Arc 1 - Chapter 17: The Second Stage

(Prominis 20, 58 / 11:47PM)

“Is it ready?”

“Yes sir. All 14 candidates are placed on the edge of the city.”

“Perfect, you shall take your leave for now.”

Inside the center of the complex, was a small building, enclosed with nothing but concrete and brick. Talking to a tall, silver haired agent, with a black tuxedo and slacks, Boris had his hands enclosed behind his back. The agent, having pale skin and gray eyes, also had long hair which flowed down to his upper back.

Just as the agent was about to leave.

“Permission to speak sir?”

“Granted.”

“This test you built. Doesn’t it seem … too far?”

Boris looked down, his glasses covering the gray linings of his eyes. Clutching his hands tightly even more, a hint of guilt trailed his throat.

“It’s not like I wanted this in the first place…”

“Hey Eren, Briggs wants us to head back.”

Another agent, a short woman with pitch-black hair, had the same uniform as Eren. Speaking directly to him, she had a small mole under her chin, followed by her hair barely reaching her collarbone.

“Didn’t you tell him we were going to be up here?” Said Eren.

“Only where, but not why. You know how he is with children…”

“Yeah … yeah let’s go back, Ada.”

Both agents began to walk out, exiting out of the room through the door. Alone, Boris continued to look downward, his eyes unable to gaze upon the many TV screens on the walls.

Unable to pay attention to the door, he failed to trace the slightest faint of footsteps. Feeling his shoulder tap twice, he turned, and then—

A feminine hand had already wrapped itself around his neck.

Her grip tightening, the woman lifted the chubby man from up the ground, as his face turned a harsh purple. Kicking his legs in the air, the woman’s forehead and cheeks were brittled with veins, her eyes slanted deep to form a death glare. The woman…

Was Gwen.

His vision barely turning brim, four adults sprinted to the room, their breathing irregular and out of control.

“Gwen! Stop!”

David outran all three adults, his face tattered in a grim pale. Once he reached the enraged Gwen, he placed his hands onto her elbows, pushing all his strength into the tips of his fingers. Combined with Jerry, Jenny, and Benn all pulling her back, her chokehold on Boris lightened.

“Gwen, control yourself!” Said Jerry.

“I know you’re angry, we all are!” Said Jenny.

Benn didn’t say anything.

Luckily for Boris, she soon let go.

Placing his body between the two, David spread out both his arms and hand so Gwen couldn’t harm him any longer. But even then…

He turned to Boris, who laid on the ground with breathless wheezes. Noticing this, David jabbed his hand inside his pocket, pulling out a mini inhaler. Kneeling down while lifting Boris’s head up, he placed the inhaler inside his mouth, causing the chubby man to suck in extra air into his blackened lungs.

Breathing normally, Boris had David help him up the ground. Even so, David glared at him, his body twitching and shivering from emotions all bottled up within his heart.

“Why did you do it?”

Everyone slanted their eyes inward, sharpening them onto the barely breathing man. Their eyes didn’t falter, as Boris had his eyes downcasted onto the ground, irises and pupils boxed with regret and guilt.

“I brought in Luna. Gwen brought in Luke. Jerry and Jenny took care of the rest like children … you even brought in Loraine…”

David put both hands on Boris’s shoulders, causing his body to numb from his well kept anger.

“Why?”

He jabbed his fingers deep into his collarbone, leaving Boris to sigh as he slowly looked up. Ignoring the glares from the rest of his employees, he kept his contact with David.

“Many years ago … I made a little joke about making The Array, a kiddie version that I sold to you guys …”

David let go of his shoulders, taking a couple steps back to let Boris speak. The three other adults all loosened their grips on Gwen, with Jenny looking at Boris with disgusted eyes. While Jerry and Benn darkened their faces, Gwen had her eyes staring deeply into his chubby neck.

“Kennedy liked the idea, but President Reed was in charge of funding this program. And to receive money … I had to put in some extras to please him.”

Everyone turned their eyes to the floor, to a nearby wall, except for Gwen. As they all couldn’t look at him, Boris in return looked up at all of them, his eyes unwavering.

“I wanted to sign off on the deal, by just scraping up whatever money I had, but… I made a promise.”

“Who promised you? Vice President Kennedy?”

Instead of turning his eyes to David, he turned to Gwen. Remembering his past days, his face and cheekbones relaxed.

