id: 280
name: A Geist From Cursed Lands
author: TwFctr
date: 10th March 2021
text len: 103336
views: 609

What happened to me?

Am I still alive?

I was flying in a group of idiots into the heart of the abandoned city when the engines gave out… tried to put the helicopter down gently but the thing just fell like a brick directly into the roof of a building and I…

I’m such an idiot…

I shouldn’t have taken this job. I had heard about the rumors of what this place does to people. Those drooling retards, why would they pay money to risk their lives for something so hollow? Why would they come here? I just hope that they died with me in the crash.

…

Oh why am I trying to shift the blame, I’m just as bad as them… 
I took their money and agreed to their braindead plan without further question. I didn’t prepare myself for something like this, and now I’m here, not even sure if I’m dead…

There’s a light in the distance, I’m not sure I want to follow it but…
Well, I can only hope the afterlife is as pleasant as people make it out to be…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes shot open. My body ached. The only feeling stronger than the pain was the surprise I felt when I realized I was still alive. I gathered my bearings and took my helmet off, and in doing so, letting an open wound in my head spurt blood down my face. I wiped off what drizzled around my eyes and looked around the cockpit. The windows and windshield were cracked, and the instrument panel was left unusable. What dials didn’t break on impact were just not behaving correctly. The attitude indicator was upside down, the air speed indicator was spinning backwards, and the compass heading twitched around violently, it was a mess. I couldn’t stay around it much longer.

I heard the shaking of rubble and felt the entire wreckage sink with me still in it. Panicking, I ripped my seat belt off and reached for the door handle, only to find the deformations on the fuselage had stuck it shut. I froze for a second, until another movement sent my mind into a frenzy. I looked around the cockpit again and made a split-second decision to try to crawl out through the window at my side. I pushed at the acrylic and found it had a little give, so I leaned back, held on to the seat and kicked at it. With most of my weight behind my feet, it took only a couple of rams before the pane popped out of the frame. I felt the rumble beneath me again. Without missing a beat, I settled my feet on the seat and dove through the window, chaffing my arms and torso as I landed on what seemed to be stable ground.

Not but fractions of a second later the entire building shook, and a giant cloud of dust filled the air. I turned around to see the nose of my helicopter sinking bellow the floor as the entire face of the building collapsed under it. I crawled back, away from the crumbling walls to avoid the falling debris. A loud crash signaled the end of it. I took a deep breath and looked around, paranoid that the rest of the building was about to come down on me. fortunately, it didn’t. Instead, I laid on the floor catching my breath and inspecting my body, making sure I didn’t have any serious injuries I couldn’t feel. I was fine for the most part, some cuts and bruises here and there but nothing major. My body still ached but nothing was broken. It was nothing short of a miracle really. And I would have celebrated my survival if it weren’t for the fact that I was still stuck in the middle of a land know for people going in and not coming out anymore… or not coming out alive at least.

I stood up and slowly walked to the edge of the chasm my harsh landing had created. At the bottom lied a pile or rocks and rubble, with my helicopter half buried in it. I looked around at the horizon and determined that I was somewhere near the center of the city... near the center of the zone. My knees shook as I suppressed a panic attack that was coming up. I contemplated jumping for a second before regaining my composure.

“don’t lose your wits…” I said to myself aloud

“don’t lose your wits… you lose your wits, you lose your hope… you lose your hope, you…”

I took another deep breath and calmed myself down. This land may be cursed, but as long as I keep myself together, I’m sure I’ll be able to walk out of here. With my drive to survive renewed, I marched out of the room and made my way down the stairs of the building. The bottom floor was mostly destroyed by the collapse, filled with rubble and dust. Fortunately for me, a part of the second floor had fallen off, letting me climb over the rubble and out of the building. I found myself walking over the half-buried wreckage that once was my helicopter. An old AgustaWestland 109 that I had won at a poker game as junk because it wouldn’t start. With a few replacement parts and a little bit of knowhow I managed to get it air worthy again, then I turned it into my job. I was a freelance pilot, hauling cargo or people around for money. I wasn’t super rich, but I almost never had any economic problems either.

That life was no more. As I kneeled down to look at the destroyed cockpit, I thought about the hard months that would follow if I did get out. The prospect of joblessness clouded my mind before a burst of gunfire in the distance reminded me of my current peril. Right there in that moment I made a promise to myself. No negative thoughts or anxious fantasies shall poison my mind until I get out of here. From now on, survival took center stage in my mind.

If I were to cross this treacherous land where murder is an everyday occurrence, I was gonna need a weapon. That may sound easy in an area where people regularly come armed and carrying as much ammo as they can, but at the same time, those people would really be hesitant to give their weapons to a stranger like me. Actually, if what I’ve heard about this place is true, they would probably shoot me on sight anyway. That means my next big chance would be to find one on a corpse. Less probable than the first but also a lot less risky. Finding ammo would be a pain too. Oh and what about food and water? How do people survive here? How am I supposed to… ugh, I’m only thinking about problems again, I just have to get out of the open first. Whoever made that gunfire was probably on their way here to check the crash.

I took another deep breath and started running away from the crash site, sticking close to the walls, ready to jump into any windows or doors in case I got shot at. After a few minutes I came across a dark alleyway between two tall buildings. It seemed like a great place to rest, so I took cover inside, only to find the alleyway led to an open area where four buildings connect. There were benches , concrete planters full of dirt and a long dried-up fountain in the middle. It was clear that this place was made for the residents of these buildings to relax and socialize. As I got closer, a stench of death filled the air, and flies gathered inside the fountain. I covered my nose and looked inside. I was surprised by the corpse of a man, not because of his putrid state but because clutched in his hands was an AR-15 type rifle.

I was astonished. I had already thought about looting a weapon from the dead, but I didn’t think I’d find one so fast, what good fortune. However, upon further look, I realized the head of the corpse had a big hole on the top if his skull and at the bottom of his jaw where the muzzle of the rifle rested. This man had taken his own life, I’ll never know if he did it out of desperation or lunacy, but that didn’t matter now. I held my breath and bended down, wresting the rifle out of the cold hands of the corpse. The struggle scared the feasting flies into a flying swarm around me. Out of frustration, I jumped inside the fountain, where I held down the corpse with my foot as I pulled the firearm away with all my strength. With a meaty tear, the rifle came loose, along with the hands of the dead man. The movement had released more noxious gas, some of which got to my face. I jumped out of the fountain with the rifle in hand and ran to a wall to lean against as the disgust send me into a coughing fit.

“augh… fucking disgusting…” I said to myself as I smacked off the rotten hands off the rifle

“well that’s no way to talk to a lady” a feminine but stern voice responded

My heart sank. I turned around frantically looking for whoever just spoke, waving the muzzle of the rifle around in a vaguely threatening manner. I heard the same voice again giggling at my desperate and clumsy mannerisms. It seemed to come directly in front of me yet there was no one in sight. Had I gone crazy? Had the curse of this land taken ahold of my mind this quickly? Was it toying with me moments before zapping my consciousness away and turning me into an emotionless murder zombie?

“you know, you look funny when you’re desperate”

“he… hello? please show yourself… I’m starting to freak out”

“I’m down here dummy, in your hands”

I looked down to the rifle I held. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary with it, until I felt someone grab me by the shoulder and whisper into my ear.

“boo, now I’m behind you”

I screamed, accidentally throwing the rifle into the air, falling over as my arms flailed to push whoever held me away. I fell flat on my own face, leaving me dazed and with a split in my upper lip. I ignored the pain and turned myself over to look at who was behind me. Before me stood a woman, about my same age and height. She had a lean body covered in formal clothes. White shirt, black coat, pants, tie, the whole shebang. Her skin was very pale, and her hair was black and short but smooth as silk. However, what caught my attention the most was her eyes. They were a deep shade of purple, and they glimmered like if the night stars were contained within them. She was beautiful, but her stare felt unnatural and threatening. She extended her hand forward and caught the rifle by its carry handle.

“you ought to be more careful next time, you could have seriously hurt me you know…”

“I-I… um… h-hello… who are you?”

“your new rifle apparently”

“my new… rifle…?”

The woman took a step forward and squatted down to level with me. The sudden movement caught me by surprise, making me flinch a little. She placed the rifle on my lap and them caressed my face.

“I am M16A4… or well, an M16A4, and you…”

She grabs my hands and gently guides them to the rifle’s handguard and grip.

“…you are my new user”

“your new user…? what do you… but…”

“I am the spirit of the rifle you’re holding. I acquired this form after a fulfilling service life gave me the strength and experience to do so”

“hey wait, I… I’ve heard about this! you’re one of those uh… wa-vaf… ᶠᵘᶜᵏⁱⁿᵍ ʰᵉˡˡ ᴵ ʰᵃᵗᵉ ᵍᵉʳᵐᵃⁿ … vaffengeist! that was it!”

“heh… well maybe you’re not as clueless as you look”

“oi!”

“I don’t usually ask this but… who are you?”

“I’m Uly- I mean… my name is Oliver Oxley… b-but my friends call me Ulysses”

The wo-er… M16A4 stood up and helped me get up from the floor with a smile. 

“hmmm, sounds exotic”

“yeah, I wish the reason was a as cool… they just call me that because of a scar in my leg”

I looked down to avoid eye contact, inadvertently looking at my now dusty clothes. I put the rifle under my arm as I bended down to pat the dirt off and fix my shoes. As I tightened my laces, I heard the distinctive sound of a zippo striking followed by M16 continuing to talk.

“well mister Oxley, I have another question for you… do you know where you are right now?”

Her tone suddenly became less friendly and more commanding, like a boss that was about to scold me for not working up to par.

“t-the Esperland”

I looked up to see her taking a long drag out of a cigarette. In her hands was a backpack that she seemingly manifested out of nowhere.

“have you heard about this place before?”

“…plenty”

“good, maybe you actually stand a chance to survive here… for a bit at least”

She took another long drag of her cigarette and then threw the bag in front of me. What happened to her? She started by being nice to me but out of nowehere she's become dismissive and mean, it was jarring. Did I do something to piss her off? I gently put the rifle on the ground and pulled the backpack closer to me and opened it. It was filled with unlabeled cans and water bottles… cloudy water bottles… ew. The straps had two pouches each with magazines in them. Only one had bullets though.

“where did you get this?”

“it was under the corpse you pulled me from”

“oh”

But I never saw or heard her walk back to the fountain or wrangle it from the body, hell, I don’t think I ever saw a backpack on that body. I still had a lot of questions about this whole ordeal, but  we’ve been here for too long. I’d rather ask more questions later, when we are somewhere safe.

“I think we should get out of here, I heard shots nearby before I stumbled upon you”

“where to?”

“I… I don’t know… do you know somewhere safe around here”

“no, there is no safe place in this city”

“well, somewhere safer?”

“hmmm… I think I know a spot”

“great, how do we get there?”

