Unknown for a Reason

Unknown for a Reason

Copyright 2018 Albert Oon

Published by Albert Oon at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes: This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.  This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.  If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy.  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/824698

Chapter 1 – No one can hear you scream.

The current year is 2432. Humanity has finally made ships that are able to travel to other galaxies in little time. The first galaxy we go to we called Prosperity because the first planet we picked to colonize is a planet rich with resources with an atmosphere that is livable for us. We called it The Gold Mine since Earth was prospering as ships went back and forth collecting resources and bringing them to Earth. During this time, we are able to advance our technology, live environmentally friendly, and live in constant economic prosperity. The planet was so popular in fact that there is a city built there and people go there to look for business and opportunity. I speak on and off in the past tense because a ship hasn’t returned from the Gold Mine in weeks. My name is John Wright and I’m part of a team that’s investigating the dead silence.

As we’re traveling between Earth and the Gold Mine, my friend Ben says, “I heard they got really exotic food over there.”

“You’re thinking about the food? I’m thinking about the ladies,” Pascal says, “They got the brightest and richest women there and I’m thinking about picking up one.”

“And they say women are gold diggers,” Nova says.

“She’s right Pascal. You always try to make the most amount of money in the least amount of time. Remember how much you spent at the last casino we were at?”

“Almost all of the money I brought with me, but I did win every now and then.”

“You just don’t know when to stop gambling and letting your luck do everything for you.”

“I wish I had the luck your boyfriend had Nova. He won more than all three of us and my debt combined! Speaking of him,” he bangs his hand against the walls of the ship, “John! What are you doing back there sleeping?”

“No, I’m making plans for what we’re going to do down there.”

“Well, make a plan for me to win big money at the next casino we go to.”

Stupid idiot. He’s a cool guy, but he’s still an idiot. I’m actually thinking of when I should marry Nova. I have the wedding ring in one of my pockets and I also heard they have amazing churches done in the Gold Mine. Since we can’t contact the planet, I couldn’t set up any kind of surprise party. Hopefully, I still can.

“Hands off Pascal,” Nova says, “He’s my lucky charm.”

“Ok boys and girl here we are. Exiting slip-space in 3…2…1,” Pascal says before we see the planet.

“What the? The power is out everywhere on the planet. I guess we found the problem,” Ben says.

“But they’re supposed to have plans on top of plans in case something like this happened.”

“I don’t even see small lights down there. Some of the structures look damaged from what I’m seeing.”

Because of the way the cities and other sites on the planet, the face of it looks like a human face or at least a face after a car crash.

“It looks like we’re going to be here for a while if they haven’t found a way to fix things themselves. Get ready boys, this is going to be a long week.”

Suddenly, the ship shakes and picks up speed as we head towards the planet.

“Pascal, what the hell are you doing?” Ben says.

“I ain’t doing anything man! What are you doing?”

“Nova!”

“There’s nothing on my end! It’s like the planet is pulling us in.”

All three of my crewmembers do what they can while I just brace for whatever’s happening. I don’t have training in ship flying or repair. Damn it! I feel so useless.

Nova notices my expression and says, “Don’t worry babe, we got this.”

Pascal manages to lift the ship, so we don’t crash into the city streets, but we’re still inexplicably flying at high speeds. The city streets look dead and destroyed as if a civil war happened here.

“Ben, where’s the closest docking station?!” Pascal says while avoiding buildings.

“Not too far at the rate we’re going at!” Ben responds.

We hit the side of a building and lose part of our ship.

“You’re not planning on-”

“Oh yes, I am! Docking stations have plating to cushion crashes like ours.”

“But I’m not sure if we’ll survive the crash!”

“Then you better give me some of that luck John!”

“You can have all of it!” I respond.

“Then I’m winning the lottery and a beautiful woman when we get home fellas! Haha!”

The ship crashes into the docking station and the next thing I know, I wake up in my room in our ship.

“Ugh…Nova? Ben? Pascal?”

