Chaos Theorem

Chapter 10: Meanwhile...

Maybe Kat McGuffin's story is interesting, and the world that is being created is fascinating. What is Chaos Theorem? What's Kat going to do about that leaderboard? Who lives? Who dies?
  Well, you'll have to wait to find out because this chapter isn't about Kat McGuffin, Nathaniel Grimsby, William Pie, Trixabelle Hazel or Penny Prince, may she rest in peace. No, this story is about a whole separate group of people.
  One of the people in this group was Yenn Li. His parents owned a warehouse and were selfish and greedy, and over the course of his life he'd stopped caring about anything. But after suddenly appearing in Funpark, he felt that his life was about to get better, free of his parents and his responsibilities.
  As we already know, he was very, very wrong.
  He was joined by two people at the time of the beginning of his story. One of them was a woman named Ava, her skin a beautiful shade reminiscent of honey, and dark brown hair that flowed like a waterfall down her shoulders. She wore a white, tatty long sleeved shirt beneath her meadow green and desert orange poncho, recycled from an old rug her neighbour had thrown out. She was very crafty, and in her family where money was scarce she made sure everything was used to its fullest.
  Yenn treasured people like Ava. She made him laugh and smile, and she cared about people and the environment too. She was fascinated by the little things, and Yenn thought that that was a good quality. It was one that he wished he had.
  His other friend, Alpha, was the exact opposite of Ava. He looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, his body hidden from sight. He had a cold, grey helmet with a neon magenta strop where his eyes would be (it was hard to tell if he could actually see through it) and he wore a brown shirt beneath which went all the way up his neck and was skintight, revealing all of his muscles. He had a navy blue jacket containing the wool of some green creature Yenn had never heard of and what appeared to be grey welder's gloves, but smaller and more flexible. His trousers were the same brown as his shirt, and his belt had holsters for guns but there no guns in them. Similar to the belt, his boots were brown leather, shining like a hippo.
  "Space cowboy?" Ava had said when she'd first seen him. She wasn't wrong.
  And Alpha was self-centred and obsessed with showing off his muscles, and his voice had a purring quality which made Yenn annoyed, but also made it hard for him to be angry at him. It had hypnotic quality which he used to set their minds on him.
  He was also pansexual, which was the first thing he'd said to Yenn after 'can I buy you a drink'. There was nowhere to even buy a drink. Yenn wasn't into guys anyway, nor was he into desperate people. Ava wasn't either, and she punched him when he asked to go out with her. Power to her; she had a plan and was going to stick to it.
  On that fateful morning, the unsuspecting trio were buying ice cream and taking the moment to vibe in the hot sunshine. Yenn had been used to the cold and this was a nice change of pace, however that didn't seem to be the case for Ava.
  "Do you ever wonder how this place works?" Ava asked Yenn suddenly, making him lose his train of thought. She had a Spanish accent, but she'd made it very clear that she had no idea what a Spain was, and that she came from a place called Eartha, whatever that was.
  "What?" Yenn replied, confused.
  "I don't know. This place always seemed... strange to me, ya know?" Ava admitted.
  "Yeah. I get that." Yenn shrugged, "It still is strange."
  "ICE CREAMS!" Alpha yelled, suddenly appearing and making Yenn and Ava scream.
  "Don't do that!" Yenn grumbled, "Also, you got three ice creams. I said I didn't want one."
  Yenn didn't want to spill the ice cream on his tank top - it was not only the only one he had on him but it was also his favourite, one of a brilliant and rich maroon. He also wore beige shorts which complimented his pale complexion, dark hair and eyebrows.
  "I know, dude," Alpha patted Yenn's shoulder roughly, "I got two for me. They ran out of double cones."
  Yenn sighed, "Of course you did."
  Ava started to lick her ice cream (orange flavoured) and added, "You guys need to start looking around and stop being so petty. Something's going to go wrong. I know it."
  "Sure. You keep dreaming." Yenn sighed, watching Alpha remove his helmet to eat his ice creams.
  His hair was naturally fluffy and a chocolate brown. He had a small beard, a purposeful slash out of his eyebrow and a metal ring in his left ear. He winked at Yenn as he stared at him, and startled, he turned away. He was suprised about how much one man could embarrass himself.
  "Aren't you going to do that video log thing?" Ava asked, disgruntled at nothing.
  "Yeah. It's as good a time as ever." Yenn shrugged, getting out his phone and opening up the camera.