“I’ll guide you as we go”

“right”

I grabbed the backpack and slung it over my shoulders, picked up the rifle and grabbed the charging handle to check the chamber. Before I could pull it back, M16A4 interrupted me.

“there’s already a round in the chamber… plus 26 more in the magazine”

“oh”

“selector is on 3-round burst and the top left magazine on your chest is fully loaded… your right I mean”

“3-round burst? cool but uh… how do I put it to full-auto?”

“there is no full-auto”

“oh”

M16 finished the rest of her cigarette and flicked the butt into the fountain. Then she took out a rusty zippo and tossed it at me. I caught it and put it in my pocket. M16 took a deep breath and spread her arms out. Her body dissipated into thin air right in front of my eyes, I was left astonished. I mean… I believed her when she told me who she was. Maybe it impressed the subconscious part of my brain that still had its doubts… also I’m not used to seeing other people just disappear.

“hey, can you hear me?” her voice came from the rifle.

“yeah I-”

“good, now get us out of this place and head towards the center of the city”

“t-the center?”

“yes… I mean, unless you want to spend the night out here waiting to be killed”

“no I just… nevermind”

“let’s get a move on then”

“alright but uh… don’t you come with a sling or something?”

“no, no one uses them here because walking around without a loaded weapon in your hands is asking to be killed”

“oh uh… well let’s get going”

I took a deep breath and left through where I came. The sunlight broke through the gray clouds that perpetually covered these parts of the city. By its angle, it seemed like there were still a few hours of sunlight left. Yet I still made haste towards the safe spot M16 had told me about. If it was closer to the center of the city, that meant that it would take me more time to leave on the following day. Honestly, I wanted to try and escape today, but upon further consideration I concluded that this was the best course of action. I rather have more hours of light tomorrow than chancing it today and getting lost in the barrens at night.

“hey, pay attention to your surroundings”

“huh? oh sorry I was just thinking tha-

“this is not the time for thinking, open your eyes or kiss your life goodbye”

“a-ah sor-

“wait…”

“wha-

“shhh… get inside”

“inside?”

“inside the building god dammit!”

The distress on M16’s voice made me anxious, she was very agitated by something. I didn’t question her orders, I looked around and headed inside the closest door to me. I found myself inside a room filled with dust and broken furniture. There was only one other door besides the entrance and two windows. It looked as if no one had passed through this place in a long time, or so I thought until I looked down at the floor and notice a trail of recent-ish footsteps on the floor. I tried not to dwell on the possibility of somebody else being here when M16 called to me again.

“something is coming from the northwest”

I look around the room and then out of a window in confusion.

“which way is northwest?”

“oh my god…”

M16 personified besides me and pointed at an alleyway across the street.

“over there, something is coming from over there so keep your head down and don’t make a sound”

I nodded and then lowered myself to where I couldn't be seen easily but I could still see out of the window. A few seconds later, a shadow appeared across a wall of the alleyway. It seemed to float above the ground, gradually growing as whatever casted the shadow got closer to the entrance. Finally, the thing showed itself. It was a pulsating ball of skin that hovered around 7 feet in the air. It had a large, reddened eye that bulged out of its socket, at least two mouths oozing a brown mucus-like substance and several orifices from all of which emanated a visible yellow gas that floated up and dissipated into the air. It looked like something out of the darkest corners of David Cronenberg’s imagination, the mere sight of the creature made me feel filthy to my core.

“what in god’s green earth is that thing?” I whispered to M16

“it’s a teratoma, a type of corpseling”

“a what?”

“shhh, it hasn’t seen us yet, a well aimed burst should kill it quick”

I look over at M16 with dread

“you want me to kill that thing?!”

yeah? or what? do you want to spare its life? let that monster live?”

“no, it’s just that I’m scared of what it may do to me-

Our arguing gets interrupted by a burst of automatic fire. M16 and I quickly ducked down. I heard a horrible screech after that, no doubt it had been made by that teratoma thing. I peeked slightly over the window and managed to see the creature floating about erratically as blood poured from its orifices. I thought the teratoma was about done for, but then the creature screeched again in defiance. This time a light blue glow emanated from one of its mouth, it grew brighter as the scream got louder. With one final jerking motion, the teratoma spat out a blue bolt that quickly zipped towards the direction the shots came from . No less than two seconds after that, an explosion rang out from the back of the alleyway. I recognized that shade of blue and the movements of the projectile, it was astonishing and frightening at the same time. The teratoma had just casted a magic missile.

My amazement didn’t last, as immediately after that, another burst of gunshots came from the alleyway. I recoiled back from the surprise, but I kept on looking. Most of the volley hit the teratoma center mass, causing it to writhe in the air as even more fluids poured out from its deflating body. The teratoma’s bulging eye rolled to the back of its um… body? and with one final squeal, it dropped to the floor dead, producing a disgusting squelch as it fell on a puddle of its own liquids. I breath a sigh of relief before M16 prodded me in the ribs with her elbow.

“ouch!”

“shhh, steady yourself”

“why? the monster was killed”

“killed by a bigger problem”

M16 pointed back at the alleyway. I turned my gaze back to see a giant humanoid creature walking out into the street. It was a massive beast that stood at about 8 feet tall. It was covered from head to toe in hides from different animals that had been stitched together. In its hands was one of those Vietnam era American machineguns, an M60 I think it’s called. I quickly dove away from the window, fearing that this creature may have a keener sight.

“what is that thing?”

M16 sniffed the air and then gagged in disgust.

“it’s an orc”

“an orc?!”

“shhh”

“sorry”

M16 carefully stood up to peek out of the window.

“it took the teratoma away… now it seems like it’s walking off”

“can we go out now?”

“let’s wait a few minutes… just in case…”

I took a deep breath and hugged my knees.

“I’ve never heard of orcs coming here, only humans and elves”

“oh no, tons of different creatures come here, I’ve personally seen goblins, harpies, beast people and even a mermaid once”

“huh…”

“yeah the land calls to everyone… hey could you pass me my cigarettes?”

“wouldn’t that be dangerous? I’ve heard orcs have really good sense of smell”

“don’t worry, that orc’s smell is probably being overwhelmed by the putrid corpseling… besides, I’m pretty sure it already left”

“so can we leave now?”

“yeah, just as soon as you pass me my cigarettes”

I reached for my backpack.

“huh…”

“front pocket”

“oh”

I opened the front pocket of the bag and pulled out the half-empty pack of cigarettes. The cardboard box was black with intricate gold details, and the labels were written in an alphabet I didn’t recognize. M16 grabbed the box out of my hands and pulled out a cigarette. I reached into my pocket, pulled out the rusty zippo lighter and lit it for her. M16 then shook the box towards me. Without saying a word, I accepted her offer, reaching for a cigarette myself and lighting it.

“hmmm… you don’t seem like the kind that smokes”

“I do but rarely, it takes me an entire year to finish a box of 20… I used to do more but then I got worried for my own health”

“then why even smoke at that point?”

“guess I couldn’t really leave it entirely…”

M16 stared at me unamused, she then shrugged before taking another long drag of her own cigarette.

“lucky for me, I don’t have to worry about anything like that, so long as you keep me clean that is”

I didn’t say anything, I just nodded and picked up my things. We headed out into the streets again, looking around and making sure there weren’t any unpleasantries waiting for us. When we made sure the coast was clear we started to walk to the safer place. The odor left by the teratoma’s fluids on the floor wafted towards us as we passed, causing me to gag. M16 wasn’t kidding, that thing is rancid. Speaking of which, this time she stayed on her human form and walked beside me. I figured it was so that she could finish her cigarette.

“hey…”

“yeah?”

“what are those corpseling things?”

“mm? oh yeah, I guess you wouldn’t know… corpselings are artificial creatures made dead bodies, hence the name”

“artificial? so like… they are made by someone?”

“not someone, the zone itself creates them. When the conditions are right in an area, the curse of the land will mutate any fresh bodies within it, twisting them into those horrible and hostile abominations”

“…”

“there’s lots of kinds of them, all very varied in their appearance and abilities. The only thing they share in common is their desire to murder and eat the meat of their kills so that they can grow stronger and kill more and… uh…”

“…”

“are you ok?”

I swiped the sweat forming on my forehead.

“o-oh no I’m- I'm fine, I just uh… I pictured things in my mind that gave me the heebee-jeebees”

“gave you the what now?”

“…nevermind…”

M16 took another long drag while staring at me.

“…take a right on the next street”

“right… but uh…”

“what is it?”

“you said a well aimed burst would kill that thing quick but that  orc put a lot of lead into it before it died”

“hmm? oh that's because the orc didn't hit it correctly”

“what do you mean?”

“the eye, it's the teratoma's weakness… you pop it, and its brains come spilling out”

“ah, I'll keep that in mind”

We kept on walking for what felt like hours, neither of us speaking to the other. The sun had gone down significantly, but the sky wasn’t quite dark yet. When M16 finished her cigarette, she tossed the butt to the floor and then dissipated back into the rifle. She would only talk to me to tell me where to go. From time to time a distant gunshot or explosion would remind me that I had to keep an eye out for anything or anyone that we came across. We never encountered anything, fortunately.

“hey, we’re getting close”

“are we really? my feet are starting to get sore”

“yes, just turn left on this intersection and we’re pretty much there”

“oh god… finally…”

“you should probably get rid of your cigarette, the smell may attract something”

“you’re joking right? I’ve had this thing on my mouth for the whole time!”

“hey, better now when you can defend yourself than in your sleep, right?”

“oh my god…”

I quickly spat out the rest of my cigarette and stepped on it, then I started smelling myself to see if the odor stuck to me. M16 tapped me on the shoulder, making me jump a little.

“hey do that inside”

“the point is-argh-is to not take the smell with me”

“look, just forget about it and move”

M16 started pulling me by the collar of my t-shirt.

“hey! ow! ok I’m going!”

M16 took me inside a rather small building with only two floors. She looked around to make sure we weren’t being followed before closing the door. Like last building, the inside consists of a single room, the front entrance, windows, and another door on the side. Unlike the last building, this one has a bar stretching across the room and the back wall is covered in shelves, stools and tables are thrown about the place recklessly. It seems like this used to be some sort of pub before the calamity that struck this place.

“through there” said M16 as she pointed at the only other door.

I walked through and found the door led to the stairs up. I climbed to the second floor and came across a door. I twisted the knob and then looked back at M16 who was behind me.

“it’s locked…”

“right, sorry I forgot about that”

“what? are you kidding m-am I screwed?! was this all for nothing?!”

M16 simply disappeared back into her rifle. I took a deep breath as I contained myself from lashing out in frustration.

“uuugh!”

“hey, press me against the door”

“huh?”

“I said press me against the door!”

I obliged, holding the rifle by the butt and pressing the receiver with my free hand. A few seconds later I heard a metallic click. The knob jiggled and the door flew open. On the other side was M16 holding a rusty knife.