—“It was Fenix, Joseph Fenix…”—

________________________________________________________________________

(Prominis 21, 58 / 2:03AM)

—This is the second stage…

The landscape already shifting from suburban to downtown, Luke, Loraine, Cameron, and Ryan walked through the used-to-be busy streets of Fort Damns. Moss was prevalent along the paved street, the greenness of it illuminated the pavement and debris to make it glow in the dark.

—I only have my uzi with me, and Loraine only has a knife. I wonder what weapons Cameron and Ryan brought—

He tripped on something. Falling face first on the stone floor, the three of them stopped to turn at Luke, all laughing hard at his embarrassing display.

“Hahahaha … you’re the life of the party!” Said Cameron.

“giggles … your encounter with the chickens and now this! Hahahaha.” Said Loraine.

“chuckles … ah Luke. Here, let me help you up.” Said Ryan.

Extending his right furry hand, Ryan’s cheeks were puffed like a chipmunk, which barely contained his laughter. Taking Ryan’s hand without looking, Luke rubbed the back of his head with his left, while letting his face turn a beet red.

Cameron’s ears, his long floppy ears, rose and perked as he trailed a faint hissing sound; A sound nobody could hear.

“Hey you guys hear that?”

“Here what?” Asked Loraine.

“Sounds like … steam.”

“Don’t hear nothing, probably just part of your horse genetics. Freak.”

“Excuse me?”

He towered over her, a girl who was three years younger than him. Looking down at Loraine, as his eyes and hands twitched, he kept his stance still as he waited for anything coming from her mouth.

“Back away freak!”

“Call me a freak one more time!”

“Hey calm down! Both of you!” Yelled Luke.

Running toward the two of them, Luke let his eyes droop low, his face mustered with disdained disappointment. The hissing sound, which only worsened and blared even more, couldn’t perceive Ryan’s little eardrums.

—Damn bitch.

“Hold on Luke—”

—An explosion rocked the street—

Everyone flew a few feet from the blast, the shockwave riveting through their bones like jello. Dust and smoke filling the entire area, they felt their lungs clog with its unbridled chemicals. The three of them, who laid on the cold pavement, felt their bodies sore and ache from the pain.

“Ryan!”

Except for Cameron.

Pushing every ounce of his heel forward, his eyes began to water, along with his throat grim and dry. Feeling his mouth, and his nostrils mummify from the smoke, his eyes couldn’t foresee the simplest of images.

Until he tripped onto something. Falling on his chest, he twisted his head to see—

Ryan’s right arm.

His eyes couldn’t deceive him, even through the stinging smoke. Ryan’s arm wasn’t connected to his main body, making Cameron bend down to scour the ground with his eyes. All the while he placed his right hand onto the bloodied arm, feeling the furriness of—

“No! He’s still alive!”

Through the smoke, he saw another body part.

“He’s…”

Then another.

“He’s … He’s …”

Until he saw what’s left of Ryan’s body.

“ H-H-H-H…”

As the fog of smoke began to clear up, his flickering eyes trailed Ryan’s corpse, seeing his head barely attached to his neck. His chest and stomach, spewing blood and guts, leaped from holes that looked like he was shot by an elephant rifle. Showcasing little organs that Ryan contained, his torso and crotch were completely obliterated, with his legs nowhere to be found.

A scream tore from Cameron’s throat.

Letting his knees drop, he pounded the cement, scraping away his knuckles and skin with every pounce. Hearing his shredded agony, both Loraine and Luke got up.

“Cameron!”

The smoke already cleared, leaving Luke to try to pull him out of his state.

“Cameron! We have to go…”

Cameron desperately tried to fight back. Clawing and swaying his hands and arms back and forth, some of his nails barely scratched Luke’s forearms.

Luckily for Luke, Loraine was already behind them, as she pulled her right arm back. Curling her hand into a fist, she plowed the air, her knuckles striking hard onto the back of his head. Unconscious, he plopped to the ground, leaving Luke to grip the teen’s shoulders.

Putting Cameron onto his back, Loraine began tying him up with a rope she found. As Loraine focused on her binding, Luke looked at the horrid state Ryan’s corpse was in.

—Why…

Luke’s eyes began to water, his eyes averting from the hideous state that his friend’s corpse was in. The same was for Loraine, her eyes squinting by how quick it was…

“““““Save us!”””””

