This world reeks. I’ve been here for three months and in that time I noticed that everyone here is pretty much a zombie. Not the average everyday eat your face zombie, more like they just shuffle about and don’t really pay attention to their surroundings or each other. They’re brainless, not undead like people think zombies should be. Turns out they’re being controlled on top of that, I just don’t know how yet.
I came here from another world, another dimension if you would, called Sarlian. Where we all have free will and were prospering from it. We were studying other ways of travel and teleportation. I volunteered for an experiment and that’s how I ended up here, in this forsaken world called Irias. The technology is the same but they aren’t doing any experiments here, they aren’t even growing. Even the kids aren’t playing; it’s as if the entire world stopped moving. I have to find the root of this disaster….somehow…. I’ve been looking through libraries and different books and science magazines in the old ruins around the city. They all point to an experiment being done several years ago. Heck between now and then it looks like there wasn’t anything else printed. So I’m going on outdated material. But the ones that I have read all point to the same experiment. Sadly they don’t say what The Experiment was supposed to do or where it was held, Or even if it was related to what was happening now. But I need to find out, it’s the only way I can get the world moving again.
I don’t have near the scientific knowledge to recreate the experiment that brought me here, much less understand how they did it. I honestly took part in it because I thought it was a cool idea to be one of the first people to be teleported, my name might not go down in history but I’d always have that knowledge you know? But I figure if I can get someone to recreate that experiment I can get home… only problem is the Zombie people. Why must this be so hard?
I really want to go home to Sarlian, back where everyone is. But that isn’t an option, not while this world is decaying as it is. There’s a tower in the middle of the city that everyone seems to avoid. I’m going to check there next. I’ll report my findings here when I do. If for some reason I don’t make it back, I hope someone finds this diary and picks up where I left off. Save your world, do something different. Open your mind and think, start growing, start experimenting, start living! If you can do that, then already you are different than the others.
Kiranim Silvanae
I sighed and closed my diary and placed it in my bag, placing it on my shoulder. While I did write that note, I didn’t intend for anyone to find it yet. I had to have my diary with me just in case. Walking over to the window and pulling up my hood I stared out over the city of decay towards the tower. The tower was impressive standing over 200 stories tall, the top of it loomed high in the sky glowing green as a symbol. A symbol that stated you are owned. The answers I’m looking for have to be in that tower….. they have to be.
I made sure all my stuff was packed into my pack and securely fastened on my shoulder. Leaving the room as I found it, I made my way towards the roof. After selecting my path I started jumping from building to building across the city towards the tower.
As I got closer to the tower, I noticed a patrol of drones flying around. They’d surely see me if I kept going so I dropped down to street level, kicking my feet off the walls as I did so to slow my descent. I never learned how to fight back on Sarlian, I never had to. Instead in my youth in the city I learned Free Running.
There was usually a group that gathered someplace in the city and they sent out messages to those that found them, was a sort of elite group that only allowed specific people in. Free Running wasn’t very popular in the city. In fact it was frowned upon as a dangerous activity that should be banned. The city council never did anything however. They’d discuss it and every time it ended on the same note, they could never agree. So it continued.
I found one of those groups by accidents and I guess I impressed them because I found out about them by pure accident, by stumbling upon one of their meeting places by falling in through the roof. I wasn’t spying on them I swear, the patch of roof I landed on just happened to have nothing supporting anything more than its own weight. So the second my food hit it, I went in.
Now I’m only 11 years old at the time, so you can imagine the looks on their faces when a little girl not only falls through the roof, but also manages to have a major panic attack and like a cornered animal does everything she can to try and get away. The leader Jeril, I never learned his last name so don’t ask, starts laughing. Apparently he found the whole thing amusing because even grown adults had a hard time finding them and here a little girl finds them by accident apologizes and starts to try and climb away.
From there Jeril just took me under his wing, and had the other group members teach me how to really free run. When I finally got it down, I felt like I was flying. I really wish Jeril were here now though, he’d think of a plan.
