Lost-17
Riana Brians
Riana turned to face Keith. Their minute-long discussion had just ended, and their plan was set. The man wore a heavy expression, no doubt due to the sheer audacity of the plan they had just come up with. He did seem like the trim-and-proper type. He probably hasn't had much experience with improvisation like this. His face was slightly scrunched, and his black eyes were squinted. His brown hair, previously short and neat, had been unfurled and strewn messily over the course of the rabid battle. Overall, he looked quite tired, contrary to his insistence on coming along.
Putting that aside, with their discussions at an end, it was time to act. Richard, the other brown-eyed American operative, would stay behind, and fall back closer to the drop site, whilst the remaining three of them would make their move. There wasn't any more time for more hesitation. But her, Keith and Richard were one thing, but she was surprised to see how smooth and seemingly-accustomed the technician guy was to this whole situation, who had previously introduced himself as Ezra Calvin. Even in such an urgent situation, she couldn't help but suspect he definitely wasn't a normal technician. She wasn't even going into how the clearly non-combatant guy had managed to survive until now, but specially suspicious was how his white lab-coat and combed black hair were still roughly neat and tidy, as compared to her, Keith and Richard. The trio of them had been splattered here and there with the blood of those abominations, coupled with their disheveled hair and the tears in their combat equipment. Yep, definitely not normal. She trusted Keith with her back after he had saved her life, the man’s own pragmatism or not. But Ezra? He could still be a potential liability to them. But there was no point in bringing it up to the man in question, not now considering their lives were already at as high of a stake as they could be on.
Signalling to the other two, the three of them dashed across the cave towards the Crack, with herself carrying the suitcaee nuke in the centre, Keith on her right flank and Ezra slightly trailing behind on her left, somewhat struggling to keep up with their speeds. As they were getting closer and closer, the pulsating sensation in her head returned. When she had first arrived here, the feeling had entranced her. Now, it brought on a wave of nausea and disgust. Worse, it was getting stronger and stronger as they were moving closer and closer to it.
But it was when they reached right in front of the Crack, which was still hovering mid-air, that she realised the situation had started to turn. All of a sudden, she saw the Crack’s colours begin changing and warping. Its glow went from a previously unrecognisable, unknown colour to some sort-of blend between red and a tint of purple. Almost as if it was warning them away. That's definitely not good.
The three of them stopped in their tracks just in front of the crack, unsure of what to do. She'd never seen it do that before, not even when it had been about to unleash the first wave upon them. So what the hell was this? Shit. There's no time to think. She decided it was better to cast the die. Yelling at the other two besides her to follow her in, she took a massive leap into the air, straight towards the center of the hovering Crack. God. She hoped she was right about this.
And as she felt herself passing into the Crack, all of a sudden, the world around her exploded into a mirage of a thousand colours. The overwhelming assault against her vision made her want to scream out in agony. She felt her mind blanking out.
-
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Lionel Everest
Lionel didn't know what to do. One moment those adults were there, and in the other, they were gone. Gone. Gone with her.
No! This was his fault, not hers. Why had they taken her and not him? He didn't understand. Nothing made sense anymore, not after that glowing crack-thingy appeared in front of them…… and that… monster came over. The monster.
It had been terrifying. Just locking eyes with it when it first appeared through the glowing crack had made him feel faint and terror unlike anything he had experienced before. That humongous, green-skinned monster was bigger than any adult he had ever seen, and probably stronger, too. Instinctively, he ran. No, he tried to. Some sort of a weird pulsing sensation he couldn't grasp filled his head, and his eyes started getting cloudy and filled with sights and scenes he didn't understand. He couldn't balance himself properly, nor could he run.
When it all subsided, the first thing he saw had been the monster in front of him, snarling, and he knew it was too late. He had screamed and shut his eyes, waiting for the pain. But it never came. Opening his eyes very slowly, he had looked up to the monster in confusion, only to see it no longer looking at his direction. In fact, it had been as if the monster didn’t even see him anymore. It had just ignored him and walked past him. Walked past him.
