Desolate (under reconstruction)

Chapter Two A Storm is Coming

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Date: June 15, 2136

Location: Uptown, Hibbing, MN

Objective: N/A
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I woke up, breathing frantically, looking around wildly. I was in my room, in my bed. I was sweating heavily, my t-shirt I slept in drenched in sweat. I continued to look around, adrenaline making my heart beat furiously against my chest, as though it was going to burst out of me. I breathed in and out slowly, attempting to calm myself, and only gradually did I do so.
"It must've been a nightmare.... but it just seemed too real.... what could it all mean?" I mumbled to myself, as if expecting someone that wasn't there to answer.
I cupped my hands over my eyes, letting out a stressed groan. I slowly drug my fingers down over my eyelids, clearing my eyelashes of any mucus that may have condensed there when I slept. I then put my hands behind my head, onto my pillow, resting them there as I thought about the nightmare I had woken up to.
I looked over at my nightstand, staring at my digital clock I had. It read that it was 6 o'clock A.M, much to my displeasure. I removed my blankets and got out of bed, stretching, yawning as I did so. Looking at my reflection in the mirror, and I saw the rugged and tired person that was me. My hair was strewn about my head, and below my eyes my skin was a shade of purple, showing my lack of a good sleep.
I let out a stressed sigh again before then turning away from my mirror and staring at my room. I will admit, my room wasn't that interesting, walls of blue only bearing few hung objects, treasures of mine, and floor only having a neon green carpet covering the mahogany floor. But nonetheless, my room was my favorite place in my home.
Some of the various objects that hung on my wall were holy targets, the holes on the targets varying from each other by width of the round it was shot with. My personal favorite was the one I shot with my dad's 0.44 Magnum Raging Bull Revolver. The first handgun I had ever shot.
My other favorite, sitting next to the .44 MRBR (Magnum Raging Bull Revolver), was shot with a Remington Model 770. The holes were about a half inch wide. With that gun, I also had shot a 12 point buck, in the woodlands of my Aunt's farm in Cook, MN.
Ever since the Asian war, years ago, every American above the age of 12 learned to use a gun, in case no one was around to protect them in a war situation. Everyone carried a gun, at all times. It was frightening.
As I stared at the targets on the all, warm, kind memories flooding back to me, I heard my phone ring. I turned around, looking at my nightstand, where my phone way laying down. I walked over and picked it up, checking the number, seeing that it was Daniel. I answered it.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Hey Hunter! Good to see you are up so early." I heard Daniel say.
"I just got up a few minutes ago. Anyways, what's up?" I asked him sleepily, rubbing my eyes
"Me and the guys-" Ender started to say, before being cut off by Allie, who added onto his sentence by saying 'and girl', which caused an uproar of laughter by my friends. I myself chuckled.
"Anyways, me, the guys, and GIRL, are waiting outside your house. Ender has something to show you." Daniel said enthusiastically, making sure to put extra emphasis on girl. This caused yet another uproar of laughter.
"Ok. I just gotta get dressed first, then I will be down there." I said, before hanging up.
I immediately started to get dressed. I put on a pair of faded denim jeans, along with a cobalt blue shirt that had a star with an American eagle. I then walked over to the foot of my bed, grabbing my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder. I then walked out of my room and through the hallway, into the living room. I saw my dad, sitting on the couch, watching the morning news. He looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back at him, before walking over and giving him a hug.
"I'm gonna go outside with my friends. Is that ok?" I asked him, and he nodded in reply.
I then walked away and into the entrance room, where I put on my tenners, and opened the door, embraced by the cool, moist, morning, air, along with the bright morning sun. I smiled at the beautiful day I was seeing, before then walking across the wooden porch and down the stairs, onto the sidewalk. I saw my friends standing there, smiling at me. Ender stood in front of me, and he had something in his arms that was in a leather sheath, and it was big. He handed it to me. I looked at, confused for a moment, but I then recognized what it was. I reached into the sheath and grabbed a rubber hilt. I pulled the hilt out, revealing my sword.
I strapped the now empty sheath onto one of my belt loops on my pants, before then examining my sword. I felt the entirety of its weight as I held it. The silver titanium shone a mixture of orange, yellow, and red, from the morning sun.
