050. About reality, 3

(Luka)

We heard a lot of distant rumble during the night. It was mostly on the southern side we had come from.

Maybe the radio building continued to crumble and collapse. Or maybe some people do still live and work around these parts.

A helicopter flew above at early dawn, meaning it's more than just a few stragglers like us.

We just hid, from military looking guys and monsters alike. They weren't wearing Cordov's uniform...

We made our way toward the university, packing firepower, but not dumb enough to use that blindly at the first mean looking group we encounter.

Now we saw them, using indeed the scattered crates of supplies.

Guys in plastic hazard suits, uniform but not from Cordov, and carrying military rifles and equipment. We can't fight that head on. Should we even at all?

A - They work for the assholes if they must, but they're likely just grunts trying also to survive. They're not the ones giving the orders.

Y - What are they doing here now?

A - Maybe it's for us...

L - Or they're the doing the same investigation. The world just was fucked up, and they recognised the same symptoms as you've seen before, right? They could have made the same deductions as you.

A - That would be my guess. They want to see what they've forgotten behind... And it's our chance to find their hideout as well.

A group of mad scientists and their private army are now struggling to keep things together and survive as well. But at least they were prepared, and had some ideas of where to look for answers or solutions.

If they're here, maybe this apocalypse didn't come out willingly from their lab?

But times are dire either way.

We get closer to a few of them, on our way to the university they've taken over as well. Not a coincidence. I whisper in lower voices.

L - What did they say?

M - They sound confused as well... They live in another city called Frieleg?

Artom nods. Apparently that means something to him. It's really them.

Morgan stays behind to eavesdrop on them longer.

These guys patrolling outside are concerned and bored. They spill a lot.

Yura stays also behind but as an onlooker, or rather a watch. He's armed and meant to look after both her and the entrance we'll go in.

Artom and I are sneaking inside the decrepit buildings. The damp and mouldy corridors have turned to a mix of jungle and cave over the years.

Is this how our hometown will look in the future? How the entire world will?

I have a moment of rising panic, realizing how much we've lost.

Artom kindly taps my back, helping me return to my senses and refocus. We move on.

~

There isn't much left from the old days worth saving or looking through.

It mostly appear that everything valuable in resource and data was removed long ago.

We hide as two other people pass by. They've removed their headgear to talk and breathe more easily, implying the air isn't too bad.

- There's nothing left...

- Keep looking. There must be something.

- I keep telling you. The old man fucked us. We were sent out here to...

They got a signal on their devices interrupting them. We couldn't hear what. They cursed and left in a hurry this floor.

Given they've been through this before us, we think we have better chance to progress going after them.

We head outside as discreetly as possible. And we still get welcomed outside by being hit in the face.

They got us, more easily than we'd anticipated, to a point it's pathetic. My screams get shut by another kick to the stomach and I fall powerless.

Artom sadly didn't do any better. He gets beaten down pretty badly.

They handcuff us and shove us to the container that is on the back of a truck. We're ordered at gun point.

Morgan is already lying inside, badly hurt too. How could we suck so much...

I hope Yura is okay.

The guys kidnapping us enter their front compartment and begin driving away. I moan and still ask. Why... Where?

- You think the bosses really need more guinea pigs now?

- Yeah well, I'm not killing them. Up to Stephen and Rob now.

A - Let us go...

- Not until we know more about what is going on and what you guys have done. The doc might need you anyway. And honestly it'll be safer for you too. You have no idea of the shit roaming around now!

The man is very angry at us for reasons I cannot immediately see.

L - I'm from Cordov...

- All of us were! It's done! Where you behind the fall of the communication tower? Did you know the people there? I swear to you...

The other guys calm the angry one.

We're caring for our wounds behind with what they left us with.

I hope Yura can help us escape... I hope he's okay.

~

The truck drove along empty streets and roads of the northern lazaretto for a while, and eventually entered a long tunnel through the northern mountain.

We drove in the dark for what felt like an hour. And more importantly I couldn't quite figure out where we were going.

A - Frieleg. The base of operations.

- You know of it? Did you serve?

A - In a way yes, when I was younger.

- Shit, sorry for roughing you up old man... Everyone's on edge you know. Rob will surely want to let you go if you can help again.

A - Let's hope so. I don't want to see the doc again.

They laughed, assuming he really knew them. Or did he?

I still wanted to trust him, but I feared seriously for my life now that I was handcuffed inside a truck, heading deep into the mountains...

Doors opened, and we entered a small isolated valley surrounded by tall and steep mountains.

Another kind of campus surrounded a lake with more modern buildings.

Behind the lazaretto in a way, and likely with other tunnels I didn't know existed, to return to Cordov from the East.

- Welcome to Frieleg. We were supposed to find eternity, but now we'll settle to not dying for another day.

A - Story of my life...

We pass by buildings still in way better conditions, but looking rather devoid of people.

Gun stations here and there are manned.

It's a small militia lacking personnel but with plenty of equipment that survived here.

And some doctor who might still look for experiment subjects as well...

As if even now, evil would ever change.

~