|
|
Post by SteampunkGoggles on Jul 23, 2014 16:06:46 GMT -5
Engineer
(Pretty Much A Prologue)
The start is the end of the world. When a giant nuclear meltdown consumed all of Europe, it spread through a polluted water system into the ocean. The toxic chemicals spread to all parts of the world, and they became airborne. The population panicked, and riots broke out. Some governments were overthrown, but after the thrill of that was over, the humans fell victim to the fumes. Soon the number of humans was dwindling into the thousands, nevermind the animal populations. Those were even lower. The remaining humans built a huge place. They made it completely closed off from the outside world, that is, except for one, tiny, doorway. They moved into this building, and they moved numerous animals into zoolike enclosures they had created. This didn’t work for long though.
There are a few recorded entries of their struggles.
March 27, 2359
The children who didn’t know of the outside world began to grow restless. There was no natural light, and no windows. They grew restless. They wondered what was outside. So they went.
This decision almost killed the human race. The fumes got in, and a lot of people, including the foolish children, died. It took ages for the air to purify again.
The air supply began to ran out. The remaining human beings had to come up with some way to conserve oxygen. They couldn’t think of anything, so they turned the question loose.
“If you could do something to get more oxygen, what would you do?”
A lot of people submitted their ideas, but in the end nothing worked. That is, until someone gave them the idea of sending people outside to begin purifying the Earth again.
Not only would it save oxygen, but it would increase the chances of Earth becoming safe once again. So they made suits that functioned similar to spacesuits today. They were lighter, of course, but overall did the same thing.
October 5, 2367
This marks the beginning of the R.E. mission. The hope of the rest of mankind rest with these brave people.
Approximately 10 minutes later, the R.E. men were all dead. Except for one. The fumes had leaked into the suits, and the R.E. men all had been breathing in the toxic fumes without even realizing it. Their hair and eyes changed colors, from their previous colors, to white and red, respectively. Except for one. He came rushing back inside the Dome, and went completely insane. He later committed suicide, which his body was moved to the science section to be examined. After the scientists had studied the man, they learned that some people were naturally immune to the toxic gases. This was a phenomenal discovery… But how to use it? It’s not like they could shove everyone outside and let Natural Selection take its course, as this could be a one-of-a-kind immunity. They decided to take the blood from the deceased man and transplant it into someone else. After the process was complete, they sent the person outside. Upon stepping outside, the person walked around for a while, until their hair started turning white, and their eyes turned red. The people observing this mission recognized the cage in features and immediately called the man back inside. Once back inside, he went into quarantine, but, he survived and was later released. This gave the scientists an idea. They could test for the immunity, they just had to bring the person out of the gases as soon as their hair and eyes started mutating. They began testing the approximate 100,000 people in the Dome for the immunity. Approximately 400 came up positive, and they were all sent outside to begin reclaiming the Earth. Since then, on a human’s 10th birthday, they have been tested for the immunity. These individuals are called Engineers, and they will eventually help us get back our planet.
In addition, to avoid further incidents like the one in 1359, we have decided to ban knowledge of the outside to anyone and everyone who is not involved in the Engineer program. We have created ‘Windows’ which show what outside should look like, but it is just a projection to keep people away from the true outside.
Section 4, Chief of Science, Dr. Ross March 14, 2401
This was the day that had occupied Jason’s mind for the past 3 months. Today he was going to be tested for a rare, completely lethal disease. Exposure to the disease-searching chemicals killed off the pigment in your hair and eyes, so it was easy to tell who had been tested and who hadn’t. He looked in the mirror for the final time before his brown hair and green eyes would be lost forever. Some people used dyes, but the rules only allowed a portion of your hair to be dyed, so they could tell that you had been tested. It was all for the good of humanity, he assumed. He turned away from the mirror and walked into the testing room. It was mostly empty, excluding a chair in one of the corners, and some vents that he marked off as what would bring the chemicals in, and take them back out. He took a seat in the chair, suddenly extremely nervous. What was going to happen to him? Would it hurt? The vents clicked on and a rasping sound not unlike that of someone trying to breathe with a clogged throat was projected throughout the room. Jason held his breath, terrified. A fog entered the room. His visibility decreased significantly, and he hesitantly took in a breath. Nothing happened. He took another breath, beginning to relax.
What seemed like a mere 30 seconds passed, and the fog began disappearing. Eventually, the room looked like it had when Jason had first entered it. The door opened, and Jason finally stood up and walked out. He met his parents in the small hallway outside the room, and they looked absolutely horrified.
“What?” Jason asks, suddenly concerned that something had gone wrong.
“Y-Your… Your hair..” his mother stutters.
“And your eyes..” his father adds.
“...Are white and red?” Jason finishes for them.
“No.”
Jason and his family turn to see a scientist who appeared to be in his mid-forties striding towards them.
“The engineers will be happy that they finally have a new recruit,” he mumbles absentmindedly.
“ ‘Scuse me?” Jason’s father asks.
The scientist turns to Jason and his parents. “The testing came up positive. Jason, you are infected.”
His parents move away from him uncomfortably. As they do so, Jason looks at them, feeling betrayed. His mother shifts uncomfortably, then turns back to the scientist.
