Chapter 2

“Did I or did I not tell you stay put! You’ve been somewhat smart and resourceful so far that I would have thought you would recognize one of the most basic rules, don’t go off alone!”

Mason now sweating wasn’t sure if Rust was going to pull the knife away from his neck, and he was sweating and panicking.

“If I weren’t the one with the knife just now then you would be dead! If there was an iron nearby when you left that saw ya, then you’d be very, very dead I can assure ya that!”

Rust then threw Mason into the table. Toppling over it then falling to the ground. Mason’s head started spinning as his eyesight got fuzzy. His stomach started to turn as he lifted himself off the ground. He was hit with a massive sense of déjà vu. Mason leaning on a table picks up his coffee mug and takes a drink out of it.

“No shit man, you just aren’t able to please a woman are you?” Miles then took a drink of his own coffee smiling after having said that.

“I don’t know Miles it just seems like there isn’t a woman out there that can handle my work schedule you know? I am fast paced and we constantly start new projects.”

Miles takes another drink along with Mason, laughing he then exclaims

“Well you forget young padawan that I’m dating Sally from our division and she is a babe, and of course she goes to work with us! It’s perfect.” Miles said with a smirk.

Mason is lightly laughing when the laughing then transitions to a short smile. He is also less giddy in his seat.

“Well I guess I can’t really blame all these women that I see. I say I’m going to do something like spend time with them or be at their brother’s wedding or something and then when I don’t I have to use that same old excuse over and over, I was at work, or I got called into work.” Mason says depressed.

Miles pats Mason on the back.

“Don’t worry man, one of these days one fine babe work right alongside you, and you will be set. A woman who just wants what is best for you whether that is letting you work when you are needed or roughing up if you need it. Your search will be over. So don’t worry about it, and let me buy you another espresso, okay man?”

The both of them laughed a bit for no good reason at all.

Back in the present Mason rolled over the top of the table fiercely, hurting his back forcing him to hack and cough. She beat on him a little more. She was hoping to punch some sense into him, and she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

“You psycho!” said Mason who was pushing himself up off the ground.

“I may be, but that doesn’t change the fact that I need you to make it back to Requiem with me alive! Listen here buddy, I need to get this promotion or I won’t be able to support the little bit of family that I have left! Like my little brother and his wife and kids back in Requiem starving!” Mason heard her words and felt as though she was being selfish. It angered him causing him to lash out.

“What about me? Huh!? What about me!? I don’t want to be in this situation!” Mason roared. “I am a victim of circumstance!” Mason reasoned as Rust quietly spoke back.

“I never denied that Mason. We’re both victims of circumstance.” Rust told him calmly. Letting her new, and come attitude to allow him to calm down.

“You are smart. Smarter than me. So you must realize even more than me that you are in a bad spot. And I am desperate. So please… for me just listen to me until we either find my CO or make it to Requiem. I promise it will be better for both of us if you listen okay?” Rust told him.

Mason was calm. Enticed by her gentle voice. Even before when she wasn’t angry she hadn’t held such a beautiful voice with such an enticing, and maternal feel. It was enough to shut him up. Though he felt strange. It was almost as if he wanted to be scolded by her now. Because whether it was a selfish or not Rust still cared deeply for him. That was something that as a grown man he hadn’t felt since he lived with his parents. He nodded slowly creating an atmosphere of relief as they both decided it was time to rest.

Later Mason, and Rust were still at the house. Mason lay in the queen sized bed with Rust on the floor sleeping. They were both stripped not to get sick from the mildew that was on their clothing. Mason had a black eye as well as bruises from beatings from Rust’s fit of rage from earlier. Mason was thinking of his own time. Since he couldn’t sleep he imagined himself walking in a restaurant ordering a double bacon cheeseburger, with an order of salt and vinegar fries. His mouth was watering. He then noticed Rust shivering on the floor. He slid out of bed, stood up and looked at her for a moment. He bent down to pick her up but she was shaking due to all her having on was her under-clothing.

He then stares at her scars. The scars of a soldier. He then swallowed, still shaking he lightens the mood for himself by thinking in his mind how cliché it was that he saw her scars. He lifts her off the ground now gritting his teeth from how heavy she is, he deduces the fact of how muscular she is, it now making sense that she is in fact that heavy. He slowly, gently lays her on the bed. Tucking her in, she is still shivering.

“Must be tired. You’d think she’d wake up from me touching her. Being a trained soldier that is.” he whispers. Mason stumbles into the bathroom, drop his drawers and lets loose.

“All excess fluids have been properly disposed of!” Mason whispered in excitement trying to brighten his mood.

“When a man hasn’t peed in an unknown number of years he really needs to let it all out you know!” Mason then pauses in thought.

“The year!?” what is the year he wondered? He then decided he would simply ask Rust in the morning. Mason lay on the cold floor, he tossed and turned for a second but him passing out was inevitable. Sure enough morning reared its head and Masons eyes were crusted shut. A few wipes back and forth from his arm and his sight was renewed.

