Welcome Home

A survivor, Carl, gets rescued by three strangers as they attempt to bring him to their "Home".

Taking Steps

 

“Welcome Home”

 

“Oi oi, can anyone hear me?”

A voice lightly whispered from the darkness, low and comforting, passing through the rubble.

“Give me some kind of signal, I’m not going through half a f*****g building to try and find you”

Carl lay motionless under the rubble of a recently destroyed café. After making an attempt at collecting some supplies, Carl was ambushed by Demons. During Carl’s escape, one of the Demons had charged and destroyed some of the foundation, resulting in the buildings collapse. Through exasperated and stifled breaths, Carl had managed to utter a high pitched sound that caught the attention of the voice.

“That was an odd sound”

The rubble scuffles from above as the faint light of a torch glimmers through. As the light disappears, Carl could make the faint outline of a head, hanging upside down and could feel the eyes of this stranger peering at him.

“Got yourself into some trouble there, didn’t you. Give me a sec, we’ll get you out but keep it down.”

The new opening had allowed fresh air to filter through, allowing Carl a clearer breath. Eventually, the person had made his way into the collapse and begun to drag Carl out. His body limp, Carl felt the building beneath him as he was dragged across rubble and onto tarmac, the road scraping at his shirt, his jeans loosening, sliding down his legs to reveal pink 

underwear.

“Get yourself by here, lad. Get some rest a mo, have some water and keep your f*****g mouth shut, we’re not out of this yet, now drink.”

The gentle whisper of the man brought relief to Carl as he was perched against a wall, a canteen placed against his lips, the water soothing his coarse throat as his empties the bottle.

“Nice panties, by the way. I can’t help but feel you could have worn a different pair.”

 

An hour had passed, Carl had regained consciousness and raised himself to his feet.

“Tha-“

Carl’s gratitude was cut short as his mouth was quickly covered by the hands of a young, short female whose face couldn’t be made out in the darkness. The girl raised a finger to her lips, signalling Carl to stay silent. Carl nodded slowly.

Carl took this opportunity to get to grips with his bearings. The world was dark, very little could be seen. The alley he had been dragged into had light foliage covering the floor, the brick walls flaking from erosion and lack of care. At one end of the alley, crouched a burly man, large backpack in tow, bandana wrapped around his head and in what appeared to be camouflage gear. Stood at the other end, another man, posture and size very similar to his male companion, though slightly taller. He wore tight attire, fitted closely to his skin, reminiscent of clothing worn by a ninja.

The man approached Carl, allowing him to understand his appearance better, his clothes, blacker than the world itself. The man poked him lightly in the chest and patted the female on the shoulder.

“Follo-“

The man quickly covers Carl’s mouth with his hand. His eyes roll with exasperation. The man grabs Carl’s hand and forces it to grip the female’s wrist. Carl nods as he understands.

The man in black leads as the four approach the end of the alley. Slowly, the group make their way through streets. The three communicated using only hand signals and gestures, swiftly navigating the darkness.

In the distance, 2 streets over, a window flickers with Christmas lights. The man in black points toward the light and gives a thumbs up to Carl. Through the darkness, Carl makes out a large grin across the strangers face. Carl believed this to be an attempt at comfort, yet the grin seemed menacing, more than anything.

 

The man in camouflage crosses the street, keeping low, his head jerking left to right, observing either end of the street. He crouches at the other end of the road, perched in a garden behind a small brick wall. A faint click can be heard from behind the wall, another signal. The man in black pats the female on the back as she guides Carl across the road.

From within the darkness, a loud screech pierces the air. Both Carl and the Woman’s heads jar to the right. About 70 yards down the road, a large creature, standing just over 6 feet tall, its 4 spindly legs outstretched, spanning from one pavement to the other. It’s snout like face glaring angrily at the two as they froze in the middle of the road. Its body lowered as its sharp blade like arms pointed directly at Carl and it began to charge towards him, it’s legs accurately navigating broken cars and the crumbled streets. The woman grabbed Carl by the scruff of the neck and forced him to run into the house of the garden the camouflaged man was sat.

The Demon charged at the door and began slowly crushing through the building becoming jammed within its walls.

“Go, come on, pick up the pace, f*****g move it, dick head!”

The camouflaged man bellowed through the darkness of the house as Carl felt his way through. Doors flung open as the three charged through the hallway, into the kitchen and out the back door, seemingly heading for a slightly ajar gate as the creature still seemed to be stuck within the building. The group bundled through the gate, the camouflaged man bolted to the left and up some stairs, Carl was led into the house by the woman. The pair stood at the door, staring at the sky as a light sparkled and illuminated the sky.

“So, welcome home, let’s get you settled in, shall we?”

The girl turned towards Carl and removed a garment covering her mouth and nose, revealing a beautiful smile upon the face of a very pretty woman, sharp jawed, cute little button nose and beaming green eyes. Carl felt his heart race, his pupils widened as he remained speechless.

“Welcome home, I’ll take you through the tour after we’ve settled down. For now, take a seat by here while I go and get changed.”

As the girl walked into what appeared to be a cupboard, Carl uttered the first words that came to his mind.

“Who are you and what about the other guys that were with us?”

The girl spun on her heels and hit herself in the head with her palm.

“Oh, duh, Bryan usually does this stuff! Sorry dude, my name’s Jade, nice to meet you! The guy who ran up the stairs when we got through the gate is going on lookout for Bryan, his name is Lewis and he’s my boyfriend.”

Though Carl had no knowledge of Jade, he couldn’t help but feel his heart tug a little as he heard this.

“The other dude is Bryan, he set off that flare we just saw, good distraction for the Demon. He has an affinity for the drama, he’ll come back like a shining twat in armor as he always does, don’t worry about him. We’re part of a group of people that have gathered together to live here, we call it home because why wouldn’t you? Now hush your gums, I’m going to get changed, Bryan will fill you in when he gets here.”

Jade skips into the cupboard like a carefree child. Carl could hear her muttering behind the door.

"Why's he gotta leave me do the introductions, he knows I hate this s**t."

Author's Note

Any reviews and advice are very much welcome!

Hope you enjoy!

Reviews

[Rich Weas]

You have created an interesting opening and hook.The confusion taht he your main character s experiencing is that he has just woke up, his mind is amuddle right now. It has gotten me to read the story or rather the chapter. You have some concrete ideas there. He has been saved by two other humans, who are being pursued by the demons as you identified them. It is a good opening. I did enjoy.