THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Chapter 10

‘Amelia, I’m not your mother.’

Amelia stood there, her face pale as a ball of acid lumped in her throat as she stared at Debbie. Debbie was looking out the window as she continued to speak.

‘I need you to trust me,’ she turned to Amelia, grabbing her hands, and holding them in hers.

‘There are people who have dedicated their entire lives, to kill you. I will explain everything to you, but to keep you safe, you need to come with me now.’

Debbie grabbed one of Amelia’s hands and pulled her towards the door. As one of Debbie’s hands grasped the handle of the door, she could feel Amelia’s hand tightening around hers. Debbie knew Amelia was ready, as she watched the doctors and nurses come running around the corner with an emergency patient, bleeding out on a gurney. Pulling Amelia with her, she quickly stepped out in front of them, hurrying along to another corridor.

‘What about James?’ Amelia asked, breathing heavily as her heart raced. They quickly got to the elevator, Debbie pressed the button several times. Impatience overwhelmed her as she pulled Amelia to the stairway. Heading down the first flight, leading them to another exit. Debbie shouted behind her.

‘You can’t trust him! He works for the other side!’

Trying to keep up with her as they went down the stairs.

‘What other side? Mom or Debbie, whoever you are, what the hell is going on?’

Debbie stopped in the middle of another set of steps.

‘Amelia, please. I will explain everything and answer all your questions, but not until…’

There was a loud clash, about 6 or 7 flight above them. Debbie and Amelia looked up. James was looking down, staring at them both.

‘I always knew you were a traitor, Debbie.’ His voice echoed.

‘Did you really think you could fight the inevitable? You can try and run Debbie, but He will always find her.’

His voice was deeper than they had ever heard before. It carried through the staircase. Debbie took off down the stairs, pulling Amelia with her.

‘Run Amelia! Don’t ever stop! Trust no one, there’s a man, Daniel Holmes. He will be at the church in Mournstead.’

‘Why are you telling me this?’ Amelia’s eyes widened and her voice cracked as she spoke. Debbie’s eyes watered as she cupped Amelia’s face.

‘You must go now,’ She kissed Amelia’s forehead.

‘I am so sorry.’ She pushed Amelia through the exit and locked the door behind her. Amelia turned to see Debbie mouth the words, ‘I love you..’ before heading up the stairs and setting off the fire alarm as she broke open the emergency axe on the floor up.

Amelia was bumped and pushed by nurses, doctors, and patients. The alarm echoed through the halls as everyone made their way out of the building. Amelia stopped at the front desk, catching bits and pieces of the news broadcasting on the television that was bolted to the wall. Video images are being broadcast all over. Frogs, thousands, and thousands of frogs all over are flooding the streets. There are even reports of them in people’s homes. Amelia was pushed out of the building as a news reporter mentioned ‘Strange creatures in Cherry Blossom Town.’

Amelia couldn’t hear anything as people were panicking, some were crying, while others were getting on their cell phones. Amelia looked at her watch, 4:15pm. There was still a chance she could catch her flight. She walked down the street and waved for a meter taxi. As the silver car pulled up alongside the curb, it came to a stop. As Amelia reached for the handle of the car, someone behind her grabbed the back of her arm.

‘No sudden mov….’

There was a loud bang and the man fell to the ground. Amelia took that opportunity, opened the door, and got inside, slamming the door shut behind her.

‘Mournstead, please.’

She shouted to the driver. He quickly put the car in the drive and pulled away from the curb. Amelia turned to see James on the ground, Debbie standing over him with her gun pointing down at him. As Amelia faced forward, there was another loud bang in the background.

Harry threw one of the last bags of supplies into the jeep. Whitey and Williams were arguing by one of the infirmary tents. As Harry got into the driver’s seat, Astrid ran up to the jeep and started climbing in.

‘I’m coming with!’ she shouted as she sat on the seat in the back, slipping her seatbelt on. Harry sat there, looking at her in the rear - view mirror, smiling.

‘What?’ Astrid looked at him with a coy smile.

‘What made you think you weren’t allowed too?’ Harry chuckled.

Astrid tried to hide her now, red cheeks. Whitey got in on the passenger side, spreading a map across the dashboard. Harry sat forward as Whitey spoke.

‘We need to take this road here, ‘pointing at a road called Jenkins Ave.

‘Then, we literally follow that, probably 100 kilometers or so till we hit the Highway, hop on that east, and take the 5th exit till we hit Mournstead.’

‘Doesn’t sound like a very inviting place,’ Astrid huffed as she sat back in her seat.

‘It can’t be any worse than it is around here.’

Harry put the key in the ignition, igniting the engine. Williams approached the passenger side.

‘Before you leave Harry. I just got a call. This isn’t happening just here. We are getting hit all over. God be careful, I would suggest getting as far as you can till nightfall.’

‘And then?’ Harry asked.

‘HIDE,’ Williams tapped the jeep twice in reverse and pulled toward the gate, exiting the safety zone. The car ride was silent between the three as they listened to the panic over the radio. Cherry Blossom Town, Hilltop, Helgen’s Bay and Georgetown were all hit with what people were calling, Night Beasts, creatures, demons and pure evil.