“get in”

“w-what’s the knife for?”

“it’s how I open and lock the door”

“oh…”

I stepped inside the room and looked around. It was just as big as the room below, but instead of a pub, it seemed mostly empty, except for a series of concrete slabs arranged around the door and little light crystals attached to the ceiling to provide a little light.

“what are these for?” I asked as I tapped a piece of concrete with my shoe.

“cover, in case anyone tries to break in, you have something to hide behind”

“ah”

I turned around and saw M16 locking the door by inserting the tip of the knife into the keyhole and twisting it locked. Each knob handle on the door had a keyhole… weird. I moved past the concrete slabs and found that at the very back of the room there was a bunch of furniture clustered together. Things like chests, drawers, cabinets, and cupboards. All things meant to contain or store stuff, the only outlier being a mountain of clothes piling up against the wall.

“so uh… what’s the deal with all this?”

I heard the knife clatter as it fell on the floor. M16 was nowhere to be seen, so I thought she had hidden behind one of the concrete slabs. I was gonna call out to her but before a sound could leave my mouth, M16 appeared in front of me. She had dissipated her human form, only to come out of the rifle next to me. It surprised me quite a bit, but I didn’t jump like before. I don’t know why she did it but I can only assume she did to save herself from walking a few feet.

“this room is… well it has a complicated history”

“hey if this place is where we’re gonna spend the night then I don’t mind, care if I take a seat?”

“sure, sit on the bed if you want” she said as she pointed to the pile of discarded clothes.

An unusual place to sleep but considering the other options are hard wood furniture or cold concrete floor, I wasn’t gonna complain. So I sat down on the pile and set both my backpack and the rifle beside me. M16 pulled one of the chests closer to the pile and sat down in front of me.

“I… originally found this place with my first user… he came here to hide from something, he never told me what, but I didn’t question it, I helped him through and through… it was a few days after our arrival when I truly woke up…”

Her voice and attitude had changed again, but not back to the gentle woman I found her as. It was clear that she was holding her emotions back, and even though I noticed at the time, I didn’t comment on it. I had heard rumors of waffengeist like her before, though I heard they were almost identical to humans in both appearance and personality. However, M16’s emotions seem to be situational and shifted abruptly from one to the other. Maybe it was something particularly wrong with her.

“…at first he was… scared but he came to understand what I was… and we… it was like if an entire new world of possibilities had opened up before me, but then as the days passed, he grew tired and distant. This place was taking its toll on him until… one day he left without me and…”

M16 remained quiet for about a minute. The memories if her first user had completely sidetracked her. I didn’t say anything because I was afraid of her lashing out against me. Nothing about her so far told me she would but her personality and reasoning was still largely a mystery to me. I remained in silence until she spoke again.

“hey…”

“yes?”

“were we doing something? I seemed to have spaced out for a moment”

Her personality changed yet again. Not back to being dismissive or rude, but rather to a more casual tone. She sounded more like someone who had known me for some time and didn't have any qualms about talking to me.

“oh we uh… I mean, you were telling me about uh um… this pile of clothes”

“oh that, they are the clothes of bodies me and my previous users have found, you can grab anything you want from it”

“uh…”

“don’t worry, I cleaned them… well as clean as I could get them with whatever I had around… actually, you should probably pick a jacket or something warmer than just that t-shirt, cold days are coming”

“huh, now that you mention it, I was starting to get a bit chilly out there”

I started to dig through the pile, looking for the least disheveled piece of clothing I could find. I don’t know what compelled me to do so. The “chilly” comment was true, but I really didn’t want to wear something taken from a corpse, both because of morals and hygiene. Nevertheless, I kept on searching until I found something that didn’t look too used. It was a military jacked dyed in winter digital camouflage. I shoved my arms through the sleeves and zipped it up. It fit nicely and felt quite comfortable in a weird way.

“how do I look?”

“ah that jacket… I remember finding it alongside a bulletproof vest”

“really? do you still have it?”

“I think so… hold on, let me look on the armor closest”

“the armor closet?”

M16 stood up and walked towards one of the big cabinets. She opened it and looked through the contents. Out of curiosity, I went over to see what was inside, only to see the cabinet was chock-full of assorted pieces of tactical gear. I moved closer to have a better look, that’s when M16 reached for something at the very back and pulled a big Kevlar vest from the closet. This caused a lot of the pieces of armor inside to fall onto the floor.

“ah… here it is!”

She handed the vest to me. It was a simple kevlar vest with shoulder pads. On the front was a big white square with something written on it, it was the same weird alphabet that was on M16’s cigarette pack. There were some details on the shoulder pieces too, they were adorned with patches depicting a golden eagle holding a sword and shield on its talons. To be honest, I was disappointed. I hoped that by vest she meant a full-on plate carrier and pouch rig.

“well this is uh… you don’t happen to have the ones with the steel plates, do you?”

“uh… I think there was one or two around here…”

Ah… perfect…

“…but I don’t have any of those steel fillings”

God dammit…

“actually, I’ll think I’ll just use this one… for now… thanks”

Hey at least it's better than nothing… I guess…

I undid the latches and threw the vest over my new jacket. After tightening everything down I moved my torso around to get a feel for the vest. It didn’t feel too limiting, but then again, it was just a simple Kevlar vest. What I saved in mobility I lost in protection. I then moved over to the armor closet and started digging around.

“you don’t mind if I take more of this stuff, do you?”

“don’t worry, I don’t have a use for them anyway”

I quickly went back to browsing through the pile of discarded pieces of gear. It was at this point when I noticed something I hadn’t before. A distinctive lack of wear or aging on the pieces of armor. Most of them seemed lightly used, some brand new, I understood that they were preserved inside here but for things that had supposedly been stored for year, I would expect some light discoloration at the very least. I didn’t linger on that thought much, it was just a curiosity. Soon enough I found a pair of matching knee pads which caught my attention. I grabbed them without a second thought.

“I’m gonna take this too”

“suit yourself… literally”

“heh…”

After that, the evening became calm. M16 and I just sat around talking to each other. We exchanged stories as we waited for the night to fall. I told her about life outside the esperland, about my family and how I was a mechanic before becoming a helicopter pilot. In exchange, she told me about her previous users and the exploits they committed together, things they had killed, survival strategies, how to find food and water and a lot of other useful stuff. Though when I asked, she was never able to describe them physically, she never memorized their names or ages either. That made me recall one of the first things she said to me when we met.

“h-hey M16” I said as I reached for a can in my backpack

“yes?”

“when I found you… what did you mean by ‘I don’t usually ask this’… when you asked me my name, I mean…”

M16 stared at me unflinching for several seconds.

“I... don’t know exactly yet, but there’s something in you I feel, it makes me… curious…”

I tried my best to not look utterly disappointed at her answer.

“something like what?”

“eh… maybe it was just a gut feeling”

I failed. I let out a big sigh and threw myself back onto the pile of clothes. Which I instantly regretted as I found the one position this vest quickly became unbearable. I was hoping for a more substantial answer than that ‘oh just a feeling’ shit, but I guess… no never mind.

“are you ok? that looked like it hurt”

“I’m fine”

I sat up and pulled out a can of something from my backpack with the intent of having it for dinner.

“got a can opener?”

“check the bottom of the can”

“what? oh”

I turned the can around and found the other side had a tab for easy opening. I was holding it upside down. I quickly lifted the tab up and pulled it, casing the can to hiss as I peeled away the top. The contents looked like a grainy pale pink paste. It looked like that internet myth of what chicken McNuggets supposedly looked like before being cooked.

“what is this thing?” I asked as I sniffed the contents of the can which smelled like nothing.

M16 leaned closer and gave it a sniff

“beef spread, about 2 weeks away from going bad”

“oh well, then I guess it’s good then”

I tipped the can back to let the contents fall into my mouth. Instead, the meat mush remained firmly inside its container. I had to shove my pinky finger in it and stir to loosen up the spread. Once unstuck, I slammed the meat slurry back to try and finish it as quick as possible. I winced every time I had to endure the heavily processed flavor. The only thing I could think about was how wonderful everything was gonna be when I got back to a normal life.

“augh, that tasted horrible” I said as I dropped the can on the floor and wiped my pinky on the pile of clothes.

“then why did you eat it?”

“huh?”

“if you didn’t like it why did you eat it?”

“because… I… nevermind…”

I leaned back on the pile and closed my eyes for a few seconds. When I opened them again, M16 was standing right above me, staring directly into my eyes.

“can I call you Ulysses?”

“um… sure?”

“can I see the scar on your leg?”

“…no”

M16 stepped off and started fidgeting with her own hands.

“oh, ok… you can call me anything you like, I mean… in exchange for letting me call you Ulysses”

This caught me off-guard. Not her hovering above me, I kind of expected that really. It was rather how innocent she sounded when asking to call me by my nickname. That moment had some sort of uncanny valley effect on me, but besides the earie feeling, I didn’t have a reason to not let her. I liked Ulysses more than my real name anyway.

“hey… you were manufactured by FN Herstal, right?”

“yes, for the most part… my handguard was made by the Knight’s Armament company… m-my carry handle and rail covers are aftermarket though, they are Palmetto State and Magpul respectively”

“I see…”

I leaned down and picked the rifle up. I inspected the carry handle and covers, noticing a very slight difference in the color.

“can I call you A4? I feel it rolls better than just M16”

“sure”

“cool”

I inspected her more thoroughly this time. She was surprisingly in good condition despite all she’s gone through. Not perfectly intact though, there were clear scratch marks around the magazine well, the selector and the charging handle. I turned towards A4 and noticed she looked uncomfortable as I looked into her wear marks. I set the rifle aside and laid back on the clothes bed.

“I’m going to take a nap if you don’t mind”

“don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out”

“thank you”

I sighed in relief as I turned to my side and drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I slowly opened my eyes. A cold sweat formed on my forehead, I felt a sharp pain in my legs and my chest felt heavy. My body was ached because I had twisted myself into a knot in my sleep. I groaned as I sat up, vertebrae cracking along the way. A4 was sitting besides the bed pile, staring at the door. She paid no attention to me until I called her attention.

“hey…”

“mhmm?”

“how was the night?”

“it rained, I couldn’t hear anything outside besides that”

“huh… do you think the sun is out by now?”

“I don’t know”

I looked around for any windows or holes in the walls, anything that would let me peek outside. I hadn’t noticed earlier but all the windows in the room were completely boarded up, and the spaces between the planks were covered by cement. I quietly got up and the M16 and my backpack up.

“we’re gonna find out then, is there anything you want to do here before we leave?”

“no… not really”

“then let’s move”

I walked towards the exit, picked up the rusty knife off the floor and twisted the lock open. A cold breeze blew in when I opened the door, it felt refreshing. I passed through but A4 stayed behind, she closed the door behind me and locked it. After a few seconds, her voice came from within her rifle.