For some reason, I felt comforted by seeing the sword, though I had no recollection why. The thought wasn't coming to me, like a memory I knew I should have remembered. I had forgotten the dream completely.
"I made some minor modifications to your sword." Ender said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"What kind of modifications?" I asked him, and his smile told me I was in for a treat.
"I added some foam under the rubber of the hilt to make it a little more comfortable to hold, and I added a gun mechanism to the hilt as well. It can hold a maximum of one 99mm round. It can hold any bullet, from 9mm to .50 Caliber. Handgun, shotgun, assault rifle, hunting rifle, sniper rifle, you name it. It could also fit modified grenade rounds. To fire the mechanism, you have to press a button that is on the bottom of the hilt." Ender said, smiling proudly.
"Oh, and to use the chamber, you have to pull on a hole that you can only unlock by hooking your finger into it." Ender says.
I stared at him in amazement. I then looked at the bottom, and saw both the firing button and the hole to use the chamber. I put my finger in the hole and hooked it, hearing a slight click. I then pulled the 4 inch long chamber. After examining it, I then slid it back into the hilt, before continuing to examine the sword. I saw the hole where the bullet would come out, which sat in between the two blades. I then put the sword back in its sheath. I looked at Ender, smiling.
"Thanks man. Great job." I said to him.
I then looked at all my friends, who were smiling back.
"Well, are we all ready to have some fun?" Daniel asked us all.
"Yeah!" We all exclaimed.
"Alright! Follow me!" He yelled
DESOL/\TE
Apparently Daniel's definition of 'fun' was much more different than what I had anticipated it to be. After an hour of walking, my friends and I found ourselves standing in front of the Hibbing Hospital.
"Welcome, my friends, to my playground." Daniel said, gesturing towards the massive building.
"Um.... Daniel?" Why are we at the hospital?" Jerome asked him
"Why, for medical lessons, of course!" Daniel exclaimed, causing all of us except for Ender to groan in displeasure.
"Oh stop it. It will be fun. I mostly promise." Daniel said, before then walking to the hospital with us in tow.
We walked through the automatic doors, greeted by the sound of calming music and the sweet smell of artificial lilac. The waiting room was empty, all except for the seven receptionists, who were sitting at computer desks, hard at work on different things. Daniel walked up to one, whose standing name plate said 'Lisa'. She looked up from her computer and smiled at him.
"Good Afternoon, Daniel. I see you have brought your friends for their planned medical lessons from you." Lisa said, briskly looking at my friends and I, and at this, Daniel nodded.
"Yes, Lisa. May I pass?" He asked, and Lisa nodded.
Daniel motioned for us to follow as he walked to a door right next to the reception office, labeled ' physical injury' on a sign above the door. Daniel opened the door and walked in, followed by us. We entered a pure white room, which had rows of lab coats along the walls, and on the shelves above them were boxes of rubber gloves, mouth masks, and safety goggles. Daniel went and grabbed a lab coat and put it on, before then grabbing a pair of rubber gloves and a face mask. Ender followed his example, along with me, then the rest of my friends.
When we were all suited up, I put my sword down on the bench. Daniel walked through another doorway, in which we followed him through. We entered a room filled with hospital beds and major medical equipment. Almost all the beds, approximately 25 out of 30 beds, were occupied by people. Some were writhing in pain, others groaning and moaning, and the rest were just lying down calmly or sleeping. A nurse rushed up to Daniel, and she seemed anxious about something.
"Daniel, we need you at bed 17, and quick. Major bite wound to the arm, and he is bleeding heavily. Your dad needs you to help." She said to Daniel, to which he nodded and walked to bed 17.
The man who sat on the bed was worse than I had anticipated. He was wearing a white lab coat, which was completely soaked in blood on the left arm. Daniel turned on the bedside patient monitor, which shone a blue light as it activated. It then gave a patient overview, showing the patient's entire body. The place where the bite was was black, and it seemed to be spreading rapidly across the body. Daniel's dad was trying everything to get the man to stop bleeding.
"What the?! This makes no sense! The bite.... It's.... Spreading...." Daniel said, astonished.
"It is spreading like a disease.... But that is the fastest I've ever heard a disease take over a body...." Ender added.