Harry shut off the radio, running his hand through his hair, annoyed yet worried.

‘So, what’s in Mournstead exactly?’ Astrid asked as she leaned forward, breaking the silence between the three of them. She and Harry waited intensely for an answer. Whitey cleared his throat before speaking.

‘After I was discharged from the Military, I travelled. Ended up at the Holy Mountain. I met a good friend of mine from there. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for him.’

Harry went around a couple vehicles that were driving a little too slow. Whitey continued.

‘Some of the things I was shown… I don’t blame Williams for thinking I was crazy. I would think I was crazy from someone else’s perspective. However, I wasn’t the only one who believed it.’

Whitey looked at Harry.

‘Your father did as well, Harry.’

Harry looked at Whitey, then back at the road.

‘I know my father was a man of God, but I highly doubt he was into anything that you’re speaking of.’

Whitey chuckled, ‘Harry, you really didn’t know your father too well, did you?’

Harry clenched the steering wheel as Whitey spoke. His grip tightening as he spoke about his father, his knuckles turning white. Harry took a deep breath.

‘So why are we going to see this friend of yours?’

Whitey simply answered.

‘Jubel is the most honest and loyal friend I have. He will be able to point us in the right direction.’

There was a long deafening silence in the car ride. The driver never said anything to Amelia after she told him where to go. Every now and then he would look at her through his rear - view mirror. Amelia continues to watch out the window, her mind racing with the questions that she needed answers that she needed answers to. Her thought process, however, was interrupted by a deep, low voice.

‘Family in Mournstead?’ Amelia was startled by the sudden interruption.

‘Excuse me?’

The driver cleared his throat.

‘Are you visiting family in Mournstead?’

Amelia shook her head.

‘No family.’

The driver looked forward, concerned about her answer. He looked back at her through the mirror again.

‘Any friends?’ Amelia continued to stare out the window as wisps of green and brown went by.

‘My name is Tony, long drive to Mournstead so I figured we could just have some polite conversation to make the drive less awkward. That, and my radio is busted.’ He started to chuckle, making Amelia smile.

‘Amelia Adams.’

Tony went quiet, Amelia noticed. The taxi accelerated as Tony continued driving. His voice was low, but genuine as he spoke.

‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this.’

Amelia slowly turned her head to face him.

‘Wh….what do you mean?’

Tony shook his head.

‘We were supposed to meet at the airport, but James made a surprise visit…there were rumours that got spread around.’

Amelia sat upright and closer to the hard plastic barrier that was separating them.

‘You knew my mother?’ there was a slight pause.

‘I mean Debbie,’ Tony could hear the sorrow in her voice, he knew she was hurting. Tony spoke softly.

‘Debbie raised you as her own. She had made more sacrifices to keep you safe than anyone could imagine.’

‘What about James? How does he fit into all of this?’

Tony gripped the steering wheel tightly, before speaking.

‘James was part of us, on our side. A few weeks ago, something happened. We don’t know exactly what, but something in him changed. We all could feel it. Like darkness was within him.’

Amelia felt overwhelmed, frustration, anger, confusion, and sadness.

‘I don’t understand! Who are you people? What do you want with me?’

Amelia started crying, burying her head in her hands. Tony slowed down, putting his blinker on, and pulling the car to the side of the road, shutting the vehicle off.

Amelia sat up, sniffing and wiping tears from her eyes.

‘Why did we stop?’

Tony unlocked the little window on the plastic barrier and tossed a water bottle on the backseat.

‘I understand that you are hurting, but once we get to Mournstead, there’s someone there who will be able to answer all of your questions, okay?’

Amelia nodded, Tony turned around and started the vehicle. He flicked the indicator on and pulled back onto the road. Amelia took some deep breaths, calming herself down. She grabbed the water bottle, broke the seal twisting the cap and took a swig, it was oddly cold.

Tony looked at his watch as Amelia drank the water, he gave to her.

‘It’s too bad that Debbie couldn’t join us. ‘Tony peered at Amelia through the rear - view mirror.

‘I have a strange feeling that I will be seeing her soon.’ Amelia replied as she took another drink of the water.

Tony smiled.

‘Not likely.’

In the middle of having another drink, she stopped and looked at Tony. Watching him take another look at his watch. Her shoulders started to tingle, and her vision started blurring around the edges of her view. Amelia closed her eyes, her head spinning, like when you stand up too fast. Tony looked at his watch.

‘One minute and forty - five seconds. Amazing how fast this stuff works.’

Tony held up an empty syringe in his hand. Twiddling it between his fingers, like a bad boy in high school who would use his pencils as drumsticks.

Amelia tried to move, but nothing would respond. Her legs and arms were limp, she fell onto the seat, unable to speak. Tony looked at his watch once again.

‘Thirty more seconds Amelia. This will be all over, you’ll slowly fall asleep and then you’ll be right where you need to be.’

Amelia. This will be all over, you’ll slowly fall asleep and then you’ll be right where you need to be.’

Amelia, unable to move or speak. She tried to fight to get out of the car, but nothing happened. She closed her eyes as she lay there silently, screaming on the inside..