Well, that escalated rather quickly.
Let's see what this chapter has in store for today.
.
..
...
...
—
[In the middle of nowhere, Cassie has been walking for about an hour since she has woken up from the incident she's found herself in, the urban road transforming into dirt.]
[While wandering through the deserted wasteland, she has questions about what brought her here, why she was here, and how she was here.]
[Using her paramedic coat as a way to shield herself from the sun's glaring heat, small beads of sweat continued to stream down her cheek to the neck, her back completely covered in sweat as her turtleneck is neatly wrapped around her waist.]
—
"Thank goodness I have an extra t-shirt on..."
If I hadn't worn one on me before that incident, I would've been a half-naked lady wearing a bra in the middle of nowhere!
"I wonder if there's any kind of city on this damned road."
Everything's been the same after I've been walking for what, about a day now!
My legs feel sore, my body is dry, and I'm thirsty to put the icing on the cake, I really need to find water, or else I'll just dry up into a husk of what I am.
"Ever since that weird slug thing came out of nowhere, I wonder if there's more of them."
The thought occurred to me and sends chills down my spine, that a possibility of other things like that exists.
What if there's a spider? Or a crab? Or worse, a cockroach!
"Oh my god, oh my god..."
I refrained from freaking out again, not after that happened!
'It's kind of awkward when I think about it.'
Yeah, I screamed at the top of my lungs like my life was about to end, then that thing appears and completely bamboozles me!
I thought it was gonna do something but then it ended up being stuck upside down.
"Sigh, I hope I don't those things, they look ugly and gross at the same time..."
Continuing my walk and saving my voice for later, I felt the ground rumble around me, the small dots of rocks trembling around my shoes.
"?"
Looking around, I found nothing approaching, and the shaking kept getting intense and intense as seconds pass.
"What's going on??"
Confusion riles up when I frantically look around me, trying to find what's causing this shaking.
"Huh, what's that?"
In the distance, a big cloud of smoke appears behind me, squinting my eyes and using my hand to block the sunlight, I saw what seemed to be a pack of... spiders?
"...Oh no."
Did I just jinx myself? Thinking my mind is playing tricks on me, I narrowed my eyes more and focused on the growing sand smoke ever-approaching my direction.
"No, it can't be..."
I was shocked to see the same bug from before riding on a spider, having the same features of its skin, black and yellow surface, running straight towards me, along with other slugs, looking as if the little guy called out its army!
"Oh no!"
Now convinced, I turned my walk into a jog, hoping the momentum and speed can outrun them, knowing if I run I'll exhaust myself further.
"Frick. Frick, frick, frick! Why me!!!"
Looking behind, the bugs seemed to gain speed on me, which prompted me to go faster by running in a straight line.
'Here's me hoping I'll survive any longer!'
The one-hour walk turned into a run, a run for my life to be exact, I don't know where I'll end up following this road, but it better be worth it in the end after all of this!
...
—
[Meanwhile, in another part of the desert far away, lies an unconscious man whose arm is partially stone and skin, his body fortunately under the shade of a random boulder just big enough to cover his entire body.]
[Slowly zooming in, we can hear the man's breathing, until it suddenly stops as his eyes shot open with his body twitching upon awakening.]
[The man sat upright on the sand and leans his upper body against the boulder behind him, feeling the cool sides of the boulder's rough surface touch his skin felt like ice.]
[Groaning and letting out a sigh of relief, the man scans his surroundings, finding nothing but endless fields of sands that stretched upon the horizon, the sun's hot rays making a distinct mirage near the edges.]
[Then, he speaks for the first time after waking up, his accent sounding American and ending with a southern twang of his tongue.]
—
...
"Where the hell am I?"
Everything is so... blurry, what happened?
"Ow..."
A sharp pain lies on my head, I raised my left hand to place it on my forehead, but what I saw wasn't my hand.
Instead, it was clusters of rocks that seemed to form the shape of a hand, at first, I felt panic taking over my mind, and instead felt nothing but fine, energized, and calm, like I just got out of bed recently.
"How strange..."
Standing up using the boulder beside me as a support to lift myself, I stand up on my two feet, slightly struggling to work the muscles and memory to walk but got the hang of it in two seconds or less.
After my mind got attuned to my legs, I tried to remember what happened, the last thing I remember is myself being transported in an ambulance, then I passed out, heard a couple of bangs and booms, and now I'm here?
"And what in the hell happened to my left arm?"
My arm looks like it had seen medusa and turned into stone, though how it turned to stone is a mystery to me.
"I remember something stuck in my arm, like a black chunk of crystal impaled on my shoulders."
Oh, and I also remembered how I was panicking, freaking out at how this thing just basically turned my entire left arm into stone.
Though it sounds unnaturally wrong, I was calm about how unusual this is, that and how I woke up in the middle of nowhere.
Realistically, if someone were to be in the same situation as mine, they'll probably panic more or less.
"Agh, whatever about my arm, at least my right one's good though, and thank god for that."
I was glad at my right arm was spared, because, ya know, I'll be having a bad time for the rest of my life.
"Other than this little problem of mine, where the hell am I?"
At first, I thought I was in the Mojave desert, but this ain't the same desert I know, this desert feels... different, something's wrong and I can feel it.
"There's no cities, no roads or anything..."
I doubt I'd find a single clue of civilization out here, and where the hell did that ambulance brought me anyway?
"Hmm, if I was my brother, how should I find society?"
I thought, rubbing my chin, at the same time, seeing my petrified arm unnerves me, thinking if it can turn back to a normal arm at some point, like that anime Dr. Stone me and my cousin's nephew watched.
"Maybe if-Woah, what the fuck?"
