Caleb closed his eyes and let the ashy air caress his face.
“You made it.”
He opened his eyes to see Kayleigh sat crosslegged on the lawn ahead. Deep coffee ring bags circled her bloodshot eyes.
“Were you waiting for me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” she gestured to the city. “It hurt to look at the city when it was burning.”
“It seems to have quietened down for now.” Oliver said. “There’s less screaming.”
Caleb listened carefully.
Still some screaming.
His fingers felt tacky. Looking down, he realised that he was covered in green goop. He tried to shake it off, but it wouldn’t budge. The tough bark of the closest tree cleaned some of it off. The chemicals stung; the skin underneath was red raw.
He nudged something hard with his foot at the base of the tree. A black metal typewriter, dented and scratched. A clutch of ink ribbons lay beside it.
“Dave took them from Johnson.” Oliver said. “We’ve all saved. You probably should too.”
Caleb disappeared into the menu. It was like a hangover had immediately lifted. Breathing didn’t hurt anymore because he didn’t need to breathe. He spent a few moments here, manipulating the glowing aura around each save slot.
SAVE 1 - CALEB - 13:35
He saved.
SAVE 1 - CALEB - 02:26
Relieved that his progress was secure, Caleb backed out of the save menu to a new option, just under
He confirmed his selection and was led to a new menu. A triple helix span on the left side next to a box of scrollable text. The heading read: PROGENITOR
Caleb twirled the helix around. It twisted a full rotation quickly, then slowed to the standard speed of a rotisserie chicken.
The text next to it read:
Dr. Gregory Belker dedicated his life to the study of the human body. In researching DNA, he realised its many weaknesses. Dr. Belker journeyed to the depths of the ocean and to the top of the highest peaks to handpick the most resilient attributes from Earth’s hardiest creatures.
When he returned, he presented his hand-crafted hybrid embryos to a select group of like-minded pioneers. They did not understand.
Facing accusations of ‘crimes against humanity’, Dr. Belker fled the Unified Federation and disappeared from known civilization. His disappearance coincided with an increase in cryptic sightings. Although initially believed to be apocryphal, modern camera capabilities and physical specimens soon confirmed the existence of these ‘monsters’.
The subsequent vivisection and dissection of each monster led to the discovery of what were later coined by Dr. Belker himself as ‘Progenitor Genes’.
Highly mutagenic and wildly unstable, Progenitor Genes are capable of infecting mammals of all kinds. It is impossible to predict the exact effect of the gene on a given subject. Broadly speaking, it drastically increases durability and aggressiveness.
+ Durability
+ Aggressiveness
+ Resourcefulness
Hmm. The blurb didn’t mention resourcefulness. Although I guess that’s what ‘impossible to predict’ means.
The world came back into focus. “Hey, has anyone else got any abilities in your menu screen?”
Oliver and Kayleigh shook their heads.
“I do.” Dave’s voice crackled like an old record player.
He desperately needs a doctor. A mechanic. Someone.
“What’s it called?” Caleb said. “If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”
“Transhumanity.” Dave replied. “There’s a lot of stuff in here about the quest for immortality.”
“Does it mention Belker?”
“Sure does.”
Caleb stared at Caleb with a slack jaw.
Dave groaned. He flexed his giant metal hands. “This is what he does to people he wants to enslave. We can’t go long without maintenance. He built people like me as the first step to creating the Progenitor Liquid... the spores… the machines. There are whole islands of transhumans, just rusting away without Belker’s support.”
Dave coughed out a bitter laugh. “I’d cry if I still had functioning tear ducts. Bet you never thought you’d hear me say that!”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Nah,” Oliver said. “You woulda called yourself a fuckin’ wimp.”
Dave laughed again. “That’s right, bossman. Just keep reminding me that.”
Kayleigh and Caleb smiled.
Somehow, all this trauma has brought us together. It’s funny how disasters work…
Kayleigh said what they were all thinking. “You know, I’m sure they’ve got oil down in that city. Gears too. Wires. Whatever it is you need.”
“Somebody will have the know-how to fix you. Given what you just told us, I have a feeling there’s more than one transhuman down there.”
Dave nodded. “If I even make it that far. I’m feeling pretty low on juice here, if I’m being totally honest with you.”
Caleb thought for a second. “Is there anything weird in your inventory? Anything you couldn’t otherwise account for?”
Dave’s eyes turned solid white. When his pupils swivelled back into focus, he held a plastic canister of clear pink liquid.
“What is it?”
“The information said ‘unknown’.”
Kayleigh frowned. “Are you going to drink it?”
“Of course not.” He turned and gestured to his back. “Is there a port somewhere back here?”
He looks like a damn Gunpla sprue.
“There’s a hole here.” Caleb pulled off the cover. It looked just like a gas cap on a car.
Dave handed him the canister. “Would you pour this in for me?”
Caleb unscrewed the lid from the canister. It stank of antiseptic balm. “I think it’s medicine.” he said.
“That’s what I’m hoping for.”
Caleb poured the viscous liquid into the port, then placed the cover back in place. He stepped back. “Well, how do you feel?”
Dave’s joints let out a great hiss and a whoosh of steam. The water vapour reeked of the mysterious blue liquid. The fan on his right shoulder kicked back into action.
Dave smiled. “Much better.” his vocal tone was smoother, with much less crackle.
“Well, that’s a relief. I didn’t want to trust a mechanic. You know how they are. You go in with one problem and come out with three.”
“Come,” Kayleigh said. “Sit. Relax. If only for a moment.”
Caleb and Dave sat by Kayleigh and Oliver. Together, they watched the last of the sun disappear behind the ragged skyline.