No one seems to be on the ship. I exit the ship and see the extent of the damage done to it and sheesh. It’s not going to fly for a while. Why is this place so empty and dark? The lights are flickering, and the rest is dim or out. Wait…shit! Where’s the ring? I look around the ship and don’t find the ring I was supposed to give Nova. I don’t even find my repair toolbox and bags. Maybe she or the other two found it on me and have it. I hope so. But where would they go? Maybe the ship repair center or a police headquarters. Might as well start with the visitor’s center here. It looks like this place is abandoned too. Man, people were trying to get out of here in a hurry. The blood on the ground makes it look like things got really violent. There aren’t any bodies, so that’s a good thing at least. Oh! A repair guy’s suitcase. It has a welding gun in it too and it’s all charged up. I modify its firing so that it becomes a ranged gun instead of a heating tool. People used this alternate firing mode to take off pieces of metal or rock from a distance. I better take it with me. I’ll pay for it if the owner wants it back later.

Is it just me or do I hear things in the vents? I better keep moving, but how big are the rats here. Wait, this place isn’t reported to have any kind of vermin or animal living on it. What could be in the vents then? Holy crap! Some corpse thing just jumped out at the vents at me. Thankfully I got a quick reaction and shoot it. What is it even? It miraculously stands back up and I get a full view of it in the flickering lights. Everything about it says it shouldn’t be alive. The way the face is, the way the body is with all its organs on display. It’s nothing but a mangled corpse with a sort of female shape to it with protruding blades made of bone. Two other male looking corpses come out of the vents signaling my cue to run. These things are fast! I don’t get it. Is this what happened to the people here? How?

I keep sprinting through the hallways while firing back at the corpses. These things don’t appear to be affected by my gun, so I fire at their limbs. Their legs are blasted off, but they keep coming at me. Oh, an elevator! I run into it and quickly close the door. Flew, finally safe-oh shit! The female one opened the door by itself. Close, close, close! The door closes and crushes the female corpse before going down. Wow, that was a close call-hey! Is this the…yeah, it’s the ring I was going to give Nova. Why does this thing have it? It can’t possibly be her. It looks nothing like her in the slightest. Maybe it was just deep in my pockets and I couldn’t find it. I’m now on the ground floor and ooooh boy. There are way more down here. The exit seems to be blocked too

“Sorry wrong floor,” I say as I quickly press the second-floor button before they notice me.

There could be an alternate exit on the second floor. With any luck there is. Of course, there have to be corpses on this floor as well. Maybe I can sneak by them. This seems to be working. Ok, there’s the exit. Is that a dead one right there? Oh, crap not so dead! I quickly run to the exit, down the stairs, and out the door. Gotta wield the door shut, come on…there we go! Woah! Just in time as one of their sharp appendages break through the door. I’ll get some distance while they’re busy breaking through. These things are probably the source of all this destruction in the city. There are pieces of bodies, blood, and destruction everywhere. Oh hey, a message flare. These things allow you to leave a trail and a message so you can be discovered. It’s from my crew!

I can hear Nova speaking, she says, “Hey, there John. If you find this before we come back to you, we’re going to the police headquarters to see if we can get some help. Good luck! I love you.”

“That man doesn’t need any luck,” Pascal says in the background, “Tell him to give some to us. This place is a ghost town.”

“Don’t listen to him, baby. We’ll see you soon.”

Pascal said this place is a ghost town? I guess they didn’t encounter these walking corpses, but how could they not? I hope they’re all safe.

Chapter 2 – No Sanctuary, No Help, No Mercy.

While heading to the police headquarters, I see the true extent that these corpse monsters have accomplished. I even see different types like one that brings the corpses to life. It’s a winged flying flesh thing that comes from the flesh-like materials on the buildings and ground. I have to watch for them since they seem to blend into the environment. There are also dog and cat-like corpses. They hunt for prey and can tell if certain people are playing dead or not. I’ve seen survivors use the movie tactic of covering yourself in blood, but that doesn’t work on these things. These are the two I’ve seen, but I’ve seen other types in the dark. I’ve been keeping my distance from all these monsters since there are so many of them out here. There are times, however, that I wish I didn’t. There are still survivors out here and I’m allowing them to die by not helping them though this might be for the better. As soon as someone gets spotted, corpses from at least a block away notice and come after them then slowly the rest of the city has their scent.