At that moment, he had felt such hope. Hope that was instantly crushed. The monster somehow ignored him, so it went over to the only one left. Abigail.
No! He screamed and shouted, begged it not to, but no sound he made reached the monster. In fact, no sound came out of his mouth at all. When he finally stared at himself in confusion, he saw……a ghost. His hands, arms and shirt were all transparent, and he could hazily make out the ground below him through his body, as if he were staring at one of the old foggy glass windows his grandmother used to own. He was scared. At that moment, he didn't know what to do. His sister was about to die. He had been about to die! No, wait, was he already dead?
He had been panicking, breaking down, when a massive explosion rocked the air around him and a huge cloud of dust and dirt filled his vision. He coughed, but no air went in or out of his lungs. His breaths were completely devoid of anything, just bare motions. It was as if he wasn't even there. He didn't get any of it. Was he really dead?
But it was at that moment that he saw the monster……fighting some long-haired man in strange white attire. The bizarre sight was enough to completely cloud his sense of judgement. No, he had to get out of here. They had to get out of here. As those two strange beings were fighting, he ran up to his sister, trying to shake her awake or even just carry her out of this place. But as he reached out to shake her, his half-invisible arms just passed through her. They went right into his sister’s arms as he tried to grab them, the sight of which caused him to jump back and land on his butt. What? His legs and feet, which were in the same condition, stood on the ground just fine. His butt touched the ground just fine. Why couldn't he grab her?
So he ran. Alone. Without her. All by himself, leaving his twin sister behind, he ran across the meadows, away from the nightmarish monster and the ominous white man, and into the surrounding forest, surrounded by trees and bushes. He wanted to run further. Away from the whole meadow itself, but finally couldn't bring himself to well-and-truly abandon his sister there. He had been too scared to run back to her either, not that he could do anything even if he did, since he couldn’t even touch her for some reason. The monster previously acted like it couldn’t even see him, but could it actually hurt him even if it saw him? Maybe, maybe not. He didn’t want to find out the risky way. He hadn't been in the right mind to think things through. All he had wanted was to leave that place, to wake up from this… this…… nightmare that he and his sister were trapped in. They had both been about to die. None of this made sense.
So he stayed there and watched. He watched his sister, still sleeping on the ground peacefully beside the glowing crack, and in the middle of the chaotic fight, like some sort of a Sleeping Beauty that she had always adored from the fairy tales their grandmother had read to them. He tried watching out for the monster and the man too, but found it hard to keep up. No, more like he entirely couldn't. They were like a blur, and they moved so quickly that the air around them kept cackling and popping.
By the time the fight was over, and the man had left the monster a charred, black corpse, with its head gone. A sight which made him want to throw up, but held in. He didn't want to make a sound. That man was scary. He couldn’t make out his expression because of those weird black glasses he had on his face. What if he killed him like he killed the monster? What if he killed his sister- Oh no. Oh no. As soon as he thought that, he spotted the man moving towards his sister, still lying there besides the glowing crack. Please, make a sound! Stop hiding and get out there and just tell him to stop! Maybe take him instead? Why couldn't he save his sister from the trouble he had created? What would mom and dad think of him if they saw this, if only he had listened- If only he hadn't been so stupid and tried to approach the glowing crack. They could have just made it out of there before the monster or man showed up.
But the man, defying all his worries, gently picked up his sister. Then another adult emerged from the trees, and the two disappeared in a brilliant flash of blue light, all the whilst he had been too full of his own thoughts as he saw it all transpire. They left him alone, and took with them his sister.
By the time he had stepped out of his cover in a daze, too overwhelmed by everything that had transpired, his reality had finally started to sink in. They took her- Took her away, probably somewhere he was never going to be able to find. He might never see her again. Never. He- But- He…… He hadn't even apologised to her yet for dragging them into this mess.
