A/N: Sorry for the repost, but there were some glaring mistakes. Hello again guys! This chapter picks things up a bit. Just wanted to say something I totally forgot to mention in the last chapter- by now you can probably tell that my character nor my friends have any idea the Mass Effect universe exists. This serves a very particular purpose later on. Happy reading :D Leave a follow if you haven't already, there will be a brand new, action-packed chapter next week!
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Chapter Three: Trauma
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I screamed, screamed my lungs out until tears forced themselves out of my eyes and down my dirtied cheeks.
They echoed off the cave's walls and out toward the sundered horizon. I screamed until there was nothing left to scream, no curse word left unused.
I screamed because I was lost forever.
It lasted for what felt like hours; my lapse of control or reason, my ultimatum. It only lasted ten minutes. The land was dead, barren and hollow; there was no one to hear my despair. I silently wept. I didn't know for how long, but during this time I felt a sorrowful melancholy take over.
And that's when I went into shock. My body simply couldn't cope with the change, but who's could? I sat enfeebled at the corner edge of the cave's entrance and blankly stared out at the salmon-blushed sky, the smog hazing out all but the most pronounced clouds. I was swallowed by anxiety. Intense tingling sensation of a panic attack coming on, no matter how much I tried to reason, I couldn't. In the blink of an eye I'd lost everything. My ambitions, the woman I loved, my friends, parents, my future.
Hope was at a loss.
I watched the sky, hidden from the sun's punishing heat for hours until it slowly collapsed into a muted sunset. The temperature drop was significant- there was no sign of movement, just the weak stir of the dry wind every ten minutes. Out of nowhere a streak of light shot up from the steel jungle and flew up into the sky like a… spaceship? It vanished into the atmosphere. In that moment I yearned to be on that ship… wherever it was… it was going somewhere better than here.
And then the overwhelming tingling and dread crippling me began to subside. Light flickered on in the distant buildings; a city I once thought of as derelict and bygone now came alive to prove me wrong.
Thirst. It pulled me out of shock entirely and back to my senses.
So this is the future. Jesus Christ. I would have to choke down these new revelations later-
The sun was setting, and if I was lucky, I could traverse the terrain. It was time to get out of here or die trying.
But first I used the dim light to look around the hollow for anything of use. Now that I had some night vision in the low-light, I saw something in the far corner. A case of some sort… and I couldn't deny it's familiarity. With it came a flicker of hope, dangling on a string that spun slowly with the gravity of temptation. I moved closer…
It was my cooler.
"Yes!" I shouted with mixed excitement and relief. Everything I'd packed was in it- everything I hadn't already ate or drank anyway. A chicken sandwich, a huge bottle of smartwater, some granola bars, a twelve pack of yuengling, mini svedka bottle, and a whole lot of ice. Hope bloomed. Digging through the ice, I found something else- my hat. It was my late grandfather's and I'd worn it with me up to Ithaca to avoid getting my pale Italian ass sunburnt. Tears welled up with recognition. How any of it got here was beyond my comprehension- was this god's punishment for not believing in him? Or was it all an elaborate scheme for something I didn't know yet?
Memories of my life rushed through my head. With them, everyone I knew… I missed them already. I scooped my hat into the ice and put it on my head. Water dropped down my face and it felt beyond great to be cool again. But upon closing the lid, I caught something- a piece of paper fluttering around in the air. It was my ticket, bending with the draft of the evening wind.
I grasped it in my hand as gently as I could, fearing ethereal reprimand if I damaged it.
But this time it had something on it. A stamped series of numbers:
01007
Curious.
I sat at the edge of the cave and ate the sandwich, finding myself admiring the last of the evening's dusk in it's fading notes of purple and pinkish red; it had truth to it amidst my troubled presence here. A set beginning with an end.
Thinking of its cyclic nature helped ground me. The sense of security brought by food didn't hurt, either. I washed it down with most of the water.
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The last rays of sun began to slip below the horizon. With the outside wasteland trapped in an aurora of deep purple, I hoisted the cooler's strap onto my shoulder and tentatively stepped out. Perhaps there was someone I knew beyond the sand dunes, someone out there who didn't want to shoot a helpless naked kidult. Someone.
In the cool, dream-like dusk I topped the first rise of dune a few hundred meters away. Everything was different now. The surrounding world was beautiful and dystopian in the low-light. Wild, free from those who tried to tame her. Like something I would paint… if the circumstances were different.
I stopped here, the wind kicking fine sand that swirled around my ankles, sweeping back my long hair. Despite everything, the alien twilight enraptured me. Held me there for that long moment.
And then, I heard something. A faint disturbance that grew constant among the rise and fall of the early night breeze…
The moment I saw the lights on both ends of the horizon, I ran. Shit… shit… no thanks… I was prey for the taking within just fifteen minutes of travelling.
Back inside the grotto's entrance, hidden by a boulder, I waited and listened. Grunting, clanging, metal scraping metal- I honed in on the sound of machines. The closest sounds came from the twisted tail-end of the city outskirts; sounds foreign but easily recognized. I nearly dropped the cooler at the sight of the hulking figures in the distance. Whatever the hell they were, they were big. Nothing could describe the soul-crushing fear I experienced as I saw them and their towering war vehicles. Well, that's just great…
They sounded as if they were after something, huffing and gruffing in a guttural tongue over the turning of tire treads and engines. None of it sounded human in the least bit. Nothing here was human. The feeling- and the dread that came with it- was all I knew. And then I really saw them, passing by the cave.
Oh… my… god. My mouth was agape in bizarre, fascinated wonder.
