Planet Cypro

A Blue Moon(WIP)

"This is going to be the most dangerous journey we've ever taken in our entire lives. This could be the journey where we die. Our final moments could be ahead of us. Are you sure you don't want to wait any longer?" Kayla nods and says "I'm ready babe. The longer we wait, the more dangerous things could become." After I woke up from that.. dream.. and yes, I'm gonna call it a dream, Kayla and I discussed what we should do after yesterday's incident. Fixing the ham radio is a bust. If Alesha couldn't do it after three whole months, then Kayla and I sure won't be able to figure it out. Making our way to the military base is our only option. With that in mind, we have to consider everything that can happen on our way over there. To start, there's the distance we must travel. Forty three miles. Before the world was like this, a person could've walked that many miles safely, and maybe even in a day or two if they jogged or hurried through it. In the world we live in now however.. that'll take weeks if not months. So, Kayla and I gathered supplies for the journey, as well as roughly mapped out the route we can take to get there. It's in the next town over, and there's a few stores we can go to on our way. Luckily for us, while those beasts do roam around outside, there's not a ton of them as far as we know. They constantly kill each other, not just us. With it being just Kayla and I, we can easily sneak our way to the base provided we're careful. Unfortunately though.. they have a strong sense of smell. One of the others used to go on hunting trips with his family before things went down, so he has scent hiding sprays that we can use. Back when there were more of us, someone stole a bottle of his scent hiding spray and tried to venture outside. It worked for the most part, until he made sound and was spotted. Died instantly. Someone tried to go outside to find the bottle he had the next day, and it wasn't even five minutes before they smelled the next guy without the spray. We watched from the inside each time it happened.. and it was terrible to witness every time. In a way.. we can learn from their deaths. Now, I said the first guy made too much sound and was found that way. The sound he made was from moving a metal dumpster lid and slamming it shut. It's not like he stepped on a twig or some glass, or kicked an empty soda can. It was a very loud sound. There were beasts very well within 100 feet of him, so they definitely can't hear over the intense never ending rain unless it's a very drastic loud sound. Finally, with us being able to sneak past those horrific monsters, is surviving the harsh conditions. It's around fifty eight degrees Fahrenheit outside at all times, whether during the day or night, so we'll need to stay warm. These things aren't blind however, so we can't just light a fire, or use any sort of heating element. We're a married couple, so sharing body heat won't be awkward or a second thought in staying warm, but there's also the winter hunting gear we have available. We never originally thought to check either, but earlier today we.. reluctantly, went down to the ground floor and looked around for any other survival gear kits that may contain anything useful. We actually found a few more weapons. A couple ARs and some pistols that were left down here. Whoever owned them must've been set up down here without us knowing, because there was a sleeping bag with some old eaten canned food next to them as well. We managed to find more survivalist supplies as well. Different crafting kits, medical kits, and so on. Military grade backpacks we can use to carry stuff with us. Then, there's food and sanity. Sanity will be mostly taken care of by the fact that we're together, we're married, and that we trust each other. Food won't be so easy. The smell is one thing, and then you have perishables. Perishable food can be good for months depending on what it is, but perishable food also contains a lot of things that make it aromatic due to marketing, as well as preservation of the food itself. We won't be bringing any of this along. It also has to be food that's pre made. We have granola packets, a lot of them, enough to last us for a couple weeks. There's also some protein packets to keep our strength up. That should be plenty, as we plan on looting stores and other buildings along the way. The monsters typically don't go inside buildings. They like the rain and UV light that gets through the clouds. I guess to them it's like sunlight. Finally, we need the opposite. Protection from that UV lighting. It can burn our skin, much like getting a sun burn on a cloudy day. We also need protection from the chilling rain. There's ponchos, umbrellas, and winter hunting gear, but we won't be using umbrellas due to the jarring movements they can require, as well as the noise they can make. We have two pistols each, and twenty eight 'mags' for them. One of the other survivors used to call them clips.. but they're called mags. I'm not a gun nut, but I at least know that. Then we have two ARs, and twelve mags for those too. I feel sick to my stomach doing this.. but again, Kayla is right. The longer we wait, the more dangerous things will become. It's morning, so this is our best chance to get as far as we can before night. Temperatures have dropped severely since three years ago. Most likely due to the planet's climate changes. It's actually drifting farther from the Sun the last we heard. I guess I didn't mention that there was a radio station that still functioned and broadcasted music to people, but.. it was found and destroyed by the alien beasts a year ago. We were getting