A swift kick to his side and Mason was up an Adam,

“We are moving out okay Mason? Let’s go!”

Rust was fully dressed and held her hand down to pull him up. Mason laughed, and Rust was wondering what was so funny.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, no, no it’s just every time you’ve extended your hand to me it’s been some dramatic moment rather than a simple handshake! Like people don’t formally introduce anymore.”

Mason continuing to laugh Rust stared at him not getting why he found it funny, but she still couldn’t help but laugh along with him. Mason grabbed the hand she had extended to him and got pulled himself up.

“Get dressed.” Rust told him.

Rust headed on down the stairs, after dressing Mason fallowed. Walking up behind Rust he saw her staring blankly out at the street. He then looked out as well. The streets were flooded with iron arachnids, a little over a dozen just wobbling back and forth. Rust walked into the living room dropped her gear, and plopped down on the couch. Mason took a deep breath and sat next to her.

“So these things have human in their DNA structure am I correct Rust?”

“Yes, why the sudden interest?”

Mason looked up at the ceiling.

“If they have human in them, why do they even attack humans, I mean they have spider in them so I know they must need the blood but if they are also human then why not just attack deer, and other animals?”

Rust’s face gets incredibly deep, and her heads gravity sinks her.

“I don’t ever particularly think about that sort of thing, all I think about is that they can rip us apart. Sooo… we have to rip them apart first.”

“Rust, you talked about a promotion. Do you mean a promotion in military status?”

“Yes. Ya see my brother is twenty-three, and married with two kids, twins a boy and a girl. Both are very young.”

“Surely your brother has a job Rust, right!?”

Rust swept her foot around the ground brushing dust around.

“He’s a farmer, farmers are paid dirt wages no pun intended, and his wife works in clothing, knitting scarfs for soldiers when winter turns its head, and she doesn’t have a lot of skills. That’s why I need to be promoted!”

Mason has always kept his distance from people and their problems, their emotions. He had just known her a little over a day and he already feels as though he somewhat knows her Mason felt. Like he was connecting. Rust then abruptly pointed outside.

“The herd is gone, ya see!?”

Rust picked up her supplies and headed toward the window, she looked around making absolutely sure.

“We run for it on three okay?” asked Rust as Mason replied “Okay!”

Rust puts her hand on the door knob in readiness “One, two, and three!” as they bolt out the door toward the mechanic looking both ways, Rust aiming all over the place with the grenade launcher on her M16A1. She climbs up in the cockpit readying all the systems as Mason climbs up on to the arm. Far behind them one of the irons bust through a ruined house and jet after them. The mechanic starts allowing Rust to jet forward at 45 mph as she is going downhill and they escape the creature in a small amount of time.

“Did you see that!? It was using the house as cover to wait for prey! Like it was fishing!” Mason pointed out while Rust tries to ignore it.

As they are racing down the street, Mason gets restless.

“I assume were going to Lake Erie to get water right?” Mason then asks.

“Never assume, it will get you killed, and um yeah. We won’t make the trip to Requiem in the east without more water. Well we wouldn’t die if things go right but if the mechanic is damaged to the point that it slows us down then more water is viable, plus we might find the team!”

Requiem is on the coastline of what used to be Virginia. Like previously said it is a technical achievement, it has a five entrance/exit setup which were conceived through draw bridges while the city is surrounded by a moat of salt water with the Ocean on its east side. The city is headed by its general, Miller. He funds all operations as well as approves all operations, and all operations go through him. 56 years old he even participates in combat operations. Miller’s Second in Command is Admiral Zoe Stacey of the Requiem Navy.

Admiral Stacey is a brutal commander. Smart as hell. She is in command of the only three war ships in all of Requiem. The two battleships, and one Carrier, though the carrier doesn’t have planes due them requiring too much fuel, and isn’t really made use of. The Armored DB is amazingly fuel efficient and the mechanic is even better requiring only a fourth of the gas the DB needs. And on a full tank of regular gasoline both can make the trip of almost 3/4th the united states in a straight line.

Though General Miller is much kinder as well as much more understanding than Admiral Stacey, Miller’s military track record, including a list of overall achievements pales in comparison to that of Stacey’s. in a Version 3.0 mechanic, issued with a standard military mechanics knife, Stacey was able to in such a clunky piece of machinery single handedly hacked away thirteen irons in that day, that day was only five years before Mason’s cryogenic awakening. She was brutal. Rumors of that fight spread like a flame on gasoline.

Some say Stacey never blinked the entire battle, some say that her mechanic was busted and shouldn’t have even been able to run, and lastly some say she was possessed by the devil. Of course who the hell really knew since none of them were there? Either way official reports say that that’s what she did. Maybe she was possessed. That certainly wouldn’t be off the agenda for a world as screwed as this one. Many soldiers under her command began suffering from major anxiety attacks, an estimated 9% not including the soldiers with anxiety actually suffer from insanity. The troops that actually suffered from insanity worked closest to Admiral Zoe Stacey, and had received insane amounts of PTSD therapy.

