The Century Project

iv

chapter 4 - written by @Activerios

Since waking up from stasis close to two hours ago, absolutely nothing had been easy. First of, I had almost been trapped in the pod with no air. Then, the air tanks blew and we had to crash land down.. wherever here was. Then the "birds", and now?

Now, the sun was setting. And one thing that did not seem to be at the top of my to do list at the moment was sleep outside under the stars. Luckily for us, the birds had been scared away by loud noises, so after a few shots from my plasma pistol, they had flown off quicker then they had shown up, leaving us all in an eerie silence.

I had learned quickly during my time with the Fifth Squadron, the elite squad that was given jobs to get in, bust the door down with the biggest weapons we could hold, and take care of everything quickly and efficiently.

We had been the top hit and run force that the United National Nations had - they called on us for only the toughest missions that needed be done without a second of hesitation to pull the trigger.

The overgrown road underfoot was being bathed in a beautiful orange hue as the sun began to set. I grit my teeth, the world already tinted a golden yellow through my visor. I walk over to the dead bird, the green circles and lines running a subject analysis on the bird. I had to blink twice - it wasn't dead.

"Nix.." She had been upturning street signs that were rusted and broken, walking towards me quickly. She bent down next to me, looking at the bird. "Something wrong?"

I nod, pointing to the limp body of the animal. "Run an analysis scan on this thing. Tell me if something seems off." She nodded, and was quite for a moment before letting out a small gasp.

"You're kidding me!.. Three...Three hearts?!" I quickly shush her, looking back to the rest of the crew. "Listen to me. Keep calm, keep quiet. Something tells me we aren't in Kansas anymore. Something must have happened while we were gone. Who knows what, but I intend to survive. So the best way to do that is to keep the rest of them calm so that they can listen instead of panic. "

She nods slowly, staring out at the setting sun. "Ryan, to be honest, I'm scared. I studied genetics and biology for most of my life, and have never seen anything like this in such a short amount of time. That.. bird.. must be in some form of hibernation or something. It's other two hearts are still beating, but it's brain seems to have shut down totally. If we weren't in the middle of what remains of New York, I might actually be surprised. But now, I'm scared.." Her visor glints in the setting sun, a much smaller and lighter version of the bulky armor both Ryder and I wore.

I get up, moving towards the building across the street. It seemed to have fared better then the rest - vines wrapped in and out of windows, but beside that and some saplings that were starting to grow from cracks in the side of the concrete walls, was in pretty decent shape.

I try the door handle, which of course is locked. Nothing was ever easy. I bring my foot up, slamming it against the door despite everything in my brain protesting. Making sound would attract things to us - but for now, what came out to play at night scared me more then what could possibly be here during the day.

It slams open after a few more kicks, the door making loud squeaking as it moved on it's rusted hinges. I press a button on my visor, a small light illuminating the darker interior of the building. I turn around to Victoria, who had come over to see what I was doing. "Stay here. I'll let you know when it's safe to come in." She nodded, heading back over to the group who was now sitting on fallen streetlamps and logs of tree trunks.

I grip my weapon tightly, placing one careful foot after another. It was a small, three story apartment - or what was left of it - and it would be really unfortunate if anything was living in here and attacked us during the night. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, dead vines reaching desperately towards the sunlight streaming in through where the window had once been.

I move slowly through the floor, flinching at every sound, throwing open every door with my weapon leveled in case some monster dog decided to attack me. I got through the first two floors without any incident besides a few mice that had three eyes. I slowly crept up the stairs that led to the third floor, stopping abruptly to make out the sound of the loud thumping that was coming from behind the door.

There was a small crack in the door, and I peeked through it, barely able to make out what looked like a human, banging their head against what remained of a wooden wall. I take a sigh of relief, opening the door more relaxed then I had been since I awoke. "Sir, do you - "

The man turned around, his clothes tattered and ripped, a large white fungus protruding from the right side of his face and his other eye empty. 'He' let out a loud snarl before stumbling towards me, and I could barely let out a loud yell as the monster jumped on me.