Items were strewn around the room, blocking the light and creating more darkness. Furniture. Dangling curtains and curtain rails. It was all evidence that life had once existed here. Newspapers. Letters. Photographs. Fancy wall paper was peeling from the walls and there were shadows over the damp patches. Everything was rotten and greyed with age.

Glass littered the ground. It has been burst in from the windows in the room. The obvious suspect to the destruction was a large block of concrete. Most likely thrown through the window from outside, by more than one person, to break the window and gain access. The windows themselves remained empty holes with nobody there to replace the broken glass.

It was silent. Abandoned.

A pale and thin hand slammed down onto the windowsill, gripping it firmly. Another hand appeared and gripped the windowsill. A pair of arms, shoulders and a head followed as a boy lifted himself up and peaked into the window. It was clear. He pulled himself up so his bottom was resting on the windowsill and he could readjust his grip to the walls inside. He was tall but his athletic ability allowed him the mobility to climb into the window. However, if he grew anymore then crawling in through windows would start becoming extremely difficult, regardless of his athletic ability. His dark hair blended in with the darkness of the room but his pale face shone brightly in contrast. Tufts of dark hair were beginning to grow on his chin and jaw.

He was wearing dark black clothes, hiding himself in the shadows and using them to his advantage. There was a black rucksack on his back, already half full. He grunted in effort as he jumped through the window and into the room fully. He stood at his full height of five foot eight.

He moved through the room quietly. Steadily. Cautiously. Taking great care to not make any more noise than was absolutely necessary. He opened drawers slowly. He combed through cupboards. Every movement he made was meticulously planned out. Every step he took was thoroughly considered, avoiding the shattered glass underfoot and the inevitable loud cracking noise

BANG. CRASH!

The door swung forcefully open, crashing against the far wall. The locks that had held the door in place splintered from the wooden door and crashed to the floor. Moonlight filtered in from the corridor. A second boy appeared at the doorway.

He looked remarkably similar to the first. Dark hair, pale, thin, and tall. He too was carrying a half filled black rucksack on his back.

'What the hell are you doing?' The first boy hissed quietly but it still echoed in the silence.

'Sorry. Didn’t realize you were in here' the second responded with a nonchalant shrug of his right shoulder.

The first boy hissed in displeasure, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. 'That’s not…' He cut himself off, with a shake of his head. 'Just start searching. Quietly!'

The second boy walked forward and immediately stepped on a piece of the glass that littered the floor. It cracked loudly under his foot. The first boy’s head whipped towards him, a piercing glare on his face.

The second boy held up his hands in a surrendering motion, and said in a rather unapologetic tone, 'Sorry. Sorry.'

'James, you…' the first boy started to whisper when the second boy, James, interrupted with a slightly louder whisper. 'Yeah, Isaac. I know. Quiet. As you’ve told me for the thousandth time.'

The first boy, Isaac, shushed him.

'Yeah, Isaac. I kn-.' James repeated, getting cut off by Isaac.

Isaac had leapt forward, pressing a firm hand over James’ mouth, silencing him. He used his other hand to grab James’ jacket and pulled them both over to the darkest corner of the room, out of sight of the doorway.

A growl pierced the silence and both boys shuffled backwards so they were pressed tightly against the wall. James finally understood Isaac’s shushing. One of those things was nearby. A beast was nearby. Both of them could hear their own heartbeats in their ears. Every breath seemed too loud. Footsteps were approaching them. Heavy. Loud. Thump. Thump.

Thump. Claws tapped the ground with each footstep. Tap.

Thumb tap. Thump tAP. THUMP TAP. THUMP TAP!

A shadow appeared on the ground. The silhouette of a beast. Four legs. A hefty body. A round head with two large threatening horns. It growled deeply and menacingly. The growls reverberated around the room.

James and Isaac held their breath and wished that there was some way to quieten their heartbeats. The blood rushed to their ears with each loud ba bump, ba bump, ba bump.

The beast sniffed loudly, another low growl escaping its mouth.

His shadow moved on.

THUMP TAP! THUMP TAP. THUMP Tap. Thump tap.

James breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the footsteps faded into nothing but Isaac wasn’t ready to relax just yet. His grip on James tightened, keeping James pressed against the wall. There would be no early celebrating. There would not be a ‘oh, so close’ situation with them. Or at least, not if Isaac could help it.

Silence perpetrated the air once again. The danger had passed, for now.

Isaac slowly released the grip that he had on James’ jacket, allowing his impatient younger brother to tug free and finally separate himself from the wall. James looked over to Isaac.

'Tug a bit harder next time, why don’t you, I don’t think you broke the seam.' James said sarcastically with an annoyed frown. He tugged his jacket back into place.

Isaac frowned and replied equally as sarcastically, 'You’re welcome.'

'Welcome for what? I could have handled it.' James protested, already knowing exactly what Isaac was referring to, he just didn’t like the insinuation.

'Sure' Isaac drawled out. He flashed a quick sarcastic grin towards James and turned back to searching through the room for anything that they might find useful.

James glared at his older brother’s back but didn’t argue any further. He joined his brother in searching the room in silence.

Drawers were opened. Cupboards searched. Wardrobes emptied.

'Come on. This place has been picked clean.' Isaac said, already moving back to the window. 'Think you can leave quieter than you came?'

James frowned and pushed his way past Isaac to the window, knocking their shoulders together. James squeezed his lanky frame through and out of the window, dropping onto the ground outside. Isaac dropped down soon afterwards. The pair walked in silence away from the decrepit apartment block.

The whole area was filled with decrepit and abandoned apartment blocks. The road between them was bare. No moving vehicles, no cyclists, no pedestrians. Cars were left to rust, some abandoned in the middle of the road, the doors left wide open.

Weeds, mold and vines were beginning to cover the buildings and cars. They covered the dull lifeless browns, creams and greys and introduced a blanket of green. The once pristine concrete jungle was becoming a city of green. The blanket green occasionally gave way to the dull colors underneath it, especially in the well worn path that the brothers take. Trees flourished but the trunks showed significant damage. They were littered with slashes and bullet holes. As was everything else in the area. The trees and the carpet of green only made the night darker, absorbing any moon light.

As the brothers continued to walk, the trees and greenery became less and less. The air became thicker and smokier. They were approaching what was once the industrial sector. The factories and warehouses had closed long ago but the smoky air remained thick and murky. The light concrete buildings would have reflected any light given by the moon but the murky air prevented most from getting through. This area remained just as dark in the night as any of the others.

The brothers reached a metal fire escape. James went to go up but Isaac pulled him back with a glare. James rolled his eyes and motioned for Isaac to go ahead. Isaac was the first to climb the metal ladder. He stopped on the third floor and stepped off the ladder onto the metal grating. He approached a side window that was covered with layer upon layer of newspaper, except from one little peep hole. Isaac looked through the hole, peeking around the equally dark room. He couldn’t see anything so he carefully and slowly began sliding the heavy wooden window upwards. The window creaked in protest but opened enough for Isaac to slip inside. James followed closely behind.

James closed the window behind him. He was less careful than Isaac and the window slammed a little as it hit the windowsill. Isaac tensed but didn’t turn to face James nor did he say anything, even though he really wanted to.

James rolled down the fabric that they used to cover the window. The other windows were already covered. All of the light was cut off in the room until it flared back to life. Isaac had lit a fire in the fireplace. Light flickered around the room, casting long shadows from the furniture that was littered around the room.

The room was sparsely furnished. There were two cardboard boxes where clothes were screwed up and thrown inside. There were two sleeping bags on the floor in front of the fireplace. There was one large bottle of water which was half full. There were very few personal belongings in the room that made this space theirs. There was a single polaroid photograph pinned to the wall. It looked like a happy family. Mother. Father. A young boy and a baby. The surroundings in the photo were very similar to the surroundings of the boys. In fact, the photograph was taken in the corner in which the photo was pinned. A discarded polaroid camera lay on the ground, empty of the chemicals needed to produce photographs.

