New Story – New Coven

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Adult Content if Under 18 Leave Site, Please.

M/M Content

Unedited Story

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Chapter 1

The walls shook, plaster trickled down as water sprayed from the bathroom as the upper level fell in. He dove for the doorway, crouching in on himself, praying to survive the earth quake. His mind raced over how and why there was an earth quake in his small town. Last major weather in Cotton was some seventy years ago, according to town history. The town had been snowed in for an entire three weeks thanks to the five feet of snow. Several lives had been lost during that. Would hate to see how many was taken from the unexpected shaking and rattling of homes and apartments.

Shouts filled the air as a huge boom richochet through me, putting shivers and ripples through my entire body. That hadn’t been a normal sound. Not that anything was normal when the world shook.

Wasn’t sure how long passed before calmness reclaimed his mind, body, soul, and apartment. With ease he stood, knocking aside some plaster dust from his shirt. He took a cautions look around and found that the entire upstairs rested in his living room, kitchen, and bathroom. Was sure the bedroom had faired no better. One good thing about it, the man who lived there was not home during the day. For once luck had come calling. Or had it? Had the abnormally hit the entire town? If so . . . him working from home had been a blessing. Those poor people at the office was on the twelfth floor. Not a place I would have wanted to be during such a horrific earth quake.

“Edward, Edward, you okay?”

Was he? Few small scrapes, but nothing bigger than what looked like a cat scratch and a couple of bruises. He’d avoided getting hit by any falling building. The doorway had not crumbled on top of him.

“Fine, Mr. Winchester.”

“Good. Good. Did you see that explosion?”

Why did he sound so chipper? The entire world had shaken and fallen down around us.

“It had to go at least fifteen stories into the air. It was awesome.”

Awesome? What in the world? Wait . . . did he say explosion? “Explosion?”

“Yeah, it’s what caused all this.”

“Not an earth quake?”

“Nope, son. Just some kind of explosion. Reckon it was a gas line explosion.”

Sirens could be heard, growing louder and louder as they came into sight.

“Can you get out safely?” A deep voice yelled from the roadway.

Edward braced his arm against a huge chunk of the ceiling, pushing down on it. It seemed sturdy enough, so he climbed up and carefully made his way out his missing front door. How did an explosion do so much damage to an apartment? It could not have been . . .

“Crap.”

Heat swamped him as he exited the rubble. He looked up and saw the reason behind the destruction.

“You okay, Sir?” Deep voice asked as he came up to my side, taking my arm, steading him.

“Fine.” He muttered. “What happened?”

“Was it a bomb?” Mr. Winchester asked the man wearing a dark blue pair of pants and a white shirt.

“Not sure, Sir.” He moved me to the edge of our brick wall next to the garden, which was covered with white dust particles that were floating down and sticking to everything. It was as if snow had come in the middle of Summer. “Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

“Here is fine.”

“No, it’s not. The fire could spread quickly.”

Edward took a seat and took in the rest of the scene. Looked as if the only apartment that was affected by the blast had been his. Course, he lived on the end of the building and nothing sat between him and the huge blaze consuming the Earth. The two half-built buildings sitting beside the apartment were burned to char. The god-awful scent struck him hard, but it did not kick his mind into a sensible gear. All he could think about was where he would live and how he would replace all his belongings. He’d only been in town for five months and had not even found the gentleman he had to report into. Man seemed to be evasive. Looked like that would be put on the back burning until . . . How long would it take for him to get back on his feet? Seemed like a stupid question when he knew there were people at the construction site, who could be dead or injured and he was being fussed over because of a few scratches.

“This apartment is being evacuated for everyone’s safety.” The deep voiced man said.

Only at his words did I realize that the rest of my neighbors where filing out of their homes and moving to their vehicles.

“I’ll drive . . .” Where would he go? He had no family in the area.

“Edward,” Mr. Winchester came to my side and patted my shoulder. “Your car is . . .”

One look explained the trialed off sentence. The front of his apartment rested across the top of his car. “Dang it.”

“Richard, get him to the ambulance.”

Ambulance? Crap. That explained the white shirt and dress like pants.

“Come on, Sir. Let me help you to the ambulance and check you out before we leave for the hospital.”

“Don’t need a hospital.”

“You are in shock.”

He might be, but he was not going to go to the hospital. He had no insurance and did not need the bill when he had to figure out how to find a new place to live. Far as he knew, there were no vacant apartments at his complex.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Richard, get a move on.”

“He’s refusing aid.”

“Then get your ass in gear. There are people down the road hurt.”

“You sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?”

“Go help the ones worse than me.”

“Okay. The van over there will take you to the shelter where arrangements are being made for those displaced.” Displaced? What a word to describe his situation. “Least go there and sign in. I’ll come by and check on you later.”

“Not necessary.” Edward shoved to his feet and sighed, taking one more look around.

“Sir,” Richard held his hand out to Mr. Winchester, “can you make sure he gets on the van?”

“I’ll take him there myself, Sonny Boy.”