As he was having such thoughts, the glowing crack, still glowing in a colour he didn't understand, began shifting and turning ominously. As he was about to react, half out of fear and half out of surprise, another brilliant flash of light engulfed the area. As he opened his eyes again, he realised that the glowing crack had been missing, gone without a trace. Instead, in its place he saw three strange figures lying on the ground.
The sight jolted him awake from his stupor, and he reflexively took a step back from the three. What if they were monsters too? They looked human though? No wait. That ominous white man, and his transparent body. What if they were all monsters?
As such thoughts were running through his mind, a massive boom jolted him for a second time. Turning his head to the source of the sound, he found himself staring at the starry night sky. No, not quite.
Up above, he saw several massive glowing cracks, just like the one before, now opening up. Weirdly enough, they were different from before. Unlike the indescribable colour that the previous glowing crack glowed with, these ones glowed an ominous red. They stretched across the sky, extending out into the horizons, staining the dark sky in a shade of crimson. Wait, that- Oh no, what if more monsters appear like in the first one? But they were so big, how could he run away? Wait, he was still invisible, maybe monsters wouldn't see him again-?
Interrupting his thoughts, he noticed one of the three strange adults, still on the floor, began stirring. It was also, at this precisely opportune moment, that he started feeling a strange, lethargic feeling sweep across his body. Feeling faint, he looked down, only to find his body had reverted back to normal, no longer transparent.
Riana Brians (again)
Ugh……
As she woke up, Riana felt a sharp pain in her head. "Argh-! I… wh…". Her vision was still blurry, but her mind was jolted awake. Clutching her head in her hands, she tried to make sense of her current situation. Right……they had entered the rift, nuke in her hands, ready to take out some monsters… but then the world around her exploded into a thousand different colours and she blacked out. Shit! As soon as she arrived at that thought, she braced herself. Shit, she still couldn't see straight, and they were in the Crack! They- She- Wait, how long was she out for? Were the two of them okay? Shit. They better be. Where were the monsters? Why hadn't they been attacked yet?
More importantly, where did the suitcase nuke in her hands go? Shuffling her hands around, all her clothes and other equipment still seemed to be on her.
It was then that she started making sense of her surroundings. A cool breeze greeted her face, and she felt herself lying on…… grass? This was grass right? Wait, what? Ok. This was not what she was expecting from the Crack……huh? As her groggy vision cleared, she found herself on the edge of some open meadow, surrounded by a forest on all sides. Where the heck was this? This was…… the Crack right? It was then that the figure in front of her caught her attention. How had she not noticed him? A kid?
Trying to make sense of her situation, she tried to shakily stand up, one hand still clutching the side of her head, trying to resist the pain. Looking towards the kid, she found herself staring at a young boy. She placed him between probably 12-14 years old. He was small, scrawny, wore a grey hoodie and had dark brown hair and freckles dotting his cheeks. And the sight of him made her freeze completely. A kid? Was he really a kid? No, he could have been an abomination in disguise for all she knew, but that didn't quite make sense when she thought about it. She didn't know how long she had passed out for, but the thing in the form of the boy in front of her could have had plenty of chances to kill her. Ok, so not immediately hostile. Probably.
Gathering her breath, she tried to speak in the gentlest voice possible. Not very easy when you had just been on a suicide mission ready to die, and had been pretty aggressive when talking to just about everyone in your life for the past several years. "Heya……kiddo-". God, she sounded so stupid. Why was her voice so high? Lower it, damn it! Coughing to clear her throat, she addressed the young boy again, who was still frozen in shock where he stood. "So… we both probably have some questions for each other, huh? Right, I'll start briefly. I'm Riana, mind telling me where we are? Or if you've seen any of my two other friends around here?"
Wait, did he speak english? He looked western enough for her to subconsciously assume he would. God, what if this kid was some sort of alien or abomination who didn't understand her? Though, she was pretty sure there wouldn't be any need for talking if that were the case. As she was having such thoughts, she discreetly moved to materialise a weapon in her hand hidden behind her back, just in case. But it had been then when the boy in front of her spoke, easing her worries.