Crockery and cutlery were scattered randomly around the room. Knives, forks, spoons. The cutlery were gathered together on a table that was pressed against the door to the room, along with other heavy objects such as a chair that had once been the pride and joy of the room. The master chair so to speak. The plates and dishes however were spread around the room and starting to gather dust.

James and Isaac both opened and emptied their bags. They had managed to collect a few cans of food and a few new sets of clothes. The clothes were separated into two and thrown over into the cardboard boxes.

'A fair haul today.' Isaac declared happily as he looked over the supplies that they had found.

'Yeah. It’s okay.' James replied shrugging one shoulder. 'We could have twice as much if you’d let me start searching on my own. We could cover an area twice the size of what we do now.'

Isaac let out a long suffering sigh. 'James-'

'Oh, come on, Isaac. I can do it. It’ll be fine.' James argued.

'No. You’d be beast bait in the first ten minutes.' Isaac replied dismissively. 'You attract them like a bee to honey.'

'I do not.' James grumbled annoyed. 'And bees aren’t attracted to honey. They make it.'

Isaac laughed amused and shook his head. 'You're too loud. You run into things without thinking. You will just get yourself killed.'

James grumbled, choosing to ignore his brother rather than argue. He would come back to the topic later. He could do it. He knows that he could. Isaac went out alone and he was just as capable as Isaac. If Isaac could do it, so could he.

An opened can of food appeared in his eyeline. He glanced up to see Isaac offering him the food. A swiss knife was in Isaac’s other hand from using it to pry open the can. James took it, neglecting to say thank you. He looked on the side to see that he had a can of beans. Lovely. At least they were the meat sort. James looked over to see Isaac opening up a can of vegetables for himself.

James sighed and quietly said, 'Thanks.'

Isaac nodded towards him. 'Eat up. Long day ahead.'

James grabbed one of the discarded forks to eat with and grumbled. 'It’s always a long day ahead.'

X - X

The next morning was the reverse of the previous evening. They each had a can of food before putting out the fire in the fireplace. Isaac rolled up the heavy fabric covering the window and used the peak hole to make sure that it was safe. It was light outside which made it easier to spot the beasts, but it also made it easier to spot the two brothers.

Their black jackets were replaced with dull green shirts and their black pants were replaced with tan khakis. Their black clothes were stuffed into their now empty rucksacks ready to wear later when the sun started to set.

Isaac opened up the window and climbed out onto the metal grating of the fire escape. James followed closely behind, shutting the window behind him. The brothers climbed down to the ground in silence.

'Where are we hitting today?' James asked as he landed on the ground with a thud. He straightened out his clothes and tugged on the straps of his rucksack.

'Back to Algarve Rise. There’s some houses we haven’t tried yet.' Isaac replied, glancing around and leading the way towards where they had come from the day before.

James looked towards Isaac incredulously. 'Those houses are empty. They've all been picked clean. That’s a huge waste of time.'

'Okay, what’s your plan then?' Isaac asked, almost mockingly.

'I saw some shops yesterday. Corner shops. In Algarve.' James said imploringly.

Isaac looked to James in disbelief. 'James, they’ll be picked clean. All of the shops are.'

'The windows are intact.' James argued. 'Algarve has the mall. Everybody hit there. These shops could be gold mines for us.'

'We should stick to the houses. People left quickly. They left their food behind.' Isaac continued to argue.

'But we’ve been doing that for days with no luck. It’s a waste of time.' James replied, getting frustrated from not being listened to.

Isaac stopped, reaching out and stopping James with a palm to the chest, 'Hey! Who has been doing this the longest?'

'That doesn’t mean you are right.' James grumbled.

'Maybe not. But it means we go with my plan.' Isaac concluded, starting to walk again.

'We could split up. You hit the houses and I hit the shops. Cover all of our bases.' James suggested lightly, already expecting the typical negative reaction from Isaac. He continues before Isaac could react to the suggestion, 'Come on, we can’t afford to waste time. You can’t argue with that. If the shops or the houses have already been picked clean then we have the supplies from the other and we’d still have the rest of the day. We could-'

'No' Isaac interrupted with a firm voice that was meant to end the argument. He sped up to walk in front, signifying that he was done with this conversation.

