((Soaring Hawk: Glad you like it. I really delayed on working this for way too long. Now that I'm back into playing PSO, I'm working on this more often. :P Hope I continue to do some good writing for ya.))
Chapter 4: Forest of Silence
Rico let out a frustrated sigh as she heard the hiss of static from her comm link. She hadn't been able to raise anyone across any of the channels. It was almost like she was the only person alive on the face of the planet.
Don't even think like that, her mind chided, the rational side of her kicking in. There are others, and you have to find them. You can't be the only one alive. Maybe that explosion just fried the circuitry in everything. It would explain how you survived and how everything around doesn't even look like that explosion occurred.
Pushing away the despair that crept through her, Rico retraced her steps through the forest, barely noting the unusual silence that surrounded her as she tightened her grip on her Red Saber. She stopped now, not sure why as her red eyes slowly scanned the area. Then it dawned on her. This was where she had met Ethan Sterling's daughter, if memory served correctly. Could it be she was still here? She peered up at the tree, scanning its branches to see if the girl was still on any of them, but she wasn't. She looked down now, examining around the base of the tree. She caught a glimpse of something in the grass, and it took her confused and worried mind a bit to realize that it was a person lying face-down in the grass.
Rico rushed over to the person, laying her Red Saber on the ground and gently grabbing their shoulders before turning them over. It was the same girl from before.
"Don't be dead," she whispered with worry, checking the girl's pulse and breathing. Relief flooded through Rico as she discovered the girl was still alive. She apparently had fallen from the tree or something, a few scrapes and bruises on her. She was fortunate to have survived, but there was no telling if she had broken anything or had a concussion. "I need to get her somewhere safe… She won't last long out here." Rico stored her Red Saber, even though her mind was screaming at her not to put away her weapon in such a dangerous situation where she didn't have enough information on what was going on or what dangers lurked around her. She picked up the girl with ease in both arms, noting absently that she had to be just a teenager still.
Looking around for a second, Rico then continued to retrace her steps, making her way back to the Residential Sector. Her arms not even straining, she pressed her elbow against the switch to Dr. Sterling's home and stepped through the door as it opened with a hiss. "Dr. Sterling? Dr. Sterling!" Rico called out, being answered only by silence. Rico frowned, straining to hear anything within the residence, but all she heard was her own pounding heart.
Rico shifted slightly to get a better grip on the girl, closing the door behind her with another press against a button with her elbow. She cautiously made her way deeper into the house, entering the living room. Her eyes flickered over to a computer desk in the corner with papers scattered about it and the chair still pushed in. It looked like someone had been working there just moments before. Rico gently set the girl down on the couch, worried since she still hadn't woken up.
I wonder where Dr. Sterling is, though… Her eyes flickered over to the computer, narrowing behind her glasses. I wonder if there's anything on there that may say what happened, or maybe where he even is… Curious, Rico strode over to it and checked the monitor, glancing over the various charts. They didn't make any sense, but two caught her eye. It was a chart of the energy levels from some undisclosed source in the Central Dome area, but the coordinates weren't familiar to her. They had risen dramatically right before the explosion. "Energy levels… Maybe it has to relate to the explosion. But where did the reports come from? Who sent them?" She looked at another chart, her heart beating faster in her chest. "D-Cellular Activity in subject Gamma 059…?" She glanced between it and the energy chart. They seemed almost the same, but there was one major difference. The energy levels had declined. The D-Cellular activity didn't.
D-Cellular… Isn't that related to the D-Factor they found in the meteor all that time ago? What were they making? What in the world were they trying to do?
Rico frowned, confused thoughts whirling in her mind. Something dark had been going on within the Pioneer 1's research groups. Had Heathcliff been involved in it?
