Rains of Heaven & Sprouts of Hell: by Nick Venom (ereader android .TXT) 📕

Raife tiptoed towards the wall of glass protecting him from the threats outside. He held his crowbar tightly in his grip, peering through the glass. The threats, a horde of roamers, shuffled down the main road, leaving his sight. 

He sprinted towards the main entrance of the store he was in and peered around it. He watched as the roamers traveled farther down the road. They shuffled slowly but picked up the pace as their attention was caught by a stray cat. They sprinted towards the cat, chasing it. They would follow the cat for miles until it was dead or they found bigger prey.

Raife, thankful that the cat lured the roamers away, tiptoed outside, sticking close to the glass wall. He kept the crowbar close to his chest, moving slowly in case of stragglers. He reached the end of the building, peering around the corner at a smaller road. He saw a few stragglers at the end of the road, but they were far enough to not pose a problem as long as he remained silent. 

After watching for a few moments, he found a perfect opportunity and took it. He moved as silently as he could towards the other side of the smaller road. He was wary of moving through smaller roads as roamers often lurked in the shadows and there was less space to move around. 

“Raife?” He heard somebody whisper-shout behind him. He turned around, noticing a familiar face on the other side of the street. It was his childhood friend, a girl his age named Selena. She had straight black hair that went down to her chest, emerald eyes, and tanned skin. She was dressed in a thick set of black bulletproof armor - which Raife also had. However, unlike Selena, he had charcoal eyes and short black hair that didn’t pass his forehead.

“Yeah?” Raife responded, looking around for any roamers. He glanced at the stragglers further down the road, finding them idling. They didn’t hear Raife or Selena’s conversation, fortunately. 

Selena crossed the street with Raife’s help, reaching his side. “Let’s go. It’s almost night.” She told him.

Raife nodded. “Lead the way, I’ll cover your back.” He said. She nodded, gripping her katana tightly. The katana was a family heirloom, given to her by her father after the apocalypse began. It became her greatest weapon.

Now heading back, they passed by small clumps of roamers and ransacked buildings. The sights were no longer uncommon amidst the apocalypse. It was as normal as seeing the sun. 

Selena led the way back, arriving at a parked jeep within fifteen minutes. Waiting for them were their teammates, Chloe and Franklin. Chloe noticed them, waving them closer. “How did it go?” She asked as they neared her. 

“Could be better,” Raife muttered. Selena punched his shoulder, forcing him to phrase his words differently. “It wasn’t as bad as I was thinking.”

Franklin and Chloe smiled. “Always wrapped around her thumb, are ya’?” Franklin asked.

Raife scoffed at him while Selena smiled. “Thanks to me, this idiot is still alive.” The others smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Hey!” The driver of the jeep whisper-shouted. “Get the hell into the truck. We don’t have much time before night. Stop the chit-chat.” The driver, a female dressed in the same armor named Madelyn, ordered. The others nodded, jumping into the truck before it sped away from the town of Hoodsville, Illinois. They left the town behind with what supplies they could find. It wasn’t much. 

TBC…

The jeep left behind Hoodsville, moving as quickly as it could without making a lot of noise. Madelyn controlled the modified jeep to travel quietly, heading for their base of operations - Winter Hollow. Meanwhile, the others began to chat with each other. The time they spent in Hoodsville was filled with tension as the squeak of their boots would’ve been enough to alert the roamers and get them killed. However, here in the truck, they could talk freely and make significantly more sounds than they otherwise would be able to.

“Man, this job doesn’t get any easier,” Selena remarked.

“Another day full of stress, right?” Chloe asked. 

Selena nodded. “I made a couple of mistakes and nearly died in my store.” Raife, who had been staring out of the window at the sun as it was descending, felt his ears perk up. His attention was caught by Selena. Franklin felt the same, staring at her.

Chloe, by this time, furrowed her eyebrows as her expression softened. “What happened?” She asked as if she was Selena’s mother.

“I tipped some stuff over and they broke into the room I was in. Thankfully, there was another door in the room. I sprinted out of the room and locked the roamers behind me.”

“Aren’t ya’ lucky?” Franklin remarked. “You faced death and lived to tell the tale.”

Selena chuckled softly. “Yup… Somehow.” 

“Maybe God wants you to continue?” Chloe added.

Madelyn, who was busy driving, heard the remark. She glanced at the rearview mirror at Chloe who sat behind her. “God isn’t real. If he was, we wouldn’t be living this shitty life.”