constant updates from it, I guess they had contact with people from NASA, who had contact with people from Washington D.C and so on. The Earth is now drifting away from the Sun at considerable speed, for now anyways. It's expected that the orbit could also end up pulling us closer to the Sun with the planet's increased mass. For now, it'll be an elliptical orbit, so living underground will be a must in the near future. The sooner we get to that military base, the better. Kayla comes up to me with a slight smile and wraps her arms around me. I sigh softly and holder her as well. My hands glide along her backside, and I just get lost in the momentary embrace, stopping time around us as I just melt into her warmth. I bring my hand up against her face, and she leans her cheek against it, her smile growing slightly as I lean against her lips for a loving kiss. We hold each other for a moment as I lay over her shoulder and hug her tightly. I say "Are you ready to head out? No point in waiting any longer right?" I feel her nod once as she presses her face against my neck and squeezes me. She says "I'm ready." I know she's scared. I am too. This will be the first time in years we've set foot outside since all of this happened. I lean back from her and grab my backpack and other gear, holstering an AR around my back with a strap, and simply holding the pistol in my hand. I have a flashlight with me for emergencies, and I mean absolute emergencies. Then, I have some lighters in my pocket. Food and other supplies are all in the backpacks. We're on the first floor right now, and the door is now only visually barricaded by a few office chairs. We have our ponchos worn beneath the backpacks, and then metallic tarps draped over them to protect the contents inside, just in case. We definitely look weird, but we're not doing this for fashion. We both have the same TimberMan steel toed shoes on, and after a couple minutes of checking each other up on equipment, we start moving the office chairs. I say softly "No matter what, we need to not let ourselves be distracted. This could be the hardest journey we've ever made, but then again, it could be as easy as just walking there. There's no telling what we'll run into. If things go smoothly, we need to stay on edge and not let our guard down." Kayla nods and says "I know hun. We mapped the route as best as we could, it shouldn't be hard in terms of terrain. Maybe we'll get there sooner than expected." I smile at the thought, moving the last chair out of the way. I look at her with a grin and say "Maybe." and open the doors. We're met with the loud pouring rain and thunder that's constantly pounding the world around us. As I said before, it's been raining like this for three years without a single break. This is as light as it gets in terms of how bad the storms can be. We're lucky conditions are the way they are at the moment. I have my gun in hand, as does Kayla, and we step out into the rain. I look around carefully, being sure to check the area around us for any sign of movement. I reach into my poncho's pocket and pull out a spray can of scent blocker. I spray myself all over, and then do the same to Kayla. Probably should've done that inside, but I guess sometimes there actually is room for human error. I set the can back in my pocket, and we simply start walking our way through the rain. I look around, and I see tall broken down buildings, some with massive mustard yellow roots growing through them. Huge streams of water pour down from inside them, and occasionally you'll see a chunk of debris fall from them. The roots are constantly moving, although so slow you wouldn't be able to tell by staring at it. They move about as far as the moon moves away from the Earth in a year, which.. I don't even think is a centimeter? Something like that. It's enough to disturb the buildings into slightly crumbling occasionally. As we walk, I start looking around the immediate area. I see dead bodies that have sprouted vines and roots to start spreading throughout the area, and I immediately recognize one. The man who tried to first escape this building. I only recognize the clothing, his body is now almost indistinguishable from the ground. Luckily there's no smell coming from it. I feel Kayla tug on my arm, and as I go to turn around, I see movement ahead. We both freeze in place as one of those horrific beasts crawls from over a large root lying across the ground ahead, and it looks directly at us. It doesn't notice us though as it continues to look around before tensing up leaping across to a small restaurant roof ahead, and then bounding away behind it. We both sigh softly with relief, and I turn to say "What were you wanting babe?" and she says "I was just warning you of that thing, I saw movement ahead of us." I nod and continue to move on forward. I continue to look around, seeing smaller restaurants, businesses, and apartment buildings that have corroded away, or have collapsed into themselves because of the roots. We're currently walking down an unblocked road adjacent to the building we were in. We'll be able to follow this road for a few miles before a colossal root blocks the rest of the way. We'll have to head south after that for another few miles and then continue east again. I hear rumbling emit from a building down the road, and then a loud commotion from inside. Kayla and I quickly crouch and get to cover next to a small alley way, and we peek around to see a beast come blasting through the wall of a small apartment building, holding a live person in its jaw. They're screaming in pain, and the beast just sits there, holding them in its mouth, blood