《Tales of Zelphorite City》


 Prologue: The Beginning

    "Annabelle... Annabelle" the words sound muffled and distant, my head feels light, I don¡¯t remember what I¡¯m doing here. Someone shakes my shoulders.


    My eyes fly open as a blast of heat washes over my face, my child continues to cry in my arms. Inside the dark lab, screaming from outside leaks in through the vents. At the far wall three cabins ready for use and a terminal near by conected to each cabin by a 5 foot thick cable.


    "Anna we need to go, put Alex in the cabin and you need to climb into yours." My husband says to me as he jogs to the terminal.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    I shake my head to clear the fog around my mind. I feel so numb walking to the cabin. Everything felt like it just flowed together, Placing my crying son into a small cabin and stepping into one of my own. After my husband typed an input on the terminal my son vanishing with a gust of wind. Suddenly, a dark cloaked person attacks my husband, knocking him on the side. The cloaked person types into the terminal and jumps into the third cabin. I didn¡¯t even see who they were, my head is pounding and I can¡¯t focus on anything.


    With a grunt my husband gets up and types on the terminal as blood pours from his left arm. "Annabelle, protect Alex." That is the last thing he said to me as everything turned into a mess of color and sound.

 Chapter 1: New Beginning

    Falling onto the cold soft ground with a gust of wind blowing away from me, I found myself in a corn field. I stayed on the muddy earth for a few minutes, my head still dizzy from the cabin transport. Looking around, after standing up, I couldn¡¯t see any sign of the cabin, but a nearby barn seems to be filled with people. It''s possible that they know something about the cabin¡¯s whereabouts and maybe Alex¡¯s location too.


    Moving through the field is much more difficult than I imagined, the stalks snagged onto my duster shaking off sand and rocks from the pockets. I wasn¡¯t wearing one of my dusters before entering the cabin, in fact this is not one of mine it¡¯s too dark and worn. The duster is odd enough on its own but upon inspecting the rest of my outfit I noticed that my shoes were replaced by boots, my pants are men¡¯s cargos with various pieces of junk in them and my shirt is torn at the ends. But it¡¯s an issue for later, I need to find Alex.


    Approaching the end of the corn field, I see a broken paved road passing by a parking lot in front of the old barn. The parking lot is full of wooden carts, filled with various sacks, and a small stable for horses. In front of the barn¡¯s door stands a pale scrawny man dressed in patchwork shirt and pants, an old, well used, assault rifle strapped across his chest, ready to be used at a moment¡¯s notice. The patchwork man is leaning on the wall of the barn, staying in the shade and staring off into the distance. It is clear that he is thinking about other things as a horse drawn cart enters the clearing.


    The wooden cart appears much newer than the other carts by at least a few years or it is maintained more often it is drawn by a large white horse. Driving the cart is a wide pale man with a full pepper beard and he is wearing posh clothing like a Victorian noble. The noble man gets off the cart as a young dark girl and mid aged dark guy take the horse and cart to their respective areas. The noble man approaches the scrawny one, unfortunately my view is blocked but I can tell that the noble man is yelling.


    Exiting the field I made my way towards the barn at a brisk walk, kicking up dust as I went. As I passed the horses I noticed that the two young adults were staring at me, completely still with a glimpse of fear in their eyes but it¡¯s too late to walk away. The noble man stops yelling as the dust blows past him and he slowly turns around and gives me a look over.


    ¡°You are not from around here, who are you?¡±


    The scrawny man puts his right hand on his gun, looking away from the gun to meet the eyes of the noble man.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°I¡¯m from the city, I¡¯ve-¡°


    The gun is shakily pointed at me. ¡°W-we doesn¡¯t take k-kindly to city folk!¡±


    ¡°Jesus Frank stand down.¡± The noble man squeezes his temple between his fingers and Frank lowers his gun but still holds it tight. ¡°Listen, a lot of people here do not like the city. It is a long story, what part of the city are you from exactly?¡±


    They are looking at me cautiously, are they referring to the whole city or just downtown or another district? ¡°I¡¯m from district 2, the research center. I need to return there-¡°


    ¡°Y-you ain¡¯t goin a-anywhere till Mr. Chadwick s-says so.¡±


    Giving Frank no attention, Chadwick focuses on me. ¡°I am not going to let you back to district 2, it is obvious you are not from there, but it does not matter why you want to go. I want to talk more about this later.¡± Chadwick walks to the barn doors. ¡°Frank take our guest to the holding house.¡± Chadwick enters the barn and a commotion is heard pouring out.


