July 12, 2033
Location: Connecticut-Vermont
It is a partly cloudy day. Silence resonates with the winds as they converse across the lands of a still shattered world. Deep within this abhorrent and war torn dystopia resides a small haven. Standing pridefully in its cocoon of walls and barricades, slight sounds can be heard. Inside lies a seemingly thriving community, continuing their endeavors to bringing it all back together again. The work of dreams that humanity can be rebuilt from the ashes they were left behind in by their previous leaders. False idols who thought themselves the future of the people, but were rather, in fact, the icons of their destruction.
The leader of this community, who’s named is remembered famously by most and infamously by others, walks down the streets as he makes his way to the entrance. Armed with a sword, shield, and an AK-47 slung across his shoulder, he shares the same solemn and fearless expression as the many days before this. His left arm is shown to have been replaced by a functional prosthetic, which symbolizes the hardship of his survival and is worn like a badge of honor. He is also donned with a heavy suit made from different kinds of metal that had been broken down from armored vehicles, giving it its high durability, but traded off by its weight, making it impractical for any other person. A knight in tank steel armor.
He is accompanied by a woman, who’s appearance also differs her from regular people. Though seemingly human, her green eyes emit a slight glow that can be seen up close. Her short autumn-red hair, remaining undamaged despite the lack of resources to properly care for it, flows steadily with the lightly passing winds. Under all her tattered and patched sleeves, her limbs reveal to be made more from mechanized metal than that of flesh and bone. This human in question actually reveals itself, instead, a construct that only resembles a human. Her hands, resembling that of a doll, holds a clip board with some makeshift paper clasped onto it. The word “Requests” is written on top of it in cursive. She casually pokes the armored “Knight” in the shoulder with her pen. “Sooo Haven Three needs more people to help with their walls after the raider incident,” she says, writing more notes as she goes on. “Aaand Alexandria’s Last Library requests reconnaissance on the trade route near their agricultural areas. Says possible Zed action may be involved, and one of theirs has gone missing.” Her leader nods his head.
“Tell them both I’ll send people to assist and investigate. Bryce owes me a favor anyway, so I’ll have his people check it out along with East Side.”
“Fair enough. Oh! The radio tower got fixed finally, so communications are back online. I’ll signal him once we’re done here.” Their party is joined by a third person. A man, nicknamed “Bishop,” is also carrying a clipboard. He approaches by his leader’s right side. “Got today’s weekly reports,” he says, handing the clipboard over. He looks it over to check the stocks on all his provisions. Food, ammunition, trading, many resources are listed and are stated to have gained positive results. He flips over the page to see a paper with some signatures, with a blank line presumably calling for his.
“What’s this?” he asks.
“Oh, that? That’s the revised peace treaty. Several haven leaders already signed theirs. This one just needs yours. Take a look and see if it’s agreeable this time.” He skims through the words and begins thinking. He then shrugs his shoulders and takes the pen. He begins signing his name:
Neveck Isenberg.
They make it to the entrance, Neveck handing back the clipboard to Bishop. He turns around and signals another person to come over. The man, carrying a backpack filled with helpful items and tools, gives it to Bishop, who then hands it over to Neveck. The woman signals the guards to open the gates. “You sure you want to go by yourself?” she asks. Neveck takes his rifle off his shoulder and slings over his backpack in its place. “It’ll be fine” he responds. “Besides, I still need you to head over to Eden for the proposal. If anyone can get there fast, it’s definitely you.” They both walk out the gate together.
“I’m not quite sure they’ll be reasonable enough to listen.”
“Those people were all about “The Future” and whatever, so if I were to send in an android instead of a person, maybe they’ll be more inclined to listen. You’re the most advanced thing they’ll ever really see.”
“I suppose so. What about Zack then?” Neveck looks back at the gate, and then back to her.