James glared at the ground, kicking a rock as he remained walking a few steps behind his brother.

The brothers made their way to the narrow path that had formed in the blanket of green vines and continued to make their way to the residential area, Algarve Rise. Algarve Rise had been the well off neighborhood. The brothers' family had come from the complete opposite. The people who lived in Algarve Rise were the only people in the area that could afford an actual house rather than an apartment. The houses were large, not as big as the ones you could find in the countryside but the ground floor was the same size as a whole apartment. All of the houses had at least two floors, some had a third. They weren’t very secure. Easy to break in to but not somewhere that you wanted to stay for any length of time, anymore.

On the edge of the area was Algarve Mall. It had been a large shopping center that really only accommodated the rich that lived in Algarve Rise. Large riots and looting had happened there right at the start, leaving the mall practically worthless. Isaac had once considered moving their home base there when the apartments started to run out of supplies, rather than remaining in the same tiny room in the apartments. They could have barricaded themselves into one of the stores. But when he scoped it out he could hear voices. It was most likely fellow survivors scavenging for supplies but it was enough to dissuade him from the idea. Other survivors were generally bad news. Some were nice but most just wanted your supplies for themselves and were mostly better armed than James and Isaac were with their baseball bat and crowbar.

Isaac led the way to the houses that they had yet to hit. They walked straight past the corner shops that James had been speaking about. It was a crossroads with three different shops. Houses were on either side of the shops. Isaac was hopeful for the houses but James was in disbelief that they were just passing by the shops.

Isaac knew better. There was no way that three corner shops like this would be left untouched. All of the other shops were picked clean right at the beginning. These shops looked too good to be true. The shops looked pristine in comparison to the rundown surroundings. Isaac knew that if things looked too good to be true then they usually were. If nobody else had come round to pick the shop clean, why? What was wrong with them?

Isaac nodded for James to go to the first house. James stepped forward with the crowbar. He wedged the crowbar into the gap between the door and the door frame and pulled. He put all of his strength into forcing the door open, breaking the lock. Isaac stood behind him with his baseball bat in hand, watching out for any beasts or other survivors.

Isaac felt a bit uneasy about being so close to the mall. The one place where he had heard other survivors. As soon as the door was open Isaac went into the house, trusting James to follow behind. Isaac would go upstairs while James searched downstairs.

However, James didn’t enter the house after Isaac. He glanced between the inside of the house and the shop fronts. He waited until Isaac was out of sight and then wandered over to the first shop, Iudicium. The word was above the door but James couldn’t read. The curvy font was attractive though.

James approached the shop and glanced through the window. His heart leapt up to his throat. The shelves were full of cans and jars. Gold mine. James quickly moved to the door, wedging the crowbar in between the door and the doorway, prying it open. It opened easily. No locks. James couldn’t believe his luck. He stepped inside the shop.

The shop smelt clean. It didn’t have the usual smell of damp and dirt. It didn’t smell of decades of non-use. In fact the shop was clean. The jars of preserves and cans were dust free. James could even see the labels easily, even if he couldn’t read the words or recognize the food companies. He placed his crowbar down on the ground and began loading as much as he could into his rucksack. This would be worth the shouting that he would get from Isaac for disobeying orders. He was glad to be right for once. He’d try not to rub it into his brother's face, much.

He loaded the bag until it was ready to burst. Jars of jam, preserved fruit and pickled vegetables. Cans of soup, beans (meat and vegetarian), vegetables, tinned fruit and tinned meat. It was a feast of food. It would keep them for the rest of the week. If he could somehow secure the shop then he could come back for more later without worrying about someone else coming and taking it all. He would have to bring Isaac here later so they could fill his bag as well.

He was just fastening the bag up when a sound pierced the silence of the shop.

GRRRRRRR!

James froze. His heart leaping up to his throat. He turned his head slowly towards the sound. The door to the shop was still open but stood in between him and the door was a Beast!