These few survivors are “useful” in getting to where I need to. I hated using that word to describe them, but it’s the only one I could think of. Now, I’m finally at the police headquarters, which I found because of a few map guides put around the city. That and the building is huge and says, “Authority Headquarters” on it with flickering lights. From the outside, I can already tell this is going to be a good time since it looks like there was a huge last stand here. The front door is blocked by debris, so I go around the side and this side is locked. I cut my way in and see that the place is mostly empty save for one or two corpses per room. Even on the higher floors, there aren’t many corpses. I guess whatever wrecked this place must’ve chased their prey. I hope Nova isn’t one of the victims here nor one of the corpses outside.

The fight here must’ve been something crazy with how much this place has been torn up. The severed limbs and heads here are nothing but bits and pieces-wait, these don’t come back to life too, do they? I poke at it a bit and they don’t do anything, which is a great thing. I swear I can hear the screams from the fight that must’ve happened here or is that something that’s happening outside? Is the announcement system still working? Because I’m hearing static.

Further up on the top floor, I find a video message hologram when I check out the head officer’s desk. It’s from Nova and my crew. They appear to have been here when the big fight here happened since they’re going around the station getting it ready for something.

Nova looks into the digital camera and says, “Hey, good luck charm. It’s me again if you already found our first message.”

“Shut that thing off Nova, I’m sure everything around you tells him what he needs to know,” Ben says while he’s loading people’s guns.

“If you don’t find us here, we’ll probably take shelter at the nearby church. It’s big and heavily fortified.”

“Hurry up! The Carrion is coming,” an officer in the background says.

“I left something in a closet in this room for you. I know you’ll make good use of it. Stay safe honey.”

“Someone get those turrets working!” another officer says.

I catch a glimpse of them starting the firefight before the video closes. The turrets in this building aren’t working? Looking around the office, I see that the defense turrets are out, but aren’t operational. At least they aren’t covered in that flesh-like substance. Carrion is the name that the people of this place called these corpse things? I guess it fits them. They do have beak-like faces and even act like crows.

Is something in this room moving? I quickly look around as I hear something move around. It sounds fleshy like the Carrion, but different and smaller. Nova said there was something in a closet? Here it is. Oh! She really does know me best. Nova left me attachments I could use on my gun to make it into a shotgun and a submachine gun. She knows that I can modify tools to make them into guns. I put it all together and now my gun has four modes; pistol, welding, shotgun, and submachine gun. Let’s try the shotgun mode for this situation. Stepping out of the head officer’s room, I look around and notice that the limbs on the floor aren’t there. One catches my eye as it turns a corner. With my gun raised, I follow it and see it joining itself to one large Carrion that’s made of mangled bones, limbs, and heads. It turns its head to me.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt something private?” I say before shooting it in the face or rather one of its faces.

My shotgun tears through multiple limbs, but that’s not enough. Every piece of it acts independently and wants to kill me. I keep shooting it until the body falls apart. I then switch to the submachine gun function and the gun transforms into a submachine gun that I use to clean up the remaining limbs. The Carrion scream from outside and echo throughout the city. The turret control room better be close. I search for direction and eventually find my way to the turret control room. The door leading to it leads to another hallway, which might be useful. I weld the door behind me then go into the turret control room to see three turrets I can set up. Just in time too as the Carrion are trying to break through the hallway door. After quickly setting them up, I weld the door to the turret control room and look around to see what the problem with the turrets is. All the wires in the turret control system seem to be messed up. Maybe if I rearrange them in a certain way. The Carrion are getting torn up by my turrets outside. Perhaps I won’t need to repair-and the turrets stopped firing. Come on, come on, blue, green, red, purple, light blue, who thought it was a good idea to make these wires similar colors? And…there we go! The monitor in this room lights up and so does the control board. I quickly activate the ceiling turrets outside the room then activate the turrets inside the building then the ones outside. Now, if only I could have a bag of popcorn as I sit and watch the Carrion get slaughtered outside. It’s entertaining as they mindlessly charge at the building. Some of them try to destroy the turrets or find another way into the building, but they get shot to pieces anyway. This is great! I can just sit back, relax, and-hey is there something wrong with the power? Oh yeah, this place is running on limited power…

