|
Transparent Darkness chpt 1
By Harding
Too long so finished in comments section.
-------------
Transparent Darkness
Book 1: ONE
Part 1:
The Journey
1- Anywhere But Here
Richard Arnold stood at the top of the small turret, gazing out across the horizon. He was on lookout this particular morning, and he took his job very seriously. After all, what was a "great battle plan" if no one knew the battle was coming.
Richard was tall and tanned, with dark brown eyes and black hair. His face was cold and stern, and he often showed little emotion. However, his job, though simple in idea, was very difficult in this world. The sandy desert was an easy place to spot incoming objects, but not with the world as it was now. The thick haze and dark clouds were the biggest problem, and the wind blowing sand everywhere only made it that much harder to see. These facts weren't overlooked by the "Commanding Officer" in this colony, Dan Finkelstein. They always had at least two heavily armed snipers stationed atop each turret as well.
The two men standing with Richard today were Jasper "Claw" Williams and sharpshooter(apparently, he was one before the disaster occurred) "Rex" A. Apter. J. Claw got his nickname from his extreme brutality. He was mild mannered most of the time, but could go into swift and cunning rages at times. Rex was a stuck up ass, plainly put. He gave himself the nickname Rex due to the 20th century's Elvis, being the king and all(And Rex thought he was the king of everything, so t worked well for him). Richard didn't have a nickname, and didn't want one. He thought the childish act was only some other ridiculous thing to keep people's minds off what the world had become.
Richard brought his poor binoculars up to his eyes again, but could still see nothing through the haze more than a few hundred yards out. "It's bad today," Jasper said.
"No worse than yesterday", Richard offered, then added: "Or the day before."
"Quit being a bunch of pussies, it's fine", Rex said quickly, with a touch of disgust in his voice. Richard glanced over to Claw- He rolled his eyes. Richard just nodded softly. He again raised the binoculars to his face, peering through.
The grainy sand swept across the desert floor in waves, touching the edges of the mountains like water. The tannish-red surface of the ground was constantly moving, and always changing. The dark clouds overhead suggested rain, but Richard knew better. It was all a charade, an act by the sky. The foggy haze distorted the landscape, almost making it beautiful under different circumstances.
Movement to the left caught his eye. He shifted the device quickly there, but saw nothing. "Shit", he said softly.
Jasper glanced up at him. "Got some?"
"Yes."
Rex, always the arrogant one, said, "Did you see them for sure? 'Cause if not, we don't want to panic people."
"You know were supposed to report if we see anything," Jasper said.
"Maybe he was right... just shadows," Richard said. Deep inside, he knew that was too much to ask for. He still held the binoculars, and panned the surface of the desert once again.
There. He saw them for sure. "Forty degrees left, about 80 yards out," He said sternly, without emotion.
"Copy," Claw said.
Rex asked, "You got them J.?"
Claw was shaking.
"'Least four. Curving East. They're definitely heading here. Claw, get them."
"Copy," He said while shaking.
"Don't tell me fucking copy! Pull the fucking trigger!" Richard Arnold yelled.
“Radio Finkelstein- He's having an attack. Get him outta here, " Rex said.
"Sounding it?"
"Yeah." Richard hit a button next to him on the turret. A loud siren screamed through the bunker. Several soldiers ran into the interior of the bunker. Richard could hear their shouting from outside. Streams of makeshift soldiers came running out, hurrying to get to their designated positions. Finkelstein hurried out, with his own laser rifles, joining some men at a nearby West post.
It was then Richard saw the Allosaurs burst through the fog like a vision of hell, charging in full speed straight for their post. He wanted to start firing, badly, but knew he had to save the energy rounds. And he had to wait for their "commander's" order. The dinosaurs came in closer and faster.
Still closer.
Closer.
No order to fire.
Closer. Then it came, which Richard had been steadfastly waiting for. "Fire at will!" Finkelstein yelled.
Blinding bursts of light erupted from the outskirts of the bunker, all wobbly aimed at the incoming Allosaurs. None of them fell. “Rex, what the hell is taking you so long?!” Richard yelled admist the bursts of laser fire.
“Don’t worry, I’m on it.”
“I worry.” Richard glanced back sharply at Claw. He was still shaking. Richard set down his pack and patted him on the shoulder. He looked into his eyes. They shook with the rest of his body. “Come on Claw. Come outta it. We need you. We all need you to help us.”
His shaking slowed to a stop. He glanced up at Richard. Jasper shook his head, as if unsure where he was; what had happened. “Thanks.” They both grabbed their guns- Jasper an A-4 laser rifle, and Richard his duel A-3 laser handguns. They rested smoothly across his hips in a leather holster Richard had made himself. Claw took aim and began to fire, but Richard knew better than to waste his energy pack.
