Hellgate: New Light
Re: Hellgate: New Light
Monsters and murderers, which one is worse?
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
-
Zeratul2k
- Captain Catnip
- Posts: 2261
- Joined: July 11th, 2007, 6:10 am
- Location: Holding low orbit over All Anime World
- Contact:
Re: Hellgate: New Light
As I said in another thread, the first two parts are to be considered one chapter. This is the start of the second chapter and, although it's a little shorter than I would like it to be (damn writer's block!), it answers some of the questions... and gives us some more questions to keep us entertained =D
Anyways, enjoy!
-----
I listened to the report on television while typing on my sister’s computer. There wasn’t much to do, so I spent most of the time helping around in the house and surfing what was left of the Internet. Kimiko had been “drafted” by my sister to help at the clinic after she found out Kimiko was the one in charge of First Aid and CPR training in high school. Karen spent since then most of her free time reading some of my sister’s books. She would take one randomly from the bookcase, sit next to me and start reading. Every day she picked a different one and finished it, seeming really interested in each and every one of them, whether it was about medicine or romantic literature. Her reading speed amazed me, but the fact that she didn't say much when I asked about the books she read left me wondering. I, on the other hand, was quickly getting bored. I clicked the submit button after finishing the post and went back to the index of the forum, noticing a new thread titled “Help us fight the zombies” by a new member. “Zombie” was the name almost everyone called the things attacking us, even though they weren’t, technically. I think. Nobody knew for sure what those things really were, but at a distance they looked like they were humans. Up close, though, it was a whole different story. I clicked on it, wondering if it was yet another person with a suicidal plan. It was something better than that, though. The poster claimed to be a government worker requesting any interested professional to present themselves at their local university. He went on to say that they were trying to develop a new weapon to fight the zombies more effectively. Interesting, I thought while clicking the reply button, but people aren’t just going to believe things like that out of the blue. I wrote a quick post and hit submit, but this new member had posted again before me and the forum software asked me to check before clicking submit again. In the new post, he said he was sorry that he had forgotten to post the link to the government website with more details on the matter. I checked out the link he gave and it looked legit. This was getting interesting.
Two weeks had passed since Karen and I volunteered at the university. When they asked for our qualifications I showed them my electronic engineering degree I had received weeks before we had to leave town. Karen handed them a master’s degree in organic chemistry. When I asked Kimiko later that day, she told me that Karen had gotten her chemistry degree, summa cum laude, at age 19 and her master’s degree two years later. I would never have guessed she was so intelligent from the way she acted. They accepted us and put us to work immediately and so far I had learned more of our enemy and where they came from than what I had really worked. Karen had a lot to work in and spent most of the day holed up in the lab, while my job consisted of designing and debugging basic electronic circuits that anyone who knew how to work a solder could understand and probably even design themselves, so I spent a lot of time helping her and reading supposedly classified material. The zombies, unlike what most people thought, were alive. And they were intelligent. I had only seen them attacking in very small groups a few times, so I hadn’t noticed, but according to the records, groups around 200-strong engaged the army using advanced tactics like ambushes, pincer attacks, feigned retreats and strong pinpoint attacks to make their force look bigger and stronger than it really was. Their base physical structure wasn’t too different from humans, which explains why most people thought they were some kind of zombies at first. There was something interesting, though. According to DNA profiling, every one of them seemed to be a mix of several individuals, arms from one, legs from another and so on. The means by which they were “assembled” was still a mystery and seemed, at least to the coroners that had examined the recovered bodies, impossible with current technology. Some of them had metallic implants over their vital organs and under their skin, like they were “built” specifically with battle in mind. Then there were the “tanks”, 2 and a half meters tall golems with skin as thick as a rhinoceros’ and strength to spare. There were only two reports of those and both said they had to be killed with anti-tank guided missiles, since they were fast enough to dodge normal shoulder fired rockets. Besides the fact that the soldiers had come to refer to the zombies as “Zulus”, there wasn’t much else in autopsy reports, so I switched to looking about their origin. The army had two hypotheses, according to the files I could get my hands on. The first one mentioned aliens landing somewhere in Russia while the second one suggested interdimensional doors to a parallel universe. Both seemed equally crazy and, at the time, equally plausible. Maybe it was because I lacked coffee at the moment. Whatever it was, I couldn’t read much more about them. The rest of the files were either heavily ciphered or out of my reach.