The petrified arm starts to... un-petrify itself? The stones started to disappear and seemingly crawls into my inner skin, making me cringe in unison and scowl in disgust.
"How the-the fuck?"
I stuttered on my words, my arm completely transformed into its normal self, no stones or a shred of it seen on the surface.
"How... what?"
I was mildly confused, did me thinking of my arm to be its usual self caused the stones to disappear?
"..."
Then, I started to experiment with it, I thought of the petrified state my arm was in, and sure enough, the stones started to appear on the surface and starts to form a structure around my arm, almost like shielding itself in its armor.
"Woah... That's so... fucking cool!"
I exclaimed, like, how cool does it freaking sound knowing you have this sort of thing!
"Holy shit, I can be like that guy from the superheroes people, whose name is the "thing", hah, now I can be like him!"
Though it seems my ability is limited to my arm and my arm only, I wonder if I can transform other parts of my body too later in the future?
"*Shivers* on a second thought, maybe It'll be a good idea to stick with my arms."
Honestly speaking, I don't want to look like a slightly burnt fried chicken on a sunny day, and maybe also be unable to drink water, 'cause I'll easily wreck things around me.
Transforming my left arm back to its normal self, I looked around, thinking of a direction to go.
"Going towards the sun is an idea."
Ain't a bad thought, there's a chance I can find people or something of interest, though, in reality, I'll probably sweat my balls inside out without even finding one or two things resembling society.
"Shit man, I should've watched more survival documentaries."
All I know about being in a situation like this is to stay calm, find help, and leave clues for others to follow.
Finding help is the difficult part here, all the eye could see is nothing but a sea of sand!
"On a second thought, maybe it's best to stay here, save some energy until dusk comes."
Going out there basking in the sun like a sunny day's beach is not a good idea, and without any water or food, I estimated to have a survival time of around six to eight days (depending on how empty my stomach is).
And also, I just woke up not too long ago, maybe around five to ten minutes?
'It's weird how I feel so full even though I didn't even eat anything, and it's also weird how I miraculously survived the crash!'
I couldn't see it clearly, but I have a faint memory of running out of the ambulance's totaled doors and going outside, maybe that's the reason why I got here, behind this boulder?
"Oh, yeah. Where is the ambulance anyway?"
Looking around me, I take a walk going behind the boulder, feeling the sunlight touch my skin, I felt energetic the moment I saw the vast valley of canyon and sand, and how there are these weird black things protruding out of those canyons.
"Wada fuck...?"
I realized at that moment I was not on earth anymore, the black things everywhere throughout the canyon, black cubes on the sides of canyons, black spikes sticking out of the ground, and tall hexagonally shaped columns piercing the blue skies.
"These blacks are everywhere!"
That sounded racist, but this is how I'd comment upon seeing this stuff, I assume they are some sort of an occurrent thing in this different world I am in.
"There's one near me though."
A few feet away from me is a cluster of those things, taking in different forms or shapes, but I can tell they're all the same.
"What even are these?"
Approaching the cluster to get a closer look, I leaned down to gaze at the surface, noticing a faint yellow glow in the abyssal darkness it has.
"Huh, weird."
Then, out of nowhere, my arms transformed into their rock form and begins to levitate towards the clusters of rocks by themselves.
"Wha-Hey, what the fuck!"
I was taken by surprise when my petrified hands came into contact with the clusters and suddenly felt a bolt of energy and warmth gushing through my entire body.
"AAAAGH!"
Pain resides in my left arm, prompting me to use my right hand to grasp my crystalized arm, trying to subdue it and stop the pain to prolong any longer.
Flashes of white and yellow begin to fill my vision, then, darkness envelopes me, bringing blindness to my eyes.
"Uuugh..."
Finally, the pain disappears and soon my vision was brought back to my eyes, able to see the familiar blue skies and the white clouds above.
"What the hell was that for...?"
I gasped, my hand still grasping my left arm while I lie motionlessly on the sandy floor, still shocked at the phantom pain that echoes in my nerves.
"Ha... Ha..."
My lungs breathed for more air, feeling like they got crumbled and thrown around inside my body, and as the shock passes over and I calmed down, I noticed a faint light in front of me.
"What...?"
The clusters of rocks... they were white, instead of black! After a few seconds of staying still, I heard a noise, followed by a cracking noise, then shattering.
"What in the fuck is happening?"
I was losing my sanity at this point, the rocks crumbled into shards of glass of their former selves, and was wondering whether or not I was the reason that caused that to happen.
"Ugh, that still hurts like a bitch."
I vulgarly said, leisurely standing up on my two trembling legs as my right-hand lets go of my arm.
"Okay, what in the fuck is happening to my arm?"
Realizing my hand is covered in black goo, I looked down to notice the rocks... reforming themselves? And taking in a more reinforced and improvised form, and felt stronger the time they were done doing that.
"Woah..."
I was astonished at my completely re-transformed arm, now looking tougher and stronger than ever.
"So whenever I consume those black rock things, I get stronger?"
The lightbulb in my head clicked, but I couldn't handle the pain that it brought soon after and decided to lay off the idea in the back of my head, not wanting to experience that suffering again until I had the balls to do it.
"Jesus Christ that hit me like a truck."
Transforming my arm back to its usual self, I noticed a slight bit of muscle mass appear to reside in them.
"Hah, this looks like I just jacked off using my left arm, not too shabby."
Now knowing I may have a chance at surviving with this thang, I went off towards a random direction, somewhere near northeast, in hopes of finding civilization or something that leads me to it.
"If any kind of bullshit comes, I can beat 'em up simply using this. Hehe."
...
