Terrors in Subnautica II; Humanity Reconstructed(Complete)

Part 11: Survive Below Zero

I wake up early, after the exhaustion lead me into a deep sleep. Looking around I realized everyone was still asleep except for N/N. Quietly, I walk into the front room where she's standing by the door.

"Did you sleep alright? I know you exhausted yourself yesterday." She whispered.

"I did, feel a lot better. What's up?"

"Do you hear them?" She asked.

I focus my energy to my mind and catch glimpses of human thought. It must be the mutants that evacuated.

"Sort of, my telepathy isn't strong." I shrug.

"Fair. I don't hear them clearly, so they're probably other mutants with their power cloaks up." She mused.

"I don't know if Yezimee told you, but a whole group of mutants decided to flee Earth to come here. They didn't see a reason to stay anymore, even after I tried to show them otherwise." I sighed.

She gently squeezed my shoulder, a kind gesture I greatly appreciate.

"You did what you could, and that's what matters. Not everyone is going to be willing to listen or change their minds, even when given a good reason to."

I nod in response.

"Should we go check on them? Because of the sickness?"

She nods slightly, looking back to the group.

"We shouldn't waste any fuel we don't need to though, so we should wake the others and let them know."

I nod, and help her gently wake everyone. Thankfully everyone ended up like I did, well rested from sleeping off exhaustion. In the end it's decided that just N/N would go to check on them, since she can get back the fastest. Seán argues that someone should go with her, leading to a long winded argument that left the rest of us awkwardly listening from the sidelines. Eventually though, they come to an understanding and she does end up going on her own.

Everyone takes their time hugging her and wishing her luck, asking that she not do anything stupid. The area the thoughts could be heard from was difficult to pinpoint for some unknown reason, it almost sounded like two separate places. So she decided to go between the sounds to try and find them.

The rest of us take the two hours she's away to have a quiet breakfast together. Seán and Felix have a long conversation about the argument, and Seán seemed to realize that because of our situation it wasn't as simple as N/N trying to run off by herself. I'm glad he's able to calm his mind after hearing what Felix had to say.

When she did come back her calm and upright demeanor seemed to cause everyone else to melt into concern, leaving me rather confused.

"What happened?" Marzia asked cautiously.

"I found them," She responded flatly, "But what I found wasn't good."

I felt fear bubbling up in my chest as the question of what was going on slipped out of me.

"They're gone Venus," She responded sadly, "They all succumb to the virus. By the time they got here it had spread out more, becoming more potent. Only a young man was left, and he refused to come back with me."

She sat beside me, placing her head in her hands, the tears running down my face starting to drip to the floor.

Don't you dare forget what I said

Her thoughts rang through my mind, carefully.

You did everything you could have
You cannot blame yourself for this