It was growling with drool falling from its mouth. When it growled, its lips parted and revealed its sharply pointed teeth. Lots of them. They were yellow and dirty. James could only imagine the sort of damage that those teeth could do. He could imagine them tearing flesh and breaking bone with a single bite. Its claws looked just as deadly. Sharp and curved. Ready to tear into its prey. Three horns pointed from the top of its head, telling James that this was a different beast from the one that almost caught them the night before only a block away from where they were. The horns were sharp, two curved at the side while the central one was straight. The white horns had reddish tints at the tips which made James swallow uncomfortably.

James’ muscles tensed as the beast growled and put a clawed paw forward, the claw tapping on the floor seconds after the paw touched the ground. Thump, tap. The beast sprung forward and James lurched backwards before he ran towards the back of the store. He skidded at the end of the shelf and turned perpendicular to the back wall. He had been hoping for a store room but he couldn’t see any doors. He ran down the next row of shelves, realizing that with the Beast on the other aisle, he could now run out the front door.

CRASH!

A set of shelves suddenly fell in front of him as the beast rammed its way through it. The jars smashed as they collided with the floor and the cans burst. Some of the cans rolled towards him, dripping red sauce onto the floor, menacingly. The shelves themselves clattered to the floor loudly.

James skidded to a stop with a yell. He fell backwards as his foot slipped from underneath him. His bottom hit the ground with a thud. He scrambled backwards as the beast moved towards him, growling and presenting his sharp and menacing teeth. James backed up and his stomach dropped as his back came into contact with the back wall of the shop.

The beast continued to prowl towards him. He swallowed harshly, spotting his one and only weapon on the other side of the beast. His hands reached around him, feeling for anything that he could use to defend himself. The beast’s paw landing on a shelving unit gave James a rather daring idea. He leapt forward and grabbed the edge of the white metal shelf that the paw was on. He tugged it up firmly as the beast put its weight on it. It knocked the beast off balance. James followed it through by swinging the shelf up and across the beast’s body. The edge of the shelf cut deeply into the beast’s flesh.

The beast roared in pain.

James lifted the shelf up and above his head and swung it down, hitting the beast firmly on the top of the head. The blow wasn’t as strong as it would have been if he had been stood up but it should have been forceful enough to knock the beast down. However, James forgot about the central horn on the beast’s head. The horn simply pierced the shelf like a knife would pierce through paper. James tried to pull the shelf free from the horn but it was stuck. Well and truly stuck.

The beast backed up, ripping the shelf from James grasp. James scrambled to his feet and jumped to the side, seconds before the beast charged forward. The beast charged right into the wall, the shelf banging against it first and breaking in half where the horn had pierced through it. The beast shook his head and James had seconds to jump aside again as the beast charged once more.

James wondered about the intelligence of the beast as it charged once more and hit the wall as James moved at the very last seconds. Though what James didn’t realize until his back yet again hit a wall was that he had been backed into a corner. There was nowhere left to move. Nowhere left to dodge. The next time that the beast charged it would hit its mark.

James backed up and was close to creating a dent in the wall with just how ferociously he was pressing himself into the wall as he continued to fruitlessly scramble back and away.

The beast stalked forward, aware that it’s prey was cornered and had nowhere to go.

Thump, tap… Thump, tap… Thump, tap.

James could see the beast’s muscles tensing, ready to pounce. The beast growled, his drool dripping to the ground. Its head lowered as its legs bent ready to give its pounce more power. James swallowed, his heart thudding loudly against his ribcage. His eyes clenched shut, not ready to accept his fate. Not ready to watch his approaching death.

'AAAARRRRHHHHHH!' A familiar voice cried.

James’ eyes sprung open just in time to see Isaac thrust the end of the crowbar down into the back of the beast’s head. It entered with a squelch and very dark red blood splattered outwards. The beast dropped onto his stomach, its strangely textured purple tongue falling from its mouth limply. The paws tensed and legs twitched before relaxing.

Isaac pulled the crowbar up and out before thrusting it down again, deep into the head of the beast. It squelched again and splattered some more blood onto the surrounding shelves, broken jars and James.

Isaac hit it once more just to be sure. He was breathing heavily. His bag was missing from his back. He dropped the crowbar and rushed to James’ side.

