Universe Undone

Chapter 13: The Enemy of My Enemy Part 1

While continuing their long journey to Reflex Point, Scott and his team end up spending the night in a mountain pass, only to face a new dangerous enemy, who ruthlessly attacks and even injures one of their own. Now tasked with the mission of saving a life, they must head to the same mysterious city that Stan and William had discovered earlier before it's too late.

Meanwhile, Daniel and Morane continue their grand plans for a proposed drug empire, while also learning more about each other, as well as what it will take to ensure success.

Stan while making plans of his own, acquires a new loyal servant who can help him track down more Protoculture. Soon after, William is awakened from a horrible dream and learns that what he once believed is actually far worse than he ever imagined, and fears it might be too late to stop what's coming.

Chapter 13: The Enemy of My Enemy

In less than a week after leaving the tropics, the band of survivors had finally made it to the north-lands, where they now found themselves in the freezing temperatures of the mountains; ice and snow as far as the eye could see. At first, Scott hadn't even planned on stopping in this area, but unfortunately Lunk's APC and the hover car was slowing them down. Not only that, but quite a few members of the team were also too tired and hungry to go any further. They were now just about as low on energy as they were on Protoculture, and would need to conserve both if they hoped to continue on their long journey.

Scott knew this as well, which is why he realized they didn't have any other choice. They had to stop.

Now approaching the summit of a mountain highway, Rook and Lancer, riding their cyclones, were helping to escort the APC along the old road which lead to the mountain pass. Lunk had rigged a chain pulley system on the back of the truck that was towing the hover car behind it. Justin and Brian were seated in the front seats of the GMP land rover, while Victoria, Marlene, and Annie were seated in the back with all the boxes of supplies. All three of the girls had thick blankets wrapped around themselves, trying to keep warm. Justin wore an old brown trench-coat he had picked up from an abandoned town back when the survivors had to make a quick stop a few days ago.

He was still reeling from his last conversation with William, where he'd learned that not only was his old friend Stan not human—but also a great danger to them all should they encounter him. Unfortunately, the truth about Stan turning out to be some kind of murderous monster seemed to be more than he could handle mentally. But he'd already seen what Stan had done to William, and also learned that the android had not only slaughtered a bunch of Invid, but also massacred an entire town of people as an act of revenge.

What had they done to deserve death? Justin wondered.

He knew people could be jerks to outsiders, but that still wasn't any reason to kill them. Even back home the people of Atlantis City had been hostile towards him and his comrades, but they didn't kill them for it. Instead, they just it go and avoided them altogether, because that's what you were supposed to do. Still, it made Justin wonder what had happened to Stan to make him this way, or even if he would do it again if given the chance. And if he did, would it possibly be all of them he takes out this time? That was a kind of fear Justin had been trying to hide as of late—hiding it under his usual style of humor, trying to pretend he wasn't screaming on the inside. After all, playing Devil's advocate was something he would rather avoid if he could help it.

But at least he had Brian to lean on for support, even though the guy had been spending more time with Marlene since leaving that island. It had probably surprised Justin more than anyone else that those two had become something of an item, although he had a feeling that Rook wasn't too keen about it either, which would explain why she had been keeping her distance from Brian lately. Whether it was out of respect, or because she had a difficult time managing her jealousy, Justin didn't know. But he'd caught her sour expression from time to time, and even had to laugh about it.