Armageddon

Chapter 1

The red sky rumbled above the small district of fire. It was inevitable that the acid rain was going to befall the once amazing now obliterated city. Inside the district the wind blew harshly causing some of the demolished building to make a sound. Surprisingly, people remained calm as nothing seemed new to them.

Distant chatters could be heard throughout the city and a couple people running into hiding to avoid being hit by the acid rain could be seen. At the edge of the district right before the monstrous wall that surrounded the district so people wouldn’t escape was a small house. The architect had taken his time trying to build a house using scrap metals he had picked from the old destroyed buildings. Inside the house a loud painful cry could heard as Gadaline from the house of the Rose gave birth.

“Be strong.” Maria her sister in-law encouraged her.

“It is just a short time sister. Joy will be bestowed upon us soon.” She said her hand tightly grasped by Gadaline she winced a bit as the grasp tightened by the moment.

She herself had never had a child but she knew that pain had to be felt. A few moments cries of a child filled all the corners of their little house. Martha quickly looked at their Healer who stood holding the child in his hands with a smile on his face.

“Congratulations. It is a boy.” He said his brown shirt covered with blood stains.

“Sister.” Maria looked at Gadaline unable to hide her joy. As she got up to get the child so she would hand him to his mother Gadaline let out another cry immediately causing Maria to freeze for a brief second.

“What is happening?” she looked at the healer hoping it wasn’t what she thought it was.

The healer quickly handed the child over to Maria and he looked at Gadaline. He moved his small hazel nut eyes from Maria to Gadaline his face slightly pale.

“Another child is coming. It is another child.” he said trying to remain calm.

Maria could feel her feet getting light but at the same time she knew she had to be strong for her sister in-law. She had to remain calm and confident even though her heart cried and screamed in agony. It wasn’t the pain of giving birth her dear sister in-law was going through that hit her hard it was what came after. She looked at her sister in-law and she knew the tears that trickled from her eyes weren’t tear of physical pain but real emotions. The child let out a cry and the Healer looked at the ladies.

“It is girl.” He said rather calmly and the house remained calm as all was in suspense.

The weather immediately transformed. There was a loud thunderstorm that was followed by large drops of acid rain. The fault didn’t lie in the gender of the child but in the corrupt system. The system that stated how it was considered illegal to give birth to a second child. Gadaline had been inside the bloody arena where the second born fought for their places inside the society. She had swept and dragged dead bodies inside that bloody arena. She had watched the father of her children fight for his life at a very young age... only 19. Now that she was a mother she could see how wrong and brutal it was taking another person's child and throwing them into the hell holes where they had to fight brutally or be killed savagely.

"There has to be a way." Gadaline whispered as she looked at her little fragile baby girl. She looked at Maria and then at the Healer hoping for answer.

"There is no other way." the Healer replied sympathetically after letting out a long deep sigh.

"The healer is right." Maria was on the verge of tears but she knew she had to be brave. "The chip has already reported."

"The chip they forced us to swallow." Gadaline was now boiling with anger, deep down blaming the system.

She always blamed the system. Every young girl at the age of 12 was required to swallow a purple chip that reported directly to the authorities if she had more than one child. At first they feared the history would repeat itself if the human population increased.

The world was once a better place until the humans outgrew it and started destroying it. The planet earth grew tired and it brought diseases, it brought hunger all in an effort to sustain itself. Earth has a way, earth always has a way it started with the great city of Venus slowly getting covered by water. In the year 2075 a great wave rose covering three quarters of earth taking billions of lives. There was however a group of survivors who were left on a piece of land big enough to be a small continent.The fear of history repeating itself again pushed the humans to their very limit, thus the fighting pits all in the battle of reducing and stabilizing level of reproduction amongst the humans. The great pits were second born people had to fight for their right to live.

By the year 2100 the fighting pits weren't as evil and as malevolent but a source of entertainment for some humans. The worshippers still believed that the act of 2075 was the Lord Almighty who was trying to separate his children from the heathens just as he did in the days of Noah. They knew the arena’s was another great sin that would not be left unpunished.

***

7 years later

"Gregory! Pick that stick." Maria shouted in frustration as she watched Gregory drop the stick he was using to fight his sister.

Amongst the twins he easily gave up when things got bad and he allowed anger and resentment get to him.

"I am tired. Why do I have to fight her? This is stupid and pointless. I want to go out and play." he said dropping to the ground.

