QUAKE

• Saad Waqas, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2021

A young man of 20 steps out of his home, ready for a day's work. He is big, like, six foot tall, muscly but skinny as well. Black hair, crimson irises in his eyes, skin with a deathly white pallor. His name is Jayden.



Jayden is riding straight toward the military base. He works as a Special Ops soldier. But as he approaches the base, he can tell something is wrong. No military buggies gently humming as their owners start them up, no gunshots



from the training yard for new soldiers, no sirens... just a disquieting silence. Trying to find the least worrying explanation for this quiet, Jayden settles on the thought that he might be too early. He checks the time. Nine o'clock is not early. It is just in time. Have the timings changed, he thinks to himself. He becomes worried. Knowing that the only way to vanquish that worry is by finding out the proper explanation, Jayden puts on a one-second burst of speed on his Yamaha R3 motorbike and rides into the bike parking lot. Hmm... there are already vehicles there, how can I be early? This thought drifts across his mind briefly as he looks around. Then he hurries inside. But when he gets in, a grotesque sight meets his crimson eyes.



Bodies strewn all over the floor, unmistakably dead. Legs and arms at odd angles... blood... gore... it is all too horrible to expect. He roars. Then a small, cute squeak is heard. He locates it as the only thing that lives with him - his pet. Picking him up, he feels a surge of rage that turns his vision as crimson as his eyes. He cannot let what happened to everyone here happen to the world. Again, he roars. Then, he sees a portal... on the other side of it, the most grotesque creatures. He looks around, and finds his guns. Taking them, he vows to vanquish these very demons and avenge all. He steps in.



A wild time, and now he encounters the worst of the demons. A large, rock-headed demon with a sickening red crack in the middle of his head, rises to meet him. Jayden runs the circle and gets to the elevator, knowing no ordinary weapon penetrates this thing’s thick body. he runs the entire top circle, finding and pressing two buttons on the way. Running back, he steps on another button and hears a painful roaring. He looks wildly around. The thing is acting like it’s having a fit, and then it falls, splashing lava everywhere. He hears a clicking and looks down to see a platform. Jumping down onto it, he looks behind him and finds a man-sized hole. Grunting as he climbs in, he falls down hundreds of meters, landing with a crunch. He sees a soft light bathing him from behind and turns, finding what is possibly his only way out. Jumping straight in, he hears death roars. He knows one word then.



Ended.