Time of Arrival » Places

         

Corbyn sat atop the gazebo and pondered his new plan to escape the situation he found himself in. See, he had never had a problem this stressful in his life. Regardless of this, he was not going to go out like a loser sitting atop a gazebo with a decently made vanilla latte.

Corbyn reached inside of his jacket and whipped out his balisong. He opened it with a basic aerial and started flipping it to pass the time. He attempted to perform a zen rollover, but ended up nicking himself with the blade. "Ow! Fuck me!" He inspected his finger only to realize that it hadn't even bit that far into his finger, more like a scratch. This gave him a bright idea. He finished off his latte and tossed it over the edge where it landed on a "zombie's" head and bounced to the floor. He looked at the blade of the balisong and then looked at the placement of all of his foes below him.

Most of them were stationary at this point where he could probably make a break for it, but he was sure to get overwhelmed if he just ran for it without a full plan. Back towards the elevators there were only a few who gave up chasing him the earliest. If he could get over there faster than the "zombies" below him could reach him than he could make enough time to rid of the ones blocking the elevators. In turn, he could have another go at getting the elevators to work.

Corbyn made the assumption and the conclusion that it was worth a shot for him to at least try. He flipped his balisong to an ice pick grip, and he stood up and looked over the edge again. He took a few steps back before he dashed forward and took a large leap over the few "zombies" that were stacked below and landed around 2 meters behind them. When he hit the ground he stumbled, and fell into a roll where he recovered and kept running. He ran with all of his strength with the balisong at his side. He was around halfway, nearly getting sidelined by another "zombie" that was chasing after him.

Corbyn whipped around clotheslining it, and knocking it to the floor. He dashed onward, and took a glance behind him. Plenty of time. Once he got close to the elevators, the three between him and his escape had noticed him and charged. Corbyn ducked into the first one, which tripped over itself when it attempted to lunge at him. He charged the second one and ducked below its chin thrusting, his balisong up below the jaw. He immediately pulled the blade and shouldered his opponent into the third charging "zombie". Both of them tumbled to the ground and Corbyn made a break for the elevators.

All four of the elevators were closed shut. He slammed on the call button and turned to look at the pursuers gaining on him. Only panic could set in at this point and he grabbed at the elevator doors. Pulling his arms apart he used all he had left in him to attempt to pull the doors open to no avail.

"Grrr! C-C'mon!"

         

Hal kept an eye on the strange vessel as the exo-suit silently glided down the exterior. Soon, however, Solar Array #7 poked over the short horizon of the circular station exterior. As he neared, a humongous form the size of a building seemed to approach from beyond the array. It reminded Hal of the bulbous algae he had seen in the synthetic aquariums, with their rolled-over thin film appearance. Only the looming “algae” appeared to be a deep indigo.

Hal forgot the term for it, but he knew how goddamn dangerous it was. He lowered both arms and had both claws grip at a railing. He began to sweat as the purple event closed the distance with obscene speed.

Hal managed to power down the entire suit just in time for the event to wash over him. Through the metal of the suit, Hal felt a tingling sensation- focused primarily around his synthetic vocal organs. He coughed as the irritation got worse with time. In lieu of the electromagnetic ball-wheels, the claws kept the exo-suit planted against the station exterior.

“Oh my god, this sucks,” Hal blathered as the light static continued to irritate him. He had experienced this before during normal work, and it sucked equally as much then. Normally, the passing ion clouds only made a person’s hair stand on-end, but Hal’s synthetic lungs and vocal organs burned with the mosquito nips of static.

Eventually, the event passed. By that time, Hal felt his entire body shivering. The first time it happened, he had two co-workers sandwich their own suits against his own to prevent the suit from drifting too far from the exterior for the ball-wheels to pull him back. Hal booted up the exo-suit and turned up the opacity of the heads-up display. His oxygen supply depleted rapidly from his coughing fits and deep breaths to regain his senses, but he knew his supply would easily outlast the power charge of the suit itself. Thankfully, the suit batteries were designed with shielding to prevent damage from those events when the suit was inactive.

Hal gripped at the controls. Though his grip felt weak, he was able to make the claws let go so he could continue onward. Within the next minute, he had reached the solar array. Hal examined the array for signs of damage that would be obvious to an amateur like him. He then switched on the radio. “Yo Paragon, I’m at the array. What exactly am I looking to fix here?”

