A Tale Retold, RED MIST

A Tale Retold

   "Keep going!!" Michael shouted. "Run!!"
   Michael let go of her hand. He ran side by side with her.
   "Listen, Elisabeth!! There's a shuttle ready for you in the hangar! It won't take too long to reach it! Arm the warhead to 5 minutes and make a run for it!!"
   7 looked at him. He was staring back at her.
   "Go!!!"
   Michael then stopped running. He turned around to face the monsters that were chasing them. 7 looked back to see it. It was a fierce battle. Michael fought them with all his might.

…

   A precise shot each times. Anthony shot the monsters that were swarming to his way. He glanced back a few times, trying to buy Elisa some time. After what it seemed to be enough, Anthony threw a grenade towards the monsters and make a run for it. As the explosion emitted, Anthony had already reached a some sort of checkpoint and sealed shut the door. He only has a few minutes window to enters the hive mind. That was, if Elisa followed his words. As Anthony about to jump into the hive mind, the nuclear explosion was happening. It was way early than he had expected. He succeed in entering the hive mind, but still being blasted away, thrown far into the endless corridor due to the shockwave of the nuclear explosion.

   Everything was blurry for him. His head was hurting so much, his whole body were aching. Anthony tried to stood up, but his knees were weak. The events from several couple days started to flash before his very eyes..

…

   “Father.” She called to him.
   “Yes, my dear?” The father replied.
   “I was assigned a history task. Could you perhaps help me, father?” She asked to her father.
   “Go on.” The father once again replied. He was in the middle of enjoying his cup of coffee.
   “You see, we were focusing on a subject about Earth!” The girl told him. “It was very interesting to know about a planet that us humans once lived in!”
   “Indeed. Earth is a fascinating topic to learn.” The father commented.
   “Yes, father!” The girl couldn’t agree more. “But.. at the end of the lesson, the teacher was tasking us to write an essay about one of many events that happened in or near Earth.”
   “And what event did you pick, my dear?” He asked to her.
   “That’s why I came to you father. I really don’t know what to bring up.” She said. “I remembered you telling me that grandpa was once part of a military that tasked near Earth. How about that?”
   “Grandpa’s story, huh..?” He thought about it for a second. “Maybe.. maybe we can work on that.”
   “Yay!!” The girl cheered. She sat on the couch near his father. “Anytime, father! I’ll record the story.” She pulled out her phone.
   The dad couldn’t help but chuckle.

   “Fifty years ago, your grandpa was sent along with the others in a rescue operation to Earth. As they got there, all they saw were wreckage. It was supposed to be a giant formation of motherships that all linked together, fifteen of them in total. But all they saw were destruction. They then linked to the remaining port, that still barely functional, only to find that everyone is dead. There, they also find strange substance. An organic one, pulsing like a living creature. All of that weird discovery eventually led to one recording. It was fortunate enough to be saved in a cloud system, so they were able to recover it after successfully giving power to the computers. That recording uncovered all of it. The fate of those who onboard the formation..” He looked at the girl. “Alyssa..? Alyssa?” He noticed that the girl fell asleep. He smiled at it.
   He then picked the phone and stopped the recording. Afterwards he carried the girl to her bedroom.

   The man stared at the empty vast space in front of him. For the young ones, it was beautiful. But for the adults, all the horror lied within the open space. The only thing that separated him and the deep dark abyss was a glass panel. He looked to his daughter, who was now asleep. She was the only one he has. His love, her mother, died a few years back due to cancer. Something that even humanity couldn’t find the cure despite the technological advancement. A faint smile could be seen from the man as he walked his way out his daughter’s room..