Author’s Note: Yet another story with action and stuff. Enjoy!

Episode-16: The Downing of the Osiris

Date: November 25, 3008
Time: 07:30
Location: Somewhere on the Ocean of Ossyria

~Felix~

The clouds masked the rays of the sun, casting a gloomy mood over the stormy morning. Flashes of lightning accompanied by claps of thunder painted the sky brilliant streaks of white. Large raindrops pelted the metal deck of the ship. The droning of the downpour seemed to drown out all noise, even the dying cries of the undead behind them. It was strangely soothing.

Felix found himself staring out into the ocean. The whitecaps rushed towards him and crashed into the ship’s hull. The Osiris was a formidable craft despite its age. Felix could not believe it had survived all the way out here for so long. Rain continued to pour down in mad rushes, soaking him to the skin. Beside him, his beloved S-16 Scarab Assault Rifle danged lifelessly.

Someone spent a lot of time hanging around with the guy downstairs… Felix’s mind wandered as he thought back to the zombie dogs. Whatever abomination would create those infernal creatures was beyond him. All he wanted to do is to find Damiver and get the hell out of there.

The waves continued to pummel the Osiris, making the floorboards groan in strain. Amidst the torrential rain, Felix heard footsteps coming up to him.

Hey… Nova thought as she leaned over and propped herself up with her forearms on the railing of the ship. Together, they stared out into the murky grayness of the world.

Hey to you, Felix thought back as he turned to look at her. Instantly, he kicked himself mentally, but he could not help but let his eyes wander. After all, she was dressed in a black tank top that clung tightly to her body, thanks to the rain. Her bangs were plastered against the sides of her head, and her blonde ponytail was limp and sodden. Felix knew Nova could see into his mind.

Let me ask you a question, Nova seemed to ignore Felix’s wandering thoughts.

Shoot.

Do you believe Damiver is here? There was an edginess in her mental voice. Felix had to pick his words carefully, but considering the circumstances, that was very hard for him at the moment.

I… I dunno, maybe. But I’ve heard some… some strange voices…

Nova suddenly straightened herself up, a concerned look etched upon her face. She turned to Felix who felt a stinging sensation in the back of his mind. Was it him? she asked bluntly. The pain suddenly increased tenfold, and Felix could feel his memories and thoughts being scrambled out of his brain.

“Sh** Nova! How the hell should I know!” Felix winced and the pain was suddenly erased all together. Nova looked away, seemingly ashamed.

“I’m sorry, I just… I just wish I could see him again…” She sauntered away towards Naz who was standing some distance away looking up at the sky. The rain erased her footsteps from the memories of the earth.

Then, through the deafening rain and gale force winds, Felix’s earpiece crackled to life. A stream of broken words flooded into his mind, followed by what seemed like sharp bursts of gunfire.

“Michael! Michael is that you?” Felix screamed into the communicator, hoping desperately the other four were still alive. More static banged on Felix’s eardrums, but then a solid voice materialized out of nothingness.

“Felix!” Michael’s voice rang piercingly, “Felix I… trapped in a lar… need your… NOW!” A burst of gunfire shattered his voice and the communicator fell silent once more. A horrid pulsating red light upon Felix’s wrist map flashed “Lost Communication”. He cursed in dismay.

“Naz, they’re in trouble,” Felix ran up to the two Shadows. But they seemed to be as calm as if nothing were wrong. “What the hell, let’s go!”

Naz grinned scornfully and replied, “Feel like taking a plunge?”

“What the f…” But before Felix could finish his sentence, Naz unsheathed both of his katanas and raised them high in the air. Then, he stabbed straight down, piercing the metal deck with his own steel blades, and whirled around in a perfect circle. Immediately, he fell through the ground into the first level of the ship.

A burst of gunfire reached Felix’s ears immediately as Naz dropped in. But there was something else. Someone or something was moaning cryptically. As Nova jumped in after Naz, Felix shook his head in exasperation and dove in after her.

Instantly, the world was thrown away into chaos. Bullets whizzed by, deathly close to Felix’s face. He could feel the heat from the hypersonic pieces of steel as they flew in all directions. A voice made Felix jolt around and duck just in time as a zombie slashed out, missing his head by a mere inch. As Felix rolled back, the zombie’s arms were blown off by a burst of gunfire. A pair of hands grabbed Felix’s uniform by the neck and dragged him back behind a steel table.

“Glad to see you still alive and kicking,” Mikhail’s voice seemed to scream over the raging gunfire. Felix straightened himself up and bashed out at a zombie with his rifle. The steel met sagging flesh and bone, smashing the skull completely, covering Felix’s S-16 with a spurt of black blood. Just as he was about to shoulder the weapon and fire a new clip, Mikhail suddenly wrenched the rifle out of Felix’s hands by the barrel. Right before Felix’s horrified eyes, Mikhail hurled it at the faces of two zombies. The steel weapon snapped the necks cleanly in half as it landed deep within the lines of the attackers.

“WHAT THE HELL!” Felix roared, feeling an explosive anger overwhelm him.

“Calm down dammit,” Mikhail growled back as he sent another stream of bullets into the undead lines, “If you touched that sh** you would have turned into one of them as well!”

