Chapter III: Unitology Sucks

AN:
Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Sorry for the delay. My dumbass self decided it would be great to plan out my fics a little more and, attempting to score even more moron-marks, ended up planning a whole bunch of stuff that was difficult for me to write, ignoring the need to help me 'settle back' into the flow of regular updates.

Also, have y'all seen the announcement for this new game 'set in the life is strange universe'? It's not LiS 2 or anything, but it's a pretty decent sounding thing. Apparently from DONTNOD, and coming on June 26th, and for free. It's called 'The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit'. From what I've heard, the company're going for a thematic sequel rather than a direct one: 'Relatable people facing relatable issues... with a twist of the strange'. Although they also say there are some clues to LiS 2's plotline if you're 'clever enough to piece the clues together'. Anyways, if any of you have seen it (go check it out, for those who haven't), what do you think of the announcements and whatnot so far?

This one is more of a transition piece than anything. I needed them to voice a couple of feelings and I needed EarthGov soldiers to feature in all their bullet-shield glory, so here it is. Not much really happens here. It's kind of a useless chapter, but I couldn't think of a better way to do it.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

Smoke.

Wowzers, there's so much smoke. My throat is killing me! I blink away the tears in my eyes, trying to think through the blaring pain and blazing heat. What the fuck happened? There... there was a shuttle... then, an explosion. Now, there's wreckage.

Okay. We crashed.

Wait.

Heat.

Heat?

We have to get out.

My hands shake as I reach down to the seatbelt holding me to the chair, the only thing that kept me from being tossed about the shuttle like the last pretzel in the tin when we crashed. I unclip it and stagger to my feet, fighting the smoke as I just try to freaking breathe! My throat tried, but it just felt like I was choking.

"Chl - Oh dog, - Chloe!" I couldn't see her in the shuttle, but the smoke was thick enough that I don't know if I could've seen her even if she was still in here. A particularly strong cough wracks my body, and I drop to the ground.

Honestly, right then I wanted nothing more than to just give up and lie there. Everything hurt so much and I couldn't see and there wasn't anything except monsters out there anyway so just why bother?

My self-pitying reverie was cut short by a voice drowning in a sea of whispers. I could barely make it out, but it was so familiar. "Max! Come on, Max! What happened to your spark, Max? You've got to get out!"

And suddenly, it was gone. The voice, the fatalism, I just knew that I needed to get out of here. I needed to survive.

I have no idea how I managed it, but somehow I pushed past the burning in my lungs and the thumping of my heart in my ears and the nonstop fucking coughing and I got the hell out of the wreck.

It felt like the entire station was shaking as I stumbled away and...

Oh. No. That's just my legs.

That feels weird.

They buckle almost as soon as I get out, but I manage to carry myself a few feet more on sheer momentum and willpower so I'm out of the fire. I hit the ground with a clang, spinning at the last minute so I land on my back instead of my front. It hurts, but at least I can still breathe this way. I take a few seconds and a few deep breaths, and I wrench my neck up to look for Chloe and Aiden.

Wherever we were... wherever I was, I was alone. But I wasn't alone for long.

A panel on the front of the shuttle suddenly flew off and two bodies fell out of the resulting hole. I grin, letting my head flop backwards again (Bad decision, I think, as my head clangs against the metal floor and pain shoots through my skull). "Chloe!"

The two bodies quickly scurry over, one going to either side of me. Chloe leans down, planting a concerned kiss on me before asking frantically "Are you okay?"

Copse is more composed, and merely scoops an arm under my shoulders and lifts me to my feet. He lets the support stay for a second, so I can get my bearings, then steps back a pace when I can stand on my own. Guess he's the proper sort, then.

I give Chloe a shaky nod and mutter "I think so." I take a breath, and it goes too deep or was too much at once and I start to cough again. "We don't have time to wait around though. We've got to get going. Where are we, anyway?"

The gravity was noticeably lower. That meant we'd definitely left the inner command zone. The cylinder where all the most important stuff in the station was housed ran right through the centre of the station. I didn't really understand the science, but basically the spin of the station interacted with the gravity plating to make the gravity stronger there than anywhere else. Same with the outer rings. Arcadia was built like one of those old gyroscopes.

Copse rattles off a set of coordinates. At our uncomprehending looks, he clarifies "We're in a residential sector. One of the outermost on the inner sphere."

Booyah. Really freaking awesome I remembered that. They literally only told us all that when we moved in and I haven't used it since.

When the little buzz of victory dies down, I nod. "Okay. So, maybe those things haven't made it here yet?"

