The moonlight ruptured through the ashy clouds illuminating a desecrated, mountain landscape absent of life; not even a cockroach would settle here. What was once a luscious forest now violently transformed into a footprint of mankind''s omnicidal deeds. Life would return to the area in the form of two scavengers looking to comb through what remained of a forgotten past. The two walked through the muddy landscape assisted by only the moon to guide their path. The two hiked up the elevated landscape breathing heavily through the ventilator of their gas masks. The scavengers wore lead shielding vests, similar to what one would find at any dentist office, draped over their body with a large backpack hanging from their shoulders. As they continued up the elevated hill the Geiger counter attached to one of the scavenger’s belts grew in volume making clicking noises; the noise echoed through the hills only getting louder with each step.
One of the men stopped walking to glance down at his Geiger counter, “we are almost there,” he said in a smooth timber voice. He was tall standing at approximately 195 cm with his boots on. The other scavenger nodded in agreement, he was shorter standing at 167 cm. The mountain they walked had multiple trails that winded and flayed like the tentacles of a dead kraken stranded on a beach.
“This mountain would have been a beautiful hike before...well...you know,” said the shorter scavenger in a nasally tone. The taller scavenger stopped to look around as nostalgia painted over his vision. The peaceful sounds of the forest deafened his ears, the wind whistling through the trees, the music of the birds, and the dampened strut of the deer. The blue sky shepherded the white fluffy clouds. The tall scavenger was yanked from his daydream by the yells of his companion.
“Hey, over here!” yelled the short scavenger. The tall scavenger stepped over the peak of the elevated trail to reveal a flat plain guarded by a chain link fence with rusted signs that read “Restricted, Government Facility, All Trespassers will be Shot.” The short scavenger slowly reached for the fence, but hesitated before firmly grasping it. “Looks like it''s no longer electrified,” he said confidently. The tall scavenger lowered his shoulder to remove his backpack and threw it over the fence. He positioned his feet in the rings of the fence and once he got a foothold he pulled himself over. The shorter scavenger after tossing his backpack over, did a leaping jump towards the top of the fence vaulting over it, but lost his grip slipping and falling onto his side.
“Ronan! You okay?” said the taller scavenger.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” grunted Ronan.
“You are an idiot,” replied the tall scavenger helping him up to his feet. They picked up their backpacks and started walking away from the fence line. A large concrete building stood 91 meters away. The concrete building had a trapezoid shape with structural damage to its outer walls. They traversed the abandoned grounds to the foot of the building, stranded in a ruined parking lot filled with rusted vehicles of all makes and models. Ronan peeked his head into each of the vehicles looking for anything valuable. The tall scavenger walked up to the building wiping away dust on a sign near the entrance. Once the dust was gone, it revealed the embedded wording in the now rusted plaque “Black Anvil Mountain: Research Base.” The tall scavenger turned over to Ronan who was stuffing his backpack with items found in a military Humvee.
“Radiation is getting pretty high up here, let''s go through the main building quickly.” Ronan nodded in agreement as he stood up, quickly zipping his bag and tossing it over his shoulder. The two stepped through the shattered glass door, walking into the totaled building. Ronan reached for his flashlight and clicked it on. The light flickered for a couple of seconds illuminating the lobby for short intervals.
“Too much radiation,” said Ronan. The tall scavenger removed a flare out of his backpack, the ignition filling the room with a red light. Each piece of rubble and ruined furniture created shadows for the unknown to hide. The two stepped forward into the research facility. The walls were bare, nothing but dust, charred skeletons of the long dead researchers, and shadows. “Guess what you said is true, no one has been here for the past 10 years,” he said. Ronan trailed off away from the taller scavenger. While combing the room Ronan saw a briefcase with its handle encased by a skeletal grip. He leaned down to remove the briefcase covered in soot from its bony grasp. He ripped open the briefcase to reveal stacks of paper.
“Hey Carter, let me see that light,” he requested. Carter lifted the flare above the header of the paper.
“The Unstoppable Force Immovable Object Program or the UFIO program was a pra… project designed to create Bai…Bi... bio… Bio Eeng... “
“Bioengineered super soldiers,” Carter interrupted. Ronan nodded and restarted the phrase.
“Bioengineered super soldiers built to ass… ass slim…” Ronan pointed at the word, silently asking for help.
“Assimilate,” Carter corrected. Ronan glanced at Carter and Carter looked into Ronan''s brown eyes, barely visible through the dust covered gas mask and realized he was puzzled by the word. Carter explained “Assimilate, like uh to be absorbed into something like a group or a culture.”
“To become part of?” Ronan repeated and Carter nodded. Ronan looked back towards the paper.
