Planet Cypro

Glowing Signs(WIP)

It's been about thirty minutes, and we're still in the torn down convenience store, one that looks like it's full of plenty of water. We're weary of trying to eat any of the food. We don't want to have to guess what's rotten or old and what's non perishable. No need to risk it when we brought plenty of our own. Tools on the other hand might come in handy, but they'll have to be light. The store is torn down on one side, but the other side is mostly intact, providing shelter, and a place to hide. The back entrance was on the far side of the store, so this side's only entrance is the front door and the far broken down side. In all honesty though.. those things don't need an entrance when they can make one through pretty much anything. They don't have x-ray vision as far as I know, so this still makes for a good spot anyway. We've been resting mostly, although now would be a good time to start looting before we head back out. Kayla found a couple multi-tools which might come in handy for some survival situations. I decided to grab some extra batteries and some flashlights for emergency use. We couldn't find any sort of medical supplies, but so far we have no use for them. Duct tape was a good find, I was able to scavenge a couple rolls of it. The isle shelf for just happened to be crushed by the ceiling, which tore most of the packages. Rain ruined what was opened. I walk over to Kayla who's still sitting on a soft box of sodas, and she stands up when I approach. We're still wearing all our gear, so I simply give her a quick kiss and turn to walk out of the store. We start carefully looking around again, making sure to keep a constant eye on every little spot where one of those things could just happen to waltz out from. The rain is pouring heavier than before, but not enough to hinder our progress. The wind has picked up a bit though, which makes it hard to see good in one direction, but blocking the rain with our hands helps with that enough. We're now walking down the street once again. The plan is to walk until it gets too dark to see out. By that time we should be at the next stop point, but if that doesn't work, we have a large silver tarp in Kayla's backpack that'll provide us cover. All we would really do is find a tight obscure alleyway and huddle up in a corner and throw the tarp over ourselves so we can just.. sleep through the night. It would probably be incredibly uncomfortable.. but it's better than dying to those things.. right? If it wasn't for the constant pressure and fear of looking out for those beasts.. I'd say this trip is gonna get incredibly boring, very fast. Not like I can just pull my phone out and start playing Vinecraft. Kayla starts quietly humming a song to herself. I don't recognize it, not that I remember very many anyways. A couple really, but I don't find them interesting. I continue to keep a watchful eye out, and I ask "What song is that?" just barely above the rain. She thinks for a second and then says "I'm not sure. It's just a tune stuck in my head, maybe from a memory I don't have quite yet." In some ways, it feels like we have all our memories, but they're just simply right there on the edge beyond our reach. I also get on the verge of remembering things, or sometimes I'll do or suddenly know something but be unaware how I did it. Anyway, the walk so far is very uneventful. I was expecting to at least see a few of those beasts, but nothing. I haven't even spotted one, and there's usually several passing by every day. The silence makes me uncomfortable. I say that, but suddenly that disgusting smell floods my lungs, and it's almost unbearably overwhelming. I struggle to quickly turn around and grab Kayla, pulling her down with me as we both crouch behind a wall of a collapsed building for some cover. She panics and says "What's going on!?" and I say through struggled coughing "It's.. that smell. It's so ss strong." Then, my whole body goes ice cold as a large wave of what looks like a literal flood of hundreds of those things just start racing above us, leaping over rooftops and piles of rubble, clambering over each other as if they're desperately trying to escape something. I watch their faces, and I can  see that some of them with absolute certainty spot us as they race overhead. I say "They're running from something I think, they definitely see us though!" and Kayla says back "Why aren't they attacking us?? What could those things possibly need to run from!?" The commotion of roars and growls and their powerful legs tearing up the terrain as they race over us is near deafening. Finally, it stops, as the last few disappear in the same direction. There was easily a thousand of them that just passed over us, and I know they saw us. My body is shaking violently, and so is Kayla's as we hold onto each other. I can feel anger welling up inside me for unknown reasons, until I release Kayla. I stand up and look up at the roof. Nothing is there now. The last of them leapt over us as I stood up. I closed my eyes tightly and face the wall, laying my left against it, I lift my right hand and slam my fist against the wall with an angered shout. I do so multiple times, screaming out my anger as tears start streaming down my face. My body is still shaking violently, and Kayla has gone silent. I tremble heavily as my voice wavers with my crying. I hold onto the wall with my