“We’ll have to take him. You understand, correct?” he questions unsympathetically.
“Of course,” his father answers, shoving Jason roughly away.
Jason is stunned. He couldn’t believe his parents were getting rid of him without a fight.
The scientist drags Jason away by the wrist, leaving his parents standing alone in the hallway. They look at each other, and without another word, they turn away and leave. They never return.
A little while later, Jason is sitting in a room. The only things the room contains are a projector, a chair, and two doors. One door leads back through the hallway in which Jason came from, but what the other door held was a complete mystery to him. The projector makes a low humming sound. It projected a basic, unprofessional looking slideshow onto the gray concrete wall. It looked like a navy blue block with uncapitalized words. The only words that the slide contained were “Welcome to the Engineer program” which didn’t give him any clues as to what was happening. What was an ‘engineer’? After a moment, another slide appeared. It was completely different from its antecedent. This slide was a light gray, with lines of light blue occasionally running across the screen. There was a small, sideways triangle in the corner. It darkened for about 2 seconds, then the speakers crackled to life.
“Welcome to the Engineer project. You are about to be briefed on, what it is, what it does, and why it exists. First off, however, you will be happy to know that you do not have a terminal illness. That was a coverup. It is quite the opposite, actually. You have a rare immunity to a poisonous gas that has consumed Earth. You will be sent outside to help other immune humans in restoring Earth for all of us. The immune people are referred to as Engineers. Now that you have some basic knowledge, let’s begin.”
The speakers click off again, and an image of a blue, green, and white sphere appears on the screen. The speakers turn on, and the voice begins speaking again.
“This is Earth. Out of 9 planets in our solar system, Earth is the only plant that is able to sustain life. In the past, however, there was a nuclear explosion in Europe.” A red arrow points to a section on the sphere that was apparently Earth. “It spread through rivers until it made it to the ocean. The radioactive material was so dense, it polluted a large amount of the world. Places in the middle of continents were presumed to be safe, that is, until the chemicals became airborne. The humans and animals succumbed quickly, and drastic measures had to be taken. The remaining humans built a huge building. This is where you used to reside. The ‘outside’ that you had seen was actually just large TVs that covered the entire perimeter of the Dome, as it is called. There have been incidents of people escaping in the past, only to release the chemicals into the Dome, so knowledge of the outside world is classified information. Upon an exploration of outside, we discovered an immunity by pure chance, and we have tested people for it ever since.”
The slides transition to a large arrow pointing at the mystery door.
“You will live among other engineers who are currently trying to rebuild our world. In the hallway, you will be briefed on the current engineers, and be given your new identity. On occasion, you will be permitted inside the Dome again, but it is off-limits unless we contact you and tell you your presence is requested. Good luck, Engineer.”
The speakers turn off, and the projection on the wall disappears.
Jason stands up, his head hurting from the insane amount of knowledge that had been presented to him. He was an ‘engineer’? The outside as he knew it was fake? Large spheres called planets are floating around? He lives on one called ‘Earth?
The door swings open. “You.”
Jason turns to face the person. “Me?” he asks.
“Yes, hurry up, we have a schedule to keep.”
“Oh, sorry,” Jason apologizes. He had hoped to make a better first impression on the people he would be living with. With any luck, this wouldn’t be one of them. He hurries forward, following the person.
“There are currently 10 Engineers, including you,” the person informs him.
“That few?”
“It isn’t all fun and games out there. Many have died.”
“That’s… Pleasant?” he offered, suddenly a lot less excited. Jason follows the person down a narrow hallway. “So… Who are you?” he asks hesitantly.
The man looks at him with a level of contempt. “I hate dealing with the rookies.”
Jason scowls. If all of the ‘Engineers’ were like this, he certainly wasn’t going to have much fun. He decides to learn all he can about the man, even if he won’t give any hints. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties. Another noticeable feature was his hair, which was black and hung down over one side of his face, and numerous piercings.
Another person appeared, this one considerably less intimidating. “Hey there, trainee,” she greets.
Jason sighs with relief. At least one of the Engineers wouldn’t be a jerk. “Hi.”
“I hope Fusion didn’t give you too hard of a time?” she questions, with a sidelong glance at the man who apparently was called Fusion.
“Hmm? No, he was fine,” Jason replies.
“Tch,” was Fusion’s only response.
“I’m Proton,” the girl says, breaking the awkward exchange between Jason and Fusion. She smiles. “I used to be the newest Engineer since the rest of the people after me died, but I guess now I get to show someone else the ropes.”
“Uh, yeah,” Jason replies. “If you don’t mind me asking, why are your names so.. Strange?”
Proton laughs. “Coincidentally, all of our ID numbers spells a word. Since my ID number is 796265, if you use Numerology, then it spells ‘proton’. Fusion’s is 631965.”
“Thanks for the… Introduction… Proton,” Fusion spits.
“Fusion, calm down.”
“What’s mine?”
Proton looks at him. “I think it’s 855928, which roughly translates to ‘zenith’.”
“What’s a ‘zenith’?”
Fusion looks annoyed. “It’s a point on a celestial sphere. Don’t you know anything?”
Jason glares at him.
