Post by kimcora on Oct 12, 2012 23:58:33 GMT -5
A young boy's eyes were ever shifting among the crowds of people. He saw their faces worn and soot covered, some were malnourished, some just simply tired from the chaos their lives had fallen into. Everyone shared that common burden here, though their languages were different and their features a pallet of nationalities. They were all misplaced, lost beings who had nowhere left to go. They were all trapped like rats in this world of war with their only hope being this smelly underground train station.
The young boy swallowed hard, his dry throat reacting with discomfort from the lack of anything to drink. It had been a while since the nice ladies with the water and food had come back to check on everyone. How long had they been waiting in this god forsaken place?
A day, two, maybe three? He couldn't quite tell this far underground which made him jittery. He had been so used to constantly moving, traveling always to keep their family safe and alive. All this waiting, this complacency, it all just seemed like they were slowly creeping closer to death.
"Luca, where are you?" A raspy woman's voice called out to him from somewhere to his left. Luca looked in its direction currently another sea of people. He darted into the crowd, his thin and small frame allowing him to get through the masses of people and toward the pole he had left his family at.
At one sight of his mother, he knew it was her. It was hard to mistake her kind face, one weathered by hard labor and years of hardship. On her head sat a tied cloth with Sicilian colored sewn into a floral pattern, a beautiful reminder of their once flourishing home. The tired brown eyes of the woman locked on Luca and instantly she rose and went to collect him. Her fingers laced with his the moment their hands met and quickly she pulled him close.
"I am right here mother." Luca said hoping to calm the woman who trembled, though he wasn't sure it was out of fear or just something her body had developed over time.
She released him with a light nod and motioned for his older sister to join them.
Somewhere nearby a whistle sounded and instantly Luca's body reacted. He tensed an turned in the direction of the noise though he couldn't see past the hordes of people.
He heard a loud clattering noise drawing closer, till it was so close it was deafening. A screech of brakes came next, the squealing of metal continuing for some time before everything was just the sound of people once more. A voice came over the crowd, speaking in a language Luca didn't quite understand. He frowned slightly as another voice came over the beaten up loud speaker, then another, then another, all in languages he had never heard before.
He noticed however people were slowly reacting, the crowd soon dwindling in size as people moved forward, finally a call came out in a language he could place, English. He looked to his mother with a happy smile and pulled her hand.
"Now boarding passengers." The loud speaker called again an Luca didn't waste any time to wait for his mother to understand. They rushed forward with the other people, fighting for access to the door. When Luca was about two rows back from the doors, they suddenly slammed shut almost taking off an old woman's arm.
Luca was alarmed and looked to a man standing in riot gear nearby. He was serious looking thing with a gun in his hand that hummed like it was alive and hungry to take someone's life.
"No more, the train is full. You'll have to wait for the one next week." The crowd erupted into frantic angry noises, though Luca wasn't sure they all knew what the man said. Luca almost wished he didn't.
The young boy swallowed hard when he felt his mother's grip tighten on his hand. She was letting him know that she understood, that she was okay with this, that they would be alright.
"Women. We need a handful of women for cart A." A voice suddenly shouted and Luca instantly registered the call. He reacted stealthily and dragged his mother and sister in the direction of the voice. There were few people that had reacted at this time leaving them a somewhat open path.
Luca reached the door just as soon as everyone began to realize that there was space available. Before an older Swedish man could knock him out of the way. Luca shoved his family forward at the armored man.
"Here are two women, please sir, take them." Luca told him in broken English, looking the armored man in the eyes for a log moment. it was a long time of the man not breaking their stare before he nodded.
"Alright son. They can go." Luca gave a small sigh of relief, though he saw the look on his mother's face as she was dragged onto the cart by her arms. She let out a screech of sadness and called for Luca to join her. Even his older sister was trying to fight her way back to grab him. Luca felt the tug of pain at his family leaving, though he knew this was the only way they could be safe. He had to be like father in this instance and let them go, let them be safe.
"I will meet you where it's safe." He called to them as the doors began to shut.
Suddenly, quite forcefully, he was shoved forward and sent into the floor of the train cart before the doors shut. Luca was lost for a moment at what just happened till his mother was on him, hugging him and pulling him over to a bench nearby.
"Don't worry, Luca, everything will be okay." She whispered tearfully in his ear. For a moment Luca was still in shock, to the point he didn't realize he himself was crying till he saw the dampness of his mothers shirt. It was out of relief however, relief that they would all be safe together....
It seemed like no time at all before the train began to rumble and go forward, reaching a mystifying speed in a matter of moments.
Luca looked from his mother when he felt her relax, sound asleep with him in her arms. His eyes traveled the cab of this low lit dusty tin can.
"For a time where radios could be implanted in your ears, you'd think they'd have developed a better transportation device." He heard an old man snip in heavily accented english and Luca couldn't help but nod in agreement.