Maria just stood in silence not knowing exactly what to do with her brother. She herself always questioned why they were trained that much when they were supposed to be out there playing with the others.

"Young man." Maria said walking towards him and kneeling beside him. "The world out there is becoming dangerous and you are the man of the house. You need to be the best so that you can take care of me, your mother and your sister."

"But you are a good fighter yourself and so is mother." Maria smiled patting his short kinky hair.

"And you, you should be the best"

"Who taught you how to fight Aunt Maria?" Martha asked taking a few steps closer to them.

"My father. He taught me and my brother." she said recalling how tough and rough he was.

He wanted Matthew her brother to win and survive inside the arena at Armageddon, at the same time he wanted Maria to be able to survive on her own.

"At our age?" Gregory asked.

"No." she said recalling how young she was when she was first taught how to fight. "Even younger."

"Did he make you run those long distances?" Martha asked picturing everything.

"Even longer." Maria said recalling fainting at one point. She recalled her mother getting angry at her father and telling him to stop "Enough for today. You can go out and play. Remember don't fight with other children. You hear me?" she looked at Gregory who was now getting used at picking up fights with other children.

"Yes, aunt." they both replied.

"What does your mother say?" she said looking at Gregory and then at Martha who had a big curly kinky afro.

"We should not fight with other kids. Everything comes with a prize." they both said Gregory forgetting other words.

"Don't stay out for a long time!" by the time Maria shouted that, the children where long gone.

She always smiled as she watched her nephew and niece rush from their small house. It always reminded her of her childhood, the childhood that only she remembered. The same memories that were taken from her brother by the Armageddon. She hoped it wouldn’t happen to Martha, the poor child with a soft heart who unfortunately came out second.

Gadaline arrived from water hunting with a 20litre bottle. She set it inside the house and stretched her back which was a bit stiff and slightly aching. The house was warmer than outside, the temperatures where dropping, a great sign of the cold winters that were arriving. She walked to the kitchen removing her haggard coat. A few could afford getting a new coat. Clothes weren't people's main priority. It was food, water and paying taxes.

Her parents had gone months without paying taxes when she was young landing her inside the Armageddon arena clearing dead bodies. She didn’t want to repeat that again.

"Mother!" the children came rushing in giving her a big hug, something that made her forget all her worries.

"Gregory, Martha, how are you?" she said with a huge smile on her face.

"Mother today I outran Peter. I outran him." He said excitedly.

"We saw a group of black knights today. They are huge." Martha said pulling her mother's hand.

"Yes, we saw Peter's father. He was holding a huge weapon." Martha walked into the room with a serious expression giving Gadaline a brief nod.

The fire armed black knights meant one thing; the time of selection had arrived.

"What kind of weapons where they holding? Can you describe them for me?" Gadaline held Martha's shoulders gently as she asked.

"They were black and long. I have never seen them before, they are different from the black swords the other black knights hold." Gadaline looked at Maria trying to remain calm.

"Did we do something wrong?" Gregory asked a bit worried about his mother's expression.

"No, you didn't." she said with a smile.

"Take your sister to your room. I will call you when the food is ready." she watched them as they quietly went to their room.

She could feel Goosebumps finding their way out on her skin. The closer the army got the louder the crowds became clearly rebuking the Great Armageddon that would be taking place just a few weeks. At first people rebuked and there came a time when people accepted that it was, what it was. Only the worshippers and few parents and families that had to watch their loved ones get killed stood their ground.

“We should hide them” Gadaline rose to her feet rushing to get the twin who sat in their room and hurried back with them.

“The usual place sister.” Maria then took twins and smiled at them “, you will be fine.” She whispered “, I just want you to seat in that small castle under the floor. There are dragons that are coming to play hide and seek with you. You have to hide.”

Excitedly they nodded their small head as they entered the small square room under the floor. Their mother and aunt built it when they were born and they always told them it was a secret castle.

“Are they real dragons?” Martha asked her brother as the floor closed up.

“I don’t know.”

“It would be nice if we saw them.”

“I don’t think that will be a good idea. They must be bad that is why they told us to hide.”

It never took long for the dark knights to come storming into the house of the two women. They remained calm and Gadaline just sat in her chair ignoring the knights. Nothing about them scared her even the blue eagle that was drawn on the right arm of their armors didn’t bring any fear within her. She had faced bigger problems and she had another issue a bigger issue that was still pending.

