Silhouettes in Red,
an original story by B. Sincado (Updated Daily)

Prologue (The Sticker on Hallucinogens)

The room was a pastel painting of tan colors. Tan walls, tan furniture, tan curtains draped over the walls. In the center of the room, positioned in front of the couch was a coffee table unlike any other. The center was cut out and a small tree was growing from it.
I sat at the couch, a bowl of cereal in my hands gazing in awe at this anomaly in wonder despite it being part of my life for the past two years.

"Good morning" came a voice from the hall.

I looked over to see Jennifer walking into the living room in her pjs her shoulder length black hair was dis shoveled from her sleep. She sat down next to me after grabbing a bowl from the kitchen and began to pluck the small fruits from the tree, placing them gently together in the container before getting back up to rinse them off in the sink.

"What are your plans for the day? Going over to Mikes' like you planned?" she inquired.

"yeah" I responded offhandedly.

She settled down next to me again, "ok."

She looked over at me and for a second I see a look of concern cross her face. I smiled to myself and knew right then that I was lucky to have her in my life.

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Signature deleted because links to non art related websites is a form of advertising, and writing is not art, so saith the Lit Mod, BR. PM me and I'll send you his PM saying as such.

I read it, and needs more expansion. Don't forget rating, your username, and whether it is a fanfic or original in your title.

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Its gonna be updated daily hopefuly, thats why its so short, yeah, I kinda did it when I was half awak, I'll fix that

Added after 1 hours 10 minutes:

*****

The world was beginning to become hazy, I shoved the syringe off the bed and knocked the ash tray onto the carpet along with it.

"Dammit" I slurred, "ah well, no use crying over spilled milk."

Reaching over to the bed stand, I pulled out a small box containing cigars.

"This ones for Jennifer!" I toasted to the wall and lit it up, inhaling a lung full of the thick black smoke.

That was the limit. Red lines crawled into the corners of my vision and the world spun on its heels while I stood still. The crimson color overtook my vision and began to darken, darkening into black. In the distance I heard Mike call my name, and that too soon faded out.

Chapter 1. (Materializing the Disembodied)

The darkness completely surrounded him, wheeling through the cold dark emptiness. This went on forever, only being interrupted by brief flashes of light which were soon too swallowed by the infinity of black.

Then came a noise from the darkness, the sound of voices conversing with each other. Then came a faint light, followed by feeling.

The next thing Shane knew, he was laying on solid ground. He stumbled to his feet, completely disoriented. He reached around and caught hold of what he soon realized was a tree.

"Wha... where am I?" He managed to stammer.

The moon cast its light through the branches overhead and once his eyes had adjusted, he realized he was in a small stretch of woods, which ahead of him emptied into a neighborhood.

'How the hell did I get out here? I must have really overdid it this time." He grabbed his head which had begun to throb from an oncoming headache.

He worked his way to the edge of the trees, towards the light being cast by the street lamp in front of the closest house but stopped dead in his tracks before he could clear the tree line.

Standing in a row outside the house were five men, each one holding a bottle with a piece of cloth coming out the top. They appeared to be holding a heated conversation amongst each other.

Shane tried to edge himself closer to overhear what they were saying, without revealing his location to them.

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"Mal, you sure this is a good idea?" the man to the immediate right of the tall
dark haired man inquired.

"Yeah, we all know the ramifications this will have on the world, it will be for the best" the tall dark haired man in the middle of the group responded.

"Getting scared Ian?" the man to the left of Mal inquired

"No Al, I'm just worried about how this will effect our families" Ian responded.

The others chuckled, then became deathly silent.

"Ok, enough jacking around, lets do this before the sun comes up" Mal announced.

The others nodded and in almost perfect sync pulled out lighters from their pockets. They lit up the cloths on the ends of the bottles, and in the glow, Shane could have sworn he saw sadistic grins cross their faces.

The red flame began to pulse into his head, combining with his headache. The pain began to thrum into a beat. It filled his head and pressed against the corners of his skull and pressing into his eyes. The red began to creep into the corner of his vision.

"Gah" he uttered under his breath and pressed his palms against his temples.

Across the yard, Mal shot a glance over at Shane's location. Then, shrugging he and the rest of the group cocked and hurled their Molotovs at the house, smashing through windows and setting it ablaze.

The red flames that lept from the house added to the growing din in Shane's head. He dropped to his knees, clutching his head in pain as the world slowly got enveloped into the red. Soon the red was pulsing with white and he finally gave in to the pain, letting the red take him as the black had before.