In the middle his nodding, he caught sight of something that troubled him. A woman, doubled over as if she were sick, a thick wool cloak covered her, as if she were freezing though the train was so hot. Suddenly the woman gave a violent jerk one that made the people next to her shift and jump. Luca felt his heart beginning to race as he watched her body twitch and jerk in an unnatural way. Suddenly, as if feeling the stares, her head snapped up and she looked directly at Luca.
It took all he had to stifle a horrified noise. Her face was totally morphed, her mouth ripped all the way up the corners to reveal rows of oozing jagged teeth, boils lumped above her left eye and her skin seemed like it hand things moving under it. Luca grasped his mothers hand tightly as people in the cart let out horrified shouts and screams. The screams seemed to fuel the transformation of the woman, who's skin had since torn in places to reveal blackened muscle as her body hunched over and her eyes took on a full iris blood color.
Luca's mother woke when the she-beast leapt at the ceiling of the cart, taking out the lights there.
She mirrored the terrified screams as the lights flickered on and off, revealing then hiding the grotesquely shifting woman.
"Luca hide with your sister." She stammered in his ear but Luca struggled to move. He was too terrified to even breath at this point, making it impossible for him to think enough to move. Suddenly arms went around him, his sisters from the sound of the voice in his ears, and she drug him down and beneath the seat of the train.
She clung to him as the disgusting sounds of a monster feeding ensued. Around them screams and shouts of pain were everywhere and they could hear the snapping of bones and wet thuds nearby. Metalic scraping and broken glass added to the sounds of pain as the cart rattled on its tracks.
Luca clung to his sister as the train gave another forceful rattle after the beast landed back onto the floor of the train. There was nothing but silence between the labored breathing of the creature and the siblings pounding hearts. Lucas's brown eyes peeked over his sisters shielding arm, to see the scene of gore around them. Everywhere seemed covered in red along with dismembered pieces of what could be human. The smell was gut wrenching but he fought down his gagging to protect them.
Quicker than he could blink, a misshapen clawed hand landed on the metal floor next to them.
Luca held his breath, his body completely still and rigid with fear. He clung to his sister, trying his best to keep his mind clear and himself quiet as he watched the creature for any sign it knew where they were.
It seemed to stay there a long moment before it began its hobbling continuation down the length of the cart.
Luca felt relief that they hadn’t been sensed, but he noticed his sister was still tensed. He looked up and saw that she was staring at something on the floor. Luca looked over and saw what it was instantly. It was their mother’s cloth. “Luca...you need to get out of here.” Sophia whispered in his ear, drawing a small shake of Luca’s head.
“No, I won’t. Not without you.”
“Luca, I can’t. You must promise me you will keep running when I’m gone. Don’t stop.” He watched with horror as his sister pulled away from him and slipped out from under the cover of the seat. She motioned to the door that was ripped open, showing that the train had since stopped. Luca nodded lightly but stayed in place as he watched his sister pry the gun from the dead guards fingers. She took aim at the beast and let off one round into its back. The exploding round made contact and blew a chunck out of the things body, but it turned on her as if it was nothing but a scratch.
“Luca run!” She shouted before firing at the beast again, this time taking out a clawed hand. Luca weighed his options and knew he didn’t have a chance of surviving here with his sister. She was not going to live...but he could. Luca pushed himself out from under the seat and took a leap out the doors.
He quickly darted down the tunnel, along the train that was currently at a standstill. He could hear people shouting within and the men in the conductors cab were shouting things at one another.
“We’ve got to blow it. We can’t risk infection spreading.” Luca didn’t quite understand what they meant but he had a sense by their urgency that it wasn’t something good. He quickened his pace and ran further down the tunnel till he was further and further from the train.
He didn’t look back and didn’t try to think, he just ran.
A loud boom behind him rocked the ground beneath him, sending him into the gravel before he could right himself. Luca tried to get to his feet, but a powerful wave of force sent him to the ground a few feet away. He slid to a halt on his back, getting a full few of a large wall of flames and metal coming toward him. He had exactly a second before it reached him and consumed everything. And in that second, he thought of home, of Sicily, of his family, and of the days where war wasn’t discussed in the home. He then thought of the beast woman that had taken everything from him. And in that last second he felt a growing satisfaction, that that monster was suffering and would never hurt anyone ever again.
~~~
Luca awoke in a cold sweat, bolting up in his bed in pure horror. His efforts to remain composed failed him as he realized that this wasn’t just a nightmare, but a reality, a past that he couldn’t just forget despite all that had happened in the last 10 years of his life. This horrid scene would always be there in the back of his mind, in the dark reaches that he kept carefully locked away during the day, waiting for night fall to torment him again.
“Luca, breakfast is ready.” A woman called from somewhere far off, making him jump slightly. Quickly he hoped out of his bed and snapped his fingers twice. A small light screen projected from the ceiling and quickly Luca type in a quick code. Almost instantly a panel near his bed slid open and out popped his school uniform. He grabbed the clothing and tossed it on in a hurry. His hand waved infront of the sensor by his door and quickly a bot of a lesser nature began to gather the clothes he tossed on the floor and make his bed. He took the see through card key from his door, locking it, and shoved it in his pocket before heading downstairs.
