The Chase

Almost everyone was dead.

It was tragic.

Depressing.

Dismal.

Everything you would have expected after people sent the world to all hell. It was hard to live. Hard to survive-like some rat that was starved and cast aside. My breathing faltered as the weight of everything seemed to fall heavy on my shoulders.

I stifled a small cry, momentarily leaning on a tree for support. It felt like I was being punished and had to suffer through the dismal consequences of someone else's actions.

I-we came across a murky stream. I had no idea where we ended up but it was better to hide out in the desolate wastelands of what was left. Better than out there.

Thick trees and coarse thorny bushes provided enough coverage away from anything seeking us. Which seemed to be everything. The air was foul. Same as it had been the day the Earth died screaming. The once abundant flourishing forest and nature had felt the brutal force of it all. My gloved hands grazed over some green moss and tiny weeds protruding out of the bedrock. At least something out here is trying to live. I looked around before crouching over and removed my gas mask, and gloves.

The air felt somewhat fresh-nothing to be excited over though. I rubbed the sore spots on my face and immediately took a deep breath while stretching out my exhausted limbs. This was nice... for once. I knew we had to keep going but I needed a break. My feet throbbed and my calves begged for me to make camp but I knew I couldn’t.

I promptly washed my face in the dirty stream as my hands lingered over the bruises that was scattered all over my body. The pain was more satisfying than being alone with my thoughts.

A small quiet wail brought me back to reality. I angrily brushed my fingers through my hair before balling up my fists and dragging it downward in a cradle position. My nerves had skyrocketed and the lack of sleep was getting to me.

Please why won’t it stop?

I gritted my teeth and slammed my hands on the jagged green moss covered rocks. I stood up and snatched my gas mask marching over to the makeshift baby carrier. I stood there hovering over the crying infant with tears threatening to fall.

“Why do you keep crying?”

My voice came out in a weak hushed tone. I placed my hands over my ears and tried to muffle my own scream into my oversized heavy coat. I gazed over at the infant and shakily threw myself down beside it. Unsteady hands removed its miniature gas mask, and bright glossy dawn-tinted eyes stared up at me. I knew he needed me. It was obvious when he was abandoned nearby my last hideout without a word and a small dirty note that read,

‘Please take him to the promised land. Follow the heart.’

I fought back a pitiful lump in my throat. Soft babbling filled my ears and he reached out to grab my hand. I carefully rubbed my eyes with a sniffle, watching him. A joyous babyish laugh left his mouth that semi sparked my curiosity.

“Oh is that funny?”

He giggled again before he grabbed my fingers and played with them. Obviously taken back by the playful gesture I sat there with a soft smile. I gently fixed his clothes on him and adjusted the necklace that remained around his small neck. I assumed it was given to him by one of his parents but now I know this child was not exactly...a child. Granted it was a baby. He looked and sounded human but for some reason I knew he wasn’t. It seemed as if he came from a distant planet and was left here to defend himself.

It was a silly idea but I wouldn’t shoot down my theory just yet, considering the plague that devastated multiple nations in less than half a year. My thoughts strayed away from some terrible memories. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the heart-shaped locket that seemed like any ordinary piece of jewelry around the child’s neck. But the longer I stared, the more a luminescent fiery hue emanated from it. I looked in horror, pulling my hand away from him. He curiously looked at me but continued babbling.

I gently took the necklace from around his neck but the color simultaneously dimmed down. I opened the locket and jumped in fright when something fell to the ground. In between the black rotten leaves laid a red glowing vial with coordinates? I hesitantly picked it up but it flew out of my hand, back into the locket, and clamped shut. I blinked back when it levitated out of hand towards the ground and became undone right before my eyes.

A sickly muddy and ominous grey color replaced it. The infant babbled and reached out towards it and strangely he seemed to be interacting with it. It lit up at every gesture the baby made and I slowly picked him up. I backed away but the floating-now strange blob followed. I panicked and almost tripped over some twigs but the infant touched the blob and it instantly transformed back into a heart-shaped locket but only this time there was a completely red and a holographic chrome light that appeared. It stretched pass the trees and bushes and seemed to make a path in a random direction.

Did it want me to-?

I gasped. “Follow the heart!”

What it meant or what it would lead me to, I didn’t know. A small gut wrenching feeling made me feel this was going to help humanity-or whatever was left of it…hopefully. I happily kissed the infant’s head. However, my smile dropped when the sound of movement in the trees caught my attention. I wiped a bead of sweat that rolled down my brow. I slowly hid the necklace back into the infant’s clothing before placing our gas masks back on our faces.

We weren’t alone anymore.

I grabbed my bag and carefully placed it on my shoulders and held the infant close in my arms.

I followed the stream heading south without drawing attention to myself. The infant cried out softly in my arms and I did my best to quietly console him. I didn’t dare stop or check my surroundings.

With each step, my heart pounded.

Don’t stop.

Sounds of chittering and snarling nearby only encouraged me to move faster. Dead trees that had fallen in the path made it difficult to maneuver through but I had to lose whatever was behind us.

