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This article was written by BionicleChicken. Please do not add to it without the writer's permission.
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| The Sand Tribe | |
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| Story | |
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Thousands of years ago
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The Sand Tribe is a story serial written by BionicleChicken detailing the fall of the titular Sand Tribe as they become infected with a plague that turns them into psychopathic murderers and slowly mutates them into hideous monsters. This may not be canon. This story will be written in a rather nonlinear narrative.
Story[]
Chapter One[]
I scrounged through the box, searching for any possible supply for me to use to survive the night. There wasn't much. There was a container of water, one sip indicated it was drinkable. I held myself back in order to prevent any significant loss of my new supply. I need this to last for my journey out of this place.
After I stored the container into my pouch, I looked into the box more. Trash, trash, and more trash. Eventually, I managed to salvage a fresh Thornax fruit. I used the usual check to ensure it is not tainted, and confirmed its outward appearance's trustworthiness. I placed the fruit into my pouch, careful not to make much noise. If I make a lot of sound, the monsters and the psychopaths may come for me.
If they came for me, I wouldn't be able to escape Atero, would I? I checked my belongings and took inventory. Enough food, steady amount of water, and emergency weapons for me to take out at a moment's notice. I was ready. Now was the best time to find a place to rest. A quiet place where the monsters wouldn't be able to find me immediately and either tear me apart or eat me. Those were the two results of what happens when you encounter one of them.
Some have gone so crazy they will do anything to make sure you're one hundred percent dead. The others have gotten hungry and beastly, it doesn't matter if it's cannibalism. Survival is key right now. That's the infected's mindset right now, and mine's. But reasons are different, see. They thought they were in danger and that to live they had to kill all they considered threats. I'm those that are trying to live because I'm one of those "threats".
I need to find a place to stay. Away from the main streets and in someplace they wouldn't look. But insane minds are hard to predict, so this objective is going to be very difficult. I carefully left the box, making sure I didn't do anything to make its contents tumble out and make noise. With that, I walked down the small street, trying hard to ignore the burning market booths and the dead bodies with chunks of flesh bitten off.
Suddenly, I heard skurrying and running. From how urgent it sounded, I deduced it was a group of them. But I wonder why are they in a group? The infected are beyond xenophobic right now. They will kill anyone that's not them. Unless they got ideas. I looked around, searching for a place to hide. I saw a wrecked merchant booth and dived right at it. I removed the planks blocking the opening the merchant and customer would usually look each other in the eye through and jumped right in. I grabbed the planks I removed and put them back up in front of me, blocking any visuals on my presence. I crouched down and hid behind the counter, peering through a hole next to me. It wasn't big, but it was big enough for me to look through.
So I did. I looked at the deserted street, nothing but litter, body parts, and flaming objects. I had no idea how any of these caught on fire, but I heard of people burning "threats" to death. I heard the running come closer and saw it: these infected were in a group.
They were searching through bins, and peering through the windows of the buildings that lined on the sides of the street. I saw some of the mutated ones, too. Their tails swung around like they had a mind of their own. They had tails, but they were not completely changed. I saw that they were still straight-spined, and their feet were only beginning to sprout the clawed toes. Their small recently sprouted pincers clicked. They growled.
"Rrrr, I know I smelled something here," One of them said. Another walked up to him. He was still normal, physically anyways. He was also holding an Agori. From what I could see, he was still alive. But I can't go out there, no matter how much I wanted to help the poor fellow. It was either him or me right now.
"Was it this?" The holder snarled. The mutated one that spoke previously stared the Agori in the face.
"Sssssss, I smelled an Agori, so I think so."
"Kill it!" A third one said. "It might report to someone. Someone that can hurt us!"
"Yessssss," the mutated one hissed. "Yesssssss. We can't let you live, little one." He snarled at the Agori, who was whimpering and had his eyes closed.
"Please, let me go, I...I won't kill you, I can't....my...my legs....they're....they're...." The mutated leader grabbed the Agori and slammed him on the ground.
"We can't risk it!" The leader yelled. "That last Glatorian group, they wanted to hurt ussss. Kill usssss. We can't take any chancesssss."
"Please...." The Agori pleaded quietly. The leader then roared and stabbed the Agori with his tail, killing him instantly. After twisting the sharp end of the tail in the body's chest, he pulled it out.
"Do we still have food?" The leader asked the non-mutated infected. The latter shook his head. "We need to survive....and we are hungryyyy..." With that, the leader sank his teeth into the body, ripping out its throat and chewing it.
I laid still, trying not to be disgusted and disturbed by the sight. I covered my eyes and ears, but I could still hear the crunching of meat and the psychotic victorious laughter of the infected just a few feet from my hiding spot.
It then became one of those times I wonder what went so wrong. I shook my head and wondered what went wrong as I couldn't help but listen to the infected enjoying their meal. I couldn't help but remember the good times before the infection started. The memories should be comforting, but they just seem more painful with what's happening right now.
Chapter Two[]
I filed through the crowd, getting bumped by all sorts of Agori. Today, the Sand Tribe was in an argument with the Ice Tribe. Apparently, the water supply we found was worth sharing with them. I don't mean to sound selfish, but I would keep the water all to myself. Living in Bara Magna, water was a huge resource to have. Even the Water Tribe didn't have much water themselves. They lived in a chasm full of moisture that they collect into liquid form. But they still have to wait to create anything drinkable.
I worked my way into the arena of Atero. It was hard, since dozens of Sand and Water Agori were rushing inside. Seats were as difficult, too. I tried to find the best seat possible. At the seats near the entrance I entered, I saw to my dismay that the front row seats were taken. I even saw two Agori fighting over a single seat. With a past experience I had, I knew it was wise not to get between the two.
I decided that a second row seat would suffice. If anything risky happened, I would at least have some shields to protect me. I know it sounds rather malevolent, but that's the way I am after having some bad run-ins. So I sat in the second row, specifically in the exact middle seat. It's going to be hard getting out, but I want to see Glatorian action, and a center seat was the best choice.
I looked around the arena and saw that the seating was definitely split in a noticeable pattern. On both sides of my area, Agori from the Water Tribe sat. I wondered who would win this dispute, my tribe, or the Water. Either way, I'm going to be entertained. I've always enjoyed Glatorian battles. Especially when there are more Glatorian fighting each other.