Well, that was fun, but now it’s time to leave. The bottom floors are a no go now since the entire city is awake and attacking it. Damn it. There has to be an alternate exit. Oh! What about the sewers? I go to the lowest floor and find an emergency exit that leads to the sewers. The turrets have cleared up any Carrion down here, so I should be safe. In case there are any sewer versions of the Carrion, I take the closest exit which should also be safe. Once I leave the sewers, I see that the Carrion is still assaulting the building. The outside turrets should be running low on energy soon and the inside turrets won’t last that long either, so I better get to the church asap. Nova, I hope you’re still alive.

Chapter 3 – Know God, No Fear. No God, Know Fear.

The turrets have stopped firing outside, so I don’t have much time. I’m not sure how long the inside turrets will last especially since there are ways that the Carrion can destroy them. It seems like most of the Carrion in the city is going towards the building since it’s quiet out here without any of them out here.

“Help!” I hear someone say close by.

“I’m here. Where are you?” I say as I look around for the source of the call.

I can hear someone groaning nearby and follow the noise to a car with debris on it. I let several other people die. I’m not going to let another go as well!

“Hang on,” I say as I pull apart the debris to find…nothing, “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

There’s nothing in the car. The radio is on and it plays nothing but static that sounds like moaning. Man, was I hearing something? As soon as I leave, I see a window break from a nearby apartment window. Ok, this has to be someone. Quickly heading over, I go to the apartment room that the window was broken in to find a Carrion child pinned to the wall. Now that’s f-ed up. It lifts its head then cries as several other Carrion children come out of the shadows. I use my submachine gun to kill the screaming one then take care of his little friends. I’m surprised children can become Carrion as well. Did they break the window here or-wait, this is the wrong room. The window isn’t broken here, but it seems to be the right room. I walk outside and look back at the building and see that a window isn’t broken. How the hell did I imagine that? Is the Carrion affecting me?

Anyway, I better go to the church. No more distractions. I make it there and the place is definitely heavily fortified though it doesn’t seem like anyone is here. Slipping through the cracks of the barriers and entering the church, I see that the place is completely empty. It’s still a beautiful place though. This is perfect if Nova is actually here especially since I have my ring.

“Hello?” I call out, “My name is John. Nova? Ben? Pascal?”

There is only silence. Oh, hey a confessional booth. I might as well confess my sins while I’m here. Going into it, the priest’s side of it opens. So, there is someone here thank God! Literally. I still might as well confess.

“What is it my child?” the pastor says.

“Bless me, father, for I have sinned. It has been…God knows how long since my last confession, and these are my sins. Uh…I guess I’ve pulled mean pranks on my friend Pascal…Not much honestly.”

“I forgive you for your sins. Go in peace to serve the Lord.”

“Thank you, father. Now that’s done. Father, can you tell me who else is here.”

“…”

“Father?”

What’s his problem? Oh. Once I go to check out his booth, I see that he’s a skeleton. Ok, I’m officially losing my mind. There has to be someone here. This place is too fortified for it not to hold anyone. There’s a basement to this church and oooooh boy. There are a ton of bodies down here. What’s this writing on the wall? I can barely understand what it says and it’s all chicken scratch. What are these texts? These don’t look like they belong to a church like this one. Oh, I see. A scientific, evolutionary cult formed after the Carrion outbreak according to this book. They thought they the Carrion is the next step for mankind that unites them together under one hive mind. What a bunch of dumbasses. All flesh and no spirit. They seem to have sacrificed themselves for the Carrion down here. None of them have transformed yet though. Probably because of the barriers outside keeping out the Carrion that transforms them. I hope Nova didn’t get mixed up in this.