A shrill ear-piercing shriek emitted a painful ringing that danced around in my ears. That’s when I knew it was time to run. I held the back of the infant’s head, took another deep breath, and ran faster than I had ever ran in my entire life. Our lives depended on it. It always felt like it was going to be the last time. Sounds of trees crumpling, shook the forest floor and inhuman movement scraping the forest ground was all around.

If I stopped or slowed down, I was going to die. We were. And I wasn’t letting that happen now.

I swiped away decaying singed branches and saw a clearing up ahead. I made my way into some bushes to throw the creatures off. I had to take the chance. Another small cry reached my ears and tried my best to calm the wailing infant before one of the creatures heard. I climbed out of the bushes and an unsettling feeling buried its way into my heart.

I made sure the gas mask was still secured on the infant’s face and that he was breathing. A dense viscid haze surrounded us that felt disgusting on the exposed parts of my skin. I hugged him closer, wrapped the carrier securely around my shoulders before putting my large oversized coat on to cover both of us up and hide him. I felt like a madman hearing skittering and distant shrieks that refused to stop. Rocking him slowly in my arms, I continued walking hearing my boots softly crunch on random pieces of debris until I heard a strange click.

“What the-''

An unbearable feeling of pure agony shot through my foot and spread throughout my leg. I fell to my knees and angrily bit my arm to stop myself from screaming out. I slowly looked at my foot and saw a miniature metal piece with a sharp arrowhead tip protruding out of my foot close to my ankle. I tried to grab and remove it but the pain was too much. I soon realized I couldn't take it out regularly because the metal piece was attached to a small platform.

A trap.

I silently cursed to myself and bit down on my arm again. I had no choice but to pull it from the bottom while the arrow tip remained on top. Sweat drenched my entire body and my eyes darted around me. It's now or never. Just then through the mist, a deformed pinkish veiny creature crawling on broken elongated wrists and ankles sniffed the ground. My heart started pounding and I froze. I wanted to run but the thought was soon thwarted when the unbearable ache in my foot returned.

I didn’t take my eyes off the creature that didn't seem to spot me yet. I slowly wrapped my fingers around the platform once again- bracing myself for the new searing pain. I took in a shaky breath.

One, two, and thr-

Another cry came from the infant. My eyes watered. I painfully dropped the platform and held the infant closer trying to quiet his wailing. The creature turned in our direction and let out a monstrous shriek that struck fear into my heart. I fell backward securing the infant in my arms and dragged myself away, unconsciously ripping the metal out of my foot. A brief red pulsing took over my senses and I let out a silent scream. Blood gushed out and the creature started running at us. I grabbed my hunting knife, ready to kill. It jumped forward but a high-pitched noise that sounded like a machine shot the creature down. It let out a guttural moan before laying there limp right in front of me twitching before ultimately dying.

I heard weapons being fired, which put my worries to ease, for now. A soldier offered me their hand. Oh no. Soldiers were never a good sign. They always brought trouble to whomever they were sorting business out with. When I heard they were looking for the infant that I was taking care of, I knew there was something wrong. I cautiously took ahold of their hand while they carefully hoisted my arm over their shoulder.

“Can you walk?”

“Yes.”

I wanted to keep the talking to a minimum. We carefully walked in a random direction-probably to find a clear path to return to the inner city.“We need to bandage that up.” He sat me down on a rotten tree that had fallen at some point in it’s sad life. Before I even had the chance to thank him, I realized the man brought me far away from everyone else. That concerned me so I gradually started preparing for a fight. He knelt down and pulled out some strange material before roughly wrapping my foot with it. I groaned out in pain with more sweat trickling down my face. “Please bear with it.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”

“I do know you have the child.”

My head snapped in his direction. I quickly grabbed my hunting knife and placed it against his neck. The man did nothing but focus on my wound, seeming to ignore me, but he swiftly swiped my knife away from me and placed it on the ground. He removed his helmet and to my shock, he was easy on the eyes but resembled the infant hiding under my big coat. I heard soft babbling reminding me that I had been holding the infant so tightly.

The man looked around before kneeling at eye-level. “I’m also not a solider. Well, not a destructive human one. Do you want to know why your world has been destroyed? Your people executed my brother and the human woman with who he had strange romantic relations. They stole his ship and your people took a very dangerous bacterium from my homeworld and tried to manipulate it for their own good. But they failed and doomed your world. Those creatures find a new host every few months and have an affinity to ravage anything they get a hold of.” He looked off to the side with a strange longing. “That child is my nephew. I would like to take him home but your people who started this destructive mayhem have taken everything we need to do that. I need to contact my people somehow with a hidden device my brother gave to the human woman.”

The heart-shaped locket...

“Unfortunately, I could only depend on you.”

I glared at him through the mask before taking it off. I showed him the infant so he could see he was safe and sound.

“And why do you need my help?”

The man looked around and immediately shoved his helmet back on, before fixing an alien-looking weapon. I heard more loud guttural noises behind me making me grab my knife in the process. I slowly stood up standing besides this alien man. Do I even have a choice? If I help him is there a chance I could possibly live a normal life again?

“You’re the only being alive that the child trusts and I’m the only one who could protect you both.”