    Frank juts his gun in the direction of a small cart that looks to fit only four people. ¡°G-get in the back of the sm-small cart.¡± He looks at the boy attending the horses. ¡°Jeremy you drive us there, I have to watch her.¡±


    Jeremy nods and let¡¯s a black horse, with brown spots, out of its pin and leads it to the cart. Meanwhile Frank ties my hands with some sort of natural rope. ¡°Why am I being restrained?¡±


    ¡°To m-make sure you d-don¡¯t run off.¡±


    ¡°What? Do *you* run with your hands or am I the weird one here.¡±


    Frank sighs ¡°j-just get in the back of the c-cart, and stay there.¡±


    I climbed up to one of the two benches on the sides of the cart, Jeremy put the back panel up and in a whisper said, ¡°Listen, I know Frank making this out to be a hostage situation but he is tr-.¡±


    Frank places his hand on Jeremy¡¯s left shoulder and stares at him for a few seconds. With a slow and steady voice Frank says, ¡°Worry about getting us to the holding house then, after I¡¯m done, you can talk to her allll you want, do I make myself clear?¡± Jeremy nods twice and Frank squeezes his shoulder.


    Frank lets go of Jeremy¡¯s shoulder and climbs over the panel into the back of the cart. He takes the seat furthest from me and puts his gun in his lap. Jeremy, with a stiff walk, gets on the front of the cart and drives the horse to the left side of the road.


    We traveled for about 10 minutes with the clomping of the horse¡¯s hooves and rumbling of the wooden wheels on a rocky road as the only sounds. I spent the whole time looking out to the fields, the accessional house, tree, or barn doting the distance, unfortunately the city proper is to my back. Eventually Frank spoke up.


    ¡°W-What is your g-goal here?¡± I look towards him and slightly lower my head.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know where my son is, he is just a baby and he is alone. I have no lead to his location, I... I need to find him.¡± My voice cracked at the end but getting emotional isn¡¯t going to help, at least not right now.


    Frank stared at me for a minute then looked towards the city. ¡°Family don¡¯t mean shit round here, good luck finding him.¡±

 Chapter 2: The Amnesiac

    Prospective: Henry


    "Henry you have a call from the AB about an investigation!"


    Martha''s voice came from down the narrow hallway that connects all of the rooms in the police department. Henry was sitting at his dark stained oak desk, enjoying his newspaper and favorite mix of coffee and cream. He gets up sighing to no one in particular and grabs his coat and hat.


    "Henry! You have a ca.."


    Henry blurted an I''m on my way the sounded like a mule coking on a cat. Damn, he thought, I need voice exercises. He walked down the hall to the second door on the left, he peered inside and took a quick look around.


    To his left is a desk that is smaller than his but made of the same material. On top of the desk is an old monitor, phone, and a mug that said #1 assistant. On the right, a giant bookcase, filled with mystery and drama books, rested with the wall immediately behind it. On the other side off the room is a large window overlooking the city skyline, the white drapes were pulled to either side and the pane is slightly ajar. In front of the window was Martha, her skin is pale, her eyes are light blue, and her hair is long and light blonde. She turns around to face Henry.


    "One of the guns at the AB misfired and exploded about 30 minutes ago and the man using it was fatally wounded. They want you to go investigate why the gun did this."


    "Right to work as always with you, isn''t it?"


    "Someone there will tell you what exactly happened."


    Henry nods.


    "I''ll get right on it."


    He leaves out the front door and starts the 2 mile journey to the AB.


    <hr>


    Prospective: ???


    I awoke on a bed, facing the white popcorn celling and the shadow of a rotating fan. Every now and then my eyes would fallow one of the blade but it was making me dizzy so, I stopped. I looked around the room, the bed I was in the center of the space. Two wooden sliding doors to my right, I assume it was the closet, and a night stand hugged the wall. To my left was a wooden table and a window with a rolling field just outside. In front of me was a woman sitting on a chair, she had blond hair and brown eyes, she wore a yellow sun dress as well and she had a shotgun laying on her lap.


    I started to freak out and attempted to get up unfortunately I was restrained by straps across my crest.


    "Easy down miss, I''m not here to kill ya or hurt ya. I just want ya to answer one question. Where are ya from?" If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    A simple question in hindsight but one I could not answer.


    "I... I don''t know, I don''t remember where I..I''m from or who I am."


    She looked at me with discuss and pity.


    "So you''re an amnesiac, Probably from the awaken. Ya damn fools consumin'' crystal cause ya think it will give ya ''powers''."


    She air quoted when she said powers. She sighed and loosened her grip on the shotgun.


    "My names Sarah and ya are straped down to prevent ya from hurting anyone, yaself included."


    I slowly noded in agreement, the sooner I can get her to tust me the sooner I can leave, I thought.


    "So, how long are you going to keep me tied up? I cant exactly eat or use the bathroom in this state."


    She closed her eyes and noded in agreement, Sarah opened her eyes.


    "I''m going to release ya from the bed after I talk to my husband."


    She stood up, put the gun next to the door and opened it. She turned to look at me before leaving and said,


    "ya name is Samantha for now."


