Chapter 09 – Power Nap

The inside was dark. Not quite as dark as the meeting hall in the Veldt town, but too dim to quite make out everything. Translucent insulating material lined the dome’s thin walls, the red light of the setting sun filtering through.

Harry stepped inside, with Ray, Karisma, and Brent following right after.

Textured black rubber tiles covered the ground to form a grippy, non-slip floor, upon which was placed various shelves, tables and machinery, including shorter versions of the flood lamps outside.

First things first. Brent looked around for any people and saw none, aside from those he came in with.

“Clear,” Ray declared, having apparently thought to do the same.

“Hey, check this out,” Harry said, squatting over a machine.

If Brent had to describe it he would say it looked like an orange box in a small cage of black bars. It had a pair of wheels on one end of the cage, and many cables snaked out of the box.

“I recognize this, I think it’s a portable generator. I remember my friend brought something like this when we went camping once.” He felt around the side. “Now, there should be a switch around… here.”

Click! Whrrrrmmmm. The generator rumbled to life. “Whoa!”

The lamps turned on, replacing the red sheen over everything with a brilliant white.

“Nice, didn’t think it would still be working.”

Another machine also started up, this one a large space heater. The sheets of insulation coating the dome’s walls started rippling slightly from the now circulating air.

Karisma held her hands out, feeling the hot air emanating from the device. “Power and heating? This place is perfect.”

Brent and Ray’s eyes were drawn to the back of the dome, where there lay a couple of large, pink metal...

“Loot chests!” they both exclaimed, and rushed over. Ray got there first, opening the one on the right, so Brent took the left.

The lids popped open at roughly the same time, and the young men were showered with items.

Brent immediately went for the largest item he could see, as he recognized it as an arctic camouflage vest much like the ones Ray and Karisma wore.

Armor - Level 1

Rarity Uncommon Durability 100% Reduces incoming weapon damage by 20%

Finally, some armor. Just like the helmet, it had a durability rating, so presumably if that was reduced to 0% through damage or something it would lose effectiveness. Brent decided to put it on over his shirt and under his jacket.

“Status.”

Status Name Brent Davies Race Human Health 100/100 Adrenaline 0% Loadout: Weapon M870 Shotgun (5/5) Helmet Biker (Level 1) Armor Police Vest (Level 1) Backpack Tote Bag (Level 1)

He felt a certain sense of accomplishment from filling up all of his equipment slots, even if they were all level 1.

Next there was a cyan box, containing some kind of ammunition:

.22 LR

Category

Ammunition

Rarity Common

Quantity

30

Small cartridge used by pistols and light rifles.

“Oh hey, that’s the ammo for that little pop pistol of yours,” Ray pointed out, “Nice find.”

Brent stopped and stared at it in disbelief. “Oh my god. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Figuring he was never going to find any ammunition for it, Brent had stripped the Noisy Cricket of attachments and tossed it away back in the Veldt town before they left. And here the ammo was, sitting in the very next loot chest he happened to come across.

“Uuuugh. Well, I don’t need this anymore and I don’t have the space for it.”

“Hey, it can be used for other guns too, we might still be able to use it. You can give it to Karisma, she has plenty of space.”

“I guess,” Brent shrugged.

The last items were a couple of grenades, one a green sphere:

Fragmentation Grenade

Category Explosive

Rarity Common Explosion Radius

5 - 15 m

Damage

100 - 5

4 second fuse timer. Do not pull pin with teeth.

The was other a gray cylinder with a white stripe around the middle:

Smoke Grenade

Category Explosive

Rarity Common Explosion Radius

20 m

Damage

0

Creates a large cloud that obscures vision.

He was a bit disappointed there weren’t any new guns, but at least he had armor now.

With the interior now properly illuminated, Brent saw some files and documents strewn about on one of the tables. He sifted through them, but they were all written in a different language, made up of strange symbols.

“Hm seems like this is in some sort of code. If we can crack it, we might be able to figure out what’s going on.”

Karisma looked over, and her eyes widened. “Wait, that’s not code. It’s written in Hindi!”

She stepped over and took the file out of Brent’s hands.

“Are you saying you can read this stuff?”

“Sort of. My parents made me study how to write it as a kid…” She held the file up to the light as everyone crowded around.

“What does it say?”

“Hold on, I’m reading… ugh, sorry, I don’t know some of these words.”

“Hey no sweat, love, I don’t know any of them.” Harry patted her on the shoulder. “Just do your best.”

“This is a just highly technical report on something, there’s no summary about what the camp’s main purpose was. Maybe the other ones will have a clue.” Karisma put the file down and started looking at the other documents, taking sheets out of folders and shifting them around, but taking care to keep all of them in neatly aligned stacks on the table.

“Okay, from what I can gather, this was an Indian research station. Looks like this camp was set up several months ago to measure… weather and uh… atmospheric radiation?”

“Radiation?” Ray looked worried. “Wait, if this is a tundra… shit, is there a nuclear power plant in this area? Did freaking Chernobyl get transported to this world too, and now we’re all breathing in cancer air?”

It was a sobering thought, and the four looked at each other in queasy silence, as if expecting someone to suddenly keel over with radiation sickness.

