We're getting close to the end now! I'd say maybe around five or six chapters left, but that's just a rough guess. It may change the more I crank out these next couple of chapters. Congratulations to Blades252 for getting the 100th review, and thank you to everyone for reviewing and reading! :)
PS- This chapter is slightly different from the other ones. Just putting it out there now.
DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to Visceral Games and EA.
Hammond sighed to himself as Chapter Ten: End of Days began. "Even though my game character is dead," he started, "I'll still watch the game. I have to know what happens."
Kendra patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.
"Well, now we have 'NICOLE IS DE'," Kyne announced to the rest of the group.
"I still can't wrap my head around Hammond's death," Isaac said, "Or that message." He directed himself off the ship as game-Kendra contacted his game character.
"Isaac, I've located the shuttle Hammond found! Shit. No good. The shuttle's brain dead. Someone removed the navigation cards. God knows why. There are three of them scattered around the deck. I'm downloading their locations. I can't access the doors from here, so you'll need a Crew Key. If you can find those parts, I think we can get that shuttle operational again!"
"Let's do this!" Isaac cried, "So that you won't have died in vain, Hammond." Hammond saluted him.
Just like back in chapter five, the group noticed all the candles that were lying around. "That's just creepy," Nicole whispered, shivering a little bit.
"I guess this game is getting to the end now," Temple mused as game-Isaac collected different items before heading to the Store nearby.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star," a woman began to sing out of nowhere, "How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky…"
"That's creepy, too," Kyne commented in a hushed voice, "This game sure knows how to make nursery rhymes scary." The others nodded in agreement. Isaac finished at the Store and then took the elevator up to the next level, where he made two quick trips to the Bench and the Save Station.
"Bread Crumbs is taking me through here," the engineer said to the others, "Let's go."
On the other side of the door, "organic shit", as Temple would call it, covered the walls and floors, and a large window was just up ahead. There were two people on the other side, and game-Isaac decided to go see what was going on. "Oh my God!" everyone groaned when he or she recognized the faces.
"What do you cling to when all must seem so utterly hopeless around you?" game-Mercer asked, making his first appearance since chapter five. In the chair next to him was another familiar face, and Temple sat straight up in his seat.
"Oh my God!" he gasped, "That's me in that chair! What the hell are you doing to me, Mercer?" Mercer didn't reply as he waited for the cutscene to finish. In the game, game-Mercer was holding game-Temple by the jaw.
"Dr. Cross was a true believer," game-Mercer continued, "She had faith. And now, she awaits her transformation. Her rebirth." Isaac rotated the camera a little bit to see a horrifying sight.
"No," Elizabeth whispered in shock as she buried her face into her boyfriend's side, "Mercer's character killed mine!"
"He what?" Temple roared, and the others suddenly became nervous. They had never seen Temple look so furious until then.
"Are you ready to ascend, Mr. Temple?"
"Fuck no!" the real Temple snapped, shooting daggers at the real Mercer, who was still horrified at the scene unfolding on the screen.
"Of course you are! Have no fear!" Game-Mercer then glanced over his shoulder at game-Isaac.
"You will play your part soon enough," he promised, turning back to game-Temple and raising a metal stake.
"Oh, crap!" Kendra cried, "What's happening?" Temple felt dread creep through his veins, as well as another wave of anger.
"Witness the conviction…of a TRUE BELIEVER!"
"Oh, shit!" everyone screamed as game-Mercer plunged the metal stake into game-Temple's head, and this was the real Jacob Temple's breaking point.
"Bastard!" he roared, leaping up from next to Elizabeth and tackling Mercer. Kyne, startled from this sudden outburst, jumped up from the couch as Temple started fighting with Mercer.
"Jacob!" Elizabeth gasped.
"You killed our game characters!" Temple snapped as he punched Mercer across the face, "You…you Marker Head! I always knew there was something off about you!"
"Jacob! Challus!" Kyne gasped, trying to pry Mercer away from the engineer, but to no avail.
"Marker Head!" Temple repeated from before.
"Infidel!" Mercer hissed in an equally angry voice. He had been able to keep his cool around Jacob Temple for the most part, but not anymore. As Temple repeatedly tried to land punches in on his face, Mercer knocked him to the ground, resulting in a brawl on the floor. Kendra and Hammond quickly leaped out of the way to avoid getting hit.
"All right, break it up!" Isaac shouted, pausing the game and getting up to pry Temple out of Mercer's grip. Kyne dragged Mercer to the other corner of the room, but that didn't stop Mercer and Temple from glaring at each other.
"Calm down," Kyne said in a soothing voice, "We don't want anybody calling the police."
"Just keep that Rock Worshipper away from me and my girlfriend," Temple snarled as he shook in Isaac's hands.
"Take a deep breath, and calm down," Kyne quipped in a surprisingly calm voice. Although he was slightly offended by Temple's choice of words in regards to Unitology, he still wanted his two friends to put their differences aside.
"Breathe, Jacob," Elizabeth piped up, "Breathe."
"Come on, Mercer," Kyne said, "You too."
"This night hasn't been going too well," Nicole pointed out, "Maybe we should stop."
Isaac nodded at her. "You're right," he agreed, "We need to stop. And not just for one day. Maybe a few days."
"Good idea," Kendra sighed as she wiped her forehead. She and Hammond had remained petrified on the couch next to Elizabeth, but they were finally starting to come around. Isaac resumed the game just as game-Temple's body fell to the ground.