Of course, reality had to screw with us for daring to have that level of optimism. A familiar loud, howling scream echoes through the sector as something in the distance explodes.

I sigh. Damnit. "Okay. Where to, Copse?"

He frowns at me. "What?"

"Where are we going? You had to have had a destination in mind when you got us on that thing-" I wave back at the shuttle, now sparking dangerously in addition to being on fire. "So, where were we going?"

"The-"

There's another howl, this time far closer to us.

Copse freezes for a second, then amends whatever he was going to say with "Away from here. Now." He nods to himself. "Come on."

We get the hell out of there. Dog, I did not want to stay around to greet those things when they finally made it.

Maybe we'd get lucky and the shuttle explosion would get them.

We get quite far, actually. Farther than I expected, anyway. The signs pointing to the edge of the sector were getting more and more common as we closed on the tether to the outer ring. There was a tram there that would take us out.

It'd taken a lot of arguing to get Copse to agree, and even more to guilt Chloe into going after her Step-douche (reminding her that her mom was also out there seemed to do the trick), but we'd all decided on heading out there after a chagrined Copse had admitted he never had a destination in mind other than 'the hell away from those things'.

We run into trouble about halfway there. The monsters had gotten into the zone, and now chaos reigned here. They were everywhere, surrounded by people running and screaming and... and... and dying. I hadn't exactly seen a lot of that before, and I saw more than enough out there.

I just... tried not to think about it.

Chloe was slightly ahead of Copse and I, checking corners and such for any sign of those things. The smoke inhalation had played havok with my tiny lungs and I could barely manage to keep up with them. That meant we'd gone from running to sneaking.

Based on our luck with being subtle, it was mostly just a surprise that it didn't go wrong sooner.

Chloe had vanished around a corner, trying to check out a back alley route we'd aimed for to avoid the main thoroughfare to the tether.

She didn't come back.

"Something's wrong." Copse's eyes narrowed as he focused on the corner.

"No shit something's wrong, Copse." I growl out. He doesn't react to the tone, but it's taking everything in me not to just go charging in to find my wife. If something had happened to her, if one of those things had happened to her, I don't know what I'd do.

He nods, still focused, still alert, and starts to pace towards the corner. I'm hot on his heels the second he moves. "Remember the route back here. If we get separated, we'll meet here as soon as possible."

"Okay."

It's a smart precaution.

We take the corner slowly, first letting Copse take a quick glance out to check it's clear, then moving on. We follow the route Chloe did, somehow. Copse pointed out insignificant details in our surroundings that apparently indicated a trail, and we followed along until he stopped us, grinning. "We're close. See here? Footprints in the blood."

"How do you even know those're hers?"

Not that I wasn't desperate for any clue to where Chloe was, but I just didn't see it. There were millions of people on this station, and hundreds of thousands in this zone alone, they could be anyone's footprints.

He rattles off some things I don't understand, decay, tread, drying, all sorts. Basically, they could be anyone's footprints, but they were probably hers. We kept on going, following even more arcane little clues he couldn't make me see. Dog, I was completely useless, dependent entirely on this stranger to find my wife.

Please be okay, Chloe. Fuck, please be okay.

We take another corner, ducking aside when a flock of the things screech past us. Luckily, they don't notice us, and we keep going. We barely ran into anyone the whole way, though we could still hear faint screaming from the zone around us. And, just when I was starting to lose hope, we found her.

Copse had stopped, suddenly intent. He waved his hand at me, fingers twirling through some probably-military hand code. When I shrugged uselessly at him, he mouthed "She's in there." and waved a hand at a nearby building. The front was marked with some gaudy neon sign saying 'Bitz n Pieces'. Ah. A tech shop.

I immediately bolted for the door. Chloe was really in there! And so were three of those things, the wobbly walking ones with sword-arms. They were just milling around, like the ones we'd seen in the base. As I went cold, taking in the image, I saw her. She was crouched behind an upturned piece of display stand, one that was embedded several inches into the steel floor, staring at me with a shocked and terrifingly worried expression.

The three monsters looked up at me, their heads tilting like a curious dog as they observed me. If they felt emotion, and I had no idea if they did, I would've said they were delighted. The closest one howls, a lone sound of pure rage until it was joined by the calls of the other two.

Before I knew it, Chloe was racing towards me yelling "Run!". She grabbed me, and my legs suddenly leapt into action as we dashed for the door, three hungry monsters on our heels. Copse, to his credit, barely blinked as we burst out, simply running alongsided us along the promenade.