I closed the circuit design file I was working on and looked around the lab. It was almost time to leave but Karen was, as had been the routine since she started working there, completely focused on what she was doing. She was holding a flask containing a green liquid against the light, examining it while writing something without looking at the paper she was writing it in. I had learnt to read her expressions somehow, which most people almost always missed, and since she still wouldn’t talk much, I had become her translator to the world. I kept watching her until she finally put the flask down.
- It’s time to leave, are you done? –
She nodded slightly and put the paper she had just written in a folder next to her. Her writing was messy, almost like she was writing in code, and it wasn’t because she wasn’t looking at the paper, she always wrote like that. I took my backpack and walked out, waiting for her outside the lab. I looked out of the windows towards the sky in the distance and saw the black clouds moving over the city.
- Looks like it’s going to rain. – I said to Karen as she walked out of the lab. – We should hurry. –
She nodded again and hung her backpack and sword over her shoulder. Kimiko had bought a saya for the sword, so at least it didn’t look so out of place anymore. So far I had forgotten to ask about the sword and why she always carried it around.
- Karen, can I ask you something? – She didn’t answer, just kept walking next to me holding to my jacket’s sleeve, so I took that as a yes. – Where did you get your sword? –
She stared at me for a few seconds, making me wonder if I shouldn’t have asked that. Finally, she looked ahead again and answered in a low voice, almost a whisper.
- Father’s. –
Karen was leaning on me as we shared my umbrella. When I asked where she had left hers she simply shrugged. The rain was heavy and the sun had set, so I couldn’t see more than 10 meters ahead. The streets were apparently empty, not a soul around us. I was trying not to pay attention to the soft feeling on my right arm when I saw something glimmer through the rain. While I was trying to get a better look, I felt Karen stop and pull on my arm. I stopped and looked at her, wondering what was wrong, but next thing I know, she had pushed me aside hard, knocking me against a wall. I looked at her as I hit the wall and saw her drawing her sword. She spun on her feet, catching something that came from where I had seen the glimmer before, and threw it back before running behind it. I couldn’t see it very well, but I think it was a knife. I took out my pistol, stood up as fast as I could and began running up the street, trying to catch up with her.
- Wait! Karen! –
I lost sight of her shortly after. I stood in the middle of the street, looking around, wondering where she had run into when I heard sounds of metal clashing. I ran to the source while cocking the pistol and removing the safety, then took a quick look into the alleyway, seeing only one figure. I checked the pistol one last time and quickly walked out, aiming ahead and ready to fire. As I walked closer to the standing figure, I could see it was Karen. She was holding her right arm and there was someone else behind her.
- Karen, down! –
Karen dropped to her knees and I quickly tapped the trigger twice. I saw a spark as the figure tried to move away, but it didn’t fell. I recovered my aim but noticed it turning around and running away. I kept aiming while walking towards Karen, in case it decided to come back for more.
- Are you ok? –
- Yes... –
She dropped the sword and tried to hide her right arm as she spoke, but I could see blood dripping from her arm.
- No, you aren’t. Come on, let's take you home and have sis take a look at that. –
I picked up the sword and was surprised to find it really warm, which was weird considering it had been in a cold lab all day and we were in the middle of a cold night while it rained. I pushed that thought aside and put the sword back in the saya, then helped Karen stand up. I looked around for the umbrella, but remembered I had dropped it when Karen pushed me. I looked around trying to see where we were, still holding the pistol on my right hand and helping Karen with the left, and wondering who was it that attacked us and why.
Anyways, enjoy!
