Chapter 2: The Death Sentence of PSI/099

I slowly begin to feel my body again...

Earlier, all I could sense was a crushing weight, an earth-shattering impact, and then — nothing.

The darkness swallowed me.

My eyes still can't see. The world remains all black. But I feel the jagged, uneven stone beneath me. It's rough, cold and hard.

I'm lying in ruins.

Slowly, a sound flickers in my ears again. First faint, then getting clearer. I hear a steady crackling of fire. The warmth of it licks my skin, a contrast to the nightly cold.

What kind of dream is this? Couldn't my mind come up with anything more... miserable?

But somehow, it feels frighteningly real right now.

Slowly, my vision regains light. Shapes take form, and I see the flames moving around me. The vast and endless sky looms above — yet something seems wrong.

Where are the stars?

Wait, there are some. But they seem so displaced, hold back by a colossal black object hovering in the sky. A void that devours the heaven.

What the hell am I looking at?

My body regains a little strength. I push myself up, groaning, and sit on my knees. My breath is uneven and weak, my head throbs as I take in my surroundings —

I freeze.

Bodies. Scattered all around me. Familiar faces filled with agony. Neighbors. Acquantainces. Blood pools beneath them, painting the destroyed earth in crimson. Organs spill onto the ground. Limbs torn apart. A bloody massacre.

This must be a nightmare.

My stomach clenches. My breath hitches. No. No.

A blinding light appears above me.

I snap upward as a glowing triangle ignites on the black monolith. It illuminates the ruined city, revealing its grotesque perfectly round form — massive cables connected, endless pipes, intricate circuit boards. A giant war machine. A mothership, like straight from the depths of a sci-fi horror film.

A heavy, reverberating hum fills the air, crawling up my spine like cold fingers. My body locks in place, gripped by fear, it steals my breath.

Then —

A siren wails.

The triangle's light fades to red, pulsing like a warning beacon. My heartbeat stutters. The air grows heavy, almost suffocating me.

On the ship's underside, dozens of gates grind open. Red lights flash from within. The mechanical droning intensifies. The siren quickens, growing louder, harsher —

This is the end of the world.

The siren stops — a massive swarm of flying objects pours out of the open gates descending upon the city like locusts. Shots are fired, explosions shake my senses. Screams — so many screams in the air. Distant at first, then terrifyingly close.

I struggle to my feet, pain running through my limbs. My vision blurs slightly. I stumble over bodies, past ruins, past people gasping out their final breaths —

A shot. A dying man beside me jerks violently before slumping over, dead.

I bite down a scream and push forward. Smoke and ash fill the sky, fire dances through the wreckage. But there's no escape. Everywhere I turn —

Death. Death. Even more Death.

I reach the main road, filled with craters, overturned cars, more bodies, more destruction. Then —

A buzzing noise behind me

I spin around, turning my face to the gun. A sleek, floating machine speeds toward me, a glowing red triangle pulsing on its top. A drone. Armed, one of its cannon arms ignites up, charging a shot.

Shit —!

I turn and run, heart hammering hardly against my ribs. Panic stabs through me, making my legs feel weak, uncoordinated. I stumble, and trip over a corpse.

I hit the wreckage of a destroyed car. Pain fills through my side. I try to get up, but —

It's too late.

A precise hot blast tears through my right leg.

I scream.

Blood splatters from the wound, drenching my torn clothes. My body convulses with pain. The drone hovers closer, the red triangle on its case shining.

This is it. I'm going to die.

My breath comes in ragged gasps. My heartbeat feels like a knife stabbing into my chest. I can't move. I can't think.

The machine hovers over me, its sleek metal body reflecting the surrounding flames. A camera eye on the robot's front plate locks onto my face. A small hole opens beneath it.

A laser projects onto my skin, scanning me precisely.

Suddenly, a robotic voice speaks up.

"PROCESS COMPLETED. GENETIC INFORMATION EXTRACTED. INITIATING COMPARISION WITH TARGET DATABASE."

I breathe hectically, my entire body tenses. My mind signals at me to run, but I can't. I'm frozen here, in panic.

The machine processes for a moment.

A green light flashes. A sharp mechanical click.

"DATA ANALYZED. HEIGHT: 170 CM. WEIGHT: 68 KG. HAIR: BLACK, CHIN-LENGTH. AGE: 30 YEARS."

It knows everything. It calculated my exact build in just a few seconds. There's no way that a technology like this can exist.

The green triangle light fades back to red. The siren returns.

"ANALYSIS RESULTS: 100% MATCH WITH THE SEARCH TARGET "YARIKAWA KIITAHARU". DELTA HEADQUARTERS NOTIFIED. GPS CHIP INJECTION IMMINENT."

It's looking for me!?

How? And why?!

A metallic blade suddenly bursts out of its left arm. The right arm retracts and reshapes — transforming into a needle device holding a microchip.

The drone closes in.

I thrash, crying out in pain. I try to escape, but my shredded leg won't move. If I move away, I'll be impaled. If I stay still, I'll be branded.

Fuck — what is happening to me?!

The blade is pressed deeply into my shoulder, after just a few seconds. Agonizing, sharp, cold. My scream echoes through the ruins. The other arm moves in, the chip shimmering under the firelight.

It pierces my open wound, deep inside.

Pain. Blinding Pain.

Then —

The drone retracts. A different lights activates on the top, the triangle glows orange.

A laser sweeps over my injuries. A comfortable, relaxing heat surges through my shoulder, then my leg. Flesh knits itself back together, leaving only hints of a scar.

The bleeding stops. I'm barely alive. But why?

Through my fading consciousness, I hear the final words of the drone.

"SUBJECT STABILIZED. SUBJECT WILL REMAIN PART OF THE EXPERIMENT AFTER GAINING FULL CONSCIOUSNESS AGAIN. DELTA AIR UNIT 96E RETURNING TO MOTHERSHIP."

I watch, totally dazed, as it flies away.

The world around me grows distant. The screams. The destruction. The fire. Everything fades —

And so do I.