I sat, waiting for the match to start and wishing for everyone around me to either shut up or be quiet. Eventually, that time arrived. Atero's leader walked to the center of the grounds. As soon as he was a few feet from the center, everyone quieted down.
"Today, we settle yet another dispute. This time: our Tribe is to challenge the Ice Tribe for sharing of the water supply we had uncovered," The leader announced. "If the Glatorian are ready, begin at once."
After the leader made his announcement and walked away to sit in the sidelines, the two Glatorian emerged from their respective entrances. The opponent was an Ice Tribe Glatorian, with the white colors and the usual spikes I never understood. How did they help with defense if you're in danger of stabbing your shoulder?
I hoped our Glatorian fighter was one of our champions, but it seems they decided to go cheap and went with a rookie. This kid didn't even seem he can fight. He just looked anxious and nervous. Yet, he went forward like he was ready to battle. Maybe I've judged too early and this kid will surprise me. But if I had any bets running on this battle, I'd go with the Ice Glatorian. He looks much more seasoned and experienced. He looked like he can hold off a Skrall, so this should be fun.
The two challengers approached each other and stopped a few feet from one another. When the Ice Glatorian raised his pickaxe and his Thornax launcher in ready, the Sand Glatorian raised his shield and his own launcher. The fight began.
Needless to say, the fight was a little underwhelming. The rookie mostly did nothing but block attacks. When he did attack, he was trying to knock the opponent's pick-axe out of the latter's hands. Obviously, he failed, over and over and over. I felt sick to my stomach (metaphorically) and stood to get some food. I was hungry anyways and I was watching my Tribe lose to the Ice people, a good meal will quench that sick feeling.
I squeezed through the seats, regretting my decision to sit in the middle. Out of habit, I glanced at the fight. The rookie was blocking the Thornax launched at him as the Ice Glatorian was slowly walking towards him. The Ice Agori cheered at the incoming victory. I for the meanwhile, decided to keep quiet and just leave to get my food. In fact, I think I'll just leave as soon as I get my meal. The rookie's preformance was killing my love for the sport of Glatorian battles.
I managed to get out of the row I was sitting in and made my way down to the exit. While I would complain about how inconvenient it is for the food stand to be outside the arena, I was glad it was right now. As I made my way to the entrance, I saw other people leaving as well. They weren't many, but I was slightly glad I'm not alone.
I began going towards the exit when I heard a voice, most likely the Ice Glatorian because of the age in his voice, asking his opponent to surrender. I heard cheers, disappointed moans, and people telling someone to get up and fight back. I rolled my eyes. Victory by the Ice Tribe was inevitable at this point. The only way to win was brutality. And we're not Skrall.
Suddenly, I heard the cheers and yelling stop and turn into screams of terror. This caught my attention and I turned, running towards the railing that prevented any undesireables from entering the battlegrounds. I remembered my thought about brutality as I watched.
The kid must've panicked and snapped, because he was holding the Ice Glatorian's arm in his hand. His shield had splatter marks that indicated that he used it to seperate the limb from the body. The Ice Glatorian was on the ground, crawling away from the rookie and yelling for help.
I saw several other Glatorian that came to watch the fight sprint out into the field towards the rookie. But they were too late. The rookie had leapt on top of his opponent and began bashing his shield against his face. He smashed the side of it against the Ice Glatorian's head, which began to morph into a puddle of blood and flesh the more the shield landed against it. The rookie was screaming in savage might as he continued to bash the dead body's head (or at least the spot where it would be). The other Glatorian grabbed him and restrained him.
The rookie was screaming in rage and flailing, demanding to be let go and swearing to kill them all. All the Agori stared at the body in the center of the arena. While I was also horrified, I couldn't turn away from the bloody mess that the remaining Glatorian in the field were hesitating to touch.
Even the Skrall aren't that brutal.
Chapter Three[]
I entered the hideout and found myself facing a bunch of Thornax launchers pointed at my head. I raised my hand in surrender and the launchers were lowered. One of the launcher wielders was Ortea. When she saw me she sighed with relief.
"Oh, it's just you," She said. She sounded annoyed, but her expression showed relief and small hints of happiness. Ortea was a friend of mine since a few years back. We always bicker and we don't seem to agree on a lot of things. For some reason we remain friends. Most of the time she'd insult me, but I always manage to spot her looking at me funny. I turn around and she's in the middle of turning away.
"Yeah, me," I responded.
"So where's Argeres? He's supposed to come back with you in one piece."
"Well, turns out he got infected as soon as we stepped outside. It was only when we got the supplies I realized he wanted to tear my head off."
"So?"
"So I had to take him out."
Ortea sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Did you at least--"
"Yeah, I got the supplies. Clean water. Some food. Some weapons. The essentials," I opened my pouch and handed out the things I listed. The survivors in the hideout took them eagerly and dug in or sheathed their new weapons. After the handouts were finished, I stood up. "I think we need a new hideout, Ortea," I whispered to Ortea. Ortea shook her head and her expression became one needing answers.
"What? Why?" Ortea asked. I sighed and looked around at the hideout. We were on a roof of a pretty short building. On that roof was a small cabin that was common in Atero. We Agori or Glatorian of the Sand Tribe enjoyed views from tall places, and so we had buildings with small cabins right on top. The survivors and I were currently occupying it until we figure out a way out of the city. It was also night, a good time to be hiding during this crisis.
"There's a reason Argeres was infected, because he sure as heck was healthy when I first met him here," I explained quietly. I eyed the small fountain on a wall. "Did Argeres drink from that?"
"I think so, I---" Ortea's eyes widened. "You mean the tainted water is poured here?"
"How else do you explain Argeres?"
"Don't worry, none of us drank from it. I was worried at first, but...Argeres, he seemed fine after the usual days until the symptoms kicked in. I guess it took longer for him to become one of those...things."
"Wait, what about that one over there?" I asked. I pointed to one of the survivors in the corner, looking rather sick. Ortea shook her head.
"No, she's just got a cold. She didn't drink the water. None of us did. Who'd drink water from a fountain?" "Argeres," I answered with as much wit as I can. That got a little chuckle out of Ortea. But she went back to looking sad as soon as she finished. I guess she thought now was an inappropriate time to make jokes.
