"Guardian."
So cold... where... what's happening...
"Guardian?"
That sound... Wind? Grass? I draw a breath of stinging cold air.
"Eyes up, Guardian."
That voice again. The light is blinding as I blink slowly and look up, dazed and bleary eyed.
"It worked." There is a bit of surprise in the voice, which changes to delight as I focus on the source of it. "You're alive!"
It is a small creature. Or robot. Little bigger than my fist. Greyish metal, maybe iron for it is too dull to be silver, molded into a geometric star like shaped shell, encasing a small orb that swivels about. A diamond shaped camera-eye glows at its center, watching me.
"You have no idea how long I've been looking for you," it says. The voice is male, and somewhat patronizing, peppered with robotic squeaks and pips. "I'm a ghost. Actually now, I'm your ghost. And you... You've been dead a long time."
Dead? Is that the chill? I look down at my hands. Gloved and strong and steady. I flex my fingers then clench them into fists.
"So, you're going to see a lot of things you won't understand."
I try to think, to remember. The land looks so decimated. Rusted vehicles and crumbing roads and overpasses crowd the hill top we stand on. Actually, that I stand on. The ghost as he calls himself just hovers. To my right a massive wall rises, stretching farther than I can see. I shift forward, using my elbow to push myself up slightly from the car I am slouched beside. Dry, frozen grass and snow crunch beneath me. Where am I? Dead? What did he call me? Guardian? The name strikes a chord in me, though I have no idea what he means. It feels like a call. A purpose. A destiny.
At that moment an roar echoes across the open space between us and the wall. The ghost pivots in midair, the metal shell encircling his body shifting and clicking. My eyes dart across the open ground. That cry didn't sound friendly. Where could I find cover if attacked? What was the source of the sound? Is there anything nearby I could use as a weapon? I run my tongue over my dry lips, wondering where those impulse thoughts came from. After a moment he turns back to me, the camera that is his eye flickering between my face and the direction of the scream.
"Hold still." I don't even have time to react as he hums closer. But the ghost never touches me. Instead he vanishes, vaporizing into pixels that blow away like the snow. Panic flashes through me for a moment before I hear his voice, but I'm not sure where from.
"Don't worry, I'm still with you." I let out my breath. Inside my helmet, light flickers. In the top left corner of my vision, a circular monitor appears, tracking my position. Handy.
"We need to move. Fast."
Speed. This ghost sure expects a lot of me after being dead, if what he says is true. I consider saying so, but the memory of the sound of the roar mutes me. Instead I stand, shakily at first, but then more evenly. I roll my shoulders as I stand straight, surprised at my own steadiness.
"We won't survive long out in the open like this," she ghost says, his voice sounding from inside my head. "Let's get inside the wall." Perhaps he is just in the helmet. I take a step forward, and upon finding that my legs support me, break into a jog.
My face is protected from the frigid air by my helmet and face mask, but the wind still tugs at the shoulder length cloak hanging down my back and makes it flap like a flag, as I weave my way between the jumbled rows of cars toward the towering wall ahead.
Rounding a corner I stop short, startled by a flock of crows that take to the air, probably more frightened by me than I by them. I let out a shaky breath and try to soothe my nerves. As I start to run again I find myself more attentive than before, feeling rather naked without any sort of weapon. There is a modified hunting dagger belted across my chest, but it is rather small to face any large number of enemies. Still there are lots of old broken cars around I could peel something off of. I'm glad to reach cover at the base of the wall.
The ground on my right drops away as if a road went under the wall at some point in the past. Above it, there are several railed bridges crossing over the vehicle clogged former road, but their supports sag and I doubt they could hold much weight. Ahead of me, there is a stair case leading to a doorway into the wall. The door has fallen- or been ripped off- the frame and now lays across the stairs. The top two steps are broken and twisted down on one side. I take the case in bound, leaping over broken stairs, door and all through the door frame and into the wall.
Immediately on entry the hall turns, going left and up a longer flight of stairs followed by a second set that weaves up over top the first going higher and deeper into the wall.
"Ok..." the ghost muses as I run. "I need to find you a weapon." Weapons are good. "Before the Fallen find us." I get the feeling Fallen are not so good.
