19. Benedict: Encroaching forward

With the days passing by as everyone searched for Flux on Noah’s orders the group became more and more divided over time. With a week passing and no sign of him everyone except Flux’s friends decided to begin marching towards the cemetery ships island through the wildlands to regroup in the area.

First the Outlaw, Crusader and Cerberus operative left in surprising cohesion consumed with their objective to reach the pillar. The next group to leave were the mercenaries looking for work followed by ourselves while Noah, Strider, Hazard and Bishop remained for one last day searching desperately for their friend.

Advancing through the wildlands with rifle raised the only sound being emitted being my breath under the dust mask and ground crunching quietly beneath my feet as I scanned the forest. With smooth slow movements the iron sights of the battle rifle sweeped over the open areas through the gaps in the trees. Behind Valentine took a more relaxed stance slowly walking forward with his weapon held low while Collette brought up the rear quietly humming to herself.

A shimmering in the air just ahead. Taking a knee picking up a handful of debris from ground and throwing it in front saw the leaves and dirt shredded to bits as they floated through the field. Turning to Valentine he already had a notebook prepared for Collette’s comments after she quickly began observing the tear.

Coming to the conclusion it was most likely strands of intense gravity distorted to slice anything entering the field an example of it’s power was witnessed further ahead. Collette flicked her scalpel out to quickly examine the remaining torso of the unfortunate pioneer.

After stripping away the armor she begin dissecting the arm without hesitation eagerly diving deeper into the corpses innards. Looking onto her back as still fresh blood spilt onto the ground there was a feeling of nausea in the air. While she always appreciated a good sample her curiosity seemed to be getting out of hand. I didn’t see what could be gained from a corpse that had fallen to the tear of razor blades and looking over to Valentine who put away the notebook he didn’t seem to either.

“[How much longer do you think she’ll last…]” Valentine looked distraught waiting for my response.

“[Long enough. We’ve gone four years and she’s only become a worry over the past month. One last job and we’ll get her help if she needs it. I wouldn’t worry she’s built tough.]” Another pool of blood began to form as she became more reckless in her dissection through the arm following up to the chest cavity of the corpse. Disgruntled Valentine went on.

“[She might be tough but the cracks are starting to form. She isn’t sleeping, she isn’t eating properly, she can’t even contain herself most of the time. She’s degrading, fast.]”

“[Well what can we do? We could try make her wait at the cemetery ships to relax but you know she’ll just go stir crazy and go out on her own while we aren’t there.]” Looking for a solution Valentine found none disappointed with himself in not being able to help his friend. Placing a hand on his shoulder I tried to offer some comfort.

“[Look we’ll only be here a couple more days at most. Won’t be hard watching over her for that long. Afterwards we can focus on readjusting her to an ordinary life and things will go back to how they were. Just a few more.. days…]” Slowly trailing off looking past him Valentine raised his head.

“[What? Something the matter?]”

“[Why has she gone still…]” Following my eyes Valentine went into a slight panic.

“[Shit I’ve seen that before. Hey Collette. COLLETTE.]” Shaking her by the shoulder vigorously she released her grip on the tissues in the body. Taking a deep breath now returned to reality she sat on her knees shaking.

“[The organs. Oh god the organs…]” Taking a knee next to them and looking into her eyes she looked shaken to the core. Still holding the scalpel staring at her arm she thrusted it towards herself which I barely managed to intercept.

“[What the fuck are you doing?!]”

“[I have to check. I have to check all of us. It’s a receiver. Oh god oh god oh god…]”

“[Valentine what is she on about?]”

“[No idea. First time I’m hearing it.]” Holding her arm back she calmed down enough to drop the bloodied surgical tool while bringing her hands to the front of her visor hyperventilating trying to take it off.

“[I can’t breath… someone-]” Navigating underneath her trembling hands I disconnected the helmet while Valentine procured a dust mask to prevent her breathing in the irradiated particles falling from the trees like snow as the wind picked up. Holding her close the ashen material continued to coat us as she choked for a moment before gently crying.

“[The organs, do you see them too? Do you see them in the body?]” Looking over to the corpse and nodding my head she relaxed if only slightly holding back tears to look up again.

“[They’re receivers. They killed him. They made him do it.]” Confused I simply held her while something sparked in Valentines mind as he took her arm and ran his hands along it pressing in trying to feel for something while comforting her.

“[No one has those mutations. They only form in corrupted creatures and you’re very much still human.]” Finishing his check at her shoulder he placed his hands on his knees.