hands, lightly pushing against it. I say "They've known we're here.", my voice shaking and cracking as I try to speak. I'm just so angry right now. I say again "They've known we are here, the whole time!", now adding higher volume to my voice. Kayla says "How do you know?" as she stands up to hold onto me, wrapping her arms around my body as she lays her head on my shoulder. I say "Cause they were looking at us as they crossed above us. They looked down at us, snarled as us, but they ignored us anyway. These.. things, they don't.. do that. They kill on sight. They kill on sight! Why are we alive!? Why are we any different than our friends and family who they went out of their way to slaughter mercilessly!??" My voice continues to shake as I start to break down, but then I gasp at the realization of where they're going. I say "Babe, they're going to the military base. They're heading straight for the base, we need to move. If they're ignoring us, then the way is safe until we get there." Kayla says "That's a bit much to jump to that conclusion isn't it?? They'll still kill us, the ones not going over there, right??" I shake my head and wipe my eyes with my hands and say "No, they're going together. If they wanted you and me dead, we'd be dead right now. These things.. they shouldn't be sentient. They can't make plans. They're.. savage wild beasts, born from a horrific alien disease that's hit our planet and killed almost everyone. The military is going to be fighting these things. The least we can do is get over there and help. We're several miles away, but we can get there faster if we take one of these cars. They can protect us babe, we'd be safer. We won't live if we don't have the military around to help us." Kayla shakes her head and says "Baby those things, did you not see how many there were all at once?? If they're heading to the military base, then they're all dead! There's no way they'd survive an onslaught like that!" I close my eyes as I control my flying thoughts. I'm getting too frantic. I take a couple deep breaths and say "You're right babe. Ugh.. you're right. Still.. they ignored us. They saw us, but didn't care, so let's take advantage of that and drive until they start caring again. We have guns, big guns, and we have my.. strange warning I get before they arrive. I think we can make it there. Even if they lose.. we could at least see if we can salvage anything useful, maybe even find other survivors if not other military checkpoints where there might be more of them we can go to." She nods and says "Now that sounds a lot better. First though, we gotta find a working car.. which can take a while." She's right. It's not like we can take the car all the way there, because in another fifteen miles lays a massive root that tore up the roads. Huge winding gaps in it allow for travel on foot to make it underneath through an old subway tunnel that 'should' be intact. That's still fifteen miles though. It'd only be just a few more after that, but even then I don't doubt that we couldn't just find another vehicle to drive the rest of the way. Despite all that though, Kayla laughs and says "I take it back Zephyr, look." and I look over to where she's pointing. It looks like a sort of car dealership for electric and gas vehicles. It looks completely untouched, although there's some signs of people having panicked through the place, as well as some of the glass roof had broken over time. Desk papers are scattered everywhere, or at least that's what it looks like from out here. I turn to talk to Kayla when I go cold from head to toe. I shout to her "Get inside, it's a white wall!!" and she gasps and turns around to look at it approaching. A white wall is exactly as it sounds, a massive wall of rain just slowly approaching you, but with white walls now comes very intense lightning coursing through it, very rapidly. The likelihood of surviving a white wall while outside is millions to one, odds were not gonna take. We quickly run towards the dealership parking lot, running as the big wall of water starts slamming down behind us. The ponchos hoods makes the rain near deafening as it hits us, and I almost lose sight of the door through the extreme rain. I get to it and shout for Kayla who spots me and gets over to me. Flashing lights are exploding around us as lightning courses through the water, and with the loud explosives cracks that whip through the air, we can tell it's getting too close. We open the doors together and quickly shut them, trying to find ways to barricade it so the wind and force of the water doesn't push them open. We manage to push a big reception desk in front of the doors, and then we quickly get away as lightning starts flashing even more outside the windows like muzzle flashes in a war zone. We quickly get to one of the cars and start panting as we catch our breath, leaning against it as the now barely muffled shocks of lightning blow up the world outside. She looks at me and I look at her, and we both start laughing a little at our dumb terrible luck. Even if we get a car working now, it'll be a day or two before the white wall passes over us. We'll be lucky enough to not get struck by lightning through the building during that time. I walk over to her end of the car and give her a hug, letting out a soft sigh as her arms wrap around me. I say "Well obviously we're not driving anytime soon.. so we might as well