Mason and Rust were cutting in close to Lake Erie. “It may be a little late to be asking this but when, and where are we supposed to meet up with this team of yours? Is it already planned to be Lake Erie?” Mason yelled.

Rust was scouting out a pier in which she could safely park near the water to withdraw the water from the lake directly to a storage system in the mechanic. This would slow the mechanic down slightly but the water would help them survive much longer. It was either take a shorter trip with now water, and be dehydrated. Or take a slightly longer trip with water, and survive. The answer was obvious.

“To be 100% honest with you, we didn’t have much of a contingency plan for if we were to be separated in the first place.” Rust said calmly.

Mason’s eyes widened at that statement. “What?!” Mason said as Rust continues.

“This plan was a sloppy attempt to not only recover equipment used in the creation of these creatures but also a rescue attempt to retrieve a one Mason Wright, the first of five sleepers, you!”

Rust then points at him. Mason then realizes something he felt he should have before but may have been a result of his poor eyesight at the time. The fact that there were four other sleepers who were missing. Why had they been awakened but not him? It didn’t make sense. But there was no way of learning that now so Mason didn’t focus much on it after that.

“Four other sleepers?”

“After you Miles’s brilliance only skyrocketed exponentially, creating four more subjects all of which are presumed dead. He cured cancer, along with the common cold, and finally looked to replace humanity with that of perfection! He became an asshole in the process, sorry.”

Mason bowed his head with a slightly angry face, his face also held a huge sense of confusion being unable to believe that his friend Miles, who was one of the nicest people he personally knew was the cause of something of this magnitude. Rust was continuing her explanation of the team.

“Though our commander Crews had somehow known the date of your awakening which you believe to be random. Though the information on how he knew was classified. Even to us. I have a strong feeling that we will find my team nearby, this is due to military protocol to regroup near the biggest body of fresh water nearest you if your team happened to be separated.”

“But if it is just you that is missing and not several team members then wouldn’t they just presume you dead?”

“You have your smarts and I have mine!” She then pointed at Mason.

“You see? I am not alone.”

Mason had a huge ah ha moment. That’s right, with a subject as important as himself then they would surely follow all protocols. At the lake, Rust had stopped and parked her mechanic on a dock close to the deeper water. She fed a hose from the storage tank in the mechanic into the fresh lake water that then fed water back up to the storage tank. Mason sat and admired the capabilities of these machines, the Mechanics. They were brilliant. They could change outfitted limbs between gun, arms, grenade launcher, etc. They could quickly drive like tanks or slowly walk or stand like people which made them sturdier as well as more mobile in hand-to-hand combat situations, they could pop flares and use their speaking microphone frequencies into fooling irons into believing that the noise isn’t even a human speaking. He laughed and thought to himself that they were only missing two seats for situations such as this.

Rust pulled the hose withdrawing water from the lake and began wrapping it up, Mason stopped admiring the vehicle when he saw irons drawing out in packs from buildings with his peripheral vision. He then felt the same terror he felt in that Columbus family’s home when he barely noticed the iron arachnid in the mirror, he turned to confirm what he thought he was seeing. He then let out a loud scream “Rust!!!” Rust immediately jumped into the cockpit starting the engines and driving to get off of that dock as fast as possible.

At the edge of the dock where wood met land, an iron ahead of the rest grappled the mechanic. The bump sent Mason flying out of the mechanic. Looking for something to grab onto as he fell he pulled the colt M16A1 rifle into the lake with him as he fell into the lake splashing up water.

“Mason!” Rust screamed while frantically extending her hand toward him much like the other times. She regained her cool then broke past the other irons off the dock that was beginning to crumble, and collapsed under her actually sinking one of the irons. Though it didn’t matter since the entire area held a myriad of irons all after Rust. She gained her cool whose mind was focused on Mason who was in the water with a few of the irons now, and then focused on her situation.

“Mason is safe in the water, focus on me!” she thought.

She then drew the Mechanics knife lunging it directly into an irons skull. She then had to pull the levers of the mechanic hard in order to retrieve her knife. Like physically pulling the knife from a man’s skull she thought. She had to be careful, she propelled through a crowd doing quick slashes with the blade drawing blood for many.

Mason from the water set the assault rifle to burst and got to shore trying to empty the barrel of as much water as possible, with it being an older rifle and all. Rust still needing to tackle through the irons in order to lose their grip of her. Since she was missing her windshield she had to be incredibly keen on which irons were in what spots. Mason with a thirty round magazine started laying down cover fire. A diversion tactic that somewhat worked but was very stupid.

It was a nice sentiment, and Rust appreciated what he was trying to do for him, but it was pointless.