—
[In the garden of the mansion, Xavier returns with a worried look on his face, recalling that picture Celine gave him, how she misses him, and how oddly weird it was.]
[He thought about it not too much when he notices William approaching from out of the mansion's doors, walking towards a straight bee-line towards Xavier with a look that tells "I have something to tell you" on his face.]
[Xavier tidies his clothes messed up by Celine hugging him, he mentally braces himself for whatever William is about to say.]
—
...
"Xavier, I need you to come with me."
'Well ain't that a kick in the gut.'
I thought, thinking William's about to scold me again.
"And bring Barrack along with you, that old bastard, I need him."
William ordered as he goes back to the mansion, probably to go do something else.
"Oh, and when you're done doing that. I'll be waiting in the basement, it's the door made of iron."
William said before going into the mansion, I was suspicious at first but decided it's better to not question it.
"Alright."
Following his orders, I went around the garden to find Barrack laughing with the old folk in the hospital, exchanging jokes about women and sharing their old war stories or their personal lives.
"Aye, Barrack!"
I yelled, bringing attention to the group as Barrack greets me back with a smile.
"Heeey! Xavier! How is it going with that punk William, eh? I saw 'em talk to ya for a moment."
Barrack said, noting the interaction between William and me not even a minute ago.
"Yeah, that's why I'm here. William needs you for something, I'm not sure why, but he specifically told me to."
After I broke the news to Barrack, his smile faded and was replaced by a frown.
"Seriously? Fine, if he wants me to do something for him, I'll bring my good 'ol Aiden with me."
Steering away from the group, Barrack excuses himself as I had to stick with his words to bring Aiden along.
'It wouldn't hurt bringing Aiden to the mix.'
After all, Aiden is used to Barrack's incessant blabbering all the time while he makes me lull to sleep if I was the one to listen.
"Oh, there he is!"
Barrack pointed out, seeing Aiden talk among the other doctors from the hospital under a gazebo tent, specifically the head administrator of the hospital, his arms crossed, listening to what Aiden is saying.
"-The situation in the garden is stabilizing, as for the medical supplies and rations, I'd estimate to be lasting somewhere about two to three weeks if the people rationed the supplies to themselves, including the medicine."
Michael chimes in, adding more information to the table they've gathered around.
"A-And what's good news for us is the patients are starting to recover, so less medicine is used among the other patients, except for the staff who were injured in the earthquake."
Michael sets down a piece of paper listing the count of medical supplies they have at their disposal.
'Oh, I didn't expect the head administrator of the hospital to be here, never seen him the moment I entered.'
I thought, the conversation becoming clearer and sharper the closer we got.
"Though what I'd like to note is the strange rocks that you saw when we left the hospital, it seems to be occurrent in the locals around here."
The head admin gave a doubtful look at what Michael is saying, as well as me and Barrack who stopped to eavesdrop on what the conversation is about.
"Please explain that more clearly..."
The head admin asked Michael to elaborate on what he meant.
"Don't you see?"
Michael said, figuring to the local behind the fence of the mansion who's staring at them, noticing the same black rocky substance that resides on their body.
'I think I saw something similar on Gilbert's body...'
I didn't pay much attention to it other than thinking it was just dirt, but thinking about it now, it does seem familiar to the rocks we've seen in the wild before we arrived here.
"The rock, which its name will be blank for now, is present in their bodies, and this is evident by the fact that one of our patients got infected with it when they were being evacuated from the hospital."
Michael nods at Aiden, who then brings out a picture of the patient they were specifically talking about.
"Fortunately, it seems that the infection is rather small in size, but if I am correct..."
Michael pauses, his hand over his mouth to rub his chin.
"If the infection remains unsupervised and untreated, it might turn him into... well, into that."
Michael again refers to one of the locals outside who were less abundant now, pointing out a man with cat ears with his right shoulder partially covered in black rocks.
"I know it might not be of a threat as of now, but I worry in the future that the same fate will be applied to our patients and everybody else in the garden."
Silence filled the table, the perfect moment for us to interrupt their conversation short.
"Hey, sorry to break the tension, but we need Aiden for something, is that alright?"
I asked and saw the head admin's face surprised to see me here.
"Oh, Xavier. I didn't expect to see you here."
A little bit of backstory of this guy, his name is Mick Jackson, the head administrator of our hospital, he is a chill and respected guy, who has a fair understanding of leadership, logistics, and empathy for the hospital team and their suffering (that includes the patients too).
"Hey, Mick."
After I said my simple hello, his eyes landed on Barrack, who also got his form of hello as well.
"Ah, Barrack! Good to see you still kickin' ass out there."
Barrack simply gives a thumbs up and said the reason why we're here.
"Yeah, we need Aiden for a bit in a jiffy, is that alright?"
Mick looks at Aiden for a second and accepts Barrack's request without much thought.
"Sure, you can have 'em."
With Mick's permission, Aiden excuses himself from the meeting of doctors and accompanied Barrack with me.
"So, what's the jiffy, hmm?"
Aiden asks as his hands grabbed the back handle of the wheelchair, pushing Barrack towards the mansion as I walked ahead of them.
"It's about William, and thought we needed you in case something happens."
Aiden's eyes widened about me mentioning William and dared to ask why.
"I don't know man, he only told me to bring Barrack with me, and Barrack wanted to bring you along, so... We're kind of in the dark here, unless William tells us what he's doing."
We continued to go to the mansion and into the basement just like William told us to, 'a door made of iron' Like those fence gates? Should be easy to find.
After turning and crossing expansive hallways filled with people working on the clock, we found the iron gate William was talking about and saw him impatiently tapping his foot with himself leaning against the wall behind him.
"Took you long enough—wait, why is Aiden-Sigh... never mind, let's get inside, I'll explain some things."