After a third flight the floor levels off into a bridge, crossing over what might be the road beneath me. Sunset red light streams in through the filthy window open to the outside giving the bridge and room a rusty glow. At least as far as the window lasted. The room grows dark quickly as I keep running and I feel a shiver at the thought of what might be hiding in that dark. A light pierces suddenly through the dark as we reach the end of the bridge, coming from the ghost hovering at my shoulder, and another staircase looms ahead. In the silence I am keenly aware of the noise my boots made on the metal floor.
"Quiet!" the ghost hisses. "They're right above us!" They? Does he mean the Fallen? There is a flicker of movement in the dark directly in front of me at the top of the stairs. Through a gap in the wall I glimpse the legs and lower body of a humanoid creature for a split second before it is gone in to the dark on the other side of the wall. For the first time, I notice the edges of my monitor have gone red. But the color fades as the sound of the Fallen's footsteps fade. Cautiously I make my way up the stairs, but the thing is gone now. The steps turn another corner before evening off into a platform or balcony. I cannot tell, for whatever is beyond the railing around it's edge is invisible in the inky blackness.
"Hang tight," the ghost tells me. "Fallen thrive in the dark, but we won't. We need more light. I'll see what I can do." Before I can move an inch the ghost has materialized in front of me again and is floating away, his luminescence lighting up the dark around him. The geometric shell splits and detaches, orbiting around him in a glowing spherical energy field.
Where the light touches I can see long pipes running the length of the inside of the wall. Aqueducts of some type maybe, or supports, all painted a dull orange and blue. As the ghost drifts further up I catch a flicker of motion along one of the braces. Another vaguely humanoid creature scurries up the pipe and disappears out of the circle of light. Fallen. An enemy. I step back a few feet, trying to get closer to a wall or anything to guard my back. Surveying the room further I notice the gleam of eyes in the dark. A few pairs at first, but they seem to multiply the longer I search for them. I glance around for the ghost as the light waxes and wanes with his movement, wondering what is taking him so long.
As if he can read my thoughts he calls out from across the empty space between us, "Another one of these hardened military systems. And a few centuries of entropy working against me." His tone is light despite the fact that the glimmer of the Fallen's eyes have begun to move in on me. I wonder if he is trying to reassure me.
The sound of footsteps is drowned out by the hum of electricity. A moment later the lights flicker, then turn on. I whirl about at a buzzing and clattering sound behind me, to find that the faithful little ghost is opening a gate to a hallway deeper in.
"They're coming for us!" he calls out to me. I sprint for the gate and slide under it, rebounding to my feet and turning to look for the ghost. Something crunches under my foot, making me jump. I look down to find dried, old bones. Human bones. I wince and turn away, keeping my eyes up in the direction of the oncoming footsteps.
"Here! I found a rifle! Grab it!" The ghost comes sweeping down from above, lighting the dim passage. I glance around and locate it against a box surrounded by more bones. Snatching it up from the ground I dart down the corridor away from the enemies behind me, pausing only long enough to glance down at the weapon. A heavy, solid weight in my hands, balanced and reassuring. A little rusty perhaps, but still a loaded weapon. Beautiful. I can't help but grin. Where are those Fallen now?
"I hope you know how to use that thing," the ghost says.
Behind me I can hear yelling in some strange tongue that I can't interpret. It sounds more like snarling or coughing than speaking. The voices are drowned by the dripping of water onto the rusted floor as I round a corner, water splashing on my boots. The slanted floor had created a puddle. It and the dim lighting form an eerie setting. I slow my pace, keeping my eyes open, and gun ready.
Up ahead, a shadow darts across the wall, making me jump. I check my pace to a creeping walk trying to sneak up on the thing.
"What was that?" The ghost's voice startles me again. I wonder if I'll ever get used to him talking inside my head.
The creature, Fallen perhaps, has vanished behind a kind of generator or fuel tank that divides the hallway in half for a few yards. Quietly, I try to circle around to the far side and catch it off guard. At that moment a pipe snaps and falls swings down from the ceiling, showering sparks over my head. I duck and leap back and the red on the monitor fades and then vanishes all together. A chill sweeps through me, and it's not from the cold. I've lost the element of surprise now. They know I'm here. They are the predator, and I, the prey.
I step away from the swinging pipe, still crackling with electricity, and head down the hallway toward another corner.
My scanner hasn't picked anything up yet. I level my weapon as I round the corner. Still nothing. The silence is so thick, I can hear the water dripping back down the hall. The lights flicker.