“No, that can’t be it,” Brent broke in. “This was a planned scientific expedition, so they must have come to this area prepared. I don’t see any gas masks or hazmat suits, so if there is any radiation it isn’t a dangerous amount.”

“What if there are, and they’re just stored in the other domes?”

“Oof, yeah, that’s a possibility. Damn, we didn’t even check those yet for people.”

“No worries, if they were gonna make a move on us they would have done so already,” Harry said, “But yeah, we ought to go check those out now. Maybe I can get some cool loot as well.”

“I’m going to keep reading through these, see if there’s anything about the island or the game,” Karisma said, not looking up from the table. She had a very studious expression, and Brent studied her in turn, thinking she fit right in with the environment of the dome, just needing a lab coat to complete the set.

He looked back to see Harry and Ray were already out the door, and scurried out after.

“Uh-”

Harry was going for the dome on the far left, and Ray went to its counterpart on the right.

What was he going to say? Well, the others had already made up their minds, so Brent went over to the dome to the left of the central orange one.

There were small lamps in this one too, and they were on, which was curious as the large ones outside were still dark. Perhaps there was another generator that controlled them.

If there was, it didn’t seem to be in this dome, which had the look of a mess hall or break room. There were a bunch of folding chairs arranged around a central table, which had a stack of napkins and unused condiments. There was no refrigerator, but there was a water cooler which was still somewhat full. The water looked fine, and Brent thought about filling up some water bottles from it, but then remembered the talk about radiation and opted not to.

There was a row of blue metal storage lockers, some of which were secured with combination locks. A fair amount of them were unsecured though, and Brent started pulling them open. The first one was empty, but the subsequent lockers had plenty to offer.

Brent first gravitated towards a shotgun leaning against the side in one locker, accompanied by a few red ammunition boxes:

Remington Model 870

Category

Shotgun Rarity Common Damage 20 per pellet (9 count)

Capacity

5

Firing Modes

Pump Action

Attachment slots

Optic, Lower Rail

The M870 is a staple weapon for home defense. This version has a modified slide which can be freely pumped as many times as the user wishes even if a shell is already loaded, for purely dramatic effect.

Oh, it was the same weapon as the one he was already using. He took the extra ammo and moved on.

He found another frag grenade, and some more food rations, including more cans of baked beans and… a potato. The raw vegetable looked out of place, but like all the other loot so far it was probably placed in this location after it was abandoned.

The last few lockers held clothes, mostly white lab coats, but also actual fur coats suitable for the climate, and pants as well.

Oh. Brent noticed his legs were feeling pretty cold from being partially exposed. This might be a good time to change.

He went to the back of the dome, where there was another portable heater, and let his shins bask in the heat for a moment before unzipping and dropping his cargo shorts to the floor.

He was hiking his jeans up one leg when he heard the dome door flap open. He froze.

“Oi, Brent, you in there?” Harry’s voice came through, “You’ll never guess what I found-”

“Wait, stop!” Brent’s face flushed red as he frantically tried to pull his pants up.

“Huh?” Harry stopped short, part of his body poking into the dome but not his face. Could he see Brent through the gap? “What’s wrong, mate?”

“N-nothing, just don’t come in!”

“Eh?” Please step back outside, please step back outside… Harry stepped back outside, and Brent’s stress levels went down a notch. He was still standing right next to the entrance though, and if there was a breeze an opening might appear.

Brent hopped around from one foot to the other as he hiked his jeans up, trying to get his other leg in, but for some reason the basic task of putting on clothing seemed to be beyond him at this particular moment.

Harry called out again. “You don’t sound so well Brent, is there anything you need help with?”

“I’m fine, thanks!”

Harry coughed. “Uh, let me rephrase that. There wouldn’t happen to be anyone else in there with you, right? Just you and your… little friend?”

Little friend? By that, Harry couldn’t possibly mean-

So he HAD seen Brent! The boy went into panic mode again. “No no no! You’ve got the wrong idea-”

“Hey, it’s okay mate, you can tell me if you need some time for yourself. I’m not going to go and tell the others about it. That would be rude.”

The way he said that made Brent suspect Harry was going to do just the opposite.

“No!” he cried. “Just… just hold on for a minute. Don’t go anywhere. Please.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“Okey-dokey then.”

Brent continued struggling with his pants, sweat forming everywhere from both the heat of the heater and his own embarrassment. Why was this happening to him?

He recalled similar scenarios in the novels he’d read, but not like this!

After what seemed like an eternity, he was able to get them on, and quickly rushed outside to clear up the misunderstanding.

Harry looked a bit tense, but he straightened up when he saw Brent come out.

“Oh, that was fast,” he said, peering behind Brent into the dome, “Did you-”

“It’s not what you think!” Brent blurted out. “I was just changing my pants.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know what you saw, but I was just changing into warmer clothing.”

“No, I didn’t see anything, I walked out as soon as I heard-” Harry looked at Brent’s pants. “Oh. Ohhhhhh, I see now. Shit, mate, but why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”

“Uh…” The thought had honestly not crossed Brent’s mind. Harry burst into laughter, and Brent felt like dropping dead on the spot to escape the awkwardness of the situation.