One of the Allosaurs took a hit in the side, stumbled for a moment, then kept on coming. Claw stopped firering for a moment, looked cleanly through his sights, and pulled the trigger twice, quickly. One shot went wild, but the other hit the Allosaur in it’s left ankle. The beast crumpled to the ground, and before it could get back up, one of the other four dinosaurs began to feast on it’s fallen comrade. So much for loyalty, Richard thought. Two of the Allosaurs were heading straight for their turret. “Rex....”
Without answering, Rex still sat in his position motionless. They were maybe 25 yards away. In a single, loud burst of light, Rex’s gun recoiled back, hitting him in the shoulder. The beam of light hit the dinosaur to the left clean through it’s mouth, coming out the back of it’s skull. The other charged on. Richard’s hands fell to his hips. It was about 10 yards away, coming in fast.
If you were to blink, you would have missed it. Richard brought the duel guns up side by side, and began firering at a rate so fast it would be impossible to measure. The dinosaur’s face became an asteroid of bloody crators, and it dropped to the ground. It screeched a terrible cry of pain, which was cut short by blasts from another post. The turret beneath their feet began to wobble. “The hell....?” Rex said, confused.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit....” Richard said softly but quickly. In the small attack that was commencing, Richard forgot his real job. He twirled the handguns around back into their holsters and kicked up his binoculars, catching them in the air. He glanced through them quickly, but he didn’t have to pan the landscape. At least twenty more came charging through the dusty fog, eager to attack the poorly equipped bunker. Some were coming directly in, but there were small groups breaking off towards the sides. Richard had seen that happen once before, a few years ago, and the bunker was nearly destroyed. Another animal fell. Claw took aim at the last nearby dinosaur, hit it in the ankle, then in the eyes. The post to the left of them put it down for good, a few meters away from the bunker walls.
Now they just had to deal with the next 20 more charging in at them, the eyes of the beasts glowing as red as the sun.
. . . .
The Allosaur’s attack was horrific.
Before they had reached the bunker, three of them had been shot down, and if they weren’t already dead, their “friends” would make sure the animals wouldn’t get back up again. Although the first attack had been easy to repel, they came in a much more aggressive and organized manor this time.
Richards hands were a blur of motion, going left and right, and up and down, firering only when hitting a target was a certainty. He glanced to the left while reholstering his guns, then glanced to the right. Their turret was in the center, with two more on both sides. He saw the Allosaurs that had separated from the frontal attack begin to move in on the side posts. I’ll have to time this just right, Richard thought.
His hands guided him to the guns, flipping them up from the handmade holsters. He crossed them over his chest and firered rapidly four or five times. The light beams flew past the men on the turrets by inches, but hit the dinosaurs near their heads, buying time to the men on the end posts. Rex was no longer firering carefully aimed shots, but much more loosely; if he thought he saw something, he fired. Jasper was covering local threats with Richard. Helping the side men was a mistake on Richard’s part, because there was now three of the dinosaurs heading right for their turret, maybe 5 yards away. He threw Claw a glance, but found no help there. He turned in a fraction of a second and began firering madly at the creatures eyes, striking out 4 of the 6. But they didn’t have enough time. “Rex, come on!” Claw yelled.
Rex was oblivious. Jasper and Richard turned simotaneously, grabbing Rex by the shoulders at the same time. They jumped off the turret with Rex(accompanied by a prominent “What the shit - !?” from Rex) as the three Allosaurs crashed into it. Richard and Claw landed gracefully, but Rex being caught off guard landed on his shoulder. A crack of pain came from his lips as he hit the hard floor. “Get him inside now!” Richard yelled to Claw over the screams and blasts.
“Got it!” he said while lifting Rex over his shoulder and running towards the door. Two dinosaurs burst through the flimsy walls of the bunkers, stepping on a few men. Richard looked over to where Claw was running. A huge pile of debris would land on them if he kept running.
“Jasper! STOP!”
No avail. He couldn’t hear Richard. He flung up his guns and carefully placed a shot right at the back of Jasper’s knee. He saw him fall in pain, then saw the piece of wall fall feet from where would’ve been. Richard rushed to them, jumping over the foot of a standing Allosaur, and appeared at their side. He put them over both his shoulders and booked for the entrance to the lower portion of the bunker. He threw them inside as gently as possible, picked up Jasper’s rifle, and dashed back outside.