Somehow, we managed to stay ahead of them, dodging into alleyways and around obstacles, Copse occasionally blasting at one that got too close. All I could think about was the regrouping point we'd planned. We had to get there. We had to get away.

We ran, hyperaware of the floor beneath us, knowing that if we slipped, if we faltered in anyway, made a single misstep, then it could be our last. I could feel my heart pumping as we ran. Badumph. Badumph. These things awoke something visceral within us, something... primal. Like a fear of the dark, they blasted away at everything in our heads until only they were left. Until all that mattered was getting away.

Until I made that misstep. My foot slipped on something, I had no idea what, still don't, really, but I went down. Chloe, dog, Chloe immediately turned round and ran back to me. She ignored all those things... for me. Heh. And she used to call herself weak.

The monsters came knocking on our door, feet stamping and mouths writhing as they howled and screamed and roared. The monsters came at us, not one-by-one, but in a fucking horde.

Five shots rang out, and the creatures were... disarmed, hovering with a faint bluish glow and surrounded by their long flesh-blade arms. Chloe stared up at them for a second, before she just laughed. "Stasis. Why didn't I think of that shit?" As her hand reaches up to touch the stasis unit all maintenance suits came with, a voice stopped the motion halfway through.

"Identify." The Soldier's voice was calm, no-nonsense. Not like the ones in the base. This group had had time to get used to the situation, they'd accepted the shitstorm that was happening and reacted as best they knew how.

This couldn't be how it ended. Avoiding those things, managing to stay alive this long, and to get so close to Joyce. This couldn't...

"Security Code Tertiary Gamma 3 Apple Fortune 2 12. Acknowledge." Copse stood over us, glaring the soldier down, and to our surprise, the soldier... blinked.

"Repeat code."

When Copse rattled off whatever that code was again, the soldier's entire demeanour changed. Where once was suspicion and aggression was now complete cooperation. Wowzers, that was close. They recognise their own, I guess. I wonder what the security code meant. It was really long. Is that good?

A few more armoured EarthGov troopers appear from the shadows, and the soldier relays whatever the code entitled us to, ordering them to help us out. They skitter forward, one of them planting one meaty paw on my shoulder and hefting me to my feet like I weigh nothing at all.

Their sergeant, full of typical EarthGov arrogance, waves to a couple of soldiers: the one behind us, and another standing by Copse. "Keep an eye on the civilians. We're heading back to the safehouse." He didn't even look at us.

Before I can even get my crap together, Chloe's arms wrap tightly around me.

I smile, and hug her back. It was a nice little moment of normality in the middle of all... this. I mean, I couldn't really breathe she was hugging me so tight, but hey. I can deal. "We're okay, Chlo. We're okay." I mutter, trying to be reassuring.

She chuckles, but it's a little choked so clearly I wasn't entirely successful with the reassuring thing. Just like always, I guess "I was so worried, dude."

We stand there for a few seconds, in each others arms, before our nice little moment is interrupted by an irritated cough from one of the soldiers assigned to look after us. "We need to get moving."

I could've fucking growled. I mean, he had a point. Not exactly the right time or place, but wowzers. Fuck him for interrupting. But, we pull apart, Chloe bitching even louder than I was thinking of doing, and go stick with our escorts. They take us away from the tether and the group heads deeper back into the zone. I make damn sure to remember the route, just in case. EarthGov did have a certain reputation and, as grateful as I was, I wasn't going to stop being careful.

The journey was so much easier, being surrounded by heavily armed and alert soldiers. Especially ones that knew what they were doing. Whenever a monster came into view, they were de-armed in seconds and stomped into the ground where they fell, which was so gross. Their bodies basically exploded when they were crushed, turning their insides into outsides.

We left a long trail behind us.

The safehouse was a looming structure, one of the older buildings in this section that stood at the head of a t-junction. The two soldiers guiding us lead us up to the door, and the sergeant slammed a fist into it. "Tango Three Eleven! Anyone in?"

No answer.

He grunts, then waves a couple of soldiers over. They let go of their guns, letting them hang from the straps around their necks, and reach down to pull it open. The power must've been out for the door to go non-functional. They, with some effort, manage to drag it open.

The sergeant sends a few in with orders to check it out, waiting patiently until they both call out that the building was clear. He sighs in relief. The first sign of humanity the sergeant has shown.

We all head in, and as the door closes behind us, I know that we're finally safe.

"For now."

"Damn it, Chloe!"

"Here. It's rations." A soldier appears above where we're sat, holding out a couple of packet bars.

I smile, and take them gratefully. "Thanks."

When Chloe says nothing, I elbow her, motioning to him with my head. Still nothing, so I mouth. "Say thank you."