“My brother has proven himself enough, so I’m sure he’ll be fine without me for a short while.” The two begin to part ways as they head off to their separate missions. Neveck then stops and turns around. “Hey Mary,” he calls out. Mary stops and turns back to look at him curiously. “Let’s make this one quick alright? We’ll meet back in three days.” She smiles and nods as she continues onwards.
One day has passed since his talk with Mary. Neveck had made it to the center of Vermont. His presence is greeted by a rusty, disheveled sign with faded words that barely read “Welcome to Montpelier.” The weather had mildly worsened as the sky was blanketed by heavy umbral clouds, shielding all life below from the sun’s heating embrace. Neveck continued to traverse the environs of the silent and desolate landscape. He looks both ways in search of anything that can still be used or salvaged. Most buildings had collapsed to the ground from age, vegetation, and ill repair. Some of them still stand, refusing to join the others in delusion against the life they now live. Broken glass becomes more shattered as they are stepped upon by the wandering visitor. The air is mostly silent, with the closest source of life being the random debris and garbage blowing from the wind, cascading from side to side in excitement like children in a playground.
Despite the many hollowed structures in the distance, one of them managed to capture Neveck’s attention. He heads over to investigate the sore thumb in the crowd. The building in question appears to be more separated from the town than Neveck had first anticipated. Strangely enough, the rather queer structure also seemed to be slightly more kempt than its distant relatives.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed what could have very easily been an oversight. One of the lights on the building is dimly lit, suggesting that it may still have power flowing through it. The entrance had been barricaded by a large truck, denying access to any who dare attempt to enter. Neveck inspects the truck, seeing if it still has its former ability to run. Seeing the tire tracks behind the wheels along with some footprints, the retired vehicle shows to have been moved by a group of people. Someone knew of the secrets inside this cave of wonders.
Luckily for Neveck, he has a trick to move such an object. He places his foot on the front of the truck. “Oh no,” He says nonchalantly. “It appears someone has left their truck here. I sure hope nothing happens to it.”
With only little effort, Neveck kicks his pressed foot forward, forcing the heavy vehicle back and away from the no longer blocked door. The tire squeals against the ruined pavement until its movements have ceased.
“Oops,” he says.
When the dust had settled, it revealed the now exposed door. What could be Neveck’s prize lies within. He approaches the door. Turning the knob, he finds out that it had been locked.
“Locked huh?” he says. “Well with no key, I can’t get in. Guess I’ll call this a loss and head back.” He turns and takes a few steps only to stop halfway.
“Or, you know,” he emits as if recalling a memory. “I could be just a bit more impolite and just do THIS!”
He grabs the door and tears it off of its hinges. The loud cracking of wood and steel, along with the bolts hitting the ground, echoes in the distance. Neveck tosses the door. Its metal frame stood no chance against his level of strength. He enters the abandominium.
Inside the seemingly abandoned building, Neveck finds himself in what appears to be a reception area. The lobby is dimly lit by two barely working lights. The windows were mostly boarded up, allowing little light to illuminate the rest of the area. Each of the many hallways lead only to an ominous and questionable abyss. He peers over to the staircase on his left to see that it had collapsed from the weight of the building’s debris which had given away to degradation. Neveck walks over to the reception desk and searches around the counter. He picks up a paper that reads the title “Van Buren Cryogenics Research Facility.” He raises his left eyebrow, questioning the logistics of such research. He then sets the paper down and reaches into his bag.
He brings out a hand radio and adjusts the dial to a proper frequency. He attempts to reach out, but notices something wrong. The radio fails to make a connection, showing possible signs of a signal jam. Neveck turns off the radio and puts it back in his bag. “I thought she said the tower got fixed,” he complained. He sighs as he leaves the counter. “She’s not the kind of person to lie to me, which means that there could possibly be something around here that’s messing with the signal.”
