Chapter 1: Inception

Dave and Ron have to find their way through a city under attack to find and rescue Ron's sister Maggie

"All clear" i said to Ron who actually hated my habit of using gaming code words. "Drop the childish codes or ill put my shoe in your mouth"

"Your shoe looks like it has never been washed ever since it was bought"

"But it’s cleaner than your mouth"

We both burst into laughter as we jumped over the fence .For months we had been coming to this place in an effort to earn some extra cash. It was an abandoned old building some distance away from the city of Nairobi. Am not complaining. That is the best you can get as far as illegal gambling is concerned. Everyone was already there. The games began as soon as we all put our money on the table. I won the first round and the second round Ron won the third.

 

 

Max, the top dog in the base could take it no more.

"That’s it"

"You guys must be cheating"

"Search them!"

After thorough searching, the truth was finally out. We were always cheating. That day we had been too greedy.

Max pulled out a gun which i didn’t know he had. Strangely the other gamblers were more than happy to see him pull out his gun. I can’t remember clearly but i think i s**t my pants a little.

"Don’t shoot them Max" Beard face shouted. That’s not his name, i never bothered to know. He had a long beard so the name stuck.

"Dave i think Beard face will help us" Ron whispered

"Let’s kill them in a different location; you don’t want a messy situation" Beard face said.

We were thrown into a dusty underground room which had a heavy metallic door.

"What do you think they are doing?"  I asked.

"Planning on how to brutally kill us and hide our bodies. Dave this is the end for us"

 

Sooner or later there was a deafening boom accompanied by very violent earth quake. A second much weaker quake followed. Hurriedly we climbed up the ladder. Luckily the door wasn’t shut. I definitely had not prepared myself for the sight that met my eyes. Bodies lay lifeless on the floor, skin falling from their bleeding bodies. Beard face was lying face up with his brain matter scattered all over. His stomach was partially open, intestines fully visible. Everything in the vicinity was destroyed and covered with flames.

"What has happened?" Ron asked in a puzzled tone.

"I don’t know but let’s get out of here"

We jotted out of the building and headed towards the main road. Finally we were at the main road, which was on a hilly place with a view of the beautiful city.

We came into an abrupt halt as the city came into view. The city was no longer there. Well, it was there, but it was no longer the beautiful city of Nairobi. It was a city full of carnage, falling sky crappers, fire and screams of terrified women and children could be heard from every direction.

"I think, i think we have been hit by a bomb. A very big bomb" i muttered under my breath.

Ron did not pay attention to me all he did is stare as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Maggie, we have to find Maggie" he said as he took his bike from where we had hidden them. Maggie was his sister .She worked in the city. After about 8 minutes of cycling we had to lose our bikes. The terrain wasn’t fit for any wheeled vehicle.

 

To our surprise there were survivors. The smell of burning human flesh was disgusting. Dead bodies were scattered all over like toys in my untidy bedroom .All that time i was wondering if i was going to see my family again. My thoughts were cut short when i bumped into someone or something. It was a masculine figure with one hand missing and the other arm was swinging freely like a pendulum. His left eye was hanging from the sockets. I jumped aside to avoid contact with burnt skin which had third degree burns. Survivors were running frantically in an effort to get to their homes.

 

Ron was light on his feet due to his light frame. Ron was like 30 feet ahead of me but i was keeping up. Out of nowhere a concrete fell. I saw it come down but not in time to dodge it. I got pinned under it.

"David!" i heard Ron shout as he came back for me. That was the first time he had called me by my full name. I have to admit it sounded strange. David? No one called me David anymore, not even my mom. Ron tried lifting the wall. Unless he was the hulk, he had no chance.

"Ron i can’t feel my legs and, i think am bleeding" i cried out

"Hold on buddy" he said

Miraculously we had survived a nuclear attack but now I am getting killed by a wall, nothing more than primitive bricks.

The whole area was unstable. Walls started tumbling down in every direction.

"Run, Ron"

"I won’t leave you Dave"

"Don’t be a fool, go find your sister"

"Best friend forever, remember." he said as he looked straight into my eyes.

As the world was falling apart literally, Ron just stood there, helpless. Out of nowhere a kid about twelve years of age emerged and he was running towards us. He looked alright, healthy and not like the other people we had met in the city. He pushed Ron out of his way and came straight to the pillar that was pinning me down. He bent down and started lifting the pillar off me. I could see veins stretching under his pale white skin. With all his might he tried and nothing happened. He stopped to catch his breath. Honestly I didn’t expect him to do it, but I appreciated the effort he had put to try and free me.

“Go home kid there is nothing you can do here, go!” I yelled in frustration.

The kid grabbed the concrete pillar and started lifting again. Maybe the blast made him deaf.

“Get outta here!”

He paid no attention to me. I felt my leg move. The pillar had been lifted a few inches off my leg.

Ron was as shocked as I was and all he could do is open wide his mouth in amazement. The kid lifted the pillar higher, then higher and finally he was holding it above his shoulders. I just laid there staring at this unnatural, unrealistic event that was happening in front of my very eyes. Ron quickly grabbed me and moved me to a safer place a few feet away. I turned to thank the kid for the help but he was nowhere to be seen. I could clearly see the pillar lying on the debris but there was no one else around.

“Ron I’m seeing things, I think I just saw a kid and he…”

“You are not hallucinating Dave, he was here, I saw him too”

The fact that I wasn’t hallucinating made me feel even worse. “What the hell was that?” I asked myself. 

Author's Note

This is the first chapter of my upcoming book. If you like it and would like to get the whole book for free leave your email in my inbox.

I would appreciate your review of this chapter

Reviews

[TiffanyFrost]

Cool concept.
You might want to look into showing vs telling and make sure you're aware of which one you're using and why.
You've set up an intriguing start to the story that raises lots of questions. It will be interesting to see how the characters manouver across this post nuclear landscape and if they find Maggie.

[3X3MPLER]

Thank you Tiffany for your feedback