1.5 - Emergence.

3.5K 38 34
                                    

Authors notes: The add on chapter has now been merged into this one. From now on, a string of symbols or garbled text, indicates a language barrier or a translation failure from the ink\octo perspective, and gibberish will be from the human perspective.

When Drake's team stepped out of the airlock, it was immediately clear that time was not kind to this part of the facility. There were various forms of plant life and fungus growing on the ground, and cobwebs on the walls. The control room was an absolute wreck, and much of the launch bay had rusted or collapsed.

"Is it even safe to go out this way?" Brandon asked. "Frigging Mclarrin should have opened up the main entrance for us."

Drake opened the door to the emergency exit, and peered into the hall that lead to the exit hatch. "Doesn't look much better in here."

"Okay, I'll go fir-" Takeshi walked into a line of cobwebs, and began swatting the spiders that were now crawling on him. "Spiders! I HATE SPIDERS! That's it! I'm burning every web I see!" He quickly took out his lighter and began burning webs. The rest of the team walked past to board the lift at the end of the hall.

"Wait!" Drake said, stopping his team. "We don't know what condition that thing is in. Let's take the ladder, just to be safe." Drake grabbed the ladder and shook it a few times to see if it would hold his weight. "Seems like it will hold. Let's go up one at a time to be sure." Drake climbed the ladder, took out his key to open the hatch, and turned it. The hatch opened, and bright sunlight filled the passage. Drake was stunned at what awaited him after he climbed out of the hatch.

The first thing he noticed, was the intense heat. It had to be at least 90 Fahrenheit, and was accompanied by high humidity. This was only made worse by the fact that the team was wearing body armor, helmets and gas masks. The other thing that was out of place was the environment itself. When they went to sleep, this was an aired and high altitude wasteland. Now, the air was thick, and the ground was covered in plant life, many of which Drake had never seen before. There was even a river nearby. But the strangest thing was a city in the distance. Drake was sure the only settlement in this area, was in a nearby valley.

"What the hell is this?" Asked Matt. "These things were definitely not here before."

"Forget that," said Reggie. "This heat is killing me. Can we please take the masks off?"

Before Drake could snap at Reggie, Justin chimed in. "We don't know if the air is even breathable right now. Why do you think I'm taking samples?"

While Justin was taking samples and scanning with the spectrometer, Drake turned to his team. "Remember, we aren't here to start a fight. Stay alert, but keep your weapons lowered. Don't fire until I give the order."

Justin spoke up. "Drake, the preliminary scans are complete. I can't explain why, but the air seems cleaner than it's ever been. No signs of the pollution, or any unknown pathogens. I'll have to take the sample to the med lab to be sure."

"Alright," Drake responded. "You should get a water sample before heading back down."

"Good idea. Are you guys going to check out the city?"

"Later. For now, we need to find the source of the beacon that woke us from the cryosleep. And leave the masks on!" The team left Justin to his own devices, and moved out. They were walking to the west for almost 10 minutes, but then Drake signaled the team to stop. Something was moving in the distance. Two strange creatures, that could only be described as a blob, were slowly advancing on the team.

"What is this?" Said a stunned Brandon.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look like the talking type. Waste them!" Drake pulled the trigger of his G36 assault rifle, and emptied half a magazine into one of the blobs, while Brandon and Matt, unloaded on the other one. "Cease fire!" He yelled, and watched as the bullets they fired were dissolved in the creatures body.

The Legacy Of Humanity - A Splatoon FanfictionWhere stories live. Discover now