I remember there being this legend back on Earth. God kept one eye on Earth and His other eyes on the cosmos to keep them in order. His childlike side experimented with what materials He made and tried to make other forms of life. Nothing else like mankind could be made and He just left His other creations alone on other planets tethered by each other. These places weren’t meant to be discovered by mankind. This is probably why it took so long for us to be able to travel to other galaxies. If anything, this is what the legends were talking about.

Shifting through the bodies and the cult’s possessions, I find another video message. It’s of Nova and my crew when this place was full of people.

She says, “Hey John. I hope you’re doing well. We’re-”

“Just peachy. Thanks for the luck you’ve given us,” Pascal interrupts, “It’s about time you shared it jackass.”

“Can it Pascal,” Ben says.

“This church is amazing, John. Hint, hint,” Nova says with a wink. I knew she would like this church to get married in. I’m surprised she’s hinting at it.

“If you don’t find us here, we should be at the hospital a couple blocks from here getting supplies. This’ll be the place we’re going to stay. I left something else for you babe hidden under one of the pews. I hope you like it. I miss you. Love you, lucky charm.”

I love you too. Hidden under a pew eh? Let’s see…which one…here it is. My baby knows what I like. She managed to find me modifications I can use to give my gun a sniper mode and a silencer, but I have to get rid of the pistol mode, which is a small sacrifice to make. Now I have a; sniper, shotgun, submachine gun, and welding modes on my gun. Pretty badass if you ask me. Suddenly, I see something moving in the distance.

“Hello?” I say since it seems to be a person.

As I get closer, it actually is a person. They’re dressed up weirdly, but I’m not judging.

“Thank God I’ve found someone who’s alive,” I say as I get closer to put my hand on their shoulder.

As the person’s head turns around, something appears to be wrong, so I move my hand away in time before it gets slashed away. This is some kind of Carrion in disguise with hidden pincers. Its face is a dead giveaway though. I use the shotgun mode of my gun to tear off all its limbs, so it can’t attack me anymore. A few of the other corpses come to life and I shoot off their legs. More will probably come this way, so I can’t waste my time with them. I light the candle in the church and burn the church down. It’s already defiled so God shouldn’t mind.

If this place has gone bad from within…No. I have to stay focused. Nova wouldn’t die so easily. Ben and Pascal better be alive too. I hope they all are.

Chapter 4 – Know Nothing, so Know Faith. No Faith, so Know Nothing.

I assume the turrets I had are spent or the Carrion figured out that I wasn’t there anymore since the streets are filled with Carrion. It’s a great time as any to test my sniper mode with the silencer since there aren’t as many out here. I go to a mostly deserted area on top of a roof and snipe the furthest Carrion. The Carrion around them wonder where the shot came from, but they’re mostly clueless. I snipe off a few legs before trying to snipe Carrion closer to me. After shooting, I get the same result, so I keep sniping off limbs until I feel like the streets are safe enough to move through. I also take an extra shot at the limbs, so they don’t get back up. That should be enough. The charge on my gun is okay, but I should get it charged soon. Pieces of shit deserved that. Wait…Is that Nova? I think I can see her, Ben, and Pascal going in the direction of the hospital. I knew they were still alive. This better not be a hallucination or else I’ll be beating these Carrion into the ground until the sun rises.

My way to the hospital is safe, but I still feel like I’m being watched by somethings that want to kill me. I can feel them staring at me from the shadows.

“Creepers, I know you’re out there! I’m already taken, so there’s no point in stalking me, and I don’t do want another girl in my life! One is enough trouble, trust me,” I call out to whatever is watching me.

No response. My creepers’ presence feels as if it’s coming closer to me, so I run ahead to the hospital, which is blocks away. They’re coming closer and closer now. The faster I move, the faster they move, but I’ve made it. Once I’m in the hospital, I sit down for a bit to rest from running so much. The presence of my creepers is fading away now that I feel a bit safer. Now to find my crew.