He said, not giving us a chance to question what was going on.
"Welp, let's head straight in, don't want to rile up William again, aye?"
Barrack said as we head into the basement with us carrying the wheelchair Barrack is on.
"Careful now!"
Barrack warned as we took each step with caution, getting deeper and deeper until we felt the ground became flat.
"Okay, set it down now, the ground's flat."
Setting the wheelchair down, we found ourselves in the basement, completely in the dark with nothing but the lights seeping in through the windows, until that is when William lights up a candle, revealing another person in the room.
"is that the fucking furry from the garden who calls himself the mayor?"
Barrack vulgarly inquired but was answered when William nodded, William approaches the mayor with the candle, illuminating his grey furry skin.
"Yep, this is the guy. He's alright if you're wondering,"
William assured, grabbing hold of his mane to see his baggy eyes.
"And all of you are here to interrogate him, I know, it sounds improper, but I am sure you and a lot of others have questions that can bring information that is worth to our advantage."
William said, grabbing a chair near him to set down the candle and walking towards us.
"I'll basically be the translator of things, and yes, I do have questions of my own, but I thought why not bring you guys to ask your side on the matter?"
So that's why we're here? He could've done this for himself, but I guess bringing others can be a worthwhile decision in his view.
"But before that, I have to reveal to you guys about the, uh, "plan" I've made before all of this."
William said, our ears listening for his explanation.
"Now, you're wondering why I put Derick as the one in charge to do the signal and apprehend the mayor in case things go wrong, but he... decided to back out the moment they came."
I, Aiden, and Barrack exchanged looks, already questioning what's his motives and intentions behind this.
"Simply put, Derick was the only one competent and strong enough to fight, and I know, you might say that there are others to choose from, but they're injured and can't even move their bones after the hospital collapsed on them."
I remembered the people back in the tents, their legs and arms covered in bloody bandages and dislocated limbs.
"The only one who is rumored to be brave and strong is Derick, because his background of being a firefighter in the past, and people often believe that."
William explained as our thoughts and opinions of him changed and evolved with each word that came out of his dry mouth.
"And for that, I am sorry for Derick and everyone else who was involved in this, I also told my condolences to the head admin of the hospital and Derick's close co-workers, I really should've thought twice about my actions, but then again I was left with no choice but to choose a couple of strong-willed people with barely any muscles in them."
That explains the people wielding the fire axes, they seem not too keen to fight a real person after all but are determined to defend themselves.
"I'll go meet Derick after this, just to clear a bit of confusion and hard feelings away from me."
With that said, William goes across the room to take something in the corner.
"Understandable, just don't go and do that again, Derick's been sensitive about being the light and hope of everyone's eyes now."
Aiden said as Barrack taps his fingers on the armrest, barging in Aiden's words.
"Yep, I know very well that boy Derick, a brave and young soul with no intentions of harming anyone."
Barrack said, smiling a bit and stroking the sides of his wheels.
"I guess your statement makes sense, but you should go and meet Derick yourself, just like you said, to apologize and stuff."
I added, acting empathetic and reasonable to William.
"Thanks, I just—I'm not fit and used to be the center of attention to things, ya know?"
William comes back with a bucket of water, facing us with a warm face, then turning stone cold when facing the sleeping Mayor, his shoulders rising up and down with each breath he took.
"I'll wake him up in a moment, you ready?"
William said as he readies himself with the bucket of water, ready to dump the whole thing on him.
"Yeah, go ahead."
I encouraged, giving William a thumbs up.
In an instant, William splashed the mayor with water, the cold and frigidness waking him up in a daze.
"Vad I helvete!?"
The mayor spouted, shaking his head back and forth to shake off the water on his eyes, coughing and blinking erratically.
"Wakey, wakey. Mr. Mayor."
Barrack said, tapping the Mayor's ruffled hair with an iron pipe he picked up from the ground (which he always has?).
"Var är jag?"
The Mayor said, frantically looking around until his eyes landed on William and us, exposing his fangs, his furred skin frowning upon the sight of our presence.
"du... Du!"
The Mayor's body starts to shake in anger, his furry hands clenching into fists behind him as his maw opens wide to scream at William.
"Varför är jag här? Du vågar väl inte skada borgmästaren i Helvete?
William throws the bucket away, startling the guy as we watched from the back.
"Lyssna här, "borgmästare", jag bryr mig inte om din titel eller vilken sorts vidskepelse du än har i huvudet, jag vill ställa ett par frågor och jag förväntar mig svar i gengäld. Förstår ni det?"
William said with a stern tone, staring down the mayor with that pissed-off look of his.
"Ha! som om jag skulle svara på dina dumma frågor-"
Suddenly, William grasped his maw, and I mean the entire structure of his mouth, shutting his words off as William repeats his line.
"Jag sa att jag bara ville ställa några frågor till dig och att jag i gengäld skulle få några svar. Förstår du?"
William threatened, his grip on the Mayor's snout tightening as his muscles flexes, applying more pressure to his grip.
"Aj! Okej, okej! Jag ska följa, jag ska följa!"
The Mayor exclaimed, trying to shake off William's grip on his maw until he finally was able to breathe when William let's go on his own.
"Bra, vi frågar om ett ögonblick."
Seem's like he's done talking to the mayor, turning around to say something.
"Okay, he's compliant to answer now, just don't make it sound confusing, alright?"
Aiden raised his hand to be the first one to ask, "I'll go first."
William understandably nods as he crosses his arms to listen to Aiden's question, probably translating it into his language.
"Tell him who he is and why he was here in the mansion in the first place."
William translated what Aiden said and waited for him to reply.
"Man, this is so confusing..."
