Skulltaker Pt. 1

This was my first time seeing buildings of the old world in person. They were completely grayed out and deprived of any color. They stood three times as large as the tallest building I had ever seen. What would people even do in buildings of this size? It was such a dumb question that I already knew the answer to, but part of my heart not only wanted to engage in senseless curiosity but also hated the old world for being so free.

My father commented on every unique little thing he found. First, he mentioned the sidewalk we decided to hike on and how the lines on it are unique to the surface in an effort to avoid cracking on the top. He also noted that that hardly ever worked, and given how many cracks were on the sidewalk, he appeared to be right.

Lars sighed, “Don’t bore them with your documentary-like commentary, Eddie. According to my previous expeditions and basic research patterns, we’ll likely find a group of walkers ahead in those buildings up there. You see the little uh, shit, the little apartment buildings… Yeah, they’ll be there, maybe.”

Lars sounded skeptically unconfident. When we first came out of the elevator, Lars tried convincing us to break protocol by not holding our guns as we walked through the city. He swore that it was for our sake but there’s no way we would fall for that. We were indeed wasting precious battery as we held them out, but against Lars, that’s a risk we need to take. The guns have enough juice to last four hours on a full charge. We’ll just have to pray that’s enough to finish him. Maybe it wouldn’t take anywhere near as long, though.

First, it was that idiotic request and now he’s slurring his words. Is Lars in a healthy state of mind? Not that it mattered, if anything it was better this way. If we can catch him with his guard down, this mission will be quick work.

That’s the hard part though, we all told each other to look out for any openings and although Lars carries himself with an extremely casual demeanor, one without a care in the world, that’s what he wants the average person to think. The truth is, even if his gun is on his back, The second any one of us tries to point and shoot, Lars’ arm will be able to reach the trigger and propel himself into the air with the radiated force of the UV-70 and it’ll instantly give him the high ground. I didn’t even consider that possibility, but my father said Lars would be capable of such a feat.

In the elevator, we discussed many possibilities. I asked why one of us couldn’t just go in the air while Lars would be forced to deal with either the man in the air or the five of us down here. Once again, Lars would have the advantage since he’s been scavenging this specific surface for quite a while now. All it takes is a couple of bullets in either direction to not only kill one of us but he would also be able to run away. Even if he got hit once or twice, as long as he was able to escape to one of the buildings, we have all but ensured our loss.

My father told me my flames would essentially be useless. There would be no possible way for me to sneak up on him without hearing the cackling of fire and even if I somehow did manage to get the jump on him and end his life, what good would that do if he managed to stab or put a barrage of bullets in me anyway? The whole point of this operation is that we kill Lars and the rest of us get off scot-free.

Now that I think about it, it’s absurd that my entire existence has been dismissed as much as it has. I understand that all of them have their own issues to worry about but seeing a human on fire and alive at that, should warrant a severe reaction no matter the circumstances, let alone in a world like this. Did they all know something I don’t? My mind began to wonder, was my existence an anomaly or an inevitability…?

(Edwin)

My silly banter about the old world would help keep morale between the scavengers high. Being tense has its place but when we’re all just walking towards a simple destination, an abundance of nerves can prove to be the difference between life and death when we reach that sudden shift into battle.

“Hey, Ed, are you sure, you don’t want to put your guns away? We’re about to enter the apartment so it’s your last chance before anything… mischievous may occur…” Lars giggled.

“Shut it, you’re going in first and scouting the area. Assess the count of walkers in the building, their shape, size, and any other distinguishable features that could possibly be utilized as weapons against us. Only then will we enter.”

Lars rolled his eyes. “You know, that’s not usually how these things go, but I can tell that all of you seem to have shoved the same stick up your ass this morning. I’ll go inside and ease your holes a bit…”

None of us cared for his pathetic banter. We all held our guns firmly as we watched him turn the door knob. Any second, this could all go sideways. Please don’t let it be now. He opened the door slowly and peeked through the crack to make sure nothing hostile was in the immediate vicinity… He froze.

“Lars, what the hell are you-”

He rushed inside and immediately closed the door and locked us out.

“Hey, what’s the big idea, Lars?!”

I heard his footsteps rush across the building. Shit, how did none of us think that he would do this? No, making him go first into enemy territory was logically the right thing to do. What are you thinking, Lars?!

Okay, okay, we may have lost his position but we can at least guess where he might go in this building. I turned around and ran back to get a solid view of what this building appeared to be. Based on the traditionally rectangle shape and the abundance of evenly spaced windows, some with air conditioning units, it was safe to assume this was a residential apartment building of sorts.

“Lord Edwin, we need to engage, now!” Clarine shouted.

“No, breaking down the door is something he has absolutely planned for…”

She shook her head in anger. “That’s bullshit. With all due respect, you give this creep way too much credit.”

Clarine charged forth and despite my arm reaching out to stop her, she shoved me aside and kicked down the door. Her foot landed only a few inches into the doorway and that was the best-case scenario for a stupid decision like that. There was absolutely no way she could react in time when the laser in the middle of the door fell straight to her foot and cut off the tip of her first two toes.

“Fuck, augh, shit!” She cried as she grabbed her leg and started jumping back out of the doorway.

I knew it. Those lasers were part of the industrial era of Milona. When cave mining was still needed to expand, they utilized lasers to speed up the process. Lars wouldn’t let a single piece of technology go to waste. The man I knew in training was too creative to be bound by the limitations of protocol and fair battle. If we wanted to stand a chance at coming out on top, we would need to abandon everything we’ve learned up to this point about battle and weaponry. The unknown becomes the enemy. Whoever learns to conquer it first, will win!