“there, let’s go”

I walked down stair and slowly opened the front door. There were puddles on the ground and drops of water fell from the overhangs on the wall. The sun was just about done rising, there was already enough light for me to feel comfortable. I scanned the area around the entrance for any potential threads. The coast seemed clear, so we ventured out. I picked a random direction away from the center of the city and started to walk.

“where are we going?”

“out of this hellhole”

“just like that?”

“yes, why do you ask?”

“you can’t just pick a random direction and walk out! it’s not that simple!”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“what?”

“you’d die before stumbling upon an exit”

The rude tone was back. A4 emerged from her rifle with her arms crossed and an angry look on her face.

“what do you mean?”

A4 squatted down and drew a circle in the dusty street, which she then divided into four equal parts. She signaled me to get closer, so I stepped forward and kneeled down in front of her.

“this city was built into the shape of a circle, you know that, right?”

“yes, I noticed from the air…”

“and you saw the four main roads, yes?”

“uh… I don't think so?”

“there are four main roads, each one pointing at a cardinal direction. They connect at the center where the city hall is. Those roads are the only ways in and out of here”

“what’s stopping me from running out of the city?”

“a 20-meter-tall wall of concrete that surrounds the entire perimeter”

“oh…”

20 meters, that’s like 65 feet. I didn’t see anything like that when I flew in.

“…well uh, do you know how to get to the nearest one of those main roads”

“I have a vague idea, but really I wouldn’t recommend following one out”

“why?”

“they are big and empty. There’s very little cover and it’s crawling with all kinds of monsters and scumbags. All my previous users tended to avoid them”

“I… see… then what do I do?”

A4 shrugged her shoulders and dissipated into her rifle. I let out a disappointed sigh.

“well, if you want to settle down in here, I’m willing to help you out”

“…”

“Ulysses?”

I was not going to take that offer, I didn’t care how nice or willing she was to help me survive. I wanted back to a normal life. I chose risking death in exchange of freedom, rather than staying here, fighting mutated corpses and eating stale canned meat for the rest of my life. Though I wasn’t entirely betting my life on the roads, I’m smarter than that.

“…no, I’m getting out…”

“w-what?”

“take me to the nearest road…”

“do you seriously want to die?”

“no, I have a plan”

“hmph… fine but if you get killed, don’t say I didn’t told you so”

A4 started giving me directions on where to go. We walked through the empty streets just like before, keeping an eye out for any danger. I felt more confident with the morning sun shining a clearer picture of the city. We continued for about an hour before I stopped on a dark alleyway.

“what’s the matter?” A4 asked.

“I’m getting hungry, I haven’t had breakfast” I said as I reached into my backpack for another can of meat.

“you’re… why not find somewhere nicer to do that?”

“it won’t take long, I promise”

I peeled the top of the can and encountered what seemed to be a slimy yellowish blob inside. I dipped my finger in and felt a change in texture. It was only the top of the contents that were disgusting. I flicked it off deeper into the alleyway and slammed the mystery meat spread down. I immediately recognized the taste of spiced turkey. It was more tolerable than the beef I had for dinner last night, still not something I would regularly eat though. A4 appeared in front of me, she stared at the sky for a bit before turning to me.

“something is around…”

“s-something like what?”

“a corpseling…”

I was immediately alarmed, I didn’t want to encounter another one of those things, let alone cornered in such a cramped space like this. I tossed the can aside and got up, rifle ready. I peeked around the corners of the alleyway and scanned the streets for any thread. A4 kept looking up at the roofs of the buildings around us. I didn’t see anything, so I started backing away from the entrance until I heard some sort of wet slurping behind me. Before I could turn around, the slurping turned into an evil hiss. I jumped away scared and aimed my rifle down narrow passage. A few feet before us stood a weird creature.

It had the shape of a wyvern, yet it was around the size of a large house cat. Its skin was a deep shade of purple with some yellowish spots around its belly. The texture of its looked more like cracked glass than any scales I had seen before. However, the most peculiar part of this weird animal was the fact that its joints oozed what appeared to be human blood. This last quality gave this animal quite a creepy look, which made me keep my sights centered on it. The creature hissed at us with a mouth full of needle-like teeth. I was just about to shoot it when A4 gently reached forward and lowered the barrel. The creature stopped hissing and just stared at us cautiously.

“what… is that thing?”

“don’t talk to loudly… that thing is a scab, they are harmless if you don’t provoke them first”

“what’s it doing here?”

“look on the floor, beneath its head, it’s the fat cap you threw away, the one from that can of meat you ate”

“oh it was the fat cap… and now that thing was eating it?”

“apparently… now step back real slow, just let it do its thing and it will leave when it’s had its fill”

When we started to back away the scab lowered its head and continued slurping the yellowish glob. It never took its eyes off us. When it finished licking the fat off the floor, the scab stretched its wings and flew off. A4 poked me in the ribs to get my attention.

“if you ever encounter more in the future, don’t pester them”

“what do they do?”

“they eat the trash left behind by others and dispose of the bodies that didn’t turn… they are like the zone’s cleanup crew”

“didn’t you say that eating flesh makes them more dangerous?”

“they do, in general, but scabs can’t grow much and killing them is a waste of ammo more than anything”

“I see… let’s keep moving then”

“tell me in advance when the next rest stop is, I’m in the mood for a cigarette break”

“I… sure… whatever…”

We started walking again. The minutes flew by and none of us said anything to the other. A peaceful tranquility had settled upon us. I started daydreaming to help the time pass on quicker. I pictured myself back on the family home, sitting around the table with my family, eating my dad’s delicious lasagna. I slowly returned to reality, letting out a sigh of yearning. The sun shined upon the gray cityscape, and puddles of the early morning rain squelched beneath my feet. Between my own wishful thoughts and analyzing the depressing scenery, I realized something.

“ h-hey A4”

“yeah?”

“don’t you think it’s a bit weird we haven’t heard anything?”

“what do you mean?”

“like… we haven’t heard gunshots or anything, right? or have you?”

“hmmm, I have not”

I felt a sudden eeriness crawl up my spine. Yesterday I was hearing gunshots in the distance constantly, what had changed this day?

“hey, it’s not like there’s a cease fire on the mornings or anything like that, right?”

Maybe this was a normal thing, and I just didn’t know about it. It was only my second day on that place after all.

“hmmm… nope, it is actually quite strange now that you mention it… this time of the day tends to be the most violent.

Or maybe not…

“um… what do yo-

“hold on…”

A4 came out of her rifle and immediately started looking around frantically. Her nose twitched a few times before she turned back and locked eyes with me.

“a group of four, they are coming this way”

“what?! four wha-

She lunged towards me, covering my mouth with her hand, pressing her face onto the side of mine. She then gently started pushing me towards the door of a building.

“four people” she whispered into my ear.

My blood curled and my chest felt cold at her words. I’ve knew the people in this place were psychopaths ,but I had never heard of teams of them hunting together. I had to hide quickly.

I turned around and entered through the door without hesitation. The insides of this building were completely empty. No furniture, no trash, no nothing. The windows were uncovered, some of them completely shattered, so the best hiding spot would be against a wall. I slid into a corner and sat down and remained completely still. A4 disappeared into her rifle and we both laid there for what felt like several minutes, not moving, not making a sound. I was expecting A4 to give me the clear. I was starting to get impatient when I heard the faint sound of a group walking in unison. It grew louder and soon I could see their shadows on the walls opposed to the windows we were hiding around. They were outside this very building. Just as I was hoping they’d walk by without detecting us, they stopped directly in front of the door. I was starting to lose my nerve, so much so that I was getting ready to snap the muzzle of my rifle towards the entrance and dump the entire magazine. Until I heard one of them speak.

“hey micky, are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“of course I am, it’s this stupid signal that keeps moving around” an impatient voice replied.

Those voices… it couldn’t be…

“where does the thingy says it’s at now?”

“the detector says it should be around here but it’s too weak to pinpoint exactly where”

I slowly started to get up. I felt A4 yank the back of my jacket to keep me hidden, but I still managed to peek over the window frame. I caught a glimpse of the group and indeed, those insignias, that equipment and armor… it was the four guys I was supposed to drop in. They had survived the crash and managed to escape the wreckage.

“if it’s really that weak, don’t you think we could leave it for later?” a third member of the group spoke.

“yeah, what if it’s just one of those little blood dragon things?” asked the last one.

“we have to destroy all the signals, otherwise we risk this god forsaken place expanding even more” yelled the second guy.

I felt A4 let go of me, so I tried to stand up again. Originally, I thought about getting their attention and joining them, instead, I felt A4 suddenly wrap her arm around my neck before covering my mouth with the other. She pulled me down to the floor where I started to struggle against her. What on earth was she doing?!

“boss, I think we should prioritize the more dangerous targets first, like that big blind mutant we saw near where we crashed”

Wait… the what?...

“yeah, why are we wasting our time chasing little shitty creatures first? we only have two weeks before command demands a report, and if they see we haven’t done shit, they’re gonna abandon us for fuck’s sa-

“ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! Let’s go get the big one first then”

I continued to squirm and push against A4’s arms but my strength couldn’t match hers. Every time I tried to pry myself free, she tightened her grip around my neck. I saw the shadows on the wall starting to leave. I did my best to try and escape, I didn’t want to be alone. A4 leaned onto my ear and whispered.

“what the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“I… k-know those g-guys… I… want to-to go with t-them…”

“oh you know then right?”

“y-yeah… they came w-with me in… my… heli…”

“alright, I see how it is…”

“w-what do you mea-

Before I could finish my sentence, A4 moved her hand over my eyes. I suddenly felt immensely tired, my eyes itched, and my lungs felt like stone. I could only endure it for a few seconds before succumbing to her, passing out in her arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found myself in a white void. My mind was clouded, I couldn’t think or remember anything. A4 suddenly appeared with her back turned towards me. I tried to reach for her, but my hand bumped against an invisible barrier that turned to crystal upon contact. Before I could ever try to comprehend what was going on, I woke up. Still in the corner of that building, still in her arms.

My body felt heavy, and my lips were dry and flaky, I had no idea how much time had passed. Before I could move, A4 wrapped one of her arms around my chest, she then placed her free hand on top of my head and started playing with my hair. What just happened? was A4 aware I had regained consciousness? I tried to stay still to see if she was going to do something else next, but a sudden jolt of pain in my head caused me to flinch.

“augh…” I exclaimed as I jerked forward and pressed on the sides of my head.

“are you ok?” A4 asked as she pulled her arms away.

“w-what happened?”

“you were about to get yourself killed so I put you to sleep for a few hours”

“w-what? no… no no NO!” I pushed myself away from her, trying to get up I only ended up tripping and falling flat on my face.

“what’s gotten into you?”

I quickly turned myself around and faced A4.

