PART ONE: NEW EARTH

Chapter Four

| EUROPE, NORTHERN FROST REGION |

I don't yet know what a good night's sleep is. Maybe I'll figure that out very soon. Regardless, my awakening decided to replay the last few scenes of a dream. It was quite vivid. I was running away from something, a white animal. A fox? I think. The further I got, the more the ground became vertical. Like the gravity was changing. Eventually, I was hanging from the grass by my fingertips. But that was it. The dream wasn't very long, but it felt realistic. Waking up did not. Ironic. When my eyes opened my heart skipped a beat. Doing so in an unrecognisable place sets your whole world on a tilt for a few moments until you remember where the hell you are.

After catching up with myself I notice the ghost is still on my lap.

"Are you awake?" I croak.

He rises up to eyeheight in a sudden, swift motion. "Oh! Good Morning. And I don't sleep, remember?"

"Right, sorry," I withdraw, wiping at the crust in my eyes with my fingers. "Thanks for staying with me last night."

He turns toward the door. "Right, of course. It's best we stay together anyway."

I spread my arms above me and stretch them out to release the tension. My blanket was in a mess, tangled around my upper-body like a knot. I wish it were bigger, but it's not actually a 'blanket' I think. The freezing temperatures had started getting to me last night. It was cold enough for my snot to freeze, but I tried to keep quiet about it, otherwise he might have insisted on leaving. I tug the blanket out from under me and wrap it back around myself.

He turns back toward me. "Hm? Are you ready to go?"

"What?" I lean forward. "Already?" The sun hadn't even evaporated the frost off the grass yet.

"Yes. It's best we leave as soon as possible. There are some things I need to explain on the way. There's good and bad news."

I glance out the hole in the wall. "Okay, where do we go?"

"Well that's actually the good news," he remarks. "My scans indicate there is a clearing nearby. I believe there could be a working ship within it."

"But you don't know how to fly a 'ship'?"

"No, I do." He answers.

"So then what's the bad news?" I interrogate.

"I'll explain that on the way."

"In here," He commands.

The doors were still intact. They creak as they open. Light poured in through a multitude of large holes, cracks and used-to-be windows; eliminating the need for a light source. Lines of shelves were laid out in parallel across this massive room.

My eyes scan the structure. "Where are we?"

"It used to be a clothes shop."

"So where are the clothes?"

"Stolen," he grumbles. "But there might be something here for you still. Go look around."

I shamble down the lanes with my blanket. The atmosphere of this building was nostalgic in a way that's hard to explain. As if I somehow had a special privilege to be in this place when it looked like this. Which is outlandish because I've never been here before and the building is destroyed. But still, it was there.

There was no more lane to walk down, so I moved to the next one. At the bottom shelf was something covered in dust. I pull it out and shake it, almost blinding me, but revealing a dirty black jacket. "Hey!" I call. "I found something."

He reappears through a door. "So did I. Bring it over here."

This room he was in was divided into subsections, each with their own broken mirror. The ghost was waiting inside of one, beside a dull pair of snow pants held up on a hook. There were two brown boots on the floor.

"Those are perfect. Will they fit?"

A red holographic emits from his eye, quickly scanning me and my 'blanket'. "Yes," he informs. "But not well. It's all a bit too large for you."

"That's fine," I explain. "Just happy to cover up my feet. Oh, and I found this jacket, too."

"That's good, go ahead and put it all on," he advises. "I'll wait outside," he decides; disappearing in a blue mist. I take off the blanket and throw on all the clothing. The boots were a little bit uncomfortable, and the pants were really large. The jumper however was the perfect size, and it was warm and fluffy on the inside. It even had a hood! Ignoring the dust it was the perfect find. I almost wanted to jump around in excitement. It's mine. Assuming no one was coming to collect it.

I'm hilarious, I know.

I wrap my blanket around my neck like a scarf and let the excess hang over my left side, covering my arm. "Hello?" I whisper, peeking through the door. The ghost flies back into view, so I step out and throw my right arm out to pose like a prince. "How do I look?"