    Sarah gave a weak smile and closed the door as she left.


    <hr>


    Prospective: Wendy


    Dogs in their large cage are yapping and jumping onto the fencing. The cats are meowing and hissing like a teapot on a hot stove. They haven''t been feed yet she realized, as she and two other workers rush a gurney with a dying man on it to a separate room.


    "You feed the animals and you help me stop the bleeding."


    She said as she points to the workers. The person to her right'' who''s name alludes her, jogs out of the room to the previous one and shuts the door. The room is silent for a couple of seconds only to be interrupted by a wheezing from the man on the gurney.


    "Josh get the tools out and ready, we need to operate."


    His arm is an absolute mess of bone, skin, and blood.


    "Hold his arm in place so I can grind the bone down."


    Josh grabbed Franks arm with both of his hand as I took the bone grinder and shortened the jutting white material into a flat surface.


    "I need the scissors and a trash can."


    Josh lets go of the arm and hands me the tools. I take the scissors and start to cut off burnt and broken parts of Frank''s arm. Josh starts to turn green.


    "Don''t be getting sick on me, damn it."


    The smell, oh fuck, it reeks of dead meat and burning rubber. I put the scissors on the surgical table next to me and I start to pull the skin around his tissue and bone.


    "Now I need the stitches."


    I patch together the ends of the skin and put 78 metal stitches in his arm.


    "Disinfect his wound and help me with his face."


    <hr>


    Prospective: Sarah


    "Adam, she needs help."


    Sarah begins to pace around the living room table that is made of oak wood and a glass top. Adam is sitting on an old brown leather couch that can sit three people.


    "Sarah she is a stranger and she needs to be taken to the council. She also had a trail of broken wheat stocks leading from where you found her to Franks damn accident. Who knows, she could have done that to Frank herself."


    Sarah''s brows pinch her forehead, she is frustrated.


    "Why didn''t you tell me sooner?"


    "We will speak of this issue later Sarah, right now a more important question needes to be answered."


    She looked at him quizzicality.


    "Where did she come from and who is she?"


    A minute of silence passes. "Her name is Samantha."


    Adam jumps up. "She told you her name?! What else did she t.."


    "I don''t know anything else."


    Sarah sighs. "Samantha is the name I gave her cause she''s an amnesiac."


    Adam looks concerned and annoyed. "I didn''t know" he breathes.


    "Samantha is a guest and she will be treated as a guest by ya and me until she remembers herself."


    A pause. "Fine Samantha is a guest... for now."

 Chapter 3: The Investigation

    Prospective: Henry


    The scene was a muddle of confused people and an angry Chadwick, he spots me approaching.


    "Henry get over here and tell why one of my men had their gun explode."


    Chadwick yelled, to overpower the other voices. Henry jogged the remaining few yards to the Chadwick. Henry takes a few minutes to catch his breath. He then fallows Chadwick as he casually waves his hand in the direction that he is walking.


    "I see that you are wearing your detective outfit for this."


    Chadwick says as Henry approaches from his right to walk beside him.


    "I sure am, detectives in the old books are always wearing this kind of outfit. Maybe it grants a special power like the crystals used to."


    Chadwick chuckles. "Ha, and my overalls make me a better farmer. We wear these outfits cause that''s what the old books say, and those damn crystals never even existed, you now that better than anyone."


    Henry shrugs as they arrive at the edge of a wheat field.


    "So this is the place."


    Henry states as he crouches to the twisted ruins of a gun.


    "It sure is and people believe that the pedestrians did this."


    Henry takes a swab from a pouch on his belt and a small bag with the word evidence on its front. He swabs the inside of the gun and puts the swab in the bag. Henry takes another bag out of his pouch, this one bigger than the first one. He grabs the gun and places it in the bag. He gets up and goes over to the dry blood and bag it too. Henry takes out a notepad.


    "Chadwick, tell me what you know."


    "Well this morning I told Frank to get the oldest gun he could find and come with me."


    Henry writes on the notepad. "Why did you tell him to get the oldest gun?"


    Henry looks at Chadwick as he says this. Chadwick''s eyes shift to the left quickly.


    "I.. um I didn''t.. I didn''t want Frank to wear down the good guns and he is comfortable with that gun."


    "You mean was comfortable with the gun, he can''t use it anymore."


    "What do you mean, I only see blood and metal. There are no body part to be found."


    Henry looks at Chadwick, pulls out a small metal rod and extendesn it. He flicks his wrist and the now 3 foot rod is pointing at a small white object on the dry blood.


    "That is a bone fragment and guessing that Frank was holding the gun when it exploded, it came from one of his arm bones or hand bones."


    Chadwick''s face is red with anger.