I commented, unable to withstand the Swedish language William and this Mayor guy is speaking, I could swear the blood running into my nose if I listen too much.
"Berätta vem du är och vad är ditt syfte här i Brandé?"
The Mayor lifts his head enough to look up at William, his eyes glaring at him with anger.
"Jag är Kiowa Vertus, borgmästare på landsskeppet Helvete, och jag är här för att döma er för era brott!"
He yelled, pushing the chair with him, thankfully, the restraints held him back, making his attempts futile.
"He said his name is Kiowa Vertus, the Mayor of Helvete, which is a city on a landship? I don't know what that means but he's here to convict us of our crimes."
William told us whilst ignoring the loud personality this Kiowa guy has, then asked my turn of the matter.
"Can you tell him what the hell a landship is?"
William took my question in and asks Kiowa about it.
"Vad är ett landfartyg?"
Kiowa changed his angered expression into one of surprise, clearly disbelief at the question William asked.
"Menar du allvar? Ett landstigningsfartyg? Vet du inte ens vad det är? Ni människor är så främmande..."
I saw William's eyebrows frowned, telling me that's not the appropriate answer he's looking for.
"Sigh..."
Kiowa sighed, lightly shaking his head back and forth, presumably tired at us, before speaking up to William about the answer to his question.
"Eftersom du uppenbarligen inte är härifrån, är ett landskepp en vanlig sak här på Terra, det är en stor rörlig plattform full av städer, människor och vad som helst, som är full av liv och död tack vare Originium som är bränslet i skeppets motorer. "
The only words that sounded English to my ears were Terra and Originium, more and more questions popping up in my head than more questions being answered.
"Okay..."
Turning to face us, we waited for the English version of Kiowa's answer.
"He told me that a landship is a big moving platform in Terra, full of people and other things related to society, and apparently, Originium is the thing that provides the energy to the landship's engines and is responsible for people dying and stuff... it seems that I'm getting more questions than answers here to be honest."
William stated, bearing a lot of news over the four of us in the basement, "Huh? What is Terra?"
Aiden asks impatiently, wanting to seek more answers to his questions.
"Terra is, as I know, a Latin word of Earth, which is strange but sensible nonetheless."
William hastily answered, putting his hand over the back of his head to scratch a spot, having a hard time digesting all of the information.
"So... does that mean."
Barrack interrupted, moving his chair a little bit closer to William.
"We're not on Earth anymore?"
A deafening silence settled in the basement, the atmosphere becoming heavier and harder to breathe by the minute.
"Hold on... Just, hold on..."
Aiden couldn't handle the shocking news and skids over to a secluded corner in the basement, hand on the wall to lean himself against, his other hand holding his chest, trying to calm himself and not hyperventilate at the moment.
"Ho—ly shit, we're legit not on Earth anymore?"
Barrack repeated, William silently nods, also trying to handle the information in his head.
"Goddamn... now I won't miss my wife's grave on that forbidden planet anymore."
While Barrack had an unsurprising reaction (which is totally expected), I was also thinking of the patients outside and the other doctors like Michael.
How are they gonna react when we broke the news to them? Knowing they won't have a chance to return home and see their lovers again?
"Shit man..."
My palm rubbed the front of my forehead, trying to push down this feeling of discomfort and aching down to the bottom of my mind, but it was clear that wasn't going to fade away soon to my liking.
"Hold on, can you tell him where we are? Since you know, there must be nations and stuff?"
William shook his head upon my voice, startled by the knowledge of being in a different world filled with the unknown.
"Yeah, sure..."
William faces Kiowa, who has this smug smile on his face that I wanted to wipe off using any kind of object I can.
"Det verkar som om du är nybörjare, eller hur?"
Kiowa said who was then interrupted by William grabbing his neck with a tight grip, obviously angry and frustrated knowing they won't be connected back to where we were.
"Säg mig, i vilket land befinner vi oss just nu?"
William growled, his grip becoming so tight that Kiowa had to whimper for air.
"Vi befinner oss i en nation som heter... *Cough* Kazdel!"
Letting go of his throat to let Kiowa breathe, he faces me and told me the answer with a strained look on his face.
"We're in Kazdel, that's where we are right now."
Then, Barrack moves his wheelchair forward, opening his mouth to say something.
"Aye, William. I want you to ask him one more thing."
William whips his arm into the air, telling Barrack to shoot away his question.
"Tell him what the color of my underwear is! Just to be sure that he ain't lyin'!"
Both me and William gave him one of the most "what the fuck"s looks over on our faces, and instead, William said something much more sensible and appropriate than that old man's question for Kiowa to answer.
"En sak till, hur många nationer finns det?"
Kiowa coughed, his voice dry, rough, and croaking thanks to William grabbing his throat.
"Arton av dem, snälla, gör mig inte illa längre! Låt mig bara gå!
I could tell by his voice he was getting desperate and was pleading for William to spare his life.
"So what'd you tell him?"
I asked as William turns to me, glancing at Aiden who was still in the corner of the room then back to me.
"I told him if there were any nations other than Kazdel, and as it turns out, there's eighteen of them, that is including Kazdel."
I turn around to see Barrack patting Aiden's back, trying to calm him down and cheer him up.
"Aye, aye, it's alrighty Aiden boy."
I look down at myself, my hands covered in small bits of dirt and grass from the garden.
"Shit..."
I look back at William, arms folded with his face having a lot on his mind.
"How do we tell this to everyone, William?"
I said, burying him out of his thoughts to answer my question, my voice is a bit shaky from the unknown fact becoming a reality.
"..."
The silence was his answer and that tells me a lot of the circumstances we're in right now, like, what do we do now knowing we're not on Earth anymore?