His smile was bright as he took in the common morning scene he’d become accustomed to over the years. Mr. Falk was reading the news on a screen in the table and Mrs. Falk was getting the coffee brewed by the automated kitchen space. Everything was bright and flashy, sterile as can be, just how the Falk’s liked it.
Luca had come to find with living with them that the Falk’s were very cleanly people. Almost in an OCD kind of way. It was a wonder they had taken a messed up kid from an orphanage to live with them. Mrs. Falk said it was because she couldn’t have children of her own, and androids were too expensive. That and she fell in love with Luca at first sight.
Luca had to admit he wasn’t in love with the Falk’s at all when he first met him. He was a pretty screwed up kid at that point, only two years after the incident that destroyed his entire world. The orphanage had taken him in after he walked two days to the nearest check point for a safe zone. There some nice border agents took pity on him and smuggled him into the Safe Zone of Tokyo. Luca at the time had become a very quiet and reserved child, hiding from most everyone except the only woman at the orphanage that spoke a bit of Italian. Even then he tended to ignore her because she reminded him too much of his mother.
The day the Falk’s came was like a circus at the orphanage. Apparently they were very wealthy and were looking for a child to share that wealth with. Somehow they decided that should be quiet little Luca. The language barrier was the biggest problem for them. For the longest time they had to use a translation collar on him just to understand what he was saying. In turn they brushed up on a bit of Italian, though their British accents made it nearly impossible for them to pronounce the words correctly. It had taken 4 years for Luca to finally trust them and it had been over a breakfast like this, when he chose to try speaking to them in English.
It was the anniversary today of them adopting him today and it brought a small smile to Luca’s face. He sat in the chair across from Mr. Falk causing them to turn their attention to him.
“Good morning Luca.” Mr. Falk said and he passed some coffee to him. Mrs. Falk was soon over with a plate of waffles and eggs.
“Eat up dear. We don’t want to miss the big day we have planned.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He said politely before looking to Mr. Falk when he gave a small hmph over the article he was reading.
“Seems we’ll be delayed some. Seems Chancellor Aishida wants to address the public today. Screen please.” A thin glass screen sank from the ceiling a few feet away from the table, tuning instantly to the channel desired. The screen displayed the Utopian symbol, a red circle with a gold laurel crown around it. A small tune like song of the anthem played before the screen clicked over to the face of a young man that looked to be no older than twenty. His dark eyes looked out into the audience of thousands and then at the cameras, where hundreds of thousands more were watching. He gave a wry smile to his cheering audience, bowing slightly to everyone before straightening and giving his speech on the new initiative.
~~~
“Today is a great day for Tokyo, for our found Utopia in this world of darkness. Out of the ashes of a war that tore us all apart we have come together to form a new age of mankind. We have formed a beacon of light for our future in this world. This light we have created is fueled by innovation, by creation and by the sheer power we have displayed in our need to survive. There are those that wish to extinguish this light, that wish to crush our spirit and plague our dream for a pure future where our homes are not threatened by attacks from monsters that have torn apart families. But to those that wish us harm, we have given them an answer. Our answer is to instead extinguish their chances of harming us, to crush their blackened spirits with the mighty fist of an empire.” A roar rose over the audience that caused the speakers on the screen to crackle slightly at the volume. Luca watched the crowd zealously reacting to the words of a single man. Words that could never quite connect with him the same way.
“Would you look at that Luca? I swear the sound must be deafening from all the screaming girls.” Luca looked over and saw his partner Sloane taking a seat next to him, her boots up on the table as she leaned back in her chair. For a woman of her petite stature and allure, he’d expect her to be in something a little less grueling and dirty like this branch of the militia. But death dealing didn’t exactly have a required look now did it? Besides with that attitude and manners the girl lacked she fit better as a mechanic than any frilly thing out in society.
Luca gave Sloane a light smirk before turning back to his sandwich he was in the middle of enjoying. It was the only thing in the bases cafeteria worth eating these days, what with the rest of the food being filled with chemicals and physical enhancers.
“Mr. Falk said it’s like Kennedy syndrome.” Luca told her and Sloane gave him a funny look as she straightened the laces on her boots.
“Who-what’s it syndrome?”
“John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of America. He was young and people idolized him for his looks.” Sloane nodded though Luca knew she didn’t get it. She was a girl from a small town in Finland. He didn’t expect her to hear much about America there.
“Well if you ask me it’s silly to see this man for only his looks. Aishida may be young looking, but he’s actually a fierce old cat on beneath it.” Luca couldn’t deny what Sloane said. The man was brilliant, a good leader and powerful influence. He had single handedly risen up in his stature at the start of the war and taken over as Chancellor at the age of 20. His age never posed a problem for him, seeing as he had the mind of an elder. Luca respected the man’s power and the fact that he himself had chosen Luca to join this group of misfits to better his mission of purity.
Purity was what the public saw, while Luca, his team members, and the Chancellor saw a very different side. There was nothing pure about this mission that was bathed in blood. Hundreds died daily, some infected some innocent. This was more like an underground war, what with the rebel groups beginning to surface in the Outer Regions, outside the Safe Zone. To think if the foolish people were to just look outside the safety of the protection barrier covering the city for one day, would they still be cheering like they were on the TV now?