He peers down the darkened hallway and spots multiple doors with a descending staircase at the end. Neveck takes out his flashlight and heads down. Inspecting each door, he spies on the contents within. Inside one room lies some rather peculiar machines with some sort of terminals beside them. Further out appears to be some consoles by the walls, assuming their purpose was to help maintain said machines. Alas, all power inside this room seemed to have been sapped away by time, leaving them all to be forgotten as they remain rusted and inoperable.
Each of the other rooms in the hallway are only slightly different than the first one he peeked into. Some of the doors appeared locked, which would not be an issue to him. A few others were blocked by collapsed debris, to which because every room seemed the same, shows that it may not be worth the energy to explore. He decides to push through one of the many doors. It surprisingly opens with ease, but is quickly halted by a filing cabinet. He exerts more force until the door is completely open. The filing cabinet then gets caught by the scattered debris on the floor and falls down, creating a loud bang that echoes throughout the building. The intense vibrations from the collapsed obstacle causes a sudden quake, which is soon reduced back to silence. Like a beast that had nearly awoken, Neveck is now faced with a new concern. “This place is more fragile than I thought,” he spoke to himself. “Guess I’ll have to be more careful if I want to find out more about all this.”
He leaves the room quietly, not to further disturb this technological tomb. Seeing as how there isn’t much of anything useful, Neveck decides to skip the other rooms and head straight to the staircase at the end. As expected, the ascending side of the stairs has been torn asunder by the fallen concrete walls. The weight of all the debris and objects further explains the fragility of the building’s current state. The descending side appears to be stable enough, though the thought should be taken with a grain of salt. Neveck takes the staircase going down. With each step, he travels carefully as it is wise to not upset the current surroundings. Scraping noises can be heard as the rusted railing lightly grazes against the shield on his arm. The very platforms which connects the stairs to each floor had given way, making them fairly unreachable. The only one that remained is the last floor down. Neveck reaches the bottom, where he sees a set of double doors. He looks through the windows and once the coast is clear, passes through. The area he discovers appears to resemble a waiting room, with separate hallways that hold multiple offices. Upon further investigation, he notices more rooms with the same machines as the ones above.
One of the rooms, though, seems to grasp his attention the most. In the furthest part of this darkened area, remains a heavily secured door. Neveck approaches it and sees a sign. He wipes off the dirt and dust, revealing the now legible words. It reads “Authorized personnel only,” with a card reader below. Despite Neveck having the strength to force the door open, the frail state of the building protests otherwise, rendering him void of the option. He takes a second to ponder other possible solutions. That was, until something quickly caught his attention.
The small light on the door’s card reader had flickered for a short moment. At first he thought it was merely a delusion. He stared down at the light until suddenly, it flickered again. “Does this door still work?” he questions. “Where is the power coming from?” Taking this as an opportunity, he heads back to the lobby in search of anything that can open the door. Whatever is powering the door may go out at any second, so time may be of the essence. He begins searching the chairs in the room. When that fails, he searches the floor, and then the file cabinets. All he could find were dust, appointment cards, and old files of people who have most likely died far before this point.
When Neveck turns around, he notices a rolling chair with a silhouette occupying it. He points the flashlight in front of him, its emitting light forcing the shadow to show itself. A darkened skeleton is revealed as it is widely sprawled onto the chair. Both the seat and the floor around the chair are clouded by a dark stain, likely due to decomposition of the lonely skeleton’s former shell.
Neveck walks over to the long deceased corpse. “Why wasn’t this the first thing I noticed?” he wonders. He inspects the skeleton head to toe. It appears to be wearing a lab coat, suggesting that this may have been a former worker of the establishment. It is heavily stained from the body’s withering and tarnished from time. He also noticed a hole on the back of the skull, explaining the cadaver’s disposition. “Either he was attacked, or he just couldn’t take it anymore,” he says, ruling two of many possibilities. He continues searching the remains until he finds an ID card hidden in a pocket inside the coat. “There we go,” he says, wiping away the black stains before taking the card with him.