What he saw made his stiffened cold heart shiver. The turret farthest from him- along with the three men stationed atop - never had a chance. One Allosaur came charging in at them, and lifted it’s head about to strike from above. One of the men attempted to jump off- as Richard and Claw had -but another Allosaur crashed it’s head through the bottom of the turret and upward, catching the jumping man in it’s jaws, all the while tearing through the top of the turret. The other Allosaur brought it’s head down, catching one of the other men sideways in it’s mouth. It began shaking the now bloody body like a rag doll, until the man’s high pitched screams were abruptly cut off when his body was torn in half, and part of the corpse flew high in the air landing somewhere unseen. The third man fared rather lucky by comparison, for at least he had it nice and quick. He fell outside the bunker, landing straight on one of the defensive spikes. He died instantly.
Richard then turned to his present situation. He took the rifle and ran toward one of the breached dinosaurs, and fired up at it’s chin. The animal swept it’s head down as Richard rolled swiftly out of the way. He felt the animal go past him it was so close. He flipped up and fired through it’s jaw, presumably breaking it. The animal was then hit by a fragmentation grenade from somewhere else. “Shit!” Richard yelled as he ducked out of the way. Fragmentation grenades blew up sending thousands of tiny metal pieces everywhere. They were extremely deadly. Richard felt a pain in his hip, looked down and saw a bloody gash across his pants. He had fared lucky. The Allosaur, on the other hand, was a mess. It’s face was unrecognizable, bloody all over. Richard had lost the rifle in his dash to escape the grenade, so he turned to his trusty handguns. He fired them into the animals stomach, where it was not heavily armored. The dinosaur fell to the ground, raised it’s head a final time, let out an ear shattering roar, then fell limp to the metal surface.
Suddenly, part of the metal barricade closest to Richard exploded inward, knocking Richard to the floor. One of the reptilian beast came crashing in. Richard tried to roll out of the way, but found his leg pinned under some metal debris. The animal’s feet came closer and closer to Richard’s position. In a few seconds, if nothing changed, he would be dead- crushed by the Allosaur’s feet.
It was then Richard heard a sound so loud, it dulled out all the laser blasts, screams of pain and dinosaur roars. It was an unsteady ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, a sharp, quick burst of loud sound, rapidly repeating. He searched for the source of the sound, and saw Dan Finkelstein holding a sleek, black thing that sort of resembled a weapon. It rattled in his hands as he fired it. Richard searched his mind- bullets! Yes, that was it, a real gun, with bullets! No sooner did the firering begin than the Allosaur’s foot came rushing down at Richard. It’s foot suddenly became riddled with bullets seering over Richard’s face. The dinosaur’s limb was reduced to a stump in no time, covering Richard in it’s blood. Dan ran over to him shoved the debris off his leg.
“You all right?”
“Ask me in ten minutes,” Richard replied to Dan. He grabbed up a laser-launcer from a dead corpse - the most powerful weapon they had, next to the real gun- and turned to the giant hole in the bunker’s wall. An Allosaur swept it’s head across the floor, catching two men in it’s mouth. Richard took the launcher and fired at the dinosaur, and saw a hole appear in it’s right hip. A group of soldiers finished it off.
Richard took a quick glance around and counted six Allosaurs still standing. More loud bursts of sound, presumably from Finkelstein’s gun,and another Allosaur fell. Richard dropped the launcher, unholstered his pistols and rolled across the floor right past the swiping hand of an Allosaur and flipped up. As the dinosaur in front of him roared in triumph of it’s most recent kill, Richard rapidly pulled the trigger on the guns. He hit it in it’s head, and after several shots, the animal fell to the ground, shaking the floor as it landed. The remaining dinosaurs weren’t anywhere near Richard, and he saw that the animals were losing their battle.
He sank to his knees on the blood covered floor and looked around. Dozens of men’s corpses littered the floor, as well as a few dinosaurs. He could already begin to smell the stench of the dead bodies. It was a common smell these days. Every attack got worse, increasing in size and strategy. And they always decreased day by day.... in men and supplies. Evidently sensing defeat, the remaining three Allosaurs ran through the holes in the walls and back out into the desert.
Into a desert that spanned hundreds of miles.
A desert that was once California.
. . . .
Shortly after the attack on the refuge, Richard Arnold found himself walking down one of the many battered and stinking halls of the bunker, towards the Med Wing. He took a few more twists and turns down the thin walled hall, and then came to where the Med Bay should have been. A large barricade of broken steel and other debris had covered the entrance. Richard hadn’t been down this way in months, but he hadn’t heard anything about it either. Not like I should have, Richard thought.
A red stained door opened to his side, almost ramming into him. He felt the swell of heat increase just from the wind of the door. A woman walked out quickly and started down the hall. Richard called out to her, “Where’d the Med Bay go?”