'Are you okay? James, are you okay? Did it hurt you? Did it get you?' Isaac demanded in quick succession, reaching out for James and gripping his arms. Isaac’s eyes scanned over James, checking for any injuries.

'I’m fine. I’m okay.' James replied, his frantic heartbeat slowing gradually as his adrenalin levels dropped.

'What the hell were you thinking?' Isaac yelled, but continued to glance over his brother worryingly. He pulled James up to his feet.

'I was thinking that this shop would have some supplies in it and it did. Look around us.' James replied, waving his hands around. His rucksack remained exactly where it had been when the beast arrived, filled to the brim with jars and cans.

'Supplies that weren’t worth your life. I wanted to scope this place out first.' Isaac told him. 'I told you to stay with me. I trusted you to trust my judgement. But no, you snuck away, without backup, and almost got yourself killed. If I hadn't noticed that you weren’t there when I did. You would be dead. Do you understand? You would be dead!'

James remained quiet, half chided and half convinced that he was still somewhat right to come for the supplies in the shop.

'I’m going to get my bag. Stay here and try not to die while I’m gone.' Isaac said, turning to leave. He left the crowbar for James. He would make the short journey with his trusted baseball bat. 'Pick out some stuff to put in my bag.'

Isaac returned with his bag quickly. He had his own supplies from the houses stuffed at the bottom of the bag. He handed his bag over to James who moved some supplies from a pile on the floor into the bag. Isaac moved to the beast, getting a proper look at it and to make sure it was dead. This was the closest he had ever come to one. It was also the closest he had ever come to losing James to one.

'Was it already inside?' Isaac asked back to James.

'No. I don’t think so. I think it came in the door.' James replied, as he continued to stuff Isaac’s bag.

'Of course. You always leave the door open.' Isaac commented with a shake of his head. 'Jeez, you need to be more careful. One day you will be the death of both of us.'

James glared at the ground as he closed the bag and stood. He placed his own rucksack on his back and moved over to Isaac’s side. James slung Isaac’s bag into his chest. Isaac gasped as the force knocked the wind out of him.

'Come on. Let’s go.' James commented, not really wanting to be out and about right now.

James turned and left the store. Isaac quickly put on his own bag and hurried after his brother. Just as he exited the shop, he glanced back at the beast but movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention. In the far right corner there was a black hemisphere. Isaac was sure that it moved. Now, that he was looking straight at it, it was still. He shook his head and hurried out of the shop.

James led the way to the path through the vines this time with Isaac following behind. Both of them were lost in their own thoughts. James was thoroughly annoyed with Isaac while still being worked up by his close call. Isaac, however, was stuck on what he had seen in the shop just as he left. He was sure he had seen that black hemisphere move.

They remained silent as they made their way home. They remained silent as they entered their room and ate some of the food they had gathered. They remained silent as they placed the spare food that they had gathered in the corner of the room.

Finally, Isaac broke the silence.

'I’m sorry I was hard on you today.' Isaac apologized, gaining James’ attention. 'You scared me. I’m not afraid to admit that. You really scared me. You could have died today.'

'I’m sorry too.' James replied, 'For not listening to you but I’m not sorry about finding all of that food. This will last us for days. We should go back tomorrow and get the rest.'

Isaac frowned and wondered how he could reasonably argue against that idea. There was something wrong with that shop. It was too clean. Too well stocked up. Why hadn’t it already been looted? Then there was that hemisphere. 'I’m not sure about that.'

'Why?' James asked, already with a frown on his face. Already annoyed that his suggestion was being dismissed yet again.

Isaac could already tell that his suspicions wouldn’t be listened to at the moment with James in that sort of mood. He would have to tread carefully. He sighed and finally said, 'Let’s just enjoy the win. You did good. The beast will deter anyone from going in for a while. We can relax for a day.'

James nodded and settled down.

Isaac watched his younger brother for a moment. He couldn’t believe just how close he had come to losing him today. He sighed, stood and moved to the corner where the one photograph that they had was attached to the wall. He pulled it gently from the wall, making sure that the photograph didn’t tear or get damaged. He sat down, running his hands over the photograph. His family. His parents, himself and James. He, himself, could only just remember his father’s deep baritone chuckle and his mother’s twinkling smile. James couldn’t remember anything about them. James was only four when their parents left one day and never returned. Isaac had had no choice but to go out and find food for them himself. He had had no choice but to learn how to defend himself. He had had no choice but to raise James alone.