Shaking my head I turned my attention back to slipping by the drone’s surveillance. Unfortunately there was no way I could. Why did there have to be so many? I started to retreat when two drones started down the alley I was in from different directions. I tried to look for a way out but there was none, not even a door to break into or a garbage bin to hide in. Then they saw me, it took a second or two for the drones to recognize that something was out of place, but when they did alarms started blaring from the tower.
I broke into a run, staying on the street. I didn’t want to give them any idea of exactly what I could do, which admittedly wasn’t much in the first place. Heading away from the tower I noticed the zombie people, turning towards the tower and started shuffling towards me, as if to impede my path as much as possible.
Deciding not to test fate, I turned and hurled myself through a store window. Landing on the inside I rolled to my feet and ran through it to the back, looking for an exit. Instead I found myself in a utility closet with a sewer drain. It looked just large enough for me to slip into, so really what choice did I have? I closed the door to the closet and locked it, proceeding to pull off the drain cover.
Then I started to hear banging on the door, along with the sound of a saw. I really don’t have much time! Springing the cover free I hear the door cut down and fall in the closet. Looking over I see drones and the zombie people making their way toward me. Without waiting, I slide into the drain pulling the cover over the drain with me so they can’t follow easily. Hitting the sewer I broke into a sprint in a random direction, being careful not to slip. I had to work my way to the outer ruins of the city. It’s the only way I will survive this.
A few hours later I took a chance and moved out of the sewers through a broken grate on the edge of the city. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting by trying to break into such an ominous looking tower, I mean really you’d have to put ‘does secret things here’ on a sign above it to make it any more obvious. Combing through the ruins, I looked for a place to sit down and relax. I was tired of Free Running for a while. The zombie people really didn’t make it any easier to get away either. Heck my note prediction almost came true.
Finding a partially collapsed house I walked inside, pulling down my hood as I did so, and looked around. Everything was pretty much destroyed only thing left that was actually usable was a couch and a few chairs. Pulling off my pack and setting it next to the couch I laid down. I’ll have to find some food after a brief nap.
Waking up about an hour later I sat up and stretched. What happened next however is something I’ll never forget, I stood up from the couch and grabbed my bag. There was movement behind me, I turned around only to see a foot slam into my face sending me reeling backwards over the couch. I never even got a look at my assailant. Before I knew it I was picked up and thrown against a wall. Then they started to pummel me in the face. I tried to protect my face, but again, I don’t even know how to fight. What was I going to do? Finally I sat there dazed, fighting to stay just on the edge of consciousness as they grabbed my bag and started to riffle through it. Throwing the necessities I had gained on the ground. Finding nothing they were looking for they threw the bag on the ground and walked back over to me and started to pat me down. Then they noticed I was still awake.
“Seems you’re more resilient than I gave you lot credit for…” the voice said. How? How did they retain their mind?
“Hold on….you’re different…You’re not like the others….who are you? ANSWER ME!” they screamed before bringing their foot down on my stomach hard. I screamed in pain but was otherwise unable to answer. Really, I’m not like the others? What was their first clue, the fact I had a bag and a diary? “Fine, I’ll get my answers…. Sparrow this is hawk, I…“ At that point everything became hazy and I blacked out.
*****Authors Note*****
So This is the first chapter, and kind of an opening to the world, to really give an idea of what's happening over a wider area. I also wanted to explain why when the other humans of the planet are still in one piece, does Kiranim retain her mind upon arriving. That will be explained in future chapters. I also reworked the intro a little bit to help make it flow better.
Further more, I want to thank you for your feedback, if you have any comments on how I should handle it, I will certainly take that into consideration, and I do appreciate it. and finally, I thank you for your patience as I work to mold this world with my mind. ^^
The Decaying World
Chapter 2: Hawk and Sparrow
Name: Unknown….
Species:Human
Gender: Female
Hair Color: Brown.
Eye Color: Green
Height: 5’1”
Weight: 98 lbs
Age: aprox. 22
Background: Unknown….
Family: Unknown….
