Radical-9

CHAPTER 28: The Ship is Sinking

February 25^th, 2022

4:29 am

The world is shaking violently. I open my eyes to an open sky, the roof of the farm had been completely blown off, smoke engulfs the entirety of our room. Then it hits me. We were on the ground floor...what happened to Jen, Sam, and Klein?! Beside me Lindsey still sleeps, I sit up and bend over her, shaking her.

“Hey, it's time to get up!” She opens her eyes and they go wide when she sees past me.

“What the hell?”

“We need to move, find somewhere out of the-” She interrupts me and points to the sky. I turn around and see what she saw, it is a giant metal boat floating through the sky as if it were treading water. It climbs its way overhead and a hatch in the bottom of the hull opens. It begins sucking in like a vacuum, and it takes the both of us off guard, we're flying upwards and spinning through the air. I feel like I'm going to be sick. The hatch closes after us and everything is dark. I open my eyes and everything is shaking again. Not an apocalyptic earth-demise shaking, but a slow, melodramatic shake. The ship is tilting left and right mechanically.

“Are you okay?” I call out into the darkness. I sit up, my back is killing me.

“I'm still here, do you know what happened to the others?”

“No, the entire second floor of that house was taken off, maybe they're in here too?”

“Maybe, here, where are you?”

I feel her brush up against me and I grab her hand in mine. I'm smiling like such a fool right now, I can bet that she is too.

“I can check at least where they are from the party settings,” I say, remembering. I swipe my free hand into the air and opening my menu up. I click on Klein's name, the arrow jets out and illuminates a path in front of us. I can see Lindsey from the bright blue light emanating from the guide. I can also see the room we're in, it's very enclosed space that is outfitted with red carpeting. The walls look to be made of some sort of shined wood.

“All right, so maybe they are in here with us,” she says.

“I'd hope so, it'd really suck if this thing guides us to the top and just tells us to jump off,” I say.

“Don't even put that thought into my head.”

“Sorry.”

“Let's just get going,” she says, following the arrow at our feet.

I nod.

We follow the arrow down a long hallway and turn into a staircase to our left. Lindsey takes a few steps up and I'm right behind her. There is a doorway up at the top of the stairs. We're running now up the stairs, but it seems to retreat further up the stairs.

“What the hell is going on?” I ask, stopping, the door stops with us. The ship begins to tip again and I nearly fall over the edge of the railing, Lindsey only just barely catching me.

“Hold on, now. This isn't any time to go flinging yourself overboard,” she says, grunting as she pulls me up.

“Didn't intend to.”

She takes a couple of steps up, the door of course following her movements and moving upward with her, “How are we supposed to get inside if the damn door is running away from us?” She asks.

“I don't know, but that's where the arrow is pointing, right through that door. Maybe there's another way around?”

“Maybe.”

We run down the stairs and turn the corner, leaving the light of the arrow and returning to darkness.

“Stay close behind me,” I say.

“Or how about stay at your side. This hallway's big enough for the two of us,” she says.

“Whatever floats your boat,” I say.

“Ha, topical.”

I see a faint light in the distance, and it gets closer and closer as we run. An orange-red glow is cast over the floor ahead, there are lamps and lights in what look to be a sort of ballroom. The same ornate red carpet fills the floor and there are white tables set up everywhere. I can hear a voice on an intercom system overhead shorting out and repeating the same phrase, “Hello, I assume you've had a nice nap. I am your-Hello, I assume you've had a nice nap. I am your-Hello...”

“This place seems so out of place...” I say.

“Really? How so?”

“Everything up to this point has been like...medieval and whatnot, right? Castles, dragons, swords and magic, but this ship looks so modern in contrast.”

“I guess you're right, but then again your sword also being part gun kind of threw me off at first,” she says.

We walk closer and the speaker gets louder and louder, “Hello, I assume you've had a nice nap. I am your-”

There is a loud crash behind me. I turn around and see that a towering shadow-like creature looms over me. It looks to be like a giant centipede shrouded completely in darkness. I nearly shriek and fall over. Bugs are not my most favorite of creatures, especially ones that are like, fifteen feet tall. There is no enemy bio that pops up, the enemy remains an utter mystery. I'm gonna call it a Revenant. Let's theme it for fuck's sake.

I take out Flintlocke and ready it, Lindsey brings out Hauteclere right next to me. “You ready for this?” She asks me.

“Would much rather fight a giant bird or a lion or something, but I'll manage.”

She laughs.

The giant monster turns itself around and I can see something buried into its back, it is gray and looks somewhat jagged. It looks like a decaying human-like figure grappled on the Revenant like a parasite.

“Alright, let's do this!”

I fire a shot off at the creature, the bullet digs itself into the beast, and then it exits out of the other side. Where it had hit dissipates like smoke and rejoins with the beast.

“Son of a bitch, why can't we ever fight anything solid anymore? Fuck these science Eldritch abominations,” I say.

“Eld-who what now?”

“Never mind.”

I work my way to the side of the beast and finally its back. I turn my head to see the backside of the decrepit body clinging onto the Revenant. Its face is buried within the shadows of the creature. I inch a little bit closer and the corpse rips its head out of the creature and screams. I see its face clearly and it is zombie-like. The skin is rotting and I can see part of its skull emerging amongst the rest of the face. One eye socket is completely empty while the other is filled by a bloodshot eye. I can see that there are hints of green tinted in it. I can feel the wind being taken out of me and as the horrid creature loses contact with the beast the shadows begin to dissipate. It lands on its feet and walks slowly to me, raising its finger to a point.

I get to my knees and look upward. I’m met with its face. I meet its gaze and it doubles over and screams loudly.

“A...And....Andrew!” It screams out in-between its unintelligible noises. There is a liquid dripping from the creature’s mouth. It is black and it singes the floor when it makes contact. I can feel my heart racing, but I need to steel myself. I can’t expect to get out of here if I let this bother me.

“I’m not afraid of you!” I yell out, bringing Flintlocke upward, changing it back into a sword. Lindsey runs up beside me and brings up Hauteclere. She jumps up, ready to slice the creature in two, but it jumps past her, letting her slide to the ground alone as it rushes towards me. It catches me off guard, grabbing my head with both of it's boney hands. It forces my head down, forces me to look at its face. I've seen a lot of shit in this game, but this creature takes the cake for the amount of fear it instills into me.

“L-Lindsey! Help!” I try to yell, but it comes out in short bursts.

The creature screams once more, it’s sound piercing my entire body. I can feel its screams inside of my chest. It nearly snaps my neck pulling my head and I let go. I’m staring directly into the hollow eye, in it is complete darkness. I’m shaking all over as it brings it’s head closer until it is touching mine. I can feel myself be sucked into the depths of its stare and I feel everything become blurry until I finally black out.