    "Why are you lying about something so important? What else are you not telling me."Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Chadwick is now ferrous, but Henry knows that he can''t do anything to him. At least not here.


    "I have nothing to say to you, leave or ask the others about what happened."


    Chadwick storms off and Henry jots down some more notes.


    <hr>


    Prospective: Chadwick


    "That run away Pedestrian thinks he can accuse me, ME and gets away with it. He can go and su.."


    "Sir Chadwick, your men want to see you."


    Chadwick bangs his hands on his desk.


    "WHAT IS IT THIS TIME?!"


    Edwin, Chadwick''s butler, is dressed in a three peice suit and white silk gloves.


    "they are demanding better weapons and cleaning supplies, Sir."


    Chadwick folds his arms and is silent for a moment.


    "Get them the cleaning supplies, but the guns are too expensive, and that is final."


    Chadwick folds his arms and leans back on his black pivot chair.


    "Unless they want to end up like Greg."


    He smiles menacingly at the butler.


    "Of course Sir." Edwin bows and leaves through the large maple door.


    Chadwick looks around and sees that the office is a mess of papers; some are from smaller farms demanding new seeds and equipment, others are from trade deals with the suburbans and the rest are letters of hate, sorrow, and confusion about Frank''s ''accident''.


    "It wasn''t supposed to be this soon, she said that it would be another three weeks. Stupid bitch doesn''t even know what is happening."


    A voice like an angel sang out of the shadows.


    "Is that what you call me now? A stupid bitch?"


    Chadwick slowly faces where  where the voice came from. His face is as white as a ghost.


    "Your.. Your majesty I didn''t know that you would be visiting. Y.. you should have told me."


    Green eyes like fresh grass appeared from the shadows and stared at him.


    "The Wind bringer is here. Find and bring her to me."


    Chadwick jumps up and stumbles to the door, the eyes still fallow him.


    "How do you now it''s a girl?"


    The eyes stare for a second before responding.


    "She is a woman not a girl and you don''t need to know what I know. Just do as I command and you can continue to live."


    Chadwick puts his left fist to the center of his chest.


    "I.. I''ll get rig.. right to it, and how will I know it''s her."


    The eyes look amused.


    "Her eyes will be green and Frank has seen her."


    Chadwick opens his mouth then shuts it. He turns around, opens the door and says one last thing before walking away.


    "Praise to the goddess."


    <hr>


    Prospective: Sam/Annabel


    "Annabel... Annabel"


    My eyes fly open as a blast of heat washes over my face, my child continues to cry in my arms.


    "Anna we need to go put Alex in the cabin and you need to climb into yours."


    I shake my head to clear the fog around my mind. I feel so numb walking to the cabin. Everything felt like it just flowed together, Placing my crying son into a small cabin and stepping into one of my own. My husband pushing buttons on a metal structure and my son vanishing with a gust of wind. Suddenly, a dark cloaked person attacks my husband, types into the metal structure and jumps into the third cabin.


    "Annabel, protect Alex, he is important to our..."


    Suddenly I''m in the middle of the road, buildings toppled over on top of each other. Other than me no one else is here. That¡¯s when I noticed the bodies, they are everywhere. in the buildings, on the sidewalk, in every place possible.

 Chapter 4: The Library

    Prospective: Sam/Annabel


    I woke up crying and shaking. It felt so real, like I was reliving a memory, but I knew it wasn''t a memory. Furniture does not behave like that and faces do not contort like that. The only thing was real is the name he called me. I felt like I knew that name, I still do, I don''t know if it''s mine or someone else. What I do know is that I have a fragment of knowledge about who I possibly was. I then realized I was sitting up and was no longer restrained. I got off the bed and found that I was wearing a white night gown. I looked around the room for my clothes, I found them on top of the dresser, I also noticed that the shotgun was gone.


    There went my idea to scare and run. I thought of other plans to escape while I put the clothes I arrived here with on. Maybe I could have jumped out the window and run, no, I''m on the second floor and I had a high chance of spraining my ankle. I could have made it look like I jumped out the window but if I did that then I would put a target on my back. Only one reasonable choice came to mind, I must trust the people who live here.


    I opened the door and walked into a small hallway with sky blue walls and a grayish carpet. To my right was one door, to my left were two doors and on the opposite side of the hallway was one door. All the doors were closed, and I didn''t bother to snoop around. In the middle of the hallway was a set of light grey carpet stairs leading downward. As I descended the stairs, I heard the clatter and ceramic and metal.


    In front of me was a large oak door and styled glass on either side of the frame. On my right was a large room with a brown couch and a large tv, the tv was on a wooden structure. On the left of the structure were books and a photo, on the right was movies and a radio, going the length of the structure were three small wooden doors that were the base of the entire structure. On my left was a wall with a door in its center.


