CA[RAD: SKY-LINE

Chapter Three

In the scorching heat, I trekked through the sands. Coming closer to the boat, and to the storm. It seemed it was heading right for us. By us I meant me and Dot, obviously, but I left Dot back at the cave. I gave Dot the job of renovating the shelter, again. Hopefully it wasn't in too bad of a shape from when that sand worm came rushing past us.

I arrived at one of the sunken boats, this one in particular had been shoved sideways into the sand. It wasn't too big. It was more of a fishing boat. I broke open a hole in the wooden frame, climbing through I kicked off some more sharp edges. I was inside, but there was nothing here other than wood and rope. I crawled around in the claustrophobic space, the ceiling was low and the whole thing was sideways so it was hard to move around. I found what looked like another small room. The only other room. There was a tattered cloth on top of a worn out and broken drawer. The drawer was sideways, against the wall at the back of this room.

 I crawled slowly towards it, about to o pen up the drawer and inspect the cloth, when suddenly an arm bust out and protruded from the wall of which the drawer was leaning against! It began wriggling around, and the noise of the creature suggested that this was one of those undead mutants! Its breath stank, and its dark, purple flesh was peeling along with long ruffled hair and a hanging eye. I stumbled backwards, moving and kicking with my arms and legs. The mutant stuck its head through its small, newfound hole in the wall, and a very flexible leg came through too. I kicked the creature in the face, as I panicked and tried to escape. I rushed out from the hole in which I came through myself, and then quickly, I pulled out my revolver only to turn around and witness nothing. It was gone. After a moment to breathe, I peeked my head back in to see where it went, but it was nowhere. There was just, silence, too.

Another hallucination from the past, no doubt. Those damned mutants still haunt me. 

After I took my time to breathe, I overlooked the storm as it was now getting too close for comfort. I needed to head back to Dot. I holstered my pistol, adjusted my hat, and then I set off for the cave. Not after long, I arrived to find Dot ad successfully set up the shelter, but of course, we still had no source of light. Other than the slow burning sun, for now. Among other things, we needed water, too. I was parched. Dot did his routine scanning of my body as I walked in, he was able to tell from the look on my face, that I had undergone some sort of traumatic experience.

"Sir-r-r-r, are you alright? You seem, sh-a-aken." Said Dot.

"I'll be fine Dot, don't worry. I just thought too much about the past, on the way back. That's all." I reassured. Dot could tell when I was lying, but chose to ignore it for now. 

I sat down, and decided it was time to give Dot a look to see what was wrong. I told Dot to come over, then I inspected. It didn't take long to discover what was the problem. Turns out it wasn't the drop that damaged Dot, no, Dot was just running low on power and needed to charge. Ever since I received Dot, Dot usually just charged itself back at the tavern. But after being out here without a charger for so long, Dot's dying. However, I knew Dot also had a reserved battery somewhere. I reached for my bag, and opened up a case of tools. Inside of a package, was the reserved battery. I hooked it up, and Dot was good to go. 

I tapped Dot on the back with my screwdriver as I stood up, and said, "Well Dot, you're good to go. Just don't use up all that power too quickly, thee ain't much." 

"Thank you, sir. I'll prioritize battery usage limit to a new low as per your request. Anything else?" Asked Dot.

"No, not yet. I had no luck with the boat and I couldn't linger so I left after my first search. No lights, no nothing." I explained.

"Well, sir. I'm sure we'll find some way out of this situation."

I sighed. "I dunno, Dot. It's getting dark out there already. We might not make it." I said as I walked outside and looked up to the sky. 

The stars were starting to come out, as the sun was setting and the storm was closing in by the boat I was just at. All seemed, doomed. But then, I saw that light. That line in the sky, again. What was it? It was bigger this time; longer. A straight, white, line. 

"Dot?" I almost yelped in alarm.

"Yes, is everything alright, sir?" Said Dot.

"Can you tell me what that is, there. In the sky."

"The line, sir? No. I can't. It's oddly, strange." Said Dot. 

Well, if Dot couldn't tell me then there was no way I was going to figure it out on the spot. However, I asked Dot another question.

"Dot, how long has that been in the sky do you know? I only noticed it this morning."

Dot took a moment to recall. "About a month, sir, was its first appearance. But it was no longer than a normal sized star in our sky. I recall looking up one night and noticing there were an odd number of stars out. I noticed a new one. But, I don't think that's a star."

"I don't think so either, Dot." I said, in awe.  

As we stood there the night came quicker, and I took off my hat. It seemed all was lost, and everything was going to come to an end. The darkness of night was about to arrive, and it seemed the storm was about to as well. I closed my eyes to think, as Dot stood there in low powered mode. Though, out of absolute no where, a sound hit like thunder. And I opened my eyes to a new shadow of me and Dot right in front of us. And the area around us was lit up like mid-day. I turned around slowly, and put my arm to my eyes as I was blinded by two huge lights standing out from the back of the cave. As my eyes adjusted, I could make out a wall behind them. And in red writing, the wall said, "Outpost 45".