We all sat in the small cabin, eating and thinking quietly. How were we going to get out of Atero? I barely survived stepping outside, those crazies were on me when it wasn't even a minute yet. We needed help from the outside, but how can we contact them?
Suddenly, we all heard sounds outside. Ortea signaled for the others to hide, and they did. In my hiding spot, I was able to peer out through a tiny hole and see the streets below. Hope entered my spirits. It was a group of Glatorian, of varying Tribes, even Skrall. They were skulking around, probably looking for survivors. Thinking it was safe, I popped out of my hiding spot and spoke to the others.
"Everyone!" I said. "It's a couple of Glatorian."
"Glatorian?" One of us exclaimed. I didn't know his name, but I was horrified to see that he leapt out of his hiding spot, went outside, and yelled for the Glatorian to come here. I was terrified, not of the Glatorian, but the noise the idiot was making calling them. I tried to quietly tell him to shut up, but he was too busy yelling and waving at the Glatorian.
I hoped we would wait for them to come to us, but some of us are too desperate for hope. As expected, hissing and screams of fury came from nearby. Within seconds, the Glatorian group was besieged by a group of those psychopaths.
Most of them were mutated, and sank their teeth into the Glatorian's necks. Some of our would-be saviors tried hard to fight them off, but their strength and numbers overwhelmed them. I saw some of the psychos fight each other as well, and kill those less mutated. Much worse, I saw one of them spot the idiot that gave away our hideout. With a growl, he began making his way to us, along with others.
I burst out of my hiding spot, yelling for everyone to get out; our hideout has been compromised. Everyone burst out as well, including Ortea. Everybody ran outside and scrambled. Unfortunately, much of the others were stopped in their tracks by the monsters. Ortea and I ran off together, in a direction that the monsters didn't seem to account for.
I looked back, even though I really didn't want to. The monsters were either beating our comrades to death or eating them. We got far enough that they lost visual of us. Some of them began fighting each other, or ran off to find more victims.
Ortea and I ran and jumped into an alleyway, the way we nearly missed it, I knew this was a pretty good new hideout. It's easy to look past I doubt the psychos would look for us in a place like it. We practically tripped into the gap.
Once we settled in (which was not that long), we tried to relax ourselves. That whole ordeal should have killed us, but it didn't. We were lucky to be alive. I looked at Ortea and she looked at me, and I saw that she was glad I survived alongside her. I was glad as well, but only for the part where I lived. But even that I'm not sure of. The amount of deaths I witnessed these past few days have left me thinking.
How many must die for me or Ortea to escape this hellhole? Should I go on alone, or with others? Out of nowhere, I hear something, as did Ortea it seemed, as she slowed down and quieted her breathing. We sat really still, waiting for whatever is going to happen. Suddenly, one of the monsters appeared above us, simply standing on all fours over the gap we fell in. It was sniffing. It was turning left and right as it sniffed and snarled.
I saw a piece of debris. It was some kind of soft sheet and I slowly pulled it over Ortea and me. I carefully watched the killer above us. From what I can see, with his height, he used to be a Glatorian. I wondered how he got infected. Did he get bit, did he drink the tainted water? I didn't know. I watched him smell the air, his form against the night sky. I watched him until I slid the sheet over us. The sheet made a sound as soon as it covered us, and I heard the creature above turn his head, hissing as he did. I heard him land right next to us. I held my breath and clutched Ortea's mouth, preventing her from making any noise possible. Though she clearly must've heard the psycho drop down, I made sure she kept quiet. Ortea was also a mouth-breather, so that is self-explanatory. We sat as still as stone as the monster sniffed through the alleyway. I felt him get closer, and closer.
He was right in front of us.
He smelled the sheet that covered us, drooling and growling as he did. The drool drips made small thud noises on the sheet. Suddenly, an engine noise ran through the street nearby the alleyway, and the creature stopped drooling on our cover. With a hiss, it ran off, clearly deciding to choose the out-in-the-open victims as opposed to hunting them down.
As soon as I was sure he was at a good distance, I kicked the sheet off of us and we breathed heavily in relief. That was way too close for comfort. But with this event, I discovered another change the virus brought to its victims. They have a stronger sense of smell now.
We really need to get out of Atero, and fast.
Chapter Four[]
I stood at the very back of the crowd as they gathered around the herald to hear the latest news. I was a little late to be at the front, but I wasn't one to want to draw potential attention, so the back it was. I lived near the village square, meaning I lived in a place that most Agori or Glatorian resided. Thus, a pretty considerably large crowd appeared.
Like the others I suspect, I was waiting for news on the violent incident yesterday, which I got over until this morning, when I woke up and remembered the ordeal. I waited through news of victories in other matches, searches for missing persons, recent murders happening around Atero, and other meaningless trifles. Finally, the herald reached the news that everyone was waiting for. Ortea appeared next to me, smiled in greeting and proceeded to listen along with the others.
"On the previous day, a tragedy befelled the Ice Tribe, as they lost a champion Glatorian. The Sand Tribe and the village of Atero gave their blessings and paid respect. As of now, the reason for this gruesome murder is unknown. The murderer is currently being detained until further notice."
After that nice little bit of information, the herald went on to report on different subject matters. Seeing that the information they wanted to know has been said and done, the majority of the crowd left to go about their lives once more, including me and Ortea.
She tugged on my arm and motioned towards a cafe that was lucky enough to be established first in the square. I shrugged and we went to have some drinks. Because of the desert enviroment, it was kind of hard to make a nice looking cafe, but they managed with some wood, some leftover plants, and what I think was a hill of mud that somehow managed to freeze and become solid enough to be hollowed out and called an actual building. So pretty much the same as other buildings. Except for those carved out of giant rocks lying around here.
We ordered our drinks and sat at a table, observing passerbys as they walked through the square. It's not my favorite place to be, but it's a nice sight for the eyes.
"Hey, were you at the match yesterday?" I asked Ortea. She shook her head, but she looked happy about it. "No, and thank the Great Beings. I heard the rookie practically liquified the victim's head." I almost felt myself spit out my drink, suddenly grasped with the thought of what the remains of that Glatorian's head tasted like and being disgusted. But I mustered up the courage to finish the drink and think other thoughts.
"Please, don't talk about it like that. I already had to get over actually seeing the thing and now you're making me relapse."