“[See? Not even as much as a bump. Just ordinary flesh and bone. You're just paranoid.]” Looking down to her arm again tensing it and moving it around slightly she calmed down. Still leaning against me the fallout continued to be displaced by the wind as we looked up and Collette spoke.

“[Beautiful, isn’t?]” Quickly sharing a look with Valentine I responded using the moment to try get her mind of whatever was terrifying her.

“[It really is, kind of reminds you of Everest yeah?]” Sighing with tired eyes she took in her surroundings as if she was about to part ways from this world. Shaking her she looked up irritated. With a slight chuckle I was confident she’d be alright if she still had it in her to be annoyed. Letting her rest with her back against the tree still staring at the body Valentine and myself stood a few meters away to give her some space and speak to each other.

“[See what I mean? That was bad enough. What if she truly breaks?]” Taking a cigarette out of a hardcase cylinder I brought it to my mouth only to jam it against the dust mask forgetting it was there. Disappointed I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the scenery with a smoke I went back to the conversation.

“[The zone is getting into her head. I’ve heard of cases like that, sufferers usually end up apart of the collective. Doubt she’ll run off to that cult though.]”

“[It’s not a stretch of the imagination she’d go to them for answers though.]”

“[We’ll have to keep an eye on her then. She’ll make it. If anyone will it’ll definitely be her.]” Sighing Valentine walked back over to check on Collette.

“[Just a few more days right?...]”

Kneeling down he helped her to her feet as well as reconnecting the helmet to the suit. In a minute we were cautiously hiking through the forest again through the fallout. The advantage of taking such an irradiated path filled with tears was that we wouldn’t be ambushed by man or even mutant due to the risk involved in traversing the area. Looking down the weapon sights as I moved and Valentine watching the rear Collette marched in between us clutching her P90 which seemed to be comforting her.

The sun traveled through the sky above us and as it fell over the horizon at the end of our slow hike through the minefields of tears we saw Chernobyl lighting up with numerous muzzle flashes in the darkness. Admiring the battlefield for only a moment we continued on through the field in between the forest and city as the sounds of battle became louder and louder. Walking through the ruined streets well behind the frontlines saw cries and screams being carried down the alleyways as night time ambushes claimed lives silenced by a burst of fire. A fire took hold in one of the buildings becoming a glowing beacon in the night as the pillar of smoke rose into the sky.

Crossing the bridge into the warehouse district to find a makeshift hotel with a room available Valentine spent the evening cleaning his equipment with a watchful eye following Collette's every move who eventual collapsed into a corner still shaken by her breakdown. Making my excuses I left the room leaving them with each other to venture into the market place looking for something decent to make a meal out of. With a good dinner it would hopefully see them both finding a good night's rest as well.

Leaving my weapons and gear in the room with them I walked around only in my battle dress uniform. Looking at it properly now everything wasn’t ontop of it I noticed that I’d probably have to purchase another with all the wear it had taken. It wasn’t often I was able to strip out all the armor or even take off the vest so the walk through the pleasant evening was highly appreciated.

Bustling past other pioneers cramping up the thin paths in between the warehouses and stalls all concluding their business for the evening and rounding a corner I ran straight into another pioneer sending them to the ground. Immediately going to help them up I began apologizing to the woman.

“(Shit… my bad…)” Waving my apology away she collected herself before continuing on. Looking around I could hear a chuckling from somewhere in the street. Scanning the busy walkway I eventually spotted two of the mercenaries from the camp, Havoc and Baron. Waving me down I joined them at a table out the front of one of the bars in the area as they shouted a round. Keeping a watchful eye out for any vengeful pioneers out for mercenary blood the two sat there enjoying a hard earned drink.

“After what your friends got up to I thought you all would’ve been more cautious surrounded by pioneers.” Bringing the bottle down with a smile Baron blew off the concern.

“Naaaah they know what’s what. With the amount of mercenaries fighting just over the river as well we’re a pretty common sight anyway.” Smiling he went back to his drink as Havoc paused from his.

“So how’d you all fair through the forests?”

Tasting the alcohol placed in front of me I immediately felt the same enthusiasm for the drink as the two mercenaries did. The liquid in the bottle was actually real beer, decent quality as well. Taking the bottle away from my lips shocked by the delightful surprise I tried to resist the urge to ignore the question and imbibe alongside them.

“Arrived mostly without issue.” Raising my hand again to enjoy the cool beverage with extraordinary enthusiasm Havoc began to pry.

“Mostly, what happened leastly then?”

