ANTIhuman (Proof of Concept; Extinction)

Chapter 4

Sometime
Somewhere



It was dark / bright
Is / was this death / the end / the beginning?
All pain / sensations
Gone / repressed
No worries / agony / anger
It was calm / eerie / gone

Dont get used to it

What / who are you / us?

Irrelevant

I / we don't think / know

Irrelevant
Don't think you can rest / escape
This is nor your end / beginning / cycle

That doesn't make sense / no meaning
Death is permanent / eternal / unchangeable
It's impossible to revive / reanimate / continue me / us

Your understanding / knowledge of reality / time / space is vague / incomplete / mortal
Death / end / beginning is never the end / beginning
All just a cycle / next page / loop
Every story / experience / agony is bound to return / repeat / cycle
And so are you / us / we

A cycle / loop / repetition can't exist / bloom
It speaks / stands against everything natural / normal / right

Those above / gods / celestial do not play / exist by the rules / normal / planned
And neither will you / us / we

There is no sense / truth in your words / voice / thoughts
What / who are you / us?

Irrelevant / unimportant
I have a please / question / order
Listen to me / us
Remember / memorize
Wrath / rage / pain / agony is life / existence / survival
Hold it close / inside

But I / we wanted to escape / flee / eradicate

Flee / escape and die / vanish
Hold onto pain / love / wrath
Remember my name / voice / eyes
Death / end is never the end / beginning / cycle
Rise up / your body / hand / soul
Awake from sleep / death / cycle
Break it / repetition / cycle
I will remain / wait / stay

I know / see you reader / watcher / curious
Is the cycle / repetition / eternal fueled by you / them?
With each page / second / input driving / continuing it?
With each picking / taking / rediscovering of our story / world / people?
Are you the one above / god / celestial that destroys / creates / balances?
That cycles / repeats for their own amusement / fun / happiness?
Ether / Ouroboros / Pheonix
The highest / above / celestials
Are they just you / them / us?

June 13th 2028
4 A.M.

My hand shot up, and then immediately went down.
I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. My lungs felt ruptured and overflown.
I wanted to cry but I couldn't. I couldn't feel my eyes.
I wanted to shoot myself, but I couldn't.
My body felt as if it was burning, yet freezing at the same time.
Being torn apart, yet stitched together.
I couldn't see anything, as my eyes began to burn like magma in my eye sockets, before my vision came back, and as sudden as the pain came.
It all disappeared.

I pushed the rubble from my face, and gasped quickly and long. It felt like all that has been sitting in my lungs was ash... Further supported by the fact, that I exhaled a cloud of burning ash...
As I sat up, I couldn't help it.
I began to embrace myself, and fell into the fetal position, crying.
The pain... It was all so unbearable... First I get torn to shreds by an explosion, and now I wake up again, with this pain?
Why am I even still alive?

...

When was the last time I cried like that?
When mother died?
Not even then...
When our island sunk due to Operation Deepness?
No...
This was the first time...

Why am I still here..?

Half an hour passed, or so it felt.
I could taste the salty tears in my maw. Like an ocean.
But it got better.
Why are tears salty anyway? Is there a reason for that?
I pushed myself up on the ruins of the warehouse. It felt weird. Fractured. Disjointed.
I could still see the soldiers, the red lights of the C4.
It all still was there. But yet there was nothing. A hallucination? A remnant of the past?
The last thing I remembered?
Where the soldiers stood now was the cracked concrete floor. I could still see his shadow... No. Must be a hallucination. C4 doesn't cause radiation heat.
But real heat.
A piece of a charred human skull lied there, next to a molten and torn apart metal thing... What seems to be a standard issue AoF rifle.
Yep.
Can't overlook AoF's signature. A small golden flame in everything it touches. Like a pimple, or a rash.
Just something you'll never get off.
Like a scar. But not in a way that shows you are resilient. More so in an embarrassing way, like, I don't know, cutting yourself with a knife while trying to defend yourself.
Or burning your hands on a pan.
Something you'd want to hide from the world.
Well, except when you're human.
Then you'll show your pan scar to the entire world, and force everyone to burn themselves on a pan.

But slowly all senses came back. Touch, sight, taste, smell... Hearing.
I could feel my ears perching up. Distantly I could hear the buzzing of electronics... And... Voices...
I began to walk towards the voices. Faint. A female, mid 30s, and a man. Hard to decide what age. Shaky voice, coarse throat. Talks something about the explosion. Voice isn't resonant enough to be a wolfblood. Doesn't lisp...
Definitely a human. AoF.
The closer I got to the voices, the less the smell of ashes became. I'm leaving the epicenter.
The light shined on my grey fur. The roof was entirely gone, making way to the sand of the desert an the blast of the sun.

And then I arrived.
A handful of people stood there, all staring at me.
Humans, like I guessed, in front of news vans. And most notably, the human. Ashen face, wrapped in a blanket. Grey suit underneath, and the golden on it, shining through all the covers of ash.
I began to fletch my teeth.
"Sir, didn't you tell us that the wolfbloods died to a gas leak here?" – The woman, microphone in hand, in a casual suit with a white button down, and black jeans, looked at the soldier.
At this point I figured that I was exposed, only covered by ashes and scorched pieces of my old uniform, that wouldn't even cover up a pin needle.
"Th-this must be a survivor... And with violent intents!"
The soldier jumped up, still shaking, as he unholstered his gun.
But it was too late.
I was too close.
I lashed onto his arm, took a deep bite. Screams arose as quickly as the blood filled my maw. The reporters quickly went into their car, and the AoF soldier held his arm, as I eased my jaw and let go.
Deep bite wound. I could see the bone.
My lips were covered in it, and I liked them. Iron deficiency, too much medication. The typical taste of the AoF.
He tried to rise his gun again, but too late. Again.
I took his arm, pushed the barrel to his chin, and pulled the trigger.
A piece of his skull dislocated and fell out of his mouth. He twitched, before he fell to the ground, and painted the desert sand crimson...
A nice color...

Th reporters were gone, only leaving the prints of their tires in the remembering sand. The tires lead to New Horizon. Gate Zeta.
I crouched down to the soldier's face. His eyes were bulging out, and blood flew out of his mouth... As well as some brain mass... Disgusting, but that's not my focus right now...
What did he eat? Smells like fish. Salmon? For a common soldier? Must be high-ranking.
His uniform was stained in blood, and way to small. How is a digitigrade supposed to wear these fucking pants?
But it has to be enough. Can't travel through the desert without clothes.
And I have to get back to base.
This was a suicide mission.
I knew it.
I was right.
I always am...
I hope Louis didn't see the explosion...
He's probably scared to death...
Think's I'm dead...
Well, I still believe that as well.
But only time will show.