Destiny, and the Red Orb (The Destiny Series Book 1) Read online

  Jennifer fell to the ground with a thud, but was thrown again by the heavy winds. She hit the ground and slid until she was stopped by the sidewalk. She got to her hands and knees and looked around for the lady.

  “HEY!” A voice called.

  Jennifer turned to see the lady limping towards her.

  “Are you okay?” She asked urgently.

  “Yeah. We have to go.” Jennifer started off again.

  “We have to leave the city!” The lady stated. “No building is safe. No place is safe here. We have to leave!” The lady told her.

  Jennifer knew she was right. There was no place safe; especially in a large city like this one. She nodded her head and followed the lady.

  “If we just keep running, we can get out of here.” The lady told her.

  “Those things are everywhere. They’re what fell from the sky!” Jennifer replied.

  “We can make it!”

  The two ran through the alleys and down the streets trying to make their way out of the city. There were no empty streets, which made it even harder for the two to get out. The continuing blinding lights and pairing screeches seemed none stop for them. Earthquakes, tornadoes, and flames covered the city with destruction. It was unsafe to take shelter in buildings and too dangerous to drive cars. The only thing that was on their minds was getting out of there any way possible.

  The two ran and ran through the city, maneuvering their way out of the havoc. Along the way, they were stopped by an enormous hand that came out of one of the holes and slammed into the street, imprinting a handprint. The monster attached to it appeared from the ground. It was larger than anything she had ever seen before. The gleaming scales protruding from its armored skin were a dark shade of gray; the long, lanky arms arched high into the air; the torso resembled one of a spider with a smooth base with carvings on it. The face was in front of the body, between the two arms, with no head attached. The large, crystal like eye stared blankly into the sky. There was a large opening for the mouth that seemed to never close. The monster crawled out of the ground, screeched, and shot out the blinding light from its eye.

  The noise was too close for Jennifer, it ripped through her ears and completely cut off her hearing. She shut her eyes tighter than she ever had before, but it wasn’t enough to block out the incredible light. Jennifer fell to her knees and clenched her ears. The pain was excruciating. She just wanted it to stop.

  Before she could realize, she was running again. The lady was holding her wrist and guiding her. Jennifer turned around and saw the monster roaming the street behind her, getting ready to do something. It arched its back and tilted its body so the face was pointing straight up.

  Before Jennifer could turn back around, she felt the lady pull her down. She was falling down into a dark hole until she felt a series of bars forming a ladder. She grabbed one and stopped herself from falling to the bottom. She realized that they were now in a man hole; hiding from the monster above. It was too dark inside to see clearly, but she could hear the lady above her breathing heavily. Above her, she heard a loud, low pitched, reverberate sounding noise. It wasn’t like the screech that the monsters gave out and it didn’t bring a bright white light. Instead, the vibrating noise seemed to have slowed down time itself and shook the ground the whole time. Jennifer felt her movement slow down and her thoughts stop. And almost instantaneously (as if time had actually sped up) a mucky green light flashed from above them.

  Time had seemed to restore back too normal after the flash was over. The vibrating noise had stopped as well, following the light. The screaming had finally stopped up above. The ground still shook with every step the monsters took, but there were no sounds from the people anymore. There was no more running or panicking in the streets. It was almost completely silent.

  The two waited for a few minutes. The loud steps subsided around them.

  “Do you hear anything?” The lady asked.

  Jennifer was too shaken up to reply quickly. “N—no.”

  A few more seconds past before the lady began to climb back up. She moved slowly so she could keep quiet. Jennifer followed her up. The lady lifted the manhole cover up and looked around before stepping out.

  “Is it out there?” Jennifer whispered.

  The lady didn’t reply. She shook her head gently, staring out into the distance.

  Jennifer was scared for her life. For some reason, not hearing the panic outside made her feel worse.

  “Come on.” The lady climbed out.

  Jennifer gripped the bars tightly. She was too afraid to move. She tried to calm herself down by breathing in and out slowly. She tried to think of happy memories, but nothing was coming to mind. She climbed anyways to get out of the darkness. Each step she moved up, the worse she felt. The light from the hole shined down on her more and more as she reached the top. She stuck her head out to look around, but to her dismay, she saw nothing.

  The city was in ruins and the trees in the distance were still engulfed in flames. There were no monsters in sight, but there were no people either. On the streets were piles of debris. There was an unsettling feeling in the air that she couldn’t comprehend. To the side of her, she saw the lady on her knees crying. She was finally realizing what had happened.

  “Come on.” Jennifer told her. A part of her didn’t want to believe it, but another part made her. If everybody else had disappeared, then they were the only two left. “We should go.”

  Jennifer climbed out of the man hole and helped the lady up; still devastated. Together they went into the outskirts of town.

  Gwen

  The pain had left her just before she opened her eyes. She brushed her short black hair out of her eyes and wiped off the sweat from her brow. She sat on the ground with her bag and bow strewn to her side.