An alarm went off over head and Luca head jerked in the direction of the sound. Over the noise of the wailing siren he heard Sloane give out a groan of displeasure. “Damn it! There went my chance at a free morning!” Luca tossed his half eaten lunch on the table, knowing the self-cleaning would activate momentarily after the room was cleared.
He hurried down the long metal halls with Sloane, making their way to a loading bay not far from the cafeteria. On their way they passed dorms, offices, men and women by a few handfuls rushing to catch up with the others. Officially this base had about 80 people, most were on the technical staff and mechanical assistance, the rest, the smallest portion, actually were the battle ready team.
Luca was with the crowd of men that crowded into the hanger, Sloane right on his heels. The two rushed over to a large stand alone mech ((I’m thinking something like this: i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h375/Zachary_Schelling/GraditoraHeavysuit.png )) The machine was a threatneing height, to the point Luca needed the basic 25 step ladder to climb into the thing bay. It was a quick and fluid motion in which everything was set in place. Sloane worked steadilly on the computer bay with another woman and chewed on her lip as the mechs pieces began to lock into place. She looked up at Luca whe was in the process of connectling his arms and legs to the sensors for movement capabilities.
These mechs were designed to be like an extention of oneself, almost like just another layer of thick skin to the body. Luca found the whole thing cool, while others seemed to find it slightly wierd.
"Mech number 6. You're to investigate Code 1468. Biological anomoly discovered in sector 3 district 9. Location point 227. Wire triggerd in zone 3 area." Luca cursed slightly as the screen slid into place showing him the read outs of everything going on in the city outside. The map was displayed in a nice blue schamatic outline with a heat signature flashing on its center. Seems this creature had gotten pretty close to the barrier. Back in the old shopping district of Tokyo.
The snug darkened bay of the mech flashed a bright red color as the call came out for readiness check.
"Ready, bay 1-4. Ingnite." The roar of engines came from nearby, signifying to Luca it was almost game time. He spared a look to Sloane and shot her a thumbs up which the mech instantly immitated. SLoane smirked lightly before slidding her access card down the length of her keyboard. The mech's by door shut and Luca felt the familiar hum of the mech coming to life.
With a small breath in he focused himself on the task at hand. Images from the past sat on the edge of his thoughts, but he didn't call them to mind. He couldn't make this personal. If he did, it would surely destroy him.
"Look at us. In our prime twenties and we're out here playing around with robots instead of getting laid." Sloane huffed, her lips becoming loose and her words slurred from the alcohol she all but downed at the bar off base.
She clung to Luca's arm for support though that seemed to not help so much. She still stumbled over herself making it aparent she wasn't going to make it back on base and even appear to be normal enough for inspections. It wasn't exactly ethical for any mech operator to be drunk at any time of day, seeing as they never knew when an attack might come. It was their job to kee people safe from the outside world, meaning they couldn't relly enjoy the world they had inside the dome.
"Sloane sometimes I wonder about you. For a small girl you've got a mouth like a--"
"Luca you know I'm one of the guys. Now you Italian should know what I'm saying about this injustice to our social lives. Aren't you guys suposed to be like love gods or something?"
Luca let out a laugh at Sloane but it was cut short when she suddenly slumped and nearly hit the ground. He quickly checked her, only to find she had finally passed out. With a small sigh, he hefted her up into his arms and carried her to the nearest hotel. He couldn't take her on base as drunk as she was now. They'd both get in serious trouble, worse trouble than if they both showed up tomorrow after missing that night.
It wasn't much from what he could afford on his salary but at least he got a room with a view. After putting Sloane to bed, he leaned against the railing, his eyes narrowing at the city bellow him. Everything seemed so much different at night, always lit up and bright from the signs and the lights built into the buildings.
Even the dome let off a light glow that flashed from time to time to let the opperators know it was still functioning.
For a moment Luca wondered what would happen if that dome came down, if all these lights were turned off and technology just disappeared. Would this world cease to exist or would humans only find another way to survive?
(30 minutes ago)
Ryo watched the celebrating of the Utopian anniversary projected onto the wall of his office. He watched the people, his people rejoicing for yet another year of security, well being, and prosperity he had provided. When you got to rule what was left in the world, you learned to appreciate little things like the smiling faces of your naive citizens. You even learned to love their density when it came to the world around them.
Did they even realize their entire lives hung in the balance of a decaying world? Did they even realize that he, a man of only 25, could decide to kill them all and get it done with only one wave of his hand? No, he suposed they could fathom something like that, now could they.
He looked away from the screen when he heard the door to his office slide open and he looked over to find his secretary there, her head bowed low. "Sir, the labs think they've finally got it...." Ryo's eyes lit up with an odd curiosity, that wry smile of his spreading on his lips. It seemed everythign was falling into place quite nicely for him now. Quite nicely indeed.