"Uhm…… I'm Lionel. You- You're not a mons- I, I mean- we're… we're close to the mountains right now, near Vancouver? Not sure if you've heard about it though." He paused briefly before quickly adding on: "In Canada, near the west- I think?" He sounded rather unsure for the last part. Not that Riana could blame the kid. She'd never heard of Vancouver either, owing to the fact most of the missions she ran were back in the States. At least she knew what Canada was. Alright, they were still on Earth then, provided the kid was telling the truth. She was going to have to take it at face value for now. But how did they end up here? The boy continued, interrupting her thoughts: "Uh, as for your two friends, you wouldn't be referring to the two people lying beside you, would you?" Hearing the boy's -Lionel's- words, Riana looked over herself left and right, only to find Keith and Ezra, her teammates she had so been worried about, lying sprawled on the floor. A quick glance confirmed they were still breathing and just unconscious. They had emerged from the roughly the same position they had entered, with the two men on her flanks, which was pretty weird. But god, now she felt even more stupid. How had she not even noticed two people lying right beside her this whole time? Was her head that scrambled from entering the Crack? Yea, it must be that.
Organising her thoughts, she looked back at the boy, ready to open her mouth in response. But it was then that her surroundings began shaking uncontrollably, interrupting her violently. The ground rumbled, the trees began violently shaking, and it felt as if the air around her was vibrating uncontrollably. An earthquake? Yeah, right, she wished. She turned her head up to the sky.
What greeted her wasn't the dark, night-sky, but several massive, blood-red Cracks hovering amidst the clouds above. She knew what this rumbling meant all too well, it was a prelude to a wave.
Hurriedly, she began shaking Keith and Ezra on the shoulders, trying to shake them awake. They needed to get out of here asap. But when that didn't work, she resorted to lightly slapping them. She was prepared to materialise needles and shock devices and whatnot if they still didn't wake up. Or maybe she should have given medical attention, considering well… the fact that they weren't waking up. Not that she was that knowledgeable besides the bare basics taught to operatives. Thankfully, the two began rousing and stirring after a few light slaps on their faces. She may have slapped Keith with a bit more force.
As the two were rousing, she turned back to the kid, who was now staring at the red-tainted sky, half in awe, half in fear. She told him: "Right, kid- no, Lionel? I'm not sure how much you know or saw, but right now, ah… the four of us have gotta start moving, those Cracks… they-". The boy cut her off: "Monsters. They make… monsters come out of them. But- you're… you also came out of one. You- you're not monsters…… right?". The boy looked apprehensive, unsure of what to do still, but he seemed to be gathering himself as he spoke.
Quickly catching herself, Riana addressed the boy: "What? We… we came out of one? There- there was another one here? Oh… oh man. Shit, those bastards didn't say anything about this.". Her last sentence was more of a hushed murmur, and the boy visibly strained in an attempt to pick up her words. She hurriedly added on from her words, partly in an obvious attempt to distract the boy, and another part in due to the fact she was in a rush. If these massive Cracks started spewing out waves of abominations, she didn't want to think about what would happen to their merry little group and this kid. Thankfully, whilst this was going on, her two comrades had finally come awake, rubbing their eyes and clutching her head, clearly as groggy and as confused as she had been when she first woke up. Not wanting to have to spend time explaining the situation to them, she looked towards the boy once more and told him: "Look, I'm still not sure how you knew these Cracks spawn those monsters, but you- AARGH-!!". As she was talking, the pulsating feeling in her mind returned to her, catching her off guard. Only now, it felt unbearably powerful, overwhelming, even. Her mind felt like it was blanking out- for the second time today. Why was the pulse happening now?! Those Cracks had to have been there for a while!
Glancing briefly towards the boy whilst trying to suppress the pain, she noticed him also having a similar reaction, having fallen down to his knees from where he previously stood. Besides her, from the way their faces were scrunched up, Keith and Ezra also seemed to be feeling some level of discomfort. This pulse was… different. Something that affects everyone maybe? Now that wouldn't be good. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself together. They had to make it out of this place.