“Are any of you guys hungry?” Caleb scratched his belly.
“Nope.” Oliver shook his head.
“I haven’t even thought of food since we got here.” Kayleigh said.
“Me neither.”
“Well,” Dave leaned back. “I’ve been ravenous, personally.”
“Oh gosh, really?”
“No. Not at all. I don’t even know if I still have organs in here.”
Kayleigh rubbed his cold arm. “I don’t think any of our bodies work like they used to.”
Caleb clapped his hands together. “So. How are we playing this? Shall we move under the cover of night or wait until morning?”
“I can’t fight anymore today.” Oliver yawned. “They don’t call them creatures of the night for no reason, do they?”
“What,” Caleb said. “Vampyrs?”
Oliver’s cheeks flushed. “Vampyrs. Werewolves. Lots of things.”
“We got a little sidetracked earlier. Does anyone else have any abilities? Obviously you all know about my… infection.”
They don’t know I saw their labyrinth trials. Caleb thought.
Oliver played with a tuft of grass. “No. Nothing I could see.”
Is he going to need to feed soon? His eyes look normal. They’re not glowing red. What do his teeth look like?
“I don’t have anything either. Can we talk about these weird voices we get? It’s like a sudden, fleeting download of information.”
Caleb stroked his chin. “I know what they are now. Father Belker told me.”
Oliver rose an eyebrow. “Father Belker?”
“The Priest. He’s Dr Belker’s brother. It’s a long story.”
“You managed to reason with that guy?”
“Eh, kind of.”
Better not to divulge too much about Father Belker, or they might not trust you for much longer.
“Anyway,” Caleb said, clearing his throat. “The voices that have been talking through is are ghosts. They’re the spirits of people who were transported here, but didn’t make it.”
Kayleigh groaned. “People like us.”
Caleb nodded.
“Fuck!” Oliver shouted. “Here I was, hoping that maybe if we died in the game we’d just wake up back on Earth.”
“Dude,” Kayleigh laughed. “If that were true, I’d go run into the nearest fire.”
“Well,” Oliver kicked a tuft of grass. “I haven’t had any ghosts speaking through me yet, so at least I’ve got that going for me. I’m not haunted.”
Kayleigh scratched her nose. “That is a bit weird if you ask me. Like, is there some reason the heroic ghosts avoid you?”
Dave voice module whirred and clicked. “Like you don’t have a soul. Ha. Ha. Ha.”
Caleb burst into laughter. “You haven’t changed as much as you think, Dave.”
Oliver turned a deep shade of crimson. “Shaddup, you guys. Maybe I just don’t need any hints. You ever think of that?”
“I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with you.” Caleb said, with a smug little grin on his face that betrayed his words.
I know there’s something wrong with you.
“Oliver,” Kayleigh clapped her hands together. “Stop being a pussy. Let’s head to the city. We’ve all saved. We’ve got a decent shared inventory thanks to Dave. Is there any reason not to? Apart from being too scared?”
She threw her head back to the moon and laughed.
Caleb tapped his foot against a clump of dirt. “I feel like everything’s a lot more dangerous at night-time. That’s generally how it works, isn’t it?”
Oliver affected a little girl’s voice. “They mostly come out at night. Mostly.” he laughed.
Caleb pointed at Oliver. “Creepy, but yeah, exactly.”
“Like Kayleigh said,” Dave added. “we’ve saved. And there are a lot more saves where that came from. Maybe we need to die a few times to get to grips with this world. That’s how you get better at games, right?”
Ugh. Caleb thought. I don’t want to admit it to the group, but he’s right.
Kayleigh jumped on the spot.
She’s fizzing with energy.
“Alright, it’s decided then.” Caleb said. “Let’s head towards the city.”
The four headed down the hill towards the smoking city.
“So,” Oliver said as he clambered over the bent metal barricades separating the road from the hill. “do we think this is a Mad Max scenario, or more of a 28 Days Later deal?”
“I think it happened recently.”
Caleb couldn’t stop staring at all the little signs of recent activity. Abandoned cars studded the road ahead. They weren’t rusted, nor broken down or burnt out.
Oliver pressed his nose up against the window of a yellow sedan. “Do you think these cars will run?”
Kayleigh shrugged. “Is it locked?”
Oliver yanked the door. The alarm began to blare. “Yep!” he shouted over the din.
Everyone else froze like a deer in headlights. Waiting for…
Dave thumped the hood of the car once hard. The alarm bleeped once, then stopped.
“Phew.” Kayleigh swept her hair out of her eyes. “We don’t want to attract any more attention than we have to.”
“Sorry,” Oliver held his hands up high, careful not to touch another car.
Caleb kept close to Caleb, trying to spy his reflection in a car wing mirror, but it was dark. The last of the fire from the city was dimming.
“Damn, wish I’d picked my torch back up way back at Belker’s lab.” Kayleigh said.
“I think I can help.” Dave pressed a button inside his wrist, and two floodlights set into his collarbone blinked to life.
The blinding white lights cut a swathe through the darkness, demystifying the highway.
“They look like they’ve been abandoned very recently.” Kayleigh said.
“About the same time Belker’s lab exploded, you mean?”
“Could be.”
“Which means people infected with the Progenitor Spores could be all around us.”
“Wait,” Oliver said. “that’s you now. Should we be worried about you?”
“Worried? Yes. Scared? No.” Caleb made sure to stare deep into Oliver’s eyes. “It’s not like I’m going to suck your blood or anything.”
Oliver broke the eye contact, finding something more interesting on the asphalt in front of him.
“Freeze,” he whispered, stopping dead. He tracked upwards. They all saw it. Kayleigh gasped.
Is that a walking skeleton?