-----
I listened to the report on television while typing on my sister’s computer. There wasn’t much to do, so I spent most of the time helping around in the house and surfing what was left of the Internet. Kimiko had been “drafted” by my sister to help at the clinic after she found out Kimiko was the one in charge of First Aid and CPR training in high school. Karen spent since then most of her free time reading some of my sister’s books. She would take one randomly from the bookcase, sit next to me and start reading. Every day she picked a different one and finished it, seeming really interested in each and every one of them, whether it was about medicine or romantic literature. Her reading speed amazed me, but the fact that she didn't say much when I asked about the books she read left me wondering. I, on the other hand, was quickly getting bored. I clicked the submit button after finishing the post and went back to the index of the forum, noticing a new thread titled “Help us fight the zombies” by a new member. “Zombie” was the name almost everyone called the things attacking us, even though they weren’t, technically. I think. Nobody knew for sure what those things really were, but at a distance they looked like they were humans. Up close, though, it was a whole different story. I clicked on it, wondering if it was yet another person with a suicidal plan. It was something better than that, though. The poster claimed to be a government worker requesting any interested professional to present themselves at their local university. He went on to say that they were trying to develop a new weapon to fight the zombies more effectively. Interesting, I thought while clicking the reply button, but people aren’t just going to believe things like that out of the blue. I wrote a quick post and hit submit, but this new member had posted again before me and the forum software asked me to check before clicking submit again. In the new post, he said he was sorry that he had forgotten to post the link to the government website with more details on the matter. I checked out the link he gave and it looked legit. This was getting interesting.
Two weeks had passed since Karen and I volunteered at the university. When they asked for our qualifications I showed them my electronic engineering degree I had received weeks before we had to leave town. Karen handed them a master’s degree in organic chemistry. When I asked Kimiko later that day, she told me that Karen had gotten her chemistry degree, summa cum laude, at age 19 and her master’s degree two years later. I would never have guessed she was so intelligent from the way she acted. They accepted us and put us to work immediately and so far I had learned more of our enemy and where they came from than what I had really worked. Karen had a lot to work in and spent most of the day holed up in the lab, while my job consisted of designing and debugging basic electronic circuits that anyone who knew how to work a solder could understand and probably even design themselves, so I spent a lot of time helping her and reading supposedly classified material. The zombies, unlike what most people thought, were alive. And they were intelligent. I had only seen them attacking in very small groups a few times, so I hadn’t noticed, but according to the records, groups around 200-strong engaged the army using advanced tactics like ambushes, pincer attacks, feigned retreats and strong pinpoint attacks to make their force look bigger and stronger than it really was. Their base physical structure wasn’t too different from humans, which explains why most people thought they were some kind of zombies at first. There was something interesting, though. According to DNA profiling, every one of them seemed to be a mix of several individuals, arms from one, legs from another and so on. The means by which they were “assembled” was still a mystery and seemed, at least to the coroners that had examined the recovered bodies, impossible with current technology. Some of them had metallic implants over their vital organs and under their skin, like they were “built” specifically with battle in mind. Then there were the “tanks”, 2 and a half meters tall golems with skin as thick as a rhinoceros’ and strength to spare. There were only two reports of those and both said they had to be killed with anti-tank guided missiles, since they were fast enough to dodge normal shoulder fired rockets. Besides the fact that the soldiers had come to refer to the zombies as “Zulus”, there wasn’t much else in autopsy reports, so I switched to looking about their origin. The army had two hypotheses, according to the files I could get my hands on. The first one mentioned aliens landing somewhere in Russia while the second one suggested interdimensional doors to a parallel universe. Both seemed equally crazy and, at the time, equally plausible. Maybe it was because I lacked coffee at the moment. Whatever it was, I couldn’t read much more about them. The rest of the files were either heavily ciphered or out of my reach.
I closed the circuit design file I was working on and looked around the lab. It was almost time to leave but Karen was, as had been the routine since she started working there, completely focused on what she was doing. She was holding a flask containing a green liquid against the light, examining it while writing something without looking at the paper she was writing it in. I had learnt to read her expressions somehow, which most people almost always missed, and since she still wouldn’t talk much, I had become her translator to the world. I kept watching her until she finally put the flask down.
- It’s time to leave, are you done? –
She nodded slightly and put the paper she had just written in a folder next to her. Her writing was messy, almost like she was writing in code, and it wasn’t because she wasn’t looking at the paper, she always wrote like that. I took my backpack and walked out, waiting for her outside the lab. I looked out of the windows towards the sky in the distance and saw the black clouds moving over the city.
