Nightengale

Nightengale 3

※CHAPTER 2※

Armageddon and Sin

　

　

They came from the shadows, the graves, the crypts on that hour, the time of the scarlet moon. The once silent night was forever interrupted.

The streets were teaming with screaming and scrambling people with their desperate attempts for survival. The sky was dark with a sickly orangish red hue and the air was thick with smoke, ash, and the smell of decaying flesh.

Layle held on tight to his big brothers hand and with the other he held his mothers. This was no time for crying, he was running for his life, or at least trying. His legs were much too short to keep up with his brother and mama.

"Layle, keep up sweetie! It's going to be okay." she lied. The words so painful to say. Nothing was okay, nothing at all.

They stepped over the bodies of the not so fortunate, their flesh and limbs mangled unmercifully by the unknown terrorists causing this mayhem. Power lines were knocked down, cracking and sparking wildly. For Layle, this was much to handle. Even more so than adults, just earlier the world was such an easy happy-go-lucky place. He had absolutely no cares in the world as do most children in early years.

Layle began to stumble and sob as he began to trail backwards, tired from the constant scrambling. The elder one Jack, without slowing down, scooped up the small child in his arms and continued his fast strides to the town bomb shelter. It was hard to see but one could hear the sounds of rampant beasts through the area, roars of something most unholy.

Layle held tight to his big brother and kept his face hidden in his cozy winter jacket, the only comfort he had at the time but it didn't make the scary go away. "Big brother," Layle began in a small feeble voice, choking back overwhelmed tears, "why is this happening?" Jack held Lash tighter to his chest, protecting him with his very life. He replied to him as calmly as he could "I.... I don't know... but I'm going to keep us safe! I won't let anything happen to you!"

The shots of fire arms rang through the like sonic booms in a flurry as mankind desperately tried to defend itself but one by one, the gats of the guns were silenced and replaced with blood curdling screams of sheer pain and fear. Layle's warm tears coated his brothers shoulder, seeping deep into the fabric of his grey trendy jacket. There was no holding back his water works. Heck, even Jack was having a hard time trying to keep himself together, around his eyes were pink, his eyelashes stuck together with his hot salty tears, still he breathed heavy between his grit teeth, his adrenalin rushed and his fight or flight instinct was quite keen in this matter.

The crowd began to mush together as people began to run the other way for some terrifying reason. The hectic confusion bumping and slamming into the young boys. What was much more worse than that was, within that split second, their mother was nowhere to be seen! Jack looked around frantically, needing his mother guidance. He had no clue what to do, where to go. He was told what to do if a big storm hit or if a stranger was trying to get him but not when his hometown was under attack. Despite his looking, mother was nowhere to be found, it was hopeless, yet, he still called for her through the loud streets, "mom....? MOM!?" this was it, so he thought, he was going to be trampled in a sea of people and killed. Poor little Layle tightened his grip on Jacks clothing, his small fists trembling and his sobs getting louder, whimpering "Mama...! I want m-my Mama, big brother!, he began to cry loud, his screaming making Jack's ears ring. Jack furrowed his eye brows and with a deep breath, he pushed through the crowd to the only place free of people, an alley way. With all his might he managed to make it, stumbling in and taking a quick breath before darting in to the narrow dark space between two run down brick buildings. He tried his best to scan the floors, making sure not to trip over any garbage or cracks, his old dingy white sneakers splashed hard into the small pools of water that leaked down from the roof tops, the drops echoing in the cramped space. His ten year old body, though strong, could not carry his little brother for very long even with all the adrenalin coursing through his body.