"Well, at least we know for a fact that the ATF is not here anymore..."
Barrack stated, not taking the situation we're in as serious.
"Barrack, shut the fuck up, please."
William said, annoyed at Barrack for not caring or even showing the least concern about himself and everyone else.
'Well, I guess that's another perk of being an old man, not giving a care to everyone, himself, and the world...'
My head has this unnerving feeling that I couldn't shake off, like, we're in a world that's completely different and we know nothing from it.
A landship is the one that sounds new to my ear, and it's a big moving platform with cities on them, like the one we're on right now.
I couldn't believe it unless I saw it with my own eyes, I still can't believe what the Mayor said though, it's just... so out of this world, you get what I mean?
"Ugh, I'm having a headache trying to think about this..."
William admitted, as I also had the same position as he was.
"Let's just tell this to Mick, people trust him in the beginning when we arrived here."
I suggested, thinking that he can explain the unavoidable situation we've got ourselves in right now.
"I guess I can do that but..."
William turns to face the Mayor, who was staring at us with a confused look.
"What do we do with this guy?"
William said, our eyes pointing to him.
"I think it's best to keep him here and fed, he's the Mayor after all."
Aiden said, finally settling in on the situation at hand.
"And who knows, maybe he has agents going after him since he's that important."
Bringing up that thought, I then had the dawning realization that more agents are coming to the mansion, probably to retrieve the mayor in a huge conflict.
"Shit, we have to do something about that."
I said out loud, glancing at the Mayor and then back to us.
"If there is a Mayor, then obviously there's a government, and if the government knows their Mayor is gone for too long, you'll be expecting they'll come busting down doors and charging in through hallways."
Barrack said, sounding serious for once and taking everything into account.
"The only way to get out of this, obviously not the way like William did via negotiating, that option is thrown out of the window and into the garbage."
Barrack goes beside the Mayor with his wheelchair, his hands about to touch the restraints behind him.
"Wait! What are you doing!?"
William shouted, stopping Barrack from freeing the Mayor's furry hands by grabbing his soft wrists.
"Look, William. I know you and Derick have a common thought about not involving people dying, but if we want to have no one dying on our hands and being the guilt of it all, we have to convince the mayor to... and trust me with this."
Barrack whips away William's hands, staring at him with dead and empty eyes, looking like he went through two of the worst world wars in mankind's history.
"To surrender his government position and give it to us, or die resisting their attempted rescue of him."
Hearing Barrack tells us the truth and probably the most realistic one, William and everyone else in the room froze, the words of the old man crossing our ears and into our minds to process what he had said.
"Are you... Are you serious?"
Aiden said, truly losing himself at this point, and so did William, who was staring at Barrack and the side of his face with uncertainty.
And I, who was caught in the crossfire and dropkicked the Mayor, thought the chance of surrounding his position over to us is very slim unless a miracle happened or the Mayor had a change of mind.
"Yes, yes I am. And after the guy gave us his position of the Mayor, the government can't do something about it unless there's a loophole in their laws, which I am hoping is not a thing in this place."
Everyone else (excluding the Mayor) was looking at each other, unsure if Barrack's plan may or may not work out.
Though what choice do we have? Now we're in the same situation as William, and after everything that happened, I do not want another violent situation in the garden, much less a massacre.
"We can't lose any more people, and you know that, William. Including you, Xavier."
Barrack said, untying the confused Mayor who was now free from his restraints.
"William, go treat the Mayor as such in the conference room, but have a sense of hospitality and gain some trust within him, try to set a common grounds for negotiations or thoughts, just to butter up the situation, you get me?"
William nods as he grabs the Mayor's hands and leads him out of the basement, "As for you Xavier, I'd expect you to bring this news to Mick, he's the only one people rely on and trust the most, and be blunt as ever, alright? Mick doesn't like subtleness in his mind."
I nodded to William and went out of the basement following ahead of William who brought the Mayor into the conference room of the mansion on the first floor as I went to the garden to let Mick hear the news.
"I have a feeling he wouldn't like this."
...
—
[Back at Colt's perspective, he was walking around the desert for ten minutes now, leaving a trail of footsteps behind him as he walks a little longer to reach a destination leading to nowhere.]
[Feeling bored and a bit sore at the time, he decided to rest on top of a cliff viewing the valley of sands and canyons, sometimes riddled with black rocks and strange structures that resembled dead trees.]
[As he lay there thinking, he heard the noise of rumbling, followed by something clapping in the distance.]
[On the other side of the valley, he could see what looks like a caravan of wagons, going around the canyon towards his position.]
[Standing up and stretching his back letting out a groan of satisfaction, patting away the sands on his trousers, he decided to meet these people, hoping they're friendly faces to speak.]
—
...
"Hmm? Who's this guy?"
At the caravan, one of the wagon drivers at the front, who is a feline man with his leash around a robotic bison with its face covered in a mask, asked out loud, pointing out a figure walking towards them at a distance.
"Who's who?"
A woman with the horns of a devil popped her head out of the wagon's bow, her purple eyes landing on the figure, who wore strange clothing like some kind of urban city goer, approaching them slowly.
"Go signal the others to stop, Imma speak with this bastard."
The woman said, the caravan halting to a stop, the figure now a meter away who reveals to be a man in his twenties, looking like a lost soul in a desert, his eyes scrutinizing the woman exiting the wagon.
'I'm just gonna ask this guy where he is, probably got robbed on the common trail the folks use.'
The woman reveals herself in the sunlight, her horns poking out of her straw hat covering her golden hair, walking towards the man who is fascinated by her horns more than herself, almost like in a trance until she calls out to him.