- Looks like it’s going to rain. – I said to Karen as she walked out of the lab. – We should hurry. –
She nodded again and hung her backpack and sword over her shoulder. Kimiko had bought a saya for the sword, so at least it didn’t look so out of place anymore. So far I had forgotten to ask about the sword and why she always carried it around.
- Karen, can I ask you something? – She didn’t answer, just kept walking next to me holding to my jacket’s sleeve, so I took that as a yes. – Where did you get your sword? –
She stared at me for a few seconds, making me wonder if I shouldn’t have asked that. Finally, she looked ahead again and answered in a low voice, almost a whisper.
- Father’s. –
Karen was leaning on me as we shared my umbrella. When I asked where she had left hers she simply shrugged. The rain was heavy and the sun had set, so I couldn’t see more than 10 meters ahead. The streets were apparently empty, not a soul around us. I was trying not to pay attention to the soft feeling on my right arm when I saw something glimmer through the rain. While I was trying to get a better look, I felt Karen stop and pull on my arm. I stopped and looked at her, wondering what was wrong, but next thing I know, she had pushed me aside hard, knocking me against a wall. I looked at her as I hit the wall and saw her drawing her sword. She spun on her feet, catching something that came from where I had seen the glimmer before, and threw it back before running behind it. I couldn’t see it very well, but I think it was a knife. I took out my pistol, stood up as fast as I could and began running up the street, trying to catch up with her.
- Wait! Karen! –
I lost sight of her shortly after. I stood in the middle of the street, looking around, wondering where she had run into when I heard sounds of metal clashing. I ran to the source while cocking the pistol and removing the safety, then took a quick look into the alleyway, seeing only one figure. I checked the pistol one last time and quickly walked out, aiming ahead and ready to fire. As I walked closer to the standing figure, I could see it was Karen. She was holding her right arm and there was someone else behind her.
- Karen, down! –
Karen dropped to her knees and I quickly tapped the trigger twice. I saw a spark as the figure tried to move away, but it didn’t fell. I recovered my aim but noticed it turning around and running away. I kept aiming while walking towards Karen, in case it decided to come back for more.
- Are you ok? –
- Yes... –
She dropped the sword and tried to hide her right arm as she spoke, but I could see blood dripping from her arm.
- No, you aren’t. Come on, let's take you home and have sis take a look at that. –
I picked up the sword and was surprised to find it really warm, which was weird considering it had been in a cold lab all day and we were in the middle of a cold night while it rained. I pushed that thought aside and put the sword back in the saya, then helped Karen stand up. I looked around for the umbrella, but remembered I had dropped it when Karen pushed me. I looked around trying to see where we were, still holding the pistol on my right hand and helping Karen with the left, and wondering who was it that attacked us and why.
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph... because good is DUMB!
Re: Hellgate: New Light
nice, more to the story, and more intrigue. I like your style.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
-
Zeratul2k
- Captain Catnip
- Posts: 2261
- Joined: July 11th, 2007, 6:10 am
- Location: Holding low orbit over All Anime World
- Contact:
Re: Hellgate: New Light
Ok, so... short post this time. Will tr to keep them like this so I can post them faster. Exposition time!
---------
I stared at the ceiling, thinking again about what I had seen just a few minutes ago. Karen had recovered from her wound at an amazing rate and now not even a scar was left. I sighed and looked at Kimiko, who was sitting in front of me, fretting like she had been caught in the middle of a crime.
- You know, I don’t believe it. – I said as I looked around. My sister was still examining Karen while she laid in the sofa. – I just can’t. I mean, she must have used some kind of drug or something like that. She has enough knowledge to make something like that, right? –
- Please... – My sister looked up at me. – There’s no drug that can heal a wound like this in a mere 6 hours. And look, the big wound she had on her stomach is gone as well, no scar or anything. –
My sister pointed at Karen but I couldn’t see what she was pointing at from where I was. I looked at Kimiko again and noticed her holding a circular locket. It was very plain looking except for a star sapphire in the middle. When she noticed I was looking at it, she tried to hide it.