The world began to pulse white more rapidly, Shane felt his body suddenly convulse and the white over took the red and was blinding him.

"Again, come on damn you, CLEAR!" a voice shouted from somewhere to his side his eyes began to make out the shapes of people standing around him. Then another convulsion over took him and the world became red again.

Chapter 2. (Humans Vanish)

The red began to take form, clarifying itself but not quiet fading away. The numbness in his body began to take form as well and sink back into the depths of his being. He could feel that he was laying on his back on a solid surface, pavement.

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He climbed to his feet, propping himself up against a nearby wall and waited for his eyes to adjust to his new surroundings. The air had a thick dusty smell to it and he couldn't seem to find a place that wasn't covered in the gritty dirt.

'Man, I'm really tripping hard, don't even know whats real and whats in my mind.'

The red continued to daunt his vision, but it was beginning to clear somewhat giving way to a view of an empty street corner in a town not unlike his own. He clenched his eyes shut a couple of times, hoping that would clear out that color that he had begun to get sick of. He took two steps when his legs went numb and he fell down to his knees.

"Dammit!" he called out from the pain he couldn't feel, more so a reflex. He tried once again to climb to his feet and realized that was out of the question now. His legs were shut off. He sat back, leaning against the wall that had helped him stand before and scoped out his surroundings.

The place seemed normal enough, strange that there were no people or cars. Some of the buildings also seemed to be in a level of disrepair. He clenched his eyes shut and set his head back against the wall. This is the worst trip he had ever had.

"I swear when this is over I'm laying off the junk for good" he said to himself then slowly opened his eyes up to the sky. 'No...' he thought to himself. It had finally dawned on him, he wasn't seeing red everywhere because of his eyes, the sky was literally red, mixed with hints of orange and yellows.

"What the hell is going on? Where the hell am I?" He struggled to get up again, beginning to panic from the shear horror of the situation. Half way into this endeavor his legs gave out again and this time he fell flat on his face, kicking up a small cloud of orange-red dust. Some entered his lungs and he began hacking, gasping for fresh air. Then a small delicate hand pressed against his back and the coughing stopped. Feeling ran back into his legs and he suddenly felt more calm than he had ever been since as far back as he could remember.

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He slowly got to his feet, dazed at the event. Then he realized that he had felt a hand and spun around abruptly, coming face to face with the strangest thing he had seen in his adult life. Standing before him was a girl, maybe 12-14 years old. She was dressed in a white dress and had long flowing white hair. Her skin was almost the same paleness as her hair and her white eyes were her most striking feature. The whole thing was at first hard to look at. The shier amount of white clashed with the red hued surroundings and had an effect of making her appear to glow.

"Who... are you?" he managed.

"Nature" the little girl responded

She stood there looking at him, studying him as if he was the one who was out of place in this world. He waited for more from her but by her expression, he didn't think more was going to come.

"Where am I?"

"Earth"

"I know Earth, and this isn't any Earth I know of."

The little girl, 'Nature' looked at him unblinking. Frustration immediately set in, he felt as though his head was going to explode from all the events leading up till now.

"You are the chosen one, you must come with me" the little girl finally spoke at last.

"Oh no, I'm not going anywhere until I know exactly what is going on. If this is Earth, why is the sky red and this place completely abandoned?"

"This area has been abandoned for over four thousand years. THe sky is red because of the great scorching."

"What? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Come, we must hurry, we have places to get to, now please follow me." The little girl walked past him and continued on down the side walk.

"God damn" Shane said to himself. He let out a sigh and began to follow.

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Signature deleted because links to non art related websites is a form of advertising, and writing is not art, so saith the Lit Mod, BR. PM me and I'll send you his PM saying as such.

Nice.... interesting chosen one!

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So since the story isn't done yet. Lets refrain from posting until were done. That way critiquing would be more effective. PMing or emailing is more effective getting across to us. Mmkay.

Chapter 3. (Who Me?)

It had taken Shane a few minutes to realize that he and Nature were not alone. They had been there the whole time but the little girl had been so captivating in her seeming radiance. Their names were Diana and Tom. Diana was a slender woman in her early 30s and looked to have been a cheerleader at some point. Tom on the other hand had to have been in his late 40s early 50s and had a air of a business man about him, what with his relatively round gut and bald head.