“No! Mason No! It won’t make a difference, don’t get yourself killed!”

“Enough! I know now okay!” Mason screamed back at her.

“I will not allow you to die over my friend’s mistakes!”

Rust rushes with the mechanic at full speed towards him as he continues to shoot and yell, Rust knows the irons have caught wind of him. Their beastly, and black tinted eyes slid across their faces as Mason’s body could be seen in the reflection of four massive, and shiny eyes. The creatures screeched as some went for him digging each claw with each passing step into the ground.

“I just simply won’t sit idly by as these things proceed to rip you and that machine to pieces! I will not be useless in the here and now!” Mason said.

An iron grabs the mechanic that Rust is in in which it pulls with great strength ripping the left mechanical arm right off as the admittedly thin metal arm broke, and cracked like a bamboo stalk, fir just cracking, and chipping at the surface before wires sparked, and the limb was no longer attached. Rust has only one mindset, get Mason. Mason has only one mindset, protect Rust.

The pulling of one simple trigger, a grenade round flies through the arm of the iron not only dismembering a limb but blowing its head to bits. Rust then flies through a horde of irons squeezing through them narrowly, switching to walk mode to slow down and grab Mason with the one arm the mechanic has left then return to driver mode speeding off with Mason now safely in the cockpit of the mechanic.

“Why’d you do that?! Ya could’ve died!” Rust questioned.

“I have not had the power to accept what Miles has done here, until I made another friend that I didn’t want to see hurt!”

Rust continued around the town near the lake, using the mechanic Rust pushed through narrow openings between back streets, and drove across a parking lot. The irons were now on top of buildings, and surrounding from all sides, Rust parked in the middle of the parking lot of a supermarket. The irons stopped all around, they were animalistic but not entirely brainless, and they were very cautious creatures.

“Thank you.” Rust said. Rust readied a hand grenade, she looked at Mason continuing “You saved my life, that iron had a good grip on me.” She said.

Mason nodded, then pulling out the 9mm pistol requested a trade. Since he did used to be a pyromaniac he wanted the honor of using a hand grenade. Now Rust reloading the pistol and Mason putting his finger on the pin of the grenade.

“You don’t have to worry about it Rust. If we make it out of this just please stay my friend! I don’t have any of those right now!”

“I will!”

The irons growing impatient began walking slowly toward the two stranded humans. They were sitting ducks. Crying was something Mason wanted to do, but didn’t. If there was anything Mason did it was put up a strong front for the benefits of others.

“Any last words Mason, because I have some. Sorry things aren’t the way you were expecting when you woke up.”

“It is all okay. Sorry your entire life sucked.” Mason said as he pulled the grenade pin.

The crowd of irons were incredibly close to breathing down their necks. The sun over the peak of the earth was now gone as darkness engulfed the area. The moon was just bright enough to make the water of Lake Erie glisten and sparkle. Every irons eyes in that moment illuminated as the two watched before them as dozens of green dots shown through the darkness, as the irons speed picked up immensely. They were now running. All of that conspiring in the span of two seconds.

The split second from removing the pin Mason’s hands were shaking, Rust’s as steady as a surgeons with her finger squeezing the trigger. Both letting out one last scream. But rather than just a scream of anger or a fit of rage, it was a battle cry. A battle cry between a warrior, and a man. Both taking part in their last moments of life.

Rust pulled the trigger in a split second letting three rounds go already. Mason chucked the grenade like a player from the MLB. Within contact of the closest iron and the grenade there was a colossal explosion. Across the lot, on the opposite side of the beaten mechanic was the noise of thumping, and the noise of a chain gun spinning up as lead was pumping through irons followed by multiple explosions.

“Military?” Rust questioned.

Rust grabbed Mason by the back of his shirt pulling him out of the mechanic with her. The two of them watched as two fully loaded mechanics were busting down irons left and right.

“My team!” Rust yelled in excitement,

“Hell yeah, Reinforcements! I hereby decree this to be the time when I have never felt more alive!”

The excitement in Mason’s voice was genuine. As for the two mechanics, one was fitted with a machine gun, and the other a grenade launcher. The one with the launcher would pick off the ones farthest away. The mechanic with the gun would split the nearest ones to pieces. Leaving a bloody mess of entrails, and stringy, thick veins all over the parking lot pavement. The smell really ramped up too since the lot was still hot from the sun being out.

The mechanics were losing ground as the slew of irons closed in. Both mechanics ran out of ammunition. Both let off flares, blinding the irons as they withdrew from close proximity of the mechanics allowing a missile to be fired from an unknown location, big enough to trash seven irons. The last two were then picked off by the reloaded mechanics. Rust then heard an iron rushing from behind. She pushed Mason out of the way turned and unloaded the pistol on it. Each shot hitting the face made the monster flinch.