get set up in here. Where do you think would be best?" She looks around as she steps back and says "I don't know. Preferably wherever lightning won't kill us." As she talks, I see her hair start moving inside her hood. I panic and say "Kayla, get inside the car now!" and quickly pull the door open, pushing her inside. I feel the hairs on my body tingling, and I quickly throw open the front door, jumping in. The second I do, I hear a deafening blast erupt around us, and I feel a light shockwave spread over me. The sound makes me dizzy with pain as my ears are now ringing and dead. I guess I'm not dead yet, I managed to only touch the seats when I jumped in. I look around, slightly dazed, but it quickly goes away as I focus on Kayla, and see her in the same state as me. I shake my head as my hearing is replaced with that annoying tinnitus ringing. I hope the damage isn't permanent. I can't hear anything but very very weird crackling. My head feels full, my chest keeps buzzing; it must be from vibrations in the air. I try to speak to Kayla, but it's all jumbled. She tries the same but shakes her head. I don't see her hair rising in static, so I quickly motion to her to follow me, and we both get out of the car. We have to be careful and fast, as water is now all over the floor from the glass above shattering. It was already broken in some areas, but now specifically above us was struck by the lightning. We step out and quickly make our way towards the car storage garage. The door is slightly ajar, so we're able to enter in with no trouble. I sit down next to an suv, and Kayla sticks with me. Everything is now purely silent, except for deep crackling and rumbling. I feel dizziness, pain in my ears, although just a little. I close my eyes and rub my head a bit, massaging my temples. I look at Kayla, and she's just looking around while yawning, trying to work her hearing back in, but it's no use. This sensation is.. scary. I can't hear anything, but at the same time, I keep hearing weird distorted sounds. I hear a weirdly warbled voice, and I look over to see Kayla trying to talk to me. I shrug and shake my head, pointing to my ears. She sighs and just says "I love you", which.. I could understand that even if I was completely deaf. I smile and say "I love you too" and reach over to hold her hand. After a couple minutes, I get up and start taking off the backpack and poncho, leaving me in just my tan shirt and jeans. Kayla follows my movements, and we get ourselves set up for a little camp. There's plenty of room in here, and the place hasn't collapsed which is a big plus. There was a dead body in the back.. but it hadn't sprouted any roots luckily. It was mostly a skeleton, with some.. dry skin or tissue of some sort. We decided to simply just not head back there. Neither of us feel like moving a dead body, despite the things we've been through and seen already. We have wood planks from nearby wooden pallets that were laying about, so we used them to make a small fire. We made sure to ventilate the room a bit to avoid the smoke causing us any breathing problems. We're sitting here on small padded sleeping mats now, resting after we got ourselves set up. The rain is heavily pouring outside, violently, and to me, all it sounds like is deep rumbling with high pitched cracks and deep toned hums. My ears are sore, and I'm sure Kayla's are too. I groan to myself and can hardly hear it as I rub my head. I hope that military base is holding out. It's our only hope.. and if we don't get there in time, or if they fall.. then we're just doomed to die. It makes you feel insane.. knowing that if you die, all of humanity just gets so much closer to going extinct, but for real. It's not a matter of my actions causing us to go extinct a stupid amount of millions of years into the future. Humans could stop existing.. literally today, tomorrow, this week or month. Within my own lifetime. I look over at Kayla, and it just hurts my heart seeing her sit there in pain. I wish I could just heal her. Take her pain away. I get up and move over to her, settling next to her, and she smiles softly and leans against me. I have a pen in my backpack, and I see it sticking out. I take a piece of nearby cardboard and rip it off from a box, and set it in her lap. I write on there "I wish I could heal your pain. Take it all away and bear it for you." and she tears up a little and nods, leaning into me more. I reach up and hold her face, and close my eyes as I rock slightly with her. I see a strange bluish glow, it's like.. a soft teal color. It suddenly gets blinding, and then, all the sounds around me rush into my head. I open my eyes and look around startled, and Kayla is equally shocked as she looks at me with panic. I can hear everything now, crystal clear, as if my ears were never hurt. I see a blue flash below me, and it's my hands. My hands are glowing bright blue, but it quickly fades. I say "W..what's going on??" and Kayla answers saying "I don't know?? I can hear now??" I close my eyes for a sec and grip my fists before opening my eyes and say "Okay, okay, let's just.. calm down. We can hear now, and as weird as it is, we need to not panic over it." She huffs and says "Baby, your hands are glowing blue, or.. were glowing blue. What the heck.. has happened to you?? I don't think it's a coincidence that you weirdly had the ability to detect that those things were near