“Fusion, play nice,” Proton orders. She then hands Jason a piece of paper. “These are the current Engineers working on the project.”
Jason takes the paper and looks it over. There were basic descriptions, ID numbers, and pictures of 9 Engineers. The first was 565. He is approximately 6’2, and 42 years old. He is the oldest surviving Engineer. He looked good, for his age. The second was 4138. He looked slightly crazy. At 39 years, he dressed surprisingly Steampunk. He had goggles, and a lot of brass-colored accessories. He was a little on the short side, about Jason’s height. The next was 9962. He had on a cloak, and there wasn’t much information on him. 16319 was next. This Engineer was a female, her dark brown hair short, and she looked like she could take out most people in a fight. She was 33, and apparently 5’6. 36425, 30 years old, striking blue eyes and light blonde hair. 69292. 29 years old. Friendly and intelligent. 457955. 27 years old. Cold and calculated. The last two were Fusion and Proton. He wasn’t shocked to discover he wasn’t on the list.
Proton touches his shoulder. “We consider everyone to be family here. We’re all brothers and sisters here. Ready to meet your family?”
Jason smiles. “Yeah.” He folds up the paper and puts it in his pocket.
Fusion steps ahead of them and pulls on a lever. It groans, giving the impression that it was barely used.
A crease appears at the top of the wall, and it becomes increasingly bigger. Strong light shines through it, causing Jason to squint. The doorway finally opens fully, and Fusion steps outside.
“Later, losers,” he mutters, disappearing into the overgrown bushes.
Proton sighs. “Looks like it’s up to me to show you around. Ready?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“Don’t get lost.”
“Got it,” Jason replies.
Proton steps outside.
Jason hesitantly steps out of the building, testing the ground before applying his weight to it. He looks around. To one side, there are some tall bushes. To the other, a large body of water. It appears that the Dome was built on an island. He looks up. The sunlight warms his skin. “What is this?”
“It’s sunlight.” Proton giggles.
“Oh. It’s different than the lights in the Dome.”
“Wait until it rains,” she comments.
“Rain?”
Someone steps out of the bushes.
“Rift? This is a rare sight,” Proton greets.
“I always come to see if the new trainee is worth our time,” he says, his voice extremely deep and seeming like it hadn’t been used in a while.
“And?” Jason asks.
Rift looks in Jason’s general direction, but it was impossible to tell what he was looking at due to the cloak’s hood hiding most of his face. “We’ll see. I’ve seen worse.”
Jason wasn’t sure whether or not to take that as a compliment or an insult.
“What is his ID?” Rift asks, turning to Proton once more.
“855928.”
“Zenith, then?”
Proton turns to Jason. “Is that fine with you?”
“Uh.. Sure?” the newly named Zenith answers.
“You aren’t really Jason of the Dome anymore, are you?” she laughs.
“No, I guess not.”
Rift grunts and walks off, disappearing into the shadows.
“Don’t expect to see much of Rift, this is only the third time I’ve seen him.”
“All right.”
“Well, ready to get a tour of your new home?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I’m just going to show you the important places, and then take you back to base where you’ll get to meet some of the other Engineers, and we’ll get you set up with some gear.”
“Lead the way.”
Proton walks into the bushes that Rift and Fusion both had disappeared into.
Zenith follows her. On the other side of the bushes, there’s a bridge. Zenith catches up to Proton. “This is amazing.”
“Isn’t it? It’s so much better than the Dome. The only rules out here are to help your family and survive. We almost never need supplies, since there are abandoned towns everywhere, and not many people have our gift.”
“Yeah. Ready to continue?” Zenith asks, eager to see more of the outside world.
“Of course.” Proton walks to the other side of the bridge.
Zenith walks about a meter behind her, taking in the view of the lake.
Proton continues, leading the way to the top of a hill. On the other side of the hill was a small town. “That’s the base. I’ll show you around there later.” She turns a bit, facing a different direction. “That way is the mines. We get most of our resources that can’t be found in a store there. The other resources we get are from over there.” She points to a darkened area on a large hill, and a lush green forest after that. “That’s where Solar usually spends her days. Mach likes to hang out in the mine.”
“Solar? Mach?” Zenith questions.
“Still have that paper?”
“Yeah.” Zenith takes the paper out of his pocket and unfolds it. He hands it over to Proton.
She takes the paper, and points to 4138. “That’s Mach,” she explains, moving her finger to 16319, “and that’s Solar.”
“Oh,” Zenith says, simply.
“Is it really that late already?” Proton murmurs, turning her head.
“What?”
“The Sun is setting. Look.”
Zenith looks to where Proton was looking. The sky was a beautiful array of blues, oranges, reds, and pink. The Sun was slowly sinking between the two mountains that were near the mine.
“We better get back to base. Come on, everyone will be excited to meet you!” she exclaims. She grabs Zenith’s wrist and drags him along behind her as she takes off running for the base.
Zenith flails along behind her. “Proton! Slow down! I am capable of walking by myself!”
“Shut up, we’re almost there!” she says excitedly. Proton drags Zenith into the town and into a building titled ‘Lakeside Inn’. “Guys, I’m back! I brought the new kid!”
The room was pretty empty. There were only two people there, excluding Proton and himself. The two people stand up and walk over, however.