“ME?! THOSE PEOPLE COULD HAVE SAVED US YOU KNOW?!”

“you should probably keep your voice down”

“BUT YOU JUST- I-I…”

I sat up and clutched both sides of my head again. A4 just sat in the corner, staring at me unamused.

“Oliver…”

“how can you be so nonchalant about this?!”

“what makes you think those men would have helped you?”

“wha…”

“you heard what they were talking about?”

“I- s-something about some signals… um… they said something about a report to command and… THAT’S IT!”

“shhh”

“oh, sorry… I mean, they had someone out there! They could have called for an evac and… and…”

A4 took a deep breath and shook her head.

“you’re not seeing it the right way, those guys are clearly on a mission… the way they talked… they made it sound like those signal things they want to destroy come from the corpselings”

“so? they are just radical exterminators, big whoop! what makes you think they wouldn’t have helped me-US… helped us”

A4 frowned, the atmosphere changed around her instantly. My anger and frustration were scared away immediately. something was not right.

“I’ve seen people like them before… they come in, sent here probably by the government of a nearby kingdom to attack the esperland… they think they can weaken it, and kill it… they only anger it, and make it want to expand more… they’ll be dead within a week”

“b-but…”

“you said you were the one who brought them right?”

“w-wait”

“and when you woke up from the crash, were they there with you?”

“no but-

A4 stood up and started walking towards me with her fists balled up. I started crawling back out of fear. Once over me, she squatted down and tried staring me in the eyes, but I shut my eyes and looked away.

“do you even know their names? Do they know yours?! they only cared about you as a way to enter the land! after that? they abandoned you…”

“no-

She grabbed me by the collar of my jacket and tried to get me to look at her.

“yes Oliver! Best case scenario, they’ll take us in for a day and wait for you to fall asleep, just to abandon you again, probably even stealing what little we have… but they would have probably shot you on sight”

“OKAY OKAY I GET IT! j-just please stop… y-you’re freaking me out!”

A4’s face twisted, she let go of my jacked and stepped back, leaning against a wall for support and breathing heavily. I stood up and carefully approached her. The menacing atmosphere she emanated was gone, yet I hesitated on calling her attention. She turned to me.

“Ulysses…”

“a-A4?”

“I… I’m sorry I-I got carried away… I-hnng… I will try to control myself in th-the future”

Even though the tics in her speech, A4’s apology wasn’t sad or pained as much as it sounded prim and proper. I overcame my doubts and placed my hand on her shoulder.

“it’s ok… I uh…”

“I know I can be cold most of the time, but I really don’t want… I can’t…”

“don’t worry I understa-

“I may not have made it sound like it so far, but I really wouldn’t like you to die in such a stupid manner”

“…um, I appreciate it?”

A4 sighed and sat down on the corner again.

“it’s just that… having someone who actually wants to go out there and explore and get out of here instead of hunting down and killing others just to get killed themselves and leave me alone for months at the time I find it… it’s refreshing… to say the least”

“huh… thanks”

“how are you feeling Oliver?”

“well, my head hurts and I’m thirsty as hell so uh… I think I’m dehydrated”

“didn’t you have some water in your backpack?”

“I threw it away because it was dirty”

“oh… well, I’m sure we’ll find more”

“where or how?” I asked as I bent down and helped A4 up.

“we’ll manage, trust me”

“um… ok”

I pick my backpack and rifle up and walk out the door, I looked up at the sky and calculated that it was somewhere between 4 and 6 PM, meaning it wasn’t going to be long before night fell, and we would have to hunker down somewhere.

“how long was I out for?”

“like I said, a couple of hours”

“a couple? looks like the entire evening went by”

“…I’m sorry…”

“it’s ok, but we’ll have to get off the streets soon”

I started walking towards the same direction we had been going in the morning. A4 and I didn’t say a thing to each other for hours before stopping.

“A4…”

“yeah?”

“you think we should stop for today?”

“I’d say it’s your call, but you look pretty beat”

“I do?”

“yeah, you definitely did enough for today, how are you feeling”

“fine I guess… but it is getting pretty dark now, come on, let’s find somewhere to pass the night”

I looked around and went into the biggest building I could see, an apartment building five stories tall. As I started to climb the stairs up, A4 gave me a tip.

“don’t go to the very top floor, if someone saw go in and has a grenade launcher, that’s the first place they’ll try hitting”

“that uh… the way you say that makes it sounds like it happens more often that I would have thought”

“oh it happens. It’s not an every night occurrence but it’s something to keep in mind, try the second or third to last floor”

“got it”

“I don’t sense anything nearby by the way”

“hm…”

“I’d still be careful if I were you”

I reached the third floor where I decided to stay, indicated by three strikes painted on a wall beside a door. I opened the door and found myself in a narrow corridor with three more doors that had been battered down. These were the apartments, and I chose to stay in the middle one, because less windows meant less chances of getting grenaded in my sleep. I stepped over the destroyed remains door and made myself comfortable inside, huddling against the furthest corner of a small room with the door perpendicular to the entrance of the appartement.

“how are you feeling Uly?”

A4’s human form appeared besides me, sitting against the wall.

“my mouth is… dry”

“are you gonna be ok for the rest of the night?”

I nodded and then started patting down on my jacket. I felt one of the spare buttons and then I started tugging at it. When I had a good grip, I clutched my hand over it and pulled with all my strength.

“what are you doing?”

I ripped the button from my jacket and then popped it under my tongue.

“augh, I-I’m indushing my mouft to shalivate to cohmbat dry mouft”

“where did you learn that?”

“I shaw it in a movie ahbout geometical sshapes”

A4 chuckled before reaching over my head and patting my hair.

“you should get some sleep now, I’ll keep guard”

I spat the button onto the ground and stretched my arms out.

“ok, thanks”

“if anything happens I’ll wake you up right away”

I took a deep breath and leaned against the wall, closing my eyes, hoping the night would pass quickly. And so it seemed like it did since I passed out for what felt like a few seconds, only to be woken by a tugging on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and noticed it was darker than before I went to sleep. A4 gently cupped her hand over my mouth and whispered into my ear.

“shhh… Oliver, someone’s coming… they are searching the second floor right now, move quietly and get ready to ambush”

My eyes widened. I gave A4 an anguished look, which she returned before fading away. I slowly leaned to my right and picked her up. I heard steps below me followed by the sounds of debris being pushed aside. Evidently, whoever was down there wasn’t too keen on being sneaky. I shouldered A4 and pointed her at the door. She whispered to me from within the rifle.

“safety is off, 27 shots, 3-round burst”

I nodded and prepared myself as the treading came up the stairs, into the hallway and into the first apartment. Their steps were slow and heavy, almost dragging across the floor. I could hear doors getting pushed around and drawers being checked, and then they headed towards the corridor again. My heart beat faster and faster with each approaching and agonizing step. The remnants of the front door were pushed aside, and my sight tunneled on the door of my room. I slowly drew in a long breath and held it. The outline of a rifle’s muzzle slowly came into view, contrasting against the shadows beyond it. Then the arms appeared, and then the rest of the body. They slowly started to turn towards me, and that’s when I took my shot. I snapped the sights onto the intruder’s center mass and pulled the trigger.

BR-RA-RANG

All three rounds made contact, yet my assailant wasn’t dead. Instead, I saw them fall down and flail their legs as they pushed themselves back up, all while groaning and wheezing, it was the voice of a man. I quickly got up and ran after him, managing to catch him in the legs with another burst as he ran out into the corridor. He screamed out in pain and then a single shot ran out. A chunk of the doorframe flew off as splinters, making me hesitate to pursue him further, yet something in my mind told me to not let him get away. I obliged and jumped out the door into the corridor. The man was limping his way into the staircase. I fired a burst from the hip, all three rounds hitting him in the back and sending him tumbling down the stairs, dead.

I sneaked over, rifle still aimed and ready. As I peeked down the stairs, I saw the man’s chest contract one last time as the air escaped from his lungs. I walked down and stood over the corpse, the effects of the adrenaline rush died down and let my previous ailments set back in. The dehydration was back, and with it came irritated eyes and fatigue. A4 formed besides the corpse, she was squatting down and fixated on the three exit wounds clustered together on the upper torso. It seems the only form of armor this man was wearing was the beat up helmet on his head.

“is he dead dead?”

A4 placed her hand over the chest wounds, her pupils dilated considerably and then immediately shrank back to normal.

“yeah, he’s dead dead”

I let out a big sigh and then leaned against a wall.

“phew… well… fuck…”

“you don't feel bad for him do you?”

“what? no, fuck no! I just… the adrenaline is making me feel a bit shit”

“hmmm, hey your recoil control is impeccable”

“I… t-thanks?”

“your shot placement needs work though”

“uh…”

“if you’d placed your shots correctly, you could have killed him with the first burst”

I just stared at her for a few seconds.

“hey come on Oliver, don't look at me like that, besides…”

A4 moved her hands towards the man’s head. She undid the straps on his helmet and removed it.

“…wouldn’t you like a souvenir?” she said gleefully as she extended the helmet towards me.

“Jesus Christ A4… that’s kind of fucked up… but uh… ah fuck it, I really don’t want to go around with my head unprotected”

I hesitantly grabbed the helmet and put it on my head. It was one of those steel helmets that east Germany used around the 50’s, except this one was scratched and dented to hell, it felt uncomfortable to wear but it was better than nothing. By the time I was done fiddling with the straps, I looked over to see A4 digging through the rest of the man's pockets.

“hey Oliver, were you wondering why that guy shot at you only once?”

“no, not really”

“oh… w-well uh, look anyway”

I looked back to see A4 pulling a bloodied Kalashnikov rifle from under the corpse, and much like the helmet, this rifle was well worn with cracks and bruises in the wood furniture covered with tape. However, the most eye-catching detail was the fact that the magazine of the rifle was torn open from the bottom. No doubt this was the cause of the man not being able to shoot back with more than one round, it was the round already chambered.

“I did that?”

“yeah, this must have been from the first burst”

“huh…”

“welp, besides that little curiosity, there wasn’t much on this guy”

“so what now?”

“we relocate, just in case”

“yeah, that sounds reasonable… let’s get out of here”

“sit down for a moment, I’ll go get your backpack”

“sure”

A4 faded off and left me with the corpse. I leaned onto a wall and started fidgeting with my own fingers. A feeling of unrest started growing within me, causing me to shift on the spot out of nervousness. I looked at the corpse, and then I looked downstairs, I tapped the dead guy with my feet and then looked around some more. Something here doesn’t feel right, there’s something here that’s missing.

“hey, are you ok?”

“y-yeah”

I look up to see A4 standing at the stairs with my back on her hands. She throws at me and I catch it. She then dissipates and speaks to me from her rifle.

“you look nervous Ulysses, are you sure you are well?”