"They are ready!" game-Mercer announced, "Take them! Embrace them!" With that, he walked away, and Isaac waited for the door on the side to unlock before returning to the Save Station and saving the game.
Three days later…
Nobody knew what to say to each other over the last three days. There was still tension in the group after Temple and Mercer's fight, and nobody knew how to relieve it.
"Has anyone spoken to either Temple or Mercer?" Kendra asked as she passed by Isaac, Kyne, Nicole, and Hammond on the way to the computer room.
"Challus won't talk to me," Kyne sighed, "I've tried, but nothing."
"I'll talk to Temple," Isaac told the others, "We're supposed to be working on repairing one of the shuttles anyway, so I'll see him then."
"Good luck," Nicole whispered, and Isaac kissed her before leaving to go to the hangar where the shuttle was located. Sure enough, Temple was already there as he sat down in front of one of the control panels leading to the engine.
"Already working on this?" Isaac asked as he took his place by the other panel.
"I'm just trying to get the job done," Temple replied. He then sighed and faced Isaac.
"Look, Clarke," he began as he worked, "I'm sorry I made such a scene at your apartment a few nights ago. I was just so mad when Mercer's character killed me and Lizzie! I already don't get along with Mercer as it is, and that was just my breaking point." Isaac took a deep breath.
"You really don't like Mercer, do you?" he asked.
"Are you kidding?" Temple retorted, "He's always trying to shove Unitology down my throat and he calls me an infidel when I try and tell him otherwise! That's why he doesn't like me! With all that aside, we didn't mean to fight." He sighed.
"I talked with Lizzie last night," he continued, "We're not going to come back to watch anymore of the game. We don't want it tearing the group apart."
"What?" Isaac replied, "Are you sure?"
"We're sure. I can't lose my temper like that again. Mercer wasn't even worth getting angry over."
"If that's what you want to do, I won't stop you," Isaac said, "We'll miss you guys, though." Temple just shook his head.
Later on that day…
There was an awkward silence at first as Kyne, Hammond, Nicole, Kendra, and Isaac set up the Xbox 360 once again. "Where's Mercer?" Hammond asked quietly.
"He's coming," Kyne reported, "He said he's sorry for fighting, Mr. Clarke."
The others just shrugged as the doorbell rang, and when Isaac went to answer it, it was indeed Mercer. "Sorry about the fight a few nights ago," he apologized.
"It's done now," Isaac said, letting the Unitologist in, "You and Temple need to stop being at each other's throats."
"I've written everything on the complaint list," Mercer replied as he held out the paper for Isaac to see.
"Temple and Elizabeth aren't coming back," Isaac announced to the others, "Temple told me himself earlier today." Everyone glanced down at his or her laps.
"I'm going to miss them," Hammond whispered.
"I think we all are," Nicole said in response. Sighing, Isaac picked up the controller again and loaded the game they had been playing a few nights ago. Once the Crew Deck reappeared, game-Isaac went through the door up ahead and into the Mess Hall, since the cutscene with game-Mercer and game-Temple was over. He took the cargo lift in the corner down to the lower level, where a Divider waited for him before attacking.
"Look out!" Nicole cried, and the longer Isaac fought the Divider in front of him, the less awkward the group felt. The tall Necromorph was soon down, followed by its Components, which led game-Isaac to retrieve the Crew Key.
"It looked like Mercer disappeared in this room," Kyne whispered, "Where did he go?"
"Magic," Mercer replied, and despite the awkwardness in the room, the others had to laugh.
As game-Isaac took the elevator back upstairs, a video log suddenly popped up in front of him, revealing game-Kyne. "Mr. Clarke!" he began, "I really…must speak with you! I'm very close to your position and…and I know you'll want to hear what I have to say! I can explain all this! I know what happened! When you have the Nav Cards, I'll let you into the Security Station. We must talk! Hurry!"
"I'm going as fast as I can," Isaac mumbled as he returned to the hallway outside.
"AHHH!" a Guardian shrieked as it began to spit out pods. At the same time, and Enhanced Slasher sprinted towards game-Isaac.
"Careful, Mr. Clarke," Kyne warned as Isaac took out both Necromorphs.
Once they were gone, Isaac made his way over to the elevator, where he used the Crew Key to unlock it. Nobody said a word as he descended down to the next level, saved at the Save Station there, and then entered Sleep Block A.
"Looks like we'll have to find a way to unblock the doors," Nicole deduced, "In here, maybe?"
"I think you're right," Isaac agreed, but just as he moved forward to pick up some stray credits, he and the others jumped at a growling noise.
"AHH!" Kendra cried as a third Drag Tentacle appeared out of nowhere and grabbed game-Isaac just like the other two times.
"Another one?" Isaac spat, "How many more times do I have to kill these tentacles?"
"Hopefully, this is the last time," Hammond replied as Isaac raised his Plasma Cutter in order to shoot the yellow pod. He still found it difficult to aim and shoot, and at one point, a stray chair got in his way just before the Drag Tentacle continued to pull game-Isaac towards the hole in front of him.
"I think the chair was trying to save you," Nicole teased, which gave everyone a laugh. However, the merriment was cut short when game-Isaac finally got dragged into the hole.
"Oh my God," Kyne petitioned to himself as Isaac's game character resurfaced in an attempt to escape.
"Come on, come on!" Isaac shouted at the screen, "Get out of there!"
However, it was too late. "No!" everyone shouted as a tentacle wrapped around game-Isaac's neck and dragged him back into the hole.