Maria came from the kitchen acting all surprised to see the dark knights and a bit annoyed by the noises of the rowdy crowds who were waiting for the knights outside their small home.

“And then?” Maria asked with a frown.

“These young men thought it was a good idea to come badging into a house that is occupied by women. They must have forgotten that seeing a woman naked is punishable by 100 thrashes.” Gadaline remained calm in her chair rocking it back and forth.

“We didn’t come to play games with you Gadaline. You knew the time would come.” One of the elderly knights who was Peter’s father stepped forward with a gun tightly grasped in his hand ready to attack if Gadaline made any small move. Gadaline watched the way the guards were grasping their weapons tightly.

“Nor are we playing games with you, general Grate. What do you want?” Martha stood behind her sister in-law a bit worried one of the children would make a sound.

She knew hiding them was quiet pointless but it was better than letting one child go without a fight. Her brother would have fought.

“Maria,” he said with a sigh “, where are the children?” he signals the other knights to go searching around the house.

“They are not here.” Gadaline said confidently and trying to hide how her hands kept on scratching each other. It was a weakness.

“Ah, is it Ms. Maria?” Grate said walking towards them and Maria remained stiff trying not to blink or look away from Grate’s grey eyes.

He wasn’t an old man, he was actually in his 40s but being a black knight and having witnessed many things had drained some part of his life from him. He was still in great shape. How could he not with all the trainings the dark knights got?

“Yes. They visited their grandmother in the Wind District” Maria swallowed hard trying so hard not to look in the direction of the children who remained quiet under the floor, watching.

“Is it? My son, Peter. He is a great friend of your son. Your son come to my house almost every day. He came today, I saw him running with other boys and it makes me wonder if he flew all the way to the Wind district. The drones could have indicated that to us wouldn’t they? As nobody leaves this place without us knowing about it.” The drones, how could Gadaline have forgotten about those?

At that moment she wished they had just been washed away by the great wave. In fact she wished that every day as she watched them fly in the sky and some still unseen.

“They are not here.” She looked at him coolly as he tightened his jaw his eyes growing darker. The other knights came from other rooms with disappointed faces. Others shaking their heads.

“They are not here sir.” One of the knights stated.

“Well,” he said trying to restrain himself “, you do know hiding a child is an offensive crime punishable by death?” he smiled at Gadaline hoping she would give in.

“Well then, kill me if you may but as your knights have seen… the children are not here. How were we to know that the day of the marking was today?” Grate chuckled scratching his chin.

“You better not be trying anything funny Gadaline. We will be back and those children better be here.” He said with an annoying grin before leaving the house along with the other knights.

Maria and Gadaline remained stiff and didn’t sound. It was until they were far gone when Maria was finally able to breath. The crowds continued following the dark knights cursing at them and throwing dirt at them.

"Sister." Maria said her voice lowered walking closer to Gadaline.

"What are you thinking?"

"We," she said her throat feeling a bit dry ", have to get out of this place."

"Have you gone insane? That is impossible." she looked at her sister in law rather shocked by her words.

"I have been to that place and you saw what it did to your brother. Now I don’t know where he is. I don’t want the same thing to happen to my child. Maria, Martha is not that kind of a person. What will that place do to her warm fragile heart? Sister, we have to leave this place"

"Can you hear what you are saying? Leave this place and go where? They will still find us. They have eyes in the sky. This place is surrounded by a large wall and the only exit is heavily guarded we can’t just leave." she said shaking her head in disbelief.

"It can be done. The path used by the scrappers. I know where it is. If we leave now... we could make it." she said grabbing her sister's hand.

"Where will we go? We can't be fugitives. They will find us."

"Then you stay but I am taking my children." she wore a serious face and Martha knew how persistent Gadaline could be when she made up her mind.

"You know I can’t let you go alone. I will come with you." Gregory and Martha were still hidden under the floor.

As little as they were and as clueless as they appeared to be, Gregory wasn’t the kid to easily underestimate. He slowly opened the floor board slightly, watching his mother and aunt hug each other. He took Martha’s hand and grasped it tightly until she let out a small cry. He slowly got away from the door and sat down beside his sister still holding her hand.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“They,” he looked at her his skin pale “, they are in trouble because of us. The black knights want to take us to a place I think.”