Meanwhile, the man's writhing started to slow, and as I looked at the patient overview, the 'disease' was almost to his brain. When it the black reached his brain, it took a matter of seconds before the organ went black, and afterwords, the major organs slowly shut down, and that's when his entire body went black. The patient overview let out a beep, and a message flashed across the screen. 'No life signal detected'. My friends and I stared in surprise, all of us too numb to speak. The disease had taken over the man's body in seconds.
Daniel seemed the most surprised out of us all. It was the first patient he had ever lost. We stood there for a minute of two. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something on the patient overview. The brain suddenly lit up into a color of menacing red, same as the organs.
"Um....guys?" I said, pointing to the screen.
All of my friends looked, and they got confused expressions on their faces. That's when I saw the man's hand twitch. The instinctual part of my mind told me to run, but the human part wanted me to jump for joy that the man was alive. But I soon figured out my instinctual part was right. The man lunged at me, snarling. I ducked and rolled out of his way, missing him by inches. I quickly got up and put myself in a fighting position. The man had already recovered, and was getting ready for another attack. For a split second, I could see the expression the man in front me had. His eyes were clouded over, only with a pale gold pupil, and those eyes old me that this was no human, but something that wanted to kill me. The face was pulled into a snarl, and a rumbling growl came out.
It lunged at me again, but this time I didn't duck. I lifted my leg and kicked it in the face, making it crumble onto the floor. I put my foot down, thinking the man had stopped. But I was wrong yet again, for the man jumped up and grabbed my throat. My air was cut off, and he lifted me into the air, making my breathing even more complicated. I struggled, but to no avail, as my head started feeling light. In one last effort, I kicked it in the ribs with all my given might. I heard a sickening crack, and the man let go of me, stunned. I then did a roundhouse kick and smashed it to the ground. My friends snapped out of their stupor to help me, pinning it down.
"NURSE! Get the knockout serum! Now!" Daniel yelled, and the nurse scrambled off to do so.
The man was struggling strongly, more so than any normal human. Even with me, Daniel, Ender, Jerome, Allie, and Joel holding him down, we still struggled majorly to KEEP him down. As he struggled, he snarled and growled up a storm. After a little bit, the nurse came back, holding a syringe filled with a dark green liquid. She then injected it into the man's neck. But nothing happened. In fact, it seemed to strengthen him.
"What the?! The serum should work! It works to increase sleep hormones for a long period of time! How is it not working?!" Daniel yelled in surprise.
"Whatever this is, this isn't human, and i don't even think it's living!" I yelled.
I smashed it in the back of the head, and onto the floor. The man didn't even waver in his efforts to get us off. Daniel looked at me grimly, and at that moment, I knew what I had to do. I took out my knife, and opened it up. My hands were shaking. I had never had to do anything like this. I then stabbed it in the back, where the heart should have been. And to my amazement, the man still didn't waver. He kept fighting. I then took out my knife, stunned.
"The head! Get the head!" Joel said to me.
I then stabbed the man in the head. He froze, and then went limp. I looked at the man as blood slowly oozed from his head. I stood, shocked at what I had down. My hands were shaking furiously, and my knees felt weak. My friends looked at me, concerned at my condition. I put my knife away, and started to walk away. My friends followed behind me, watching me. I got into the room with the suits and took off mine, as well as the mask and rubber gloves. I picked up my sword and walked out of the room, and then out of the hospital.
"Hunter!" Daniel yelled.
I stopped, and turned around. I looked at him.
"Hunter, you did what you had to.... Don't beat yourself up!" Daniel said to me, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I remained silent. I just stared at him.
"Just... The way he went limp..... It..." I said, stuttering.
"I know, it was hard for me to see too. Forget it. It's done. That was no human you killed. Whatever it was, it was gone from reality. You probably saved everyone in the hospital." Daniel said to me.
I sighed, and nodded, though not totally agreeing.
"Come on, let's get back to your house. We have a surprise for you." Ender said, and with that, we all started walking back to my house.
But as we walked, I couldn't stop thinking about what I had done. but what I thought more about was the expression the man had when he had come back. It stuck in my mind, as much as I didn't want it to. When we got to my house, my dad was packing something in the van that he drove. he looked back and saw that we were there. He smiled.
"Welcome back guys. Ready to go to the beach?" He asked, and yet again, I had that feeling like there was something important I was forgetting, but I just shrugged it off.
"Yeah!" I yelled.
"Alright, then. Let's go!" He said.