((Wherever a “~~~” appears in this first post it’s a time jump. The first is about 10 years and the second is about 9 years. The last the "-----" is a time jump of only a few hours making it night time now. This is all open for anyone who wants to join. Any character is welcome, just keep in mind the futuristic time period and if you have any questions fell free to PM me. Happy posting.))
The young boy swallowed hard, his dry throat reacting with discomfort from the lack of anything to drink. It had been a while since the nice ladies with the water and food had come back to check on everyone. How long had they been waiting in this god forsaken place?
A day, two, maybe three? He couldn't quite tell this far underground which made him jittery. He had been so used to constantly moving, traveling always to keep their family safe and alive. All this waiting, this complacency, it all just seemed like they were slowly creeping closer to death.
"Luca, where are you?" A raspy woman's voice called out to him from somewhere to his left. Luca looked in its direction currently another sea of people. He darted into the crowd, his thin and small frame allowing him to get through the masses of people and toward the pole he had left his family at.
At one sight of his mother, he knew it was her. It was hard to mistake her kind face, one weathered by hard labor and years of hardship. On her head sat a tied cloth with Sicilian colored sewn into a floral pattern, a beautiful reminder of their once flourishing home. The tired brown eyes of the woman locked on Luca and instantly she rose and went to collect him. Her fingers laced with his the moment their hands met and quickly she pulled him close.
"I am right here mother." Luca said hoping to calm the woman who trembled, though he wasn't sure it was out of fear or just something her body had developed over time.
She released him with a light nod and motioned for his older sister to join them.
Somewhere nearby a whistle sounded and instantly Luca's body reacted. He tensed an turned in the direction of the noise though he couldn't see past the hordes of people.
He heard a loud clattering noise drawing closer, till it was so close it was deafening. A screech of brakes came next, the squealing of metal continuing for some time before everything was just the sound of people once more. A voice came over the crowd, speaking in a language Luca didn't quite understand. He frowned slightly as another voice came over the beaten up loud speaker, then another, then another, all in languages he had never heard before.
He noticed however people were slowly reacting, the crowd soon dwindling in size as people moved forward, finally a call came out in a language he could place, English. He looked to his mother with a happy smile and pulled her hand.
"Now boarding passengers." The loud speaker called again an Luca didn't waste any time to wait for his mother to understand. They rushed forward with the other people, fighting for access to the door. When Luca was about two rows back from the doors, they suddenly slammed shut almost taking off an old woman's arm.
Luca was alarmed and looked to a man standing in riot gear nearby. He was serious looking thing with a gun in his hand that hummed like it was alive and hungry to take someone's life.
"No more, the train is full. You'll have to wait for the one next week." The crowd erupted into frantic angry noises, though Luca wasn't sure they all knew what the man said. Luca almost wished he didn't.
The young boy swallowed hard when he felt his mother's grip tighten on his hand. She was letting him know that she understood, that she was okay with this, that they would be alright.
"Women. We need a handful of women for cart A." A voice suddenly shouted and Luca instantly registered the call. He reacted stealthily and dragged his mother and sister in the direction of the voice. There were few people that had reacted at this time leaving them a somewhat open path.
Luca reached the door just as soon as everyone began to realize that there was space available. Before an older Swedish man could knock him out of the way. Luca shoved his family forward at the armored man.
"Here are two women, please sir, take them." Luca told him in broken English, looking the armored man in the eyes for a log moment. it was a long time of the man not breaking their stare before he nodded.
"Alright son. They can go." Luca gave a small sigh of relief, though he saw the look on his mother's face as she was dragged onto the cart by her arms. She let out a screech of sadness and called for Luca to join her. Even his older sister was trying to fight her way back to grab him. Luca felt the tug of pain at his family leaving, though he knew this was the only way they could be safe. He had to be like father in this instance and let them go, let them be safe.
"I will meet you where it's safe." He called to them as the doors began to shut.
Suddenly, quite forcefully, he was shoved forward and sent into the floor of the train cart before the doors shut. Luca was lost for a moment at what just happened till his mother was on him, hugging him and pulling him over to a bench nearby.
"Don't worry, Luca, everything will be okay." She whispered tearfully in his ear. For a moment Luca was still in shock, to the point he didn't realize he himself was crying till he saw the dampness of his mothers shirt. It was out of relief however, relief that they would all be safe together....
It seemed like no time at all before the train began to rumble and go forward, reaching a mystifying speed in a matter of moments.
Luca looked from his mother when he felt her relax, sound asleep with him in her arms. His eyes traveled the cab of this low lit dusty tin can.
"For a time where radios could be implanted in your ears, you'd think they'd have developed a better transportation device." He heard an old man snip in heavily accented english and Luca couldn't help but nod in agreement.
In the middle his nodding, he caught sight of something that troubled him. A woman, doubled over as if she were sick, a thick wool cloak covered her, as if she were freezing though the train was so hot. Suddenly the woman gave a violent jerk one that made the people next to her shift and jump. Luca felt his heart beginning to race as he watched her body twitch and jerk in an unnatural way. Suddenly, as if feeling the stares, her head snapped up and she looked directly at Luca.