As they followed Nature out of what was the center of the small city, Diana and Tom took turns explaining their introductory experiences with Shane. Diana who had been following Nature for the longest immediately explained that Shane was not in fact some great legendary "Chosen One," for that was part of what Nature said to everyone she had picked up.

"Well then... What happened to the others?" Shane inquired, becoming ever more frustrated with the situation.

"Some died, some left, some where taken, and others simply just disappeared" Diana explained casually.

"But I wouldn't advise straying from her" Tom piped in, "Seems shes the only source for food in this place." He was beginning to pant, and pulled out a filthy handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe the sweat from his forehead. The air wasn't very hot, nor humid, so Shane naturally assumed it was because of Toms' weight issues.

"Where are we going by the way?" Shane called up to Nature, who seemed to never get tired or hot, nor phased at all by the situation.

"We are following a path, solving a mystery that will lead to the salvation of this ruined world" she replied instantly, as though it was not the first nor last time she would ever be asked that question.

"Same answer she gave to me a while back" Diana said from behind Shane.

He shook his head. "This is insane, I have no clue whats going on, following a girl who can't give me a reasonable answer, and talking with people who are just as confused as me and have been here longer."

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After a bit of walking, Shane finally decided that he was going to ask the all important question, hopefully Diana and Tom would have the answer that he wanted to hear. That this is all in his head.

"So, where did I... I mean we come from?" he inquired to the others.

A solemn look crossed Diana and Tom almost simultaneously. Diana's eyes wandered off past Shane into the distance, and Tom looked down at the sidewalk as it past underneath his feet.

"That bad huh?"

"It would be better to have her explain" Tom finally said as he nodded at Nature.

"Yeah, thought so" Shane said, now mostly to himself. He looked ahead at Nature and asked the same question to her.

"That would be too complicated to explain now, I will answer your questions when we stop to rest for the night" Nature responded.

"And when will that be?"

"When we get to the edge of the city."

A smile crossed Shane's face. Now he knew he was crazy. It all added up. Red sky, check; crazy albino girl, check; a completely abandoned city, check; and two people who seem completely out of place walking with him, check. Now, he thought, all he has to do is wake up and this god awful dream will be over.

He began to notice as they got closer and closer to the edge of the city that there was more and more glass littered across the sidewalk and street. Some of the chunks were actually rather large. Far bigger than what would have been used for windows for the buildings they were passing by. He thought of inquiring about this as well be decided that none of his questions would ever be answered properly and it was probably just a better idea to keep his mouth shut and let everything run its course.

Another point of interest for Shane was that he was beginning to realize as they walked further down this that there was a large object that ran across the road ahead. He couldn't quite make out what it was but figured he would soon find out, one way or another.

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Signature deleted because links to non art related websites is a form of advertising, and writing is not art, so saith the Lit Mod, BR. PM me and I'll send you his PM saying as such.

Had a bad day, can't really write right now. Will either post twice throughout tomorrow, or make one massive post to make up for today. I am sorry =(

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me too

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Signature deleted because links to non art related websites is a form of advertising, and writing is not art, so sayeth the Lit Mod, BR. "10. Feel free to advertise your websites in your signature or avatars as long as they comply with the NSFW rule and the Signature Size rule." Wait what?

******

A wall, the city was surrounded by a wall. Aside from it, the city would have been completely normal, but the wall really looked like something straight out of the future. Well, Shane's future. He walked up to it while the rest set up for camp. There were still some chunks of two foot thick glass sticking jaggedly out of the top.

'That explains the glass ridden street' Shane thought to himself. He walked to a chunk of glass laying on the street near the wall. He looked into it and at his red hued reflection. His head was mostly shaved, his face was far more sunken that he remembered, and he looked as if he had gained a good five to ten years. He ran his hand over his almost bald head in disbelief. His head felt fever hot, and his sweat smelled of salt and dust. He could see dark trails running off his forehead and down his cheeks. His cloths which he hadn't noticed before consisted of a semi shredded filth coated white shirt and his pants were ragged cloth with exposed stitches, in the red, they appeared to be black

"Do you still wish to know where you came from?" came a now all too familiar voice.

Shane slowly turned around, his mind still focused on his sudden change of appearance to see Nature staring at him blankly. "Yeah, sure."