At that moment, a screech pierces the silence, the tight walls magnifying it to an earsplitting volume. My scanner turns red right on top of the arrow that represents me. A humanoid appears from the wall beside me, ripping through cables and wires to attack me. Another drops from above, larger, four armed, with long horns extending to each side of its head.
I drop a few steps back and pull the trigger of the auto rifle in my hands. The result is most satisfying. The smaller of the two takes a bullet to the head. There is a burst of light and his body collapses backward, crumpling to the floor. The larger doesn't go down so easily.
He drops back, sidestepping out of the heaviest fire and staying upright. The electrical sound of his rifle is followed by a flash of blue. Three bolts of blue energy spiral slowly toward me. I leap toward the creature, over the bolts, and lash out, slashing my blade across his torso once, twice. The creature collapses.
No sooner have I let out my breath, than I feel a stabbing pain in my back. I stagger forward to my knees, my vision blurring, in time to see the last of the electrical pulses shatter on the ceiling. Homing bolts. With their lack of speed I should've guessed. I lay there on the ground, beside my fallen foes, wondering if this will be the end of me already.
Then the most amazing thing happens. The sting of the electrical burns, and the blunt pain of the impact simply... fade. I tighten my fist on the grip of my rifle, feeling strength return to my body. I can hear the footsteps and snarling of the Fallen growing closer now. I will decide how it is I lived later.
Gripping the gun, I stand and keep running. Rounding a corner, another smaller Fallen drops from the ceiling in front of me. The lights ahead glint off his dagger, but mine's quicker. His body practically flies with the force of the blow and I don't stop to watch.
Up ahead there's an old wall, half broken, its windows shattered out and doors gone missing. Beyond it I can see an open space that looks like a hanger or cargo storage. I quicken my pace.
More Fallen screams echo off the walls all around as no more than half a dozen drop down from their hiding places in the ceiling or come running in from down the hall, the reports of their shock rifles sending my nerves skittering. I stand as long as I dare in the doorway, the deadly homing bolts spiraling slowly toward me, closer, closer. Just before they reach me, I dive to the side, behind the wall to safety. The bolts veer sharply after me, but instead strike the wall, bursting in showers of sparks.
I leap up again, leaning out to fire at the Fallen opposing me. I gun down two, and they fall with shrieks, but they are replaced by another who narrowly weaves out of the way of my fire and charges toward me. He stumbles as my last bullet nails him in the thigh, but keeps coming, undaunted and angry, the hanging lights overhead catching the metal of his blade, making it gleam.
I give a shout to rally my courage and clamp my gun to my side, unsheathing my own knife with my free hand. I lunge for him and he swings his blade down at my head, but he is too slow, the blow going wide as I leap up and over him, rather surprised by the strength in my own legs. I land behind him, dagger ready as he turns for me again, but I am already at him, blade slicing into his poorly armored neck. The creature snarls and grips my knife arm, ripping it out of his neck and slipping his blade up to drive into my gut. I drop my empty rifle and catch his wrist, gripping it with the remaining strength not being spent trying to sink my dagger in again.
We hover there a moment, locked in a battle for life or death. Across the room, I catch a glimpse of the largest Fallen soldier, four armed like the one in the hallway. He lowers his rifle and fires and I recognize the sound of the shock rifle, and an idea strikes me. I grit my teeth and meet the Fallen's gaze, realizing for the first time that they have four eyes instead of two. He snarls and I snarl back, digging my fingers into his wrist as the electrical bolts circle closer. At the last moment, I wrench my body to the side, pulling the creature between me and the danger as I shrink behind him.
The thing screams and releases me as he falls, electricity sparking across his back. I jump over him yet again, and race toward the last and largest Fallen, diving to the side behind a tall crate to avoid his next shots. I crouch there a moment, jamming another round into my weapon before peeking out to fire.
The Fallen dies silently, nothing more than a hiss, and then quiet in the hangar.
"There's more ahead." The ghost's voice makes me jump. I clench my fist around the grip of my gun to steady my trembling fingers. "Keep it up."
The monitor circle shows a second white arrow around its edge. Taking a guess, I follow it, making my way cautiously to where the larger Fallen had coming running in from.
A chasm of deep blackness separates me from the other side, spanned only by a rickety looking bridge. I purse my lips and swallow nervously, finding that I dislike heights. Then it hits me. I remember nothing. I am an adult. I should have memories. I was a young girl once. I was alive before being found in this wasteland. Wasn't I?