         [AIBELL AUTOMATED SECURITY UNIT AASU-057]
[INTERNAL PROCESSING LOG - WRITTEN TRANSCRIPT]
[RUN LOG]

OverMind directive recieved - assemble at Location 378261.
Unit mobile.
Sector overwatch unavailable - scanning online.
OverMind directive reconfigure - sector sterilization.
Patrol route dynamics engaged.
Patrolling at route 783.
Section clear.
Movement detected - investigating.
10-91d in peripheral - disregard.
Resuming patrol route dynamics.
10-107 detected - bioscan in progress.
Confirm non-10-91d - reclassify, 647-E.
Sterilization order confirmed.
Sterilizing.
647E biosignal negative.
Resuming patrol route dynamics.
OverMind reports mass 10-107 movement across patrol route 784.
Interdiction order confirmed.
Unit mobile.
Unit is 10-97.
10-107 located - confirmed 647E.
Sterilizing.
Four 647E sterilized - biosignal negative.
Resuming patrol route dynamics.
Auditory disturbance detected.
Investigating.
Auditory disturbance confirmed - 10-12, residential apartment, "Alka family".
Running soundfile Alert012.mp3
Broadcasting.
Transcript: >"ATTENTION CITIZENS. PLEASE COME OUT WITH YOUR ARMS RAISED. DO NOT ATTEMPT RESISTANCE."

         

From what Hal could tell, there was no living person throughout the rest of the warehouse- at least, none nearby enough to hassle him while he got suited up. Hal gripped tightly on both his guitar case and the card key needed to access the suit’s functions as he approached the suit proper. After loading up the guitar case and the recovered nutrient bars in the storage slot behind the seat, Hal hopped in and switched on the systems.

He checked the battery charge. 52%, a decent charge, if unexpected. Then again, there was not as much heavy lifting during the recent shift. Hal recalled that that much of a charge would grant him about seven hours of movement without using the loader arms.

The loader glided along the floor on small, sphere-like wheels. The humming, heavy-duty electromagnets near the base kept the loader from tilting when making hard turns, and also allowed the suit to remain attached to the station during exterior jobs. Hal directed the mech to the modification station, and activated the automated system. Pretty soon, the exoskeleton was covered in a space-grade material and sealed-up like an exo-suit.

There was a distant crash. Though the exo-suit muffled sound like a beast, Hal was still able to hear the world outside of the suit. It sounded like someone busted the door open somehow. Hal did not want to find out. He had to get to the safest place he knew: The isolation of space. With that safety, he’d be able to access one of the exterior terminals and communicate with the station AI. Hopefully it would have some kind of information.

As the exo-suit ran tests, the humming of the electromagnets seemed to attract the attention of whoever broke the door open. There were a few people carrying blunt objects, but they were paying attention to the unarmed people that looked as much of a mess as that first thing Hal encountered.

“Come on, damnit!” Hal cursed as the safety protocol during the exo-suit tests prevented his control. There were people getting killed out there, and he couldn’t do anything. Curse his timing! Two out of the three were tackled and being mauled. The last one was losing his lunch and his cool. Even from a distance, Hal could tell through the suit’s HUD that the poor guy was shaking.

Finally, the tests were passed, and Hal got control of the loader. Gliding along the floor, Hal lowered the arms to waist level. Hal soared past the last guy and rammed both loader arms through the two things. “Yes! Saved! Man, that was awesome!” Hal whooped as the things slipped off of the now-bloodied loader arms. “You okay, dude?” He called to the last survivor as he confirmed that the freaks were no longer moving.

Hal did not realise two things, however. The first was that the space-grade exo-suit limited clear communication from him to anyone through the short-wave radio, a channel exclusively used by loaders like his own, as well as other authorized equipment. The second was that the two killed survivors slowly rose up, despite having their necks chewed to pieces. Hal turned around just in time to see the two new freaks maul the last poor man.

“No… Goddamnit NO!” Hal pounded the arm rest. The two things rose up as they shifted their attention to the humming electromagnets. They stumbled in their approach while the third poor soul squirmed as he bled out. There was no saving that poor man, let alone the gratitude of the poor man. I'm supposed to be a hero…

Hal slapped himself. He had to focus; he needed to get outside and get in contact with the station AI. He needed to get to the safety of outer space so he could get his bearings.

Knowing he had to do it, he moved the exo-suit forward at full speed. He shoved right through the three of them. The bleeding out guy probably would have turned into one of the freaks like the other two just did.