"Sorry" Ortea apologized. "I was just curious."
"It's alright," I set down my cup. I looked around, I saw several Glatorian running around, probably to some meeting that they were late for. As I looked, I noticed that there isn't as many people around the square. Earlier, there were dozens, including those that gathered around the herald, but now there were less. As if most people were taking a sick day. Some of the people looked worrisome, though. Especially that green guy I see wandering around with some golden mask. But I figured he's just some beggar trying to sell some fake gold "treasure".
Ortea took a sip as she saw something behind me. She motioned to it and I turned around, looking for what she saw. It was a waitress, who's dropped an order and shards of cups were everywhere. Her boss then stormed out, clearly an impatient guy and started yelling at her. The waitress was just standing there, looking nervous and like she was going to throw up.
I looked at Ortea, and mouthed "Let's go". While she was reluctant, she agreed and we got up, leaving behind credits to pay for our uncalled check. I've been in something like this before, and it ended with ugly results. As we made our way out of the square, we suddenly heard a scream and yells of panic. I heard shatters and things falling on the ground.
I turned around towards the cafe and saw that the waitress had stuck a shard into her boss's jugular vein. The other customers were screaming and running out of the cafe premises, as were the other staff that worked there. As this happened, more people ran out of buildings or came out of corners, grabbing random Agori and assaulting them. Glatorian came out of nowhere and called for everyone to clear the area before engaging the raging mad populace of the village.
A full blown riot right here, just as I witness yet another murder, two days in a row. That was my luck. I grabbed Ortea's arm and we booked it, running out of the square with other Agori. We stopped two blocks away and I told Ortea to get home. She objected and questioned why. I told her it was safer there and pushed her into running away.
As soon as she turned her back, I ran back to the square, or at least a building near it. I climbed up the ladder to the roof and looked at the square down below. It was pure chaos, and I spotted some Glatorian fight the other Glatorian. The Glatorian trying to keep things under control were holding shields, blocking their attackers with a phalanx.
I looked around and saw the waitress, who was holding the bloody shard and was standing over her boss's corpse. She then bent over and cut the body open, shoving her face into its guts and consuming whatever meat she could find.
As soon as I saw that, I couldn't watch and went back down to ground level to return home. Maybe pack up and move somewhere farther away from the square. One thing ran through my mind. it's been two days, and these things happened; what was happening to Atero?
The answer that I figured out later: The end.
Chapter Five[]
I looked around the corner, checking the block. It was empty, or at least it looked like it. The street looked ominous in the night. Then again, everywhere in this village looks ominous now, with all the litter, dead body parts, and open creaking doors. Seeing the doors, I wondered if there was any of those people in the buildings. I listened for the familiar sounds the infected makes.
Growls? Hissing? Muttering? I pricked my ears up and listened. I told Argeres to shut up and be as quiet as possible and listened. As things were as quiet as possible, I listened for the sounds. The streets were empty enough for listening to be easy. Silence. Nothing but deathly silence. I sighed in relief and signaled to Argeres next to me. We ran towards the merchant's building.
Yes, building. Apparently, this guy was rich enough to own his own building to sell his scraps of food out out of. Good for us, I think, we have a place to rest and hide in while we find supplies for Ortea and the others. We headed inside and shut the door, locking it and preventing any unwelcome guests from bothering us.
We caught our breath as we walked around the store. This guy was loaded. There's so much stuff here that the stuff was split and organized into multiple sections. Living in Bara Magna, these things were rare.
"Look at this stuff," Argeres said. His Agori size prevented him from reach a top shelf, so he had to grab a box to stand on."We can have a feast with these things if we can have some kind of stove."
"No," I said, as I looked at the fruit aisle. "We have to take only those we can eat immediately. None that are specifically meant to mix with other stuff or be cooked. Food you can eat on the fly."
"Why do we even have to leave?" Argeres asked. "This place is perfect! We have food, a large place to stay in, and I doubt those things can get in. Just look at it!" He spread his arms in enthuisasm. I couldn't really blame him. It really did look like a good place to hide out. Plenty of food, and wide space for comfort. But I wasn't so sure about the safety. This place was big, meaning that it'd be difficult for any of us to pinpoint a break in. Argeres went around to look at things. He coughed repeatedly, probably catching some kind of cold. Even with that cloak of his, this place was still cold.
I saw some ice near the fruit and some of the food. I guess the owner bought some ice to refridgerate his merchandise. Despite this place's potential, it was still poorly-lit, like much of the houses in Bara Magna. Argeres disappeared, probably to look at more stuff. I was annoyed, Ortea and I had told him that when people are going out to find supplies, they were supposed to keep together. I ran around the store, trying to find him and called him out by name.
I found him at some counter with meat. I ran up to Argeres and reprimanded him for forgetting the rule. But he didn't respond and simply pointed at the tables behind the counter. From the looks of it, it was a butcher station. I expected to see chopped meat at the table, but I saw one Agori and one Glatorian bodies, chopped up and with bite marks.
This wasn't good. Not at all. I put my arm up at Argeres' chest, and backed away, pushing him back as well. From the corner of my eye, I saw that he was looking pretty sick. Pale and breathing heavily. The guy was an optimist, but there was no bright side to see here.
As we stepped back, our footsteps echoed throughout the empty store. But a third footstep was heard. Behind us.
Argeres and I both spun around and saw that one of the things was in the store. He was half-mutated, a tail three-quarters grown, nearly hunchback, pincers halfway out, and he was drooling, hungry for meat.
"Intruders!" He yelled, a small gravelly sound accompanying his voice. "Intruders, in my store! You're here to kill me, eat me, like those things out there!" Argeres gasped and I pushed him back to where we were stepping away from, more focused on getting away from the crazy person. "Like those things! Those monsters! Just like those things!" He pointed at the bodies at the butcher station. "Well, I showed them, sssss, I ate them, before they can eat me! Now you're here, trying to succeed where they failed. Huh?!"
I held my hand out, as if I wanted to tell the owner of the store to stop. It was useless, of course. But I still did it, as if there was a chance. I knew there wasn't, so why am I doing it? I didn't know, and now was the not the time to think about that.
"Uh, sir," I said, trying to stay calm. "We were just looking for some food. If you let us take some and...and...you can just let us leave, no problem. Uh, we're, uh...we're..."
