The last man in the infested ruins

Chapter 4: waking up

The next morning

Cooper slowly opened his eyes while sluggishly removing his oxygen mask, he then placed his hand on the window of his pod and stared outside. He saw Dawson sitting on a chair slumping over, no doubt sleeping.

"Typical, he's sleeping while we were sleeping. Then again, it was all night, so he couldn't help but sleep" he said in his head.

He brushed his hand on the lid of his pod, looking for a way to open it. Unfortunately, there is no hidden lever nor button to open the pod.

"H-hey! Open this pod and let me out! Wake up Dawson, and open the pod!" He called out, but no matter how loud he yells, no one can hear him.

He bared his teeth out of frustration, but he calmed himself down by tapping his foot on the floor of the pod.

"Shit! I need to open the pod, but the only thing to open it is when I wake up from hypersleep while wearing the harness that attaches to the pod or someone can open it manually by pressing the button from the outside. What were the scientists thinking of designing these stupid cryopods anyway!?" He said in his head.

He looked around for a way to open the pod by causing it to malfunction, he thought about pressing the button on the floor but decides against it since it only detaches the harness, until he spotted few wires and one tube at the top of the pod. He reached up and grabbed the tube and pulled it with what strength he has, then he managed to detached it from the top of the pod. Suddenly, a blue gas starts pouring from the circular hole, burning his bare rubbery skin and causing him to grunt in pain.

"Damn it! What kind of gas is this!?" He yelled while plugging his nose to avoid breathing it.

He immediately reached up the wires and grabbed it before he gasps for air and breathes in the gas, in which he believed to be toxic. He pulled on the wires with his might, and lucky for him, snapped off. He felt the sparks of electricity buzzing on his hand, and then the lid of his pod immediately slides open. He took one step out of his pod, and he gasps for air since he was holding his breath. He felt the cool air in the room, since he wearing only underwear and still has his oxygen mask in hand. He put his clothes on one by one, and put his oxygen mask back on. After that, he glanced at the cryopod where Lt. Kevin was sleeping in and it was empty. The first thing he has to focus on is to wake Dawson up, so he walked over to him.

"Hey, wake up" he said as he shook Dawson, but the man was out cold.

"Great, he's out cold. I wonder what happened to Lt. Kevin?" He thought to himself.

He had to leave Dawson to look for Lt. Kevin, while carrying a flashlight to light the way. In the hallway, he looked around, and noticed footsteps leading to the right hall. He followed the footsteps (even though he is barefoot), and when he reached the end, he heard quiet whimpering and uneven breathing. He moved his flashlight around, and saw a corpse of a mutated personnel in front of Lt. Kevin, who is on the floor traumatized.

"What happened here, lieutenant?" He asked.

"I... I killed... I killed a mutant... so scared... it attacked me so I attack... no choice..." replied Lt. Kevin, his eyes are bloodshot and stared at him with the look of fear.

"Come on, let's get you some clothes unless if you prefer walking around in your undies. I just had a rough morning trying to get my cryopod to open so I can get out, even your brother was out cold when I needed his help" said Cooper.

He bent down and helped Lt. Kevin stand up, and escort him back to the room of the cryopods. By the time they came back, they found Dawson barely awake.

"You're back... I'm sorry if I drifted off sleeping, I stayed up all night drinking coffee until I crashed" Dawson apologized.

"You know, I didn't even realized your were asleep when I woke up. I had trouble getting my pod to open until I had to tear it's wires and it's tube to get it open, and I assume the Lieutenant had similar problems" said Cooper in a disappointed tone.

"Oh, is that where the gas is coming out of the open pod? Why do you look red and shiny? And why is my brother shaking in fear while wearing underwear?" Questioned Dawson.

Cooper didn't answer, let alone a disappointed sigh.

"Brother, I killed I mutant. It traumatized me when it attacked me soon after I woke up" said Lt. Kevin.

"Get it together. You are a soldier including me and your brother, so it's ok to be traumatized, but toughen it up!" Said Cooper.

"Anyways, I've been studying the map. Either we call for help in the radio station, or we could investigate the other bunker where I believe contains numerous civilians in hypersleep" suggested Dawson.

"I think we can call for help in the radio station, I'm not in the mood to explore the bunker that is crawling with mutants. Besides, I'm sure the rescue party can rescue them and help them restore the city" said Lt. Kevin.

"Then it's settled, we'll go to the radio station and contact a rescue party. Before we do that, let's have you put some clothes on" said Cooper.

Lt. Kevin nodded before walking over to the pile of his clothes, and then started putting them on piece by piece. Once he is done, he put on the boots to be ready.

Then the trio left the room and head straight to the exit of the bunker, and once they're out of the bunker, Dawson leads them to where the radio station is at. The radio station is located at the western edge of the city, in which it's the least dangerous part since there's small mutants that the trio can easily kill. At the western edge of the city, there's ruins of houses and small businesses that were once full of people, now sitting abandoned while showing damage from the war. The air felt stagnant, as if the city itself is holding it's breath. The side walks showed cracks, and it felt cool beneath Dawson and Cooper's bare feet.

Authors note: sorry for taking long, but here is chapter 4.