Lost-17
Riana Brians
Riana turned to face Keith. Their minute-long discussion had just ended, and their plan was set. The man wore a heavy expression, no doubt due to the sheer audacity of the plan they had just come up with. He did seem like the trim-and-proper type. He probably hasn't had much experience with improvisation like this. His face was slightly scrunched, and his black eyes were squinted. His brown hair, previously short and neat, had been unfurled and strewn messily over the course of the rabid battle. Overall, he looked quite tired, contrary to his insistence on coming along.
Putting that aside, with their discussions at an end, it was time to act. Richard, the other brown-eyed American operative, would stay behind, and fall back closer to the drop site, whilst the remaining three of them would make their move. There wasn't any more time for more hesitation. But her, Keith and Richard were one thing, but she was surprised to see how smooth and seemingly-accustomed the technician guy was to this whole situation, who had previously introduced himself as Ezra Calvin. Even in such an urgent situation, she couldn't help but suspect he definitely wasn't a normal technician. She wasn't even going into how the clearly non-combatant guy had managed to survive until now, but specially suspicious was how his white lab-coat and combed black hair were still roughly neat and tidy, as compared to her, Keith and Richard. The trio of them had been splattered here and there with the blood of those abominations, coupled with their disheveled hair and the tears in their combat equipment. Yep, definitely not normal. She trusted Keith with her back after he had saved her life, the man’s own pragmatism or not. But Ezra? He could still be a potential liability to them. But there was no point in bringing it up to the man in question, not now considering their lives were already at as high of a stake as they could be on.
Signalling to the other two, the three of them dashed across the cave towards the Crack, with herself carrying the suitcaee nuke in the centre, Keith on her right flank and Ezra slightly trailing behind on her left, somewhat struggling to keep up with their speeds. As they were getting closer and closer, the pulsating sensation in her head returned. When she had first arrived here, the feeling had entranced her. Now, it brought on a wave of nausea and disgust. Worse, it was getting stronger and stronger as they were moving closer and closer to it.
But it was when they reached right in front of the Crack, which was still hovering mid-air, that she realised the situation had started to turn. All of a sudden, she saw the Crack’s colours begin changing and warping. Its glow went from a previously unrecognisable, unknown colour to some sort-of blend between red and a tint of purple. Almost as if it was warning them away. That's definitely not good.
The three of them stopped in their tracks just in front of the crack, unsure of what to do. She'd never seen it do that before, not even when it had been about to unleash the first wave upon them. So what the hell was this? Shit. There's no time to think. She decided it was better to cast the die. Yelling at the other two besides her to follow her in, she took a massive leap into the air, straight towards the center of the hovering Crack. God. She hoped she was right about this.
And as she felt herself passing into the Crack, all of a sudden, the world around her exploded into a mirage of a thousand colours. The overwhelming assault against her vision made her want to scream out in agony. She felt her mind blanking out.
-
-
Lionel Everest
Lionel didn't know what to do. One moment those adults were there, and in the other, they were gone. Gone. Gone with her.
No! This was his fault, not hers. Why had they taken her and not him? He didn't understand. Nothing made sense anymore, not after that glowing crack-thingy appeared in front of them…… and that… monster came over. The monster.
It had been terrifying. Just locking eyes with it when it first appeared through the glowing crack had made him feel faint and terror unlike anything he had experienced before. That humongous, green-skinned monster was bigger than any adult he had ever seen, and probably stronger, too. Instinctively, he ran. No, he tried to. Some sort of a weird pulsing sensation he couldn't grasp filled his head, and his eyes started getting cloudy and filled with sights and scenes he didn't understand. He couldn't balance himself properly, nor could he run.
When it all subsided, the first thing he saw had been the monster in front of him, snarling, and he knew it was too late. He had screamed and shut his eyes, waiting for the pain. But it never came. Opening his eyes very slowly, he had looked up to the monster in confusion, only to see it no longer looking at his direction. In fact, it had been as if the monster didn’t even see him anymore. It had just ignored him and walked past him. Walked past him.