"Hey! What kind of bastard likes to go around 'ere in the damn of nowhere?"
She said in a northern British tone, bringing herself forward to the young man who was looking at her, his eyes focused on her horns, then on her face.
"Oh, hello."
He greeted, waving a hand with a warm tone, even flashing a smile to look harmless to her.
"Uhm... hey."
She reluctantly replied, alienated by how content this man is, and more uncanny how he doesn't resemble any other race she knows.
'Is he a Liberi?'
She thought, her hands gravitating towards her machete that's around her right waist, about to threaten him until he asks a question that stops her from doing that.
"Are you... a demon?"
He asks, his curiosity making her laugh, stopping her from grabbing her machete.
"Hahaha! Of course I am, you damn mutt!"
She grabs him by the shoulders, tapping his back and leading him towards the wagon, the drivers and strangers looking at the newcomer coming towards them with suspicion in their eyes.
"You lost or somethin'? Got robbed and left 'ere to die, eh?"
She said, guessing how this man came here in the first place.
"What? Hell no, I just randomly got here."
He said, his fascination with her character fading away, declining such allegations she made.
"I bet you did, lad. My name's Dysno, and this here is the caravan of the mighties!"
She introduced herself, smiling a bit as she and he got closer to the wagon she belongs to.
"The name's Colt, just a lost kid coming around."
He said, disclosing his first name only, his mind suspicious of her and the others as he was brought into the wagon inside alongside other people, now covered in shades and protected from the sun's glaring heat.
"Alright, poppy! Get 'er goin'!"
She tapped her foot loudly as the caravan rumbled to life, resuming to their destination with no disturbance this time.
"Huh..."
Colt realizes the people are in shackles, living in the worst conditions ever, and smelt the odor they give off, smelling like sweat and crap covered in slices of garlic, he couldn't help but cough at the thick scent surrounding the back of the wagon.
"Don' mind the smell, it's always like that."
Dysno said, walking over to the driver of the wagon, speaking to him about a city far away, asking the estimated time to arrive.
"Lil' bit more, let me say... about forty more minutes away, yeah?"
Feeling satisfied with the driver's answer, Dysno pats his shoulders and goes back inside the wagon to converse with Colt in the meantime, finding herself particularly interested in his background and his characteristic.
"So, who are you, like, really?"
Dysno said, taking a seat beside him, giving him space to not let the man have uncomfortable feelings towards her, his head turning itself towards her to stare into her purple jade eyes.
"I'm... Colt, I'm just lost here in this part of the world I guess."
Colt said, not the answer Dysno was looking for.
"No, I mean... where you came from?"
Dysno asked, her question defined for Colt to answer, his fingers fiddling themselves in nervousness, his mind wandering where he was being led to.
"I... I came from a city called Florida, you know that?"
Dysno got more questions than answers, what is Florida? Did he live under a rock or something? There's no such thing as a Florida around that she knows.
"A city? You mean on a landship, right?"
Her curiosity grows about this Florida place, her ears never heard of something so... fresh and mysterious to her in her whole life as a caravanner.
"What's a landship?"
Dysno facepalmed herself, this guy must be living under a rock already.
"A landship is where big things move, dummy."
Dysno tapped his forehead with her fingerless gloves, lightly pushing his head to the side.
"You must live under the rock or something, eh?"
She said, crossing her legs and leaning against the caravan, chilling on the spot and staring at Colt, his face confused about what she'd said.
"No, seriously. What is a landship?"
Realizing this guy is probably not used to the lands around here, Dysno leans her body forward and unwinds her legs, talking to Colt with all of the information she's known about the lands in these parts.
"Oh, you'll see. For now, lemme explain to you where we are and how things are going here."
Colt raised his eyebrows, wondering what Dysno is talking about.
"First, you're in Victoria, southern Victoria at that, and we are going to the countryside! Ya know, the farm fields and stuff?"
Dysno said, bringing out what looks like a necklace and spinning it around her index finger, the jewels and decorations shooting a few glimpses of light towards Colt's eyes, causing him to flinch.
"And we're gonna go there! But be careful though, some people are cocky enough to pillage your caravan and even take us as slaves!"
Hearing her say that casually makes Colt nervous, listening to her voice, it seems that she's gotten used to the number of bandit-goers and other bad things that are happening in "Victoria", which they are in right now.
"But don't be nervous, that's why I'm here!"
Dysno leans to Colt's sore shoulders, her left hand going over him to get him closer to Dysno's personal space, leaving Colt a little startled, to say the least.
"There are other people like me too, they call us 'Protection Money', heh? You may be askin' why? 'Cause, we ain't doin' this fo' free!"
Dysno exclaimed, bringing out her machete and raising it into the air, accidentally making a rip in the caravan's roof.
"Whoops."
She whispered, gaining the attention of the driver who was practically screaming at her.
"AGAIN! Are you serious, Dysno, you fuckin' little shit, you better fix that or else!"
The old man with feline ears said, whipping the ropes around the robotic bison with frustration as the caravan went a bit faster.
"Sorry, Ferric! I was just goofin' around, hehe..."
Recollecting herself and suppressing her immature self, Dysno sits beside Colt, making a small gap between them and sharing an awkward silence as the people in the caravan stared at Dysno with creeped-out looks.
"Anyway... Gosh, that was awkward, Uhm, back to where we were."
Dysno then proceeds to explain the rest of what she knows of Victoria, talking about the scarce resources down south, the privileged people up north (which she envies), and the infection of what she'd called 'Oripathy'.
"Second! There's this thing called Oripathy, it's a disease kind of thang, you get what I mean? You can't cure it, you can't heal it, and most important of all is it feeds on flesh,"
She said, unnerving the hell out of Colt, his mind choked full of questions and doubts, unable to wrap his head around this Oripathy thing Dysno is talking about.