“yeah I just… I still feel like shit, I really need some water”

“keep an eye out as we are leaving, I have a sneaking suspicion that this guy was carrying a lot more than his corpse let’s on”

“what do you mean?”

“the land here is dead, you can’t live off it… so people here usually carry a lot of supplies with them, but those supplies are heavy and cumbersome, so what most do here before engaging some else in combat is taking their backpacks or satchels or whatever off themselves and hiding them somewhere nearby so that their mobility won’t be hindered”

“ah I get it, after fighting t-they can go back and retrieve their… stuff”

“exactly”

“heh… m-maybe he’ll have some water on his stash… let’s get out of here”

I started walking down the stairs carefully. It became harder to see the lower I went, to the point I had to carefully plant my foot in each step while leaning against the wall. When we got the ground floor A4 appeared in front of me to remind me.

“be on the lookout, that guy may have hidden his things very well, they may not even be on this building”

“uh… A4…”

“yeah?”

I pointed down to the khaki string bag I had just bumped with my foot by accident.

“oh…”

I bent down and picked up the bag, it looked like it was about to burst. Opening it, the first thing I saw was a plastic bottle filled with a clear liquid. I gasped in awe, could it be? I quickly grabbed the bottle and twisted the cap off, then I smelled the contents. No smell, I chugged the entire bottle without hesitation. Finally having real water to drink felt like a major victory to me.

“well, would you look at that… how’s it taste Ulysses?”

“like… like life A4…”

“great, grab the bag and we’ll see what else he had when we’re somewhere safer”

“yeah…”

After that, A4 and I moved a few blocks up and got to a similar building. I found myself a nook to sleep in, this time in the form of the space beneath the stairs to the last floor. There I turned both my backpack and the string bag inside out and started picking through their contents, mostly food and water with a few trinkets sprinkled through and a couple of empty AK magazines. I only took the food and water into my backpack and keep the empty string bag too, just in case.

“today was an interesting day huh Ulysses?”

“ha… ha… yeah I… I’m gonna… sleep now”

“are you feeling any better?”

“a bit, thanks I… I probably wouldn’t have made it out of there… without you A4”

“…rest easy Ulysses”

A4 chuckled and gave me a caring smile, it was the last thing I saw before I passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the night passed quickly. I woke up naturally around 8 to 10 in the morning feeling a lot better than the night before. I still felt a little fatigued but at least my head didn’t hurt as much anymore.

“good morning Ulysses, how was your sleep?”

“good… mostly”

“how are you feeling?”

“better”

“so you are fine now? good to hear”

“not fine, just better” I quipped as I pulled my backpack closer in search for breakfast.

“heh, well… I think you’ll finally get a decent rest after today”

“what do you mean?”

“well, I know we’r-

“ooh a snickers bar”

“…Oliver…”

“huh? oh sorry, I got exited” I apologized as I peeled the wrapper off the chocolate treat.

“um, as I was saying… I know we are quite close to gate out of the city and I have a feeling thing are gonna work out fine for us today”

“so… you’re saying that we’re getting out today?” The small flame of hope in me flared out at the thought.

“hmmm out of the city maybe, out of the esperland? Definitely not today”

“oh…” aaaaaaand my flame smoldered.

“come one Ulysses, don’t be down, I believe you can make it”

“alright… let’s move”

A4 nodded and then went into her rifle. I bit on the snickers to free my hands so I could pack everything back while I ate it. Once everything was ready, I ran down the stairs and left the building.

“I feel like jogging today instead of walking, I’ll put you on safe in case I trip or something like that”

“I mean… you really don’t have to but if you want…”

“right, let’s go”

I started trotting towards the city walls again, holding A4 with one hand by the grip as I picked up the pace”

“A4… if you… sense anything… tell me”

“sure, just try not to make much noise”

“hah… ah… yeah…”

A few minutes into the run, I heard shots in the distance. They came from somewhere behind me. It was not necessarily a good sign but honestly I preferred it over the silence.

“seems like things are going back to normal”

“uh? oh… yeah, I was… thinking… something similar”

“it feels right, doesn’t it?”

“right is not… the word I wou-huff… would have use… A4”

“well… it’s better that the dreadful feeling of loneliness”

“hah… yeah I… I guess”

And I kept running, sticking to the cover of alleyways and ready to jump into the nearest cover whenever I had to run in the open. It wasn’t until several minutes later when I started to get seriously tired, so I stopped at a nearby building to rest. The place was in the middle of construction before being abandoned. The first building was more or less done but the subsequent ones were pretty much just pillars, ceilings, and stairs. I sat on the stairs of the first floor to catch my breath, A4 manifested beside me and then laid back on the stairs, her nose twitched a little before she looked at me and spoke.

“hmm, coast is clear, you can lean back and relax if you want”

I obliged and loosened up.

“hey A4, whenever you sense something, it’s through smell, right?”

“hm?”

“every time you sensed someone nearby, your nose twitched like if you were sniffing for something, and you also did that when I was looking for food and you were able to distinguish a spoiled can of meat from the edible ones from several feet away, you have an extraordinary sense of smell”

“I… yeah I guess, it’s not weird or anything right?”

“no… a bit… but it has been really useful so far”

“oh… well, now that you’ve brought it up, I think there’s something I should tell you”

“mhm?”

“don’t uh… don’t bet your life on it”

“what do you mean?”

“the people around here, their odor seems to slowly disappear the more time they spend here, and they become harder to figure out”

“how so?”

“so like, I could sense two persons that are new to the area, but in reality it’s a group of three or four seasoned killers walking very close to each other… and stuff… like that so uh…”

“the more time people spent here, the harder they are to detect”

“not detect, more like uh… the details get vaguer”

“I see…”

“yeah, so please, even when I tell you everything I can, be careful”

“I will A4… you want a smoke?”

“sure”

I grabbed my backpack and pulled out the pack and the zippo. I lit up a cigarette which I was about to put on my mouth before A4 reached over and yoinked it from my hand. She laughed at me before taking a long drag of it. I chuckled, tapping her in the shoulder with my fist before lighting another cigarette for myself. I put my backpack aside and leaned back on the stair like A4. Her besides me, her rifle form between us.

“I hope we find some cleaning products soon Ulysses, I haven’t had some proper upkeep in a while”

“you work flawlessly though”

“speaks of my ruggedness… still, I feel like I need a cleaning” A4 finished the rest of her cigarette with another long drag, and then she flicked the butt away.

“hmph… well, I hope smoking doesn’t translate into receiver fouling”

A4 laughed and then sat up on the stairs, then her smile disappeared, and then her nose started to twitch. My eyes widened as I inferred that was about to happen. I quickly sat up too and grabbed the rifle. I spat out my half-smoked cigarettes and crushed it with my boot.

“what is it A4?

“two people…”

“a duo?”

“no… they are coming from different sides… one from the direction we came, the other one is west of where we are”

“are they after us?”

“I… don’t think so…”

“ok, let’s wait them out then”

A4 nodded before dissipating into the rifle. I slowly made my way up the stairs, reaching the third and final floor, I began looking for a good place to hide. The lack of walls made me yet again seek refuge under the stairs. I could have gone all the way onto the roof, but then I would have just cornered myself should the worst have happened. The next few minutes felt tense, not as nerve wrecking as my first fight but certainly still unnerving. A4 appeared a few feet away from me looking to the ground below from behind a concrete pillar. She looked back at me and then beckoned for me to get closer to her. I inched my way over to her, she tapped my shoulder and then pointed somewhere below. When I peeked over, I saw a hooded figure stalking about on the street, they were carrying a modern assault rifle and had a huge bag slung over their shoulders. It was one of the people A4 had sensed.

A4 tapped my shoulder again and pointed at the opposite side of the room. I again moved over and looked down from that side. Below on this side of the building was what I could distinguis as a man. He had an old pump shotgun on his hands and didn’t seem to be carrying any form of luggage on him. Unlike the hooded figure who looked around constantly and moved carefully, this man seemed distracted or uncaring.

Both didn’t seem to know of each other’s existence, yet they were on a collision course. What was about to unfold was obvious, they would face each other and one of them wasn’t leaving this place alive. Morbid curiosity got the best of me, I moved to the corner of the building where I assumed they’d cross paths and waited. I shifted my attention towards the man with the shotgun, as his unprepared and nonchalant nature made me believe he would be the one to die.

Gunfire erupted. A hail of bullets shattered through the few unbroken windows of the building and nailed the man with the shotgun right in the stomach, Knocking him to the ground.

“ouch” whispered A4.

The man laid on the floor, his blood puddled around his waist. He wasn’t dead yet but it seemed like it was the end was near. He used the last of his strength to raise his gun as the hooded figure ran around the corner to secure its kill, gun barrel still smoking. Channeling all his remaining luck into the shot, he pulled the trigger and gored off the face of his attacker, killing them instantly.

“oh shit…”

“huh, pretty good”

The man ejected the spent shell and then threw his weapon away. Alone and fatally wounded, it was obvious he wasn’t going to survive to the end of the day. A4 tapped my shoulder and then handed herself to me. I grabbed the rifle and then looked at her in the eyes.

“you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking are you?”

“I am”

“I… well, I guess I’d be doing him a favor”

“precisely”

A4’s selector switched itself to 3-round burst, I took a deep breath and took aim. I hoped that man felt good with himself for taking that person with him, then I pulled the trigger. Three rounds were expended and the man on the ground was no more.

“come on Ulysses, let’s go see what they had”

I sighed and then stood up, A4 had already picked my bag up and she handed it to me. We quickly walked all the way down to where the two corpses were. A4 kneeled down and examined the man’s body.

“what a swan song this man did”

“hey come on, just check if he has something usefull… I don’t want to linger around here too long”

I turned my attention to the other corpse, the hooded figure the man had killed. I turned the body around and discovered it was the body of a woman, an elf woman if what’s left of her ears is anything to go by. I was interested more on her corpse because she was carrying a rifle potentially chambered in 5.56, and I needed the ammo. I got excited when I saw her rifle was another AR. That was all I needed, I took the magazine off her gun, the round in the chamber, the magazines on her rig and the big backpack she was carrying.

“did that guy have something useful A4?”

“a water canteen”

“anything else?”

“mmm no doesn’t look like it”

“pass me the canteen and let’s get out of here”

A4 tossed me the can, she remained fixated on the body of the man for a few seconds before fading away. I turned back to my course and began to walk, only to stop after a few steps when I heard a weird sound behind me, like a wet groan. I turned around and saw the dead body of the elf convulsing violently. The blood that had pooled around it began to pull back inside the body, leaving no trace behind. I heard what sounded like bones cracking, then the flesh of the corpse started to shrivel and turn gray. A quivering lump started to bulge out from the abdomen, it grew and grew, shrinking the skin around its bones more and more, I was petrified. The coat covering the torse gave, bursting with a loud tear. What was left behind was a big gelatinous red mass, it jiggled in place for a few seconds before it started to crawl away from body.

