Chapter 28: The World Is Not as Simple as It Seems
The hallways became endless as soon as the light began to devour the darkness. The corners, once buried in shadows, resisted fiercely, struggling to maintain that unsafe atmosphere, as if they wanted to remind everyone that they were still in hostile territory, full of possibilities… and dangers.
"This stinks…"John complained with a growl. His face contorted as he felt the brutal clash of nauseating odors creeping into his nostrils. He had sworn he was already getting used to it, but he was completely wrong.
The gag reflex caught him off guard, and he was about to throw up his last meal on the floor.
Richard, on the other hand, didn't even look at him. He ignored his companion's weak stomach and approached one of the switches. His senses ignited, and he began to move as if he were in a fully lit place.
It was a desperate tactic he had perfected in his previous life, a trick he had improved thanks to his heightened senses. His mind resonated with an echo, like that of bats and their echolocation system, forming an invisible map. Every movement, every vibration of the air sent back an echo in his head, describing the space around him with the clarity necessary to move as if he didn't need light at all.
Finally, the electricity prevailed, and all the darkness was eradicated. The lamp on the ceiling began to flicker for a few minutes before holding steady, illuminating their path toward one of the hallways it was connected to. If they wanted to go elsewhere, they would have to find the main panel to turn on all the lights, though it wouldn't be the best option since it could overload the backup generator.
Out of nowhere, Elias had disappeared. Nobody seemed fazed by his absence, as if it were something common, which only sparked more intrigue in Richard. He approached John, who was discreetly inhaling the scent from a bottle. Perfume? Maybe it was a trick to fool his nostrils and endure the stench of the place, although, honestly, it wouldn't help much.
"Aren't you going to follow Elias?"Damian turned his gaze toward him and let out a short laugh, dripping with sarcasm."Elias… don't worry about him. That guy can take care of himself. I'd worry more about us when he goes into frenzy and can't tell friends from enemies."
He shook his head, almost amused by his own warning."Last time, John managed to stop him, but now it's different. He's grown… he's become stronger. We won't know if anyone could hold him back this time. It would be best if he stayed away from us for the rest of the mission."
Before Richard could reply, a sharp blow landed on Damian's head."Don't talk about Elias like that!" John growled. "He may be weird, yes… but he has more reasons than any of us to be in this place."
His tone was stern, but it hid something more. John lowered his voice a little, sympathizing with Elias's situation."After all, his little sister was here, doing her military service…"
He just hoped Elias wouldn't find his sister's body devoured, or he might break. He had told him that his sister had been the only family he'd ever had since they were abandoned in an orphanage. And ever since he discovered the location of the base, he hadn't stopped pressuring Noah. He harassed him, threatened him, pushed him in a thousand different ways to bring them here. The pressure was so intense that the old man ended up disguising the operation as a simple supply retrieval mission.
An obvious, clumsy lie… but necessary. Because if he showed favoritism toward some, the morale of the base could be affected. And, at the same time, there was something else behind Noah's choice. It wasn't only Elias's pressure… it was also fear of the rapid growth he was showing.
"But what are you talking about? I killed my parents with my own hands."Damian's eyes lost their characteristic gleam.
A tremor ran through his hands, brief but noticeable, until John placed a firm hand on his head to calm him down."Yes, but you must remember you did it to survive… I really doubt your parents are blaming you."Richard tried to console him. He opened his mouth several times, as if the words were trapped in his throat. Finally, he shook his head and said:"I think we should move on. Aren't we going after Elias?"
As soon as he said that, John focused all his attention on Richard."Damian already explained it to you. We won't go after him… We brought you because, in the worst case, three Awakened would be needed to stop Elias. We're not stupid, Richard. We know the chances of his sister still being alive are less than five percent… and that's being optimistic."
Richard fell silent.
* * * *
The dimly lit hallway narrowed until it ended in a set of metal stairs that descended to the lower level of the shelter. Richard's footsteps echoed first, followed closely by John and Damian.
"What are we going to do then?" Richard asked without turning back.The answer came right behind his neck, in John's deep voice."We'll go for the supplies. And along the way, we'll help Elias find clues about his sister."
Three pairs of boots descended heavily, filling the stairs with an irregular echo. When they reached the end, the door was ajar, barely held by a rusty hinge. It was probably Noah himself who had left it that way after checking the power generator.
Richard, being the first to arrive, pushed it without hesitation. A cloud of dust rose with a groan of rust, refusing to accept that this place had been used just a few weeks ago as a training field for recruits."Are we really in the right place? It's not that I doubt Noah's intelligence, but this doesn't look like a functioning base."He narrowed his eyes, examining his companions."What have you been hiding from me?"
The air grew heavy. Richard was about to act. If they didn't tell him the whole truth, he would force it out of them himself.John raised both hands in a gesture of surrender."We don't know either… I swear on my life."He shook his head frantically, just as confused as him. Maybe Noah never told them anything because he knew the site had been abandoned for a long time. Perhaps it was only used for training, but not as a real outpost.
That was when Damian broke the tension."Did you see that… there?"
They all turned at the same time. Where his trembling finger pointed, in the middle of the basement, stood a solitary gravestone.
Richard was the first to feel it. Instinct made him jump back, every hair on his body bristling like quills at the touch of a primitive fear."It's been a long time… since I felt this."
His heart began pounding against his chest like a war drum. A visceral terror, identical to what he had felt when facing the infected angel that had killed him in his past life, ran through him completely.Was that gravestone connected, somehow, with those creatures of the Apocalypse?
Before he could answer, the entire basement began to shake. The floor vibrated, the walls trembled as if they were paper, and the three young men could barely stay on their feet, staggering like drunkards."What the hell is happening here?!" John roared, trying to open the door again.
The atmosphere suddenly warped. The dark basement cracked like a broken mirror, splintering into unreal pieces. The vision of the three distorted, fluctuating between lights and shadows until only total darkness remained."Where is everyone?!"
Damian's voice rose in a scream of pure panic. It sounded broken, desperate, while his hands searched for something, anything, to hold onto. The survival instinct took over him, stripping away his facade of a young psychopath, revealing the scared child beneath."I'm here.""I'm here too."
Richard and John answered at the same time, relieved to hear that their voices were still nearby. That meant they hadn't moved from their place… a good sign in the midst of the chaos."What is happening here?"
Richard tried to discover, using echolocation, the place where they were. But everything had changed: he could no longer feel the door they had entered through, nor the shelves that had been in the basement.
That strange phenomenon was something new. He had never experienced anything like it anywhere he had gone. That gravestone was possibly the cause of what had happened; he tried to find it, but it was no longer there.
The phenomenon resembled the tomb they had found in Egypt. But shouldn't there be more of those things? Richard flatly refused to believe that the tomb that started it all was just one of many in the world.From beginning to end, the catastrophe had been caused by a tomb. Could he even think of living longer, knowing there was more than one entrance to hell?
As if fate wanted to mock Richard even more, the entire place began to shine with an incandescent light that restored their visibility. The basement disappeared and, in its place, appeared a furnished and perfectly clean house.
[First trial: Among the rubble appears a porcelain doll. Nobody touches it, but its chest rises and falls, as if inhaling air. Sometimes a childish sigh escapes from it.]