X - X

Isaac had managed to keep James in the next day. But James was restless as per usual and Isaac wasn’t able to keep him in the day after that. They were going to return to the shop. They used their usual route to Algarve Rise. However, before they could get to the shop they were forced to hide amongst the vines. The rumbling sound of an engine could be heard. They flattened themselves amongst the vines on their backs so it was their green and beige clothes that was seen rather than their black rucksacks. They blended in better amongst the beige ground and green vines with their clothes.

The rumbling engine came closer and closer, cutting its way through the vines. Isaac had no choice but to glance up briefly to make sure that they weren’t about to get run over by the rapidly approaching vehicle. The vehicle was a heavy duty vehicle, one that you would expect to see the military using. It was painted all black. There didn’t seem to be any attempt to camouflage the vehicle. Isaac could just about see the vague shape of the animal face painted in white paint onto the side. The brothers were surprised to see a working vehicle. As they thought back, neither of them had ever seen or heard a working one, only ever the abandoned ones on the road.

The vehicle rolled past the brothers, coming within a meter of Isaac and he had to take a deep breath and hold it to remain quiet. The loud mechanical ‘beast’ rolled past quietly, deafening both of the brothers with its engine and choking them as it puffed out large amounts of fumes. As soon as it had passed out of sight, both James and Isaac sat up and shared a glance.

'Where did that come from?' James asked Isaac, as if Isaac actually knew the answer.

Isaac climbed to his feet. 'I have no idea, but let's not go where it's heading.'

'But the shop…' James started but stopped when Isaac gave him a piercing stare.

'Will either still be there tomorrow or those people will clear it out long before we get there.' Isaac told him honestly. 'Come on, we can look in Torrington Estate today.'

James groaned. 'Not Torrington.'

That made Isaac smirk. He wasn’t a big fan of Torrington either but he wasn’t about to risk meeting whoever had been in that vehicle. 'Yes. Torrington. Nice and safe.'

'Gross and eerie' James grumbled quietly.

'What was that?' Isaac asked with a teasing quality to his voice.

'Nothing mother.' James replied with just as teasing in his voice.

The brothers made the short journey to Torrington Estate. The Estate had been a rundown and rough neighborhood anyway but as the years had passed the buildings had rotted and crumbled. James never wanted to go to Torrington to scavenge and he was sure nobody else did either. Even the green vines didn’t grow there. James was sure that even the beast stayed clear of Torrington.

The fog seemed to permanently settle over Torrington. James had never seen it without any fog, only varying densities of fog. However the apartments were the most likely to be fruitful. The former residents seemed to be the best prepared for any emergency, though luckily for James and Isaac, they didn’t take their prepared supplies with them wherever they went.

They were able to collect a fair amount of supplies but to James’ misery they didn’t allow enough time to go and check on the shop before heading back to their hideout. The sun was already setting by the time that they started making their way back. The sun was the only way that they had to tell the time. They hadn’t seen a battery to put in a watch for a long time, and any that they did find were already worn down from age. Batteries didn’t hold their charge after all.

It was also that time of year again when the days were short which meant that their time to scavenge was also cut short. While they had the supplies to scavenge at night, it was much more dangerous. You were much more likely to run into a beast at night then you were during the day, though that didn’t mean that it was safe during the day as demonstrated by James in the shop.

They were just passing the entrance to Algarve Rise when bright lights suddenly lit up from behind them and an engine fired up. James and Isaac froze and turned to look back. Both of them were fearing the worst. Behind them was the same vehicle from before. Bright headlights lit up the area, aided further by one giant spotlight that was placed on top.

'You boys okay?' A deep voice yelled.

It was hard to see with the bright lights shining on them, but they could just about make out the outline of someone who was sticking their head out of the driver’s side of the vehicle.