"KILL THAT THING!” A4 shouted at me as she appeared besides me, pointing her finger at the weird blood slime thing.

My arms stumbled for a moment before I regained a proper grasp on my rifle. I centered my aim on the blob and unleashed two bursts upon it. All six bullets connected, sending the slime into a frenzy. The thing hissed like a feral cat, and its surface hardened. I dumped the rest of the mag into it, each burst making the slime react more violently. The cat like hissing turned into what sounded like a schizophrenic man trying to imitate a bear violently eating minced meat, and its movement became erratic.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!” I shouted as I fumbled with my magazine pouches as I tried to reload.

“JUST KILL IT ALRE-

“I’M TRYING!”

I was finally able to free a mag from its pouch. I switched the empty one out and continued unloading into the slime. It took about half of that magazine before the thing let out one final screech and popped into a puddle.

“is-is it dead?”

“I think so, go check”

“me?! what if it’s faking it? and it snatches my hands off when I get closer! you’re the one who can cease being corporeal at will, you check”

“augh fine, you fucking pansy…”

A4 walked over to the puddle of corpse liquid and poked it with her finger.

“it’s dead dead”

“thank god… so what the fuck was that?”

“this is a clot”

“don’t tell me, it’s some type of corpseling”

“yeah, of the most dangerous ones in fact… they’ll hide on dark corners, usually up high, and they will drop on any unsuspecting victims that wander bellow to suck out their bodily fluids through any opening they can find, leaving nothing but a dry husk”

“that… that sounds like shitty way to go”

“it gets worse, they are the only kind of corpseling that can multiply by themselves… once they’ve sucked up enough fluids, they split in twain like a cell going through mitosis… if left unchecked, they could control entire districts of the city”

“geesh”

“let’s just get out of here, I think I can see the wall from here, if you start moving now, we’ll be there in a few minutes”

“righto”

And so, we pressed forwards. Walking for several minutes, it wasn’t long before I too saw the huge wall that marked the edge of the city. Soon I wouldn’t have to risk my life in this depressing and colorless shithole anymore, or so I hoped. A few more blocks worth of jogging and I had made it, I stood one or two streets away from the actual walls that had made getting out of here a lot more complicated that it should have. They were absolutely monolithic, like something that would have taken a modern human civilization dozens of years to complete. Not only were they tall but they had windows and balconies, which meant they had an inside. It was like a giant fortress that surrounded the city more than the simple concrete ring I was led to believe.

“A4… these walls… they look a lot taller than 20 meters”

“hmmm, must have misremembered some of the details”

“some details? you just told me the height, you didn’t tell me this thing was a fortified bunker that encased the whole city!”

“I mean… why does it matter anyway? it’s not like that makes it harder to walk out of the gate since, you know, there are no more guards here? because they are dead or gone?”

“yeah, you’re right on that but still, holy shit… how long did it take them to build this whole fucking thing?”

“I actually read up on a lot of this place, keep walking and I’ll tell you on the way”

“I… ok, where did you even find that information?”

“get to the next street and turn left, then I’ll tell you”

“right” I affirmed as I picked up the pace again.

“some of the earliest tidbits of information I can remember are from when my original user and I were on our way here… before I had my uh, awakening…”

That sentence made the cogs in my head turn. If she can remember things before she became a geist, am I hurting the guns of the two people I’ve… oh god…

“wake up Oliver! Are you even listening to me?”

“auh wha… oh sorry I was uh fuck I uh, I got um… I started thinking of other things… sorry…”

“augh… anyway… as I was saying, the tension caused by the convergence took its toll on the local politics, the denizens of this city thought war with their southern neighbors was inevitable, so they sought to reinforce their defenses… which they did over the course of three years”

“only three years?”

“yeah, the local economy was entirely reformed in order to support the building of the defensive wall, the farms produced almost exclusively to feed the workers, the mines put metal extraction on the backburner as they focused on producing bricks, institutes of the arcane requisitioned engineers, earth elementals and other kinds of experts to come help. For those years, everyone's job was related to the wall in one way or another, either helping with the building directly or by bolstering the economy to keep it going”

“that’s cool and all but uh… why did they have to make it so fucking big?”

“because they knew of the modern weapons that were brought over from our world. After the wall was done, they turned their attention into modernizing infrastructure, creating the paved roads, the modern concrete buildings around you, and the long dead electrical grid”

“hmmm”

“they wanted to install more modern defense systems after that… but then the calamity happened, I’m sure you know the story from there”

“I do… somewhat, but how do you know all this”

“I read reports about the place… which I took from dead people… who had been killed by my previous users…”

“why would anybody be walking around here with brochures about the place? it’s not exactly what I would call a tourist attraction”

“because not everyone here is a mentally ill psycho with a death wish, some are investigators or researchers sent in by companies or governments to better understand this place, or maybe even find a way to destroy it… like those soldier dudes you brought in”

“ah, I guess that makes some sense”

“…”

“…”

“up ahead should be the road the leads to the gate, I can’t sense anyone near but I know snipers like to set up around here so keep an eye open and don’t stop moving”

“can’t I just take a right here and enter the highway right next to the gate?”

“no, that street should leave to a cul-de-sac, so this is the closest you’ll get to the gate with cover”

“god this city planning is fucking stupid”

I crossed the last street before the highway out and saw the empty stretch of road up ahead. I just had to take a right and run for my life and I would be out. I took a deep breath leaned in against the wall of a building.

“ok… ok… just take a right and run for your life” I muttered to myself.

“don’t stand still and don’t be predictable, got it?”

“got it!”

“then go!”

“THEN I’M GOING! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“you know you don’t have to screa-WOAH”

I braced A4 to my chest and ran as fast as I could. I turned left and ran for a couple of yards before I realized my mistake and started to panic.

“what are you doing Oliver?!”

“I don’t know?!”

I quickly did a 180 and began running in the right direction. I could see it, the gate was up ahead, just a couple hundred feet away fro-

“WAIT WHAT THE FUCK?!”

The gate was closed…

“no… no no no nononononono NOOOOOO FUCK!”

I ran all the way up to the intricately decorated slab of metal that made the giant doors out of the city, then I banged my fist on it in desperation hoping that it would somehow get them to move. No luck, my autistic desperation was not good enough. So, I began punching the gate and screaming like a lunatic as some sort of coping mechanism, or something like that, I don’t know.

“AAAAH FUCKING COME ON AAAAAAAAGH”

“Oliver…”

“GOD FUCKING SHIT FUCK DAMMIT”

“Oliver… there’s a-

“I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL MAHSE-

“SHUT UP OLIVER!”

A4 grabbed me by the shoulder and then spun me around before snapping me back into reality with a hearty slap on the face.

“will you please stop crying AND LISTEN TO ME?!”

“…”

“…HM?”

“…yes…”

“look to your right”

I looked over and saw a small metallic door next to the closed off gate, I was rejoiced at the fact that my doom was not so impending… and a little embarrassed for that whole spectacle I had just put up.

“oh”

“Oliver, I respect you as my user but what the fuck”

“I’m fucked up, I panicked… I uh…”

“just get inside”

“y-yeah”

I unfucked myself and fumbled over the contention rail. A4 disappeared behind the door which she then opened from the inside. Once in, A4 locked the door, and left us in complete darkness. I threw my backpack over my shoulder and dug through it. I found what I was looking for, the zippo lighter, and used it to get some light.

“what are you doing?!” said A4 in a scolding tone.

“what? I need to see”

“use something else, we don’t have infinite lighter fluid”

“like what?”

“I don’t know, check the backpack you stole from that elf broad”

“right”

I take a deep breath and calm down. I am completely enclosed by concrete walls, the only way to me is a heavy steel door that we’ve just locked, I can relax. And so, I do, sitting on the floor, digging through the contents of the elf’s backpack. And by digging, I mean feeling around because even with the zippo I still couldn’t see shit. It wasn’t long before I came across something that felt like some sort of nylon belt, it piqued my curiosity, so I pulled it out. turns out that was a great idea since it turned out to be a headlamp.

“hey look at that, there’s actually another light source here that won’t set me on fire by accident”

“great, now you can dedicate the lighter to my cigarettes”

“…”

“…speaking of which”

I sighed, because of course that was the actual reason. I turned the light on and then handed A4 her pack. While she stood aside to light herself a smoke, I turned the light on and discovered it was actually rather pathetic. No matter, I looked around to all the shit I had been pulling out of the bag that I couldn’t see. Turns out it was mostly plastic packaged electronics and batteries, there wasn’t even any food in there. What the hell was that elf planning on doing with all this? I threw everything back in the bag and fastened the light around my helmet. It was wobbly and not secure at all but I didn’t care.

“ready to move on?” asked A4 before turning her head away and blowing a cloud of smoke.

“yeah”

I looked around the damp concrete passage we were in. The entire place was featureless, just a gray and narrow hallway, the only personality the walls had seemed to be the patches of moss growing on them. After a little exploration, I found that the inside of the wall was segmented by more steel doors. Fortunately, however, it appeared that the doors inside had not fared as well as the one we came in through. Most of them laid rusted on the floor, broken out of their frames. I kneeled down to inspect one and found something rather peculiar.

“hey… A4, look at this…” I said as I pointed at the broken hinges.

“what is it?”

“look, these metal pieces here are torn and jagged…”

“mhmm? so what?”

“that means these doors couldn’t have eroded out of their hinges, something must’ve ripped them out… what sort of thing could do that?”

“an explosion maybe?”

“yeah maybe, but no room so far looked like it ever had a bomb go off in it… you think one of those monsters could have done this?”

“hmmm… corpseling or not, you should probably keep an eye on the ceiling… this is exactly the type of place clots love to infest…”

“aha… haha…”

“I wasn’t joking”

“y-yeah I figure you weren’t”

“…”

“…”

“…let’s keep moving”

“yeah”

We kept advancing. And as we saw more and more of the same thing, a question in my mind kept popping up again and again. What sort of architecture is this anyway? I mean I know it’s supposed to be a fort but come on, at least get some paintings up or put a map somewhere or some sick looking statues carved into the walls like please. Did soldiers really lived and patroled around here without nothing better to look at?

“stop”

“what is it A4?”

“look to your right… there’s something on the floor over there”

I looked to my right and saw what seemed to be pieces of wood on the floor and stuck to the wall. I walked closer out of curiosity, and then realized the bits of floating wood were not stuck to the wall at all, they were laying on a staircase. The stairs were so indistinguishable from the rest of the room that I literally didn't see them at all. I looked up the stairwell and discovered that the convenient attention grabbing bits of rotting wood on the floor were actually part of a now broken door that used to seal the top of the stairs.

“stairs… where do you think they lead?”

“upstairs…”

“yeah I know but I mean what’s ‘upstairs’?”