“Bioengineered super soldiers built to as-sim-i-late into any military faction. Designed with extreme athletic prowess and trained to be masters of stealth, combat, and...”
“Espionage,” Carter interrupted.
“Espionage,” Ronan finished and placed the papers into his backpack.
“You think those things are still alive?” Ronan asked
“Who knows?” Carter replied, stepping away from Ronan to search through some of the desks.
“What if during the day the bombs fell, they… you know... got out?” Ronan asked.
“Who cares.” Carter replied, not bothering to halt his rummaging.
“Who cares?” Ronan sputtered back “What if they are trying to manipulate their way to the top of society?” Carter kneeled down to place the remains of a computer that had melted from the heat blast into his backpack.
“I’d imagine that it wouldn’t change anything. The government they took orders from is dead and they’d probably try to move on in life.” Carter stood up.
“Let''s not focus on that right now, my pack is nearly full of scrap. I think in a few more trips we will be set for life.” Carter turned around to see Ronan nowhere in sight. His heart dropped.
“Ronan!” he yelled.
“Over here!” he heard coming from a hallway. Carter walked in the direction of the noise
“Hey why did you run off like that? We need to stick together.” Carter scolded. Ronan was standing by an empty elevator shaft, he peered over the ledge, before chucking a flare down into the dark abyss.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“I wanted to find the UFIO testing floor,” Ronan said.
“Why, we can always come back?”
“The testing floor probably has some more preserved material that would be worth more. Besides I don''t want to keep coming back to this irradiated hell hole. I don’t want to roll the dice and see what day I develop cancer from this area, so let’s get it over with.” Ronan proclaimed.
Carter stood silently, thinking through his options, until finally after a short moment of silence Carter responded, “You are right, but instead of the elevator shaft let''s take the stairs, they''re a couple feet past that corner.” Carter pointed deeper into the hallway. Ronan looked over his shoulder, back at the elevator, then gestured to Carter to lead the way. Carter stepped forward, leading them down the hallway. They reached a metal piston door that led to the stairwell, the door operated on the motor''s rotating gears but it lacked power to properly function. Ronan brushed aside Carter as he yanked out the plastic keycard reader and revealed a set of wires. Ronan shuffled through his pocket revealing a portable universal charger. It was a set of metallic objects jerry rigged together. Ronan used a wire stripper on the wires then clamped two miniature jumper cables to the exposed copper. He grabbed a handle on the device and rotated a motor a couple dozen times before squeezing a trigger. Sparks flew from the wires as the grinding sound of a motor inside the wall shrieked causing the door to lift a few inches off the ground. Carter quickly grabbed the metal door dropping the flare at his feet in the process. Carter kicked the flare underneath the door then lifted the metal door up to his hips. Ronan unclamped his device and slid underneath the opening, Carter quickly ducked through as the door came crashing back down behind them.
“Nice work,” Ronan said, leaning over to pick up the flare. He held the flare lower to the ground to illuminate their steps. “Watch your step.” They slowly tip-toed down deeper into the dark, dusty abyss.
While carefully descending the steps, Carter asked, “Let''s say we are set for life from this, what are you buying?”
“Hmmm, I want to leave my home settlement, leave for one of those cities that is being rebuilt out west. How about you?”
“I don''t know, haven’t thought that far. Just want to try to live a peaceful, normal life,” Carter responded. Ronan nodded in understanding. As the two descended, their Geiger counters decreased in volume until it was just a whisper. Soon, they reached Basement Level 1.
“This is where the Bioengineering floor is,” Carter said. The mechanical door was already ajar; a pre-war rifle jammed directly into the motors preventing it from closing. Carter ducked his head as he walked underneath. The floor was stocked full of supplies, computers stood untouched on desks, hypodermic needles sealed in a protective container and gauze stored away in cabinets. Everything was in prime condition.
“This is a gold mine!” shouted Ronan as he immediately began looting the floor. Carter slowly maneuvered through the room lost in thought examining papers, diagrams, and reports. While sorting through the spoils Ronan paused at the discovery of a tablet. “Hold the flare for me,” Ronan requested. Carter moved to grab the flare from Ronan. Ronan examined the tablet, fiddling with it until a battery pack cover ejected revealing a socket for 2 AA batteries.
“I think I can get this working,” Ronan said excitedly. He pulled out his universal charger and attached the micro jump start cable to the clapton coils. He twisted the handle and then squeezed the trigger. The tablet screen started to emit light, Ronan jubilantly giggled. However, Carter''s hand started to shake and he quickly grasped the flare with both hands trying to keep the light centered.
“I don''t know if we should be messing with that,” Carter said as he feigned a calm voice.