"Just like this!"
That was until Dysno reveals a part of her left shoulder, confirming she has contracted the disease and also creeping out Colt accompanied by disgust.
"Eww, what is that?"
Colt leans in a bit closer to look at the crystalized spot on her shoulders.
"That's Oripathy, boyo."
She flicked Colt's head again to give herself some space.
"And third, don't expect people to help ya! Or more realistically, don't expect them to be the friendly face you'd imagine!"
Dysno said with her three fingers outwards, putting it right in front of Colt's face.
"Well, I know that me saving ya contradicts my statement, but this is a one-time only, a'ight?"
Dysno leaned back, finishing the introduction to the normal things around here that sounds insane to the ears of Colt's 1st world country.
'Agh, what did I just get myself into?'
Colt is starting to regret his decision to meet this person, but then again it was better hitching a ride to nowhere than walking in the middle of a desert.
"Anyway, in the meantime, you can get some shut-eye in this little hut,"
She pats the wooden texture of the wagon, letting herself lie on the hard rumbling floor, clapping with each thud of the metallic bison's foot.
"*Yawn* I'm also feelin' a lil bit teary too... G'night."
Colt sees Dysno fall asleep almost instantaneously despite the loud and heavy clappings the bison provided and a bump that made everything shake intensely every once in a whim.
'I can't even sleep with all of these shenanigans.'
Colt thought, thinking his mind may never get an ounce of sleep due to the rough ride he has, but was caught by drowsiness when he suddenly felt tired and mentally exhausted, and like the others in the wagon he was in, he fell asleep soon despite the bumpy ride he thought he couldn't sleep in, how ironic.
'A little nap couldn't hurt'
...
—
[Somewhere, in the mayor's office]
—
...
"Where's Kiowa? He's been missing for the entire day now."
A disembodied soft voice asked the personal agent of Kiowa, who was stationed in the office to handle the documents and papers left unsigned by the Mayor or sometimes overlooked.
"May I ask why?"
The feline said, stacking the papers and putting them aside for later to assess the question.
"I'm the head of sanitation, and I'm here to ask him to get funds for our sanitary equipment, it's been delayed for three weeks now and I have no more patience left in me."
Entering the room, the disembodied voice reveals to be a woman in her thirties with dog ears on her head, her waist holding the proper cleaning and sanitation equipment, and wearing a suit to protect herself from the environment.
"Oh, and don't worry, I already decontaminated myself."
She reassured, approaching the agent with a frown on her face.
"Three weeks have been delayed? I already got a report from Kiowa that the equipment has been delivered to your department."
The feline stated, trying to cross the dog's claims.
"Yes, and the equipment we've got is nothing but a fluke! We only got bottles of dishwashing liquid and fake hand soaps that turned out to be hardened butter!"
The feline agent couldn't believe what she said and shook her head, waving her hand in a manner of disagreement.
"No, it is specifically signed here of the report of one of your sanitation officers that the equipment is normal and functioning properly."
The feline gave the parchment of paper to the dog, who then crumples it into a paper ball and throws it behind her.
"That's nothing like what the delivery described it to be! Did we got scammed or something?!"
She slams her hand on the desk, slightly scaring the feline agent but quickly composes herself to not panic and show fear.
"Ahem, if you are so curious about the seller, here is their receipt, registration, and company name."
The feline then hands her the detailed paper of all of the above, when she realizes something is wrong with the paper.
"This is made by... the Victorian Washing Machine corp. Why on Terra is our equipment delivered by a goddamn washing machine company in Victoria, Lune!"
The agent, whose name is Lune, flinches from the dog's barking tone, her eardrums almost raptured because of that.
"Look, I'm not the accountant of things here, Anna, I am only Kiowa's personal agent, I'm supposed to look after and give him advice on how to act as a Mayor... well, so far he's being a deaf idiot."
She whispered that last part out but Anna could hear it clear as day, she turns her back to Lune and uses her hands to cover her face, embarrassed and frustrated at how incompetent this administration is.
Before Anna can protest yet another problem in her hands, the doors to the room burst open with a man of bird feathers breathing rapidly, tired from running to the Mayor's office.
"What's wrong?"
Lune said, standing up to hear what the agent has to report.
"The Mayor... he's been taken hostage!"
Both Lune and Anna stand shocked at the revelation, thinking about how the mayor was taken hostage and had a hard time believing the agent's words.
"What!? How?"
Lune approaches the agent at the doorstep, gathering his breath whilst he explains what had happened.
"They were... ganged up by the foreigners that came to that town, Brandé!"
He reported, beads of sweat forming on his face as he wipes them off with a handkerchief, Lune glances at Mangle and back at the agent.
"What's the situation? Had the foreigners done anything bold as of recently?"
Lune asks while Anna walks past her to exit the office, probably to report this news to the other head of departments.
"No, nothing yet, fortunately, but we do worry about his life being taken after we've seen how he and the bodyguards that accompanied him were beaten into submission by the foreigners."
The agent said as Lune mentally punches herself in the gut for letting the Mayor do his thing without her supervision, what had that old fragile man done again to be in this situation?
"Please, we must take action!"
The agent begged for her, waiting for her orders as he stands up with anxiety drawn on him.
"Fine, call the head of police, tell the chief to take care of this situation along with me by his side as the negotiator of his release, you got that?"
The bird agent nodded frantically and left the office to convey her message to the chief as Lune goes into the office to grab her clothes for the occasion, the one she was wearing right now is nothing but a basic office uniform.
"Sigh... Kiowa, what have you done this time?"
—
...
...
..
.