Chapter 15: The Answers
30 minutes later, Dark wakes up. "Ah, can't get any sleep.", he says as he starts to walk towards the kitchen. "Why this form has to be nocturnal?", he says as he enters the kitchen. "Stop asking questions, Dark.", a voice says as soon as Dark enters the kitchen. "Who's there?", Dark asks in a commanding voice. "Its me Dark.", the voice says. Dark looks towards the direction of the voice and sees an Espeon standing in the corridor. "Xavier? Why are you doing here?", Dark asks. "Martinez told me to show you this.", Xavier replies as he pulls out an USB drive. "An USB drive? What's in it?", Dark says as he heads over to Xavier. "I don't know, but Martinez was serious about this. Some how I wasn't able to read his mind. Its like he logged me out from his mind.", Xavier says. "My laptop is above. Old but it will do the job for now. Hope it has power.", Dark says before heading upstairs. Xavier follows Dark. "Now be quiet. My mom is sleeping and so are the others.", Dark says. "Others?", Xavier asks. "Yeah. I never saw Mike downstairs so, he may be sleeping in the guest room.", Dark replies as he opens the door to his room. "Wait. Who is this?", Xavier asks Dark as he looks at Darkness. "That's Darkness. I won't tell you her story.", Dark replies. "Oh. Its you Dark. I was just trying to sleep. Who is this?", Darkness says as they both enter the room. "Darkness meet Xavier. He's with Nexus-9.", Dark says. "Nexus-9? The elite NSC squad? You came all the way here to backstab your friends!", Darkness shouts at Dark. "Relax! These guys are rogue agents!", Dark says. "So, they used a hypnotic agent on you. Pathetic.", Darkness says as she prepares her Shadow ball. "For god sakes, Darkness. Chill out. Stop overthinking.", Dark says. Darkness reduces the concentration and says, "No one under the influence of a hypnotic agent will say something like that. I'm sorry.". "Well this settles then. Do you know where my laptop is? Its important.", Dark asks. "Its in the closet. Weird place to put it but I had no choice.", Darkness says as she heads over to the closet. "What will I except from this?", Dark asks. "I don't know but Martinez looked serious about it.", Xavier replies. Meanwhile, Darkness grabs the laptop and places it on the bed. "Hope it works.", Dark says as he turns it on. The laptop's screen flashes to light with enough power to last for 2 hours. Xavier jacks in the pen drive. A video file appears on the screen. Dark clicks it.
"This is a recorded message. Our last stronghold at Denver has been destroyed. These transformed people are way too powerful, even for us. Our last hope, an amnestic. This amnestic can cause an all memory wipe out. In simple terms, it makes people forget everything. Transformed people will forget, every relation they had with normal people and may make them agitated. Once they are agitated they will try to attack normal people and at this time we will step out once again. We will give the affected people knowledge and we will arm them to fight against the transformed people. We will end this. All squads are requested to come to San Francisco where our base of operation lies, deep beneath the ground. The entry key is the code displayed on your pen drive. Failure to provide entry key in the given time will result in termination. Provide the code through your communication module in your vehicles or in your headset. After inputting the code, we will display a map to our location."
"This is downright cruel.", Dark says. "Shit. I guess its time.", Xavier says as he un-plugs the pen drive. "We'll help. Lemme make a phone call.", Darkness says as she heads over to the door. "No don't. Nexus-9 will do the job for you guys. Think this as our method to repay.", Xavier says. "Xavier is right Darkness. We'll be liabilities out there.", Dark says. "Listen. If we fail to do this, just stay strong. If we manage to do this then I'll come back here. Seems like a good place for a retirement.", Xavier says as he opens the door. "Xavier! Keep Martinez and Dave safe.", Dark says as Xavier leaves the room. "I will. Also take this.", Xavier says as he throws another pen drive towards Dark. "What's this?", Dark asks. "Something which you will like.", Xavier replies as he heads downstairs. "Well then. Let's see this.", Dark says as he inserts the pen drive into the laptop. A video file appears on the screen. Dark clicks it.
"This is to be spread across to every stronghold in the United States. Accessing audio log X-1937 'Research in the Transformation'. Access granted. Playing audio log. This is Dr. Bern from the stronghold at Denver. I don't have much time on my hand so I'll get to the main stuff. Basically I was trying to find a way to turn the transformed people back into humans but it kept on failing. Its like, their old identity is lost forever. At least we decoded their "language" but the translators are basic. They can't differentiate between words like warm and hot. Also its still a mystery how they are capable of casting stuff like, throwing a boulder which comes out of nowhere, breathing fire and lifting objects. They said that its like focusing their energy on that particular part before casting it. There are also exceptions like, some can't even cast anything at all. They are transformed people but they act like humans. I can't even make a proper theory about it. Everything is like so messed up. The entropy is way too high. And then there is this transformation itself. Based on our research, we found out that a god was responsible for this. Don't know which god it is but its intention was clear, 'To make a change in a corrupt world.'. The transformation begin on 21st August. It just like, it was a sudden change. No-one expected this. No-one could. The mutations were drastic and rapid. People who saw them transforming stated that it was gruesome. Like they were dying but the soul was refusing to leave the body. I can't even imagine the sight. Dr. Bern signing out."
"So, Mike was right.", Dark says. "Wait. Don't tell me he hypothesized that." Darkness says. "Sadly he did. I have to tell him.", Dark says as he starts to walk towards the guest room. He opens the door to the room. "Still sleeping. Well what did I even expected?", Dark says before closing the door. "What to do now, Dark?", Darkness says as she exits from her room. "Waiting is our only best option.", Dark says as he heads downstairs. "Should we tell the others?", Darkness asks as she follows Dark. "And cause more panic to a world in panic. No.", Dark replies. "Dark, you being stupid now. You don't know what's gonna happen in the future.", Darkness shouts as Dark. "Yeah you are right. Nelson would know about the future.", Dark says. "Its 2AM Dark.", Darkness says as she enters the living room. " I'll just watch the TV. We can't do anything else after all.", Dark says as he follows Darkness. "Yeah you are right.", Darkness says.
An hour later, Dark gets up from the couch saying, "Its been nearly a month and they are still focusing on the transformation.". "It was a big event.", Darkness says. "Yeah, you are right. I'll just head outside for a stroll.", Dark says as he heads towards the front door. He opens the door and heads outside. "Feels great to be alone again.", Dark says as he closes the door behind him gently. "3 AM sure hits different now.", he says as he walks away from the house.
Dark grabs his phone and begins to record his voice. "Audio log-1, date.. I don't know. The clock of this phone is busted. Its definitely 3AM and this thing is showing the time as 4PM. Besides that, I don't think any human will understand this log but this is way more better than spending time writing on my journal. So, I got the answers. Answers to my questions which I was hunting for. Didn't expected Mike's hypothesis to be true. I don't know what's awaiting for me in the future either. I could have predicted it if, this transformation never happened.", he says before he stops the recording.
Dark puts the phone back in his jacket as he starts walking back. "So, what now? We killed the raiders, we secured this part of the town and the city is a lot safer. I don't think I would get a proper job so, forget about getting one. I can head east but then, I won't find anything new. But who knows? I might get some motivation to do so in the future.".