Then an edgy rectangular vehicle low to the ground had blades mounted out front and was burning rubber across the parking lot then ripping through the iron as a bit of beast blood sprang out hitting Mason, and once again Rust. It then U-turned, stopped, and the blades in front retracted back into the vehicle. It was an Armored DB. It had a large machine gun sitting next to a rail gun capable of launching micro scale missile strikes, much like the one that had completely obliterated the other irons before.

Mason was in awe, he knew that this new machine before him must be the god of all current armored vehicles, and it was. A sick tank truck hybrid, capable of launching missiles, slice through irons, and even shoot torpedoes through water if on shore. It had a torpedo function for such an occasion. That vehicle on its own can top 300 mph. Mason had even developed specialized weapons, and vehicles back in the day. None like that.

He walked up to the vehicle. Putting his hand on it had almost become Mason’s life dream in that moment.

“Nice ride huh?” a man standing out of the top was looking down at Mason.

“I would never get a reaction like yours back home. Everyone there has been around these things their whole lives. Hell some hate the damn things… or at least the people who pilot them.”

Mason smiled at the big muscular man smiling back.

“Thanks for the assist Wayne.”

The man on top the DB shook his head.

“Um yeah, thank you!” Mason said nervously.

“Don’t sweat it kid, or should I say old ass man? This is Mason right?”

“Yeah it’s him.” Said Rust.

The two mechanics from earlier were zooming up on them. Wayne then spoke into a walkie talkie.

“You two look around, and set up a perimeter!”

“Wouldn’t you use radio transmission rather than walkie talkie?” Mason said looking at the walkie talkie.

“You are very perceptive fine sir!” Wayne exclaimed.

Rust then intervened with her input.

“If we were allowed the use for radio signals I would had called for help rather than follow the protocol to go to the nearest large body of water if there were one.”

Wayne now enlightened more on the situation.

“Commander Crews didn’t want to leave room for anyone to listen in on our conversations during this operation so we used a walkie talkie plan that I felt was stupid, and no offense but you weren’t important enough for me to risk my men over.”

Though offensive, Mason didn’t take any. These men were risking their lives to find him after all.

“Well Wayne, I don’t see this esteemed commander Crews anywhere near.”

Wayne hopped down to Mason’s level.

“Well you wouldn’t. Commander Clive Crews took his team to recover files from Miles personal office on the other side of that damn town. And instead of regrouping he got what he needed, and left. Despite getting you being his idea.” Wayne said.

Rust came up and put her hand on Mason’s shoulder, followed by a somewhat shocked looking Wayne. Wayne was surprised by the act of intimacy on the part of Rust. Took him by surprise.

“Well Mason, Wayne is actually the commander of his own squadron.

“Me and Mr. big shot commander Crews actually don’t get along very well, but he knows I’m one of the best so he chose me to assist in this mission.” Wayne said.

Wayne is a jolly fellow. He is strong, honorable, but has a petty rivalry with commander Crews. When coming to Commander Clive he has a massive inferiority complex. One that leads them to fight and argue regularly. He also disagrees heavily with the commander’s own ideals. And Wayne himself is a commander as well. Conflicting leadership.

Strangest part is would be that Wayne humbly admits that it’s his own inferiority complex that started the rivalry in the first place, but that’s not all. Wayne also finds Crews occasional secrecy gets under his skin. Mason sitting in the dirt was drinking, no practically inhaling water from a canteen that he had borrowed from Wayne. After removing the canteen from his lips he was gasping heavily. He had drank near to the point of drowning himself.

He handed the canteen back to Wayne.

“Romeo! Get your white ass out here!”

Romeo is the main-gunner/co-pilot of the Armored DB. He is a lady killer from the south side of requiem. “Sir!” Wayne throws the canteen to him, telling him to put it with his gear.

“So Wayne, how did you guys come up with the ideas for such an advanced ride when for primary weapons you are sporting tech as old as the Vietnam War such as the M16A1?” Mason asked curiously.

Wayne pulled out a cigar, he then lit it with a lighter that looked something like a tan man’s finger. At first it looked more like a prop. But if you examine more closely the glossy shin it gives away indicates that it is real. The surgical slit made to get the lighter components in it was even visible.

“Do you like my lighter Mason?”

Mason taking a second look at the lighter didn’t have an appropriate response to say so he didn’t speak. He only stared at it somewhat disturbed but oddly okay with it keeping in mind that Wayne risked his own life to save Mason’s.

“This finger was my brother’s right hand index finger.”

Mason eyes widened, and pupils dilated just at the thought. The view of the surgical slit was an unpleasant one at best. The very idea of how it must have been manufactured both intrigued Mason but also made his hands very clammy.

“How do you know it was his right finger? And why are you carrying it around as a lighter?”

Wayne picked his lighter back up to stare at it. He twisted it in circles back and forth looking at it. Observing the wrinkles in the skin, and the familiar color. He then let out a subtle sigh of sadness.