He heads back to the door down the hallway. With the keycard on hand, Neveck attempts to use the card, swiping it through multiple times before he eventually hears a beep. The mechanical latches on the door begin to release as the heavy door starts to move. It slides at a very slow rate, scraping against itself before coming to an abrupt halt. The door had only opened halfway before finally giving up. Neveck enters the room.
The confines within the mysterious chamber appear too dark to see, with only dots of stationary lights blinking like fireflies that had been frozen in place. Neveck finds a light switch by the door, and, out of habit, flips it on. To his surprise, the room had enough power to be completely lit. The darkness that once was had desperately retreated to the underside of the machines that are now revealed in the room. The machines appear to be the same as all the others, except for one specifically in the middle of the area.
This device appears somewhat larger than it’s counterparts, and is a few shades darker. Questions begin to arise in wonder about what’s so different about this one. He begins to roam around the room, searching for anything that may still be of some use. Checking the desks and file cabinets, he mostly finds papers that are likely to be reports and research notes. Rather than tossing them aside, Neveck instead decides to read them all.
After some time, he turned back to the only interesting machine in the room. “So these machines were all prototypes,” he says from his discovery. “And you’re the only one that’s actually completed.”
He paces back and forth in front of the machine, more papers on hand. “Highly durable glass, and heavy locking bolts to prevent anything from interrupting the cryogenic process. Also a self sustaining battery source? Quite an advanced toy we have here”.
He spots some cables that lead to a terminal. Walking to it, he begins typing on the keypad to see what still works. Many of the options are unavailable as each one was listed “offline”, with only one choice remaining. This one’s purpose is solely to open and close the cryogenic chamber. Neveck decides to test it by typing in the prompts needed to activate it. The chamber’s lights began to illuminate as the machine was now made active. A hissing noise can be heard as the pressures within begin to release and escape the still vacant shell. The large door that covers the interior slowly opens. Neveck looks inside to see the resting bed where a volunteer body would lay. Around the sides of the interior are tubes, pipes, and other mechanical objects that are, even though unfamiliar to Neveck, easily enough ruled as the mechanism to cryogenically freeze its occupant.
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He steps back from the machine. “A machine that can self-sustain itself is something you’ll never see anywhere else” he contemplates. “With a few people, we can look into this and learn to create other machines like this that can also sustain themselves. If that’s possible, I think I’ll go ahead and take this.”
He pauses for a moment and takes out his assault rifle. He turns it with his right hand and hits the safety switch off. “But first…” With a quick reflex, Neveck spins behind himself and points his rifle forward with aggression. The door that serves as his exit had now been blocked by four armed individuals, all pointing their weapons back at him. A silent standoff until one of them begins to speak.
“And who the fuck are you?” says the first guy in front of the other three. This one is assumed to be the leader of the party.
“Not a great way to start a conversation” Neveck responds.
“You alone?” asks the man on the further right of the group. The other man on the left looks at him.
“The fuck kind of question is that? That truck can’t be moved by one person.”
Neveck recalls the exact truck he easily moved prior to entering. One of the gunmen on the right cocks his head a bit as he observes Neveck, as if faintly recalling something. He turns to the leader. “Hey boss” he begins asking. “I’m not sure, but this guy seems familiar. If he’s who I think he is”- he was then struck with a feeling most visceral. “Hey boss. I’ve heard of this guy. He ain’t exactly normal like us. We need to be-” his warning was interrupted by the barrel of a revolver as their leader now points his weapon at him.
“If you’re gonna pussy out on me, then say so. Otherwise, I don’t need your bullshit!” He leers at his now silent subordinate. He then points back at Neveck and pulls the hammer back on his revolver.
“That machine you see there? That belongs to us. We found it first, so why don’t you be a good sport and hand over your weapon. You’re obviously outnumbered and outgunned, so if you so much as sneeze the wrong way, we’ll swiss cheese your ass.” The standoff remains a bit longer before everyone suddenly hears a click. The magazine on Neveck’s rifle falls to the floor. He takes a deep breath while turning around and sighs.
