Trials of Survival

Chapter 3: Gearing Up

1:53 PM

I'd fitted my vest back over my chest, and clipped the mask back over my face. 'Yesterday' was a hassle, in all honesty. I couldn't really tell when day or night was, just had to go off our inner clock... or the clock on the computers. 

After Jack cleaned himself up, he decided to scroll through the desktop. There wasn't a whole lotta anything, it was a blank slate, like someone had wiped the hard drive. Dave thought he could do somethin with it, so in turn, he was assigned to tinkering with the thing. There wasn't much else he could do after all. 

On an off note, all our weapons were tattered from our encounter with those rabbit things... so Jack oh so graciously gave ME the job, to go scour the place for makeshift weapons... He'd keep guard over Dave, but in all honesty, I just guessed he couldn't be bothered to help. 

"Listen, I gotta watch over Dave! The man can barely walk, and you're saying we should just, leave him all alone?" Jack fake pouted, patting Dave on the shoulder, which he obviously shied away from, wincing in pain.

"Plus, there's a fat ass gate over that side, the only opening I gotta worry about is that side." He gestured to the open half of the Supply Room, to the left. The right side was hidden away by a corrugated gate, it concealed the cave behind it.

"Why can't I just watch over him? I feel like you'd have an easier time reaching things with your long ass arms!" I replied, crossing my arms with a glare behind my mask

"Tsk. I'm nowhere near as burly as you are, see my arms are noodles! Do you really think I could carry much?" Jack raised an arm, flexing his bicep... Though I couldn't really make out much of a difference .

"... Fine. You can take my knife, keep him safe, yeah?" I unsheathed the blade and pushed the weapon into his hands. 

"Sure, fine by me!" Jack felt along the edge of the blade, smirking a little. "Good luck out there! Promise I'll come with once Dave's all healed!" 

"I'll... Yeah, I'll come around too... It's not the best to send out one man to fend for himself, three is better than one...! You could always get... swarmed..." He shuddered, running a finger down his bandaged face. 

"... Thanks." I replied, turning around, sending them a curt wave as I trudged off. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1:55PM

As of now, I was trudging on through the gardens with a slight hobble. Needless to say, this place looked a little more overgrown than usual. It's probably hitting spring though, there were red flowers blooming all over the shop. The once barren bushes loaded with the things, and in the Garden Cave, they were sprouted all over the floor. 

I... had no reason to touch those things, mainly due to the fact that they were spewing yellow flaking specks of glowing pollen all over. I wasn't sure if I was gonna get some new sort of cancer from the stuff, or if I'd just be sneezing for weeks, but I wasn't risking my life over such trivial matters.  

The grass softly parted beneath my boots as I wandered the cave. It wasn't much, just greenery with a shit ton of yet-to-be-built infrastructure. I... I'm not sure why I came here first. Though, there was one thing I could take. 

Someone in the construction crew was probably looking to chop down some of the foliage in here, and so, there was a Machete dug deep into the trunk of one of the bigger trees. Guess the man forgot it... but, hey, another man's junk is another man's treasure. 

I walked up to the tool and gripped it's handle tight. With a swift tug, I ripped the blade from the trunk, at the sudden jolt, I stumbled back a tad, eventually finding purchase against the sturdy trunk of a tree. 

Looking down at the machete in my hands, I smiled beneath my mask. It was in... average condition, the handle was crudely wrapped with dirty cloth rags, the grip was probably worn from years of use. The blade was in decent condition though, it had a few chips, and the edge was a little dull, but all in all, it could cut and it could kill. 

With a flourish, I tucked the machete into my utility belt. I don't know how I felt about having a sharp object hanging so loose, right against my thigh... so I made sure to bind it tight. Hopefully I wouldn't bleed out. 

I turned around and began to walk back out the cave, when I heard the rustling of leaves. I spared a glance over my shoulder, and spotted multiple pairs of glowing eyes staring down at me from the tree tops. 

A horrible buzzing noise came, along with the creaking of branches and the clicking of mandibles... nope, nope fuck that, FUUUUCK THAT! 

I hurried along my merry way, leaving the freaks to their own devices. Luckily, they didn't follow me, but I felt their eyes boring right into the back of my skull as I rounded the corner. I felt a little out of breath, my heart racing. With a deep breath, I calmed my nerves enough for my heart to slow... 