“My bro was made mincemeat of ten years ago. I was much younger and this was all that was left of him. That man, he was only twenty but already one of the best damn snipers in the military. Shit, judging how many people were left it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he probably was one of the best on the planet considering. Too bad against these beasts snipers aren’t very useful anymore. One shot and your cover is blown. And the shot more than likely wouldn’t kill the iron.”

Wayne put the lighter in his pocket, he then lay back on the ground, staring up at the stars. Rust was with Romeo, and the other two mechanics pilots checking out the perimeter.

“You know though, when he was looking through that scope the only world to him that existed was the one right in front of him. I wish I could have called out to him to let him know an iron was behind him. He was then torn apart right before my eyes.”

Mason kept listening though he didn’t want to hear anymore.

“Well Mason here is how I know. I found his rifle with the finger still stiffly attached to the trigger. That should answer your question. He wasn’t one for possessions so it isn’t like there was some object that held much significance. And who knows where his dog tag was?”

Wayne stood up, he climbed onto the DB. Mason prolonging to stare at the pavement of that parking lot in the middle of a forgotten Ohio town. Mason then laid down on the pavement. The cool air, and cold ground actually soothed Mason, giving a nice sensation. Soothed him enough to fall asleep.

“What are you doing on the ground Mason?”

Mason’s stomach had begun to turn, and twist and he had been stricken with a headache. He felt his eyes blurring despite them being closed. This was unlike Mason’s “flashbacks”. This was more like a premonition.

“You are the literal embodiment of a scientific achievement! Yet you are crawling through the dirt with the rest of these worms, self-proclaimed people! The new humanity will soon inherit this earth friend! Find me and you can join them! No! You could rule them!”

Mason recognized the voice but not the attitude, it sounded like but was not his friend. The man speaking to Mason had no face. It was not and never will be the friend he once knew.

“Join them! Join us!” the voice repeated.

Mason gets kicked in the side once again. He gasped as his eyes blasted wide open. Without even looking he was able to guess who it was. His opened eyes revealed Rust standing over him, and she was holing out to him a box of saltine crackers.

“Well it isn’t gourmet but I am hungry so I don’t care. Thanks Rust.”

Mason sits up then grabs a couple crackers from the box, then begins to crunch down on them. He then wills himself to be more patient holding himself back. He then lightly places the cracker on his tongue as moisture receded from his tongue into the cracker.

“You are welcome.”

Rust now sitting next to Mason. Both were crunching on the saltine crackers with nice pacing, and Mason not crunching till the cracker was soft in order to savor it. Mason chuckles while eating one of the crackers.

“Ha, you know Rust? There is a scene from an old nineties film called Four Rooms staring actor Tim Roth. There were these kids he was watching, and he was a bellhop in a hotel. And the kids were supposed to get cookies and milk, but the kids end up getting saltine crackers instead. Forced to eat something they don’t want over something they do. Like us.”

“Yeah, I bet ya feel like one of those kids then don’t you, getting crummy old crackers. And you are right that movie is old. My God, the nineties! Could you even imagine?”

Lost in her laughter only after did Rust realize what a stupid line that slipped from her lips. Apologizing, Mason assured her it was ok. But then the issue of time raced through his mind. He then remembered something he had previously forgotten. “Rust!” Mason practically had whispered and shouted at the same time.

“What year is it right now?!” asked Mason.

Rust was taken aback by the question. The way she was now avoiding eye contact with Mason wasn’t a good sign, and it made him wonder if he even wanted to know. But soon that didn’t matter, because although he now knew he wanted to know a lot less, he also now knew he needed to know even more. He grabbed Rust’s shoulders.

“Rust please!” Rust’s big brown eyes broadened, she had prepared herself for his reaction.

“Mason the year is now 2089 A.D.” Rust said timidly.

Mason’s heart had sunk at the thought, and was in a daze from the absolutely absurd answer. He has been asleep for 67 years. He remembered all the friends he couldn’t keep before the slumber, and the little family members he had left. He concluded. Mason Wright was alone. He has officially lost it all.

“I’ve lost everything!”

Mason trying so hard to hold in his emotions was now crying. It may not have been a whaling but it was still many drops of tears falling right down his cheek. Mason’s face grew very red. “Damn it!” Mason screamed. He then began banging his bear palm on the floor till he got tired. “Why me!? I don’t get it!”

Wayne now standing talked on his walkie talkie for his men to fall in. He nodded to Rust to help Mason into the back of the Armored DB in its passenger section. It wasn’t a tall space but it was wide. She laid Mason down, in which he was sleeping again only more than hour this time. Tired was something that Mason would be for a while, and it only makes sense why. And on the road Rust was up front in the gunner’s seat, temporarily replacing Romeo. Romeo was in the back keeping an eye on Mason.

“Why replace Romeo? Isn’t he supposed to be getting experience as a gunner?”

While driving Wayne dodged a broken down car, then another.

