Quest Time, Best Time?

I run out of my house, my hand gripping my father’s weapon handle stopping it from rattling against my side. My breath catches in my throat as concern and worry consume me.

-- -- --

I open the door to security headquarters and head right to the security chief’s office where I find the chief and Ingrid. I look over at the tall newcomer to see she is nibbling on a piece of bread like a hamster. She looks so, adorable. I just cannot seem to look away from her. Chief Benterro coughs, seemingly because I must have began to stare.

I look at him as I ask, “Why am I here exactly?”

“We need a medic.”, The chief states as if it is obvious.

I cross my arms in annoyance as I respond, “And why do you need a medic?”

“We’ve cleared out this top floor of the old base.”, The chief says as he looks at Ingrid as if she asked him a question and is answering it. “The three of us are going to be clearing out the second floor.”, He finishes as he reaches into his desk.

“Just the three of us!?”, I exclaim as a whole ocean of emotions flows over me, “How are the three of us supposed to accomplish what an entire squad of security probably can’t!?”

Before speaking, Chief Benterro looks over his large pistol and the magazine clip, “Because our new companion here.” I look at the man with a bewildered expression, my mind racing with even more emotions. “We’ll be fine.”, he says as he slides the magazine into his pistol until it makes the satisfying click of being properly loaded. He pauses a moment until he realizes I am too dumbfounded and afraid to say anything. “Since you don’t have any more questions we should head out.”, He finishes as he stands up and heads for the door. “Oh Ingrid!”, He stops in his tracks and looks at the adorable muncher as he speaks, “You’ll wanna finish that before we get there.” In response without a word, she seemingly unhinges her jaw and munches down the rest of her bread without a breath. My eyes would have gonna wide at the sight if they could get any wider than they already were. I watch her as she stands up and follows the chief out the door without a word.

-- -- --

As we arrive at the door to the stairwell downwards the guard in front of it stops us. “Chief Sir!”, The young man yells with a little too much gusto as he salutes.

The chief sighs, “Calm down boy.”. He pulls out his large pistol and clicks a lighting attachment to the under barrel of the gun. “You know what to do if you don’t hear from us by tomorrow.”, He adds as he opens the door behind the younger man. Not only does he only bring me and essentially a stranger to do an insanely dangerous mission. But he also expects us to get it done in less than twenty four hours!?

“Are you alright?”, Ingrid asks pulling me back to reality.

“I’m-”, I stammer out as I meet her gaze, “I’m ter-terrified. Aren’t you?”, I ask.

“You should hide it better at least.”, Ingrid says, trying to evade my question. But before I can press further for an answer the chief speaks up.

“Come on you two. We got a mission to do.”, The chief speaks the words with barely concealed annoyance.

The three of us walk down the stairs leading to the second floor. Upon the chief opening the door to the lower level we are met by a stench ridden and oppressive air. I begin to gag and cover my face with a hand as the chief stifles a gag as well. I note that Ingrid did not seem even phased by the stench.

“It smells like death and decay.”, The chief says as he steps into the floor proper.

“No.”, Ingrid replies as she takes a deep breath in and out, “It is far worse.” She steps past the chief as she continues, “It is the one true unnatural thing in this world.” She readies her makeshift spear as she finishes, “Stagnation.” The chief and I give her looks of varying levels of confusion and concern.

“What does that mean exactly?”, The chief asks our resident outsider as he points his pistol in front of him, lighting the hallway with the bright beam of the flashlight attached.

“Notice how there are no fungi, rust, or even truly decrepit walls.”, Ingrid calmly answers the question as she steps towards the end of the chief’s light. “It’s been a hundred years since the fallout, correct?”, she continues, “Even if kept under constant care this place would still have rust in various places and walls would be falling apart.”

“How is that even possible?”, I inquire as the stagnant air finally becomes bearable for me to breath.

“Isn’t it obvious?”, Ingrid answers as I walk into the floor proper as well. I contain myself from unleashing my fury upon Ingrid at the non answer she gave me.

“Lawson wouldn’t know. She’s lived in New Yuma her whole life.”, The chief responds.

“Magic.”, Ingrid sighs as she stops and turns back to face us.

“Magic can do something like this!?”, I drop my jaw in shock at the word, “Never understood why it wasn’t allowed. But hearing and seeing all this, no wonder we don’t allow it.” Ingrid looks at me without saying a word as she turns around, readying her spear once more.

“Let’s get this over with.”, Ingrid growls through gritted teeth. I cannot tell if she is scared or enraged as she speaks, possibly both. Readying myself, I grab hold of my father’s weapon and draw it. Ingrid opens the door to a large room full of cubicles and silently steps in.

The beam of our lights shine upon a horrifying visage. It was as if the bodies of those people who were here were still alive but not. Before any of us can speak one of the “people” turns their head towards us. They produces the strangest sound I had ever heard, it sent a shiver down my spine. I cannot even begin to figure out why that sound was made, perhaps it was the vocal cords being damaged to near disrepair or lack of use.

Before I can think further on the matter, Ingrid swiftly swipes her spear across the person’s head revealing the innards of their brain for all the world to see. Looking at the cold stone killing I should throw up, but nothing was happening. The chief turns to see even more shambling people heading towards us and quickly fires two shots into each before they can even hit the ground. Somehow, the two have already seemingly emptied the room before I can do anything.

“All clear?”, The chief inquires as he reloads his pistol.

“Seems like it.”, Ingrid replies a bit of fury filling her words. How much anger was she holding inside I wonder. But before I could get lost in thought she continues, “We need to deal with the source.”

“The source?”, I meet Ingrid’s steely gaze as I ask, “What would that even look like or be?” Her eyes are so full of determination and rage that I meekly take a step back in fear. Ingrid twirls her spear in her hand as she steps towards a door before answering.

“I’ve never seen one myself so I’m not exactly sure, but I can definitely sense it.”, She finally retorts as she looks at the chief instead of me as if she was trying to prove she was not useless. I am not exactly sure where she would be getting that idea from though since she seemed to be the only one aware of what was even happening.

“Got it. Get to the device and destroy it. Simple.”, The chief responds as he moves against a wall next to the door Ingrid has a hand on the knob of. I have a feeling it will not be simple at all but at least it sounded that way.

When the door is opened we are met by even more of the not alive but not dead. Before they could all react to us, the chief shoots a few. In response, another of those screeches escapes the lips of all them creating a deafening cacophony.

“We need to find a place to hide.”, Ingrid claims as she stabs one of our attackers to the floor.

“Where!?”, I exclaim as I run my chain sword blade through an arm and cleaving it from the rest of the body of another, “We can’t exactly retreat backwards!”

“Start running you two! I’m right behind!”, The chief bellows as he whittles down their numbers.

“We can’t-”, I begin before being cut off as Ingrid grabs my hand and runs down a hallway. If the security chief dies New Yuma is going to be in serious trouble, I understand that Ingrid would not know that exactly but she probably has at least figured that out.

As I get lost in thought and a pack of the not quite alive are chasing the two of us Ingrid opens a door to a small storage room.

“We’ll find a way out of this.”, Ingrid explains, trying to appear calm but I could see the worry and fear in her eyes. She grabs a roll of duct tape and wraps it around the handle of the door to make sure it could not be opened easily. “Now,”, She states as she drops the cardboard circle to the floor, “Where could we leave from?”