I stood on the walkway overlooking the once Server Room. Water was pouring from the burst pipes in the ceilings, from here... I swore I saw indents in the metal. Ehh, probably just my mind. I glanced about, and as I remembered, there was  Fire Axe case here. 

It was beautiful, perfect condition, hefty and sharp... glistening a beautiful red, the paint having not flake once, not a speck of rust, or the wear and tear of age on the wooden neck. A beautiful rubber grip, running along nearly the entire handle, not a single mark. There was just one problem, it was tucked away securely behind bulletproof glass. 

The cases never opened, not unless the power was cut, or if there was an emergency. But, I mean... I can't just leave such a beautiful weapon behind, could I? 

I unhooked the crowbar from my back, then promptly tried jamming the chisel end into the small gap in the case. It slipped a few times, scratching the red paint off as it dragged along the metal, letting out a horrible screeching noise, but in the end, I jammed the thing right in. 

Putting my weight into the crowbar, I shoved it just a little further into the gap, until it held firm. With it nice and tight in the gap, I grabbed ahold of the handle and leaned back. 

Creak... Creak... Crack, SNAP! 

I fell back on my ass as the casing snapped open, the lock breaking off and flying into the waters below, rippling the ever shallow water. The crowbar flew from my hands and skidded across the concrete, landing just a few feet away from me. 

With a groan, I got to my feet, walking over and scooping up the crowbar from the floor. Without much thought, I hooked the crowbar back into place, then I made my way over to the Axe. I carefully unclipped the hefty thing from it's case and felt it in my hands. 

It was heavy, but balanced, holding a great deal of power within it's frame. With a smirk, I carefully brought the axe over my shoulder then slotted it through the gap in the back of my vest. It definitely didn't hold firm, but it wasn't falling out, and I wasn't in danger of splitting my skull open, so it was fine in my book. 

 Sighing, I took a glance over at the flooded Server Room, and uh... There was something staring back at me, multiple things actually. Four grey humanoid shark things... Wide eyes, a striking yellow. They were lean, short and all had slick grey skin. Giant, sharp teeth, all bared. They were stood low, eyes narrowed, snouts wrinkled. They all had thick tails, swaying softly behind them, creating soft ripples in the water

They uh... didn't look very happy to see me. They all ran, teeth bared foaming at the mouths, stumbling over each other as the tried to clamber up the slippery concrete walls. Nope, nopenopenope, no thank you! 

I rushed hurriedly though the automatic doors to Waste Disposal, the sounds of angry barks and growls growing faint as the doors closed behind me. I hurried around the corner, leaning up against one of the shelves... I let out a slightly shuddering breath as I cooled my nerves. 

I didn't want to spend too much time here, after all, it was filled to the brim with radioactive barrels of waste... Hell, there might be more acid bunnies too! Not to mention the giant pit of no return in the centre of the room. 

From what I knew, people just dumped the barrels of waste down that hole, and ignored it, but there were still barrels aplenty, some leaking out onto the floor... I swear I saw small crystals poking from the puddles... 

I shook my head, glancing about. This place had a few tools from what I remembered, it used to be a storage bay after all... well, before they started doing tests with nuclear power and or weaponry. They probably did all that down in the North Sector... but I guess I'll never know!... Hmm.

I pushed myself off the wall and speed walked down through the side hall. Barrel of Radioactive waste... Barrel of Radioactive waste... Barrel of Radioactive waste... Med-kit! I scooped up the med-kit and clipped it to my utility belt. It hung opposite of my machete, swaying softly with every step. 

My tools weighed me down, clacking about as I walked, some swaying loose, some taut and firm. Then, I soon came to the hall's end and left through the doors, coughing a little. I felt a slight tingle on my skin, through my tough clothes... yep, I'm getting the fuck out of here. 

As I jogged out, I caught a slight glimpse of another knife, sat neat on one of the shelves. Scooping it up quickly, I carefully slotted it in one of my last belt pockets then hurried out the room. 

The doors parted and closed, and the tingling sensation slowly died. Needless to say, I made my way away from there quickly. Speed walking down the stairs, I made my way towards Storage Bay 1 through the Support Cave.