It took all he had to stifle a horrified noise. Her face was totally morphed, her mouth ripped all the way up the corners to reveal rows of oozing jagged teeth, boils lumped above her left eye and her skin seemed like it hand things moving under it. Luca grasped his mothers hand tightly as people in the cart let out horrified shouts and screams. The screams seemed to fuel the transformation of the woman, who's skin had since torn in places to reveal blackened muscle as her body hunched over and her eyes took on a full iris blood color.
Luca's mother woke when the she-beast leapt at the ceiling of the cart, taking out the lights there.
She mirrored the terrified screams as the lights flickered on and off, revealing then hiding the grotesquely shifting woman.
"Luca hide with your sister." She stammered in his ear but Luca struggled to move. He was too terrified to even breath at this point, making it impossible for him to think enough to move. Suddenly arms went around him, his sisters from the sound of the voice in his ears, and she drug him down and beneath the seat of the train.
She clung to him as the disgusting sounds of a monster feeding ensued. Around them screams and shouts of pain were everywhere and they could hear the snapping of bones and wet thuds nearby. Metalic scraping and broken glass added to the sounds of pain as the cart rattled on its tracks.
Luca clung to his sister as the train gave another forceful rattle after the beast landed back onto the floor of the train. There was nothing but silence between the labored breathing of the creature and the siblings pounding hearts. Lucas's brown eyes peeked over his sisters shielding arm, to see the scene of gore around them. Everywhere seemed covered in red along with dismembered pieces of what could be human. The smell was gut wrenching but he fought down his gagging to protect them.
Quicker than he could blink, a misshapen clawed hand landed on the metal floor next to them.
Luca held his breath, his body completely still and rigid with fear. He clung to his sister, trying his best to keep his mind clear and himself quiet as he watched the creature for any sign it knew where they were.
It seemed to stay there a long moment before it began its hobbling continuation down the length of the cart.
Luca felt relief that they hadn’t been sensed, but he noticed his sister was still tensed. He looked up and saw that she was staring at something on the floor. Luca looked over and saw what it was instantly. It was their mother’s cloth. “Luca...you need to get out of here.” Sophia whispered in his ear, drawing a small shake of Luca’s head.
“No, I won’t. Not without you.”
“Luca, I can’t. You must promise me you will keep running when I’m gone. Don’t stop.” He watched with horror as his sister pulled away from him and slipped out from under the cover of the seat. She motioned to the door that was ripped open, showing that the train had since stopped. Luca nodded lightly but stayed in place as he watched his sister pry the gun from the dead guards fingers. She took aim at the beast and let off one round into its back. The exploding round made contact and blew a chunck out of the things body, but it turned on her as if it was nothing but a scratch.
“Luca run!” She shouted before firing at the beast again, this time taking out a clawed hand. Luca weighed his options and knew he didn’t have a chance of surviving here with his sister. She was not going to live...but he could. Luca pushed himself out from under the seat and took a leap out the doors.
He quickly darted down the tunnel, along the train that was currently at a standstill. He could hear people shouting within and the men in the conductors cab were shouting things at one another.
“We’ve got to blow it. We can’t risk infection spreading.” Luca didn’t quite understand what they meant but he had a sense by their urgency that it wasn’t something good. He quickened his pace and ran further down the tunnel till he was further and further from the train.
He didn’t look back and didn’t try to think, he just ran.
A loud boom behind him rocked the ground beneath him, sending him into the gravel before he could right himself. Luca tried to get to his feet, but a powerful wave of force sent him to the ground a few feet away. He slid to a halt on his back, getting a full few of a large wall of flames and metal coming toward him. He had exactly a second before it reached him and consumed everything. And in that second, he thought of home, of Sicily, of his family, and of the days where war wasn’t discussed in the home. He then thought of the beast woman that had taken everything from him. And in that last second he felt a growing satisfaction, that that monster was suffering and would never hurt anyone ever again.
~~~
Luca awoke in a cold sweat, bolting up in his bed in pure horror. His efforts to remain composed failed him as he realized that this wasn’t just a nightmare, but a reality, a past that he couldn’t just forget despite all that had happened in the last 10 years of his life. This horrid scene would always be there in the back of his mind, in the dark reaches that he kept carefully locked away during the day, waiting for night fall to torment him again.
“Luca, breakfast is ready.” A woman called from somewhere far off, making him jump slightly. Quickly he hoped out of his bed and snapped his fingers twice. A small light screen projected from the ceiling and quickly Luca type in a quick code. Almost instantly a panel near his bed slid open and out popped his school uniform. He grabbed the clothing and tossed it on in a hurry. His hand waved infront of the sensor by his door and quickly a bot of a lesser nature began to gather the clothes he tossed on the floor and make his bed. He took the see through card key from his door, locking it, and shoved it in his pocket before heading downstairs.
His smile was bright as he took in the common morning scene he’d become accustomed to over the years. Mr. Falk was reading the news on a screen in the table and Mrs. Falk was getting the coffee brewed by the automated kitchen space. Everything was bright and flashy, sterile as can be, just how the Falk’s liked it.
