Lost and Found
Lost
Chapter 1
Awakening
Authors Forward- This is chapter one of the story and the part where most of the meat off the story will be. The story is planned to be three parts with a possible short sequel if I think I can do it. I will try to do at least a thousand words a chapter, but I may do less if I reach a good point to end it. But no less than 700 words. I'm always open to ideas or any criticisms, and please, send me a review, tell me how I'm doing with it and if you think anything should be different.
When I woke up, everything was foggy. My mind, my sight, my sense of touch and hearing. Then the chamber I was in opened and I fell forward out of it onto my knees. Coughing up fluid and struggling to breathe. I threw up suddenly and violently, it was pure liquid, which worried me, it was as if I hadn't have eaten for days.
As my eye sight cleared so did my hearing. All I saw was very dim lights and lots of shapes. And warning klaxons blared a few more times before cutting off. My mouth tasted like death. But I had to get moving. I had to figure out what happened.
I slowly stood and made my way to a door while leaning on whatever I could to give me extra strength. The door in front of me was half opened and the hall way outside was blackened with soot and ash from a fire.
I quickly walked towards brighter lights in the hall. Bits of metal and other debris on the ground. I needed an aid. My strength was waning, my body wasn't used to moving. However long I was under was enough to make me weak. So, I searched the debris I passed. Until I found a pipe. It was long, maybe… 5 feet, made of maybe steel, or some other hard metal. I used it as a crutch.
I heard noises, something was moving around in the darkness. I tried to call out, maybe it was a rescue team. But all that came out was a weak croak that hurt my throat. The noises stopped and then started to come towards me, and I smelled a rank smell, the smell of death and decay. The creature making the noises came into focus. It was a man, though… emancipated and boney. It moved slowly but sometimes with great speed that startled me. And I backed away and kicked a rock back.
The creature let out a horrifying cry and charged at me, to which I stabbed at its head with my makeshift spear and knocked it down. It kept trying to get up and attack and I made a split-second decision, and began to beat its skull in.
It took many strikes even with its apparent weakness and fragility. Eventually its skull cracked, and it stops moving. And I pant heavily. Trying to recover my breath and stamina. I lean against the wall and stare at the broken body. And make sure to keep the bloody end of my Pipe away from me.
I slowly walk towards the elevator shaft and open the elevator door and look at the almost pitch-black shaft before starting to ascend. I lose my hand holds every so often and struggle for my grasp, the pipe having long fallen down the shaft to clang against something metal. I finally find a door open to a higher level which I move into. The lights were on but still dim. It was Level 6. I slept here, ate here. Hell, I showered on this level. This was my home turf. So, I did what I could. I went to the mess hall. It was nearly empty. But there was clean water and some frozen foods. And some power. So, I ate more than I should and locked the door before passing out.
As soon as I woke up I was on my feet panicked. The lights were off but soon came back on. Motion sensors, I forgot about the lights and how they stay on. I grab some water and put it in my pockets before I keep going. I must find someone else. Anyone else. So, I search.
I look through the residential area, I look through the Medical wing. The floors above are mostly storage and workshops, same with below. So, I don't search those. And the doors to most of the more classified areas are closed and welded shut. Though I swear I hear something scratching through the doors. And yet, I don't find a soul. Everyone is gone, barely anything remains. And all I'm left with are questions.
I take only the essentials when I go out searching. A good length of pipe with a turn at the top. A small backpack, like what you would find some kid wearing. Very small but more space. And chalk. Which was left at the bottom of a locker. And so, I search. Systematically looting the areas, I can reach. Moving any supplies necessary to the Mess hall. Eating when I'm hungry, working out when I don't want to search. And slowly finding some useful things.
A screwdriver and a handful of bobby pins and sometimes wire, and I'm getting into locked cabinets. Finding a few more things. A flip lighter, a bandana, and some stale food and some booze. Something I don't drink as I need to keep my head together. But its there in case I need it, maybe for Molotov cocktails. Or disinfectant.
One of those… things attacks me when I open a cabinet its hiding in. And it falls as easily as the first. Its skin is leathery, its blood is red yet thick like maple syrup. It looks human, but it has no genitalia or anything under the tattered rags its wearing. It struggled hard and left me bruised but satisfied at my improvement. The first left me weak and winded. This one left me bruised but ready for another fight.
A day or two after the thing attacked me I noticed some of the outer hallways had grown dark. The were bright and lit last I checked, and now the lights wouldn't come on. The base was running out of power. I don't know what the power source for the base was. But it was running out. I had to get ready.
I returned to my home and found the vent covered in some sort of… web. Spiders were here. I felt my skin crawl. I quickly packed what I could. Water, food, medical supplies. A Molotov cocktail went in at the top. And all my tools. A long strip of cloth tied together got the pipe on my back. And I found in a closet next to the main shaft gloves that seemed to match the clothes they had given me. The gloves were good and gripped well, so I wore them.
And I started to climb out as lights shut down behind me. The shaft was darker than normal. Many lights up here were either broken or covered with something. And as I passed the vent on level 4. I saw something in it. With long spindly legs. A spider but larger than any spider could ever be. I doubled my speed and kept climbing. Around level two I started to notice webs. More spiders, lots of them.
The entrance to Level 1 came and I heard the vent so far below get bashed off and go falling, and I quickly climbed into level one.
The immediate area was clear but was covered in webs, and nearly pitch black. So, I ripped a table leg off a wooden table, made sure the end was covered in web. And lit it as a torch. And nearly screamed as I saw a massive spider in front of me.
It was the size of a small dog and shrieked at the light and ran down one of the tunnels. But with its shriek I heard more, so I had to run.
I used the torch to ignite the webs behind me and as I went. Running for the main bunker door, praying it was open. Spiders tried to lunge at me but either recoiled and shrieked from the light or got a solid bash from my torch.
The main entrance room was large and cavernous, and filled with webs and eyes gleaming from the shadows, but there was a beam of light, the door was open, partially. But enough.
I started forward, using the torch as a weapon, igniting web and beating back the braver spiders, and as I near the entrance, I light my Molotov and toss it towards a large web structure, where most of the spiders stay near, a nest or something. Then I sprint out into the light, the power must be on for this much. I turn back and listen to the shrieking spiders and the roar of fire and smile.
I kick a spider that tries to get out back and step back a few paces. Stepping on something that breaks with a crack, to which I look down and see bones. Lots of them, at least a dozen people died here, and not recently. There is only dry done and fragments of cloth left. And hundreds of shell casings. But no sign of weapons. Enough bullet holes of numerous sizes to explain lots of weapons were used. Though the burns speak of energy weapons, yet no MF cells lie on the ground.
I mutter a brief prayer for the dead and walk towards the large door for cargo and such and the smaller door for people. There are still bodies but less of them, and less shell casings. I pull my pipe out and slowly turn the knob to the door. Bright sunlight spilling through the cracks. I throw open the door and stop in shock and awe. Half blinded by the sight.
Afterword- I hope the first real chapter was entertaining. And I hope that people appreciate the twists I put on this. He hasn't appreciated the change in the world yet. Nor the reality of what has happened. And I was hoping my addition of mutated spiders inhabiting ruins and cave systems will be well received. I hope you all enjoyed. And I hope you guys come back to read the next chapter.
Cheers guys
Wolf