Carver awoke the next morning to the familiar soft hum of the ship's ventilation systems. His mind was still caught between the world of dreams and reality as he laid there, with the blanket's warmth beckoning him to close his eyes once again. Through a haze, he forced his eyes open and shifted to the side. He noticed Isaac laying on his stomach with his head turned away. His back rose and fell with a slow and steady rhythm. The Soldier eased himself towards the edge of his bed and quietly swung each leg over the side before rising. He moved through the dark and neared a circular window to peer outside. The sky was painted with swirling gray clouds, which dimly reflected the hue and allowed him to assume that it was dawn. He backed away from the light and resumed his trek to the doorway.
A few hours had passed before Clarke had risen from bed. At the movement, John looked up from his weapon parts splayed across the dining area's table and greeted his friend.
"I bet you're feeling great after that sleep. First decent rest in a while, huh?"
Isaac sat down across from him. "Yeah, I'm kinda used to the lack of it honestly. What about you, are you fixing that gun?"
"Somewhat. I realized that the ammo got jammed but I figured I might as well take it apart, maybe add some new pieces here and there."
"You could've woken me up, you know. It's best that we get moving and I don't wanna prolong anything."
Carver raised his eyebrows in response while his eyes remained glued to the dismantled technology before him. "Really? You've been a zombie man, it's no issue at all. I was waiting to see you collapse, or something. You know you need that beauty sleep."
A serious expression lingered on the Engineer's face for some seconds, before his demeanor diminished entirely and he burst out laughing. Carver looked up with a smiling face and questioned the other man before he began laughing himself. In reality, he wasn't even sure what he was laughing at. Maybe it's Isaac's damn cheeky grin that I've seen like, twice.
"You say some weird shit dude." Isaac remarked while shaking his head. "I appreciate it though. It's been a while since I've… well…-"
"Lightened up?"
"Precisely."
"Completely understandable, my friend."
For some reason, Isaac felt a foreign warmth blossom in his chest at those last two words. He looked to the man across from him, who now resumed assembling his rifle with a faint grin on his face. Sure, in the beginning he thought that Carver was an ass. And they had indeed displayed their differences towards each other, many times. Although, Isaac felt lucky to have this person. Given the life-threatening situations and regular stress, they have adapted to each other's personalities and beliefs well over time. Isaac knew that many complications ran in his mind on a regular basis, yet he held his tongue until he felt need-be. Usually his spoken thoughts rang with experience, or in times like this, enjoyable humor and strange remarks. Clarke now genuinely enjoyed being a friend to Carver, and he basked in every delicate moment between them.
"Do you want to check out that town nearby?"
Isaac snapped back to reality. "Of course. All we could think about was coming back to Earth, and now that we're actually here I think we gotta take advantage of it. As much as I enjoy sitting around. Anyways, aren't we running low on almost everything here?"
"Just about. I'm surprised that the damn ship is still running."
"Me too, me too… Well, I'll go suit up then." Isaac stood and began his leave to the washroom.
Carver nodded and quickened his pace with the remodeling. After a few more twists and insertions, he was satisfied with the improved scope and magazine. He gave a hum of contentment and stood to make his own way to Isaac's location.
The two stood in the outdoors once again, this time clad in light-armored suits without helmets.
"Alright then." Carver exclaimed, and they began a somewhat lengthy walk to the group of buildings they first spotted once landing.
It almost felt like a dream to the both of them; after all of the shit they've gone through, only to now casually walk through a peaceful forest of lively trees. The cool late morning breeze ventilated under their thin pads of armor, and it nearly felt like a casual stroll. Soft rays of sunlight glowed through openings of the branches above and occasionally showered onto the pair. Isaac trailed closely behind Carver and took note of his calm demeanor. His rifle was latched onto his back, along with the usual handgun and military knife slung alongside his waste. It was almost an odd sight to see the Soldier in such an easy-going state, no stiff posture or weapons gripped tightly into his hands. This attitude reflected onto Isaac without his knowledge, he holstered his pistol and began his own leisurely walk.