Isaac and James shared a glance but didn’t instantly respond. Isaac stepped slightly forward and to the side so he was partially in front of James. James was too confused and worried about the people in front of them to be angry about Isaac moving to stand in front of him.

Doors opened from the vehicle and out stepped the man that had called, along with at least five others. They stepped into the light revealing that they were all wearing some sort of uniform. They were all armed to the teeth. They had weapons. Rifles, handguns and automatic weaponry. Isaac thought that he spied some grenades in their arsenal as well.

'Hey, you boys alright out here?' the same deep voice yelled, clearly the leader of the group. He was also the largest. He was well built and clearly very strong. His voice was deep, masculine and authoritative. He had dark skin with dark hair, dark eyes and well trimmed beard.

'We’re fine. Thanks.' Isaac yelled back, taking the lead for the brothers..

'You sure? We’ve been seeing a rise in beast activity around these parts. It’s dangerous out here.' the deep voice told them, stepping further into the light to reveal a concerned and kind face. 'We have a camp not too far from here. The beasts can’t get in there. It’s safe. It’s a good place for boys like you. There’s more boys there. And girls. We can train you, keep you safe.'

James appeared interested but Isaac shook his head and replied, 'No thanks. We’re fine by ourselves.'

The man looked disappointed, 'You sure? I think you’d like it with us.'

Isaac nodded. 'We’re sure.'

The man nodded. He waved for his company to get back into their vehicle before turning back to the boys. 'Very well. Keep yourselves safe out here, alright? If you change your mind, the name’s Praesidium. Our camp is due North from here. Just keep going north and you’ll find us. We’re the big building with the bear head on the side. Just look for the bear.'

'Thanks. We’ll keep it in mind.' Isaac said, his tone friendly but his stance told everybody that he was not comfortable in the slightest in the company of these men.

The leading man nodded his head and returned to the driver’s seat of the vehicle. The vehicle reversed backwards before heading forwards and swinging around the boys and driving away. The brothers watched as the red glow of the tail lights disappeared.

'Come on, let's go. All that noise was bound to attract something.' Isaac instructed, already heading off back towards their apartment. 'Alright for them, they can drive away.'

James followed. His mind was stuck on the people that they had just met. 'Why did you say no to them?'

'To a large group of heavily armed men? Hmmm, I wonder why.' Isaac replied sarcastically, 'Come on, hurry up, it’s getting dark.'

'But they could have food and a safe place for us, rather than having to-' James began to argue but Isaac stopped him by simply holding up a hand.

'James, just trust me on this one. Okay? Now, come on.' Isaac said firmly, going on ahead towards their usual path.

The next morning, they were gathering their stuff together for another day's worth of scavenging when James brought up the age-old argument.

'We could split up. I’ll head back to the shop and you could head back to the houses.' James suggested.

'You’re not going back to the shop alone.' Isaac argued back. He sighed. 'You take the north side of Algarve, I’ll take the south. We’ll meet at the shop when we are done and do the shop together. Deal?'

James grinned and nodded. 'Deal.'

Isaac led them a new way to Algarve this time. He didn’t want to risk running into those men again. He pointed James to the left and then went to the right himself. Isaac’s path of houses led him right to the shop that they were going to be meeting at. Isaac was about to go into the next house on his path when he looked over to the shop and froze in place. The shop looked like it was as good as new. Isaac turned and walked over to the shop window and glanced in. Everything looked brand new. The shelves were back in place and fully stocked. The corpse of the beast was gone. Isaac looked into the shop in confusion. ‘What was going on?’

Meanwhile, James was searching through his third house. He was proud of his hoard of supplies. He had found some new clothes for them ready for the approaching warmer weather. The first house had a whole supply of canned food. Some of the cupboards and the fridge were starting to grow their own eco systems from the moldy food but most of the cans were okay.

A scream pierced the silence.

To be continued...

in

Praesidium II: The Girl with the Knife

Adventure
1

About the Creator

Jade Stephens

Hey, just a small town girl with big ambitions. A school librarian by day and an Author by night. I love entering new worlds and sharing them with other, whether it be a book I'm reading for a book groups or a story that I am telling.

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