Ark - Survivors Lost In Time Book 2- Time of Thieves

Day Zero

My eyes opened I was in my pod, the pod across from me was occupied by someone I did not know. Cradix he had not made it into the obelisk, what I had seen during my upload had been real. Cold tears rolled down my cheeks, inside my cryo pod as I recalled what I had just witnessed. I had just begun my upload to the green obelisk, when Kabr the traitor had shown up and run Cradix through with a sword, I had to watch as my best friend fought for his life, and I was helpless to do anything for him. He had defeated the traitor and destroyed his beacon. I could still see his weak smile as he saw I was still safe, before falling to his knees to die. He was alone back on the Ark that was crumbling around him, he would have no way to get to the obelisk in time, and as the pod across from me was already filled with someone I did not know he could end up anywhere when the new Ark was made.

"Fang?" Steven's gruff voice called from the pod next to mine, "Where is Cradix?"

"Kabr killed him in front of me," I called to him, Squirrel who was across from Steven stared over at me.

"Is he alive?"

"He died," I said, tears and pain clouding my mind.

"But is he intact?" Squirrel clarified, I nodded.

"Yes he defeated Kabr and smashed his beacon, Cradix's beacon was still intact as far I know, when I saw him die." I croaked, "But I don't think he'll make it to an obelisk in time to upload without a flyer, he'll be randomly uploaded and spawned where ever, he will not know where to meet us."

Squirrel's wizened old face smiled over at me. "He is a resourceful young man he'll make it to us where ever we are, just you see, besides depending on what Ark we go to he will know how to find us." I nodded. I knew Squirrel was right, Cradix had always been the one to plan our tribe movements, he knew where to find us if separated.

"You should have seen his face when he killed Kabr," I whispered through my tears, "It was like killing his brother, he looked so lost as he drove the sword through him, he did not want to do it, but he knew he had to too protect us." I said, Steven in the pod next to me put his hand on the fog covered glass between us.

"I am sorry," Steven whispered to me through the glass. I put my hand over his on the glass and let my hand fall to my side. I closed my eyes to try to relax while I had the chance.

As my eyes closed and my world went dark I was back in the green beam of light. I watched blood spill onto the metal platform, silent tears streamed down my face as I watched them die again. I watched as Kabr's red eyes filled with pain and fear as Cradix turned on him, naked and bleeding, all muscle and rage, he had hit Kabr so had he had fell to the ground the sword landing blood covered on the ground. Cradix had plunged the sword into his onetime brother, ending his life for good by removing his life force, the beacon from his left arm. He looked over at me, tears in his eyes and smashed the beacon on a rock. Then he collapsed onto the ground blood pouring from his mouth, his blue eyes glazing over staring into the nothingness of the Ark. He moved, I stared at him, I did not remember this happening. He climbed to his feet, his bare skin covered in hot sticky blood, he stepped towards me, my heart beat faster, my breath stopped, what was happening.

"Fang?" He whispered to me, I stared at him, my mouth hung open. "Fang?" He whispered again.

"Cradix?" I asked.

His eyes grew wide, and he screamed my name again. "Fang?!" He was staring right at me, what was wrong, could he not see me?

"I'm here Cradix, I am here for you," I said, I tried to move but the beam of green light from the obelisk held me tight. His blue eyes stared straight at me, they softened for a moment.

"Fang," He whispered, he reached his hand forward as if to touch me, but it stopped at the edge of the beam, his eyes widened again. His face contorted and he screamed as if in pain, he fell to the ground his blue eyes staring up at me.

"Fang!" My eyes shot open, I was in my pod, the whole Lobby was shaking, but over the screeches of metal on metal, and the shuddering over the glass pods I could hear my name being screamed through the fog filled halls. The Ark was being wiped everyone was being removed and uploaded to their pods for reinsertion, the Lobby settled down and the silence of the cryo pods fell again.

"Fang!" My name echoed through the gloom, Squirrel and Steven were staring at me, I stared off into the distance, down the mist filled corridor, something passed by our pods, a spectral form of the Host, it would silence the disturbance, the familiar husky voice of my longtime companion, Cradix would be put into cyro sleep until the new Ark was ready to keep him silent to keep him calm, it was what the Hosts did when someone was losing their minds in the pods. My name echoed down the hall again, I wanted to call out to him, to let him know that I was okay, but if it did a Host would come to put me to sleep as well, I had to remain quiet. I leaned forward against the glass of my pod, and put my forehead against the glass, tears rolled down my cheeks, my heart felt heavy, my mind felt foggy, I could not close my eyes without seeing Cradix laying on the ground blood pooling on the moss covered metal around him.

"He will be okay Fang," Squirrel reassured me, I nodded, he was alive we knew that for sure now, he would find us, or we would find him, he would not be alone on the Ark.

"Get some rest," Squirrel ordered us, "It will be the last good night's sleep we'll be getting for a while, until we get established." Steven took the order as it was, he dialed in to his pod controls and the cryo took hold, his glass fogging up and his head falling to his chest in a deep sleep. Squirrel began to do the same, he looked over at me. "Fang?"

"I cannot close my eyes without seeing them on the platform," I whispered.

"You wont dream in cryo," I nodded, and pulled up the control panel, I typed in to sleep until one hour before Ark insertion, and hit the initiation button.

The cold ice filled my veins, the fog thickened in my pod, and my mind became clouded, my thoughts were not coherent or ordered any more, I closed my eyes, blank blue eyes stared back at me, I thought I would not dream during cryo, I was wrong.

I relived Cradix's death a hundred times that night. Before my dream changed. I was somewhere else, I was with my tribe, we were not in the Oasis we were in the Ark known as the Center.