Sanity

Liam-31 continued to walk through the dark and gloomy ruins. Not knowing his exact location of where he was at would hinder his progress towards his mission, and being alone at night left him vulnerable to any creature hiding in the shadows, waiting for him to be their next meal.

"Can you tell me where my exact location is?" Liam-31 asked ANTI, before displaying Earth on his visor. Zooming in on the planet, ANTI began to mark Liam-31's location.

"You appear to be somewhere in Japan, exact area unknown. Unknown amount of time needed to reach mission point."

Liam-31 continued to walk forward, assessing the map of Earth. At least knowing that he was somewhere in Japan, the area where the mission would be found, gave him a bit of assurance that his journey wouldn't be as treacherous as it could've been.

"How long until the sun rises?" Liam-31 asked ANTI once again.

"It will be 4 hours until the sun rises." ANTI spoke promptly.

"I'll find a place to rest, the-"

Liam-31 couldn't finish his sentence, as the faint sound of a twig snapping alerted him, as he raised his auto rifle at almost the exact same time the sound was made. Observing his surroundings, his visor began to light up.

"ANTI, scan my surroundings." Liam-31 quickly said, as his visor soon began to illuminate his surroundings with a grey outline. 

Keeping his finger on the trigger, he twisted around his position, trying to locate the creature that could've made the sound. His visor did not pick up any signs of hostile life-which would have been marked red-and soon the grey outline began to dim away.

"ANTI, what are the hostile creatures that are living on Japan currently?" Liam-31 said, still keeping check of his surroundings, as the A.I began to speak.

"Creatures that currently inhabit the country of Japan include Mimics, Raptors, Arachnae, Savages, Parasites, and Gigans." ANTI listed images of what the creatures each looked like, all equally horrifying and grotesque, monsters that should be plagued from the surface of Earth.

"It isn't safe out here, I need to find cover fast." Liam-31 started to hasten his pace forward, he realized that the only creatures who could be that silent were either Mimics, Arachnae, or Parasites, as Raptors were aerial creatures, and Savages and Gigans were too big to move around that stealthily.

"Sanity levels are increasing. It is recommended to rest." ANTI urged Liam-31, as his visor soon began to display a small red 'WARNING' title at the top of his view.

"I'm trying." Liam-31 said, as he put his auto rifle down, proceeding to climb over a small hill of debris. He was surrounded by various amounts of destroyed and withered buildings, each perfect spots to find rest, but knowing that a creature could attack him at any point in this area, Liam-31 had to find another area to rest.

Reaching the top of the hill of debris, Liam-31 was able to reach one of the building's windows, or what remained of it. From the distance, he could see vast amounts of destruction, remains of buildings, parks, skyscrapers, not a single remnant of humanity would be able to live peacefully in this condition.

Searching for a building that would be adequate enough to rest and hide from the creatures, Liam-31 found a building a small distance away from his location, where he would be able to view the area with better cover.

Putting his auto rifle on his back, he prepared himself to jump from the building's window, as he looked down it was apparent that a normal human without armor would suffer from injuries, but with the advantage of his Bastion Armor, he would be able to survive the fall with no injuries.

With a loud thud, he dropped to the ground. Knowing that the sound would attract creatures to his location, he began to run towards the building in order for the creatures to not discover him.

"ANTI, increase output of hearing levels, scan area for any life." Liam-31 said quickly, as his visor began to outline his surroundings grey, and his hearing levels high enough to listen to the faint wind that blew past him.

Half the distance away from the building, Liam-31 suddenly stopped, looking for a position to cover himself with. Finding a building wall to hide against, he slowly revealed his helmet to the area he was looking at, as what he saw could only be described as a hellish monstrosity. 

A large Arachnae, its millions of eyes glowing white, its bare fangs oozing with black venom. It had six slick, black legs that barely made sound, and its abdomen was so large it could hold ten adult males. 

Observing the arachnae, Liam-31 could see that its eyes began to move rapidly, seemingly searching for whatever sound was made in the area. When the arachnae began to move, without the help of Liam-31's hearing levels being so high, the sound of its legs would be almost impossible to hear.

As the arachnae silently moved away from the area, Liam-31 let two minutes pass by before he moved, with each second he could feel his heartbeat pump through his armor, his breath quickening as his sanity levels began to rise due to the abomination he had seen.

After letting himself regain his composure, he ran towards the building as fast as he could, not wanting the arachnae to find him. It took him only eight seconds to reach the building, as he opened the building's door, closing it behind him, and leaving him in the dark and dim shadows of the destroyed building. 

Turning on his visor's light, he began to reach the building's upper levels, keeping his rifle in hand in case any creature had unfortunately made this building its home.