She shook her head, trying not to think about it as she looked back at the girl, focusing on her. Did she even know what her father had been involved in? With a slight sigh, Rico accessed her storage unit, checking her weapon names on the screen. She found the one she was looking for and took out a plain Handgun that she had kept with her in case of emergencies. She set it down on the table in the middle of the room, glancing once more at the girl. Rico couldn't afford to waste time staying here. She had to find any survivors. Hopefully the girl would be fine on her own.
An explosion that left no marks, unknown experiments, peaceful animals who suddenly became violent… What's really going on?
Having no answers, Rico adjusted her glasses slightly before drawing her Red Saber and heading out the door. It was time to enter the forest once more.
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Danielle groaned in pain, her head throbbing painfully as she slowly came around. She forced her eyes open, trying to take in her surroundings even though her vision was blurry. The place looked familiar… Was she in her house?
She slowly sat up, rubbing the side of her head a bit. How did she get here? One minute she was outside, and the next she was in her house with a pounding headache. She blinked rapidly to clear her vision, recognizing where she was. She was in her living room, but her father wasn't at his computer like he usually was. Her wandering gaze fell on something on the table now, definitely not remembering it being there before she left. It was a weapon, a Handgun, its green Photon charge glowing softly. "What's this doing here…? It can't be Dad's…" She swung her legs over the side of the sofa, carefully picking up the Handgun. Maybe whoever had brought her to her house had left this here. She had never actually used a weapon before, but something inside of her told her that she would need it.
Danielle looked around slowly, feeling like she was in a dream. Walking over to the door, she pressed the button to open it, the hiss sounding incredibly loud in the silence. She stepped out into the bright sunlight, squinting as she looked around. Why was everything so quiet?
She shuddered a bit, feeling cold for an instant. She shook it off and began to walk forward, following the path back that would lead to the Central Dome transporter. As she walked, she wondered what had happened. Wasn't there an explosion? Everything seemed perfectly fine, though!
Danielle frowned, looking around slowly now as a sound reached her ears. It was oddly familiar, one that she could have sworn she had heard before. It was almost like a mosquito buzzing in her ear.
"Ow!" she cried, feeling something sharp jab deep into her right arm. As she looked down, she saw a giant purple insect with a sharp, long, needle-like mouth hovering near her arm. Danielle immediately felt fatigued and drained, recognizing the creature as a Mothmant. Fear shot through her, but she struggled to get a grip on herself as she lifted the Handgun and fired point-blank at the insect. It fell to pieces as the bullet ripped through it, but three more began to buzz around her. Danielle aimed up at them, sweat trickling down her face as she fired rapidly. Somehow, she managed to hit them even though her hand trembled like crazy. Her eyes darted around quickly, fear still filling her. She spotted the gate to the next area nearby, even as more buzzing filled the air. She sprinted for the gate, which had barely opened before she was heading for the next one. Brown-furred creatures dug themselves out of the ground around her, claws slicing through the air just inches from her head. But when she reached the gate, she realized with dread that it was locked. The security system must have activated to keep the animals from spreading beyond the area. "No! Open up!" she shouted, slamming her fists against the metal. "Open up! Open up!"
As the creatures roared behind her, fear gripped her heart in its icy hand. Danielle spun around, panicking as she saw how close they were. The animals, Boomas, growled softly as they bared their viciously sharp teeth and flexed their deadly claws. Their purple eyes had a malevolent glare in them, and their muscles rippled under their brown fur. Danielle brought up the Handgun, a primal roar pounding in her ears as she pulled the trigger rapidly. She didn't even realize she was screaming until it died away in her throat, her breathing coming in ragged gasps. She fell back against the gate, sliding into a sitting position and staring at the bodies of the two Boomas. Danielle was still sitting there, her heart racing painfully fast in her chest, when she was found minutes later by the same woman who had saved her before in the forest.