I hope they found a way to repair the ship or at least get off this planet. The hospital looks messier than outside does and that’s saying something. It looks like a surgery gone wrong. There’s an electrical tool charging system in the mechanics closet, so I use it to charge up my gun to clean up what’s here, so it doesn’t come back to life. There are Carrion here that are strapped to patient gurneys. I guess people just left them here after they turned, or they might’ve been trying to see if they can cure this. Among the scattered papers, I find a few that say they were trying to do exactly both of these. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a cure, nor does there seem to be a definite cause. The only theory they had was that the planet itself caused this since people acted funny a week after they settled on the planet. They couldn’t pin down how the planet caused this, but they did start an operation to go further into the planet’s core for possible answers since the composition of the planet was like that of flesh. Exposure to the planet causes auditory and visual hallucinations and the planet seems to be getting worse with newcomers experiencing these things earlier than those who came to the planet first. I’ll have to check that out with my crew when I find them.

Back to the patients, they appear to be heavily strapped to the gurneys, so they shouldn’t be a problem. Woah! Some Carrion patients have appendages that extend to try to kill me from the room. There are too many limbs to shoot off, so I’ll have to go through a mess of intestines, limbs, and sharp bones that try to kill me while I make it through the patient area. Where would my crew be? The supply closets are my first guess, but they’re all empty on all floors. Where the heck would they-oh there they are. How did they make it through all those Carrion patients? Whatever, they just went into the room at the end of the hallway on the third floor that I’m on. I make it through the Carrion and go into the room…where are they? There aren’t any other exits out of this room. I swear I wasn’t hallucinating. They left another video message here.

It’s just Nova, Ben, and Pascal in this video and they’ve recorded this video in this room. They seem tired.

Nova says, “Hey, lucky charm. Things are getting pretty bad now. I’m sorry we didn’t go back to get you as soon as we encountered the Carrion. We could’ve really used your help. We’re going back to the ship, but if you find this message then, hopefully, you’ll find us waiting back at the ship. Once we’re all together, we’re going to destroy this planet, so that no one else will suffer like this place did. We can’t escape this planet. All of the ships are gone and the pieces we need to repair went with them.”

Pascal steps in, “But we have to do this. Think about the people back home.”

“I think he knows,” Ben says.

“I know man, but still.”

“I’m sorry things have to end this way and I’m sorry for this too.”

She…she takes out the ring I wanted to give her and shows it to the camera.

“I found this in one of your pockets. It’s beautiful. I want to let you know that…yes, I do want to be your wife. This is the reason why we’ve made it this far. You kept me alive. Kept us alive. If, in the event, that we don’t make it back…destroy the planet anyway. We’ll see each other again afterward anyway. I love you, my lucky charm.”

…That first Carrion I met…was actually Nova. The other Carrions were probably Ben and Pascal…Fucking rotting corpses! Fucking garbage ass planet! I’ll do it guys. I’m going to blow up the planet, but how? Oh, you guys left me a copy of your plans? This planet’s core is apparently that of a living organism with a heart at the center. I can probably destroy it since it’s reported to be fleshy like a heart. They have drill submarines that should take me to it. Submarines? Yeah, apparently the inside of the planet is also pretty bloody. It might as well be a literal planet-sized monster. What better way is there to go out than to destroy a planet-sized monster and getting revenge for the friends I’ve lost? Oh, and Nova left me another modification. That’s my girl. I replace all my modes in my gun except for the welding and make it into a handheld minigun with an extended charge. Let’s rock.

With the minigun, I tear through the Carrion appendages. Once outside, I bury every Carrion that comes at me that I haven’t de-limbed with a barrage of laser fire. That’s right, die you sons of bitches! I hope every single one of you can feel pain! Come on! Keep coming at me! After destroying I don’t know how many, no more appear.

“What? That’s all of you?”