“This is too good! You must have thought, that I thought, that you were actually choking the chicken, eh?”

“Wait, that’s not what you were thinking?”

Harry gasped for breath between fits of laughter. “No! I was so worried, I thought you’d run into a bloke and he was threatening to gut you if you called for help. I was trying to give you a- a way to hint to us that you were in trouble without him noticing, you know? It’s like that story where the woman calls the police but pretends she’s ordering a pizza, because her abusive husband is in the room listening.”

“Are you serious?!”

“Honest to god, man! I really wasn’t trying to mess with you.”

Brent still had some doubts about that. “But there wasn’t anyone! And even if there was, why did you have to say it like that?”

“It was the first thing that came to mind. It sounded natural, or at least, the enemy would be too distracted by the double entendre to notice the triple entendre of going back to the original meaning. Clever, eh?”

Seeing Brent’s unamused expression, Harry calmed down a bit. “Guess not. Ah well, I’m really sorry about all that. Here, how about we come up with some better code talk to signify if we’re in trouble later. I’ll let you decide what to say.”

Brent shook his head. “No, that’s okay. Let’s just… not talk about this incident again.”

“You got it. My lips are sealed, mate.”

“Is something happening?” Ray was walking over now, carrying a large cloth bundle. “I thought I heard some noise.”

“Nah, everything’s fine,” Harry responded evenly, “Brent and I were just having a friendly chat. What have you got in there?”

“Let’s talk about it back in the big dome. Standing out here exposed is a big risk.”

The three went back into the orange dome, where they found Karisma still poring over the books and documents. She looked up as they put their hauls down.

“Oh, you guys are back? I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the area isn’t irradiated, at least not to any harmful extent.”

“Nice,” Ray said, “I was about to say, I didn’t find any hazmat suits.”

“The bad news is there is absolutely nothing in these research notes about the game or how this station was transported here. They were looking at weather patterns and wildlife one day and the next nothing. I could keep reading, but I think it’s clear this station has nothing to do with whatever organization created this island.”

Harry sighed. “That’s alright, you don’t have to keep reading. We’ll find another lead. Well done, Karisma.”

“So what did you guys find?”

Harry’s face lit up, going from mildly frustrated to excited as he remembered something. “Ooh yeah, I found some really cool stuff. Check out this baby!”

Thunk! Harry plopped down a large, heavy gun onto the table. It had a folded bipod on the front and a large black disc on top.

“Damn, that’s heavy.” Ray nodded. Brent touched it, and the statistics popped up:

DP-28

Category

LMG Rarity Rare Damage 28

Capacity

47

Firing Modes

Full Auto (550 RPM)

Attachment slots

Optic, Stock, Magazine

Though not as famous as a certain other firearm from Russia, the DP has a long history of reliability as well.

Brent had a thought. “Hey, do you want it Ray? You know guns, I bet you could deal some serious damage with it.”

“Nah, Harry can hold onto it,” Ray refused, much to Brent’s surprise, “MG’s aren’t good for precision work, which is what I’ve practiced.”

It looked pretty good, so Brent thought about asking for it himself. But would it really be any better in his hands?

“I also picked up this gun right here, but it looks bloody cool so I’m keeping it too.” Harry showed off a large, blocky, triple barreled pistol. “I think it’s called a ‘Mozambick’?”

“It’s definitely cooler than what I found,” Brent said glumly, “Just a bunch of clothes and food.”

“Oh don’t say that, we need clothes and food way more than we need more guns,” Karisma said. “I’ve been wearing the same outfit for what, two days now?”

“You can’t be cool if you’re naked and starving,” Harry quipped.

“I guess,” Brent said, feeling slightly reassured.

Karisma peered over at the pile of clothing the boy had left on the floor. “Wait, are those fur coats? They look kinda nice, mind if I take one?”

“Sure, I think there’s enough for everyone.”

“Thanks!”

Brent passed out coats, and soon they were all bundled up.

“So what did you find, Ray?” Karisma asked.

“The far right dome is just the bathroom,” Ray reported, “There was a crappy pistol and ammo stashed in one of the toilets for some reason, I didn’t bother touching it. The one next to it had a bunch of bunk beds. I grabbed most of the sheets and blankets from them.” He indicated the large bundle he had set down. “This place is inside the circle, and has heating and other supplies. I’d say it’s a good a place to spend the night as any, so we can form makeshift sleeping bags out of these and get some rest.”

Karisma furrowed her arched eyebrows. “Wait, if there are beds in the other dome then why did you bring them here? We could just sleep on those.”

Ray shook his head. “It’s better for us all to sleep in this dome. It’s larger, and more defensible. Plus it has the generator.”

“Ah yeah, that would do it. We’re camping out here then,” Harry declared.

They cleared out a space in the middle of the dome to lay down the sheets. As the ‘halo’ closed outside, Brent and his newfound companions settled in for the night, wrapped in furs, blankets, and warm air produced by the space heater.

It was a very cozy setup, and all in all much better than how he had spent the previous night. Brent almost felt like he was back home again.

54 remaining.

Almost, anyway.