    When I stepped on the last step the wood creaked loudly. The clatter stopped a second later and the door to my left swung open. I was blasted with the smell of grilled chicken that was spiced by a chief and salad that was covered by dressing, loaded potatoes, baked to perfection. I breathed it all in and my stomach growled like there''s no tomorrow. Sarah smiled at me.


    ¡°My my, ya must be hungry.¡± She waved toward the room. ¡°Come, have something to eat.¡±


    <hr>


    Prospective: Henry


    Henry places the samples in the identifier and told Martha to report any findings. He goes back to his office and searches through his private library for topics on guns, explosives, and crystals. He only had a book on guns, it didn''t even give him new information after reading it for 2 and a half hours. Henry sighed.


    ¡°Investigator? I have collected all the data from the evidence you brought.¡± Said Martha from the other side of the door.


    "What are you waiting for? Come in and show it to me."


    Henry was ready to get this case over with, the Agronomist are a bunch of fucking inbreeds... Why did he think that just now? Martha walked in and placed a large stack of paper and folders in front of him.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "The folders are the notes you took on the witnesses and what they said. The other papers are the DNA samples and damage evaluation from the AID."


    Henry took the top paper and started to read, absently he said, "Thank you Martha, you can go."


    Martha nodded her head and walked back to the door, she gave a longing glance at Henry before leaving the room. He didn¡¯t notice.


    After going through most of the papers Henry stood up and stretched. The sun was still out, but not for long. Henry must go to The Library. The blood is Frank''s and the gun has no foreign materials inside or outside. That means the gun exploded on its own. It didn''t make since the gun exploded on the second shot, not the first. It boggled his mind.


    He walked to the door and entered the hallway, he walked to a door with an electronic lock. The door is made of steel and a small line goes across the center horizontally. Next to the door is a number pad with a display, on the display are 6 underlined spaces. Henry entered <u>1-12-5-24</u>, the door split at the line in the door and opened. On the other side is a staircase made of stone bricks leading into the ground.


    Henry stepped on the first step and grabs a yellow flashlight from the wall. He walks down the dimly light path, only turning the light on when the light above could no longer reach. The air is stale, unturned, untouched, after hundreds of stairs Henry reached the bottom. He stood in a dark hallway with an old broken door in front of him, as he walked to the door his flashlight flickered and went out. Henry sighs.


    The door swings open after a few seconds flooding the hallway with light and blinding Henry. After adjusting to the light Henry took another look at his surroundings. Behind him the stairs were gone, replaced by a stone brick wall. The sides of the hallway were also made of stone brick and the door was now made of steel.


    Inside the doorway was a 100ft by 120ft room full of 10ft tall and 15ft wide bookshelves stacked all the way up the 50ft celling. Between each shelf are mechanical arms, reaching 5ft and sliding both ways. In the entrance of the room is a podium with a touch screen. On the screen is a search bar at the top and an empty list in the center, at the lower right is a red cancel button and a grey conform button.


    Henry walks to the podium and taps the search bar, half of the bottom screen is replaced by a digital keyboard. He enters the topics he is looking for and the arms start moving. The books are collected by a cart and delivered to a table at the far left of the room. Henry makes his way there and starts reading again.


    <hr>


    Prospective: Sam/Annabel


    ¡°Thank you for the food.¡± I said to Sarah.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯m glad you¡¯s like it.¡± Her smile was so sweet and kind.


    I placed the silver fork and knife on the sauce covered red plate. Sarah stood up and took my plate and the other ones too. She walked into the next room, I assume that it is the kitchen. Adam left a few minutes after I entered, he said that there was some kind of problem on one of his farms.


    ¡°Sam, do you want to have a look around the area?¡± Sarah said from the other room, raising her voice to ensure I could hear her.


    ¡°Sure, where should I go?¡± Sarah walked back into the dining room as I asked the question.


    ¡°Well the closest place is the AB and the detective¡¯s office. I recommend the detectives office cause the AB is currently locked. It will also take about 30 minutes to reach the office.¡±


    I stood up and walk to the door I entered from.


    ¡°that is quite the walk, isn¡¯t it going to be dark soon?¡± She looked at me a bit confused


    ¡°it won¡¯t be for another 3 hours.¡± Now it was my turn to look at her puzzled.


    ¡°Just go, when you come back I¡¯ll tell ya about.¡± She shoved me though the door and followed me out to the porch.


    ¡°Just go straight down this path, ya can¡¯t miss it.¡± I said thank you and walked down the path.


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 Chapter 5: Franks surgery

    Prospective: Wendy


    Frank''s surgery almost failed two times, the first time was when his arm needed to be recovered and turned into a nub in the middle of his forearm. The second time was when he almost bleeds out threw his neck wound reopening. Both times he started to fight us, I guess that it was a primal response to pain and running away wasn¡¯t an option. Of course, he was sedated the entire time with the use of an IV.