“I don’t know… probably more empty rooms”

“let’s check it out”

I readjusted the light on my helmet and walked up the stairs. Beyond the broken door laid another gray empty room with another two doors, just like how A4 said. However, this time I noticed the there were another set of stairs besides the ones we had just came from. Without saying anything, I turned around and climbed to the third floor inside the wall. I could see a bit of light coming into the room upstairs as I walked up the steps. The third-floor room proved to be quite the surprise, instead of yet another gray room with two more destroyed doors at the sides, it was a yet another gray room with more destroyed doors at the sides BUT there was also a third door right in front of the stairs. Light shined through, immediately calling my attention. I stepped outside to the cloud covered sun to find myself in a sort of balcony. A parapet stretched across the edge and there was a weird pile of rusted metals that sat over the middle of it. I looked around to see many balconies like this lining the outside of the wall.

“what is this place?”

I asked as I got closer, only then realizing that the rusty metal pieces were actually an M2 browning that hadn't aged well.

“oh...”

I kneeled down and tried to lift the top cover of the old machinegun open…

No use, it’s rusted shut…

“what do you think A4? anything useful we could get from this rust pile?”

“what? no! what are you even thinking?”

“uh… anyway, it looks like this place was some sort of defensive uh… defensive balcony thing”

“defensive balcony…”

“shut up, I’m not a war architect or whatever”

A4 snickered behind my back but I brushed it off. I stood up and went back inside the wall. We continue to explore inside. Being inside this creepy abandoned structure would probably unnerve the average person, but considering what’s outside of these thick concrete walls? It’s rather soothing being able to walk around without having to fear getting my head blown off. Still, I didn’t let my guard down completely, I was wary of corners and asked A4 if she sensed anybody nearby every couple of minutes, and every time she answered no. Sometime later, after having to make our way around some bullshit architecture, we found a ladder leading up to a trapdoor in the roof.

“hey Oliver, aren’t we at the very top floor?”

“I think so, so that means that trapdoor has to lead to the roof of the wall”

“I guess so”

“excellent” I said enthusiastically as I grabbed ahold of the ladder.

“woaw Oliver, what are you doing?”

“I’m getting sick of the confusing layout and sudden dead ends inside of this thing, I bet if we go through the roof we can skip all that bullshit and get to the next gate faster”

“alright then, just don't get yourself killed”

I nodded before pinning my rifle beath my arm and using the other to climb up. I pushed the trapdoor open with my head just enough so I could see outside. The coast was clear, and the roof was protected by parapets from both sides, perfect. I slithered through, keeping low as to not expose my juicy head over the parapet to anyone who may be looking over here with a big scary rifle ready. There's no such thing as being too careful.

“hm, this may actually work after all”

“told you”

“right, but don’t get cocky Oliver, we still have quite a way to go”

“aight”

We continued, slowly making out way through the top of the defensive wall that encircled the city. We’d be at the next gate in no time, and if it also had a nearby entrance into the wall, and if it wasn’t also close, then we'd be out of this hellhole on no time… well maybe another day, it was getting a bit dark by then.

“hey A4, isn’t it weird that this whole place was abandoned?”

“what? like the rest of the city?”

“no, I mean like there was nobody else here, isn’t that a bit weird?”

“why would it be?”

“it’s a pretty good place to hide and it’s spacious”

“it’s also a pretty good place to get cornered in”

“well… yeah but still, it’s not a complete death trap”

“there’s another factor to it… at least the way I see it”

“that being?”

“the mentality of the average… uh… ‘person’ here, they rather seek action than comfort or security”

“I see… this mentality of sorts, it’s that weird call, isn’t it?”

“I believe so”

“hmmm… you don’t mind if we take a break?”

“not at all”

I let out a deep sigh and leaned on against the parapet wall, placing my bags and rifle beside me. A4 manifested next to me and started digging through my main backpack. She pulled out her cigarettes and lighter and offered me one. I accepted and started smoking with her in silence. I looked on towards the city, I could only see the tallest buildings from this angle. The cold breeze blowing by and the little sun piercing through the darken clouds made a nice atmosphere for sitting back and relaxing without having to worry about the heat. Several gunshots erupted in the distance, but they were too far away for us to care. That's when I turned to A4 and asked.

“do you really thing I’m getting out of here alive?”

A4 took her cigarette from her mouth and let out the smoke.

“you’re quite different from the rest Oliver, I think you've got what it takes"

“really?”

“I mean… you are cautious and determined, you’ve got wits and your marksmanship is… nothing to brag about… but overall, I think you’ve got a good chance…”

“thank you… A4…”

I felt rather comforted by this, I spat the burned-out cigarette butt out of my mouth and looked up to release the smoke directly into the wind washing over the parapet. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before getting back on track. However, before I could sling my bags over me again, a sudden and powerful feeling of dread crawled up my spine, I shuddered anxiously. A4 raised an eyebrow and said.

“oh, you felt that too?”

“eh? what do you-” My eyes widen at the realization.

“Oliver? something is not right…”

“I-I know…”

My eyes started darting around, looking for a potential threat. My heartrate skyrocketed and my breathing became erratic. A sudden distant droning sound caught my attention. It sounded like it came from the horizon, from the other side of the wall, and it was approaching fast. I quickly turned around and peeked over the parapet wall, only to catch a glimpse of a fastmoving shadow fly over us. I tried following it with my vision and barely managed to make out the shape as that of a twin-engine plane, like a Beechcraft baron or similar, its engines billowing smoke. It flew in a shallow dive towards the center of the city, disappearing behind some buildings for a few seconds, before the sound of the crash reached us.

“what. the hell. is that!”

“that… was… a plane crashing?”

“no, I mean THAT!”

I directed A4’s attention towards the horizon. In the distance, I could see several more aircraft of all shapes and sizes coming from the same direction.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

A4 shouted out in shock. Many of the planes seemed to malfunction simultaneously as they began to lose power and fall all over the area. Some smashed into buildings and exploded, other crash landed in the woods surrounding the wall. This didn't feel real… what on earth was going on?

“Oliver, I think we need to move!”

“to fucking where?!”

“good point, let’s just keep our heads down”

We huddled as low as we could as the crashes continued. There was a loud boom as a plane crashed nearby. I looked around and saw a couple of helicopters descending upon the city. Their engines were damaged but the inertia of their rotors gave them enough power to descend gently. Why did that not happen to mine?! That’s so bullshit. Anyway, the crashing had stopped, I stood up and looked over the parapet towards the loud explosion we heard nearby. A plane had crashed against the wall. The impact had gouged out a hole that looked just low enough to jump down onto the ground from.

“A4 LOOK! That plane made a hole we can escape through!”

“huh? what?” she said, still confused by what had just happened.

“let’s get out of here!”

I slinged my stuff over, held A4 under my arm and ran, hoping to find the next trapdoor in so we could get to the newly opened hole and leave the city. However, before we could make any significant progress, another weird phenomenon started. I looked over to the city again and saw something beyond reason. The town hall, the building situated right in the middle of the city, it was so far away that normally it would have been indistinguishable from the rest of the structures surrounding it, but this time, it was glowing in a deep poisonous purple. I stared in awe. A4 didn't say a word. Suddenly, a beacon of light shot up from the roof of the hall. It pierced the thick clouds above and created a shockwave that cleared up the sky. Shortly after, the beacon spread out like a dome of glass, covering the whole city and then some. It reached for several miles beyond the wall before it came into contact with the ground. The whole land had been encased. I looked down no longer in awe but horror as people on the streets below me came out of their hiding spots, taking a break from killing each other just to witness the event.

“h-hey Oliver…”

“y-yeah?” I looked towards A4 who was now also starring into the pillar of light.

“are you getting that feeling right at the bottom of your ribcage?”

“that feeling that something really really bad just happened?”

“yeah…”

There was powerful thump, like distant thunder. I quickly looked back towards the center of the city. The light pillar had erupted into another shockwave that quickly spread outwards. My heart stopped for a second as it thundered towards us. I tried to hide behind the parapet again, but I wasn’t quick enough, the wave blew past and kicked me down.

“OLIVER!” A4 shouted as she kneeled down to help me… she was completely unphased by the blast.

“I’m ok… I’m good… I think”

“are you sure? nothing broken on the inside?”

I got up and wiped the dust off my clothes, then I started to check myself for injuries. Besides getting thrown against the floor, it didn’t seem like the shockwave did much to me, or so I thought until my right hand started to itch… a lot… like a lot a lot… it itched so much that my arm was starting to get numb. I quickly pulled my glove off and began looking for whatever was wrong, but my hand was pretty much intact. The itching concentrated on the center of my palm and then slowly crawled up my fingers. The nails of my index, middle and ring fingers began to bleed. I started to panic, strangling my wrist in a pathetic attempt to stop it. the blood began crawling up, defying to law of gravity, just to pool at the center of my nails. It dried off extremely quickly and then disintegrated, leaving a dark red mark on my three fingernails. A circle with a diagonal strike across it.

“A-A4… what is-huh? A4?”

I looked up seeking her help, but she was nowhere to be seen, and neither was anything else. The world had become nothing more than the little patch of stone where I stood. Beyond was darkness, infinite nothing.

“What? Hello?! HELP!”

The itching suddenly stopped, and a voice from within my head spoke.

“human… you have found yourself imprisoned in a pit of death and betrayal. Your greed and overconfidence have led you headfirst into a trap that you cannot comprehend, but dread naught, for there’s a way out. follow these instructions and you may earn yourself a second chance at freedom: two thousand, five hundred and thirty-nine souls are currently trapped with you, collect five hundred of them and the barrier shall be opened to you… but heed this warning, those souls will seek the same goal as you. survive and bring them to the center of the land… survive and bring them to me…”

That voice… it was my father’s…

I looked down at the symbols on my fingernails and finally realized they were supposed to be zeros. I took a deep breath and crawled down into a fetal position.

“500 souls eh… I’m going to die here…” I said to myself before passing out.

After a few seconds of nothingness, I felt something tug at my jacket. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the orange sky above. My eyes snapped open and I quickly sat up. I was back in the real world.

“Oliver! Thank god you’re ok” A4 said joyously as she wrapped her arms around my chest.

“A4? What happened?”

“I-I don’t know… that weird white thing happened and then you fell to the ground and then you started writhing on the ground making weird noises, I thought you were about to die!”

“I… really?”

“yeah, and then I looked at the streets below and everyone was doing the same thing! I thought the zone had made some sort of kill aura and that I would be stuck here alone for the rest of eternity but then-”

“woaw woaw woaw… what do you mean everyone was doing the same thing?”

“yeah, those people we saw coming out to see the light thing, they were doing the same thing”

“I see…”

“hey what’s that in your hand?”

“hmm?”

I looked down and saw I still had the three marks on my nails. My mood immediately plummeted.

“Oliver?”

“it’s a kill counter…” I replied unenthusiastically.

“what? what do you-

~2 weeks later~