DNA analysis complete. Awaiting command.
Hawk grunted as he slammed the computer console. He had spent atleast an hour in front of the med-bay computer trying to find something out about this mysterious girl. Here she was, the one who managed to avoid the Wave, and he didn’t know how. Originally he figured it was a minion of the tower but nothing about her said she was. “Another mystery I’ll have to solve… maybe her book holds some clues?” He put it in the lock up hours ago. Sparrow promised she’d take a look at it, but she had other things to take care of. So he wasn’t surprised it hadn’t been done yet. He locked down the computer and stepped away from it.
After checking on the girl in the cage, who had been unconscious due to a combination of drugs and rough treatment, he stepped out of the room. As he walked down the corridor to the Labs, he wondered if there was one girl who avoided the wave, were there others?
Hawk didn’t have time to dwell out as he walked into the Labs. Stepping inside he put in his personal id code to unlock the door.
“Oi! Sparrow!” He called out stepping in.
“Oh good, you’re here Hawk, Did you get any information from her in medbay?” A girl responded, looking over. Her long black hair was tied into a low ponytail, going over her well worn labcoat, as she typed away at her lab computer. On it flashed many different designs of things she had been working on.
“Unfortunately the Med-bay computers had no ability to Identify her, or even where she came from.”
“What do you mean? Everyone is in the database, Maybe the computer just had an error.” Sparrow surmised, looking back at him quizzically.
“Not her. She doesn’t exist apparently.” Hawk answered, walking over to the lab computer and pulling up the information from the database. The girl in the cage appeared on a picture in there as well as several bits of information. But the information was still well incomplete.
“Well then we’ll have to look through her things. I’ll do that in a bit. Too much to do so little time.” She sighed leaning back in her chair. “Oh by the way, The scanners picked up another event. Just like the last one.”
“Where at?” Hawk questioned turning towards the map.
“32 by 58, looks to be some sort of farmland.”
“All the way out there? Why?”
“Well that’s what you need to go figure out isn’t it?”
“I’ll get right on it then. By the way, while I’m out check through the girl’s things.” The last leader ordered turning towards the door.
“You don’t need my help?” the raven haired girl asked
“I do, and you can do that by doing what I told you to do hours ago.”
“I’ve been busy with your suit!”
“And I thank you for that, but that could have waited as well. I don’t have to spend all day in the suit, my skills are good enough to keep me-“
“STOP!” she suddenly screamed, anger written on her face. Her demeanor suddenly serious compared to the laidback behavior she was just exhibiting.
“You still holding on to that? Look Lillian, He’s gone! The brainwashed masses took care of that! He’s now one of them.”
“That doesn’t mean you can go out and do the same thing as him!! He said the same thing to me and he got swarmed! You’re not going without your suit! Ever! End of discussion!....” she screamed then quietly mumbling while looking away, “I can’t lose you too… Not like that.”
“Ok ok, I won’t ever go without my suit on any mission. Ok? You’re not gonna lose me.” Looking back at the map, Hawk studied it. “You know, Alpha and Beta are out that way, I could stop by and do a little investigating, see how they are faring, or if they fell like Omega and Zeta did.”
“Ah that’s right! I forgot about them! It’s been a while since we’ve been able to contact them!” Sparrow said, back to her usual carefree attitude. Hawk knew that it was all an act, something Sparrow put it to cover up the pain of losing her friends and family, hoping one day she’ll get them back. He didn’t blame her for it though, if it kept her going for another day he didn’t mind.
“I’ll get right on it, I’ll see you in a bit Sparrow.”
With that Hawk left the room, leaving Sparrow by herself. After a few moments of sitting, trying to keep herself together she got up and left the room heading for the lockup.
*********
I don’t know when I woke up, all I knew, was I was sitting in a cage in some kinda lab. The room around me looked like it was held together. For a moment I was confused at how I got there, then I remembered the man who attacked me. Guess I was a prisoner now. I had to find a way out.