    One of the veterinarians, Linda, left the room when Frank first started to fight, in her defense she got kicked in the chest and dropped like a stone. Josh did a bit better, for one he stayed in the room and did his best to hold frank down when he was fighting. Unfortunately, he threw up on the corner of the room. He cleaned it up when we were done though.


    The whole surgery took about 7 hours of nonstop work, I would have been shorter but the tools we have are subpar. There was a lot of blood and ruined towels, but it was worth it. Life is always worth it. As I sat on the old metal chair reflecting the events as the vets cleaned up the blood and took out the waste.


    I don¡¯t know how long I was asleep for, but I woke suddenly to Frank¡¯s raspy voice. ¡°W-where am I?¡±


    Frank looked around the room. He stopped when he saw me.


    ¡°O-oh Wendy wh-why am I h-here.¡± Frank said with a weak whisper.


    ¡°You were injured Frank and I had to fix you up.¡±


    I gave him a sorry attempt of a smile. I was never good with the recovery part of operations, I just don¡¯t know how to comfort other people.


    ¡°I-I see¡± Frank said as he looked down to asses himself.


    He started freaking out to the lack of arm in his sight.


    ¡°What happened to my arm?!¡± He lifted the stub in my direction, as if to show me, at the same time he started coughing and wheezing.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Frank, your arm was blown to pieces, I had to cut it off.¡± I didn¡¯t have a sad or concerned face. He slowly looked up at he and his face was full of disbelieve for a moment, anger replaced it when he saw my blank expression.


    ¡°Y-You don¡¯t care, do you? *Cough cough, cough* You just what me to leave your damn hospital.¡± Speech is becoming increasingly difficult for him.


    ¡°Just calm down Frank, I just want to help.¡± While he was talking I approached the counter in the corner of the room, it had a syringe that had tranquillizer. It was the backup incase Frank woke up during the operation. I walked toward him with my left hand outstretched in a helping manner.


    ¡°Or maybe you want my body parts to see to some demon of a man, yeah that¡¯s what it is.¡±


    ¡°Frank you need to calm down, you¡¯re going to hurt yourself.¡± I got close enough to grab his shoulder and lunged my left arm to his injured arm. Instead of injecting Frank, he grabbed my arm and flipped me on the ground.


    <hr>


    Prospective: Frank


    She tried to inject me with a poison, she wanted to remove my organs and sell them to, to¡­ someone, I don¡¯t know. Frank got up from the table and looked at Wendy laying on the ground, unconscious. He walked over to the counter with the surgical blades and grabbed a scalpel. He turned around to see Wendy slowly open her eyes. Rage and something else washed over him.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°You¡¯re not getting my organs bitch!¡± Frank then plunged the scalpel into her chest, he hit a rib but keep pushing through and broke it. Wendy let out an ear-piercing scream that soon turned to a gurgle instead.


    He lifted the blade and stabbed Wendy in the center of the throat to stop her screaming gurgle. Blood sprayed onto Frank, covering him completely. Frank tried to wipe the blood off his face with his shirt, but he only smeared it on the shirt. He sighed and tried to remove the scalpel from Wendy¡¯s neck but gave up when he couldn¡¯t get a grip from the slick blood. Frank got up and looked at Wendy with disgust and hate.


    Frank rummaged through the locker in the corner of the room and changed into an outfit that fit him like another set of skin. He threw the old cloths in the trashcan and left the room.


    The animals in the next room were barking, hissing, meowing, chittering, and growling. ¡°Shut up you dumb pest, go die of starvation.¡± Frank hissed.


    Frank stops in front of a cage holding a Pitbull that is staying near the back of its old plastic cage, fear in its eyes. ¡°You think you¡¯re better than me, dog!?¡±


    He reached in with his left arm and grabbed the Pitbull, or he thought he was going to when he realized it is gone. He turned away and stormed off toward the front door. Fear in his eyes.


    <hr>


    Prospective: Josh


    The stench of death was in the air, Wendy¡¯s body laid in a pool of her own blood, her lung was punctured, and her throat was sliced, she suffocated on her own blood. Her blood was dry when I found her and Frank was gone, his cloths were in the trashcan and the outfit in the locker was missing. A scalpel is protruding from her neck completely covered in dried blood. Linda screamed for at least a minute, as she crumpled like a paper onto the ground. She rolled around on the ground crying her eyes out.


    The animals howled like a member of their pack had just died. The sound is deafening, I can barely focus on what is happening. I look turn around, unable to look at Wendy¡¯s body anymore. I look at the entrance to the room that has a pair of bloody footprints walking out and continuing to the exit of the building. The same pair of footprints that told us something was wrong.