"Oh?!" The owner screamed, a snarl coming out of his throat. "Now, you're stealing from my store?! Thieves! Monsters! I'll KILL YOU BOTH!! KILL YOU!!!" He roared as he charged at us. I yelled for Argeres to run and we both ran down the aisle, the infected owner hot on our trail. Argeres ran ahead of me, which was bad news for me. Mainly because the owner dove right at my feet as we were turning around the corner.
Thus, I tripped, and we both slid into the wall left to the butcher station. The owner clawed at me as I tried to crawl away, but he grabbed my foot and tried to take a bite. Luckily, he didn't account for the possibility that I could kick him in his ugly face. Repeatedly, too. Seeing how his face might not work, he jumped right on top of me and tried to stab me with his tail, which had a sharp knife like tip. It missed the first time, but it scratched me right below my left eye the second. When I felt the sting, I punched the sucker in the face and ran for it as it was dazed.
I ran for the door Argeres and I entered, and found Argeres trying to get the lock open. It was no use, it would take us a few minutes to get it unlocked, time which we didn't have. Argeres heard the owner's savage screams and ran off, leaving me to unlock the door.
"Hey, where the hell are you going?!" I yelled at him.
"Just a second!" Argeres replied back, running towards the box he used to get to the top shelf. I swore as he climbed to the top of aisle, his cloak waving around as he struggled up. I worked on unlocking the door. But the hissing and snarling I heard a few feet behind me made me turn around, startled.
The owner growled when he saw me and charged at me, waddling a little. As he got closer, I got more desperate to open the door. Suddenly, Argeres leapt on top of the owner, pounding his mutated head fiercely. I stopped trying to open door as I watched the fight.
Both were struggling on the floor. The owner tried to do the stabbing trick with his tail, but missed, only hitting Argeres' cloak and ripping it off. Argeres grabbed the tail, struggling to prevent it from going into his face. He then pushed the sharp end into the owner's neck. The owner howled with pain and stumbled backwards. Argeres got back up and pulled out the tail to stab the owner over and over.
Even when the creature has stopped moving Argeres still stabbed, yelling in rage. I grabbed him, trying to get him to stop. But he shoved me back, pushing me on the ground and preparing to punch me. When he realized who I was, he stopped and took a breather. He backed away, wiping the splatters off his face.
"I'm sorry, I-I don't know what got over me," Argeres said. He paced around, looking more sick than ever, and coughed more. As he turned, I looked at his back. What I saw explained my curiosity about his bloodthirsty killing of the store's owner. I saw a tail growing out of his spine. It was barely noticeable, hidden by Argeres' cloak.
I backed away slowly, but Argeres saw this and got mad. "What? WHAT!" He yelled as he made his way towards me. I held my hands up in defense. He stopped and realized how he acted. "I'm...I'm sorry. I should have told you. I should have told you before this started happening..."
"You're infected?"
"I...I was so thirsty. I couldn't just resist, I...I practically just killed myself, didn't I?" He asked. "Right now, I'm...I'm thinking that you're going to kill me. All this time, while we were searching, I was thinking you were going to kill me, somehow and sometime. I tried to hold it in. But now, I just can't...." He started hissing, instinctively, it seems, since he looked surprised when he started making that noise.
"I don't want to hurt anybody anymore," Argeres said. He walked up to me, his hands shaking, as if he was trying hard to resist strangling me and bashing my head on the floor at the same time. "You have a Thornax launcher on you?" I nodded. He nodded as well. I got the message and took out my launcher. He grabbed a Thornax from a fruit stand and placed it in the launcher.
Argeres turned around and fell on his knees. He hung his head. "Can you finish it? I don't think I can in this condition." I grunted in agreement and aimed at his head. I didn't really want to do this, but he was infected. He was a danger to me and the other survivors at the hideout. This had to be done. I stepped back a couple of steps. There was no telling how explosive this Thornax was. I aimed for the head and fired. The explosion was not big at all, and Argeres' head blew up on impact. His kneeling corpse collasped and fell flat on the ground.
I threw away the launcher, a little upset I had to kill someone I knew. I took a small break, staring at both the owner's and Argeres' bodies. This might be a good place if you want food, but the bodies lying around ruins the image.
I walked around the store, looking for things to take for Ortea and the others. After collecting and storing them in my pouch, I went to the door and unlocked it. Before heading out, I looked at the bodies whose deaths I both caused and witnessed. I shook my head and walked out after checking for signs of hostiles.
The scratch still stang.
Chapter Six[]
It's only been around two days and Atero looked like it's been abandoned for years. Cracks plagued buildings and some even had giant Agori or Glatorian-sized holes on them. The only things that told me this hasn't been like this for very long is my knowledge of the passage of time and the clearly fresh bodies lying around the street. They were either beaten to death or had a vital part of their body eaten.
Ortea inhaled and exhaled slowly. She walked besides me, trying hard not to look at the bodies around us. The nice-looking dawn light didn't help bring hope. The dawn showed off the aftermath of last night's massive riots and fights. Ortea and I stayed inside until it was over and, well, here we were. We weren't sure where we would go, we were wandering around to see where would be a good place to hide in before we figure out what to do.
I spotted a merchant's booth. "Hey, what about in there? It's unsuspecting enough." Ortea shook her head. I nodded and continued on beside her.
"What do you think is causing all this?" Ortea asked. "This...whatever it is, it's spreading to people like a virus."
"People going crazy is a plague now?" I asked sarcastically.
"For one thing, I noticed those that went crazy have common factors. Anxiety, heavy breathing, back hunching, a lot of things," Ortea replied. Ortea was pretty observant, which was why I figured it was wise following her decisions in this mess. So far, we were alive.
We continued to walk. It was a quiet morning. The weird people must've been asleep or somewhere else. If it's the latter, we were inconcievably lucky. I've caught glimpses of what they do to people, and it wasn't pretty. Limbs tearing off, beatings with heavy blunt objects. Grossly gruesome. As we went on, we stopped in front of the jailhouse in this district. We both stared at the front entrance and then looked at each other.
We were still in the area where both of us lived, and that area was near the arena where the first incident happened. Seeing the same look on each other's face, we got the same idea and went inside.