He walked with her back to the others and took a seat. Nature walked to the middle of them and knelt down, planting her palms on ground. Somehow, much to his own amazement, Shane was truly amazed. It was small at first but then, a plant began to grow rapidly out from the ground between her hands. As it took form, Shane became even more amazed as it took form and became something very familiar to him. It was the same tree that was growing in the table back at his apartment. Just like Jennifer's. It grew leaves and then more importantly fruit.

"Go ahead, eat" Nature said. Diana and Tom both took a couple fruit, Shane followed suit.

Nature watched them until they began to eat and then closed her eyes and began to talk.

Chapter 4. (Clones)

"You are clones, created to recreate life on a dead world." Nature opened her eyes and again that blank look crossed her face.

Diana and Tom continued munching into their fruits. Shane was a different story. The fruit had rolled out of his hands and a look of terror began to cross his face.

"No, thats not possible, I remember my life, living with my girlfriend in our little apartment. The sky was blue, there was no great scorching. How can I remember all that and be a clone?"

Nature closed her eyes, this time it took a while for her to begin talking. "At some point, you had your DNA taken and your memory was scanned and uploaded unto a computer. When you were cloned, your memory was uploaded into your brain while you developed, in hopes that it would allow you to get accustomed to your new surroundings. However, the world was not ready for you so you were sent into Purgatory. Chances are, your body relived the memory and when it came to the end of the memory, you lost consciousness and wandered out of the tunnels and out into the wilderness."

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A million thoughts ran through Shane's head, some coming to logical conclusions, some spiraling out of control and threatening to drive his mind over the edge. He could feel the contents of his stomach pooling up in the back of his throat and the world began to blur. Tears welled up in his eyes and he felt as though he was about to let out the longest scream he had ever. He clutched both sides of his head and stood up, stepping on the fruit he had just picked and looked up at the sky. Then he emptied pure bile from his stomach and collapsed unconscious.

Nature looked at him, then looked at the others. "Drag him into a building, up to the second floor, we'll wait until tomorrow."

"Ok, but how do you know when tomorrow is when the sky always looks the same?" Tom said under his breath.

Diana shot him a nasty look and they grabbed Shane and carried him into a nearby building and up a flight of stairs to the second floor. Nature picked a few more fruit from the tree and ignored the ones Shane had picked which were now covered in bile. She looked out past the hole blasted through the wall into the distance for a few seconds and then followed the others up into the building.

"Here, he'll need to eat these when he wakes up" Nature explained to Diana as she entered the room and handed the fruit over to her.

Diana nodded in acknowledgment and stuffed the fruit into her pockets. She then settled down next to the unconscious Shane and closed her eyes, hoping for some sleep. Once they were all settled in, Nature walked across the small dark room to the window through which red light cast across the floor adding a feint illumination to it. She stared out at the landscape that spread beyond the wall. A sea of sand, a desert with seemingly no end. A single tear rolled out of her eye and down her cheek, rolling off her chin and dropping to the floor, where it instantly evaporated

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Signature deleted because links to non art related websites is a form of advertising, and writing is not art, so saith the Lit Mod, BR. PM me and I'll send you his PM saying as such.

That is NOT how it works in this forum.
That's 2 felonies: You're driving me round the bend!

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Ok, you're not a moderator. Yet you're out policing the forums, and cannot seem to ignore interrupting OTHER peoples work with senseless rantings. What a funny guy. FUNGUY! Interesting. I get away from 4-5 stars easy. Felony aint nothing! lawl. Ignore feature is great for people like you. =)

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Signature deleted because links to non art related websites is a form of advertising, and writing is not art, so sayeth the Lit Mod, BR. "10. Feel free to advertise your websites in your signature or avatars as long as they comply with the NSFW rule and the Signature Size rule." Wait what?

*****

It was only a feint sound, but it was enough to wake Diana up. She looked over and saw Shane was curled up against her. Nature had already taken notice. But then again, she never slept. At least not that Diana noticed. She got to her feet and Nature turned to acknowledge her.

"Is it them?" she inquired in a hushed tone.

Nature nodded, "Only one or two right now."

The sound came again, the sound of a small cackling fire. Diana sat back down next to Shane and curled up her legs to her chest. Nature knelt down next to the window and peered out.

Tom yawned from across the room and looked up, his eyes half open. "Whats happening?" He looked over at Diana and then over at Nature. "Its them huh?" He got up to his feet and listened carefully. "Yup."

"Shhh" Nature motioned with her finger over her mouth.

Tom nodded and sat down, crossing his legs and putting his chin to his chest.