The dirt and twigs snapped under their weight as the two gained distance upon the roads. Carver slowed once he reached grayed road pavement. It was perpendicular to him, and resembled a reversed 'T' shape from his position. It stretched on beyond sight when he glanced both ways. He then stepped across towards the joined street, which also happened to be straight and leading to the small town. Carver realized that the crunching of gravel beneath their boots was filling the silent atmosphere. For some reason, this put him a little on edge. For all they knew, there could be many things, or people, unseen in their eyes. Though he chose to continue without weapons drawn, he did not want either himself or Isaac to be perceived as dangers if there happened to be civilians nearby.
They reached the closest structure, which happened to be a run-down pharmacy located at the end of the street. It appeared to have a longer history than the remaining buildings, it was red brick and had broken windows. As they passed by, Isaac peered in through a shattered glass pane and observed the many fallen shelves and overall disaster inside. John kept his back to Isaac and watched the road, remaining vigilant of any surprises. The Engineer backed up and turned to the other man.
"Looks like this has definitely been the hot spot for thieves. There's more food in there than medicine, the people must've thought of this as an aerial pathogen, of some sort… Because there are definitely no necromorphs here."
"Yeah…"
They continued walking (Carver made sure it being on side of the road, to gain less possible attention), and the other buildings seemed to be almost normal. Minus the lack of lighting in every single one of them, and the occasional knocked-over furniture inside.
The men entered a building at random. It seemed to be an indoor apartment complex, with the front door leading to an open lounge area, and a stairway along the walls of upper floors connecting walkways and identical wooden doors. They stepped into the center of the floor.
"Hey!"
Not a second later, the pair had their pistols drawn and lasers aiming towards a back corner. There stood a lanky middle-aged man. He flinched at the sudden lasers aiming at his limbs (which struck him as odd), besides that he did not seem phased. He smartly raised his hands into the air.
"Look- I don't mean any harm. I don't got a single weapon on me, you can check if you want to."
Carver took charge. "Are you the only person here?" He asked.
"No."
"Then how many?"
The initial response was a look of hesitation. But when Isaac lowered his gun, the man was encouraged to answer.
"As of now, 16."
Without a word, Carver neared the unknown man and instructed him to keep his arms up as he performed the routine weapons inspection. Nothing came of it, and he glanced around for any possible others before holstering his handgun as well.
"So what's going on here? This place seemed to have been completely abandoned minutes ago…"
The man nodded. "Yeah, that's what it's supposed to seem like. In fact we still have electricity and enough resources to last a while longer. Most of us are citizens of this area, though a couple of friends and relatives are in the mix."
"Where's everyone else?" Isaac joined in.
"First, I have to ask who you two are."
Carver huffed, more of inconvenience than aggression. "Long story. We've been out in space for some time, performing government operations related to the Markers." Isaac was slightly taken aback at the Soldier's openness with information. "But now that damn virus has spread here, and once we escaped our own infected galaxies we traveled here immediately. My buddy and I also don't intend to do any harm, sure we look scary but we actually landed here last night with the intention to find uninfected areas, and survivors."
The older man emitted slight surprise at the situation, but nodded and didn't press for further information. "Here, I'll show you the others." He motioned for them to follow him into a hallway behind him, and they began walking.
"I guess it could also be considered a long story for my group and I here. We've been sheltering in here for some days, the rest of the town does seem safe enough but usually we send one or two out at a time to get any supplies." They maneuvered around suitcases left piled in the hallway, still packed. "Ever since we saw the outbreak on television, most of the population here panicked and evacuated on their own accord, leaving for families and such. But us few stayed behind. Those damn monsters are spreading through the states."
"And what are you guys doing now, are you gonna continue staying here?" John inquired.
"Nobody has an answer for that yet, but it seems so. We may have to take trips to the neighboring towns, which we're hoping are in good shape. Some of the men here, including myself, are planning to join the resistance groups."
"Resistance groups?"
"You heard it. I personally haven't heard much of them, but there are already friendly militias forming to combat the spread of this… virus. We can't sit around here forever."
The two friends exchanged curious expressions before resuming to follow their host.
"My watch boys actually spotted your guys' ship before you landed, I was informed and decided for us all to move into these back rooms here in case if you were any trouble. I thought we could give it some time and the ship would leave, but obviously you two are a pair of explorers, which isn't a bad thing actually."