  Yenn cleared his throat and looked at Ava. She stared worryingly back. It had been a long time... Then, she took a lick of her ice cream nonchalantly and made him laugh again.
  "This is day 16 of being stranded at this seemingly infinite theme park." he recorded after clearing his throat again.
  "I'm Ava Magmez of Eartha." Ava announced.
  "I'm Yenn Li of New York City, USA." Yenn added.
  "And I'm Alpha Moon of the deep pits of space," Alpha finished, "By the way, I'm single, and-"
  "Nothing much has changed since yesterday, but something still seems off. We don't know how we got here, and if anyone is watching this we need help." Yenn explained, cutting off Alpha.
  Yenn sighed and saved the video as is. It wasn't like anybody was going to see it, they'd have to be stalking his exact screen at the time of filming to do that. This was more of something which could be found footage in the future.
  Ding!
  "What was that?" Ava asked, perking her head up sharply, finishing her ice cream and then turning to Yenn.
  "Just my phone with a notification," Yenn sighed, "'The game will start soon.' What does that even mean? I need to stop downloading apps I see on the store..."
  "What app is it for?" Ava frowned.
  "God, I don't know. I don't remember downloading it, though..." Yenn shrugged.
  Alpha finished his ice creams and peered in too. It appeared that 'minigames' was the name of the app. It was such a simple name. Yenn couldn't believe he'd downloaded it, whether on purpose or by accident. It should never have caught his eye.
  "I know you two don't have phones," Yenn realised, "So, just saying, apps don't just download themselves unless it's from the company who makes the phone. I must've downloaded this app myself by accident at some point."
  Alpha sighed in mock disappointment. Yenn and Ava glared at him, and then Alpha replaced his helmet, ignoring the pair. The trio were mildly happy, even if they didn't physically show it. It was a simpler time. Little did they know, their lives would never be the same.
  "GAHH! AHHHHH!" came the scream.
  The woman had a burn down her face, the skin sizzling like it had just been touched by lava. But there was no sign of liquid! Yenn's pulse quickened, his usual response to not knowing what was going on.
  "It's acid rain!" Ava gasped, "We had it all the time back home."
  "What? No... no!" Alpha choked.
  Yenn watched him take a step back, and then Alpha started to turn and run. He didn't care about the crowd; he just pushed through them, knocking them to the ground as they all ran too. He had to get to safety. He didn't care about Yenn, or Ava, or anyone.
  "ALPHA, STOP!" Ava yelled at the muscular, writhing man.
  "WHAT, SO I CAN BE SIZZLED? No thanks!" Alpha wailed. Was he crying? He was the one who was causing more trouble!
  Before Yenn could get a word in, the whole square started to turn towards something rising in the distance. A flare! It was a vivid pink, and it wanted them to come to it! Most people turned away before they focused on it, but the three of them all saw it. They all saw safety.
  "I don't deserve this..." Alpha whimpered.
  "Actually, you do, but that's a conversation for another time." Yenn argued.
  "Hey!"
  "GO!"
  The three then all turned and ran towards the flare. The mutual understanding of living was there, even if Yenn undoubtedly knew that he'd started beef with-
  "AH!" Yenn yelled. He clutched his arm. He felt the world swirl around him as he realised that his whole arm had been burned.
  Ava grabbed him when he slowed, and the arm erupted in pain. But he ignored it. He had to press on. He had to press on. He had to press on. There was... no room for...
  "Wait... there's someone there!" Yenn gasped, seeing a head of ginger hair above a gun. A flare gun!
  The boy turned to them and beckoned them in hurriedly. He said something, but Yenn couldn't focus on him.
  "Are you ok, Yenn? That looks really bad!" Ava asked him, seeing the burn for the first time.
  "We need to keep moving." Yenn grunted.
  "Heck yeah we do!" Alpha spluttered.
  Many people ran past the boy, but not the three. Thankfully, they were all perceptive. And they all listened. And now, they would be able to enter the sewer pipe the boy was guarding in peace.
  Or so it seemed. But once they ducked past the boy, they entered a whole new chaos. A woman dressed in a yellow hazmat suit was now on the floor, screaming in pain and clamouring at her mask as if she couldn't breathe, but she wasn't burned whatsoever. A man in a similar white hazmat suit was beside her, begging her to tell him what was going on.
  Other people surrounded the pair, but none of them did anything. Just like Yenn, Ava and Alpha they had no idea what to do.
  The boy from outside then entered the pipe, "You all need to go now! The rain will flood in soon!"