“Well,” he proclaims. “I gotta say, you kind of got me on this one.” He kicks back the magazine over to them, where one of them picks it up. Their leader keeps his posture.
“And your gun! I won’t ask you again”.
“Fine, fine. Here.” Neveck turns back around, the rifle lowered to the ground. He looks to the man farthest to the left and tosses it underhand to him. They watch the rifle make it’s way to it’s soon-to-be captor as he holds out his hand to receive it.
Time appears to have slowed once their leader’s eyes captured something. The rifle that had been tossed seems to have something faintly attached to it. Upon a closer look, he realizes that a string had been tied to it. Specifically, it had been tied to the trigger. His discovery holds no avail, as he had realized what was about to happen and is already too late to stop it. He calls out to the man holding his hand out, but his efforts were in vain. The man turns to look at him. Neveck jerks his hand back, pulling the string all the way to the rifle’s trigger.
The rifle fires off its one round in the chamber, piercing through the man’s head. The leader of the group stares as sprays of blood evacuates from the wound. He then turns to Neveck, face now stained with the blood of his fallen comrade.
“Now,” says Neveck, holding another object in his hand. “Let the games begin, huh??” He slams down the item, powder erupting and creating a heavy cloud of smoke. The leader points at the cloud furiously.
“Fucking kill him!” he yells as his two allies began firing at the smoke. Sparks fly from many directions as lights and terminals are hit, dancing to the symphony of gunshots and bullets. The three men began reloading as the smoke screen started to clear. Once finished, they point their guns again to the same area. A medium-sized backpack lay on the floor, partially decorated with pierced holes from the gunfire. The leader, looking confused, lowers his weapon. The man to his right suddenly hears some slow moving steps towards him, then hears a voice close to his ear.
“I think you got him,” the voice says as the man slowly turns to him, revealing that Neveck had been waiting patiently behind them the whole time they’ve been shooting.
The man jumps back. “Shit!” he exclaimed as his face was then grabbed. Neveck lifts his assailant off of his feet, with baffled looks on his comrades faces. Without hesitation, the man is slammed down onto the ground, heavily concussed as a small pool of blood crawls out from the back of his head. The other man runs around his leader and charges at Neveck. He points his rifle, but is immediately halted when he sees that Neveck was holding a hand grenade in his hand.
“Man, you guys were really holding out on me.” He then grabs the man’s gun and pulls it forward.
Refusing to let go, the man tightly pulls the trigger of his rifle as he is sent forward towards Neveck. The weapon fires, but the bullet spins past his face, nearly making contact, but misses. The man feels an intense pain in his abdomen as he was heavily hit with Neveck’s knee. The victim was then kicked back, now landing behind his leader again. Neveck tosses the grenade in the air and catches it repeatedly with his right hand.
“First guy had this thing on him. The second guy is probably seeing god, and that guy”- he shortly sniffs the air. “Pretty sure he pissed himself.”
The door behind him is forced completely open, with two more armed individuals entering the fray. Though armed with a sledge hammer and lead pipe, Neveck scoffs, as if expecting there to be a bigger challenge. With the stolen rifle in hand, he throws it at the direction of the two attackers charging in. It hits the second man besides the first, stopping him in his tracks as he falls to the floor.
The leader points his revolver at Neveck and opens fire. He blocks it with the shield still on his arm. Neveck then throws the grenade in his hand at the leader, striking him in the face and breaking a front tooth. As he stumbles back from the pain, the falling grenade is caught again. The first of the two armed men takes his sledge hammer and swings it down at Neveck. He dodges it by simply taking a step back. He then puts his foot on the hammer, stopping his attacker from trying to bring it back. He then thrusts his elbow forward and hits the man, staggering him back as he loses his grip on his hammer.
