Arcadia | Chapter Two

Harper, Thomas, and Sophia witness the true horror that rampages above Arcadia.

When we reached the top of the ladder, a gust of sand and dirt billowed into our eyes. It was hot and dry, and the sun was not forgiving. It was the first time I had seen the sun in almost twelve years.

Sophia and Thomas emerged behind me, and they had the same reaction to the outside world as I did. I wasn't sure how long it had been since they had felt the sun's warmth on their skin, but it probably was about the same experience for them as it was me. 

Captain was unshaken by this, however. He went up here almost everyday, and was used to the dreadful heat and terrible smell. He closed the hatch door behind us, and gestured for us to move forward.

"The bridge is up ahead," he said. "You guys are in for a real treat."

I glanced over at Sophia, and she shrugged. She was gripping her dagger, still tucked in her sheath. I could tell she was nervous. She moved past me, and I followed.

The cave was pretty small, a lot smaller than what I had remembered when I first came to Arcadia. I thought it was just because I was small, and didn't know any better. Anything bigger than me back then was considered unnaturally huge. We walked a little further, and I noticed the cave ceiling starting to heighten. The four of us walked on, and we came to something blocking two thirds of the light coming into the cave mouth. It was a huge, flat wall of steel, probably several feet thick, and maybe thirty feet high. A ladder was drilled into the side of the wall. I looked up, using my hand to block the glare, and saw three men, all armed. They were standing on the top of the wall, leaning against the fence blocking off the edges.

"Here we are, folks," Captain laughed. "The bridge."

We all just stood there, in awe of how large it was. I felt like an ant; a very well-protected ant, I guess. I glanced over at Thomas and Sophia, and by the expression they were giving, I'm sure they felt the same way.

Captain slapped Thomas on the back. "Come on, then! We got work to do. Head on up the ladder," Captain ordered. Thomas snapped back into reality, and suddenly became very excited.

"Come on, guys," he exclaimed, jumping, almost skipping towards the ladder. "Come on!" He climbed up the ladder quickly, and was already at the top by the time I had gotten to the bottom. Sophia fell behind very cautiously, her palm still wrapped tightly around her dagger.

I reached the top, and saw the vast, empty desert sitting outside of the cave mouth. A thick, green mist was covering the ground. I peered out into the distance, and saw parts of buildings that somehow still managed to stand in the rubble. It was extremely far out, and I guessed that was where the scavengers went for supplies. There was almost nothing but pure desert and some pieces of rubble blowing around. I suddenly remembered my dream. This was almost an exact match.

I desperately wanted to find the pine forests and the green fields.

A distinct click snapped me out of my thoughts. Thomas was arming his pistol with a silencer, and Captain tossed Sophia one for hers. Captain noticed my crossbow.

"I assume you're not going to miss those arrows?" he asked. "Unless you have the balls to go down there and get them. We'll cover you."

I looked down. I knew that Captain wanted me to challenge myself a little further than I was comfortable with. He and I both knew that I would probably be the leader of most hunter or scavenger groups, and I might even go on a few solo missions. I was the best shooter and had the best defense skills out of every teen being trained. I was even better than some of the adults who went on missions everyday, and Captain made a point of telling me that every day in training. He was proud of me. He was probably the closest thing I had to a father in Arcadia.

"Alright, listen up," Captain started. "I'll go ahead and tell you that not many mutants come out this far. Any meat they consume is probably farther out, maybe in the Mainlands. However, we have been getting more than usual, so we guess that they are running out of food and think they might be able to get some here. See those dead bodies at the bottom of the gate?" He pointed over the fence, gesturing for us to look over. "There used to be a lot more of these corpses. Mutants have been coming by and eating them. Guess they think it's close enough to human to them."

Two disgusting disfigured creatures were laying on the ground. They somehow resembled humans, but their skin looked like it had been burnt off. Boils and tumors covered their twisted limbs, and their eyes looked swollen. They were oozing some thick clear liquid. Everything about them seemed to come straight out of a grisly horror story.

Sophia dropped down and sat on the bridge, her hand covering her mouth. She held her stomach.

"Jesus Christ..." she whispered. She suddenly grew angry. "What the hell are those things?!" she yelled.