Zenith shuffles uncomfortably behind Proton.
“Looks a bit on the wimpy side,” one of them chuckles.
The other one just stares at Zenith.
Proton shoves Zenith in front of her, kind of like she was offering him up as a sacrifice. “This is Orbit,” she says, motioning to the one who had chuckled, “and this is Degree.” Proton points at the silent one.
Zenith yawns. He quickly cups a hand over his mouth. “Sorry.”
Proton laughs. “Let’s get your gear in order, then we’ll find you a bed. Come on.”
Zenith looks at Proton, “Okay.”
Proton leads him into the basement.
There are piles of various times scattered throughout the room. It’s surprisingly organized.
“Time to get you some gear. You can make it more personalized later, but you’ll need some basics to get you started,” Proton explains, moving from pile to pile, gathering up items. She then walks back over to Zenith. “These are just the basics, so once you decide what you like doing out here, it’ll become more specialized. Oh, and I guess since technically you have no experience whatsoever with the Outside, we’ll have to turn you over to someone to train. We’ll figure that out later. Anyway, here’s a map of everything we’ve discovered so far, a compass, a walkie talkie, some food, some water, and a bag to put everything in.” Proton hands him the bag of items.
“Thanks.” Zenith throws the bag over his shoulder.
“Let’s go see if anyone else is in yet. Then, we’ll find you somewhere to sleep.”
“Alright.”
Proton leads Zenith up the stairs to the main floor. Degree and Orbit are still around one table, discussing things Zenith can’t quite make out. Strangely, it seemed like Orbit was the only one talking. It appears as though while he was downstairs with Proton, everyone had come into the inn. He could see Fusion conversing with who he assumed were Solar and Mach. Rift was sitting on a table, leaning against a wall. Two other people were sitting around the room. The atmosphere was almost joyful as the Engineers shared the day’s news.
“Who are they?” Zenith asks Proton, pointing to the two people he didn’t know of.
“The older one is Eon. He’s the oldest Engineer here. The other one is Comet.”
“Oh.”
Proton walks off, leaving Zenith standing by himself. She goes over to Eon and starts talking with him. Zenith suddenly feels quite alone. He didn’t really know anyone here. How was he going to survive living with a bunch of stranger? He feels a presence behind him.
“Zenith,” a deep voice greets.
Zenith turns around, shocked to see Rift standing behind him. “Rift?” he responds, more of a question than a greeting.
Zenith turns around to face Rift, but he’s nowhere to be seen. Zenith shakes his head, trying to clear his mind. The tiredness from earlier returns. His eyes gradually start to droop.
Proton walks over just as Zenith is about to collapse. “Oh yeah, I promised to find you somewhere to sleep, didn’t I?”
Zenith opens his eyes briefly. “Yeah, you did.”
Proton grabs his wrist and leads him up a flight of stairs. The well-worn wood creaks as they move. At the top of the stairs, there is a hallway that contains 5 doors. “Let’s see here… I share this room with Solar, Eon and Orbit share this one. Comet and Fusion sleep in that one… Degree and Mach share that one… Looks like you get to share a room with Rift. Though it’s more than likely Rift doesn’t even use this room, so you’ll probably have it to yourself,” Proton explains, then walks back down the hallway into her room, leaving Zenith standing alone in the doorway to his room.
Zenith sits down on the bed that looks the most unused. He opens the bag that Proton had given him and looks closer at the items. There were 3 bottles of water, 4 odd-looking bags of what he assumed where crackers, the compass, the walkie talkie, and the map. The map was mostly filled in, but certain areas were left blank. He wondered why. Perhaps he would explore those later. He put everything back in the bag, then laid on the bed. He quickly succumbed to sleep.
Zenith woke up to the odd feeling that someone was watching him. He sits up and glances around the room, his eyes adjusting to the sunlight streaming through the window. After looking to his left, which was just a wall, he looks right.
He jumps. Rift was right beside him, staring at him. “Rift..?” he greets.
“Zenith,” Rift responds.
“What are you…. What are you doing?”
“Have you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“About the accident.”
“Rift, I just woke up, what is happening?”
“Some engineers died.”
Zenith’s eyes widen. “Who..?”
“Don’t hold me to this, but I believe it was Solar, Eon, and Proton.”
Zenith stares at the floor. “Proton.. Dead..?”
“Yeah. We can go check out the site later. All the rest of the engineers are too scared to go.”
“...Fine. It would be good to recover the bodies.. If we can.”
Rift finally stops staring intently at Zenith. “Meet me at the mine as soon as you can. I’ll lead you the rest of the way.” He then proceeds to jump out the window.
Zenith stares blankly at the window that Rift had jumped out of. Life out here was going to be harder than he had thought. It he hadn’t even been here two days, and about one third of the engineers were already dead. And to make matters worse, Proton was the only engineer he met that he would’ve considered a friend, unless Rift’s odd fascination with him counted. He decided to go meet Rift by the mine. Maybe Proton wasn’t dead. Maybe she was trapped somewhere? He had to hurry.
Zenith grabs his bag and jumps out the window that Rift had, landing awkwardly on his knees. He then pulled out his compass and map, and locates the mine. He heads there immediately.