It was dark. Whatever lighted this place had gone out. Ortea and I both knew the drill. We search this place. See if anything hostile is around and confirm whether or not it was safe to hide in. Starting off with the inspection: the front door. From what we felt, it was too light to hold off anybody. Even if it was locked, a couple of shoves will do the trick and let the intruder in.
Ortea went off on her own and entered the cell block of the building, where most of the criminal scum of Atero was held until they were proven innocent or guilty. Most of them were empty at first glance. But most was the right adjective, since one of the cells had a body in it. Ortea, who was ahead of me, turned to me and pointed at it. I nodded, signalling that I saw it, too.
We both went into crouching positions and crept up to the cell door. It was locked, so there's no chance of whatever's inside to get out or for us to get in without any key. But the bars were wide enough for arms to reach through. We both peered into the cell and saw the body. Both of us went from cautious to shocked and confused. The body inside was unlike any of us has seen. It was heavily mutated. From some unique features, I could confirm that this was the rookie that killed that Ice Glatorian, but his face and body was changed so much that it was hard to tell at first sight.
He had pincers and sharp fang-like teeth. His feet was each splitting into three toes, each equipped with talons. The most noticeable feature about this fellow was what was coming out of his spine. It was a tail. A tail that was most likely taller than he was if it was removed, straightened out, and put next to him, it would be two heads taller than him, if I had to take a guess. The rookie laid there, on his side, as if dead. Ortea looked past him and at the toppled bucket of water that still dripped some remaining liquids.
She turned to me, with an intrigued look. "What if it's the water?" She whispered.
"What?" I whispered back.
"I don't know, but isn't this timed rather conveniently? Our Tribe found and claimed a steady supply of water, and a few days later, this happens."
"That's crazy. Everyone drinks water. We drank water, why haven't we turned yet?"
"Obviously, you and I are one of those people who saves water and drinks said saved water. Everyone else drinks straight from the plumbing or nearby spring. I'm telling you, it's something to do with the new water."
"Well, it sure does a hell of a lot for tainted water. Look at him." We both did. It was one of those things you could just look at for hours. Something so curious you'd just want to poke it with a stick. Turns out we didn't have to, since the thought-dead rookie started stirring. Ortea and I froze as we watched it hiss and wheeze.
It weakly tilted its head and looked straight at us. Its eyes were savage and beastly. It looked at us as if it was a cornered and wounded animal, forced to look at the people that would end its life. It snarled weakly.
"H...." It choked. "H....Hu....Hungryyyyyy.....Hungryyyyy...." It started drooling and made its way towards us slowly. Very slowly. Ortea and I stood up and backed away. The rookie was crawling towards us, its tail limply swinging around. It drooled as it glared at us. "You're....g....going to kill me....hurt me....I'll...I'll kill...kill you before you can...I'll ki...kill you....before...." It then collapsed. It was not dead, since we heard small wheezing coming out of its mouth.
The rookie was dying of starvation. I could hear it quietly beg for food. I almost felt sorry for it. It was like a caged animal, neglected and abused. But I knew for a fact that as soon as we helped this thing, it would quickly turn on us. The way it talked about us killing it meant that whatever's going on is making people think everyone's out to get each other. It was survival of the fittest in their heads.
I swallowed my pity and grabbed a sad Ortea's arm. I tugged her away, which she didn't object to, but she still stared at the creature that used to be a Glatorian starving away. As we headed towards the door, I heard it open. Both of us reacted simultaneously and dove for cover behind the front counter. We heard footsteps. But we didn't hear the heavy-mouth breathing that came with one of those crazies.
I turned to Ortea, making sure my eyes gave her the right message. It did, and she wasn't too happy. She mutely objected, shaking her head rapidly. I made her let go of my shoulder and put a finger up to my mouth, telling her to be quiet.
I took the dagger I kept in my pouch and got it ready. I got on my feet, but still in a crouching position, preparing to pop up. I took a deep breath as the footsteps got closer.
I jumped up, yelling and found another Agori yelling in the same manner. He was also holding a dagger that was aimed at my face. We both realized what we were looking at and lowered our weapons. But not low enough to ignore any moves. I stared him down. He was a Sand Agori, like me and Ortea, and he was wearing a cloak, meaning he was one of those Agori that went out into the desert to find supplies. But I can't be too sure.
A simple direct question should be enough. "Are you alright, in the head?" I asked.
"What about you?" He asked. I nodded and we both got the message. Neither of us were affected. I helped Ortea up, and told the stranger she was fine, too. He looked at both of us and raised an eyebrow.
"Don't start," I said firmly. He waved his hand in apology. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Ortea might be blushing.
"Well, now that formalities are out of the way," The stranger put away his dagger and reached out a hand. "Name's Argeres. If you like, I can take you to a place with other survivors of whatever-this-is. It beats a dank dirty jailhouse, if you ask me."
I took his hand and shook it. "Great, lead on," I replied, feeling a small sense of relief and hope.
Chapter Seven[]
I waited until the small group outside the booth left, which took a while. They relished in devouring that Agori. It seems I was luckier than I thought; they ran off after finishing their meal. My guess was that they figured they took care of the "threat" and didn't bother to check to see if someone like me's hiding around. When they were a good distance, I climbed out, quietly removing the planks of wood I set up to prevent any suspicion.
After I exited, I looked at the remains of the Agori. Poor guy. But right now, all that matters is me and Ortea. We're getting out of this place today, I'm determined. As I turned to walk away, the light of dawn rised over the Atero skyline, shining bright beams of light rays onto the morning air. It looked beautiful, fully contrasting to the fact that I was a few feet from a dead body. I don't remember how long this has been going on. A week? Two weeks? I couldn't tell anymore.
I ran from cover to cover as I made my way to Ortea. This was irrelevant and useless, since all the way to the alleyway, there wasn't any sign of any hostiles. I couldn't be too careful, though. I entered the alleyway and ran to the sheet I covered Ortea and myself last night. I crouched in front of it, tapping it. "It's me, you can stop hiding now."
Ortea lowered the the sheet, her eyes full of terror that melted into relief and gladness when she saw me. She threw the sheet off and hugged me. Since last night, she's been acting like she's nearing her last minute. I really hope it's not, and I'm making sure of it. After she let me go, I gave her the supplies I managed to gather while she was hiding. Ortea munched on her food very eagerly, her eyes still displaying a sad visage.
