Episode-24: The Virus Spreads

Date: November 25, 3008
Time: 20:30
Location: Navasota Island

~Maldran~

The storm raged on, relentlessly bashing the puny island with thunderbolts and lightning. Rain pelted down upon the greenery as dusk arrived, bringing the world back into the realm of shadows. A gust of wind sliced through the trees, carried by the jet stream high above the churning ocean. The world itself seemed to be falling apart, piece by piece.

Maldran stepped back into the cavern. The Silver Talon was still gently bobbing up and down in the large lagoon in the middle of the cave, which felt no disturbance by the storm surges that were pounding the island. The florescent lights hanging above cast a bright hue on everything below, and for a split second, Maldran thought of the clouds of heaven.

Dinner was over, and he was glad he was away from the awkwardness of the company. Ever since Lily’s mishap, she seemed to behave differently. It was as if Fenris had done something to her at the same time he shot her, but that would be impossible: no one could ever move that fast. Yet, Maldran’s mind continued to ponder Lily’s actions as he strolled down towards the dock.

“How you holding up?” a voice suddenly boomed into his mind. Maldran whipped around and saw Naz strolling down the steps behind him, unsheathing one of his katana and wiping it on the hem of his black cloak.

Good question, but a question Maldran did not have an answer for. He wished he were back on New Leaf City, but instantly changed his mind as he remembered it had been completely destroyed by an unknown Shadow Ancient monster. His mind turned to a certain woman who had been snuffed out of his life exactly a year ago. What he would give for his old life back…

“I’m good,” Maldran managed to lie, but knew it was futile. Instantly, he could feel Naz perusing through his mind as if it were a library.

“Liar,” Naz smiled faintly and sat down at the edge of the water, running his blade across with the end of his cloak, “you have to do better than that.”

Maldran chuckled weakly and lowered his eyes to his reflection upon the still water’s surface. He thought for a moment, then replied softly, “I want to go home.”

Naz’s face instantly turned grim. He looked up and hesitated for a moment, before responding, “Home… it’s not what it was anymore, Maldran.”

“What do you mean?” Maldran’s head twitched in curiosity.

“Those Shadow Ancients, are capable of anything. They sent that monster to attack NLC, who knows what else they could have done…” Naz’s face was shrouded in shadows as he spoke. A chill rushed down Maldran’s spine. He knew Naz was right, but he refused to believe it.

The evil in the world all seemed to press down upon him at that moment. Maldran felt his chest heave gloomily with each breath he took. Each intake of air brought in with it more corruption and evil from the mire of the planet. It seemed almost impossible to breathe. Maldran felt his stomach churn sickly, but repressed the feeling of immediately as Mikhail burst into the cavern.

“Let’s go,” he ordered swiftly to Naz as he brushed past Maldran without even acknowledging his presence. As Lily swept past Maldran, he could feel a distinct difference in the way she seemed to move. Before, she looked like she was floating everywhere. Now, Maldran noticed her feet actually stepping across the rocky ground. With Lily and Russ, the three of them climbed into the Silver Talon, leaving Maldran quite confused with Naz.

“Well, up and at ‘em,” Naz grunted hopefully as he took a step towards the dropship. Behind him, Maldran could see Nova, Damiver, and Felix appear from within the elevators and make their way down to the dock where he was standing.

“Where are we going?” Maldran asked as he followed Naz up the ramp into the drop chamber.

“Home,” Naz replied and a wry grin spread across his face.

Date: November 25, 3008
Time: 20:50
Location: GPS Error

The monitors flashed black for a moment, then refocused in a spacious cabin. A man walked away from the screen and into a small little room filled with controls and flashing multicolored lights. Fenris smiled wickedly as Mikhail climbed into the cockpit of the Silver Talon.

“Sir, all systems online. Project Lily is fully operational,” a man at a console in front of Fenris stated.

“Good work, MacArthur, let’s see how our baby runs,” Fenris’s tongue licked across his lips greedily as he itched to play with his new toy.

But just as he was about to give the order, the intercom crackled open, revealing the booming voice of the man in the shadows, “Fenris… not yet…”

Fenris retracted his hand and cursed under his breath. He had waited so long for revenge, for the taste of vengeance. He had only to vocalize a specific strand of words and his dream would be fulfilled at last. And yet, it was another voice that impeded that dream, forcing it to remain fiction.