The cackle of the fire began to grow, and sounded like it was spreading, A light began to cast into the room. The shadows of the window sill began to flicker from side to side as if a fire was raging outside. At first it grew, the sound steadily grew from a small fire to a small blaze, then lowered back down to a cackle, then faded out to nothing.

"Ok, who's turn is it to explain that to me" Shane said, startling Tom and Diana. Even Nature seemed somewhat surprised to find that he had been awake.

"I.." Diana began but was interrupted by Nature.

"I will explain."

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It would have been dawn, should have been. But in a world where the sky is the same ominous color; the same monotonous tone cast on everything, seeping into every corner, into ever fracture, clawing into the very fabric of ones existence, there is no difference between day and night. There are no in between times. There is just Red, red sky, red walls, red dust covering everything.

To him, it had come to represent everything he was scared of, everything he didn't understand, and everything he wanted to get away from. Every bit of knowledge his companions fed him, he found, was in a sense, simply letting the Red claw deeper into his psyche.

The things that are... that were outside the small apartment had passed away, but the new knowledge of what they were remained, information that dug into him, like the Red that washed away the color of this world.

The Blaze, the people that had existed on the surface world and were now cursed to wander it for an eternity, constantly burning, constantly in agony, always searching for another to share their pain and guilt with.

Hardly the explanation he was searching for, but for the most part, he understood that its best to completely avoid being seen or heard by them. That those who have been merely touched by The Blaze have soon joined their numbers. The best comparison he could come up with was something out of a classic zombie movie. Get bit, and your good as dead.

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I really enjoyed thi story - very interesting ideas and narration! Write more!

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sexy jessica alba wallpaper for you!

[ Been through alot over the past year, quit smoking, a couple bad relationships, a new career, school, you name it its happened. I'm going to try to get a regular schedule going for my writing again. Thanks go out to Sincados for his consistent nagging for me to continue working on my novel, of which, this short story is actually an offshoot of. Hes got an attitude, but please cut him some slack, hes been through a lot more than I myself could possibly handle.]

Chapter 5. (Shell Substitutions)
He looked ahead of himself, Tom, Diana, all being lead by the silent pale figure of Nature, their fearless leader, as if she (or was it 'it') could even have feelings such as fear or courage. He grinned, the whole situation was ridiculous, whats the point in caring of anything, when nothing matters anymore. When the world is populated by undead demon, soulless tortured what ever they are; your not even yourself, but a cheap copy of someone else, when the world around you has lost its color, effectively losing its texture. Whats the point? Still, something about that girl compelled him onward. Perhaps she holds to key to his existence he thought to himself. If anything, he knew he followed cause he was amused and curious.

Ahead of him, Diana and Tom were continuing with their incessant nagging of each other. Shane had come to realize that this was perhaps how they managed to keep themselves sane. Nature didn't offer much in terms of conversation, seeing as she was all business especially now that they were clear of the derelict city, and into the desert countryside, riddled with dunes, and random petrified remnants of trees or wooden structures, it wasn't always easy to tell. Then again, nothing looks quiet like it does when its monotone and thousands of years past its prime.

He didn't know why, but all of this made him grin. In the end, no matter how he organized the equation, the solution was always the same, insanity. Perhaps insanity was the best answer, sanity would have to sit this one out. Atleast those things didn't seem to like to wander outside of the ancient ruins of cities. Maybe they know better than we do, after all they have been there for as long as the city has he contemplated.

Ahead of him, the argument had reached a fevered pitch.

"And perhaps its better that we just leave this fools errand and go back?!" Diana snarled at Tom.

"No, but have you ever stopped to think: 'Hey, Nature seems to be doing fine without us, why does she insist on keeping company, unless we are just meat shields, pawns to be thrown away in her twisted little quest?' " Tom retorted.

"Well, I don't think we are as expendable as you like to think, seeing as she does keep us fed..."

"As do farmers with their cattle, thats what I'm trying to tell you, we are nothing but cattle being herded by this insignificant puke"

Shane looked onward to Nature, waiting for a response from her. As usual, nothing, her pace didn't even falter. It was as if she knew that nothing they said would change the circumstances, and they were free to leave just like the lost ones did Shane thought back to the stories Tom and Diana would tell him during the short moments of rest Nature offered them and during their meals.

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Chapter 6. (Transportation Options)

Shane looked around himself, peels from the fruit they had shared was mounded in a small pile behind him, in the middle of the group was the small tree Nature had 'grown' for them, the leaves already turning pale in the red glow as it silently shriveled back into the dust it had sprung from.