He spins around in delight. "Fantastic! Like the Queen of the Awoken."

I imitate a regal bow.

"Now we better get going."

A river ran under the arch of the bridge as we stepped over it. In the distance was a clearing and what I believe is our destination. I gripped the railing alongside the bridge and pushed myself up to peer over the edge. "The longer I explore this region," I begin, speaking into the wind, "the more I want to stay here. It's beautiful. All we'll ever need is food and water. And maybe a battery?"

"I don't need to recharge," he remarks. "And as a matter of fact, you don't need to either. You also don't need to eat or drink."

I look back at him over my shoulder. "What? But we've stopped to drink plenty of times already."

"You can still drink - and eat," he informs. "But you don't have to. I can provide you with your energy. I've made sure you haven't been hungry."

"That's incredible!"

He shudders for a moment. "You need to keep your voice down in the open."

The weight of his tone wiped all the excitement from my body. "Why, what's wrong."

"This is what I was planning to tell you, but I didn't want to scare you more. You seem to freeze up when you're scared," he explains. "Listen, we're not alone here."

Those final words sent a shiver down my spine. "There are other people here? Are they dangerous?"

From behind us, a gut wrenching howl reverbs through the streets. My adrenaline started racing again. "What was that?"

"We need to move," he urges. "Run to that hangar. Quickly."

My feet were glued to the floor. I couldn't turn around, it was as if I had to see what made that noise.

The ghost hovers in front of me. "Move! Now!" Pushing me backward with his voice and almost knocking me over. I ran toward the hangar, uncertain of who my pursuers were. The sudden shock made me process a thousand realisations that I had been disregarding all this time in favour of a blissful ignorance. Where was everyone else? Where are the other people? Are they all dead? What killed them? Were they monsters? Are they human? Rabid animals? Why am I alone?

Am I going to die?

I barge through the doors of the hangar and slam it shut behind me, shrouding myself in a veil of darkness. "Ghost?!" I called out as my eyes started to water.

He appears in a ball of white light, revealing the contents of the room. In front of me was a rusty and metallic mass of a vehicle, suspended on three foundations. Two rocket propellers were welded to its sides. It's a ship!

"I'll need some time to get this running. But we don't have a lot of it. Grab that rifle."

My body startles. "A rifle?! I don't want to kill anything!"

"That sound you heard? It came from an alien. I thought we wouldn't be forced to engage them - but I was wrong. Very wrong. They've found us and they're going to try and kill you."

"What!? No!" I oppose, "Surely we must be able to reason with them! Or block the doors!"

"That's not going to work. You have to defend yourself! Pick it up! NOW!"

"NO!" I defy, beginning to break down. "I'm not going to kill anyone!"

"They're not people!" He asserts. "They're monsters! Scavengers and pirates! They're not human, and if you do nothing we will die! Do you understand!?"

I rush over to the rifle and fall down on top of it, crying and blindly pulling at its mechanisms.

"I'm almost done!" He shouts, before the door to the hangar bursts open in an explosion of blue energy. Through it, an enormous four armed humanoid charges inside and cries out in a roar that pierces my ear drums. It raises a flaming contraption at me while I'm still on the ground. Impulsively I swing the weapon around and pull at its trigger, blinding me in the flashes of lights and sharp cracks of gunfire as the weapon flies out of my hands. The monster falls back into the wall and drops its weapon, grabbing at its own throat. The gunshots mark the walls in places far from where I thought I had fired. I run back to the opposite wall and fall against a locker.

I shot it in the throat. It's going to die.

A burning pain begins to drive up my right arm. Streaks of my skin were burnt and black. They had been scorched by his weapon. I fall onto my knees and hold it to my chest, failing to hold in my screams. The creature catches my eye as I look up at it. It was shocked. He was scared.

"Transmatting!" The ghost shouts before I fall forward and my vision blacks out.

The Story Continues... 09/09/22