I grabbed her shoulder. She was crying. "Sophia, it's fine. They're dead."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I just..." she muttered. "I don't have the strongest stomach."

"Well, you better toughen up, then," Captain commented. Sophia glared at him. He walked over to her, took her pistol, inspecting it.

"This is your first time seeing these things. I knew that you wouldn't have the best reaction to them. No one does. But you're going to have to learn to get used to the mutants. If one was coming straight for you..." He placed the pistol in her hand. "What would you do?"

She sighed. "Shoot it, sir."

He nodded, and patted her shoulder. He turned around, drawing his own pistol from his belt. He pointed it out of the cave mouth, and fired. A loud bang sounded from the gun, echoing around the cave, and projecting from the cave. You could probably hear it from a mile away.

Captain put the pistol back into his belt. "And now we wait."

I glanced at Thomas. He shrugged.

About thirty seconds later, we heard a distant, throaty growl. It sounded like some animal had been stabbed in the throat. That's when we saw them. Ten, maybe fifteen mutants were all appearing at the entrance to the cave, heading straight for the gate. Some of them limped, some ran, and one was even missing both of its legs and simply dragged the remaining half of its body towards us. We just stared at them. They didn't look real, none of them did. It was hard to believe that these things had been humans before the explosion. The radiation really took its toll.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Captain yelled. "Kill the b******s!"

We all quickly drew our weapons and started firing. I loaded my crossbow, and aimed towards the crawler's head. I fired, and the arrow drove into its eye socket. It's head hit the ground, and the mutant lay still.

I continued to reload, aim, and shoot in a continuous cycle. My training skills started to come back, and I grew less and less anxious. I didn't miss a single mutant. Sophia and Thomas were seeming to settle into their comfort zone as well, and were blowing off heads with every shot. I looked over at Sophia while I reloaded, and I saw a tiny smile.

After just a minute or two, the horde of mutants were all laying in pools of blood at the bottom of the gate. The smell started to reach us, and we all shivered. Captain started clapping very slowly.

"Excellent job, guys," he congratulated us. "I expected nothing less."

I smiled, along with Thomas and Sophia. "That was kind of fun," I said.

Sophia started laughing. "It's not the best smelling thing in the world, though."

"Hang on, got one more," Thomas said, drawing his pistol back out. Captain stopped him.

"Why don't you go down there and test out your melee skills, son?" Captain whispered. We all heard him, and Thomas's smile slowly faded.

Captain nodded at one of the guards standing to the side, and he pulled a lever on the floor, releasing a ladder from a small compartment in the floor. It fell down the side of the wall, barely touching the ground. Thomas wearily drew his dagger, and started down the ladder. 

"Better go get those arrows, Harper," Captain said. Thomas stopped climbing down, and I glanced at him.

"Please," he mouthed silently. I sighed, and followed him down the ladder.

When I hit the ground, I turned to see Thomas drawing his dagger and walking briskly towards the mutant. It was injured, so it limped towards him, arms outstretched. A thick, black liquid dripped out of its mouth. I couldn't tell if it was blood or some other mutant-fluid. One of its eyes was swollen shut, and its skin was peeling off. Some bones were exposed. It looked like someone had thrown him into a bonfire. Its left leg was twisted and crumbled, dislocated at the hip. Somehow Thomas still approached it fearlessly.

He round-house kicked the mutant in the head, catching his heel under its neck and pinning it to the ground. The black liquid poured from its mouth, and it sounded like it was choking on it. The mutant attempted to pry Thomas's leg off of its neck, but he was quicker. He pulled his dagger back, and drove it into the swollen eye socket, stabbing it repeatedly until it stopped moving.

Thomas examined the dark red blood that dripped from his knife, and he cleaned it off on his trousers. He wiggled his foot out of the mutant's grasp, and helped me retrieve my arrows from corpses.

I was watching his attack the whole time. I hadn't picked up a single arrow until he had gotten a couple of them and had asked if I was okay.

"I'm fine," I said. "That was... uh..." I trailed off.

"We'll talk about it later," he murmured. He opened my hand, and laid a bundle of bloody arrows in my palm. I silently collected the rest and followed him up the ladder.