Jack of Clubs Pt. 2

Our sprint began and through the city, there was a lot of terrain for us to navigate. I didn’t understand the architecture of the old world. Some of it was reminiscent of Milona but other things seemed foreign. Road intersections had four paths that made a square instead of the normal three paths that made a triangle.

Jumping over things like benches was quite a doozy. They had these breaks in between them and according to my father, they were used to prevent the homeless from sleeping on them. I asked my father what that meant. Apparently in the old world, there existed people who couldn’t afford housing so they were forced to sleep anywhere they could. A lot of people didn’t like this so they’d spend egregious amounts of money to make the public unsuitable for homeless people. With these breaks in the bench, a homeless person wouldn’t be able to lie down on it. Even in a city like Milona, everyone was able to afford housing. Was the old world overpopulated or was it something else?

Thinking about these random things was the only thing that could keep my mind off the grating fatigue. If I consciously slipped back into running, it seemed as if my fatigue would grow at ten times the normal rate. At this point, I was unsure whether or not I would even be able to make it back to the elevator before collapsing. I needed something else to occupy my mind. Something to take me away from myself.

The first dweller decided to rear its ugly head behind us and it was doing its best to run towards us with its four legs but it didn’t seem to be one of the fast types. It almost looked like a cat. Surely, this cute one couldn’t have been the dwellers that Rocco was talking about…

The earth began to shake and it seemed like something was below us. Neither my father nor I stopped sprinting. If anything, this made us sprint even faster. What the hell was that? The roads we ran on began to crack and soon a giant hole formed behind us. It sucked in everything around it. Cars, poles, and it even took a corner of a skyscraper. That corner was enough to tip it over and it began falling towards us…

“Bane, go to your right, now!!” My father yelled as he ran left.

Part of me wanted to follow him but my instincts knew to listen to his words. I ran to my left and we weren’t at the end of the block so there were only buildings to enter. This seemed like another apartment building. I broke down the door and continued running through it rightwards as far as I could. There was no saying how far the damage of the skyscraper would spread.

I considered going up a few floors but if anything, that would put me in more danger, considering the skyscraper would possibly take out a few of the floors on top. Staying on the first floor was undoubtedly the best thing to do. I was near a window just in case a quick escape from the building was needed.

A loud boom came from the street we were running on. A gust of wind blew so hard that even the room I was in started to shake up, and scattered papers were in the air again. It didn’t take me more than a few seconds to run back to where I came from. Finding my father was the utmost priority.

“Dad, where are you?!”

After a few seconds, there was no answer. There was no doubt in my mind that he survived this. He foresaw it before I did and the right side of the road was more open than my side so he had a lot more ground to work with.

The skyscraper absolutely demolished the road. Everything was completely broken and even the sidewalks were now uneven. Running on a platform like this would prove difficult. We’d have to move to another area and begin our sprint again.

Once we get back to the elevator, patching up Rocco is our priority, and Clarine as well. I’m not quite sure what injuries she has but my father should have enough medical knowledge to make a proper diagnosis.

A shout from afar snapped me back into reality. “Bane, over here!” It was my father’s voice.

Maneuvering around the broken roads and the fallen skyscraper proved to be a bit more difficult than I originally anticipated. I almost cut myself on a few things and my flames would light many random objects on fire as I passed through, but it was nothing severe.

Once on the other side, my father was waiting for me. “Y-you survived?!” He asked in shock.

Before I could say anything my father went in for a hug but I stuck my arm out.

“On fire, remember?” Chances are that even with his uniform on, hugging someone on fire wouldn’t do him any favors. That wasn’t a risk I felt comfortable taking yet. If my father went up in flames because of our embrace, I’d never be able to forgive myself.

My father gave me a faint smile but we were interrupted by a loud roaring. We looked behind us and it almost seemed impossible what our eyes witnessed. From the hole that sunk in the road and parts of the skyscraper, a giant dweller began to emerge. Dwellers usually range from the size of housepets to the size of actual houses. So there seemed to be no precedent for a dweller the size of an actual building. It had to be at least fifty feet tall. No, maybe even a hundred. What the hell was this thing?! It had a shape that resembled the human heart and in the middle was a giant eyeball with its pupil taking up the majority of its space.

My heart began to tremble, but my father grabbed my shoulder and forcefully dragged me for a second. That second was all I needed to follow him in an all-out sprint away from this thing. I snuck a few glances behind us and it was rolling our way. Its initial speed was slow but I could tell that it would only accelerate faster and faster as time went on.

The crunching behind us as the dweller consumed everything in its path was obnoxiously loud. It seemed like a harrowing reminder that we were next if we couldn’t keep pace. My legs started to optimize their form unlike before when I was almost running casually. My father’s form was impeccable since the beginning and the fact that he would always slightly slow down to not stray too far ahead of me was proof of my weakness. Even in a position like this, I was holding him back.

Dammit, I wanted to train. No more complaining about being weak or being born in the wrong era. I wanted to train so I could be strong enough to build my theme park…! But it wasn’t just that. No, maybe that was even an excuse. I watched him in the distance and it seemed like in every aspect of life, he was always moving so far away from me. Becoming a scavenger, wanting to build a theme park? These were all things I took action to, but at the root of it all lies this connection I have with him. Or the lack thereof.

My mother left us behind, and ever since, I’ve been waiting for the day he does the same. In that respect, I’ve spent all my life chasing a character that would make my father proud. I’m such a waste. He’s told me already that he will love me no matter who I become. Why do I feel like I have to prove myself?! Why do my knees buckle when his don’t?!

Three more dwellers appeared. There were two on our right and one on our left. Each of them seemed to have only one leg. However, that leg was in the shape of a wheel. They began rolling towards us at incredible speeds. These were dwellers that we had to fight!

“Father, on your right!” I shouted.

I knew I could trust him to fight those two. All I had to do was fight one. We had to make quick work of these guys as the giant heart dweller was speeding towards us slowly but surely. I’d guess that we only had about thirty seconds to take care of these guys before we needed to run again.

The dweller in front of me had a body that almost resembled a human. In fact, it looked like a poor copy of the human body that merged its feet into a wheel. Its face had no discernible features aside from a gaping hole that was leaking some sort of fluid. It was as if it had a giant mouth that couldn’t stop drooling. There were also gurgling noises coming out of that crevice.

Aside from its terrifying features, it seemed rather small for a dweller. I’d guess it was only ten feet tall and on top of that, it was rather skinny. A UV-70 should be able to blast this thing away with no issues. Wait, why the hell is the gun dead?!