Race Against Time

After leaving Ruben behind the run morphed into a jog and then into a brisk walk. I was walking with murder on my mind which kept me going, but I had to be realistic about my physical capabilities. The road ahead would stretch on for several days in the least. It was also dangerous to dash blindly because an anomalous region could wait behind any corner. The most dangerous for me at that point would be a temporal anomaly that would make me lose precious time. I constantly carried a handful of small stones and kept throwing them every dozen or so metres. It was an annoying and time wasting procedure especially the resupplying part, but counting on the Zone not to mess with me was a bet I wasn’t willing to make. Having Estelle by my side to help me avoid the traps of the Zone had been a life-saving boon.

I passed the cave Estelle and I took shelter in before investigating the linear accelerator facility. Despite my unsocial disposition I had never been truly alone. Every moment was spent together with Estelle. Her absence left a tangible void. It wasn’t all that long ago that we had rested in that cave, a couple of weeks perhaps, but I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic for the odd place. It was a time of peace and hope for the future. Life in the Zone was never easy, yet there was a certain freedom in those carefree days. With all that was going on I had barely even had the time to think about Priscilla waiting for us on the outside. For her sake I would overcome this trial.

That brought my thoughts back to Nicodeme. He was a dead man. I disliked people in general but that doesn’t mean I was ever eager to kill. He was a different matter altogether. The dunce made a big mistake. By that I didn’t mean messing with my family, but the fact that he wanted to use Ruben and his gang against us. In our conversations we had told him about the terror they caused and that crossing paths might lead to death. He must’ve assumed that pitting them against us would put us out of the picture for good or at least long enough that it didn’t matter. I patted the gun at my side and thought about how I would teach him the error of his ways.

My daydreaming was interrupted by talking. I froze and listened. Somebody was issuing commands. I sank to my knees and crept along the ground. The last thing I wanted was an encounter with another gang of scavengers. Ruben’s people would leave me alone now that I was in a way working for him. Sadly I didn’t think they were one of his. I prayed they hadn’t already known I was there and began moving on. To my horror I could hear the voices coming nearer. I was on all fours, cursing every treacherous dry leaf and branch.

“Hey, I heard something,” I heard a man say. I froze in place. “From over there.”

“Not again,” another said in an exasperated tone. “It’s probably a bird or something.”

“Just because it’s usually nothing, it doesn’t mean that’s always the case. Remember that time I warned you about the mutant attack,” the first one shot back.

“I wish I could forget but you keep bloody bringing it up all the time. That was two months ago!”

I took advantage of their bickering and scampered behind a large boulder. There I attempted to bury myself under the thicket. Moments later I heard the rustling of leaves.

“Nothing here. Can we move on now?”

“Stick to the protocol.”

I heard at least three sets of steps all going in different directions. I should have kept going. They will find me. I held my breath as I heard one of them approaching my location.

“All clear.”

“Wait, I’ll just try to get a view from this nice boulder. Cover me.”

I covered my mouth and tried to hold my breath as the man began circling the boulder.

“Oi, don’t break line of sight.”

“Don’t be such a martinet, it’ll be fine for a couple of seconds.”

“It will be fine when you aren’t under my command.”

“Alright, relax boss. I’ll go up this way.”

He climbed up the boulder and began looking around. I turned my face to the ground in the hope it would improve my chances to not be seen.

“Are you quite done?”

“Affirmative sir. Thibault, no monsters up here either.”

“Screw you,” the third man said.

“Move out men.”

I could finally breathe a sigh if relief as the footsteps and voices receded. Just to be safe I gave it another couple of minutes before moving a muscle. Some predators love to give the prey a chance to drop its guard and walk into a trap. I began crawling away from where the men came from. After I could no longer see the boulder I got up and hurried away. Soon enough I was back in the rhythm of speed walking and chucking stones. Perhaps this is my lucky day after all. I mean something must balance out the awful stuff that Estelle is going through. The thought of her situation filled me with anger and also determination. I would get her back if it was the last thing I did.

A stone I threw flew for an incredible distance and its velocity didn’t seem to decrease. I broke into a sprint and as I felt my backpack getting lighter on my shoulders I launched myself into a leap. I sailed a meter into the air and the ground sped by below me. Any time I approached the ground I just hopped up and forwards to keep my momentum. The hardest part was avoiding the trees that were blocking my path. I kept getting slapped across the face by various branches. Somehow I was able to maintain my tempo and made it to the end of the gravitational phenomenon. In an hour I had made at least a day’s worth of progress. Be that as it may, I was beyond tired and covered in sweat.