    I suddenly realized that Linda was nowhere to be found. A wave of panic washed over me; where is she, why didn¡¯t she tell me she was leaving, or worse, did someone take her? At once the animals stopped howling and started barking, hissing, and yelling at something in the other room. I can hear heavy footsteps in the other room, each one louder than the last. Fear replaced the panic, what is going to happen to ME?! The gripping fear is preventing me from moving, all I can do is wait. The source of the sound stopped in front of the doorway, a sigh of relief escaped my mouth as I realized it was Chadwick. He quickly scanned the room. He looked concerned.


    ¡°The hell happened here, why is Wendy dead and where is Frank at?¡± Chadwick commanded.


    ¡°Wendy was attacked, and I don¡¯t know franks current situation¡­ Wait, why are you here?¡± His eyes narrowed slightly.


    ¡°I came to check on Frank and saw Linda running out of the building crying her eyes out, so I ran the rest of the distance.¡± Chadwick glances behind me to see Wendy again, his eyes are filled with doubt.


    ¡°Me and Linda were throwing out the waste when it happened, and by how dry the blood is I¡¯d say it happened on our way to the incinerator.¡± Chadwick nodded his head as he focused on me again.


    He began to speak ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to inform the other administrators, you go chase after Linda and take her home. Go home after that its almost dark.¡±


    I gulped, ¡°Ill barely have time to make it home.¡±


    ¡°Then you better get going, I¡¯ll take care of this and find who did it.¡± He had a commanding tone in his voice. I nodded my head a left the room.


    <hr>


    Prospective: Chadwick


    The radio static filled the room, then the radio clicks. ¡°So, who do you think did the deed?¡± a female voice came from the radio, the goddess.


    I press the button on the radio, ¡°I believe that Frank killed Wendy, he has two places to go,¡± I paused, a bit scarred to speak those names. I shake my head and speak. ¡°The Pyromancers or Mama Chief.¡±


    I relied the button and the static filled the room again causing the animals to howl. She spoke again. ¡°This is getting interesting.¡± A pause ¡°I want you to go back home and continue your operation, I will deal with Frank. Also, I will be sending a missionary to collect the girl, do not interfere.¡±


    I wanted to say no, I want to know who this girl is and why she is so damn important, but I could only agree to her plan.

 Chapter 6: The Woman

    <u>Prospective: </u><u>Martha</u>


    The light is receding, giving way to the darkness like a peaceful age coming to an end. No color filled the sky, none ever did and soon the scavengers will come out of their holes, caves, and over dark places. They will loot unlocked homes, unguarded supplies, and steal what they can that is not protected. Sometimes even people go missing. Beyond the glass of the building I saw a woman walking toward the entrance, it looks like she is on a mission.


    Why is she coming here? Henry doesn¡¯t have any appointments today, in fact we never accept guest at this hour. I rushed over to the door and locked it, the woman is now 5 feet away from the door, she must of ran when I went to lock the door.


    The woman took a quick look of what lies beyond the entrance. The doorway to the left that leads to where Henry is now. She looked at my desk with the stacks of paper, decorations and miscellaneous supplies. Finally, to the right she saw the AID and the Identifier. She looked at me once she was done scanning the room with her eyes.


    ¡°Why are you here¡± I said to her.


    ¡°I need to speak to Henry, Adam sent me¡±


    ¡°What is your name?¡± I said


    ¡°I¡¯m Samantha, what¡¯s your name?¡± She said after a few seconds.


    ¡°My name is Martha, I¡¯m Henrys assistant.¡±


    I watched her during the conversation, up close she looks cleaner than any scavenger would, but she is wearing all black.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to ask Henry for what he thinks should be done. Just wait here for a bit.¡±


    I turn around and lightly jog to Henry¡¯s office all the while calling for him. He did not answer like he normally does so I slowly open his door to find no one inside the room. I scan the room for any sign of a struggle but found none. She reentered the hallway and looked around. Nothing was different except for the metal door that was open. Of course, he¡¯s in The Library, he always goes there for difficult cases.


    He left the door open for once, he must have been in a hurry this time. He believes that I don¡¯t know of the library, but he just scatters his papers all over his office. When I go to organize them, I notice the books that shouldn¡¯t be here, or notes labeled ¡®books to return¡¯. I conclude that a library exists underground, it¡¯s the only logical explanation.


    I turn away from the door, remembering the woman waiting outside and I¡¯m not going to walk all the way downstairs. I can¡¯t even see an end to it or any light coming back up. I walk back to the entrance and the woman is standing a few paces from where she was before. She is rocking back and forth a little while looking at her feet. She looks up from her feet and notices me walking towards her. The sky behind her is dark now, the scavengers will be here soon.


    ¡°Are you going to let me in now?¡± Said the woman with an annoyed look.


    <hr>


    Prospective: Sam


    Martha had straight amber hair reaching down to the center of her chest, her eyes were bronze and large, her nose was small, and her face was round. She wore a blue shirt that looked like it was tight, and her pants were blue and tight like the shirt.