The second man gets up after catching his breath and runs at Neveck again, thrusting his foot forward to kick him down. Neveck strafes from the impact, and grabs the man’s leg. He then uses a spinning back kick to knock this attacker back on the ground. The disarmed man rushes in and throws a punch, this time actually landing a hit on Neveck. The look of satisfaction was soon short-lived when he sees that his target had barely flinched from his attack.
“Yeah, honestly? I thought that would hurt too.” says Neveck staring casually. He places his left hand on his attackers’ and moves it from his face. Then with his right, he punches the man’s arm. Both bones in his forearm snap completely, with one of them piercing through the flesh. The man wails in pain, falling down on one knee.
Neveck sees the other standing knee and raises his foot. Like a guillotine, he throws his foot down on the man’s knee, also shattering it and dropping him completely. Over the man’s immense shouts of pain, a sound of gunfire is heard. Neveck looks over his shoulder to see the leader pointing his revolver forward, smoke slowly exiting from the barrel. The high density from his armor had stopped the round as intended, leaving him unscathed. He puts the grenade away, turning around to face the leader and sighs.
“Look.” he emits. “If it’s anything, at least you tried. I mean, you never exactly stood a chance to begin with, but-”
His moment was interrupted by a sharp sting he felt on his left shoulder. Neveck turns his head to notice what looks to be a handle of a knife protruding from his shoulder. The man responsible pulls out his pistol and aims to the back of Neveck’s head. He squeezed the trigger, but his hand was quickly grabbed and forced upwards, missing his shot completely. His leg was then kicked by Neveck, sending a sharp pain into his knee as he stumbled back. His grip was also loosened by this impact, making him relinquish the only thing that can possibly save him.
Neveck tosses the firearm to the side and approaches the doomed man, the knife’s blade still resting in his shoulder. He stares closely at him until their eyes meet. “If there’s one thing I hate? It would be interruptions.”
The man’s breathing worsens as he looks at Neveck helplessly. “Also, if you’re going to use a knife, you better make damn well sure it’ll get the job done right.”
The man, too stunned to speak, suddenly gasps as he feels something run up his neck and out of his mouth. Sticking out of his mouth is the tip of a curved blade, reaching out from the bottom of his jaw as if struck by a beast with large claws.
“Kind of like this,” says Neveck with his face retaining the same expression.
The line on the man’s neck becomes more and more red, until deep crimson cascades down as the wound finally opens. The fatal injury expels blood and heat at a rapid pace as it invites the cold air to enter within, as if death itself had breathed away what little life remains.
The leader stands baffled with fear slowly creeping in as he sees Neveck picking up the man by his impaled jaw. He points his revolver again at him and immediately begins firing until he hears clicking. Neveck holds the body of his victim forward and uses it as a shield against every shot. He then forcefully throws the lifeless body at the leader’s direction. He quickly ducks under and successfully avoids being hit by the human projectile. His subordinate behind him was not as lucky, as he was knocked down by the weight of the cadaver.
Neveck sauntered over to the pistol he had previously tossed and picks it up. “You tried your best,” he continues on as he walks over to the leader. “But you’re only human. It can’t be helped when you’re up against something like me.”
Neveck walks past his last victim, who is still catching his breath from his severe injuries, and casually pulls the trigger from the pistol. The victim’s next breath was robbed as he falls lifeless to the ground as Neveck kept walking. He tossed the pistol once again as he saw no further use for it. Nearly forgetting, he reaches to his shoulder and pulls out the blade that had been previously embedded into him.
The leader reaches into his pocket frantically, only to pull out one last round for his revolver. I have one last chance, he thought as he emptied the empty bullet casings from the cylinder.
Behind the leader, lies his knocked down subordinate. Pinned by the weight of his deceased ally, he struggles in desperation to remove himself from his heavy burden.