I tear my eyes up from the black, a chill sweeping through me. A nagging feeling gnaws at the back of my mind. I have to keep moving. I don't know why, but I must. I break into a run across the bridge.
On the other side the walkway is covered by some kind of massive engine. A generator maybe? A power system? Or perhaps some kind of rocket booster? I can't tell. The whole thing is covered by banners of red, giving it a sinister appearance like a fortress. There are several spikes stuck through the grates on the floor inside, each bearing human skulls impaled upon their sharpened tips.
"A loot cache!" the ghost says before I can bypass the gruesome display. In trying to avoid the disturbing sight, I had almost missed the chest. I bend beside it and flip up the lid open. Inside is a long barreled rifle, pale slate in color. I lift it out and turn it over in my hands, tracing my fingers down its thin muzzle. Made for precision and range. But where do I carry it?
I twist to look over my shoulder and sure enough, under the shoulder cape, there are clips to carry extra weapons. Two, by the looks of it. I fasten in the new sniper rifle and pick up my first weapon before standing and continuing down the hall.
As I turn a corner, the ghost cries out in alarm, "Tripmines! Don't touch them." Sure enough the hallway is criss-crossed by red beams of laser light. I move closer to the base of the first, a projector stuck to the wall. I can almost feel the ghost resisting me the closer I come. The spaces between the lights and the floor are small in places. I don't want to risk hitting them.
Experimentally, I step back and fire once into the projector in the wall, which explodes, much to my satisfaction. I shoot out the next one, then Fallen screams ahead catch my attention. Two of them spring up out of gaps in the floor plates, their ugly faces made purely hideous in the poor light.
I shoot the first and his body falls back into the hole he leapt up from. The second takes a bullet to the leg and staggers back straight into the trip mine. The laser expands then there is a blast and a shower of sparks, and the creature is gone.
Right. Don't touch the tripmines.
I edge forward, pulling out my sniper. I can hear more overhead. Sure enough, they drop down further up the hall and I duck behind the wall, hiding. I can hear them shuffling around, snarling to each other. I peek out and level my weapon at the farthest- the one closest to cover, centering his spiny head in my cross hairs, and pull the trigger. He dies with a scream and a burst of light. The other two whip toward the sound, screeching in fury, but my second shot brings two, to one.
I leap from my hiding place, falling and sliding under the tripmines to bring my dagger up into his gut. He shrieks and staggers back, lashing out with a blade of his own, a strange grey substance leaking out of his wound like blood. The tip of the blade catches my chest, ripping into my armor only enough to give me a scratch. And not enough to save his life.
The hallway is clear, so I keep moving. Ahead the hall opens up into another large area, tiered with platforms and stair cases. The high roof is supported by slanting metal braces, that look rusty, but not corroded. More red banners drape heavily from the roof. To one side there is a door, sunk below the level of the floor, accessible by two stair cases on either side, and above it a light flickers, beckoning, but I am wary. The room is littered with supply boxes, old engines, and fuel tanks. A whole lot of hiding places. I grip my mag, checking to see if it is still full.
I barely finish my thoughts before the Fallen come pouring in again, their shrill voices echoing off the high ceiling. They spring down, leaping like spiders down the beams and braces, landing with cat-like agility.
I gun down the first few, but there are more here than I have faced before, and the splintering pain of their shot drives me back into cover to catch my breath. I can feel the padding on the inside of my chest plate growing wet with blood. I breathe deeply, listening to the Fallen come closer. I can feel the wounds healing. It's strange. Empowering.
In a burst of strength, I dart out, springing into the air and clearing two staircases in one leap. I drop on one of the large four armed Fallen with a yell, bringing my dagger plunging down into his boney head. I rip my dagger out, and blast the two smaller Fallen running at me to help their superior. They collapse and I lunge toward the door, only to find that three more Fallen have appeared, blocking passage.
One goes down with a bullet to the head, and the other two split, each heading up an opposite stair well. I pick the larger first and advance toward him, firing steadily until I am close enough to slash my knife through his throat- but not before two of his tracking bolts drive into my gut. I can already feel them healing as I turn on the other, and land a well placed bullet in his head.
When his hisses fade, the hangar is silent. I live. And the Fallen lie dead at my feet.