Upon arriving, he finds Rift standing there, facing the mine. “Rift?” he calls.
Rift turns to face him. “Are you ready?”
“Of course.”
“I mean, are you prepared for what you may see?”
“Oh… Yes, I’ll be fine,” Zenith murmurs.
“Good. I don’t particularly enjoy people being sick in the mines. The stench consumes the smells of rock in minutes. It’s disgusting.”
Zenith cringes, imagining the smell.
Rift turns towards the mine and takes a step in that direction. He turns his head to face Zenith once more.
“Yes?” Zenith asks.
“Try to keep up.” And with that, Rift was walking quickly, and then he stopped right in front of the passage to the mine.
As Zenith catches up to him, he can smell something, seemingly coming from the mine. He also hears footsteps behind him. He turns, and Orbit is standing there.
“I’m supposed to make sure you don’t kill the new recruit, Rift.”
“Then by all means, join us.” Rift hisses in reply.
Orbit glares at him.
Rift swing open the steel door, and moves into the darkness.
Zenith follows him, stepping more cautiously into the dark than Rift had.
Orbit, after sighing very audibly, lights a lantern hanging outside the mine and follows them into the mine.
“It smells strange in here…” Zenith complains.
Rift chuckles quietly.
Orbit steps to the front of the small group of people and heads forward.
Rift follows, his footsteps echoing in the gloomy mine shaft.
Zenith allows himself to ponder the scent a moment, then follows them, guided by the dim lantern and the footsteps.
After a while, they reach a chamber.
“We have arrived,” Rift murmurs.
“Let’s get this over with already,” Orbit mutters.
Zenith looks around. The chamber is larger than the mine shaft they had been walking in for who knows how long. There is an area of collapsed rock in one end. That seems like a spot that casualties would have taken place. Zenith walks over to the rocks. As he kneels down beside them, his knees brush the ground and something soaks through his pant leg. “Is there a stream down here?” he asks.
“A stream?” Rift calls from the other end of the chamber, sounding interested.
Orbit starts towards Zenith. “There is no stream.”
As Orbit nears Zenith, the light from his lantern illuminates the area around him. He looks down at where his knee brushed the ground. His mind doesn't register what the reddish liquid is at first, and he becomes confused. “What is this?”
Rift walks quickly over to Zenith, his interest peaking.
Orbit gags, and covers his mouth with his free hand.
As Rift looks at the ground, Zenith finally understands what the liquid is, and his face distorts into an expression of horror.
“We need to move the rocks,” Rift comments.
Orbit looks at Rift. “What we need to do is get this kid out of here,” he snaps.
Rift glares at him. “He chose to come here. He can deal with the consequences.” Rift then moves over to the pile and starts clearing away the rubble. After a while of clearing, Orbit joins in. They move rocks until they uncover something of interest. There is a small cave-like structure in the center of the fallen rocks. Rift looks at Orbit, and takes the lantern. He sticks it in the structure, then shoves his head through the opening. He removes it a few seconds later. All he said is, “Found one.”
Zenith looks up. “Found what?”
Orbit looks at Zenith. “Probably a body.”
Rift begins clearing the rocks again.
Zenith moves away from the collapsed rocks and sits at one end of the chamber, clutching his knees close to his chest, rocking slowly back and forth.
Eventually, there is a hole large enough for Rift to enter the structure. He disappears for moment, then reappears with a body, his arms beneath its head and knees.
Orbit moves closer to Rift with the lantern, examining the body. “She’s not bleeding.”
Rift nods his head. “That means there’s another body nearby. The source of the blood.”
“Go put that one near Zenith. He can handle watching it for a little while,” Orbit instructs.
Rift sets the body down next to Zenith. “See if you can identify it.”
Zenith cringes. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the corpse. Zenith sighs, then focuses on his task.
Meanwhile, Orbit and Rift clear away more rocks. They uncover a foot. “This better be connected to a body…” Orbit mutters.
As more rocks are cleared away, the rest of the body is brought out of the rubble.
“His head was smashed. This is the source of the blood.” Rift lifts up the body and takes it over to Zenith. “Did you identify this one yet?”
“Yes, I believe it is Solar,” Zenith replies.
“Good. The cause of death was probably suffocation.” Orbit looks down at Zenith.
Rift looks at the body he is currently carrying. “This is Eon. He is the source of the blood you found.”
Orbit turns to Rift. “Should we go? If we find another body, Zenith is going to have to carry it.”
Rift turns to Zenith. “Can you handle that? I don’t want to leave anyone behind.”
Zenith blinks, slowly rising from the floor. “Yeah.”
“Let’s find the last one, then. Proton, correct?” Orbit asks.
“Yes.” Rift begins scanning the chamber.
“She was quite young. It’s a shame.”
The engineers begin moving throughout the chamber, the light from Orbit’s lantern putting off barely enough light.
“I can’t find anything,” Orbit calls.
“Me either,” Rift responds, “Zenith?”
Zenith was about to say “No”, but he trips and falls. Something was wrapped around his ankle. He lays still, stunned. He takes in what he can about what was around his ankle. It was sort of slimy, and it seemed thick. Maybe a weird snake, or mutant mine shaft worm?