pouring out as their torso is slightly crushed by the teeth. They look around frantically, and then spot us just barely, and right as they're about to call out to us, the beast chomps down and crushes whatever it had a hold of, killing them instantly as they tense up before going limp. Thr beast sets them down and starts eating them as if it was a cat eating a mouse, tearing bits and pieces away until there's hardly anything left. I wanna throw up at the sight. Kayla isn't even looking, she's just bundled up waiting for the horror to be over. After a few minutes, the carnage is over, and the beast swiftly leaps away to search for its next victim. I rub Kayla's shoulder, and I see her crying a little. I hold her against me and say "We'll make it baby, I promise. We're making good progress." She nods and tries to smile, but I know she's still deeply disturbed. I am too, but I do my best to keep those feelings locked up for right now so we can focus on advancing forward. We get back up and start making our way down the street again. The rain is starting to pick up quite a bit. It's been about twenty or thirty minutes since we left the building, and so far.. we're making it farther than I first expected us to. Now I expect us to make it a great deal farther. We can do this. We actually have a chance as long as we're simply careful. Our first stop is coming up. From the very top of the building one day, we were able to roughly map out a path to the base according to what looked intact between here and there. If we were right, then there should be a string of restaurants and stores on a large street up ahead that should be mostly intact. These ponchos are doing their job well at least. It's not freezing cold, but it's not cozy and warm either. We do have thermal clothes on because of that, clothes we found about a year ago because we could tell the temperature was dropping. Kayla is right next to me, holding my hand through the poncho as we walk. We're not speed walking, we're literally just.. walking. The slowest walk you could go, as if you were walking through a mall while window shopping. We have to constantly watch what's around us, and even behind us. The last thing we need is something creeping out from behind a wall thirty seconds after we pass by and we not see it, so.. we're more or less doing a tour style walk. We keep a slow pace while constantly looking around at everything to check for movement or life. There's zero issue with false alarms. If you think you see movement, you alert the other, and we hide or hold still until we're certain it's okay. No arm swinging, and no admiring the apocalyptic aesthetic that haunts this new broken world. This is beyond stressful, but if we can make it all the way, then it'll be worth it in the end. Dying with it being just the two of us, alone in that building.. is unthinkable. On top of that, there's no telling since those beasts found us that there wouldn't have been a chance where one if not both of us would've died shortly after. That brings me back to that strong disgusting scent I kept smelling right before that attack, and the dream I had. I'd never felt anything like it before. That was truly the strangest experience I've ever had, even beyond this whole alien terraforming monster invasion crap. Still, it was just a dream I'm sure, a very lucid one. The smell on the other hand, maybe.. that's something I could use to know if we're too close to those things. Maybe it's a scent they release when they know we're there, and they're excited about hunting their prey. Either way, it's a sign that those things are around, and that's a very important discovery. After a few more minutes, we've finally reached the street, and when we round the corner, we see thankfully that things are mostly unharmed. At the very least, we have shelter for a while before we start moving again. We plan on staying inside one of these buildings for maybe an hour, and then the rest of the day we'll spend walking to the next stopping point. I'm hopeful still that we'll make it. Things are going smoother than expected. A couple close calls but.. I guess every encounter with those things will be a close call, and I doubt we're gonna be able to avoid experiencing more. I hate that we have to do this without the others. It's unfair that they had to die they ways they did. Just thinking about it makes me feel such intense anger and hatred towards these things. My fists are balled up now thinking of it, but I sigh and let the thoughts slip away. I need to remain focused on my surroundings before my thoughts get me killed. I see a half broken down store up ahead. We'll stop there. I look around at another tall skyscraper that's nearly intact except for a large root that carved through half of it. Impressive that the building is still standing. I continue looking around through the down pouring rain and flashes of lightning, seeing nothing moving around. I glance at Kayla who's doing the same, and I smile a little and relax myself even more, still paying attention to the world around me though. I can't say it enough. Kayla is my life. I wish I could recall every single memory her and I ever made, and maybe someday I will. A lot of the memories I've recovered are all just exclusively of her, and her love and care and kindness. I'm happy to also see in those memories that I returned the same level, if not more, of love and affection. My love for her fuels my bravery and motivation to get us through this. I will.. get us through this. No freakin alien beast will touch her as long as I have a breath in my body. We're finally at the store now. It's time we go in and get set up for a while.