"Hey, I got something for us," I whispered to her. I reached into my pouch and pulled out a map. "Here, look." I pointed to a spot. "Here we are. This alleyway is actually part of a long path that leads to outside the village. We can get out of here."
"What? What are you talking about?" Ortea asked me quietly.
"Look, see this? A straight line," I ran my finger up and down the long path we were in. "We're here, and we can just walk a couple of blocks to get to the outside."
"We...we can get out of here?" Ortea muttered. I nodded, smiling eagerly. She finished her food and chuckled. "Finally, we can get out of here. We can escape from this hell."
I chuckled as well, and helped Ortea up to her feet. We smiled to each other before we headed down the alleyway. We made our way down the path and Ortea stopped me before we neared the open street. I reassured her that these parts we can just make a run for. The alleyways would give us the protection we needed from the monsters. So we did just that, ran for it when we reached the streets.
When we entered the alleyways, we slowed down and simply walked. As we did, Ortea clutched my arm and hung on to it. I didn't mind, even though I would have been hesitant to let anyone touch me, especially in these times. As we walked, I coughed repeatedly. My throat felt hoarse, I might have eaten some slightly bad food, but at least I didn't drink the bad water.
When I coughed, however, Ortea stopped. Her grasp on my arm stopped me as well, right in front of the next street we would run across. She stood in front of me and stared at my face. I raised an eyebrow and looked right back at her, wondering what she was doing. Ortea's expression went from concerned to suspicious.
"Are you okay?" She asked. I shrugged. But now that she's mentioned it, I've been feeling tired and stressed. But that is reasonable, since because of the plague and all. But the way Ortea looked at me. Something wasn't right.
"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" I asked, trying to act reassuring. I was starting to feel anxious. What was wrong? Why was Ortea asking me these questions? I'm fine. But was she? I have been away for a few hours. Who knows what might have happened. I shook my head, trying to shake the feeling of distrust out. This was Ortea. I trust her with my life.
"Because," She answered. "you look terrible. Like you're going to vomit several of your insides out." As she reached to touch my face, I stepped back, lightly smacking her hand away.
"I said, I'm fine," I declared firmly. "Now let's get out of here already. The longer we stand around doing nothing, the easier it'd be for those people to find us."
As I made my way out of the alleyway, Ortea stopped me again, grabbing my arm and forcing me to turn around and face her. "I'm worried about your health, you're really not looking so good."
"Hey, we're nearing an exit out of this nightmare," I snapped back. "Are you saying you don't want to leave? We can just stay here and get mauled and eaten if you like."
"I'm not saying that."
"Then what are you saying?"
"Right now, I want to say you're not acting rationally."
"Look around you!" I raised my arms up. "This place, right now, is no place for rationality, Ortea. Right now, it's either kill or be killed! Kill! Or be killed!"
"But what if there are people on the way out? Are you going to kill them, too? Survivors who just want to leave as much as we do?"
"Have you not been paying attention? We've just lost an entire group of survivors, we barely made it out ourselves! We're stopping for no one. They're just going to slow us down, make it harder for us."
"And what if they come with against your wishes, huh? What then?"
"Then we get rid of them!" I replied loudly with irritation. Everything went quiet. Ortea's face shifted into shock and her mouth hung open. I realized what I said as well and was speechless myself. We just stood there, staring at each other in distrust.
"You're...." Ortea muttered. No, I couldn't be.
"No, I'm not...I'm not," I tried to say. "I didn't drink the water. I didn't get a bite. The closest they got to me was this scratch. Nothing more." But at the end of that sentence a thought had occured to me. It seemed to happen for Ortea, too, since she stepped back a few inches. I touched the area where the store owner scratched me. I felt it and noticed it didn't heal like a normal scratch. I remembered how much it stung as I left the store.
I was...I'm...No. I'm not. But right now, I'm thinking weird thoughts. I felt as if the world was against me. The only one I can trust or care about was Ortea, and she was losing faith in me right this second. I felt that anyone who would pose as an obstacle to our goal has to pay the price. If they were with us, they would leave us alone. The more I thought about it, I found out how much that idea lacked common sense to me. I can't be distrustful of everyone. Yet, these events are eye-opening for me. Argeres was hiding something, and he could've killed me and the other survivors if that store owner didn't show up. I couldn't trust anyone besides Ortea.
Ortea on the other hand, walked slowly around me and stepped back towards the street. She was afraid of me. She knew what was going on with me. I tried in vain to explain that I was fine, repeat that I wasn't sick. But the symptoms had shown. Heavy breathing, coughing, anxious exterior, and irrational thinking that might lead to deaths. I wanted to deny it but it was difficult. Ortea just shook her head as she stepped towards the street that was in front of the next alleyway. I went after her, at the same speed and reached out my hand, pleading for her trust again.
As soon as she was out on the street, we both heard hissing and snarls.
Ortea was grabbed by a mutated Glatorian as another infected landed on all fours besides them. I started to make a run at them, determined to get Ortea out of their grasp. But an infected Agori leapt out from behind me and tackled me to the ground. It hissed next to my ear and breathed down my neck as it made sure I stayed on the ground, tearing off my pouch and throwing it away. I struggled to be free as I looked up at the two Glatorian. I was still within the alleyway, so the Glatorian who was not holding anything, whom I presume was the leader, poked his head into the alleyway. The space between buildings was big enough for Agori to easily navigate through, but too small for the average Glatorian to enter at the same speed. They'd have to turn on their sides and shimmy down the small space.
The leader's face came close to a few inches from mine, and I could smell the terrible stench coming out of his drooling mouth.
"Sssss," He hissed. "Where are you going, meat? Off to escape? Tell the quarantine to eradicate usss?"
"What," I choked. The Agori on top of me was standing on my back on all fours, making it hard for me to breathe with the weight on my chest. "What quarantine?"
"Don't play dumb," The leader snarled, his teeth barred. "You were going to get out of Atero. Go to the Glatorian army surrounding ussss. Tell them about...what happened to ussss. Make them kill ussss. Isn't that right?"
"No, we're...we're not. We're not going to tell anyone to...to kill anybody. We just want to get out of here."