Baron chimed in immediately chuckling. “Least of all you mean. Illiterate fuckhead...”

“Piss off. So? What happened?” Taking a moment to run through the events of the day and process Collette’s break down I filled them in trying to be as brief as possible.

“One of us was just worn down. Had a bit of a moment.”

With a nod of respect Havoc returned to his drink. “This place has a habit of doing that. Only been here a few months and you can see the damage in some of us. Hell Duke even shit himself again.” With a grin he went back to his drink before the grin faded away. “Poor kid doesn’t know what he’s doing with himself.”

“He looked young, how old is he?”

“Eighteen. Joined up with us when he was sixteen. Didn’t have anywhere else to go so we took him in.” Looking back towards us Baron went on to explain how he tried to join the army to escape his family, got kicked out when they figured out how old he really was and tried to find wet work by himself.

“Luckily we found him out before someone else did. Probably would’ve seen himself thrown into human trafficking the stupid son of a bitch.”

“Sounds like your an interesting group.”

“Nah not really. Marcus was in the business the longest trying to make a team over the years. Yeti used to be called papa bear but almost broke my face in response. Line was a wanna be hitman who’s a bunch of fun to irritate. Sandworm, Fledger and Dragonfly were solid soldiers and Skippy a right mate. Not much to it.”

Nodding in response the two turned their questions to me.

“So how did your bunch get together? How long you been here.”

Blowing air up my face looking towards the ceiling I recalled the long years that had passed since I arrived. “We were all good friends looking for a challenge. Been here three... four years just about.” The two mercenaries winced at the length of time I’d spent in this hellhole with Baron emitting an impressed whistle.

“Not many stay out of the ground for that long. Came here for a challenge? What made you think that was a good idea?” With a sad smile I gazed across the room into the abyss.

“We were idiot kids.” Confused he studied my face.

“Kids… how old are you?”

“Twenty eight.” Stunned he intensified his stare.

“Jesus you look forty five. What the fuck have you seen in this place.”

Palming the bottle around in my hand I watched the liquid graciously roll along the sides of the glass. Reminiscing over everything we’d seen from those fateful first days to the tears in reality that we catalogued. The atrocities we observed and the horror we’d witnessed and now Collette’s break down brought me to consider how close to that point I was as well. Thinking back over everything now it was mentioned it was incredible we had survived for so long, even from the start. Remaining silent for slightly longer than a standard pause I turned back to the two mercenaries blankly.

“I’ve seen the end of the world. I’ve helped catalogue it’s madness and witnessed it’s corruption. Words can’t describe the depth of what I’ve seen.”

Taking a moment of silence the two mercenaries didn’t know how to respond. We just sat and finished our drinks until one of them brought up how excited they were to finally leave this place. The two continued on while I simply enjoyed their company until they spotted their friend Line ordering a drink and quickly looked to each other with Baron uttering a number that Havoc responded to with another.

“Ten?”

“I reckon five.” Turning around Baron took a deep breath before shouting out.

“Oi!” Startled Line threw his head around so his back was to the counter in one panicked motion. Seeing his squad mates sitting at the table irritation immediately set in but before he could hurl a string of insults Baron stood offering a conundrum for him to solve.

“How much could a snipsnoo snoo if a snipsnoo snip could snoo?” Line stood there baffled.

“Fucking what?… um… ten?”

Baron immediately turned with his mouth wide open to a disappointed Havoc finishing his drink as Baron threw his arms into the arm triumphantly. Claiming the next round was on Havoc Line still stood there not knowing what to feel, conflicted by his obnoxious friend urging violence though content with the prospect of a free drink. He decided on violence as Baron pulled out a kazoo swatting it out of his hand before the tool threatened to instil a tumor.

“Where do you get these things? Why are you like this!?”

Standing up offering my seat to Line who wasn’t paying attention I thanked Havoc for the drink as he went to purchase another round. Baron’s laughter echoed through the bar over Line’s frustrated rant as I left. Smiling at the pure idiocy of the moment combined with the calmness of the night regardless of the firefight in the distance for the first time in years I felt like I was home.

Wandering the streets I wore a smile that shone so irregularly amongst the sea of tired faces etched with tales of horror. Some must have thought I had finally broken but the truth was that my mind was at peace. Acquiring the ingredients I needed for a wholesome meal I sat on a ruined bench and looked up at the stars as pioneers walked by unsure about what I was doing. Soaking in the sight of the galaxy spiralling off into the void I savoured that feeling of absolute bliss not having a care in the world.