“Wait for the right moment… the perfect moment…”

The com channel shut off, leaving Fenris in his little dark room filled with computers. So close yet so far.

Date: November 25, 3008
Time: 23:55
Location: Somewhere over the Sea of Ossyria

And it was minutes to midnight once more. It seemed so hard to believe that this whole ordeal had only began two days ago. As the Silver Talon swooped down from the stormy clouds towards Victoria Island, Maldran paced from bulkhead to bulkhead, anticipating what home would look like.

The engines shut off, and Maldran could only hear the pitter patter of the rain as drops pelted the steel hull and slid down into the ocean below. It was pitch black outside, not a light came from the mainland. A deep pang of uncertainty rose into Maldran’s heart as he thought of Naz’s words.

The main cabin’s lights switched off as they made their final approach. Maldran wanted to hold his breath in light of the tense aura. This mission was so covert that Maldran wanted to kill himself.

They touched down at last, dipping slowly into the water and then stabilizing. The waves continued to pound on the hull, but the Silver Talon stood firm, much like it did almost a century before. The company made their way down the ladder into the drop chamber. The ramp hissed open and Maldran’s ears were filled with that familiar roar of thunder that had plagued the world for so long.

“Keep channels clear,” Mikhail roared over the deafening wind, “Stay close, two on each side. You don’t want to be taken by surprise. Who knows what the hell might be lurking out here now…”

Maldran’s heart sank like a rock at his words. Naz was right. But no, that could not be. Surely the Shadow Ancients did not have enough power to alter every living soul on Victoria Island. Someone had to be out there, waiting for them, to join forces and defeat Fenris once and for all.

Wishful thinking… A female’s voice lurked into Maldran’s mind. Nova brushed past him, locking and loading her S-36X2 Seraph. She switched on the night vision scope and followed Mikhail who was already leading his men and woman into the depths of Lith Harbor.

Sighing dejectedly, he followed, bringing up the rear of their circular formation. The rain saw no end, beating the world with every ounce of water available. Even the lightning and thunder would not stop. Instead, they seemed to dance wildly in the night sky, revolving faster and faster in a chaotic tango. Maldran looked at his watch and watched the digital digits turn into 00:00. November 26, 2008. Another day had past, and yet, nothing had changed.

As they cleared the docks, Maldran saw the first of the buildings loom up in front of him, out of the mystifying shadows. They were erect and seemed stabile, bringing an ounce of relief into Maldran’s pounding heart. But as they advanced down Main Street, everything went to hell.

Papers lay sodden everywhere in the roads. Cars and trucks were piled up in jumbles of twisted metal all across the street. Maldran’s gun-mounted flashlight swept the morbid scene. Black stains of unmistakable blood tainted every surface, the rain unable to wash away the sins of the Shadow Ancients.

Sh**…

“The S-Virus,” Naz muttered under his breath as he unsheathed his trusty katanas once more. “And I just cleaned these…”

“Why are we out here anyways?” Felix asked aloud, but perhaps too loudly, for his voice seemed to reverberate off of the walls of the buildings indefinitely; the rain did not seem to want to smother it out.

And then he heard them. Maldran snapped his Spas-12XPL up to his shoulder and aimed forwards. An inhuman shriek floated down the street from the opposite direction, feeding off of the fear and darkness. Maldran gulped uncertainly and locked and loaded his shot gun. As a new shell clanked into place, he steadied his index finger gently on top of the trigger. The company advanced slowly into the darkness, the scream still echoing away into the storm.

“What is that?” Maldran asked as stared down the sight of his weapon.

“What the hell do you think it is,” Nova replied bitterly as she scanned the end of the street with her night vision scope. “I think I see something moving.” Without another word, she fired a silenced shot into the darkness, and it seemed as if the scream was instantly snuffed out.

“Nice shot,” Damiver whispered after a second had past with no consequences or repercussions.

However, Nova remained distraught, still peering through her scoped rifle. And then, Maldran saw her eye twitch uncomfortably. Taking her emerald eyes off of the scope, she lower the S-36X2 a bit and cursed chillingly.

“Son of a b****…”

And then, the world around Maldran exploded, and he felt himself being hurled backward into the wall. His head smacked into the brick and he slid to the ground, slumping onto the flooded sidewalk, unconscious.