Then came the ambush of zompires. A dozen of them or more, charging at them from the back, caused Luke to switch his sorrow with fear. His face as white as a Kepputhan glacier, he grabbed Loraine’s hand.

“R-Run!”

And with Cameron on his back, both him and Loraine ran.

________________________________________________________________________

(Prominis 21, 58 / 2:36PM)

Loraine ran with irregular breaths, while Luke maintained his, even with an extra body doubling his weight. Towing Loraine with his hand, he kept her body pushing forward.

As the horde from before was still on them…

—We’re barely a third through the second stage, how many more zompires do we have to run into?!

His heart rate increased, his legs wobbled and bulged as he sprinted. Unable to take in the many open buildings, succumbing to the dark afterglow of the unshining double new moon, Luke kept his eyes forward.

—There’s gotta be a way to get rid of this horde…Wait … that one zompire during the river when the boat sank…

He remembered the scene, feeling his heart pounding against his chest when he was drenched in water. Throwing a rock to direct the creature elsewhere, it allowed its sense of hearing to try to pinpoint the rock.

—It doesn’t use eyes, but three weeks later…

During the end of his hopeless walk, Luke had already remained quiet when dealing with another, but it knew exactly where Luke was; without hearing.

—What other sense does it use—wait … can it be…?

He compared the two scenarios at hand. He was drenched with water on the first, but on the second, he reeked with body odor, considering he didn’t have the time to shower or bathe.

—Does it also rely on smell?

He took out a metallic device from his pocket, the can labeled with a sticker titled ‘stink bomb’. Looking like it was made last minute, Luke looked back at the horde.

—Here’s hoping.

Clicking the little button on the center, he instantly tossed it back, leading the metal to clash right in front of the zompire group. As it collided on the floor, the bomb exploded, pushing out a yellowish gas which clouded the group.

Avoiding the gas radius, they heard the zompires cough.

—How are they still alive? Their insides should be melting right now.

‘That is one smelly stink bomb’ thought Loraine.

The group of zompires clutched their stomachs, while they coughed their lungs out; literally.

Their organs, which they coughed out as well, were molded in pitch black tar. Their eye sockets spewing yellowish tar, the group screamed out in agony, tearing their already broken vocal cords which burned from the gas.

All the while Luke continued running.

“What did you put in that stink bomb?”

“Just a bunch of ammonia and bleach, with a little bit of sulfur. The gas cloud you see back there, I was the one who concocted it.”

“It looks cool! Teach me how to make it one day!”

“You don’t know how dangerous that gas is…”

Finally putting a good enough distance from the group, both of them noticed a small pond. Its brownish murky water only sparkled Loraine’s eyes, but wrinkled Luke’s face.

“Let’s hide from them in there!”

—Come to think of it, we could wash off our body odor there…

Once they got closer to the little pond, Luke slightly arched his head, as he saw specks of stagnant particles on the water. Just when Loraine was about to prepare to jump, Luke moved his hand to her arm, keeping his grip firm but gentle.

“Don’t submerge yourself in it. It’s still water.”

“Ah come—”

“I’m serious. You can’t survive a 99% fatality rate.”

“Sigh … fine.”

Letting go of her, Loraine jumped into the little pond, but followed Luke’s order to not dump her head in the still water. As Luke placed his legs into the water, he let himself go down, but not too down so any bacteria went through his mouth, nose, or ears.

As he made sure Cameron didn’t get any still water on his face too. Luke turned around, noticing the horde had long gone. His body loosening in the water, Luke motioned Loraine to get closer to him, following that order through as well.

“I think we’re safe to get out now.”

“But what if the horde ambushes us again? Let’s wait a couple of minutes longer. I love to be in the water.”

He resigned to her wishes, and waited in the murky brown water with her. Looking around, he arched his head up to the dark sky, his ears barely hearing the faint yells from afar.

As he began to close his eyes…

“Someone! Help us!”

A teenage boy’s voice was heard.

“She needs help! Can anyone help her?!”

Both of them could hear the loud spoken yells, causing them to scan their eyes on the hill above. Seeing three figures, Luke got out from the pond, with water dripping down from his clothes.

“That sounds a lot like…”

Motioning Loraine to follow him, he widened his eyes. Sprinting his way up the hill, he waved his arms, as Loraine ran with him.

“Fred!”