“This whole corpse party could have been prevented with just a little diplomacy,” said Neveck as he examined the removed knife. He then positions it in his hand and throws it with precision at the leader. The knife flies barely past his face, leaving a long cut across his cheek.
The downed subordinate finally succeeds in pushing off his dead ally. He climbs back onto his feet, Only to meet an unfortunate end as the knife that had been thrown pierces the front of his skull. Only a slight sound was heard before, like curtains, the man fell in silence.
The leader looks back to see that he is now alone in this unfortunate conflict. He attempts to reload with a trembling hand and mistakenly drops his last hope.
“You need some help there man?” he hears as he looks up to see that Neveck had already closed in and is now face to face with him. He stumbles back and falls down, dropping the gun. Neveck slowly picks up both the gun and its last round. He slips it into the cylinder and gives it a hard spin.
“Man, God is just giving you a lot of chances today, huh?” he asks as he turns his hand to the side. The Cylinder clicks back into the action, and Neveck chucks it back to the leader.
Bemused, he stares at his gun. His next move is now an absolute gamble that will determine his fate.
“You have several choices,” says Neveck. “What’s it gonna be? Just know that there are no wrong answers.”
The leader still stares at his gun. Panting from the anxiety, his vision blurs slightly as adrenaline runs through his veins. His life possibly flashing before his eyes. He sees that the last round had landed before the hammer, primed and ready for its ignition to take flight. He slowly lifts the revolver. It now stands as a border between him and his judgement.
Neveck stands in place with his arms crossed. He waits patiently, expecting the man to run while the opportunity remains. The cracked ceiling partially gives way as one of its pieces begins to disband and fall to the ground, creating a harsh echo that sends a shiver throughout the sensitive building. Neveck slowly turns his head towards its direction.
Seeing this, the leader takes his only chance while he was momentarily distracted. He quickly points the revolver at Neveck, who had already figured out his intent. Like a flash, he had stepped to the side and had swiped at him with his sword. It appeared to have no blood on the blade. Perhaps a warning? the leader thought. He attempted a second time, but his fingers had failed to move. He brings the gun closer to see if it had been broken. The weapon remained intact, but the only noticeable thing were the red rings forming around his fingers. With a scarlet drop, comes four fingers as they had been perfectly sundered from the leader’s hand. The revolver, dressed in carmine, slips from his thumb as it joins the rest on the floor. The hand falls into numbness, with the leader slowly laughing as he stares at it.
Neveck kneels in front of him and raises his sword, lifting his chin with its sharp edge. “You really should have listened to your friend earlier,” he says with the tip of his blade pointing at the man’s neck. “With that being said, is there anything you feel like telling me before I call it a day?” The man looks at him in a daze from shock and blood loss. Though his fate is sealed, he scoffs at Neveck.
“Man, what the hell even are you?” He looks around to see the room fully decorated with the blood and bodies of his fallen comrades. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You know why? Because you will get what’s coming to you. You’ll get yours, and I sure as fuck hope you suff-”
His final words were cut off when he felt the blade slowly sink into his neck. He grabs the blade with his other hand, but fails to stop it from going deeper. He looks at Neveck, who nonchalantly stares back.
“I was hoping you’d say something different,” he retorts. “It’s always, ‘Go to hell’ this, and ‘Curse you’ that. Not once has anyone said anything meaningful. Well, whatever.”
Neveck slides his blade out and wipes away the blood using the man’s shirt as he struggles to breathe from the amount of blood that is suffocating him. As he soon ceases to move, Neveck get’s up and resumes his previous investigation. He sees that the machine is still active and barely damaged from the earlier gun fight. “Sheesh, this thing really is durable. Now, to figure out how to get this out of here without setting off the place…”
Neveck stands by and ponders. With his devices still jammed, he cannot reach out to any of his allies for assistance. He sighs and shrugs his shoulders. “I guess I’ll just have to come back. Clear everything out when I get some people here.”