“Zenith,” Orbit shouts.
“Something’s wrapped around my ankle. I don’t want to move, in case it’s something dangerous.”
“I’ll come check it out,” Orbit reassures him.
As the light from the lantern becomes brighter as Obit approached, Zenith hears a gasp.
“Zenith, don’t look, don’t move, just stay there.”
“What?” Zenith asks.
He hears another set of footsteps approaching. “Looks like we found the last body,” Rift’s voice mutters.
Zenith can’t contain his curiosity, and he looks at his ankle.
Wrapped around his foot was something that resembled a worm. “What is this…?” he asks.
Orbit doesn’t respond, his lantern dropping to the ground.
Rift picks it up, and moves closer to Zenith. “You really want to know?”
The lantern’s glow lights up Rift’s face in an eerie way.
“Yes?” Zenith answers.
“Intestines.”
Zenith gags, and begins scrambling, trying to get his foot loose. All he achieves is becoming more entangled. “Help!” he shrieks, thrashing. In his panic, he sees the rest of Proton. The bottom half of her is missing, part of her intestines are hanging out. She is lying in a large pool of her own blood, and, to Zenith’s horror, it looks like she was partially eaten.
Orbit grabs his shoulders. “Zenith. Calm down.”
Rift holds Zenith’s entangled foot still and removes Proton’s intestines from his ankle. “There, you’re fine.”
Orbit shakes his head. “We should’ve left before we found her.”
Rift looks at Orbit. “We can’t leave anyone behind. Let’s get going now.”
Orbit nods. “Zenith, can you walk? It’s time to go.”
Zenith stands up on shaky legs.
Rift turns to Orbit. “I’ll take two of the bodies. I can manage. Zenith can’t carry Proton in his current state, and the other two are too heavy for him. I’ll take Eon and Proton. You get Solar, and help Zenith.”
“Got it.” Orbit lifts up Solar, and puts her over one shoulder. He offers his free arm to Zenith, as support.
Zenith picks up the lantern and leans on Orbit’s arm.
Rift secures Proton’s internal organs inside her using his bag, cramming it’s few contents into his pockets. He then holds her with one arm, and puts Eon over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
They walk back down the mineshaft, and eventually the light at the end of the tunnel forms the door from which they came. Zenith opens it, and is greeted by the fresh air. It makes him sick. He stumbles away from Orbit, and collapses to the ground. He stays there on his hands and knees, and is sick. After his throat and stomach are burning, the realization of the cruel outside world hits him. Zenith begins sobbing uncontrollably. He feels a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Zenith…” Orbit begins.
Rift shakes his head at Orbit. “We should probably leave him alone for now. Give it a while to sink in.”
Zenith looks up at them. “Who did this…”
Orbit kneels down beside Zenith. “It might not be anyone’s fault. Accidents like this happen a lot.”
“Proton was eaten. That can’t have been an accident.”
Rift sighs. “We need to get these bodies back to the inn. The Sun is setting.”
Orbit stands up. “You’re right. Zenith, come on. You should rest.”
Zenith stands up, leaning on Orbit again.
Rift leads the way back into town. Upon arriving at the inn, they find the rest of the engineers gathered inside. The inn seems empty with only 4 engineers crowded around a table, though it seems slightly fuller when Zenith, Orbit, and Rift join them.
Degree and Mach turn to the returning engineers, while Fusion and Comet continue to sit in silence.
“The bodies are outside,” Rift says.
Mach moves towards the door, but Orbit stops him.
“I need to see my friends one last time. Let me pass,” Mach orders, glaring at Orbit.
“I just wanted to tell you to be prepared,” Orbit murmurs.
Mach’s expression softens. “I’m used to death by now, I’ll be fine.” He then walks out the door.
Rift moves over to Degree. “It wasn’t pretty.”
Degree nods his head in understanding.
Zenith just stands in the middle of the doorway, thinking over what had happened.
Fusion walks over to him. “Did you… Did you find all three..? Are you sure they’re not just missing?” he asks, almost hopefully.
The image of the corpses returns to Zenith, and he collapses to the floor, cupping his hand over his mouth to prevent himself from being sick. After recovering, he looks up at Fusion. “All of them are dead. Eon, Solar, and Proton.”
Fusion shakes his head in horror, a disbelieving frown crossing his face.
Comet appears remarkably unalarmed.
Zenith tries to think of something to comfort Fusion, but as he’s thinking, Fusion gets up and heads to his room. A loud thump sounds from above as he collapses onto his bed.
Comet walks towards Zenith and extends his hand.
Zenith stares at it.
“I do not believe we have met. I am Comet.”
Zenith realizes why Comet extended his hand, and shakes his hand. “I’m Zenith.”
“It’s a shame that Eon, Solar, and Proton died, isn’t it?” he asks.
“Yeah…”
“I guess it could’ve been any of us. They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“What?” Zenith asks, not quite catching what Comet had said.
“The rockfall.”
“Oh.”
“Well, I’m going to go pay my respects, it was a pleasure to meet you.” Comet walks towards the door.
As Comet reached for the handle, Mach bursts back in. He looks alarmed. “What happened to them?” he asks, looking from Orbit to Rift.