At that moment, he had felt such hope. Hope that was instantly crushed. The monster somehow ignored him, so it went over to the only one left. Abigail.
No! He screamed and shouted, begged it not to, but no sound he made reached the monster. In fact, no sound came out of his mouth at all. When he finally stared at himself in confusion, he saw……a ghost. His hands, arms and shirt were all transparent, and he could hazily make out the ground below him through his body, as if he were staring at one of the old foggy glass windows his grandmother used to own. He was scared. At that moment, he didn't know what to do. His sister was about to die. He had been about to die! No, wait, was he already dead?
He had been panicking, breaking down, when a massive explosion rocked the air around him and a huge cloud of dust and dirt filled his vision. He coughed, but no air went in or out of his lungs. His breaths were completely devoid of anything, just bare motions. It was as if he wasn't even there. He didn't get any of it. Was he really dead?
But it was at that moment that he saw the monster……fighting some long-haired man in strange white attire. The bizarre sight was enough to completely cloud his sense of judgement. No, he had to get out of here. They had to get out of here. As those two strange beings were fighting, he ran up to his sister, trying to shake her awake or even just carry her out of this place. But as he reached out to shake her, his half-invisible arms just passed through her. They went right into his sister’s arms as he tried to grab them, the sight of which caused him to jump back and land on his butt. What? His legs and feet, which were in the same condition, stood on the ground just fine. His butt touched the ground just fine. Why couldn't he grab her?
So he ran. Alone. Without her. All by himself, leaving his twin sister behind, he ran across the meadows, away from the nightmarish monster and the ominous white man, and into the surrounding forest, surrounded by trees and bushes. He wanted to run further. Away from the whole meadow itself, but finally couldn't bring himself to well-and-truly abandon his sister there. He had been too scared to run back to her either, not that he could do anything even if he did, since he couldn’t even touch her for some reason. The monster previously acted like it couldn’t even see him, but could it actually hurt him even if it saw him? Maybe, maybe not. He didn’t want to find out the risky way. He hadn't been in the right mind to think things through. All he had wanted was to leave that place, to wake up from this… this…… nightmare that he and his sister were trapped in. They had both been about to die. None of this made sense.
So he stayed there and watched. He watched his sister, still sleeping on the ground peacefully beside the glowing crack, and in the middle of the chaotic fight, like some sort of a Sleeping Beauty that she had always adored from the fairy tales their grandmother had read to them. He tried watching out for the monster and the man too, but found it hard to keep up. No, more like he entirely couldn't. They were like a blur, and they moved so quickly that the air around them kept cackling and popping.
By the time the fight was over, and the man had left the monster a charred, black corpse, with its head gone. A sight which made him want to throw up, but held in. He didn't want to make a sound. That man was scary. He couldn’t make out his expression because of those weird black glasses he had on his face. What if he killed him like he killed the monster? What if he killed his sister- Oh no. Oh no. As soon as he thought that, he spotted the man moving towards his sister, still lying there besides the glowing crack. Please, make a sound! Stop hiding and get out there and just tell him to stop! Maybe take him instead? Why couldn't he save his sister from the trouble he had created? What would mom and dad think of him if they saw this, if only he had listened- If only he hadn't been so stupid and tried to approach the glowing crack. They could have just made it out of there before the monster or man showed up.
But the man, defying all his worries, gently picked up his sister. Then another adult emerged from the trees, and the two disappeared in a brilliant flash of blue light, all the whilst he had been too full of his own thoughts as he saw it all transpire. They left him alone, and took with them his sister.
By the time he had stepped out of his cover in a daze, too overwhelmed by everything that had transpired, his reality had finally started to sink in. They took her- Took her away, probably somewhere he was never going to be able to find. He might never see her again. Never. He- But- He…… He hadn't even apologised to her yet for dragging them into this mess.