I hear a crow cawing in the distance. Turning around, I see a huge skeletal crow with a human skull sitting at the top of a building. It comes down and collects the flesh of the Ca-oh, now I really get why they call them Carrion now. After collecting all the flesh from the streets, flesh grows from its body and now it has multiple heads and limbs. That won’t save it though. My minigun tears through its flesh and oh ok, it can regenerate, but can it regenerate its heads if I blow it up?! Oh, apparently it can. The crow tries pinning me down, but I move out of the way. Several of its appendages still manage to cut me since it hid them before attacking me. I shoot those off and the ones it keeps re-growing. This thing doesn’t stop, and neither will I until it’s dead. It’s starting to stagger under my constant barrage, which means it must be really feeling the pain now. It tries to grow other appendages and heads to kill me with, but I’ve played way too many arcade games to not react to them in time. Eventually, the crow falls down and I don’t stop firing until the crow is mush in the streets.

Nova always knew what to give me, always knew what to say to make me feel better. Now that I know what I have to do, I head to the planet drills to accomplish my destiny. I put Nova’s ring on my finger. Don’t worry baby, I’ll get this done for you.

Chapter 5 – No one to live for, No reason to fear.

It takes a lot of walking through a dead city to make it to the planet drills. There are a few here already fully filled, so I just take one and begin the plunge into the planet’s core.  It’s a wonder that the materials from this planet didn’t affect anyone on Earth and are useful resources. I guess we processed it enough to the point where the effects of it disappeared or maybe everything needs to be together like this in order to affect people. Whatever the case is, I hope that humanity doesn’t make this mistake again, but I could be wrong. We always want more resources and things to keep us happy.

Suddenly, a get a video transmission from…Nova?

She says on the video, “Turn back, lucky charm. Just go home and leave behind what happened here. Live a new life. Be happy without me.”

Nova…N-no! This is just a hallucination.

“Do it!” Nova says before grabbing my throat through the video.

H-how? No! This is just in my head!

“Are you sure?”

Yes! Get out of my head!

I snap out of it to see that I was strangling myself and the video wasn’t really there. I’m not going to stop. Nothing’s going to make me stop!

I finally cut through the planet’s crust and now I’m in an ocean of blood. There are flesh and other things floating around in here, so it’s difficult to see where I’m going. I use the submarine’s seismic detector and zero in on the heart. Wait, what’s that. Some of the floating flesh pieces are coming for me. They look like fish at the bottom of the Earth’s ocean. I activate the submarine’s defense turrets to keep them off. Since there are so many, some get through my defenses and start tearing at my submarine. Let’s see buttons, buttons, do something! I’m a repairman and a modifier, not a submarine driver. Oh, here we go. I hit a button that activates a shield that repels away the fish Carrion. With that out of the way, my path should be clear-oh what the hell is coming for me now?

In the distance I can see a huge chunk of flesh, coming for me. It stops right in front of me and looks like the Kraken of old legends. It grabs my submarine and tries to rip it apart. My shields are holding up, but I don’t know how long it will last. My turrets aren’t doing anything it so maybe this option will work. I increase the speed of the submarine and aim it directly at the Kraken’s mouth. Let’s see if you can chew on this! The submarine’s speed makes it slip through the Kraken’s grasp and tear through the back of its mouth. Ha, I crack open the Kraken! Get it? Hahaha, I’m so fucking tired right now.

I’ve finally broken through the planet’s crust and now I’m what seems to be the main core since there’s a heart-looking thing in the center. I put on the diver’s suit and take my handheld minigun with me. This is it. I unleash all of the energy in my minigun by removing its power limiter. The gun rips through the heart, but it keeps taking flesh from the planet itself to stay alive. It keeps repairing and repairing as everything around me start to implode. Come on! Just die already...Uh…my minigun just overheated and blew up my arm.

The infection takes over part of my body and gives me sharp appendages and mutates the rest of my body. Now I look like the Carrion with a few extra cutting limbs.

“Join us,” I can hear the Carrion saying over and over in my head.

N…n…noooooooo! I’m more than flesh and blood! I’m human! I use my new limbs to cut up the core of this planet. Again, it tries to regenerate and even tries to stop me by trying to absorb me, but it’s no use. I’ve reached its core and tore it up. This is the end. Everything on this planet is falling apart including my body. I did it, Nova. This nightmare is over.

“John? It’s time to go now, lucky charm,” I can hear Nova saying.

She lifts me up and I wake up in a new world as the light blinds me.

The End