“Yeah Rust you aren’t wrong but I needed to talk to you, and somebody had to watch sleeping beauty back there so here we are. You should join our team permanently Rust!” He insisted.

“We have been over this fifty times Wayne. You are a great CO and all but your eyes just don’t speak to me the same way Clive’s do. Your actions don’t have the same weight! You don’t have the same passion burning in your stare.” Rust told him like the many before.

Wayne now dodging an increasingly more consistent amount of broken down cars with his two comrades in the mechanics following behind him as he persists. That allowing them to dodge the same vehicles as he does. Treads grinding the ground from the mechanics.

“Well Rust I’ve actually only offered 47 times but I swear I will stop asking after fifty. And it is unmistakable that the man has vision, and drive. I watched him pass the military academy with flying colors. I almost cried when he was the year’s valedictorian, and it was beautiful. But it took me back a moment. Because his drive is unknown! First impressions aren’t everything.”

“You know perfectly well that Clive’s goal is to help us reach a more perfect humanity, free us from the shadows!”

Wayne’s voice getting lower he continues his point.

“But that’s just it! He is spouting poetry, just like in that madman Miles’s notes. The difference is that Clive had been talking that way since the beginning. It just scares me.”

Rust just stopped arguing. She understood Wayne’s points but it didn’t help that Wayne had already seemed to carry a vendetta against Clive Crews since the beginning. Wayne’s persistent arguing went on with no effect. As a soldier Rust was used to sitting by as others screamed in her ears. She didn’t even flinch, almost as that of a perfect statue sitting upright in front it all.

In the back after a good four hours of reckless driving a bump on the road had forced Mason awake from a deep sleep filled with sorrow over the time he had lost with loved ones, mostly his father. But as a scientist he was forced to embrace new ways of life before, so why not now? He seemed in his heart now relatively fine with the change. When he looked up from where he sat he saw someone who wasn’t Rust sitting where Rust had been sitting, and it was weird to him because the last few times he had woken up it was to her.

“Ah you are awake, this is wonderful news. The Commander, Capitan said since I’m feeling homesick then I would be best to be here when you woke up!” Romeo stated.

Romeo then leaned in by Mason’s ear and whispered.

“It may not be much of a skill but I can already smell the commanders BS from here.”

Romeo now nudging Mason’s shoulder laughing.

“Romeo isn’t it?” Romeo responded with what appeared to be a drunken salute, and finally speaking out what in Romeo’s mind would be the truest words ever spoken.

“That is the name so please don’t misuse, overuse, or abuse it! Only the ladies can overuse it if you know what I mean! In short bursts, and over an over!”

Romeo nudging Mason’s shoulder yet again, and Mason not being able to help but laugh.

“You are just a walking slapstick comedy show Romeo! Did you know that?”

Romeo who never laughs at his own jokes does like to smile at his own jokes.

“So I am told!”

Mason looking at the man’s sidearm sees unlike the berretta m9 millimeter pistols that Wayne and Rust had he was sporting a high-class, high-power 357.Magnum.

“That piece you got there Romeo is a mighty fine weapon as far as power goes.”

Romeo pulls out the gun and hands it to Mason.

“I was so excited someone noticed my uniqueness that I almost threw it to you but realized how dumb that would be. Now Mason, I was a big fan of Clint Eastwood growing up. Have you ever heard of him by the way?”

“Of course I heard of him!”

Romeo threw his hands up in the air as if he were surrendering.

“Whoa there cowboy you don’t have to say it like that!”

“Like what?” Mason exclaimed.

“Well anyway I didn’t quite care for the kick of the 44.Magnum so I downgraded slightly. I named it the “LADY KILLER”, nice huh?”

“Nothing but the best man, nothing but the best! You wouldn’t happen to have any food would you?”

Smiling Romeo pulls out a chocolate bar.

“You know Mr. Mason. Since I have grown a liking to you! I will share some of my delicious, chocolaty nougat with you!”

The candy bar wasn’t what Mason was really wanting but he was hungry so he kindly accepted it.

The door from the cockpit of the DB slid abruptly open. A flustered Rust crawled into the passenger square. With the two sets of four little chairs on each side the DB is meant to carry an estimated 8 people excluding possibilities of squeezing more in Indian crossed like these three now were.

“Ugh!” Rust had her arms crossed, with a flustered red face and imaginary.

“Romeo!”

“Yes mi-lady?”

“Can I have a bite of that?”

Romeo tore off a piece of the candy bar then replying, “It is, may I have a piece miss, you need more respect for your elders.” Rust grabbed the chocolate.

“I skimmed your file lover boy, and you are twenty-four which means I am a year older.”

“Was Wayne asking you to join the squad again? I mean the three short-ish months I’ve been on this team he has already asked you like ten times or something!”

“Romeo got any hooch?”

“Hooch?! You sound like my grandma. If you want alcohol just say so, just be like hey I wanna get shit-faced! And I’ll say that I am up for a party!”

