Outpost
She'd broken the shell of the house, putting her in a vacuum of undiluted darkness, the dust and ash floating dense enough to narrow the light of the shield.
She breathed it in and blew out. The 'home' was a lot to take in, most decayed by time. The rot floating everywhere, desperate to escape.
Her every step, dissolved the world, decay resting on her shoulders, on her shield.
It was too much, her shield waved back and forth, creating whistling winds. Time passed, the whistling grew intense. A table turned to dust and iron fillings like a mirage.
The world cleared enough to see an iron door, rusted until it ripped down the middle, solid rock oozed through. Whatever had been there devoured by time. Her shelf wouldn't be there. There was another doorway to a dark passage. What door had been there long turned to iron fillings or dust.
The doorway was only two meters, she'd have to duck low.
The residents were either short nomads, or first people. The unevolved. The chances of paper grew exponentially.
Something that wasn't dust shifted. She'd been smelling metal the whole time. Very little iron, so not blood, or at least the type she'd want. It confirmed her fears, no red, white, or a list of other 'good' meats. Not smelling brimstone would've been nice. She had no right to complain, it was something and they hadn't eaten any meat in months.
Something clicked.
Her body whipped into a sharp turn, shield up.
Nothing.
Just a thin passage behind an equally small door. Ducking she found two smaller doors. One left, the other right, facing each other. And ahead, a hole bigger than the ceiling. Time had turned earth to rock.
A vacuum had formed, dust pulling to it, cleaning the air. There should not have been a vacuum... because... a vacuum, like on her side meant she'd just opened. Another vacuum elsewhere meant...
'Two new openings'
"Wakey, wakey." She called.
One of the small doors opened without so much as a creak. Nothing was electric and yet there it was, opening. A trap for 'tiny humans' not her. She crossed the tiny passage, stepping in. Challenge accepted.
A kitchen, a tiled floor, a dirty white, or a failed attempt at tan.
Nothing... odd...
A decoy!
She immediately did a 180, shield up.
Iron spikes slammed against it hard enough to push her into the decoy room. Almost everything was decayed, all but a perfect circle of tile and what was a fridge, from the wrong century! No plug or cable in sight. It was a filthy white. Made of bone and not what she'd thought was cracked marble, between the cracks was an endless black that glistened against the light of her shield.
The room wasn't a decoy. It was a cage; the trap was the decoy.
"Nati!" The old man called.
"I know!"
The fridge hummed as though turning on. It bulged in the middle, jagged shapes twisting like a jigsaw arranging itself. The spikes on her shield shoved. The ground below her feet gave. She was being pushed, her! The creatures had dealt with post humans too.
They're clever!
Nati pushed enforcing her will. The ground broke anew tapping out until she was back at the door.
The opposite door was gone. Long bulky black sinew wrapped around long wooden splinters, each a spear. Behind the sinew was a gaping hole with rows upon rows of teeth down an endless dark, like staring at two mirrors, at night. There was a cry, she pushed the shield against the mouth the moment the tentacles tried to swing around the shield. She slammed down and up, snapping some off. It recoiled, spraying black blood on her hair and clothes.
"Dad, it's dying." She warned.
"I know, open space!"
Nati took half a step back and liquid flame gushed onto the gap between the shield and the beast. The entire wall trembled. In the tunnel the echo of a scream exploded, the sound washing over them. Black ooze splashed against their feet.
Not a bead of sweat.
"Is it dead?" Nati asked.
"Yes." The old man grunted, putting down a metal backpack. "Where's the mother?"
Nati looked back. There was a hole where the tiling had been, the fridge long gone.
"Most likely looking for dumber prey."
She sighed.
"Paradise class bugs. Got to love them. Anyway, it'll be dark. You have tests, and chores!"
He had to raise his voice over Nati's groaning.
"Hush. Set up and let's get things done."
YOU ARE READING
Bludgeon Ball: Genesis
Teen FictionYou never lose anything. That which shatters finds itself whole. They say some can never be whole but that is not the truth. All becomes whole simply because it changes. The meltdown of a single nation blew apart the house of cards which made the w...