"We can't believe you," The leader hissed. "How can we trust you would keep your word? Rrrrrrr. We can't take chances in these times, you understand..." The leader's words were slurred, as if he was struggling to form them. "Besidessss..." He turned to Ortea, who was being held by the infected. He was covering her mouth, muffling her cries and holding her in a way where her arms would not be able to free her. "Food is scarce...and we're hungryyyy..."
The leader's mouth formed into a fang-covered grin. He snarled at the Glatorian holding Ortea and he grabbed her legs. No, they can't be doing what I think they're going to do. I groaned as I tried to get the Agori off, but he just kept pushing me on the ground, drooling right next to my ear.
"Oh, no no no no no...." Ortea muttered as her captor moved his hand to her neck. The leader pulled her legs, and the captor pulled Ortea's torso. In a messy moment, Ortea's screams of pain were gone as she was pulled apart at the waist. The leader eargly feasted on his half of Ortea while the captor sank his teeth into the upper half's neck. He pulled the meet out with his jaws, pleasuring in the meal.
I was frozen with horror, I felt my face become paralyzed as I let what I just witnessed sink in. The one person I was determined to see safely out of this nightmare was gone. Not just gone, but I'm actually forced to watch her remains be destroyed. What's left of her was being consumed by the monsters she and I had been trying so hard these past few days to avoid. All that effort was now tossed aside in a single surprise ambush.
The paralysis shifted gears to despair. Despair to grief. Grief to denial. Denial to pure rage. All those emotions in half a second and the last one was going to explode out of my head. I screamed a savage cry as I mustered all my strength to get free of the pest Agori on my back. When the first few violent writhing failed to shake him off, I snapped my head back. The back of my skull made a painful impact with the Agori's face.
It hissed and screeched in pain as it fell backwards. I took the oppurtunity to get to my feet and show it what it felt like on the other end. I leapt up and made sure my knee landed heavily on his stomach, making him hurt more. I started punching his face, each contact harder than before. Impulsively, I took hold of his tail, and began to pull as hard as I can. In a matter of seconds, it was ripped from the Agori's spine.
I held the joint where the the stinger and the tail met like a handle and brought the sharp end down on the Agori's face, ending whatever suffering it was going through abruptly. I felt his fluids splash on my face. But I didn't care.
Right now, what matters is that I kill those two. Those two monsters that are eating my friend. As I thought about it, I realized I saw Ortea much more than a friend. But again, that isn't the matter right now. I charged at the leader, who was munching on Ortea's bottom half when he heard my kill of his little friend. When he turned and saw me, he dropped his half and screeched at me. I wasn't scared. I kept the point of the stinger forward and thrusted it at the leader's neck.
I missed. But not as much as I thought. I managed to cut the side of his neck, a rather important part it seems, as the leader suddenly started clutching the cut and screeching as soon as it started spraying whatever it was his heart pumped out. As the leader fell over and started flailing around in panic, I turned my attention to the one with Ortea's upper half.
He had too much time to prepare, as he tackled me and held put his weight on me, keeping me and the tail I held to the ground. I had one hand free, which helped me keep the infected at bay as he tried to bite my face off. A few inches close as he opened his jaws and shut them as soon as I pushed him back.
With all my might, I freed my armed hand and shoved the stinger into the side of the infected's head, ending him instantly. I didn't feel like stopping there; I switched positions and got on top of his corpse, and started stabbing his chest repeatedly. I was letting all my rage out on this creature. I stabbed and I stabbed, each stab became easier as I pierced through the chest more and more.
Eventually, I slowed down and left the stinger embedded in the body's chest. I stumbled back and fell to my knees, trying to catch my breath. As I tried to, I heard the leader of this pack continue to choke on his wound. I looked up and saw that he has stopped compulsing like a rag doll and was simply trying to breathe. He couldn't. With his last breaths, he looked at me and snarled. His eyes indicated whatever intelligence he had has left him. He was going to die an animal. He did.
I just kneeled there. Surrounded by the bodies of those I had killed in revenge for Ortea. I refused to look at her remains. I simply kneeled there, on the sidewalk. A breeze picked up and made the litter around me fly around. I thought to myself that I should get up and get out of Atero.
I either couldn't or wouldn't. Either way, I felt myself become numb. I was at my lowest point. My most vulnerable. Sick, and right next to the bisected body of someone I might have loved once. My thoughts turned to the words the leader told me. "Quarantine". I thought, no wonder there isn't much rescue here. They're all afraid this disease will spread. I couldn't blame them, but a nudging feeling told me I should.
My thoughts then went to the biggest question at the moment. How did this happen? When did things go so wrong? What happened to the water that made this plague happen? This epidemic that turned an entire Tribe of Agori and Glatorian into psychotic, cannibalistic, mutated monsters? What happened?
The answer I realized: I will never know.
I looked up at the sky. It was blue and nearly no clouds. I hated it. I hated it for contradicting what I was in. I despised it for telling lies. I just kneeled there.
In the ruins that was once a great village full of unique individuals. I just kneeled there. Looking up at the sky and hating it.
Chapter Eight[]
I lay in shade.
Sun too hot today.
Master will return to booth soon.
I remember time when I not pet to Master.
I remember time when I person.
Like all these persons walking about.
I lay in shade, trying to avoid hot sun.
Glatorian come walking and see me.
He come over and look at me.
He try to touch me.
I no like to be touched.
I hiss at him. He take hand back.
I hiss and say to him, "I Zesk. No talk. Leave me."
He slightly surprised I talk. But he shrug off and keep walking.
Good.
I lay in the shade and try to remember time when I person like Master.
I remember not much.
I remember place called Atero.
I remember person named Ortea.
Who is Ortea?
I can't remember.
Maybe matter.
Maybe not.
I lay in the shade. Sun too hot.
The End
Trivia[]
- This story is inspired by I Am Legend , the original and remake of The Crazies, and Marvel's Last Gun On Earth trilogy . It's also inspired by BobTheDoctor27's ever popular story Besieged. BionicleChicken would put The Walking Dead on this list, but that show has done every post-apocalyptic survival idea ever.
- Chapter Four features a cameo by Brannigan, who is dimension-hopping after finding a faulty Kanohi Olmak. These might be detailed in an upcoming story.
- The protagonist and Argeres' encounter with the infected store owner in Chapter Five is inspired by Dead Rising.
- Ortea's gruesome death is a reference to Captain Rhodes' death in the original Day of the Dead.