Chloe cringed at her words as it felt like Madelyn was shooting daggers at her through her words and her charcoal eyes. “... S-Sorry.” She muttered, now ashamed of herself. The others kept silent, not wanting to fight with Madelyn. She was the equivalent of a grizzly bear. 

With the mood dampening, everybody split off to themselves. The topic of God and similar conversations were immediately banned. 

Selena, who was tired from scavenging for the entire day, took a nap. Her head leaned against Raife’s shoulder. Chloe also took a nap, leaning on Selena’s shoulder and resembling dominos that crashed against each other. Meanwhile, Franklin and Raife both stared out of their windows. They watched as they passed by clouds and as the sky changed into a darker shade of blue. Franklin was delighted by the sights as it brought him some comfort. Raife, on the other hand, used the sights as background noise. However, the noise was quickly cut off as his thoughts arose.

When will the stress end? He thought to himself. He was feeling the side-effects of constant stress getting to him. And when will I get to retire? Like my parents… and Selena’s parents. It’s been a difficult twenty years. I’ve been stuck dealing with the five threats of this world. The acid rain, hell plants, roamers, meteor showers, and the worst of them all - other humans. It’s been crazy… living like this. I need to ask for time off as soon as I can. I don’t want to end off like my brother. Damn… his anniversary is coming up. I need to pay my respects soon.

“We’re home,” Madelyn said, alerting Franklin and Raife. They looked through the front windshield and watched as they rolled up to the main gate of the hundred-block by eighty-block wide base of operations that they knew as home. “Wake the sleepers and let’s get going. We got a lot to do before we’re off the clock.” She ordered. Franklin and Raife nodded, waking Selena and Chloe. It was time to get off and load the supplies into their base of operations. The giant community of Winter Hollow.

TBC…

Raife and the others began the unloading process as soon as they arrived inside Winter Hollow’s perimeters. They were now behind a sturdy metal fence that stood twenty feet tall. The fence was thick enough for guards to stand on top of them. The guards kept their eyes out for any trouble approaching them and were the ones responsible to check any cars attempting to go inside. They were the first line of defense.

Raife stared at them as he dropped the supplies off at a small house towards the middle of the community. They stared at him, some with disgust and others with fear. He stared back more intensely, watching them carefully. However, somebody smacked him out of his staring competitions. It was Selena, who was standing behind him.

“Quit it, Raife.” She told him, scoffing at his attitude. “Gracious, you still act the same as when you were a teen. You haven’t changed after years. Remember that those guards aren’t the same people as them. They’re gone, so don’t worry about them anymore and leave the recruits and veterans alone. They’re all going to hate you if you continue to act like this.”

Raife nodded. “Sorry,” He apologized.

“Apologize to them once you get your attitude fixed.” She told him. He nodded his head in agreement. “Good, now let’s finish this so we could sleep.” She said before leading him to the dorms, which was a large hotel that managed to fit all of the scavenging teams. There, they met up with Franklin and Chloe, who finished before them.

“Ready to be chewed out?” Chloe asked.

Selena smiled. “I think we brought enough to avoid it.”

“I doubt that,” Raife remarked, getting a swift jab to his gut. 

“I’m on Raife’s side this time.” Franklin started. “You know how Amber acts if we’re even one candy bar under our quota. Which is strange since I don’t remember ever seeing her out on the field. Hell, has she ever left her damn room?” The other stared at him with widened eyes. Franklin furrowed his brows as he tried to deduce the meaning behind their expressions. However, it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. 

“Anything else you want to say?” Amber, a redheaded frail woman dressed in a pantsuit, asked him from behind him. “Or is that all your complaints?”

Franklin silently cursed in his mind before slowly turning around to face Amber. “Nothing.” He told her, getting a chuckle out of her.

“Good,” She said before walking past them and into the hotel. She stopped at the door frame, looking over her shoulder at Franklin. “Oh, it must’ve slipped my mind. You were ordered from above to do fifty laps around the perimeter.”

“Fifty laps?” Franklin questioned. “Why that many?”

“Because that’s how many it would take to erase your earlier comments.” She said with a smirk. “As for the rest of you, report in tomorrow. Your squad will be receiving its sixth member. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ma’am!” They said simultaneously.

“Good… make sure you’re all rested for tomorrow. Especially you, Franklin.” She said before turning back to face her front. She walked with long strides, disappearing around a corner within tens of