Massive bipeds, armed and armored to the core, passed by at a feverish pace. They were freaking huge; at least seven or eight feet tall despite their hunchbacked appearance. But none of this was the strangest part. I actually understood bits and pieces of their language, even though I knew by their enunciations they weren't speaking conventional English. What parts of them aren't armored are seemingly protected by thick, scaly hide. Wide-set eyes giving 240 degree vision, almost like a deer's, but lifeless and beady at this distance- cold, calculating, red. It looked like they were all staring at me as they went by. If they have better night vision than I do, I'm screwed. Of all their bulky, armored features, their legs seemed rather small. Like they all skipped leg day way too much.
Fucking lizard-men. Were they somehow human? Genetically spliced and enhanced, maybe. The shouting picked up and I braced myself for the unknown.
My fears didn't go unfounded- right then, a cannon boomed off in their direction. I shielded my ears with my hands as another shot was fired from an unseen force; the first band of soldiers I saw while on the dune. Small arms fire erupted on all sides. Tracers whizzed by like laser beams.
Taken aback by the volley of gunfire, the lizard-people, about a hundred meters outside the cave, scrambled to cover positions and returned fire. Some kind of electric shielding protected them from bullets. Primitive vehicles of all sizes that looked like overly-masculine dredging machines (with very large guns) began digging trenches, creaking to the front to act as cover and fire support as the wasteland turned into a large-scale war. Just like that. Crawling on hands and knees, I crept up to the edge to get a good look at the enemy they were facing. More lizard men. Accompanying them were smaller creatures that made up for their smaller numbers. They had two machines reminiscent of oversized dump trucks engaging in the same basic strategy. A post-modern WWI.
I watched it all from the comfort of the unnoticed cave, praying all the while not to be seen. This land was beyond hostile. It was hostile by nature. These beings fought as if it were a normal occurrence. It probably was.
It was when I reached for my bottle of water and brought it to my lips that I realized I'd made a fatal mistake. One of the closer ones turned toward the cave as I subtilize and froze entirely. Is it looking right at me?
Fuck. It waved over another with similar grey armor. Then, they headed right towards me.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no… I shrank to the back of the grotto. I wanted to be invisible.
This would be a great time to wake up.
They flashed a light into the cave with one of their long guns, blinding me. Fight-or-flight kicked in. My hands were in the air before they even saw me; strangely, I relaxed when they didn't shoot me on sight.
"Identify yourself, human!" The lead being commanded. 'His' hump was considerably taller than the other, who stood less than patiently behind him.
"I… I… m-... I- I…"
"Speak! There is no time for wasted talk."
"I- I'm… D-Devlin." My voice was noticeably higher pitched, especially compared to them. I must have looked pathetic.
"Do you know where you are?" The question caught me unexpectedly. Could it see my confusion?
My mouth refused to work.
"Probably just a slave left here to die, Garr. We should go and fight."
"Be quiet, Varduk! This human should not be here. He should not be alive all the way out in the Unshrouded Lands. Even krogan avoid it," he turned to face me again. "Speak plainly, human. Are you a trap set by those Jurdon scum, or not?"
'Krogan' fit their description perfectly… but Jurdon? Sounded like a cheesy Star Trek race.
"No- no, I swear…" I tried to steady my voice, but nerves got the better of me.
"Then you will fight to survive." He nodded at his subordinate.
"But… Garr… a human with us? I am not blind to change, b-" he was violently head-butted to the ground by his superior's thick head ridge.
"But nothing." The other one left in defeat, and my stomach sank to the darkest depths of the deepest sea at the thought of fighting aliens like this.
The lead krogan stood to his full height. "I am Garrmarek, Scout Leader of the Shreshoc Clanless. If another clan of krogan had come upon you sooner, you would not be as lucky as you are."
"Th- thank, you," I managed, completely numb. Explosions whistled just outside the cave entrance.
"Do not 'thank' me. Your petty customs fall short here on Tuchanka."
"Tu… chanka?" So that's where I am. A completely devolved earth by a different name.
Garrmarek sighed before replying. "Our once glorious homeworld. It has made us hard, unlike you."
The other scout came back in with a weapon. He tossed the futuristic assault rifle at me- some Star Wars shit, I thought to myself as I caught it and examined the pitted and scarred exterior. 'Shit' was right.
"His hands are small and weak, like the vorcha. I gave him what they would use."
A bandolier of strange cylindrical ammo was also given to me. I slung it over my shoulder.
"I will fight, b-but don't I need some sort of protection?" I wouldn't last a second like this, not to mention I haven't shot anything but a coffee can with a .22.
"Gah! You humans…" the Lead Scout roared. "Always have to cover up your softness."
He craned his neck to the left and right, switched something on his weapon, turned around and charged fearlessly back into the fight. Meanwhile, I mustered up the courage to ask the other krogan how I could understand them. He bluntly explained how cross-species translators were used, but that I didn't seem to have one, which opened up new revelations to me: I could be living in a galaxy with thousands of developed species and worlds. If I survived, I might even be able to see some of them. The krogan told me I am 'strange'. It dawned on me that I might be the only human on the planet.
Garrmarek returned with a scantily armored carcass clutched in his right hand, smeared with its blood- one of the smaller creatures that fought with the enemy krogan. It looked like a human-sized bat without wings and really fucked teeth. He threw it at my feet. Just the sight of it made me want to vomit, but when I caught a whiff of the smell I tasted my food again.
"There's your protection. Now, we fight! Try to run, and you will die in the wasteland." The pair of krogan left and eagerly rejoined the battle.
I needed to collect my wits, and suit up despite the fact that I really wanted to pressure wash it first.
Either way, things had just took a turn. For better or worse I was about to find out.