  For a moment, she didn’t know where she was. She had seen something, but couldn’t explain it. A large red orb was in the night sky, approaching her quickly. She looked up to the gray sky, but saw no red orb. The vision felt so vivid to her; as if it were really happening. She kept looking around in the sky for the Red Orb until the ground started to shake again.

  As an instinct, she grabbed her bag, slung her bow and her few arrows across her body, and started to run. The ground cracked behind her as she desperately tried to get away. There was no civilization anywhere near her—only dirt, dead grass, and a long road. Gwen sprinted down, following the road, and away from the disasters that were approaching. They had been coming non-stop, and she didn’t know why.

  It had started the day before just as she started her morning. She woke up to the sky still at a dark state when she expected the sun to be high in the sky. She kept her course, however, to keep with her agenda. Gwen spent her life traveling wherever she could. She had made it all the way to New Falls, California just a few days earlier. Using the time to recuperate before setting off again, she stayed in the small town. She left just a few days earlier to continue her journey through the country.

  On the morning she saw the strange dark sky, she walked down the open road. It wasn’t long before the world started to meet its demise.

  It started with an earthquake that stopped her from proceeding. The sky became darker as tornadoes started to appear in the distance. This was when she knew something was terribly wrong. She watched as the trees, not a mile away, started on fire. The flames roared closer to her as she ran the other direction. The world was falling apart as she ran for her life.

  She ran until she found a small hill up ahead. Without hesitation, she jumped down and landed at the bottom. The small hill was just tall enough to cover her as she sat down, clutching her knees to her chest. Gwen waited there in fear as the ground continued to shake underneath her. The loud sounds of the winds, the cracks of the trees snapping, and the site of the fields around her concaving in made her let go of her knees, cover her ears, and shut her eyes. She wanted nothing more than for all of it to stop.

  Once the winds subsided and the ground stayed sti
ll, Gwen finally opened her eyes and took a look around. What she had once seen was now destroyed. The fields she had walked through, the road she had followed, all of it was in ruins. The sky was a dark purple when she looked up to the sky with tears in her eyes. Everything around her had just been destroyed, but for some reason, she was still alive. After everything that had happened around her, the small hill that she took shelter under was untouched. She had a few scrapes on her elbows and dirt on her jeans from jumping down under the hill, but other than that, she was fine.

  Gwen stayed there, hiding under the hill, the rest of the night. To her at that moment, the hill was the safest place on earth.

  When the ground began to shake again the next morning, she didn’t want to leave the hill that kept her safe, but she knew she had to. She continued to follow what was left of the road, sprinting as fast as she could. The wind blew through her face as tears were forced out. Her bag swung behind her carelessly. She fought through the strong winds that blew the opposite way she was running. They pushed her back, but she fought on.

  The ground cracked in front of her which made her hesitate for a split second, but with instinct, she tried to jump it. Her heel clipped the edge, tripping her onto the other side. Her knee was now bleeding through her jeans, but she didn’t feel the pain—at least not yet. She, instead, tried to stand back up. She now limped down the side of the road.

  The pain was now setting in as she slowed down her speed in exhaustion. She fell to the ground and panted. The pain was now unbearable. Gwen checked her knee to see a thin, sharp rock lodged into her skin just under her knee cap. It didn’t seem too deep, but it was enough to stop her from moving. Her left leg was now covered in blood.

  The ground stopped once again and, slowly, everything started to calm down. Gwen now sat on the ground, with an injured leg, in silence.

  Scott

  The siren blasted through the empty streets. The sound echoed off of the destroyed pavement and wreckage of the buildings. He spoke with the speaker as loud and frequently as he could, urgency in his voice, but not a soul heard him.

  “HELLO! ANYBODY! PLEASE!” Scott yelled to no one. “IS ANYBODY—SHIT!” He turned off the siren and turned sharply into a pole and away from one of the monsters. The crash jerked him forward and then back again in his seat; creating a noise that caught the attention of it. “DAMN!” He tried to reverse.

  The monster turned to him and started to sprint like a spider. He reversed just enough to get him out of the way from the post and drive as fast as he could down the broken streets. Just behind him, the monster chased and chased until it was close enough to reach the back of the car. It clawed at the metal as Scott pressed the gas pedal forcefully. The condition of the road made him bounce around and nearly flip over. He steered clear from the massive holes in the ground, but fought through the shifted portions. There was no stopping him from escaping.

  In front of him, just before he was out of reach from the monster behind him, a second monster came and roared the loud crying noise he had heard before and gave out the same bright light. Just after, the one behind him did the same. Scott, blinded from the light and the loss of hearing from the pairing roars, drove straight through the monster’s arms and legs and down the street. He stepped on the breaks and halted before he even opened his eyes. Once he was able, he looked behind him. The monsters weren’t too far behind. They found him once again and started towards him.

  Scott stepped on the gas pedal once again and tried to drive, making as much turns as possible. It was almost impossible, however, to drive in such bad road conditions. Not only this, but the sky was darker than he remembered it being once this all started. The darkness, however, didn’t stop him from maneuvering through the streets and away from the monsters.