Chloe grunts. "Thanks."

I shrug up at the soldier in a 'what can you do' sort of way. He just nods irritably and heads off. How rude.

Chloe flips the bird at his back before he leaves the room.

I chuckle, and halfheartedly admonish her. "Chloe..."

She shrugs. "What? He was an asshole."

"True, but they saved our lives. That earns them a little... benefit of the doubt, right?"

Chloe says nothing.

"Riiight?"

She shrugs. "Kind of over giving people the benefit of the doubt right now, Max." There's a bitterness to her voice I haven't heard since.. well. Since the last time I fucked up and mentioned Rachel, actually. She tacks on, almost as an afterthought, but still sincere in that way only Chloe at her most open could manage. "Other than you, obviously."

I lean into her side, nestling closer to her body heat.

What? It was cold!

And I liked to snuggle.

"You're still thinking about what happened with Kate, huh?" Chloe nods, so I continue. "I can't believe she just left us like that."

Chloe snorts. "She's a Unitologist, Max. Her first loyalty was always gonna be to that fucked up cult of hers. I'm just hella shocked she didn't do it sooner."

I sit up. "Chloe! She's our friend! Maybe something happened, maybe it wasn't her! We didn't actually see her close the door, y'know."

She grunts, very noncommittal. She's... definitely just humouring me.

I let it slide, for now, and lean back into her. "What do you think we should do now?"

"Well, we decided we were gonna go after my mom, right?"

"Right."

"But..." Her lips crease irritably. "Copse seems to want to stick with these guys. And they do have all the guns. Maybe they'd help us get to my mom?"

We both snort at that.

"Sure, and maybe Victoria will finally stop asking to help you get transferred."

Chloe stays silent for a moment. "Do you think they're okay? Vicky and Taylor, I mean." She colours, noticing what that sounds like. It's adorable. "Not that I give a shit, I just know you care 'bout them."

I shrug. "I don't know, Chloe. I hope so. But there's nothing we can do to help them now, and getting to your mom is more important."

We let it go at that, and just sit in silence together; half just enjoying each others company and the fact that we're still alive, half simply not knowing what to say. We were used to it. Comfortable silences were common when you were as awkward as we were.

A sudden snarl and a panicked yell pull us out of whatever daze the calm had left us in, and we get to our feet as quickly as our sluggish limbs would let us. "What was that?"

Another scream, and another snarl. "They're coming from downstairs." We dash out of the room and over to the banister at the top of the stairs down to the ground floor (AN1). The soldiers were fighting a... a thing. It was one of the sword-armed monsters, but bigger than the ones we'd seen before. The normal (heh, 'normal') ones had paler skin, whereas this one was almost blackened. It looked like it had strode through a fire and barely been bothered, roaring and slashing away at soldier's both left and right.

The EarthGov squad seems to all be out here, concentrating their fire on the creature and trying to stay the fuck out of its way as best they can. Their concentration proves to be bad for them as the coverings on the windows start to buckle and yet more of the monsters, these ones only the regular kind, pour through into the main hall.

A soldier suddenly yells as he steps forward out of cover, he must've snapped from the stress to do something that freaking dumb, just blasting off burst after burst from his gun. "For fuck's sake, why won't you die?!"

The monsters seem unimpressed. Every time a bullet hits, they spin, and a little momentum is lost, but they keep coming. These ones, with their burnt-looking flesh and their wicked-looking blades, are far stronger than any we've seen before.

The soldiers line quickly was overcome by the things, and they drowned in the tide of flesh and blood. I saw one soldier, the one who'd offered us food, with a claw around his throat as his chest was torn apart and...

Oh, fuck. Oh fuck, no.

And he turned. His legs became longer, and his face contorted in a horrific expression of pain and hunger, and his arms reformed into long, sharp, familiar blades.

These... these things... they're... they're...

"These fucking things are human?! What the fuck?!"

Chloe, eloquent as ever, reaches the point far before I do. Her shouts also attract the attention of the newly turned monster, and it howls before charging in our direction. That's when we notice, between the monsters, were... people. Human people. They were armed, but not armoured, though that didn't seem to matter, and immediately opened fire on the EarthGov soldiers. Their laughter was... manic, almost macabre. They were clearly insane, and they were willing to kill.

The platoon was getting ripped apart, and the entire main floor was... chaos. Sheer, utter, bloody chaos.

Chloe grabbed my hand. "Max, we've gotta get out of here. Now!"

I nod. "Y-yes. We really do." A thought occurs. "Crap! Where's Copse? We can't leave him!"