Looking around I spotted the lock to the cage, I didn’t have very good lockpicking skills, or any at all so that was out of the question. There was no key nearby either. Ooooof course not. Kicking it didn’t get me anywhere either, either than to help me vent frustration. And screaming for help, as stupid as it was, got me no results. Why do these things always have to be so hard? Sighing I sat at the back of the cage and just stared at a wall.
“Interesting, so you have given up?” A voice said, coming out of seemingly nowhere. Either I’m going crazy, or someone is in this room with me. And I really hope I’m not going crazy. I’ve only been conscious for an hour!....I think…There’s no sky or clock to judge. I looked around outside the cage but found no one. Yup, going crazy. Dang it, I thought I had until I was an old lady until that happened. “Little miss, can you hear me?” The voice called again.
“He-hello?” I hesitantly called out, unsure if what I was hearing was true or not.
“Ah good, I was beginning to think one of my circuits fried.”
“Tell me about it…wait, Circuits? Who are you?”
“My creator has dubbed me the Virtual Assistant Logistic. Or V.A.L. for short, however my users just call me computer. And to answer your question, yes, circuits as I am an AI.”
“Ok, that answers some things. Since we’re going to be playing ask and answer, you ask a question now.” I responded trying not to pass any boundaries with my new company. If I’m going to be stuck in a cell I’d rather have someone or something to talk to, plus I might get some more answers.
“Very well I refer to my first question, have you given up on trying to break out?” She asked me. So she was watching me the entire time I’ve been awake, should have expected that. Then again I don’t really know what’s going on so I’m rolling with it.
“Ah, yeah. There’s no point, No key for the lock, the bars are solid, no lockpicking skills what so ever to speak of. In Otherwords, I am captured, and am forced to do your user’s bidding.”
“Seems like a conundrum doesn’t it?”
“Yeah…..Hey, that was two questions!” I realized pointing a finger in a random direction of the voice.
“So it was.”
“My next question is why I am in this cage?”
“You were captured by the one known as Hawk when he found you in the outer ruins in the city. In my opinion force was not needed, but he is being very protective of what he has.”
“Ok and where am I?”
“That is classified.” Val stated simply. “until we know you further we cannot trust you with the knowledge. What is your name?”
“Kiranim Silvanae, which you would have found in my diary. I assume you still have it?”
“Affirmative. You give us permission to read this diary?”
“Not like I have much of a choice, If it gets me out of here then I’m all for it. And can you tell Hawk not to beat me up anymore? I am not a fighter.”
“Ah, That is good to hear.”
“Final question, since I’m not going anywhere, can you stay and chat instead of hiding like you did before?”
“Depends on what my users decide, but for the time being, I can.”
Not wanting to get lonely I talked with val for hours, forgetting I was in a cage at the mercy of whatever was holding me here.
***************
Note from Author: SOrry this took me so long, i've been dealing with alot of stress as of late, as in my recent Blog on here showed, And I didn't know where I wanted to take this, so I let my mind take it for me. Sorry it has a lot of talking scenes in it, But it's litterally the first time I had talking characters in the same room. VAL is also something I've been wanting to use for a while. But never got a chance to do so.
Sparrow sat at a table in the cafeteria reading the girl’s diary. She was quite the information gatherer. If the diary was anything to be believed, Kiranim grew up in another world. Homeless but still finding a purpose in life. This thing call Free Running. Which, up till now, kept her safe and out of trouble. This Jeril seemed to have a positive effect on her. The more she read, the more engrossed in the girl she became. Until the point she didn’t notice Hawk behind her.
“You’re really into that diary.” Hawk announced his presence, causing sparrow to jump. “Sorry.”
“Don’t do that!” She was trying to catch her breath as she looked at him.
“I said sorry. Anyways, Find anything useful?”
“Yeah, It appears she’s not even from this world, which explains how she avoided the wave, and even now not under its effects. Sarlian is the name of her world she’s trying desperately to get back to. Even though she’s homeless she found her purpose.”
“I see. Does she have a name? and how did she end up here?”