- I really think you two own us an explanation. –
Kimiko looked down and I stared at her for a moment. When I was about to ask her again about Karen’s apparent ability to heal herself, Kimiko spoke slowly, almost in a whisper.
- You must promise me you won’t tell anyone about what I’m about to tell you. –
- ... What? –
Kimiko jumped up and put her hand down on the table hard, knocking down the glasses. She looked dead serious but about to cry at the same time. I didn’t knew what to say, but my sister stood up sighing and put her hands on her waist.
- Sure, we won’t tell anyone. –
- And you must let me tell you what happened from the beginning. –
- Makes sense. –
Kimiko sat again and took a couple of deep breaths before starting her story.
- The... U.S.A. government had been secretly working on some new kind of energy field for a long time. Since World War 2, actually. Ever heard of the Philadelphia experiment? – I nodded. - Well, that was a cover up. The real experiment took place off the coast of Hawaii on the USS Tucker. The ship vanished without trace and the research was closed down. But they re-opened it 10 years ago. –
- Didn’t had enough after losing a ship? –
- Well, that’s just the thing. They “recovered” the ship. – I looked at my sister, who didn’t look like she was believing any of it yet, then back at Kimiko. – 10 years ago, the USS Zumwalt found the Tucker floating in the Pacific. That was the first recorded contact with the zombies. –
- Wait, wait. – I interrupted her, remembering something. – Wasn’t the Zumwalt sunk in a terrorist attack off the coast of Australia? –
- No, the zombies sank it. The Tucker was heavily modified and even though it didn’t seem able to navigate at all, it was able to sink the Zumwalt and damage the USS Ford supercarrier before being finally sunk. –
- Hmm... Ok, but how do you know all of this? –
- My... – Kimiko looked at the sofa Karen was sleeping on. – ... Our father was the one in charge of the whole project. It was so secret that everyone involved and their families were moved to a top-secret facility in the middle of nowhere and all of their records erased. It’s like none of us ever existed. They began working on the field generators again, trying to understand where the ship had gone to all this time and just what where those things manning it. 4 years later they had a working, supposedly improved field generator... –
- What kind of field are we talking about here? – I asked and Kimiko paused for a moment.
- ... I don’t know. It was very complicated stuff and I tried not to get too near the main facility, it gave me the creeps. – She looked at the sofa again. – Karen, on the other hand, spent all her free time helping father. – She was silent for a few seconds then looked up at me again. – Anyway, so they had a working generator, but they wouldn’t dare activate it. Most of the ones involved agreed that activating it would only cause the Tucker history to repeat itself. It was around that time that a General Karl Suze ordered the installation militarized. – I tilted my head, trying to remember where I had heard that name before. – They activated the generator, against the advice of the scientific team. –
Silence filled the room as my sister and I expected her to go on. She looked like she wanted to keep talking, but didn’t knew how to continue. I decided to help her by asking what happened next.
- Well, the generator... it... worked, but not as the General expected it to... at first sight. The installation was surrounded by the field and everything seemed normal, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. When the field dispersed, everyone noticed things weren’t exactly right. The terrain surrounding the installation looked different, all communication to the rest of the world had been lost and... after a few weeks... there were zombies. –
- Now wait a second. You’re telling me that the generator brought the zombies here 6 years ago? That can’t be, the zombies started attacking just a few months ago. –
- No, that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is, the whole installation was teleported to the zombie’s dimension. -
---------
I stared at the ceiling, thinking again about what I had seen just a few minutes ago. Karen had recovered from her wound at an amazing rate and now not even a scar was left. I sighed and looked at Kimiko, who was sitting in front of me, fretting like she had been caught in the middle of a crime.
- You know, I don’t believe it. – I said as I looked around. My sister was still examining Karen while she laid in the sofa. – I just can’t. I mean, she must have used some kind of drug or something like that. She has enough knowledge to make something like that, right? –
- Please... – My sister looked up at me. – There’s no drug that can heal a wound like this in a mere 6 hours. And look, the big wound she had on her stomach is gone as well, no scar or anything. –
My sister pointed at Karen but I couldn’t see what she was pointing at from where I was. I looked at Kimiko again and noticed her holding a circular locket. It was very plain looking except for a star sapphire in the middle. When she noticed I was looking at it, she tried to hide it.