  And almost everyone listened to him, but going back in what he'd thought before Yenn, Ava and Alpha ignored the command. They had to make sure that the hazmat pair were ok.
  "I can't leave Stella!" the man in the white hazmat suit agreed. So, Stella was her name, then.
  Stella kept on screaming louder and louder, blaring at them like a siren. Nobody knew why this was happening or what they could do, so they stood around her, providing the little comfort they could give. Yenn had never felt so useless, and he couldn't even imagine what it must've been like to be the white hazmat man.
  There was one last blood-curdling scream.
  And then silence. Stella stood up, removed her mask slowly and stared blankly into nothing.
  "Does she normally do this?" Alpha asked sarcastically.
  Hardly listening, the white hazmat man answered, "No! No! I'm scared, what's happening to her?"
  Stella then turned slowly and started to drag her heels down the pipe. She continued to not stare at anything, the only other movements being her slow blinking.
  They all looked at each other silently. There was something dreadful and dead about her movements, as if she was in a trance. Yenn looked at her face; her blank, brown eyes were the same colour as her skin, and her hair was long, black and greasy, as if she had been sweating, possibly having been bought on by the pain.
  The man in the white hazmat suit bent down to pick up her mask, but Yenn stopped him, "You don't need to bring that."
  The man stood up and Yenn finally focused his gaze on him as well. The man was about his height despite sounding a bit older (maybe a young adult, about 20), and he seemed shy and his stance was withdrawn. His white hazmat suit coated his slightly plump frame, and it was tied into metaphorical bows as his black gloves and boots protected his hands and feet. He seemed like he might've subtly been smart or that he was hiding something behind that mask other than his face, but he seemed like he was out of control at the same time. There was something about him that was comforting, like a pillow, where he was relatable in an offbeat sort of way.
  "What's your name?" Yenn asked calmly.
  "M- Matt. Sorry, stuttering..." Matt mumbled meekly.
  "Matt," Yenn nodded, "We need to follow Stella, ok? We'll help you, I promise."
  "I had no idea you had feelings," Alpha quipped, walking by us and still staring at Stella, "But that lady's going away really quick, we need to go."
  "Right." Yenn agreed. He was embarrassed that he was embarrassed that he'd said that...
  And so the five of them started following Stella into the pipe, her walk nimble like a rabbit's but clumsy like a brown bear. Yenn started to run faster, and the others all copied. Where on earth was she going?
  "What are your names?" the ginger boy panted, "I'm Adam. I promise I'm not normally this much of a main character."
  "I am Alpha," Alpha announced proudly, "The sad sack over there is Yenn, and the carpet woman is Ava. We can sacrifice them if we need to."
  "Do NOT makes fun of my poncho or someone will get hurt!" Ava snapped.
  "Who?"
  "You!"
  "Oh."
  Matt suddenly shook his head in distress and started to run as fast as he could. He grabbed Stella and tried to talk to her, but it was clear that she wasn't listening.
  Meanwhile, Adam lifted a hand, making them all stop at once. He was wearing armour, teal armour, and it clinked as he set it back down again. His freckles highlighted his fast moving blue eyes, and his mouth hung open slightly.
  Matt and Stella had now completely frozen too.
  The silence was deafening. The whole group stared into the infinite void, not knowing why they had stopped but knowing that something was wrong. Then, Yenn heard the rumbling. That was when the previous plan fell apart.
  Matt grabbed Stella, turned and ran back. Ava gasped and everyone else looked in awe. A monster was in the pipe!
  It appeared like a lizard, but it had robotic legs and a robotic eye. It was also huge, like a dinosaur. Its scales were green like toxic waste, and its mouth was stained red with...
  With its victims. There were no others, Yenn realised. They were all that was left.
  "GO!" Adam yelled, grabbing Yenn and Ava, the two closest to him, and running as fast as he could from the pipe.
  "WHAT ABOUT THE RAIN?" Alpha shouted back, his legs thundering on the floor regardless.
  But they didn't answer his question. They didn't need to. As they exited the pipe they saw that they had visual proof; the rain had stopped but the damage had already been done.
  Matt screamed and then started to bawl when he joined the others. Yenn's heart panged when he saw the man start to stumble and freak out uncontrollably, his friend still stood beside him, uncaring. Matt soon turned away from the sizzling corpses and the metallic smell. Yenn wished that he could too, but he was transfixed. He shook his head. This couldn't be real.
  "We... we can't stay here!" Yenn panted.