“What do you mean? Imagine how much those rich traders would bid for a working tablet? Imagine if this has any entertainment downloaded on it?” Ronan whistled, “Our future families would be set for at least 2 generations!” Ronan''s breath started to speed up as the sense of eagerness took hold of him. He could barely finish a sentence without running out of breath. The tablet’s brightness grew as a digital stereographic map loaded onto the screen. Three red dots labeled UFIO-# popped up over the map of America. The dots were clustered close together and UFIO-3 was directly over the Black Anvil Mountain Base. Ronan''s excitement turned to fear. “These are the things..the super soldiers, and one of them is in here… With us,” Ronan said, lowering his voice to a whisper. The darkness around them grew, suffocating the two scavengers as the silence filled the abandoned building.
“Let''s get out of here,” Carter said as he started to move towards the door.
“Wait! What if there''s better loot in the second basement?” Ronan asked in a shrill voice.
“There''s nothing down there! Let''s just get out of here!”
“How do you know?” Ronan peered closer at Carter who had now stopped...
“I don’t I... uh just don''t want to risk bumping into it'''' Carter said, flustering his words. Ronan stood up, positioning himself into a defensive stance.
“How did you know where the stairs were located?”
“Ronan please, it''s me,” Carter spoke, his voice becoming distraught.
“You recommended this place and knew that it would be untouched because it wasn’t on any map!” Ronan spoke, his tone escalating. Carter froze unsure of what to say.
“You are one of them!” Ronan accused Carter, who remained silent from the scrutiny. “What was your overall plan? Slowly work up the social ladder? Use this to regroup with your brothers and sisters?” Ronan held up the tablet. Carter finally spoke.
“You have to understand it''s not like that, I wanted to live a normal life.”
“How can I trust someone who was designed to manipulate his way into groups?” Ronan slowly circled Carter, maneuvering his way to the door. “I have to warn everyone they must know.” Carter, quickly side-stepped Ronan, yanking the gun out of the gears causing the mechanical door to collapse. The impact of the door slamming into the concrete floor violently upheaved dust clouding the two scavengers’ vision.
“I can’t let you do that Ronan!” Carter said, throwing the bent prewar rifle to the ground. “When the bombs fell 10 years ago, we used the chaos to escape. We all had the dream of being seen as normal, not as a weapon,” Carter took a step towards Ronan.
“But you are a weapon! You were designed to be a weapon!” Ronan shot back, taking a step backwards towards the elevator.
“I can think for myself, guns can’t. I choose what I do,” continuing his advancement towards Ronan.
“How do you know you''re the one in control?”
Carter paused “How do you know you''re in control, maybe the fear of the unknown is blinding you.”
“Maybe, maybe I don’t want another thing designed for war to exist,” Ronan stopped at the elevator door. The flare sitting at the bottom provided a red location signal. “I was 11 when the government dropped those bombs. Millions of lives wiped away in an instant. Was dropping bombs the only options? Was death part of the politicians campaign promises?” Ronan''s tone had turned aggressive. “You were created during an era where the government couldn’t differentiate between a want and a need.” Ronan continued, “Once humanity emerged from the rubble, we came to the collective decision that this...” Ronan gestured to Carter, “would never happen again” Ronan said.
“I am not a monster, we didn’t choose to be born as weapons but we chose to live life normally and I can’t let you take that from us,” Carter said, continuing his advancement towards Ronan. He dropped the flare at his feet, as Ronan quickly reached for a knife hidden in his boot. Carter held up his opposing hand to stop the knife, grabbing Ronan by the wrist. Ronan dropped the tablet at his feet and tossed the knife into his other hand. Carter jolted his arm forward preventing Ronan from repositioning his knife attack. Ronan used his leg to try to break from Carter''s grip. Ronan pushed his foot against Carter''s abdomen driving Carter a couple feet back. Ronan took a step back to regain stability but his foot did not touch solid ground. Ronan fell backwards down the elevator shaft. Vanishing from Carter''s sight, Ronan let out a wail of fear before a large thud echoed from the bottom of the elevator.
Carter started to hyperventilate. He had just added another body to this tumulus. Not daring to look over the edge, he picked up the tablet that Ronan dropped stuffing it into his bag. He placed the flare in his mouth and reached for the metal columns on the side of the elevator shaft and started to ascend to the first floor. The Geiger counter started to click again growing in volume. Once he reached the first floor he scrambled to his feet, and quickly ran out of the facility dropping the flare at the entrance of the building. His gas mask started to cloud as he dashed out of the area, down the mountain until the Geiger counter was silent. Carter threw off the masks and fell to his knees. Ronan was his first friend, the first person to treat him like a person. He couldn’t go back to Ronan’s home settlement; he couldn’t face the people knowing that he was partially responsible for the death of one of their own. Carter just killed his only friend.