Luca had come to find with living with them that the Falk’s were very cleanly people. Almost in an OCD kind of way. It was a wonder they had taken a messed up kid from an orphanage to live with them. Mrs. Falk said it was because she couldn’t have children of her own, and androids were too expensive. That and she fell in love with Luca at first sight.
Luca had to admit he wasn’t in love with the Falk’s at all when he first met him. He was a pretty screwed up kid at that point, only two years after the incident that destroyed his entire world. The orphanage had taken him in after he walked two days to the nearest check point for a safe zone. There some nice border agents took pity on him and smuggled him into the Safe Zone of Tokyo. Luca at the time had become a very quiet and reserved child, hiding from most everyone except the only woman at the orphanage that spoke a bit of Italian. Even then he tended to ignore her because she reminded him too much of his mother.
The day the Falk’s came was like a circus at the orphanage. Apparently they were very wealthy and were looking for a child to share that wealth with. Somehow they decided that should be quiet little Luca. The language barrier was the biggest problem for them. For the longest time they had to use a translation collar on him just to understand what he was saying. In turn they brushed up on a bit of Italian, though their British accents made it nearly impossible for them to pronounce the words correctly. It had taken 4 years for Luca to finally trust them and it had been over a breakfast like this, when he chose to try speaking to them in English.
It was the anniversary today of them adopting him today and it brought a small smile to Luca’s face. He sat in the chair across from Mr. Falk causing them to turn their attention to him.
“Good morning Luca.” Mr. Falk said and he passed some coffee to him. Mrs. Falk was soon over with a plate of waffles and eggs.
“Eat up dear. We don’t want to miss the big day we have planned.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He said politely before looking to Mr. Falk when he gave a small hmph over the article he was reading.
“Seems we’ll be delayed some. Seems Chancellor Aishida wants to address the public today. Screen please.” A thin glass screen sank from the ceiling a few feet away from the table, tuning instantly to the channel desired. The screen displayed the Utopian symbol, a red circle with a gold laurel crown around it. A small tune like song of the anthem played before the screen clicked over to the face of a young man that looked to be no older than twenty. His dark eyes looked out into the audience of thousands and then at the cameras, where hundreds of thousands more were watching. He gave a wry smile to his cheering audience, bowing slightly to everyone before straightening and giving his speech on the new initiative.
~~~
“Today is a great day for Tokyo, for our found Utopia in this world of darkness. Out of the ashes of a war that tore us all apart we have come together to form a new age of mankind. We have formed a beacon of light for our future in this world. This light we have created is fueled by innovation, by creation and by the sheer power we have displayed in our need to survive. There are those that wish to extinguish this light, that wish to crush our spirit and plague our dream for a pure future where our homes are not threatened by attacks from monsters that have torn apart families. But to those that wish us harm, we have given them an answer. Our answer is to instead extinguish their chances of harming us, to crush their blackened spirits with the mighty fist of an empire.” A roar rose over the audience that caused the speakers on the screen to crackle slightly at the volume. Luca watched the crowd zealously reacting to the words of a single man. Words that could never quite connect with him the same way.
“Would you look at that Luca? I swear the sound must be deafening from all the screaming girls.” Luca looked over and saw his partner Sloane taking a seat next to him, her boots up on the table as she leaned back in her chair. For a woman of her petite stature and allure, he’d expect her to be in something a little less grueling and dirty like this branch of the militia. But death dealing didn’t exactly have a required look now did it? Besides with that attitude and manners the girl lacked she fit better as a mechanic than any frilly thing out in society.
Luca gave Sloane a light smirk before turning back to his sandwich he was in the middle of enjoying. It was the only thing in the bases cafeteria worth eating these days, what with the rest of the food being filled with chemicals and physical enhancers.
“Mr. Falk said it’s like Kennedy syndrome.” Luca told her and Sloane gave him a funny look as she straightened the laces on her boots.
“Who-what’s it syndrome?”
“John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of America. He was young and people idolized him for his looks.” Sloane nodded though Luca knew she didn’t get it. She was a girl from a small town in Finland. He didn’t expect her to hear much about America there.
“Well if you ask me it’s silly to see this man for only his looks. Aishida may be young looking, but he’s actually a fierce old cat on beneath it.” Luca couldn’t deny what Sloane said. The man was brilliant, a good leader and powerful influence. He had single handedly risen up in his stature at the start of the war and taken over as Chancellor at the age of 20. His age never posed a problem for him, seeing as he had the mind of an elder. Luca respected the man’s power and the fact that he himself had chosen Luca to join this group of misfits to better his mission of purity.
Purity was what the public saw, while Luca, his team members, and the Chancellor saw a very different side. There was nothing pure about this mission that was bathed in blood. Hundreds died daily, some infected some innocent. This was more like an underground war, what with the rebel groups beginning to surface in the Outer Regions, outside the Safe Zone. To think if the foolish people were to just look outside the safety of the protection barrier covering the city for one day, would they still be cheering like they were on the TV now?