  The creature screamed from within the pipe and it echoed into all of their ears like an explosion.
  Yenn looked around frantically for something he could do to improve the situation. But all he could see were bodies, and blood, empty shops and a cliff...
  Wait..!
  "Could we trick it into going off there?" Yenn asked Ava, pointing wildly at the steep drop.
  "I- I don't know." Ava answered, covering her mouth with her hand.
  "It's worth a try," Adam answered for her, "But we need to do it now!"
  Yenn didn't look back, he just ran towards the edge. He had to save Ava and Alpha, and this might've been the only way. He'd also like to save his own skin, which was an added bonus and one that he would gladly take. He still had life left to live.
  As he peered over the edge, Yenn started to doubt himself. When he'd thought earlier of a steep cliff, he hadn't been expecting this. The rock edge had a slope, one that wasn't shallow but could still be survivable. Yenn looked up and then saw the thing standing there outside of the pipe. No time to second guess. He just had to make sure it went fast enough to go careening straight off.
  "What do we do now?" Alpha bellowed at Yenn obnoxiously.
  "Wait. And then duck." Yenn explained. It was a terrible plan, but it was all he had.
  "Stella can't duck!" Matt trembled, looking frantically around for someone to agree with him.
  "Push her over, then!" Yenn grumbled back, "Just be ready!"
  Yenn looked at Ava and she nodded at him. At least someone believed in him... but he didn't care if anyone believed in him. All they needed to do was simply-
  Scarlet was the colour of the lasers that landed on all of them. Yenn looked up from the beam on his chest and looked at the cyborg, now with a laser sticking out of the top of its scaly head. It was tracking them. The plan wouldn't work!
  "Ok, NOW WHAT DO WE DO?" Alpha chafed.
  Yenn looked into its soulless eyes. It wasn't going to stop, nor was it going to let them leave. It opened its mouth and more blood dripped out. Were they going to end up like the others in the pipe?
  No, that was not a part of the plan.
  Yenn looked over the edge of the cliff and gulped. There was only one thing to do, "JUMP!"
  "WHAT?" Alpha asked, angrier than ever.
  Yenn slid off before he could respond. He used the slope to grind his way down, his shoes wearing away but his eyes and head steady.
Ava suddenly appeared beside him, thinning her frame to make herself more streamlined. Yenn did the same, tucking his arms behind his back and leaning forward. Alpha appeared on the other side, and then three sets of shoes scraped the cliff behind him and it was clear that they all did trust him after all. Or maybe they just desperately didn't want to die. Probably a bit of both.
  Yenn should've remembered; it was the lizard next to follow. It made him flinch, but he quickly composed himself and watched the convulsing creature scream as it headed towards the ground at breakneck speeds. It felt over their heads like a bomb, but it was heading towards the ground and impact was inevitable.
  The creature eventually hit the ground with a loud, agonisingly wet slap, and then it lay still.
  The group were soon to join it there, except alive rather than dead. Was it dead? Yenn poked it, and it didn't move. Yeah, it was a goner all right...
  The black rocks below it were stained with blood. Yenn picked one up and rubbed its smooth surface. His eyes narrowed; he'd never seen rocks like it. He'd never seen a beach like this! It was beside a river, and it seemed that there was no way back up.
  Although, it was worth noting that above them there was a train track, and behind them was the wall. Maybe it was inclined just enough to slide down, but it was too steep to go back up. At this point Yenn was just happy to be alive. They'd worry about escaping and getting up there later.
  Yenn laughed to himself and then sat down on the rocks. He'd never felt so alive in his life.

***

  It had been a few days.
  Night had settled beside the river, and Stella had been left all by herself, her mind as blank as ever. The world moved lazily by, the nighttime giving everything a shadowy tint. Surely enough, the others had found a way out but they had set up camp here, where they always knew that there was water to drink that was clean (or at least seemed clean, according to Matt).
  Stella watched the waves, but she didn't have any opinions about them. She didn't acknowledge that they existed.
  She never acknowledged anything, not any more. The worst part was that nobody knew why, and Matt had to watch his friend suffer in silence.
  But she definitely was aware of the crash from the train tracks above, and then the train carriage falling into the water. Then, she watched it burn. She didn't have any opinions about the flames. She didn't even acknowledge that they existed, once again.
  Little did she know, thimgs were going to change for their little group in an unexpected way...
  Not that she would have acknowledged it, of course. She'd leave that to the others.

To be continued...