“What place?” “The place I heard other children talking about. Where people fight each other.”

“I don’t think it exists. They were just making fun of us because they don't have siblings. Mother isn’t going to let that happen.”

“Yes, she wants to run away with us and Aunt Maria.”

“I am scared.” She drew closer to her brother.

“Me too but don’t worry we will be okay. I will protect you”

As the night grew darker and as the stars blinked merrily, Maria woke the sleeping children. Gadaline was standing by the door scanning if they were any dark knights nearby. The children obediently followed Maria quietly. Martha held her brother’s hand as she had full trust that he would protect her. Gadaline covered her head with a grey hood and held a machete in her hand. She might have been a bit rusty when it came to fighting but she knew she would do anything to protect her children. Into the night they walked quietly their hearts where the only things that could be heard. They were scared. How could they not be scared?

They passed all the dark houses and woods heading towards the thick bricked wall that surrounded their district. She looked around sharply and listening to any sounds that sounded suspicious. Maria held the twins’ hands tightly looking around too. As they got to the wall a bright light shone on them. The light was almost blinding that for a while Gadaline thought she had gone blind. The twins cried as the bright light painfully dilated their pupils. The bright light was followed by a loud siren.

“We need to run before they get to us.” Maria suggested in between her breath. She never thought she would feel this afraid in her life again. The only time she ever felt this afraid was when she watched her brother fight for his life in Armageddon, the death arena.

“Mom!” Martha wouldn’t stop crying, still a bit confused.

They ran towards the wall only to face a big solid wall with no passage to escape through. Maria looked at Gadaline a bit worried and the sounds of the vans that were driven by the dark knights could be heard getting closer and closer. Gadaline knew there was only one thing left to do, fight for her children.

“You will be okay, you will be alright.” She knelt down before her children kissing them both on their caramel brown foreheads and patting their curly hair.

She looked at Maria giving a small nod before turning around to face the knights who stepped out of their three vehicles with weapons in their hands and in front was Grate.

“Oh Gadaline. I knew you would make a stupid decision like this. Now you will have to watch us choose the child who will get to fight and kill you afterwards. You know there is a penalty for such things, right?” he said walking towards her with the bright lights of the trucks torching Gadaline and her family.

“You do not get to lay a finger on my children.” Gadaline took a few steps forward holding her machete and ready to fight.

“No, Gadaline!” Maria hissed but Gadaline was in her own zone.

Grate laughed hysterically before signally the other guards to grab Gadaline and her family. The first knight to grab her hand was stroke on the jaw causing him to fall blood oozing from his face. The other came and she attacked like a beast. Her children watched in fear unable to identify their sweet gentle mother. She had turned into something of a monster. Maria just held them tightly as they cried. She felt the need to fight too but she knew better.Fighting the knights wasn’t the biggest mistake Gadaline had ever made, striking Grate was the biggest mistake. The black knights were trained never to strike a woman no matter how violent she turned out to be.

The moment Gadaline stroke Grate across the face, he threw the rules away and shot her on both her legs causing her to fall to the ground screaming in pain. Maria knew better not to step up as she knew the children would end up losing both of them. She held the children tightly trying so hard to battle the tears as the children tried to run to their mother who laid on the ground screaming in agony.

“Take her away. She will save as a great example tomorrow and take the boy. I think we might have found our little fighter.” He said holding his face which was now covered in his own blood.

“No!” Gadaline cried loudly as she watched the guards pull Gregory from her aunt’s embrace trying so hard to fight the powerful knight.

Maria as much as she wanted to fight this battle, she knew she would never win it. All she could do was watch and plan for the future, the future that was inevitable. She watched in tears as the guards put the silver collar around Gregory’s neck. Gregory’s destiny had been sealed just like his mother’s inevitable ending… public execution.

***

“The great leaders made a set of rules to guide us and protect us. They clearly taught us how everything comes with a price. How consequences be damned…” Grate made that speech as he stood near Gadaline’s lifeless body with the whole district standing in horror. Some walking away and some shaking their heads in disbelief.

At least Gadaline had left a mark that Grate would never forget her with. The large scar that laid across his face which was covered by a bandage. Maria spit saliva as she looked at him. She was past pain, she held Gregory and Martha as they cried uncontrollably.

This was just too much pain for a 7 year old to endure. The system was rotten and the system had to be destroyed. Gregory was not going to die inside that arena.

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