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V1C3: A light in the darkness

“Hello darkness, my old friend

I've come to talk with you again “

“182. 183. 184...”

I keep counting like a machine, without thinking, without a reason or motivation. This old song keeps being played on a loop. I don’t know why, but it helps me relax a little... Although just a little!

Considering our situation, taking inventory of everything we have is a must. Of course, we could have done it later, but, at this point, anything that might help us to lessen the pain that we feel inside is welcomed.

I always thought I am that kind of detached person that doesn’t give a fuck about anyone or anything. Oh boy, you can’t even imagine how wrong I was about that...

Everything that I loved or cared for has disappeared from this world in a single night and I remained here, in this unknown place, alone.

Of course, there are still Jake and Sy... I know that and, to be honest, if it were not for their presence, I don’t know if my sanity would have been kept until now.

“250. 251. 252.”

I note down the final number and move forwards. Right now I am in the basement of the manor counting the emergency supplies.

Away from the pain that haunts my soul, our situation is not that bad. We have food and water for more than eight years and the emergency generator can keep up with our consumption for at least five years.

Jake has already deployed all defensive system, the outer wall has been raised and the railguns are prepared and ready to be used. This is a new place, an unknown world, we must be prepared.

Still, initially, we thought to have travelled ten thousand years in the future at most... We were terribly wrong about that as well. When the darkness fell, Sy tracked certain stars on the sky and managed to determine that more than 1.2 billion years have passed.

1.2 billion years. That is a number that exceeds my comprehension. Of course, together with this discovery a few more mysteries were revealed. From those, the most important one is: why are there still living species on Earth?

Sy said that, in the past, scientists created simulations and deduced that sun’s luminosity should have increased by about 12% at this point and the oceans should have already evaporated. At this point, large amounts of carbon dioxide were to be produced and the only living species on earth should have been some micro-organisms that could survive in those harsh conditions.

That is what was supposed to happen. And still, sun’s luminosity is not different that it was 1.2 billion years ago and the atmosphere is extremely clean and welcoming to all carbon-based life forms.

How did this happen, we have no idea.

“88. 89. 90. 91... God damn it!”

We have only 91 bottles of wine left... I am not a heavy drinker or anything, but in this situation booze is a good way to make us forget everything and help us start a new day with fresh hope.

“Well... One or two fewer bottles shouldn’t matter, right?”

‘Gulp gulp gulp’

“Hahhh... ”

............................

Time started to pass slightly faster... Or it might be my impression?

‘Gulp gulp gulp’

I take another look at the bottle in my hands and, for god knows what reasons, I throw it towards a random wall. The bottle breaks and the red liquid spills on the floor.

My mind is messy... I can’t think properly anymore... Slowly, my body starts leaning backwards.

‘Thump’

I hit the back wall with the back of my head quite hard but there is no pain.

‘Click’

The moment I hit the wall it seems I hit the switch as the lights fade away and the darkness takes its rule over the basement.

My consciousness starts fading away as well... I look around in a daze but everything is dark.

...............................

I don’t know how much time has passed... A few minutes? Hours? I don’t know and I don’t care.

My eyes keep opening and closing. It’s like I am in a dream.

Ohhh... How beautiful it would be if all these were to be a nightmare and soon I was to wake up in my bed and start a new day in my former world.

Unfortunately, the reality is harsh and doesn’t care about my hopes or dreams.

..............................

What a strange dream I have right now... I am in a dark place. There is almost no trace of light except for a small sphere that floats around me slowly, without making any kind of noise. Its light is pure white and all the pain that I feel, be it physical or mental, seems to go away when it gets closer to me.

Haah.. What a wonderful feeling. I rise to my feet and my left hand, moving on its own, starts approaching the small blob of light.

The contact is made a few seconds later, but nothing happens. My hand goes straight through it and the little blob just flies around my head like nothing happened.

“Hahh... What are you I wonder?”

I don’t even know why I asked that question... This dream truly is interesting.

“Name.”

Did I just hear a voice? No, it was more like there was a voice inside my head... I look around but there is no one except the little blob of light.

“Are you alone?”

I test it out by asking a random question, but there is no answer... This means that it was only my imagination... I think it’s quite bad when, even in your dreams, you hear voices...

“I am going to name you Sparky and together we shall rule this new world!”

I take the victory pose with one hand high like holding a flag... I bet that this would have been really embarrassing if anyone were to see me although it’s only in a dream, but I am alone.

At this point, something strange happens.

The little blob of light starts glowing in a crimson shade, very different than its pale, white light from a few seconds ago. Then, it approaches my chest and disappears. A few moments later pain fills my world. This time it’s physical pain. I feel like I am taking a bath in molten steel. Sweat starts pouring on my face as my body is convulsing in pain on the floor.

This dream is really fucked up... Fortunately, my consciousness fades away, again...

.............................

Morning... I can feel the light on my face. Soon, my eyes start cracking open. The first thing that I feel is a horrible migraine... Well, considering that I stopped only after the fourth bottle of wine, I am not too surprised.

“Don’t move!”

Sy... She is inspecting my torso... Her eyes are sparkling like she found something truly fascinating... And there is some fear that starts taking root in my mind. One thing should be mentioned, Sy is terrifying when she find something she likes.

Under her eyes, I don’t even feel like a human being anymore... It’s like I am a small mouse that is about to be dissected. I know that she wouldn’t hurt me, but the fear is still there.

“Fascinating!”

Not being able to hold on my curiosity anymore, I raise my head and look at my torso.

“Tattoo?!?”

What the hell? Did by any chance all this apocalypse thing was a dream under the effect of some hard narcotics and I was actually kidnapped or something? The tattoo is quite an interesting one, with some kind of circles intertwined together in a complex pattern, filled with hieroglyphs. I swear to god they look exactly like those magic circles in fantasy novels that I read before.

First I must be sure if it was all a dream or not. Taking a look through the window, I can still see the crown of the trees that stands above the wall.

“No dream huh?”

Disappointment fills my face.

Then how the hell did this tattoo appear?

Maybe? Nooo!!!

Thinking about the strange dream I had last night, a possibility pops into my mind. Still, I realise that something like that happening is even more unlikely than this tattoo just appearing from thin air.

“Hold still and don’t move, OK?”

“Huh?”

Sy approaches me with a smile on her face holding a scalpel in one hand and a syringe with some green liquid in the other...

“Don’t worry Seth it’s going to hurt only a second!”

“Yeah... How about... NOOOO!”

Before you could blink twice, I raised from the bed and started running in a totally random direction...

“Hey, slow down! What happened?”

In my hurry, I stumble upon Jake that was carrying two big water bottles. Unfortunately, I don’t have time for explanations right now so I just point behind me towards the crazy scientist that is following me with an evil smile on her face and keep running in the opposite direction.

“Sy is scary sometimes...”

I can hear those words being uttered behind me as Jake just watches us running around like some sort of show on a Japanese channel.

“Keep running! She is getting closer!”

“You are not helping dude!!!”

“I know!”

...............................

Sometimes I hate those friends of mine!