I spent the night inside the tarpaulin under the cover of a large boulder. Sleeping alone was one of the most terrifying prospects of the expedition. There was no way my body could hold out all the way to ATLAS 2 without sleep, never mind the way back. I had no one to have my back. Oh Estelle, if only you were here. Please be well. I was desperate enough to think one of Ruben’s thugs might be preferable to the crushing solitude. Maybe not that. One of them might still slit my throat in the darkness of the night and or rob me. It made me realise that the only two options you have is to either be with someone you could trust with your life or a large group where nobody trusted anybody. The former was obviously the only true and correct option. I was completely encased by the tarpaulin with only a small hole for air open. I even used branches and leaves to cover myself in the hopes of spending the night unmolested.

I persisted another day and soon enough I was back to walking on my own without the assistance of reduced gravity. I didn’t think I had ever been that sore since the first days of exploration of the Zone. I was just thankful that I didn’t get blisters or hurt my knees. The latter especially would take me out of the equation without a second thought.

The one problem I had was the paranoid feeling of being followed. From time to time I thought I heard rustling sounds coming from behind. When I looked back, there was never anything there. At the same time I didn’t exactly have the luxury to wait in ambush for something to come. In my experience those lasted several hours and even then only a fraction of the time something showed up at all. This meant that despite the squeezing feeling in my stomach I just continued towards ATLAS 2.

Over the next hours the feeling didn’t dissipate, instead it was accompanied by a different sinking feeling. I heard animal growls in the distance. I prepared the coil gun that was strapped on my back. It was a good and reliable weapon but I preferred to let Estelle use it to cover me while I engaged the mutants or drove them into her line of sight. Even in this I became alone. I checked the ammunition and powered the magnet on. I was just in time as the clattering of the claws drew ever nearer. I began firing as soon as I saw the hints of silhouettes through the leaves. Alone I would stand little chance if they managed to close the distance. For once in my life I wouldn’t try to save a couple of rounds of ammo. Look at what you are making out of me dear sister.

The first few shots didn’t connect but soon enough howls of pain were audible. One of the monsters pounced close before being perforated by steel balls. I tried shooting the others but the gun clicked empty. I started running away from the attacking group and fumbling for my pistol. I threw myself to the ground in the last instant before loosing my head. More creatures had come from the other side, intent on ambushing me from behind. I shot the beast three times and ducked out of its way as it fell toward me. I was crawling away with despair claiming my thoughts as I kept firing. The gun was less effective and had less rounds in the magazine than the coil gun. I had an extra magazine for the coil gun on hand and began scrambling for it while keeping the mutants at bay. As the gun made the last pathetic click I just dropped it and worked on reloading the coil gun with great fear and urgency. There was no end to the monsters all around me.

“Estelle!” I roared and shot as fast the gun allowed me.

I laid there on the ground in the midst of the dead and dying mutants. Some were still whimpering their final laments for their unfair lives. My entire body was shaking from the adrenaline and fear. I felt like rolling over and crying and never getting back up again. I could only indulge my selfish instincts for a minute before getting up. I good to my knees and threw up over one of the cadavers.

“Take that you ugly beast,” I said after finishing.

I was tired enough to consider stopping for the day but there were still a couple of hours of daylight left. I had no choice but to go on. To my great annoyance I still felt like I was being followed. It didn’t seem like more of the mutants that had attacked me. Just come out already. I don’t want to deal with you while trying to sleep. Even worse was the fact that I had used up all the ammunition for the coil gun. I strapped it to my back and was left with only my trusty GLOCK. Even if the coil gun was useless to me, it would be a horrible waste to just abandon it.

I came to the edge of the forest which opened onto a large meadow. I tended to avoid those as they didn’t give much cover. In this case I strode into the tall grass without hesitation. After I was well on the way through the grassland I turned back. Sure enough there was a lone person visible in the distance. My gun was ready in my hands and I walked back to the newcomer, who seemed unfazed and continued straight towards me. Something seemed off yet I couldn’t say what.

“That’s quite far enough,” I said with my gun pointed straight at the man. I was ignored and he continued coming. I could see a gun strapped to his back but he didn’t hold any weapon that I could see. I was just about to warn him not to come closer, when my words left me. I stared with my mouth agape and the hand holding the gun fell to my side. The man continued straight towards me. Close enough to hit with a stone, close enough to slap and continued straight through me. I watched myself continue and followed. After a while he stopped and looked back with a dumb smirk on his face before going back straight through me once again. I had never experienced something like that before despite my lengthy tenure in the Zone.

Perhaps it was the sign that I was approaching my final goal, since weird phenomena increased both in frequency and severity. Even the mutants that I saw were more deformed. Lucky for me they were frozen in time, one of them pouncing on a smaller one. A portion of the forest was crushed under the incredible gravity. The most frightening instances were combinations of several different types of anomalies.