Happily Romeo pulls out a flask carrying whiskey followed by “Whiskey means water in Russian you know?” Mason correcting him retorts with “that is actually vodka my friend.” and Rust finishing with as long as it is booze then it doesn’t really matter!” they take a few drinks a piece but are surprisingly halted by Romeo who kept the mindset that they are on job in which Rust agreed. Rust was recalled to the co-pilots seat.

Rust leaving decided to obey and head up front. Romeo rubbed his eyes, yawned, and fell asleep. Mason stretched his legs out. He felt immensely cramped in such a tiny space, which was kind of par for the course. Laying back the way he was reminded him of outside a bar back before being cryogenically frozen while being maybe a little more drunk than he probably should’ve been.

A tall figure walked out of the bar, and stood next to Mason who was sitting drunk outside a bar.

“Mason, man you got to try to look less drunk. People will think you were out partying or something.” Mason smacking his feet together like he was in the Land of Oz.

“Maybe Miles, I just want to go home!”

“Did Angelica break up with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey Miles. About the human subject to put to sleep.” Mason asked.

Mason’s mind shifted back to the present future in which he now resides. If only he hadn’t gone to sleep he thought, then he could have controlled Miles’ actions he could have stopped him. Though Miles was incredibly persuasive. Mason found himself wondering if he might have simply gone along with it. Mason then began shaking his head, and there was no way Mason would go along with something that crazy.

Surely there was time in between him freezing and the creation of the irons, Miles may have been very different from what Mason knew. And Mason found himself wondering why he was having those flashbacks… they felt so real. Suddenly the Armored DB came to a complete stop that knocked Mason on his side, and jolted Romeo enough to wake him.

“Da hell was that?” Romeo shouted.

Mason along with Romeo hopped out of the DB. When the mechanics had caught up the pilot from the grenade launching mechanic stepped out who was Sampson Miller, the cousin of the son of General Miller or just the supreme commander’s nephew. The other was corporal Dean. A shy young fellow who doesn’t talk, he was also a good friend of Sampson. Sampson patted him on the back signaling essentially for him to follow.

“Ok here Sam, what is going on?”

“Well I just saw a quick glimpse of it, the one who spotted it was Dean but he doesn’t really talk too much. I am positive Wayne is about to tell you all about it!”

Came approaching was Rust, and Wayne. The two of which were already discussing the situation.

“Commander have ya ever even heard of a shooting star of that magnitude?”

“No Rust, and It was plural, stars. There was more than one. At least after the fact.”

They walked over and Wayne was already asking questions of what it might have been to the only person who may know, Mason. Since plenty of recorded pieces of information are lost and the unavailability of internet at Requiem makes research that way difficult, Wayne suspects it may be a rare space anomaly.

Mason after hearing every bit of information Wayne had on how to describe it Mason was wracking his brain. So hard in fact that there was even a vein clearly showing on his fore-head. A vein in which Dean couldn’t help but stare at.

“It really was something though Mason! It was the prettiest pale blue!”

“I guess there is a girl in there somewhere!” exclaimed Romeo which was quickly followed by a raising middle finger on Rust’s part.

The pale blue description reminded Mason of the iron arachnid that stared him down in Columbus. The one with the pale eyes. But that didn’t matter here and now. It would be irrelevant Mason thought.

“Why can I not explain what you are? Why don’t I know?” Mason whispered to himself, Sampson putting his hand on Mason’s back.

“You okay buddy?” asked Wayne.

“Mason?” Rust softly said.

Mason thought to himself, he realized now this mysterious anomaly was another thing he couldn’t explain. He with his vast knowledge knew nothing. It scared Mason, the last time he had felt this way was with the confusion of cancer when his mom was dying. Mason as you see, doesn’t like not understanding. Which is par for the course for all humanity. There will always be something that someone doesn’t understand. It is better for a human to assume that there is something they don’t know about rather than assume they know anything at all.

Shaking his head Mason breathed in the cool air of the night.

“I am not an astrophysicist my friends but I can tell you that what you saw was not normal, even for the mysteries of space. Though I don’t know much of anything going on.”

Sampson not understanding that Mason didn’t in fact understand asked this question “Well what do you think that it is?”

“I don’t know but from what you described, it was a large pale blue orb shining in the sky shaped like the North Star. Then it dispersed into a blue streaming shower actually splitting up in the atmosphere, then hitting into the ground at the speed a shooting star would. It just isn’t commonplace! I don’t know!” mason told him.

Mason knew he drank a little bit but this was real, Wayne saw it, Rust was too intrigued to be lying, and finally that silent Dean guy wouldn’t make up an absurd tall tale. After thinking upon it. Wayne despite being most interested initially finally decided to keep moving. Mason agreed, mostly because didn’t want to sit and think about things too far out of his realm of understanding. Giant bugs were explained with science, but he knew not a thing about what might be going on. The crew then drove until dusk.