    She unlooked one of the doors and let me inside. When I entered the lobby like area I looked to the left and saw a hallway that has three doors, two of which are made of wood and the other was open at the time. She resealed the door and metal shutters covered the glass.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Why did you do that?¡± I said as I spun to face her.


    ¡°It¡¯s almost dark, the scavengers are going to be out, why are you acting so surprised.¡± Her left brow raised in question.


    ¡°I got here very recently, I don¡¯t know about any scavengers.¡± I said as she walked to her desk and reaching to something underneath it.


    ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re from the suburbs then, I heard that they are having a religious conflict. Is that why you left?¡± She grabbed a baton walked over to me and gave it to me. She then walked over to the entrance of the hallway and stopped.


    ¡°Why did you give me this?¡± I said while I inspected the baton, it looked like it was in good condition and felt brand new.


    ¡°Come with me we need to enter the Library and the baton is in case the scavengers break through. They have been more ruthless in recent nights.¡± Martha said as I put the baton in my right jacket pocket and approach her.


    Martha turns to the hallway and calmly walks into the threshold of the open doorway, I followed a few steps behind. ¡°So¡­ the ¡®Scavengers¡¯ I assume scavenge the buildings and such.¡±


    Martha gave a light chuckle as she grabbed a flashlight from a row of them. ¡°The Scavengers do more than collecting trinkets, they will also kill in order the harvest parts of your body and no one knows want they do with the parts. The aftermath is always¡­ messy.¡±


    All I gave in response was a disturbed oh as we descended a stony staircase that plunged into the darkness, the flashlight hardly made a dent.


    After walking for a few minutes, I heard the distant groan of metal and a clank of gears coming from behind me, ahead I could make out a platform signifying the end of the stairs. We stood in the dark hallway with an old broken door in front of us. Martha walked up to the old broken door and knocked on it.


    The door swung open, blinding us with a sudden light. After a few seconds my vision adjusted to the light and I saw that the hallway was made of stone brick that only looked a few days old and that the stairway was replaced with a wall. The door in front of me was made of industrial steel.


    Inside the doorway was a library filled to its maximum capacity and robotic arms zipped around on tracks build between shelves. Martha gasped in awe next to me and looked around the room in amazement. She stopped when she saw a man sitting at a rectangular table for four people at the left of the room, she than walked over to him and grabbed his attention. I proceeded to investigate a protruding device near me.


    <hr>


    Prospective: Henry


    I¡¯m a damn fool, in my haste to solve this mystery I left the security door open without setting a timer. Without a timer the door automatically closes after 30 minutes, too much time in my opinion. In that time Martha and a girl named Sam entered the Library. This is the worst possible situation and I need to get them out of here as soon as possible.


    ¡°Do you know if any Scavengers have entered the building?¡± I ask Martha as she sits across from me.


    ¡°I do not but I can confirm that the steel door is closed.¡± She says while tilting her head to look at the stack of books on the table.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, I just need to retrieve a few more books then we can return to the office.¡± I close the book in front of me and place it on the stack.


    ¡°The Theoretical Properties of the Zelphorite Crystal by Abigail Farr.¡± Martha looks at me with confusion written on her face.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of this book before, what exactly is this place?¡± They can¡¯t know the truth of this place.


    ¡°The book didn¡¯t have many prints and was heavily disowned by other old world scientists.¡±


    Martha looks skeptical and before she spoke Sam slammed 13 books on the table and took the empty set next to Martha. Surprised by the noise, Martha yelped and jumped about a foot. ¡°Sam, you scared me. Why do you have so many books?¡±


    ¡°This place is new to me and I want to learn what I can from this library.¡±


    She glances at me and Martha then asks, ¡° do you have any personal experience that could help me in the place?¡±


    I get out of my chair and grab my stack of books, ¡°I got some advice for you. First, don¡¯t trust the merchants and second, don¡¯t go out at night no matter what region you are in.¡±


    Sam¡¯s left eye brow raised. ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I be out at night in these regions.¡±


    Martha spoke up this time while she took some of the books from my stack. ¡°In the country region the scavengers come out at night and loot barns, crops, and houses. In the suburban region are Big Mama¡¯s ¡®children¡¯ who take people and cook them. Lastly, the most dangerous region is the city, about half of the people who live there come out at night and most of them kill for fun.¡± She did air quotes when she said Children and shuddered when talking about the city, as did I.


    I start walking to the door that leads to the stairs when Sam calls out. ¡°Are we going back upstairs?¡±


    I stop and turn to face her. ¡°Yes, I believe no Scavengers will be meeting us tonight also me and Martha need sleep.¡± I turned back to the door and exited to the stairs, not looking if they fallow as exhaustion crept up my body.


    <hr>


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