by, and now you suddenly healed us both??" I drop my hands and say "W.. yeah.. I realize that babe I don't know what the heck is goin on either but.. you're not scared of it are you?" She gets a face of realization at her own tone of voice and she blushes a bit and says "No! No, I'm not scared hun I just, it's.. it's shocking." She quickly walks over and hugs me tightly. She says "I'm sorry hun, but you gotta admit it's insane that you just healed us both with some.. glowing blue light, right?" I nod and laugh a little and hug her back. I say "Heh, yeah, it's.. weird. So.. I'm our team healer now?" She giggled a bit at the joke. I say "Ah man, this world. This world is falling apart. Our world is falling apart. I can't remember a lot of our past life but.. I still know that compared to now.. it's all just a big nightmare it seems. A nightmare that just.. won't end. Maybe this is all some fever dream and one of us is in a coma." She scoffs and says playfully "Yeah, if the last three years have all been some dumb coma dream, I'd be mad as can be. That's like if a book author got lazy and said 'yeah it was all just a dream' cause he couldn't end the series right." I laugh a little and step back from her. I say "Jokes aside now, it is a concern to me that I'm developing.. what sounds like science fiction powers, or.. divine powers but, what did I do exactly? I healed our ears, instantly. I can detect those things whenever they get close to us by.. smell for some reason. I can't begin to imagine what on or off Earth could cause something like this." She thinks for a moment and says "You said you had a hallucination when you held me in the closet of our home building right? Did you ever experience anything like that in your dream?" Now that mentions it, I do remember that. I say "Yeah.. I did. I was looking around that alien forest, and I saw my torso looked like it had been bitten by one of those beasts, and then.. bright blue light started flowing out of my body, everywhere. It healed me, made me feel good, powerful, like I could punch through a building. I felt.. cold inside though, physically. Like my core was just turning to ice. It was a lot of very strange sensations. I felt the need to scream even, because it felt like my insides were building with pressure. It never hurt, but it was a strange feeling all around. One thing I know for certain is that it felt as real as this very moment. Everything was crystal clear. It certainly wasn't just a dream." Kayla just seems entranced by my words as she listens. She says "Babe.. who knows anymore. Look around us. We're living in a science fiction apocalypse already. Alien monsters, alien virus, the whole planet has been terraformed by huge root systems that have tore up the top layer of the planet. We're coasting closer to the Sun every single day due to gravity. It has been a constant hurricane storm on all sides of the Earth for three straight years. At this point.. it really shouldn't be surprising that something like this is happening now." I say "You're right, kinda. To be fair, it's still unexpected that I of all people now suddenly have 'powers' and also have no way of knowing how to activate them or where they came from." My dreams or manifestations of that alien world must have something to do with this. They must be visions. I'm not hallucinating.. because I'm here. We're both here living this nightmare. With these powers though.. it feels just a little less like a nightmare and more like a fever dream. I then say to Kayla "Although.. they're not powers if I don't have control over them. Let me just..-" I look down at my hands and flex them into fists, straining my body trying to trigger that glowing light. Nothing happens. I grunt in frustration and this time, I close my eyes and focus. I try to remember that ice cold feeling in my core, as if my heart itself was pure ice. I feel the warmth leave my body, although not with discomfort, but that sensation rushes back into me and I hear Kayla gasp a little. I ignore the sound and try to hold onto this sensation until something happens. After a moment I simply get tired of nothing else happening, but when I open my eyes, the whole room is illuminated with the glow of this blue liquid light as it leaches into the air from my body. It spreads around like a cloud in the sky, swirling and filling the room with light, enough to over power the red and orange of the small fire we've made. I look down and my insides shine with bright intensity, and finally, I feel that intense pressure build up inside me. I say "Kayla, that pressure is back, I think you need to get back from me, I'm gonna try to release it." My voice is strained as I say it calmly through gritted teeth, and she quickly runs back a bit to get behind cover. I keep struggling to keep this invisible force locked inside me, but then I finally let out a deep sigh, and the blue glow shuts off suddenly like a flicked off switch, disappearing from the air, the warmth flooding back into me instantly. I gasp a bit and breathe normally again, and I start sweating. I say "Darn it, I lost it. It's still a start though." and Kayla comes walking back over with a grin on her face. She says "It's so.. beautiful when you do that." and I smile and say "I bet. Wish I could see it from your point of view. Who knows, maybe you can do this too at some point." She laughs and says "I highly doubt it hun."