As he was having such thoughts, the glowing crack, still glowing in a colour he didn't understand, began shifting and turning ominously. As he was about to react, half out of fear and half out of surprise, another brilliant flash of light engulfed the area. As he opened his eyes again, he realised that the glowing crack had been missing, gone without a trace. Instead, in its place he saw three strange figures lying on the ground.
The sight jolted him awake from his stupor, and he reflexively took a step back from the three. What if they were monsters too? They looked human though? No wait. That ominous white man, and his transparent body. What if they were all monsters?
As such thoughts were running through his mind, a massive boom jolted him for a second time. Turning his head to the source of the sound, he found himself staring at the starry night sky. No, not quite.
Up above, he saw several massive glowing cracks, just like the one before, now opening up. Weirdly enough, they were different from before. Unlike the indescribable colour that the previous glowing crack glowed with, these ones glowed an ominous red. They stretched across the sky, extending out into the horizons, staining the dark sky in a shade of crimson. Wait, that- Oh no, what if more monsters appear like in the first one? But they were so big, how could he run away? Wait, he was still invisible, maybe monsters wouldn't see him again-?
Interrupting his thoughts, he noticed one of the three strange adults, still on the floor, began stirring. It was also, at this precisely opportune moment, that he started feeling a strange, lethargic feeling sweep across his body. Feeling faint, he looked down, only to find his body had reverted back to normal, no longer transparent.
Riana Brians (again)
Ugh……
As she woke up, Riana felt a sharp pain in her head. "Argh-! I… wh…". Her vision was still blurry, but her mind was jolted awake. Clutching her head in her hands, she tried to make sense of her current situation. Right……they had entered the rift, nuke in her hands, ready to take out some monsters… but then the world around her exploded into a thousand different colours and she blacked out. Shit! As soon as she arrived at that thought, she braced herself. Shit, she still couldn't see straight, and they were in the Crack! They- She- Wait, how long was she out for? Were the two of them okay? Shit. They better be. Where were the monsters? Why hadn't they been attacked yet?
More importantly, where did the suitcase nuke in her hands go? Shuffling her hands around, all her clothes and other equipment still seemed to be on her.
It was then that she started making sense of her surroundings. A cool breeze greeted her face, and she felt herself lying on…… grass? This was grass right? Wait, what? Ok. This was not what she was expecting from the Crack……huh? As her groggy vision cleared, she found herself on the edge of some open meadow, surrounded by a forest on all sides. Where the heck was this? This was…… the Crack right? It was then that the figure in front of her caught her attention. How had she not noticed him? A kid?
Trying to make sense of her situation, she tried to shakily stand up, one hand still clutching the side of her head, trying to resist the pain. Looking towards the kid, she found herself staring at a young boy. She placed him between probably 12-14 years old. He was small, scrawny, wore a grey hoodie and had dark brown hair and freckles dotting his cheeks. And the sight of him made her freeze completely. A kid? Was he really a kid? No, he could have been an abomination in disguise for all she knew, but that didn't quite make sense when she thought about it. She didn't know how long she had passed out for, but the thing in the form of the boy in front of her could have had plenty of chances to kill her. Ok, so not immediately hostile. Probably.
Gathering her breath, she tried to speak in the gentlest voice possible. Not very easy when you had just been on a suicide mission ready to die, and had been pretty aggressive when talking to just about everyone in your life for the past several years. "Heya……kiddo-". God, she sounded so stupid. Why was her voice so high? Lower it, damn it! Coughing to clear her throat, she addressed the young boy again, who was still frozen in shock where he stood. "So… we both probably have some questions for each other, huh? Right, I'll start briefly. I'm Riana, mind telling me where we are? Or if you've seen any of my two other friends around here?"
Wait, did he speak english? He looked western enough for her to subconsciously assume he would. God, what if this kid was some sort of alien or abomination who didn't understand her? Though, she was pretty sure there wouldn't be any need for talking if that were the case. As she was having such thoughts, she discreetly moved to materialise a weapon in her hand hidden behind her back, just in case. But it had been then when the boy in front of her spoke, easing her worries.