“According to this Diary, Kiranim Silvanae. And as to how she got here, There was an experiment on her world that she volunteered to test.”
“A kid volunteering to test an experiment?” Hawk asked, not believing it.
“Yeah I know, But Val believes it and is integrating the information into her databanks as well. Those two are really getting along.” Hawk smirked turning back to the diary.
“Yeah I still find that a bit odd, that she sees Val as a friend instead of a computer.” Hawk rubbed the back of his head questioningly.
“Even though I am nothing but 1s and 0s does not mean I don’t have feelings Agent Hawk. How did your mission go?” Val piped in knowing Sparrow forgot about the mission.
“Ah, nothing to report. The readings are there, but it’s like nothings there. THeres debris around but if something was there it’s not there any longer.”
“Like teleportation?” Sparrow asked looking up.
“Seems to be. If that’s the case…”
“Then there are holes being torn in the fabric of reality. Bringing things in. I detect nothing missing otherwise.” Val continued.
“But if something’s coming through…..This girl…..Kiranim, their world was experimenting with teleportation. If that’s the case Maybe this Jeril came through looking for her. The way she writes about him, he was like a father figure to her.” Sparrow put the diary down and stood up looking at hawk. “And if he did, then we have to find him before anyone else does.”
“Why?” Hawk asked, seeming indignant.
“Because if someone’s coming through from another world. Then they’re being lead into a trap in this world. Into the pain and suffering that takes place. You’ve seen what the Wave does. It not only controls people, it turns their brain to mush so only their lower faculties are running. They become puppets! Pawns in a greater game!”
“and if the tower finds out and sends their minions to that world….” Hawk thought getting his mind on track.
“Then that entire world becomes like this one. And the Tower gains control of not two worlds, but an infinite number of worlds.” Val finished.
“If that’s true….then who ever came through if it was a person needs to be found. And warned.” Came a 4th voice. Sparrow and hawk turned towards it to find the girl, standing there outside of the cage. How did she get out? She was locked safely in it.
I looked at the two people infront of me. According to Val they were her….users….I don’t like that word. I prefer friends? Coworkers? Do AI have coworkers? Val is too much like a person to be an AI….so then what is she?
“But um If something came through and Val can track the Events….couldn’t she track a person’s signature that come through?” I offered.
“She’s right.” The one I believe to be sparrow offered as she looked at Hawk. “I mean that’s how we tracked her down. What we thought to be anomaly turned out to be her.”
“Yeah but how did she get out of the cage.” Hawk asked growling at me and moving to grab me. I shrank back when val chimed in.
“I let her out. I saw no reason to leave her in there any longer, as you only told me to keep her in there until we got the information on who she was.”
“Technicality!” Hawk looked up at the ceiling. Sparrow laughed.
“She’s got you there. Anyways, Kiranim is it? I assume you know how we are, considering you just spent 3 days chatting with Val in med bay.” Sparrow asked smiling at me. I nodded numbly. “Good then introductions are not needed. Val, can you do as she suggested and scan for any biological signatures that may have appeared there?”
Val didn’t respond which I took to mean she went off to do her ordered task. Sparrow offered me some food which I gladly took. Hawk wandered offsomewhere, I assume to do some work but it’s equally likely to be some sulking. He seemed to be the type who likes to be in charge, from what I saw. But I don’t have much experience in that regard. And I didn’t dwell on it too much. My top worry right now was what was going to happen to me. And if someone did come through from the otherside, was it Jeril? I have so many questions and no answers.
Elsewhere, the lone being hunkered down in a cave away from the cold. He had just narrowly avoided being caught by these strange people. They didn’t really appear to be capable of thought to him. So just as quickly as he found his way into the city, he found himself outside of it. Deciding to check it out tomorrow when it was daylight. His Free Running ability should give him the chance to avoid trouble for the most part. But would he find what he's looking for? Only time would tell.
Authors note:
Sorry for the length of the story, it's been a trying month. But we got progress! and a new person enters the field! Comments are as always appreciated, and This time, I wanna take your predictions on where the story is going. Thanks!