Neveck hears a faint noise behind him. Curious, he turns around and peers over to see what was causing it. One of the bodies on the floor had slowly begun to rise. The man he had knocked out before had finally regained consciousness, but was still severely concussed. Neveck looks at him in wonder of what he might try to do. With obstructed footsteps, the man drags himself towards Neveck. Shambling closer like the living dead closing in on its prey. When close within range, he lunges forward in an attempt to tackle him. Neveck, barely moving an inch, simply stares at him.
“Really?” he said, scoffing at him. The man holds his ground firmly. “Monsters like you shouldn’t be allowed to live,” he utters hazily. Neveck raises an eyebrow. Amongst the drips of blood falling from the head of his victim, the sound of a small piece of metal is heard hitting the ground. When looking down, Neveck sees a ring on the ground.
“How’s this for ‘something different’ ?” said the heavily injured man. Another piece of metal is seen flinging to the side. The situation had now been realized. The ring on the ground was, in fact, a pin, while the other piece of metal was a safety lever. The man had been holding a hand grenade. With a now activated detonation sequence, Neveck had only mere seconds to react. Seeing how the man had tightly grasped him with no intent to let go, he only had one option.
With his left hand, he grabs the man by the front of his neck and pushes him back. With his right hand, he grabs the back of his head. His left hand moves up to the man’s jaw, and with force, twists his head until a loud snap is heard. With a now lifeless body, Neveck sees not one, but actually two hand grenades tied to the corpse. He kicks the body away, but the distance was proven too short as the one grenade finally detonates. The explosion sets off the second grenade to create an even stronger force, propelling Neveck off of his feet. He falls backwards and lands within the cryogenic machine. His armor, now damaged, had absorbed enough of the blast to keep its host safe. The shockwave, however, left Neveck in a daze.
The blast had also caused the already sensitive building to quake. Its frail beams and parts that kept the structure on its last legs had finally met their end, as one by one began to collapse under pressure. Gravity was now the composer of this loud symphony, with pipes colliding with concrete, along with the other elements of the abandominium marching downwards to their destructive ends. A shadowy object falls from the vents and hits the console, activating the sequence of the cryogenic machine. The doors close inward, like a flytrap taking its next meal as Neveck was now the victim trapped within. He had finally recovered from his daze. Though the ringing in his ears had ceased, it was exchanged with a more violent sound of the now falling building.
“Shit!” he exclaims. He tries to open the door, but it’s locking mechanism prevents his escape. His left arm was severely damaged and can no longer be used. He continues his attempt to free himself, but the cocoon that imprisoned him has been proving to be more difficult than he realized. Large debris and computer towers began falling over the machine, now making his escape impossible. More of the building began collapsing until a hollowed pile of its former self remained.
Within the deepest part of the piled remains, the only object left intact was the highly durable, no longer vacant machine. Inside, lies Neveck. The cryogenic freezing process had begun, freezing him alive with no chance to escape.
“Okay, so this is bad,” he says shivering. “I have my tracker on, and Mary will know exactly where I am. I just need to wait this out till she gets here.” His body becomes more and more frozen till he can no longer feel anything. His eyes slowly become more heavy as his body desperately tries to keep itself warm.
“So what’s… a little nap…right?” His body begins to shut down as he slowly falls unconscious. The machine had successfully frozen him completely. Outside of the rubble, the dark clouds weep as rain now falls. As time goes on, the dry dirt is quenched until it becomes mud. The mud then begins migrating to a new destination. Inside the rubble, droplets of water drip onto the cryogenic machine. The light taps against the hard glass is not enough to wake the cold soul sleeping within. Droplets of water soon started arriving dirtier and dirtier, until all that poured in was mud. The thick cascade fills in the empty spaces and crevices within the rubble, completely blanketing the area until it soon becomes unrecognizable.
From here on, Neveck knows not what lies in store for him, for time is the teller of all fates as he is drifted from a cold sleep, to an unspoken goodbye.