"Uhm…… I'm Lionel. You- You're not a mons- I, I mean- we're… we're close to the mountains right now, near Vancouver? Not sure if you've heard about it though." He paused briefly before quickly adding on: "In Canada, near the west- I think?" He sounded rather unsure for the last part. Not that Riana could blame the kid. She'd never heard of Vancouver either, owing to the fact most of the missions she ran were back in the States. At least she knew what Canada was. Alright, they were still on Earth then, provided the kid was telling the truth. She was going to have to take it at face value for now. But how did they end up here? The boy continued, interrupting her thoughts: "Uh, as for your two friends, you wouldn't be referring to the two people lying beside you, would you?" Hearing the boy's -Lionel's- words, Riana looked over herself left and right, only to find Keith and Ezra, her teammates she had so been worried about, lying sprawled on the floor. A quick glance confirmed they were still breathing and just unconscious. They had emerged from the roughly the same position they had entered, with the two men on her flanks, which was pretty weird. But god, now she felt even more stupid. How had she not even noticed two people lying right beside her this whole time? Was her head that scrambled from entering the Crack? Yea, it must be that.
Organising her thoughts, she looked back at the boy, ready to open her mouth in response. But it was then that her surroundings began shaking uncontrollably, interrupting her violently. The ground rumbled, the trees began violently shaking, and it felt as if the air around her was vibrating uncontrollably. An earthquake? Yeah, right, she wished. She turned her head up to the sky.
What greeted her wasn't the dark, night-sky, but several massive, blood-red Cracks hovering amidst the clouds above. She knew what this rumbling meant all too well, it was a prelude to a wave.
Hurriedly, she began shaking Keith and Ezra on the shoulders, trying to shake them awake. They needed to get out of here asap. But when that didn't work, she resorted to lightly slapping them. She was prepared to materialise needles and shock devices and whatnot if they still didn't wake up. Or maybe she should have given medical attention, considering well… the fact that they weren't waking up. Not that she was that knowledgeable besides the bare basics taught to operatives. Thankfully, the two began rousing and stirring after a few light slaps on their faces. She may have slapped Keith with a bit more force.
As the two were rousing, she turned back to the kid, who was now staring at the red-tainted sky, half in awe, half in fear. She told him: "Right, kid- no, Lionel? I'm not sure how much you know or saw, but right now, ah… the four of us have gotta start moving, those Cracks… they-". The boy cut her off: "Monsters. They make… monsters come out of them. But- you're… you also came out of one. You- you're not monsters…… right?". The boy looked apprehensive, unsure of what to do still, but he seemed to be gathering himself as he spoke.
Quickly catching herself, Riana addressed the boy: "What? We… we came out of one? There- there was another one here? Oh… oh man. Shit, those bastards didn't say anything about this.". Her last sentence was more of a hushed murmur, and the boy visibly strained in an attempt to pick up her words. She hurriedly added on from her words, partly in an obvious attempt to distract the boy, and another part in due to the fact she was in a rush. If these massive Cracks started spewing out waves of abominations, she didn't want to think about what would happen to their merry little group and this kid. Thankfully, whilst this was going on, her two comrades had finally come awake, rubbing their eyes and clutching her head, clearly as groggy and as confused as she had been when she first woke up. Not wanting to have to spend time explaining the situation to them, she looked towards the boy once more and told him: "Look, I'm still not sure how you knew these Cracks spawn those monsters, but you- AARGH-!!". As she was talking, the pulsating feeling in her mind returned to her, catching her off guard. Only now, it felt unbearably powerful, overwhelming, even. Her mind felt like it was blanking out- for the second time today. Why was the pulse happening now?! Those Cracks had to have been there for a while!
Glancing briefly towards the boy whilst trying to suppress the pain, she noticed him also having a similar reaction, having fallen down to his knees from where he previously stood. Besides her, from the way their faces were scrunched up, Keith and Ezra also seemed to be feeling some level of discomfort. This pulse was… different. Something that affects everyone maybe? Now that wouldn't be good. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself together. They had to make it out of this place.
