Nightmare Fantasy 2: A soldier's story

Chapter 25: Home

Once decided, they planned carefully, then set out as Marix guided. He remained calm and collected. However, Chaos knew he still was yet troubled greatly. She wished she could be more help to him, but Marix seemed even more distant than ever. He didn't even give eye contact when she came near him.

Unable to be of any use to him, no connection with Guard, and desiring not to get in the middle of Sky and Orionna's budding relationship, she resigned herself to study the unvaried scenery. The wasteland desert of Hiesu was vast and empty. Truth be told, she hadn't traveled much in it. There was no point. Very few things existed there, and nothing grew. Basically, this vast area between Hiesu and Narias was a place to dispose and forget about unwanted things.

After a week or so of travel with a desert covered craft in which they could camp tightly within, they reached Marix's destination. A large lone building pierced the monotony of reddish-orange dirt. Remnants of wired fence curled the perimeter with a worn sign.

Sky eye's popped as he shot a glance toward Marix, "What are we doing in an insane asylum?!"

Marix sighed, looking at the worn sign. He didn't seem inclined to make a comment.

They pulled up and walked about, a much needed leg stretch felt relieving after the travels. Marix instantly walked to the door and picked the lock. The place looked abandoned inside, dark and gloomy. The windows had been barred up. Chaos looked about at the furniture. It was worn from many years of use.

Marix went straight for the security station as he triggered the solar backup power system. It whirred up flinchingly, not wanting to be woken from its slumbering death throws. The building was left to decay. It was an architectural mummy from another time period. Chaos looked at bizarre abstract pictures on the wall. She stared in mild unease at a bunch of jagged triangles of black, red, and yellows. She almost thought she saw a face grinning in the shapes with a wide, freaky smile.

"I hated that picture the most," Marix walked by as the others drifted about the space. He looked at her like he desperately wanted to say something but couldn't muster the words. He tapped his leg restlessly, then nodded away to distract himself with the task he came to deal with.

Chaos wanted to say more for comfort. He was breaking down within himself to keep his composure up. When he needed someone the most, he made distance. He was like that as a child, too.

Despite it all, she shadowed near him. Not really near to make him uncomfortable, but over at a distance carefully the whole while. He knew her presence was near as his eyes drifted her way from time to time but made no comment.

Marix cracked the door codes with ease. It was apparent he had lived here awhile. The rest followed along as Marix proceeded further into the maze of corridors of olive green chipped paint.

"We're going to the maximum security area?" Guard whispered to Sky.

Marix turned to him with a silent frown. It was hard to discern the meaning. Sky intermediated, "Let's keep moving, right?" but at the same time brought Orionna closer. Chaos walked through the entrance, giving a cool nod as she slid past Marix. She could never fear his presence.

She strode into the large ward. Scratch marks lined the paint as she noted a more chaotic environment. It was an eerie thing to note such a brutal history, also seeing it now void and empty. Parts of the ceiling fascia crumbled down, making the hollow hallways a mess of rubble, stretchers, and dust. Each side of the hallway small, simple rooms fitted with a small metal cot spaced its expanse. Branching down other halls and sectioned off by strong metal gates, the complex was a huge maze. At the ends of most halls, an open C-shaped area seemed like a communal space with several medical offices behind a reinforced glass nursing space.