Beyond the Horizon(An apocalypse novel)

Chapter 91: Pyre

Ryan looked at Brandon incredulously.

"You can’t be serious."

"You said you wanted other ideas, right?"

"But this is... this is... I mean, it might attract other things."

Brandon stared at the endless flakes of snow pouring around them.

"In this weather? We’ll be lucky if it attracts anything at all. Besides, would you prefer stepping on them every time we move?"

Miles watched the two boys go back and forth; he kept a hand on Chloe’s shoulder, supporting her as she puked into the snow.

Mia gently tapped her back.

"We don’t have all day, guys!"

Ryan glanced at her, then the storm behind him, and finally back at Brandon waiting inside, before sighing.

"Fine! Let’s get it over with then."

Brandon nodded, letting a small smile bloom on his face. It died the moment he looked at the corpse beneath his feet. Taking in a deep breath, he grabbed both rigid, frozen hands and pulled, dragging it out of the kitchen and into the storm.

The corpse sank into the packed snow outside, but he kept dragging regardless, forming a red-tinted trench in the ground.

Ryan watched him for a moment, frowned at the remaining corpses in the room, then stepped in to pull one of his own.

"Miles, Grimm, come on. Mia can watch over Chlo-"

Mia scoffed.

"I’m the strongest one here, one of the boys should watch over her. Or better yet, have Sarah do it."

Sarah shook her head, clenching her hands into fists as she stared anxiously at the corpses inside.

"No, I can’t. I want to help."

With both girls out, it was down to Miles and Grimm. Miles glanced towards Grimm, only to find him already standing next to Chloe.

He pointed to the gun in one of his hands, shrugging helplessly as he did so.

"I can’t carry a corpse with this."

Miles narrowed his eyes.

’Bullshit.’

He could easily drop it and do so; the gun was dead weight anyway.

"You’re just laz-"

"Hurry!"

Brandon shouted, dragging a mangled body into the snow.

Miles glanced at Grimm, then at Mia’s stabilizing form before rolling his eyes and stepping towards the door. Grimm’s lips curled into a little smirk.

Mia was already dragging a body out when he got there. Sarah was still testing her grip around a pale leg, trembling as she struggled to hold it properly.

Ignoring her, he pried a pair of arms off the sticky ground, then pulled, only to nearly fall down as he found them not connected to anything.

He stared at the limbs for a moment, then sighed, almost grateful for the cold. At least the flesh was frozen solid now; it did wonders in suppressing the rot.

Taking them out, wading through the thick snow, and dumping them in a growing pile not too far from the building.

Sarah had barely just pulled her corpse out when he returned. Mia stood behind her, skin flushed, holding onto the corpse of the bifurcated ghoul, the anomaly that almost crushed him just the day before.

Its limbs were curled inwards in a manner that reminded him of a dead roach. The moment Sarah was through, Mia grabbed onto its shoulders, then carelessly pulled it outwards like a sack.

Both heading for the pile.

In that slow, sluggish manner, they emptied out the room. Detached torsos, legs, crushed and mangled body parts all made it onto that pile.

The cold kept the viscera and all the many squishy parts frozen, preventing any spills or breakage in the process. It also helped stop any more puking incidents, though Chloe and Ryan both cut it pretty close.

Morgan’s torso was the last to go on the pile; Ryan insisted on carrying it himself. They couldn’t find or differentiate his legs from the mix of torn limbs, so he could only go with the top.

Ryan took a step back, and they all stared silently at the heap. The snow had already begun consuming them, already covering Morgan in a thin layer of fresh snow.

It was a poor excuse for a burial, but they wouldn’t even be getting that.

Miles glanced at Brandon. A brilliant blue flame sparked to life in his hand, only to be immediately suppressed by the storm.

It flickered for a moment, then died.

He frowned, stared at his hand, then shut his eyes.

The fire roared to life again, brighter, almost with a raging quality. The storm smothered it, but couldn’t quench it completely this time.

Brandon opened his eyes again, his face visibly strained. Then he glanced at Ryan.

"Do it."

Without hesitation, he stepped forward, kneeling down and pressing his flaming hand at the very bottom of the pile.

It didn’t catch immediately, so he closed his eyes once more, and the flame roared once more. It grew, then shrank, then grew and shrank again, struggling fiercely against the all-consuming chill of the storm.

Eventually it caught, but Brandon didn’t stand. He waited. Slowly, it spread from the first corpse to the next, and from that to the next, jumping between them until the lower layer was engulfed entirely.

Then it started traveling upwards. It was then he finally moved back.

One layer after another, the flame consumed them all, climbing until it reached Morgan at the top, and consumed him too.

Miles silently watched the ghastly blue pyre before him; the others fell silent too. The dancing, struggling flame might have been roaring, screaming its defiance into the face of the cold world trying to drown it.

But under the endless snow, under the seemingly infinite storm of white, it was all rendered mute.

The flames grew higher, having spread completely, brightening the dim world around them. In the darkness of this new world, it might as well have been a beacon to show the world that they were still here. Still fighting.

It was, in fact, exactly that.

In the distance, where the endless snow rendered everything a white blur, figures began moving.