Diana was already alseep, curled into a ball with a thin twill cloth covering her head in a futile attempt to find solace in darkness as the red clawed its way into every corner of the world. Tom was sprawled out close to her, dust slowly coating his body in a light film. Nature of course simply sat there, eyes wide open, a pale white figure in direct contrast with the world that bore her.

Shane slowly closed his eyes and rolled over on his side covering his face with his arm in hopes that he wouldn't wake up with a lung full of sand.

The red glared through his eye lids, yet he could still feel himself slip away.

----------------------------------

The Red flashed violently and then to yellow as his body convulsed.

Is it finally happening, am I finally slipping?

Shane clamored desperately for reality. Slowly the red and yellow gradually gave way to a faltering white.

"Why are you authorizing additional tissue samples?" A deep raspy voice said somewhere to his right.

"Even if you had the authorization to ask such questions, the answer wouldn't make any difference to you. Now, do your job and leave the questions to the people who are ment to ask it" a vaguely familiar voice responded sharply.

"YES MA'AM!" The raspy voice responded without hesitation.

The world slowly began to spin, red and yellow starting creeping back into the pale light. As the red made its way closer to the center of his vision the world began to spin, first slowly then faster and faster. He felt a pinch in his arm and the red overtook his mind again.

----------------------------------

Shane sat bolt upright, sweat beading up on his forehead, mixing with the dust that covered it and then running down his face in dark streaks. Nature stood ready and Diana and Tom dusted themselves off and straightened their cloths. Occasionally Tom let out a cough and then hacked up flem mixed with red dust, giving it a blood like quality.

"You seem distressed" Nature had crept up behind Shane startling him, "are you ill?"

"Na... no, nightmare I suppose"

"Then we continue." Nature turned and began walking, putting the ruins of the domed city in the distance once again to her back. Silently, she drifted off and they rushed to catch back up to her.

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_________________________


The girl in white drifted across the desert and the ragged trio followed.

She paused occasionally, preforming her little trick in order to feed them, then after these little breaks in their trek, the continued. Sand swept against their face constantly, constantly nagging at the fragile edges of sanity that eroded away at the edges of Shane's conscious. As far as he could tell, it had been a good three to four days since he had had a fix. Sweat continued to bead up on his forehead and he knew next would come the hallucinations.

"Great, last thing I need now is to lose it because of needing a fix over being in this small piece of hell" he mumbled under his breath.

He hoped for conversation but between Tom and Diana's constant bickering over futile subjects and Natures stoic silence, he knew that he would only have himself as a loyal listener. He clenched his eyes shut, feeling the beginnings of the pressure behind his eyes as though his brain was beginning to swell up and force its way out of any opening it could find.

This short moment of solitude was abruptly interrupted when his foot connected with something large and solid connecting first with his big toe, and then up his shin. He teatered for balance and realized that it was already lost as he collapsed onto the ground, letting out a deep grunt of frustration and pain. As he pushed himself off the ground, his eyes now wide open, Shane looked at the obstacle he had failed to avoid.

It was a large dark mass, short, perhaps knee height. Upon closer inspection, Shane realized it was in fact a tree stump. A scorched tree stump his mind piped in. As he got on his feet, he surveyed his surroundings and realized that they were completely surrounded by similar things. Then he realized they had entered what had once been a forest, or a small wooded area.

"What happened to this place, what could have caused such an absolute destruction of everything?" Shane directed the question towards Natures back as she continued to walk. She paused for a second to look over her should then continued walking.

"Right..."

He ran his finger across the stump, then looked at the dark ash that coated his finger tip, In silent contemplation he rubbed his fingers together, spreading the dark powder from finger to finger and began walking again.

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-----------------------------------------

"Three days of trekking across this barren wasteland and this is what you bring us to, an old wasted away house, THERES NOTHING HERE!!!" Tom shouted in frustration, his arms held above his head, fists clenched as if it would increase the impact of the statement.

Nature stood in front of it, silent as ever, her eyes firmly set upon the dilapidated building. The front appeared to have been burned severly, but the structure was still intact, enough so that the building appeared to have been standing for quite a long time.

"Hey, are you alright?" Diana patted her hand on Shane's shoulder, her face showing genuine concern for him for once.

"Ye... I don't know."