“Solar suffocated. Eon’s head was crushed by a rock. Proton is in half. It kind of looks like she was bitten,” Rift says.
“We need to bury them…” Mach murmurs.
Orbit steps towards him. “Would you like to take care of that now?”
“Yes.”
And with that, Orbit and Mach exit the inn. With Fusion still in his room, the only engineers left on the main floor were Comet, Rift, and Zenith.
“I am going to go check on Fusion,” Comet announces, then turns and walks up the stairs. Footsteps echo throughout the main floor, and then a slam as the door is shut makes Zenith jump. Rift looks at him with amusement.
“Scared?” Rift asks.
“Just a bit jumpy… I mean, three people did just die…”
“True, but it’s not like they’re the first to die. It’s happened to over one thousand, a lot more than one thousand.”
Zenith is starting to realize talking to Rift isn’t very reassuring. “I suppose. I’m going to go to sleep… Okay?”
Rift doesn’t respond.
Zenith backs away from him and runs up the stairs and into the room he shares with Rift. He plops into the bed and closes his eyes. Before he can open them again, he’s fast asleep.
Upon waking, Zenith stands up and stretches. He looks around the room, discovering he was alone. He stares blankly at the window, reflecting on yesterday. He was slightly reluctant to go down into the main room, because there might’ve been more deaths. Who could it have been this time, if any?
Zenith shakes his head, clearing the thoughts away. He looks around the room. There’s a dresser and two beds, and that’s about it. He looks in the dresser. Inside there is a change of clothes that look about his size, probably put there by Proton. It is otherwise empty. He puts on the change of clothes, grateful to be out of the pants with the blood-soaked knee. He then heads downstairs, and sees all of the other engineers in various places around the room. Orbit was raiding the refrigerator, Degree was filling in part of his map, Comet was polishing a gun, Rift was sitting on a table, and Fusion was standing in a corner, facing the wall. As Zenith walks down the stairs, Orbit moves towards him with a sandwich in one hand, and what seems like a literal pile of food in his other. He hands the sandwich to Zenith, and sits down at a table, scarfing down the pile. Zenith takes a bite of the sandwich.
Meanwhile, Comet stands up on a table. “May I have everyone’s attention please? I have an announcement to make.”
Zenith gets a bad feeling about this, but pushes it away. Comet seems to be calm, and none of the engineers are missing, so what could be wrong?
Fusion moves out of his corner, reluctantly dragging his feet across the wooden floor and stops when he is standing about a foot away from Comet’s table and faces him, wondering what the news could possibly be.
The rest of the engineers stand in front of Comet’s table, awaiting the news.
Comet starts to speak. “So I know you all are alarmed at the loss of our comrades, but I have information on their deaths. Eon and Solar were killed on a rockfall, triggered by an engineer. Proton was bitten in half by a mutated creature, also created by this particular engineer.”
Zenith gasps.
Comet continues, “And that engineer…” he pauses for effect, his gaze sweeping over the engineers. “Is me.”
Orbit’s mouth drops open.
Degree shakes his head in disgust.
Fusion is silent, as is Rift.
Zenith stares at Comet.
“And now… Your time has come, my dear companions,” Comet sneers, drawing his gun and aiming it at the ground in front of the engineers.“And now… Your time has come, my dear companions,” Comet sneers, drawing his gun and aiming it at the ground in front of the engineers. “This is a special bullet I made. It’s filled with chemicals, and when the case breaks, you’ll all perish. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?”
“You’re insane,” Orbit mutters.
“I know, isn’t it grand?” Comet laughs.
“You’re not actually going to fire that… Are you?” Zenith asks.
“Of course I am.”
“Why would you do that?” Orbit demands.
“Enough talk,” Comet instructs. He puts on a mask to protect himself from the chemicals, loads the gun, and aims it back at the ground. “Any last words? No? Good, we can get this done quickly.”
Comet pulls the trigger. Zenith closes his eyes in shock.There is a bang, a grunt, and a thud. Upon reopening his eyes, he sees Fusion laying on the ground, clutching at his stomach.
“Fusion, what did you do…?” Zenith whispers.
“The chemicals… Should be absorbed into my body… You lot will… You will be fine…” Fusion rasps and then laughs weakly.
“Why’d you do it?” Zenith asks, collapsing to the ground next to Fusion.
“I needed… To save…” Fusion whispers, then coughs harshly.
“Wait, don’t talk, you’ll be fine… Just… Rest…” Zenith murmurs.
Fusion exhales deeply.
“Fusion?” Zenith calls.
Degree kneels down next to Zenith and Fusion. He picks up Fusion’s arm and checks for a pulse. Degree shakes his head.
Zenith feels tears drip down his face, and they fall onto Fusion’s torso.
Rift puts a hand on Zenith’s shoulder.