- I really think you two own us an explanation. –
Kimiko looked down and I stared at her for a moment. When I was about to ask her again about Karen’s apparent ability to heal herself, Kimiko spoke slowly, almost in a whisper.
- You must promise me you won’t tell anyone about what I’m about to tell you. –
- ... What? –
Kimiko jumped up and put her hand down on the table hard, knocking down the glasses. She looked dead serious but about to cry at the same time. I didn’t knew what to say, but my sister stood up sighing and put her hands on her waist.
- Sure, we won’t tell anyone. –
- And you must let me tell you what happened from the beginning. –
- Makes sense. –
Kimiko sat again and took a couple of deep breaths before starting her story.
- The... U.S.A. government had been secretly working on some new kind of energy field for a long time. Since World War 2, actually. Ever heard of the Philadelphia experiment? – I nodded. - Well, that was a cover up. The real experiment took place off the coast of Hawaii on the USS Tucker. The ship vanished without trace and the research was closed down. But they re-opened it 10 years ago. –
- Didn’t had enough after losing a ship? –
- Well, that’s just the thing. They “recovered” the ship. – I looked at my sister, who didn’t look like she was believing any of it yet, then back at Kimiko. – 10 years ago, the USS Zumwalt found the Tucker floating in the Pacific. That was the first recorded contact with the zombies. –
- Wait, wait. – I interrupted her, remembering something. – Wasn’t the Zumwalt sunk in a terrorist attack off the coast of Australia? –
- No, the zombies sank it. The Tucker was heavily modified and even though it didn’t seem able to navigate at all, it was able to sink the Zumwalt and damage the USS Ford supercarrier before being finally sunk. –
- Hmm... Ok, but how do you know all of this? –
- My... – Kimiko looked at the sofa Karen was sleeping on. – ... Our father was the one in charge of the whole project. It was so secret that everyone involved and their families were moved to a top-secret facility in the middle of nowhere and all of their records erased. It’s like none of us ever existed. They began working on the field generators again, trying to understand where the ship had gone to all this time and just what where those things manning it. 4 years later they had a working, supposedly improved field generator... –
- What kind of field are we talking about here? – I asked and Kimiko paused for a moment.
- ... I don’t know. It was very complicated stuff and I tried not to get too near the main facility, it gave me the creeps. – She looked at the sofa again. – Karen, on the other hand, spent all her free time helping father. – She was silent for a few seconds then looked up at me again. – Anyway, so they had a working generator, but they wouldn’t dare activate it. Most of the ones involved agreed that activating it would only cause the Tucker history to repeat itself. It was around that time that a General Karl Suze ordered the installation militarized. – I tilted my head, trying to remember where I had heard that name before. – They activated the generator, against the advice of the scientific team. –
Silence filled the room as my sister and I expected her to go on. She looked like she wanted to keep talking, but didn’t knew how to continue. I decided to help her by asking what happened next.
- Well, the generator... it... worked, but not as the General expected it to... at first sight. The installation was surrounded by the field and everything seemed normal, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. When the field dispersed, everyone noticed things weren’t exactly right. The terrain surrounding the installation looked different, all communication to the rest of the world had been lost and... after a few weeks... there were zombies. –
- Now wait a second. You’re telling me that the generator brought the zombies here 6 years ago? That can’t be, the zombies started attacking just a few months ago. –
- No, that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is, the whole installation was teleported to the zombie’s dimension. -
So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph... because good is DUMB!
Re: Hellgate: New Light
A new dimension is interesting. I like the reference to the Philadelphia project. Wonder how many others know about that one.
Dogs have owners, Cats have staff
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Re: Hellgate: New Light
hmm nice!!!!wonder what happen next?
"As far as I'm concerned, if something is so complicated that you can't explain it in 10 seconds, then it's probably not worth knowing anyway