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Rico gently gripped the girl's arm, going over her story of what had happened in her mind. This girl, Danielle, was lucky to be alive. Inexperienced and facing down the wild animals on her own for the first time ever? "Tell me how bad it hurts, Danielle," she said softly to the teen, her fingers pressing lightly on her bloodied arm. Danielle suddenly yelped in pain, trying to pull her arm away, but Rico kept a firm yet gentle grip. "Ssh, calm down," Rico instructed, trying to soothe the scared girl. "It's not too serious, but we need to clean this up so it doesn't get infected." She helped Danielle up, making their way to the small stream that flowed through the area. She sat the teen down first before taking a seat on the grass beside Danielle.
"Did you find anyone?" Danielle asked Rico now, the pain still clear in her voice.
Rico shook her head sadly, carefully washing off the blood and cleaning the wound as best as she could. "I haven't been looking long, but so far, no luck." Rico ripped off the right sleeve of Danielle's short-sleeved shirt in a long enough strip to bandage her arm, being as gentle as she could. "I'm going to check the Central Dome next. Maybe there are survivors there."
"Can… I go with you…?" Danielle asked quietly, looking up at Rico.
Rico nodded to her. "That's probably the best thing to do." She thought back to when she had left Danielle alone and immediately regretted that decision. The teen had gotten hurt because she had been on her own. Why hadn't she just waited for Danielle to wake up instead of going check out things on her own and leaving message capsules around? Granted, the capsules would be useful in telling any survivors or anyone who came from Pioneer 2 that there were some people still alive, but she could have done it with Danielle around, too.
"Rico, I'm sorry…"
Rico looked at her in surprise. "Why are you apologizing?" she asked, a bit bewildered by the sudden apology.
"The way I treated you before… I'm sorry for being such a jerk. I'm not as tough as I thought after all. When they attacked, I was so scared. I didn't even know what was doing."
Rico looked into Danielle's eyes, seeing the fear that was still evident inside. So, I guess being in a dangerous situation like that made an impact on her… That's good. At least she isn't so confident anymore. She won't make that same mistake again.
"It's okay. You don't need to worry about it," Rico replied sincerely. She tightened the makeshift bandage a bit, then rose to her feet and held out a hand to Danielle. "Right now, let's stick together and focus on searching for anyone else, okay?" She paused a beat, then allowed a slight smile. "I'll even help you learn how to fight."
Danielle looked up, her blue eyes locking with Rico's. She nodded a bit, taking Rico's hand. Rico helped Danielle to her feet, placing the Handgun in Danielle's hands. "This is all I really have for you to use right now, so just stay back and let me handle the brunt of the fighting, okay?"
As Danielle stared down at the Handgun, Rico frowned a bit. There was a slight tremor in Danielle's hands and a look of uncertainty and fear in her eyes. But who wouldn't be feeling this way in a situation like this? "Rico…" she said slowly now, as if uncertain about saying this. "What do you think happened to everyone?" She asked the question in a soft voice, barely audible over the running stream.
Once more, she couldn't help but be shocked by the sudden change from a hard-headed teenager to a shell-shocked girl. "I don't know," Rico admitted, adjusting her red ring on her left arm slightly. "I can't even raise any of the others hunters. Now that all of the monsters are violent instead of just a few…" her voice trailed off before she shook her head. "We're in for a rough time, but together we should be able to do just fine." Rico looked towards the gate that she had found Danielle by, trying to develop a plan of action in her mind while taking out a message capsule.
Rico noticed the curious look on Danielle's face now as she held the orange capsule in her hand. "What's that for? Is it for someone who comes looking for us?"
With a slight smile, she nodded her head. "Exactly. And maybe leaving behind these will help anyone who comes from Pioneer 2 to follow us and find out what's going on."
Danielle's expression brightened a bit, a hopeful look in her eyes as she followed after Rico once she had finished recording the message. "Mom's gonna come… I know it."
Rico felt a pang of sadness in her heart as she saw that hope in the teen's eyes. There was no way she could break it to her young friend that her mother wouldn't be coming.
Kate Sterling would never come.