Zenith shrugs off Rift’s hand and walks outside. He steps into the sunlight, and breathes in the fresh air. He walks around a bit, eventually arriving at an alarming amount of stones. They seem to be placed in rows. As he gets closer to one of them, he finds words and a date on it. “Vortex: Fell off the cliff near the Dome. 1400” Zenith feels a shiver travel down his back. He had arrived at a graveyard. As he looks around, he sees a path at the far end of the arrangement of stones leading into a forest. He decides to follow the path. As he walks down the path, the smell of rotting material rides on the slight breeze towards him. As he enters the trees, the smell gets stronger. His mind was telling him to turn back, but he needed to find out what was at the end of this path. He stops momentarily, looking around, trying to figure out how much longer the path was. His view is blocked by trees, however, and he quickly gives up on this. An interesting thing does happen, though. He hears footsteps. His face feels warm, and he turns around. He breathes a sigh of relief. It was just Orbit.
“I thought you could use some company.”
“Thanks,” Zenith answers, letting him catch up before starting to walk again.
“I’ve never been down this path,” Orbit comments as they walk.
The smell of rotting material begins to grow even stronger.
“Do you smell that?” Zenith asks.
“The rotting smell?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve noticed it since I first entered the forest, but I thought it was just my nose being strange,” Orbit admits.
“It’s weird,” Zenith murmurs, “Suspicious.”
“I wonder where it’s coming from.”
“I think we’ll find out soon, whether we want to or not,” Zenith mutters.
“Very true,” Orbit murmurs.
As they continue walking, the trees begin to thin, and a clearing appears.
Zenith stops in his tracks. “This is…”
“Horrible…” Orbit finishes for him, looking around.
In front of them, they see cages. There were 5 of them, each containing at least one creature.
“What are these things?” Zenith asks, his voice cracking slightly.
“These, these are my army..” a voice replies from behind Orbit and Zenith. A figure, once obscured by trees steps out of the leafy protection.
“Comet!” Orbit exclaims.
Zenith is frozen with shock, remembering Fusion’s death at Comet’s hands.
“Shall I give you the grand tour?” Comet offers, with mock enthusiasm.
Zenith wants to know more about these… things, so he nods at Comet.
“Let’s begin then,” Comet chuckles. He leads Zenith to the first cage as Orbit glares at him from the entrance to the clearing. “You see, dear Zenith, I combine animals with other species of animals.”
Zenith looks into the cage with horror. The bars and floor are streaked with blood, and there are three creatures glaring menacingly at him from the furthest areas of the cage. The creatures themselves were hideous. They looked like nothing Zenith had ever seen before. They were covered in scales, and had long, spindly limbs with skinny tails. Their ribs clearly stuck out. The creatures also had wings, wings that looked like elongated fingers with membrane between them. The most horrifying feature, though, was their face. Their eyes were slitted, and their mouths were slightly open, exposing jagged teeth. Saliva dripped from their jaws onto the concrete, bloodstained floor.
“Have you ever heard of dragons?” Comet asks curiously.
Zenith’s mind runs back to his early childhood, and he remembers the fairy tales written about the majestic beasts. “You’re not telling me those are… Dragons…?” he asks hesitantly.
“No, of course not. But they are similar. You see, I’ve crossed the DNA of a lizard, with that of a bat, eventually resulting in the mutation of wings that you see here. They’re capable of flight, and with some time, I may even figure out how to give them the ability to breathe fire,” Comet explains, clearly proud of his accomplishments. “Onto the next cage.”
Zenith follows Comet to the next cage, and looks inside. He sees nothing at first, but then, upon closer inspection, sees a fluffy creature. Comet calls it over. It lazily hops over. Zenith still feels uneasy around Comet’s creations, but this one was almost.. cute.
“What’s this one..?” Zenith questions.
“A cross between a rabbit and a venomous snake. The speed of a rabbit, the venom and fangs of a snake. Don’t let it fool you, it’s not very nice.”
Zenith looks back down at the rabbit-creature, to discover it baring it’s rather sharp looking fangs at him. “So I see…”
“Moving on. This one’s my pride and joy. A cross between a panther and a crow. The body shape of the panther, the piercing eyes and beautiful feathers of the crow.” Comet says, calling the creature over. It slinks over, rubbing it’s head against the bars of the cage near Comet.
“That’s enough,” Orbit calls.
“Whatever is the matter, Orbit?” Comet asks.
“It’s nice that you’re suddenly so friendly and all, but don’t think we’ve forgotten what you’ve done. Murderer.”
Zenith stops looking at the mutated panther and walks back over to Orbit.
“Here I thought you and I would be able to work together, Zenith. You don’t really want to stay out here, do you? And you’ve seen what I can do. I can teach you. We can create new species,” Comet exclaims, looking directly at Zenith.
“Comet, I’m sorry, but you have done too many horrible things for me to even consider working with you,” Zenith mutters.
Comet stares into space. “So be it.” He pulls a remote out of his pocket. “You’ll get to see them up close, Zenith, and Orbit.”
“What are you talking about?” Orbit demands.
Comet chuckles and presses a button on the remote. The cage doors all swing open. “After them!” Comet orders.
Zenith feels a cold sweat break out over his body.
Orbit grabs his wrist, dragging him back along the pathway. “Zenith, run! We need to outrun them!”
Zenith understands what’s happening finally, and begins running. Adrenaline pumps through his veins, and he can think of nothing except escape. He begins to stop being dragged as he pulls himself together and starts to run at full speed. Orbit keeps paces with him as they attempt to outrun the mutated animals. |
|
