Survivors of Alterna: Final Run

Chapter 1: The Bowels

How long had it been since they started walking? Minutes? Hours? It was hard to say, especially since he couldn't tell time when the sun was nowhere in sight.

Towering mechanical constructs had blocked off the sky; the area was so cluttered and packed together that it looked like there was a ceiling.

Light was scarce, with the only source being the flickering bulbs connected to the cracked walls and wet ground.

As Akikta limped down the slightly narrow pathway, he looked over at Nakji, who helped him along. She looked exactly how he felt, terrible. He didn't enjoy using her as a crutch when she was just as wounded as him, but he couldn't walk straight otherwise.

Akikta sighed, disappointed in himself. How could he have been so blind? All of this was entirely preventable had he not been stuck on stupid. But no, he just had to trust a man on the radio. Or rather, salmon on the radio.

Just as Akikta was about to berate himself for his stupidity, Nakji yelped in pain and fell. She took Akikta with her as she tumbled down. Luckily, he landed on his side, albeit with a pained groan.

His vision blurred for a few seconds after impact, but when it cleared, he noticed something in a nearby garbage pile. He'd mentally make note of it for now.

Akikta sat up and faced Nakji. "You alright?" He asked, assuming she had tripped over something. However, he realized there was nothing for her to have tripped over, as everything was cluttered to the sides or on the walls.

Regardless, the octoling lightly rubbed her foot as if it were in pain. "Yeah. It just... stings..." Nakji responded, wincing softly.

Akikta looked down, figuring she stepped on something. All he saw was a tiny puddle of water.

He recalled Nakji mentioning how she couldn't swim. Something about the water splatting her... whatever that meant. She did exaggerate, saying she'd die. Though, maybe it wasn't an exaggeration.

The water used by the cephalopods was always heavily filtered. He could tell because of its strong smell and weird taste. Maybe something about normal water was dangerous to them? Come to think of it, water hurt Chaska too...

Akikta would put that thought on the back burner for now. He needed Nakji to keep walking, and if these puddles were going to be a problem, they wouldn't be getting anywhere. "Here." He started shifting over to his feet. The pain caused by simply bending his joints made him grunt. It was similar to being painfully sore after an intense workout, but he was thankful for the sensation. It told him the parasites hadn't eaten his nerves... yet.

Nakji watched as Akikta unbuckled the straps on his black boots, only to slide them off and hand them to her. "They may be a little big, but they should protect your feet better than those cloths you call socks."

Her eyes narrowed in response to Akikta's comment. When she realized he was being serious, her eyebrows curled upward. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine. I like walking barefoot anyway." He assured. This was partially true; otherwise, he'd wear socks with his shoes.

After a moment of hesitation, Nakji took his boots and began putting them on.

While she did that, Akikta's attention returned to what he saw underneath the small garbage pile. It stuck out to him because it wasn't the usual trash they came across, like scrap metal or broken pipes. He leaned over, noticing it had a rectangular shape, but looked busted. Akikta gripped the top half of the item, easily pulling it out from underneath the pile. Smaller pieces of debris, dust, and water droplets fell from the object. There was no smell, thankfully.