They approached an apartment door at the end of the hallway, directly adjacent to an exit doorway.
The man stood before the door and gave it a signaling knock, and seconds later it was opened.
The trio were met with a full room of people. It was quiet as they all stared at the newcomers. Ages varied greatly, what appeared to be an elderly couple sat towards the back of the living room, while a boy no older than 10 sat on the floor with a shotgun in his lap. Weapons were laying across tables, modules hanging on the walls along with marked maps. The faint sound of a news broadcast echoed from a radio nearby.
The man in front of Isaac and Carver took the lead. "It's safe, everyone. These two gentlemen are from that ship flying over us yesterday. They're survivors just like us, but fresh from outer space. If we can help them, maybe they can help us. Nothing but good intention." He looked back to the pair. "Right?"
The friends simultaneously nodded.
The man smiled. "Alright, let's get you both familiar with us folks here. You aren't returning to your ship anytime soon, are you?"
"Not exactly, we actually came here looking for supplies, and possible allies." Carver responded.
Isaac chuckled.
Some time had passed after the two were acquainted with the larger group. Few had returned to their normal rooms in the building, while others lingered in the main lobby. Isaac and Carver had finished a discussion with the first man who introduced them; he seemed to be a leader in the people's eyes and definitely lived up to his traits. He gave them a further explanation of the resistance groups and their growth throughout cities of the United States. After more inquiry, he admitted to forming a similar group of his own here with his followers. Though of course, those bearing arms were the majority of the boys and young adults, and they have been reviving tarnished weapons with useful scrap metals scavenged by the watch standers.
In this moment, the two friends sat outdoors behind the main apartment building and watched as the sun shone golden rays through the rolling clouds.
"Hey Isaac, remember that time when we were first coming to Earth, and since you were hesitating to enter the shockspace, I told you to hit that damn button?"
It took a moment for Isaac to recall the event before he laughed. "Yeah!"
"And whenever I asked why you landed us here?"
"Of course, that was yesterday man." A small smile splayed across the Engineer's face and his eyes were questioning.
"Well… I'm glad ya did."
Isaac was mildly surprised at the statement. He already knew the simplicity of Carver's words held much more honesty and meaning behind them.
Carver continued. "See Dead Boy, there are things to look forward to, now that you've led us to this place. You just gotta look for 'em."
"Since when did you become the optimist?" The blue-eyed man playfully asked.
His partner hesitated. "I… I actually don't know. I think we've been around each other for too long." He lightly nudged into Isaac.
Isaac laughed. "It's not a bad thing, right?"
"Nope. No regrets."
The pair sat against each other in an easy comfort, and resumed their silence.
This time, anxieties for the future were replaced with the light of hope in both of them.
Finally the ability to breathe, the time to contemplate thoroughly, the time to really… enjoy each other's company.
Sure, they were both aware of the upcoming challenges, and more threatening situations. But all-in-all, they each had a choice in this matter and took it for granted.
Maybe there is more to lose.
Maybe there are values to keep fighting for.
Maybe there are reasons to trust once again.
The sun's rays had now fully peaked through an opening in the clouds, and restored an emotional warmth into both of their hearts.
They had no going back now, this was an opportunity for the both of them. A new beginning.
And it was accepted.
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END
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Author's Note:
Thank you very much for reading. I apologize for the slow updates, life did its thing and held me back from finishing this sooner. I am almost sad to bring this story to a close, I have enjoyed the hours spent sitting down and typing up this bad boy. In fact I did not want to rush the ending, so I hope it came out alright. And that y'all are happy with it.
As of now, I don't plan to make a sequel, but if that ever happens I will definitely post a notification chapter on here to let my followers know. I do, though, have more ideas for possible Dead Space one-shots and short stories, of course being centered around our boys Isaac and Carver. I also am planning to bring some other gaming ideas of mine to life, such as from the BioShock and Left 4 Dead series. Hopefully they will happen.
I also post videogame-related fan art on my Instagram page, and some of them include the Dead Space boys. I draw more than I write so if interested my username there is alleycat221 (totally not promoting myself right now).
Again, thanks to all of you for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!