The ship’s far larger than I expected it would be. It stretches into the sand like a sleeping giant rusted and decaying at every orifice. I had no idea such a structure still existed. This may be one of the last known relics of the old world. Still debating if it’s worth the hike though.
We unpack our things and set up camp for the night. It’s too dark to scavenge for supplies right away, plus everyone is worn out and hungry. If we don’t rest, we die.
I can’t help but notice Twitchy acting more peculiar than usual. I’m not sure if he’s excited to be back or just flat-out crazy. Whatever it is, he gives me an uneasy feeling. I don’t trust these people. Maybe Leon was right. For the sake of caution, I bury my short sword under my sleeping bag when no one is looking just in case.
Trying not to think about the rumbling in my stomach my eyes gaze upon the grandeur of this place for hours as I try to force myself to sleep. I vaguely remember seeing images of ships similar to this in the intro video after I was reborn, but this place is so much more surreal. My imagination pictures thousands of refugees fighting desperately to escape their doom from the asteroid. They push and pull struggling to board their only chance of survival.
Suddenly, I hear a noise in the silence coming from inside the ship.
It’s probably nothing.
I wait a few minutes listening tentatively. Everyone has been asleep for hours. Have my ears deceived me? Am I losing it again?
Curiosity slowly conquers the fear creeping through my veins. I rise to my feet and step into the darkness of the ark. There’s a sense of something waiting for me. With my hands out I feel my way around the entrance before hearing the shifting of sand on a noisy metal floor.
“Who’s there?” I ask the noise.
It replies, “It’s just me. I, uhh.. I can’t sleep, see?”
“You scared the shit out of me man! You can’t be creeping around like that,” I half-heartedly joke.
“Oh.. I’m sorry,” he says maliciously. The tone of his spine-chilling voice sends my skin crawling.
I can’t see anything but a silhouette in the shadows, though I know from his posture he’s one of the quiet ones that follow Jason around everywhere.
He slithers closer before hissing, “I was just looking for something to chew on - nothing wrong with that is there? I’m not doing anything wrong.”
I backstep slowly towards the entrance.
Trying to keep my cool I ask, “What’s your name again?”
“Bones.”
“Bones? Why on earth do they call you Bones?” I ask with sincerity. I could just barely see his head cocked to the side.
“Come with me. I’ll show ya. Come.. Come,” he whispers as he motions for me to follow him into the dark.
I hesitantly concede. Every inch of me tells me not to. I‘m assuming his name comes from how scrawny he looks. In all honesty, he does look like a sack of bones. How harmful can he really be?
He leads me past the flashing light of a computer screen near an exit and through the dark, metal labyrinth into a small room dimly lit by a lambent panel light, definitely brought in from somewhere else. I guess everyone outside the cities are scavengers, living off the scraps of Lethe.
The ghastly flickering causes me to stumble over something hard in the path just as my nose gets a whiff of a smell worse than death. I look down and sheer horror stares back.
This room..
Carcasses are everywhere..
… human bones!
The floor is a fucking graveyard covered with skeletons and half-rotted corpses!
As quickly as possible I back myself against a wall still on my hands and knees.
I feel my heart slam the lining of my chest like a hammer.
He stands between me and the door.
“This is my room,” he declares proudly with an open palm. The other hand holds a piece of his collection.
“Where.. um. Where did you get all of these bones?” I stutter as my brain frantically searches for a way to escape. A million thoughts race through my mind simultaneously, none of them a clear way out of here.
Cold sweat drips down my spine.
“I got them from the food,” he says as if the question was obvious.
I bolt for the door.
He grabs me.
Seconds later I feel the sharp pain of his strike on the top of my skull.
My vision blurs.
My legs give.
A warm liquid drips down my face.
I hear him murmur something I can’t quite make out, and the flickering stops.
When I come to, I’m tied to a heavily rusted metal beam in a different, larger room.
It takes a second for my vision to return.
No..
Please, no...
Two bodies lay lifeless on the floor in the dimness. Their faces bloody and cut open, but I know who they belong to.
What have they done!?
Tears immediately pour from my eyes.
They stand above the mangled corpses tearing at the flesh with their teeth.
Rage swells through me.
This can’t be happening…
This must be a nightmare.
Wake up.
Wake up, Palin!
Save them, Palin!!
My eyes frantically scan for a way out.
It’s useless.
I’m trapped.
I picture this place on another day. The smell of rusted metal and rotting flesh lingers through the air. Xander’s first to find my body, mangled and eaten. The smell is too much for Leon. I see a distraught Jacee crying uncontrollably after they tell her the news. We’ve all been missing for days. She already knows in her heart I’m never coming back but hearing it out loud makes it real. It breaks her. She’ll never be the same.
“Aww, look who finally decided to join us.”
They direct their attention to me.
I put all my effort into breaking the plastic straps keeping me from bashing their skulls with my bare hands.
I don’t say a word.
Jason emerges from the shadows holding a limb. Blood drips from his mouth down to his chin before landing on his yellow sash as
