SYNC FAILED
SYNC FAILED
CO-OP FAILED
TO RECEIVE FINAL MESSAGE FROM COLE, UPGRADE
TO RECEIVE FINAL MESSAGE FROM COLE, UPGRADE
SYNC FAILED
SYNC FAILED
RENDERING BACK TO...
Orion's menu flashes the warnings as it begins to downgrade before his own eyes.
Yeah, sync failed. I'm aware. Cole is dead.
The menu goes back to how it always was, To its plain, annoying self, that had been forever torturing Orion.
SURVIVAL XP - 80%
KNOWLEDGE XP - 75%
COMBAT / FIGHT / DEFENSE XP - 85%
LEGEND XP
"Thanks Cole," is all Orion can say as he walks, his new stats and old menu belittling him.
When the ship exploded, Orion was outside of it.
The force of the explosion threw him into the shallow water.
That was the easy part.
Ducking from the raining objects of metal and debris and fire and flame, raining down on him, was next on the list.
Huge pieces of old ship collapsing around him as he held his breath under the water, while trying to duck and dodge and swim, while also staring up at the ocean surface to see if the whole
ship was going to collapse on him...all with the exhaustion of the last few days...well, it was a bit much.
Pieces and chunks of fallen dead were around him as he came to the surface, and he stared at the destroyed nuclear ship.
Was that all of them?
Orion grins when takes a good look at the smoking ship he had been trapped in.
It exploded and fell apart about as much as the thought it would.
He then slowly swam towards the sand barge where all the annoying people would be.
That's when the warnings started popping up.
"What did you want to tell me, Cole?" Orion asks out loud, while stomping ahead.
This day has brought out things I said I would never think about ever again.
Orion shakes his head, trying to clear it, when he hears the pod people clapping and waving.
The Old Man runs to him.
"You are alive!" He exclaims.
"You run okay for being in a pod for a minute," Orion says back.
The Old Man dances around Orion and pats his back, then looks around.
"The other one? Where is he? Where is Cole?"
"He's dead."
"Oh. Oh no."
"Yup. And everything that was with him. Can you go on without him?"
"Hmm?" The Old Man is lost in thought, and mumbles like he heard Orion. "Oh. Yes. Yes. We all knew what we were signing up for! The only one not replaceable was me!"
"Aren't you lucky?"
Orion sees all the pod people waving and trying to take in their new lives.
"Any of you see the menu?"
"What?" The Old Man asks.
"The menu."
"No. No, I don't think I know what you are talking about."
"That's fine. What's your name?"
"Oh. Adam."
"Of course it is."
Orion doesn't know if he should lay down or cry or just bury himself into the sand and drift away.
"So," Orion says, "Adam. Are you as good as you say? Can you rebuild the world?"
Adam nods and smiles, but lies. "I can indeed. But, I must confess. This isn't how I thought it would be. I didn't think I would wake up to this."
"What did you think?"
"Maybe a few years. Or maybe the worst hadn't happened. Or that I would die in an endless dream. But no. I'm alive. We are alive. What, decades later? Tasked with bringing forth the new world. But it seems, that has already begun!"
"We've been living for a minute," Orion says under his breath, almost as a warning. "I got one boat. I'll take it and get reinforcements and - "
Orion and Adam are walking towards the pod people.
But suddenly, a wave of sound and noise comes over all of them.
Some of them begin screaming.
Some almost float in place, stuck in a trance or in sync with something else.
All are almost frozen, though some seem to be able to shake or walk around in a circle of madness.
The screaming keeps going.
Then, a few start exploding.
Like balloons.
Nobody can really react to the horror of it.
None but Orion.
He hears it too.
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The song and calling.
But it is different for him.
Adam tries breaking through it, but he cannot.
He does not know what it is, and with all of his knowledge and understanding, is just as paralyzed as those beneath him.
That alone almost drives him to explode. What was over all of them? Did Orion do this? These fallen creatures?
Orion could tell it wasn't working on him, but whatever it was, it was coming for him.
He takes a deep breath and grabs the largest weapon he has, and keeps walking through the pod people, while trying not to notice the piles of the exploded ones.
Orion wishes he could be horrified by what he saw, and what was in his head coming for him.
But he cannot.
The ocean was shifting and moving.
The voices became louder and louder.
The beast was there.