Running uphill with Cameron in tow, Fred noticed Luke’s signal, his eyes starting to tear up as help arrived…

________________________________________________________________________

(Prominis 21, 58 / 3:09AM)

“All she needs is rest.”

“Those damn zompires.”

Luke and Fred evaluated the damage done to a tall girl with dark brown hair. Gemma, being her name, was settled down on the wet grass, her breathing raspy and slow. Rashes plastered all over her body, it also heated up, leaving her to indulge in a fever.

“This doesn’t look like the attack of a zompire. Looks like a gas attack.” Said Luke.

“And the zompires we encountered looked yellowish. Yet me and Gemma still wanted to cut them up.” Said Luna.

“Just … how did Gemma of all people get scratched…” Proclaimed Fred.

Luna was next to Luke, his body shivering from the info he gathered. His brain clicking bits of string piece by piece, Luke sunk his eyes down.

“So uh … did Gemma—”

“Did you use mustard gas Luke?”

Fred looked intently at Luke, his eyes serious and unwavering with a cold voice. Luke looked down, as he breathed in and out slowly through his nostrils.

“I… had no other choice.”

“What…”

“We were being chased, so I used one can of it … but I never expected this …”

He began to walk over to Luke, both their eyes on the verge of fluttering water. Their eyes straining red, Luke had them softened, while Fred’s had them hardened.

“You knew how dangerous that bomb was …”

“I’m so sorry…”

Fred grabbed Luke by the collar, his hand shaking uncontrollably as his words rang his eardrums. His eyelids on the verge of failing as dams, Fred swayed his head right and left.

“You … how could you—”

Luna placed her hand on Fred’s wrist. Looking at Fred with a cold yet gentle face, she managed to make Fred let go of Luke’s collar.

“He had no other choice.”

“But … but he—”

“He did what he could to survive. If he didn’t use the mustard gas then both him and Loraine would’ve been dead.”

His eyelids failed as dams, leading the corners of his eyes to sour down tears. Turning his head to Gemma, she saw Hope already treating her with her rashes. While she did this, Hope had a little inhaler, and pressed it against Gemma’s raspy mouth.

He then slowly walked toward her, with the back of her head pressing deep on the old grass. Reaching her, he placed his hand onto her cheek, feeling her blood boil from the high fever she was enduring. As her body fought with the toxic yellow gas, Fred turned toward Luke with a sorrowful face.

“I’ll call for help.”

Pulling out a black box from his pocket, Luke’s eyes widened at the familiar invention; An invention that Fred did. Fred had his fingers tremble as he rubbed the black coated metal along the device.

“That’s the flashlight signal we made, during our first year in training, right?”

“Yeah. And maybe, just maybe…”

Fred walked through the old grass, as he set the box away from the rest of the group. Punching in the numbers, with wiring littering the exterior of the box, the device started to light up…

“It could lead us to the others.”

And shoot a bright light up toward the sky.

Lighting the darkened night, its intensity and brightness shined the old and molded glass all over the city. Not just the broken shards and windows, but even murky puddles and old metal gleamed, their reflections finally smiling through the dark abandonment they were enclosed in.

In a stroke of luck, another message soon erupted from the other side of the city. A red smoke flare, lighting up the city with a crimson glow, battled the pure white light.

“A red smoke flare … that’s got to be them!” Yelled Luke.

“It’s pretty far away.” Said Luna.

“Then there’s no time!”

As Luke put the unconscious Cameron back on his back, Fred in return walked toward the sleeping Gemma. Having her wrap around his back and body, Fred continued to glance at the red light that began to fade over the abandoned buildings.

Luke took note of Luna’s sword, the blade rusted with black tar and yellow dust, and she was cleaning it with a white rag.

“You’re using a sword?”

“Someone has to.”

“But what if they managed to bite you—”

“Stop worrying about me, you idiot! I could handle myself!”

Her eyes twitched, while her cheeks blushed brighter than the red smoke flare at its prime. As the group was ready to head off, Fred tapped Luke’s shoulder, as both had sleeping bodies amongst their backs.

“Forgot to mention, but what happened to Ryan? Is he with the others?”

Luke and Loraine stopped in their tracks, trying not to look saddened or disheartened. Not looking at Fred, Luke pointed towards the already faded smoke signal, his right side bang covering his face.

Because of this, Fred couldn’t interpret the emotion he held in his voice.

“Once we get through this, I’ll tell you everything…”