  Scott stopped the vehicle the moment he knew he was away from them. His grip on the steering wheel made his knuckles white; he didn’t let go for a while. He was drenched in sweat and trying to catch his breath. He had no idea what was going on or why it was happening in the first place; he did know, however, that he had a duty—to help the people.

  After everything he had gone through and witnessed, he still tried to find any survivors for him to help. He cared more about their safety than his. If it meant that he would have to face whatever was lurking the streets himself, he would. And just as the sky started to change into an ominous dark purple, he found someone.

  Screams were heard just around the block, but the road was too far gone. The crater stretched ten feet wide and too deep to see the bottom. Scott saw the screaming person running down the street in his direction; a monster following. The person called to Scott for help once he was visible to them. It was a young man, seventeen at the oldest, running for his life.

  “RUN!” Scott yelled at him. He froze the moment he remembered the crater that separated them. The night was too dark to notice from afar; especially when trying to escape a giant monster.

  The young man sprinted towards Scott, but stopped right before falling into the crater. The monster approached him as the two of them thought of what to do. Scott considered having the young man try and jump, but the crater was too wide. No ideas were coming to him in the few seconds they had. Scott watched in defeat as the man turned around to the monster that stood tall above him. The young man put his hands over his face in preparation as the monster pointed its body down to swallow him whole. Scott shut his eyes and waited for the moment to be over.

  The loud crying noise struck his ears once again, nearly causing him to stumble into the crater. The blinding light shut out his vision, but only for a second or so. Once he was able to open his eyes again, he saw the man on his knees across the crater still alive. The monster had run the other way instead of taking his life. Scott had no time to pay attention to why it had done so, however.

  “Are you okay?” Scott shouted.

  The man kept his position; squatting down, covering his ears.

  “It’s gone!” Scott told him. The man felt a mile away from him.

  Finally, the man looked up, lowered his hands, and turned to Scott. “What happened?” It was too dark for Scott to tell how the young man actually looked like. All he saw was a pale, scared, boy who just survived being attacked by a monster.

  “I’m not sure!” Scott tried to calm the man down. “It left you for some reason!”

  “Just please, help me!” The man started to panic again.

  “Okay, just calm down! I don’t think it’s coming back! Just…” Scott looked around, trying to make out his surroundings. He followed the crater to where it ended; it went past the street and underneath the nearby buildings, sucking them inside as well. One building was tilted heavily towards the inside of the crater, but was still intact.

  “I’m going to you, okay! Just stay there!” Scott tried to find his way onto the side of the slanted building.

  “Are you crazy? You could fall in!” The man shouted at Scott who was finding his footing.

  “Don’t worry about me! I’ll get over there!” Scott slowly shifted across the wall, losing his balance a few times, but regaining it shortly after. It was a long walk for him that would either end in success or death. One slip for him would cost him his life by falling into the treacherous whole that didn’t seem to end. The dark purple sky barely gave any light to guide his way, but it was enough for him to see where he needed to step.

  Safely, Scott placed his feet on the ground and went up to the young man. His face was clearer now; fancy hair; large dark brown eyes; sweat and dirt on his innocent face; and tight pale skin. He was a small man with scrawny shoulders and a small stomach. Scott knew he was going to need him.

  “I thought I was the only one left.” The man panted.

  “Yeah, so did I.” Scott replied looking down the street for the monster.

  “I—I’m Ian.” He looked in the same direction.

  “I’m Officer Ramirez.” Scott took a step down the road. “You can call me Scott.”

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p; “So you’re a police officer? I couldn’t see your uniform from way over there.” Ian examined the uniform Scott was wearing.

  “For now I am.” Scott confessed. “I’m not sure if I still have my job after everything that’s happened here.”

  “But you can help me still, right? Isn’t that why you stopped?” Ian asked.

  It was the reason why he stopped. Scott took the job to help the citizen’s in need; he wasn’t going to stop the moment they needed him most. He had found somebody who truly needed his help now—maybe there were even more out there.

  “I’ll help you, but you have to help me figure out what the hell is going on.” Scott turned to him.

  “Deal.” Ian smiled. A long pause followed afterwards. “Do you think there are more people out there?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve been searching all evening. So far, you are the only one I have found.” Scott told him.

  “You too. That’s not good.”

  “No, it is not. Something terribly wrong is happening; we have to find out what it is and how to fix it.” Scott spoke.

  “To tell you the truth, I’m scared shitless right now.” Ian confessed.

  “To tell you the truth, so am I.” Scott remembered something that he thought odd. “How did you get that monster to get away from you?”

  Ian tried to remember. “I honestly don’t know. I thought I was dead. The next thing I knew, the thing was running away. I did get a sharp pain in my head, though.”

  “I haven’t seen one do that so far. All of the ones that I’ve encountered had nothing but eating me in their…whatever they have.”

  Ian chuckled and looked up. “The sky. Something else is coming.”

  “What?” Scott questioned.

  Ian’s eyes were locked to the sky. After a second of Scott waiting for an explanation, Ian shook his head and came back to reality. “I’m not sure. I just feel like something really bad is about to happen.”