An alarm went off over head and Luca head jerked in the direction of the sound. Over the noise of the wailing siren he heard Sloane give out a groan of displeasure. “Damn it! There went my chance at a free morning!” Luca tossed his half eaten lunch on the table, knowing the self-cleaning would activate momentarily after the room was cleared.
He hurried down the long metal halls with Sloane, making their way to a loading bay not far from the cafeteria. On their way they passed dorms, offices, men and women by a few handfuls rushing to catch up with the others. Officially this base had about 80 people, most were on the technical staff and mechanical assistance, the rest, the smallest portion, actually were the battle ready team.
Luca was with the crowd of men that crowded into the hanger, Sloane right on his heels. The two rushed over to a large stand alone mech ((I’m thinking something like this: i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h375/Zachary_Schelling/GraditoraHeavysuit.png )) The machine was a threatneing height, to the point Luca needed the basic 25 step ladder to climb into the thing bay. It was a quick and fluid motion in which everything was set in place. Sloane worked steadilly on the computer bay with another woman and chewed on her lip as the mechs pieces began to lock into place. She looked up at Luca whe was in the process of connectling his arms and legs to the sensors for movement capabilities.
These mechs were designed to be like an extention of oneself, almost like just another layer of thick skin to the body. Luca found the whole thing cool, while others seemed to find it slightly wierd.
"Mech number 6. You're to investigate Code 1468. Biological anomoly discovered in sector 3 district 9. Location point 227. Wire triggerd in zone 3 area." Luca cursed slightly as the screen slid into place showing him the read outs of everything going on in the city outside. The map was displayed in a nice blue schamatic outline with a heat signature flashing on its center. Seems this creature had gotten pretty close to the barrier. Back in the old shopping district of Tokyo.
The snug darkened bay of the mech flashed a bright red color as the call came out for readiness check.
"Ready, bay 1-4. Ingnite." The roar of engines came from nearby, signifying to Luca it was almost game time. He spared a look to Sloane and shot her a thumbs up which the mech instantly immitated. SLoane smirked lightly before slidding her access card down the length of her keyboard. The mech's by door shut and Luca felt the familiar hum of the mech coming to life.
With a small breath in he focused himself on the task at hand. Images from the past sat on the edge of his thoughts, but he didn't call them to mind. He couldn't make this personal. If he did, it would surely destroy him.
-----
"Look at us. In our prime twenties and we're out here playing around with robots instead of getting laid." Sloane huffed, her lips becoming loose and her words slurred from the alcohol she all but downed at the bar off base.
She clung to Luca's arm for support though that seemed to not help so much. She still stumbled over herself making it aparent she wasn't going to make it back on base and even appear to be normal enough for inspections. It wasn't exactly ethical for any mech operator to be drunk at any time of day, seeing as they never knew when an attack might come. It was their job to kee people safe from the outside world, meaning they couldn't relly enjoy the world they had inside the dome.
"Sloane sometimes I wonder about you. For a small girl you've got a mouth like a--"
"Luca you know I'm one of the guys. Now you Italian should know what I'm saying about this injustice to our social lives. Aren't you guys suposed to be like love gods or something?"
Luca let out a laugh at Sloane but it was cut short when she suddenly slumped and nearly hit the ground. He quickly checked her, only to find she had finally passed out. With a small sigh, he hefted her up into his arms and carried her to the nearest hotel. He couldn't take her on base as drunk as she was now. They'd both get in serious trouble, worse trouble than if they both showed up tomorrow after missing that night.
It wasn't much from what he could afford on his salary but at least he got a room with a view. After putting Sloane to bed, he leaned against the railing, his eyes narrowing at the city bellow him. Everything seemed so much different at night, always lit up and bright from the signs and the lights built into the buildings.
Even the dome let off a light glow that flashed from time to time to let the opperators know it was still functioning.
For a moment Luca wondered what would happen if that dome came down, if all these lights were turned off and technology just disappeared. Would this world cease to exist or would humans only find another way to survive?
---------
(30 minutes ago)
Ryo watched the celebrating of the Utopian anniversary projected onto the wall of his office. He watched the people, his people rejoicing for yet another year of security, well being, and prosperity he had provided. When you got to rule what was left in the world, you learned to appreciate little things like the smiling faces of your naive citizens. You even learned to love their density when it came to the world around them.
Did they even realize their entire lives hung in the balance of a decaying world? Did they even realize that he, a man of only 25, could decide to kill them all and get it done with only one wave of his hand? No, he suposed they could fathom something like that, now could they.
He looked away from the screen when he heard the door to his office slide open and he looked over to find his secretary there, her head bowed low. "Sir, the labs think they've finally got it...." Ryo's eyes lit up with an odd curiosity, that wry smile of his spreading on his lips. It seemed everythign was falling into place quite nicely for him now. Quite nicely indeed.
((Wherever a “~~~” appears in this first post it’s a time jump. The first is about 10 years and the second is about 9 years. The last the "-----" is a time jump of only a few hours making it night time now. This is all open for anyone who wants to join. Any character is welcome, just keep in mind the futuristic time period and if you have any questions fell free to PM me. Happy posting.))