She turned around while still walking backwards and said, “You just found it, “ pointing at the door.
“What happened to the wing?”
She stopped in her tracks, then turned slowly and started walking away. “Mutants,” the woman said softly, barely loud enough for Richard to hear her. He opened the stained door, thinking it was probably blood stained, and was taken back by the terrible smell of urine and decay. The room was tiny, only with three beds and a few large cabinants. Richard remembered rooms and rooms of cabinants when he first came here. He opened one of the doors to one, and found it empty, spare two or three small bottles.
Richard turned back to the three filled beds. Jasper Williams and Adrian Apter filled two of them. They were both asleep, so Richard turned to leave. Jasper lifted his head. “Some stunt that was...” he moaned softly to Richard.
“It saved you.....and Rex...” Richard trailed off.
Jasper “Claw” Williams sat up out of the bed, looking hard at Richard. His eyes were sad and angry, like Richard had let him down. “You should have let me die,” he said slowly.
As Richard turned to leave, he wished it was him who would have gotten crushed, and that no one would have been there to stop it.
. . . .
The year was 2034. It had been about ten years since the disaster had happened. Ever since then, there had been a scramble for power, for weapons, for survival. But most of that was gone now, ten years later. When there was still many people left, many cities and factories left, a laser light firearms system had been developed. It was cheaper, lighter and didn’t require ammo, just a charger. A perfect solution to all the monsters and dinosaurs that now overran the Earth. The weapons channeled light energy into short, percussive bursts so strong they could be effective as weapons. The system was created of an A 1-6 firering power, 1 being the lowest and 6 the highest.
But many other things than just weaponry had changed. The world itself had changed. When the disaster occurred, cities were destroyed, some just went missing. Dinosaurs roamed remaining streets....
But that was the best of it. Before the mutants started showing up... killing entire colonies from the inside. The climate as different too. It could be snowing in a field one minute, then walking over a thin line to a desert. It was patchwork. Clockwork even. But the clocks were broken. Over the next ten years, humans dwindled to a number so low, they should have put themselves on their own endangered species list.
Few human outposts remained, like the one where Richard resides. The outpost is a little less than a square mile large. When the bunker was first constructed, it was overcrowded and highly populated. Now, you could walk down ten yard hallways and not hear a sound in rooms that you passed. Fewer and fewer winded men, women and children living in a shitty bunker put together by building scraps.
The only way people survived here was by a dwindle of hope. Back when there was still lots of people, lots of wanderers, a group of people ventured in telling of a human stronghold. They said that a man had a brilliant idea that “yelled at the creatures, and told them to fuck off.” A man. One. Members of the bunker had heard legends of this One, and the city he had built, for years. Many people in the bunker hoped that some day, One would come for them and take them to the city. The stronghold and preservation of human life. It was said to be in China, near the Great Wall. The city was appropriately referred to as Oz, a knock at the 20th century’s film, “The Wizard of Oz”. The people in this bunker lived on hope. The hope of One.
Richard did not fool himself with false hope. When he thought about it, which was not much at all, he wondered if the man known as One did exist. And even if he did, Richard highly doubted a rescue party would scour the Earth searching for pockets of life.
Even less than Richard thought of One he thought of the disaster. Sometimes it bothered him, and he asked people about it. Lots of times, they didn’t answer. When they did, it was a short answer always involving nuclear war. It didn’t explain to him how the dinosaurs and other creatures of the past had gotten here.
The fact was that the early years of Richard Arnold’s life before the disaster were as nonexistent in his mind as the the probability that One would ever save them.
Richard Arnold, now 35, only remembed waking up in a ruined city street surrounded by desert and being pulled to safety shortly after it happened.
With no memory of his former life, Richard considered the countless people who died during the disaster to be the lucky ones.
. . . .
As he was trudging down the hall, Richard was looking at his feet. The once brown boots he wore were now stained all different shades of red. He walked past a room with no door and saw a group of people sitting in a circle, holding hands. The one man towards the back of the room mumbled a prayer. “And One shall come for us, and thy day it happens we will feel great happiness. There has been much pain, but he has seen our pain, and he shall come to help us... To Oz we will walk on the path of the...” Richard walked furthar down the hall until he could no longer here the voice. He came to a rusty metal door and typed into the keypad the three numbers without looking: 636. The door to his small quarters opened with a loud creak, and he walked inside.
The room was small, barely three and a half meters long, and just about one and half wide. Unlike most of the rooms in the bunker, Richard’s was surprisingly empty. It had a small, ripped up cot at the far end of the room, and a beat-up nightstand in the center, with a cracked mirror above it. There were two drawers in the nightstand, and Richard pulled open the bottom one carefully. He unhooked his holster with the guns inside and layed it down in the drawer next to a few other weapons. The thing most out of place in the drawer was a shiney metal briefcase.