Chloe pulls me away from the banister and down the stairs, staying away from the fight in the middle of the room. "Sure we can. Fuck that guy. He'll be fine with his EarthGov buddies."

We dodge out of the main room, heading for one of the side chambers. Neither of us knew any other exits, and just wandering around until we found one wasn't an option, so we'd have to circle around the charnel-house inside. We skitter across the room, opting for speed over stealth, but trying to stay unnoticed all the same.

Out the corner of my eye, I notice Chloe holding out a plasma cutter in front of her, the front section sitting in horizontal setting. "Where did you get that?" I hiss.

"Copse gave me it. Thought one of us should be armed, as well as him." Her shrug turns amused as she grins teasingly at me. "And since you couldn't hit the side of the station with an automated missile, I took it."

I consider protesting, but she's totally right. Dog, I'm a journalist, not a soldier.

The side rooms stay clear, and we make it to one just by the entrance in no time at all. Chloe pokes her head out, as subtly as she can manage, immediately whipping back when she sees whatever is in the foyer. "People. There's fuckin' people in there!"

"Like, EarthGov soldiers?" I ask hopefully. Maybe we can get out!

She shakes her head. "No, like the crazy fuckers who were fighting with the monster things. Well," She amends. "There are some soldiers, but I'm hella sure corpses aren't gonna be fucking helpful right now."

Oh.

We sit there in silence, trying to work out how to get past these assholes. When more shots come from the next room, we flinch hard and instinctively dodge away from the door. Nothing comes through, so we look kind of dumb, but better safe than sorry.

After a few moments, the door eases open, and the sounds of battle from the main room suddenly become louder. A familiar head of blond hair pokes through. "Hello again. We should probably be leaving."

I sigh thankfully. "Copse. The people in there are..."

"Dead?" He smiles. "Yes. They are. Not my doing though. Just a happy coincidence." He pulls the door open a little wider. "Shall we?"

Chloe grins. "Fuck yeah. Let's blow this popsicle stand."

Both of us turn to look at her as we head out. "This what?"

She tilts her head. "Popsicle stand..? Y'know. Like the frozen stick things?"

I open my mouth to reply when my foot suddenly hits a body with an almost squelchy thud. I shudder, and hesitantly look down. Yep. Ew. And, oh... what I thought was just regular scraps of clothing was a uniform. It had symbols stitched into it, oddly familiar but not something I recognised. Except one. In the middle of the chest, and on each forearm, were symbols of the Church of Unitology.

"They're Unitologists!"

Chloe groans. "Of-fucking-course they are. These fuckers can't just leave shit alone. First they lock us in with monsters, now they're helping the monsters kill people. Hella crazy fucking bastard assholes and their-" The helmet of Chloe's maintenance suit suddenly closes, muffling the rest of her tirade. Thankfully.

Her hands immediately go up to try and pull the helmet back, trigger one of the manual releases that came standard in most suits these days, but apparently she was stuck for now. She quickly gives up, letting her hands fall back to her side. I couldn't hear her grumble, but her shoulders slump slightly, and her head drops. I knew my wife, and she was probably swearing up a storm in there.

I give her a grin and we head out of the safehouse.

The road outside was totally clear, all the monsters in the area seemed to have already gotten in the building. So, we got the fuck away. Copse turns to us the moment we're clear, tilting his head. "Do you remember how to get back to the tether?"

I grin. Remembering the route did turn out to be useful after all.

We're about three streets along the route when a loud, echoing voice suddenly sounds throughout the zone. "Brothers and sisters. The age of man is ending. Too many have taken, and not given fairly back. Do not fear for your future, for the prophet Michael Altman, and the Black Marker, have a plan. A plan that will uplift us from our misery, from our hellish lives, and will unite us in a glorious whole. Make us whole. Unity will be our salvation. Throw off the chains of our corrupt government and join us. One People. One Mind. One Purpose. Praise Altman. Praise the Great Marker."

Every screen around us is playing the message, almost drowning our the near-constant screaming and howling around us. Almost. I don't recognise the man on the screen, but his voice is... intelligent. Articulate. I'd have hired him for a presenting job at the station in a heartbeat.

Copse glares at the screens, before just shaking his head. "We've got to keep moving. Your family might be in danger."

Chloe nods, looking over at me. "Shit, do you think maybe they're already..." She says it like it never occurred to her.

I shake my head though. It hadn't really occurred to me either. "No, no. Joyce has David. He'll keep her safe."

I hope.

AN1 - First floor to you Americans. Honestly, I'm not sure which system I prefer, really. Because the ground floor is the first floor, if you think about it.