“Well I don’t have a flipping weapon now,” Felix spat angrily as he looked around. His hands felt naked from the lack of the warm barrel of his S-16 Scarab. By now it was probably corroded by the acids running through the zombies’ bloodstream. Forcing the thought in the back of his head, Mikhail suddenly tossed him a pistol.

“Twenty rounds. Use them wisely,” Mikhail explained hastily before going back to blasting brains into smithereens.

“Just my luck…” Felix groaned to himself as he spun around and carefully took aim, making sure each of his bullets hit a different target in the face.

To his left, across the room, Michael and Maldran fought ferociously against the endless hordes. Felix watched as they each took turns providing covering fire as the other reloaded his weapon. Out of the corner of his eyes, Felix noticed a freakishly tall zombie plow through the others, seemingly with one thing on its mind. Felix took aim.

He led the target a little and then squeezed the trigger. The small pistol jerked unpleasantly in his hand as it released a bullet from its quivering nest. It seared through the wicked air and tore straight through the charging monster’s neck. A splash of black landed on the wall and floor as it collapsed to the floor. Its head slammed into the overturned desk and snapped sickly.

Deciding the two of them needed his help more than Mikhail and his Shadows did, Felix jumped out of his protective desk and ran across the room, opening himself as a juicy target. The zombies took the bait like flies on carrion. Immediately, they shifted their base of attack directly to him. Cursing profusely, he jumped into Michael and Maldran’s cover just as a zombie slashed out. Quickly straightening himself out, he whirled around and shot another bullet into the nearest zombie’s head. It sunk to its knees as a burst of black sprayed like a mist out of the back of its brain. Then, as if in slow motion, it fell to the floor, dead once more.

“Hey guys!” Naz’s voice suddenly pierced through the moans of the zombies and the roar of their weapons, “You guys should see this!” Felix’s head jerked towards Naz’s direction and saw him retreat from a window and slice off another zombie’s head.

The three of them abandoned their desk and regrouped by the row of portholes. Felix took a quick peek out of the window. Then, he froze, unable to move, rooted to the spot as his eyes became fixated upon the storm raging outside.

It looked like a solid wall of grey moving swiftly through the ocean, but Felix knew instantly it was a surge of water. Not caring where it was from, his thoughts narrowed down to a single path. How the hell was he going to survive this…

The wave seemed to be hundreds of feet high and covered the entire horizon. Lit up faintly by the gray sky, Felix felt a loss of hope as he could only watch as the water drew closer. A small rushing noise reached his ears. Slowly, it culminated and quickly became a roar, drowning out all other noises. “BRACE YOURSELVES!” Someone yelled.

“Oh sh**…”

Right as Felix through himself to the ground, he felt the entire ship lurch unpleasantly. He felt as if someone had just picked him up and shaken him thoroughly. Felix felt himself tumble over the furniture, or maybe the furniture was tumbling over him. A cryptic image of a giant washing machine popped into his mind. He could not even imagine what was happening to the ship as he heard the screechy groans of steel as the wave slammed into the hull. There was a muffled explosion that rocked the entire ship, making the zombie’s cries die down into nothingness. Then, the ship steadied itself again, as if nothing had happen.

Groaning in agony, Felix lifted himself up with the help of a toppled over chair. He looked at his feet and thanked his stars there was still a solid floor beneath him. But then, he noticed there were patches of clear rectangular pieces of glass lining the floor. Two long cylindrical shaped oddities were placed inside of them. It took a while, but soon, Felix knew he was not on the floor anymore.

Gazing up at the entrance to the room, he could see massive amounts of smeared blood start to drip down to the ceiling due to gravity. The bodies had all landed, scattered across the front half of the room. A trickle of black crept towards Felix, daring him to touch it. A last unearthly moan reached Felix’s ears.

“Everyone alright?” Mikhail groaned as Felix watched him stagger up, brushing the dust off of his FF-20 Fair Frozen. Slowly, they emerged from the wreckage, rattled but alive. Turning his head back to the port hole, Felix could see nothing but the infinite blackness of the sea.

“Hell of a ride,” Naz chuckled grimly as he sheathed his katanas. The waves crashed overhead, continuing to rock the boat gently.

“Let’s get the hell out,” Nova whispered quietly, but her voice seemed to command the entire room, “He’s not here.”

Mikhail stared at her incredulously, “Are you sure?”

“Let’s go,” she muttered and made her way towards the open door that was now a few feet off of the ground. Felix watched Nova step around the dripping black mess and step through the opening and disappear into the shadows. Sighing dejectedly, he and the rest of the group followed without a word.

They found themselves in the usual twist of labyrinth-like passageways, except everything was inverted now. Every path seemed to lead to death, every choice to a dead end. Felix looked around, trying to distinguish where he could go, when Nova started to walk down a seemingly randomly selected hallway.

“Is this the right way?” Felix muttered as he caught up with Nova’s increasingly fast pace.

“I don’t know,” she replied bluntly in a cold tone, “But it doesn’t smell so foul down here.” Felix forced a smile of irony back and followed without question.

The storm seemed satisfied, finally defeating the ancient vessel that had sailed the seas aimlessly for centuries. A flash of lightning was its grin, the roar of thunder its triumphant laugh. But the rain would not relent, continuing to enrage the unforgiving ocean. As the seven made their way through the pitch black darkness, the Osiris began its final descent into the unknown depths of the abyss.