Richard brushed aside the other weapons, and brought out the case. And it actually was shiney. He could see his own battered reflection in the precious metal very clearly. It was the only thing he had left. The only thing that was found with him when he awoke. But he had never opened it, because it was tightly sealed.
He would’ve shot through it, but he feared that it may damage the contents. And he did not want to damage it. It looked so different... so not him. On the front, there was one engraved thing:
ARNOLD, RICHARD.
His name. That’s how he had known his name. They found it in his hands, his fist clenched around it in a death grip. What was in it, he didn’t know. There were no locks or keypads to open it, and as far as Richard could tell, no openings. The briefcase seemed to be sealed completely. Some day, it would open. It’s contents which Richard felt were ever so important, would come out.
What Richard didn’t know was that it would be some day soon.
. . . .
Walking down another thin, battered corridor, Richard found himself going towards “The Bar”. Many of the people often went to it to talk, however no food or drinks were served there. There was an old pool table with only 3 balls, and a record machine that didn’t work. One light hung towards the center of the room, illuminating it slightly.
Richard was looking for Jasper. He often hung around there so it was the first place checked. However, Jasper was no where in the room. Since it was only a week after he had been wounded, Richard decided to go check the medical room. On his way out, he heard someone call his name. Richard turned on a heel and saw “Rex” Adrian Aptor sitting in a seat. “What are you doing here Richard? You never come down here.”
“I’d answer, but I’m willing to bet you either wouldn’t hear me or wouldn’t care.”
“Quite a safe assumption.” He looked at Richard with prying eyes.
“I was looking for Jasper.”
“I thought I saw him going towards medical for a checkup. You might find him there.” Richard nodded thanks to him and turned to leave. Rex glared after him, not taking his eyes off the door long after Richard had left.
. . . .
Pounding. A hard pounding.
Richard slowly lifted his head off the dirty cot to the sound of a hard, loud pounding. Someone was at his door. It had been a few more days since the attack on the base, and spare going to the bathroom twice and getting one meal supply(and his little search around the bunker for Claw, which resulted in nothing), Richard hadn’t left his room. The days just seem to drift from one into another, and often one month could seem like one week. Richard sat up on the cot, and brushed his fingers through his hair. He then drowsily stood up and, hesitantly, and walked towards the door. In a few seconds, he got there, and waited for the next pounding. It came, as always, but this time it’s source got an unexpected surprise.
At the exact moment the first pound came, Richard flew the door open, smacking it hard against the person’s face. “Sunnova-” The man stopped. Richard recognized him, but didn’t know his name.
“Sorry,” he said coldly. The man glared at him.
“Your wanted in the commander’s office....now.”
Richard laughed right in the man’s face. Finkelstein's “office” was a bigger shit hole than his room. There was crap everywhere, and it stunk like Triceratops feces. Grinning, Richard said, “Right away, sir.” While he walked out his door, tightly shutting it, he made sure to knock the man forcefully in the shoulder.
Richard walked into Dan’s office, and saw Finkelstein sitting his chair, turned the other way. Richard was about to say something, but Finkelstein spinned around in the chair before he had the chance.
He had a serious, but saddened look on his face. “Jasper Claw Williams is dead,” He said sternly, but at the same time very soft. “And I have witnesses that saw you kill him.”
. . . .
Richard Arnold sat in the chair for a moment, stunned. “This- this is unbeleiv-” he started, but was cut off by Dan.
“It’s a terrible thing- what happened to the world. You’d think after a war like that, we’d all learned our lessons. How could you do such a thing? You had no right- nor reason - to kill this man.”
“I killed no one.”
“Two people saw you, Richard. Two! Now I know how a lot of you soldiers feel...a lot of you would rather be dead than here. I understand that maybe, you trying to be a friend to him, honored his wishes-”
“What witnesses?” At that Dan just stared blankly at Richard. Richard looked around the room and noticed an odd green glowing box. He was about to ask about it, but Dan continued talking.
“You have to understand, Richard, that something like this can’t be unpunished. I’ll be right back... I have to check on something. And don’t try to run. Guards are outside.” Dan walked out of the room.
It was then Richard heard the swoosh of air, and then a hard clunk. Shearing pain ripped throughout the back of his skull. It was then he saw a blurry face. The room was swirling all different colors around Richard.
He saw yellow and blue and red and green and purple and then finally......
Black.
10/31/2002 5:31:09 PM
Comment on this fan fiction!
|
|
|