He heard muffled sounds as more entered the warehouse. Hal turned to find more weird-looking savages. There were a lot of them. Hal doubted their bare hands would be able to do any damage to the exosuit, but he didn’t want to risk it. Hal directed the exo-suit to the airlock. He had to get out of here.

Once inside the air lock, Hal realised that he couldn’t actually activate the doors on his own, unless he was outside of the suit. As the savages started pouring in, Hal pulled the controls to the side, causing the loader to spin on the spot. The loader arms clipped at the things, but the sheer number of them caused the loader to stall. He was about to be swarmed after losing momentum when the doors automatically shut, and the air lock depressurized when the outer doors opened. The AI apparently automatically did this sort of thing.

As the outside sound faded and the freaks were launched out into space, Hal finally could hear nothing but himself… and he realised he was still hyperventilating. Normally, this amount of hyperventilation would cause him to pass out, but his synthetic lungs were strong.

“Come on, Hal,” he told himself encouragingly as he directed the exo-suit out of the airlock and onto the flat surface of the exterior, “I’m safe now… I’m safe now…” He repeated this to himself until the air lock door closed far behind him. By that time, he finally calmed down.

         

Devics~Salty Seas

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Emilie awoke from her slumber at, as routine, drowsily looked towards her clock. 1345! The realization of how late it was immediately snapped the girl out of her sleepy state. She rarely slept in.

"Not to mention I'm late for cram sch--" A feeling of relief and embarrassment washed over Emilie. There was no school today. The reason why she didn't hear the alarm was because there was no alarm she had set. Regardless, she still wanted to do the same things she did on a school day, in terms of getting ready. She showered and slipped on one of her favorite outfits she had received from her parents recently. A blue dress sweater and bike shorts with her favorite black slippers.

Think of mom and dad, where are they? The apartment was quiet. Normally, there would be either the sound of her parents talking or at least the television going on. As Emilie walked into the living room she saw a paper lying on the coffee table. The girl picked up the letter and started to read.

"We are sorry we had to leave on such short notice. We got a last minute job on another level of the Aibell. We shouldn't be gone too long so we went on ahead and left you alone. There's plenty of food in the fridge if you need it. We'll call you to keep you updated like usual. Love, Mom & Dad."

Emilie smiled. She had the apartment to herself! It wasn't that big of a deal but she could watch the big television and even play her video games on it. It was something she could only do when her parents were away and it was something she enjoyed. Emilie skipped to the fridge to get breakfast and eat while watching a show.

A loud bang on her apartment door made the child jump. She stood where she was frozen and listening for anything else. After a few seconds of no new activity Emilie began to move towards the door. As she started walking towards the door she thought she heard yells from the apartment next door.

Emilie's heart started to speed up a little. Her mind jumping to all sorts of bad scenarios. She looked through the peep hole in the door and saw nothing. Then she pressed her ear against the door and, once again, heard nothing. Emilie then pressed a button next to the door and it slid open. The girl poked her head out and quickly looked down both ways of the corridor. There seemed to be some doors open as well, which was unusual.

She then remembered her neighbors yells and looked towards their door. It was open as well. Emilie stepped out of her apartment and peaked inside the neighbor's.

"Hello? I heard yelling, is everything all right?" No answer. She stepped inside. Maybe they were hurt and couldn't move. There was a knocked over stand in the hallway leading to the bedrooms but other than that everything else seemed to be in place. Then there was a sound from the far room. It was the master bedroom since the apartment layout was the same as her own.

"I'm from next door. I didn't mean to intrude. I saw your door was open and thought I heard yell--" There were quick approaching footsteps that silenced Emilie immediately. Soon a man stepped into view. The look on his face as well as his blood stained clothes made the girl shrink back. The man stepped forward and seized Emilie's wrist and she screamed. Her scream was quickly cut off by a hand over her mouth.

"Shhh!" The man said while he knelt down. "Do you want to draw anymore of these things here? I'm not gonna hurt you and I'm gonna take take my hand away from your mouth now but only if you promise not to scream. You got that?" Emilie slowly nodded her head. "Good." The man removed his hand from the girl's mouth but kept a grip on her wrist.

"There's something bad going on. Why are you not with your parents?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"T-they're away on business. Said they'd be back." The man nodded his head.

"Then they're lucky. They probably got out of this sector before hell broke loose. Look here..."

"Emilie."