Shane stood there awestruck, he didn't know why, but he knew that this house was important. As if by instinct he didn't dare walk beyond what would have been the tree line before what would have been the yard began. A single drop of sweat rolled down his forehead, mixing with the dust and leaving another brown-red streak across his brow. The last time he had seen this house was in a dream, rather than bathed in red hew from the sky, it had stood silent in the dark, with a gentle yellow light cast across the front from a lone streetlight, with five silent figures standing before it.

"This is where it began, this is where the spark that ignited the world was struck" Nature interrupted, her words clawing their way into Shane's mind.

"Whatever, what happened in the past is done, now all that's left is dust, dust and red, nothing will change that, and there's no reason for us to even be out here!" Tom spat. He spun around from the house and walked over to a lone metal pole standing out of the ground. The unusual relic stood steadfast against the surroundings much like the house, but it appeared to have been placed there more recently. The top of the metal pole ended with the strange spherical protrusion. "Nothings left here but this damned house and whatever this damned thing is!" He firmly planted a kick into the pole, sounding a loud metal twang. The pole shuttered from the blow, and than began to vibrate.

Hum would have been a far more appropriate word Shane thought to himself.

The low humming sound increased in pitch and then deep within the pole came a muffled clicking sound before it went silent again.

"What is this thing anyways?" Shane had now stepped beyond the ex-treeline and walked up to the pole. It had to have been at least eight feet tall and maybe half a foot in diameter. The metal ball that topped it was maybe twice that.

"Never mind him," Nature responded, paying the strange thing little mind. "What he does or sees has no bearing on the actions we take from here forward."

"Your not going to explain that at all are you?" Shane said turning his gaze towards the pale white girl.

"Whatever, lets get going. I'd rather be moving than wasting time with something as insignificant as more ruins. Might as well keep up the pace and hopefully find a place that's safe so that we can rest for a while" Tom said, slowly losing the angst that had been dominating his voice since they first arrived.

Nature turned away from the building, and began walking again, putting the structure to her right. Slowly they left the silent place to the dust till all that was left was Shane still staring at the mysterious pole-and-globe.

" 'What he sees or does' " Shane mumbled his eyes fixated on the object. Then slowly, he turned, eyed the house one more time, a shutter overtaking his body, he turned and jogged back up to the tail end of the group and stepped into pace with them.

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As they faded into the distance, the pole began humming again, and made one more final clicking sound before going silent, the sphere at the top no longer spinning to follow the groups movement.

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Signature deleted because links to non art related websites is a form of advertising, and writing is not art, so saith the Lit Mod, BR. PM me and I'll send you his PM saying as such.

Interlude

He sat alone in the dark room, his face illuminated by the glow of multiple screens. Alternating calculations and variables scrolled here and there. two screens only showed a hazy fuzz and the rest flickered constantly, alternating in the information they displayed. He flexed his leather gloved hands in front of him and began tapping on a lone keyboard with his index finger. His attention was now focused on a lone screen that showed a image, a point in time he forced to replay over and over again with the touch of a button.

On the screen, it was the same thing, white girl strides into view, followed by three others. They look at the house, and then with hesitation, the little girl eyes the camera with her haunting eyes, mouths something and walks off, followed by the woman and man, till all thats left is the kid, staring at the camera, his mouth mimics the motion of the pale girl.

Why, are they there, of all places? he thought to himself. He replayed the clip again, something about that girl had a hook on his mind, and this disturbed Malthas greatly. Enough he was sure that they weren't just more scavengers who had simply lost their way. No, they moved like there was purpose, and they way she glanced nonchalantly at the camera as if saying, I know your there and I don't care.

He gritted his teeth, as she floated off the screen and it settled on the kid, he looked closely at him, following his mouth. Another mystery to solve he supposed. His finger kept tapping and he gritted his teeth, the scar on his cheek turned his mouth into a sadistic one sided grin.

In the darkness sat a dark and brooding man, tapping a keyboard, and with one final tap, all the screens went black.

"For another time" he murmured.

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Signature deleted because links to non art related websites is a form of advertising, and writing is not art, so saith the Lit Mod, BR. PM me and I'll send you his PM saying as such.

I know this man... this sinister, brooding individual... wait... wait... yeah. Pika Thunder shocks my world!

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Signature deleted because links to non art related websites is a form of advertising, and writing is not art, so sayeth the Lit Mod, BR. "10. Feel free to advertise your websites in your signature or avatars as long as they comply with the NSFW rule and the Signature Size rule." Wait what?