"Look here, Emilie. There are bad people all over this sector. There was one that broke into here. If you turn on the television or broadcast stations on the radios then you'll hear that there's a problem going on. We need to find someplace safe and hunker down. At least until the defense force shows up." Fast approaching footsteps kept the man from saying anymore. He pulled out something that resembled a self-defense stun gun from his back pocket and aimed towards the open door. Then a figured appeared in the doorway. It looked human but at the same time it didn't. It looked like a man mutating. His skin was a deathly color and his hair was stringy.

The man fire his gun without hesitation. A sharp beam hit the creature and it tensed up before falling to the floor. The man immediately went to the nearby kitchen and quickly grabbed a knife.

"Turn around, Emilie!" The girl quickly spun around and then heard a sickening sound and then she could hear dragging. The man had pulled the creature, out of the way, into the kitchen. Emilie felt a hand on her shoulder and she let out a squeak. She was turned around to face the man again.

"We gotta get moving. This place isn't safe. The door is broken and probably won't hold if multiple of these things show up." The man made for the door and upon stepping out was tackled to the floor by another monster. Emilie rushed out the door to find the two people struggling on the floor. The first creature was immediately joined by two others that joined in. Emilie picked up the stun gun that the man held and aimed it at the creatures. The man's screamed and then was suddenly cut off as his body stopped moving.

A small sound escaped the girl's mouth and one of the creatures turned its attention towards Emilie. It's stare was crazed and blood thirsty. She rushed to the door of her apartment and slammed on the button next to it as she ran inside. Immediately after it closed the monster was banging on it trying to force itself in. Each bang made Emilie flinch. She then ran to her room and closed the door before diving under the bed. She was trapped. She could only think about what would happen once the monsters forced their way inside. The thought made her cry.

         

She held tightly to the bedroom door,
locked but budging. That— That monster, it already had her family.
Her baby brother and mother. Oh god, why did he do that to them?
Why was he going after her too?

She hid in her parents bedroom, which was the closest door available that could put her between the crazy man and herself. Closing and locking it, she stood as silent as the rest of the room, resting against the door. She almost thought to open it, until— Thump thump thump. Bloody fists hit the metal door with rage, over and over and over. The girl jumped away and went to hide under her parent's bed, a place that scared her not too long ago, but now seemed better than out in her home.

She held her breath better than her tears. Fear, standing so still against
the banging door was killing her-- she needed to fight or flight.

And then, it... it stopped? Was it gone? Was she safe?
But then she heard his voice.

".. Cecelia? Cecelia baby, are you in there?" Her father's voice pressed against the door nearly stopped her heart. Daddy was here, daddy was going to protect her. She clicked the lock and opened the door. Before she had any doubts that it was really him, before she knew that the monsters living in her nightmares were now crawling through her home,

the seven-year-old looked beyond the door, and did not see her father.

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Alana couldn't see straight. If it wasn't for the bright colors on the blonde's jacket, she might have been lost by now. Not to say that the people she was following were lost. How was one to navigate through darkened halls without the usefulness of a Station Positioning System? Or, maybe they did know where they were going. Maybe she was just too worried on not finding a doctor. Maybe she should focus more on walking more than judging their steps.

More screams in the distance. You always heard screams, no matter where you were on the station. She couldn't help but to wonder if this part was just as bad as the rest.

How long ago did she last call her lover? Two, three weeks? It was since before their last fight, she had heard his voice. They were both angry at each other over a problem that was neither of the two's fault. She wanted so badly to make him understand that—

"What the hell are you thinking?" Alana blinked and glanced ahead at the small group. How long had she been lost in thought? "Screw the security, we need to get the hell out of here!" A female ordered, glancing at the men, then to Alana. They must have been arguing over where to go from there on. "I— ...I-I need to... get to a doctor.." Alana tried to remind them, but couldn't quite get her voice to be loud enough for them. The three ahead were too busy bickering on about finding family members or sticking behind men in shields. One of them wanted to hit a shopping center and get what they could. The other guy nearly slapped that idea out of him, before—

"Watch out!" Alana attempted, but it was too late. The man on the left was tackled down to the ground and had his guts hanging out before the rest could even react. As they tried to get the cannibal of a man off of their friend, three more came the shadows and had them down too. It all happened in about five blinks.

There was no hope for them, Alana knew. She did her best to run the direction they were heading, and didn't think to look back once. Heavy breathing, dodging, breathing faster than her heart could beat. She tripped over herself twice and probably looked like a drunk doing so, but if she was surviving, it was working.

"I have to find.. I have to call Yori.."

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