Hey, everybody! I'm happy that I got this update out so much quicker than the last one. Still, this wasn't the easiest chapter to write, as I had some difficulty with character decisions that I've grappled with since starting the story. May as well go into them now.
First, I've decided to drop Isaac's insanity as a plot point. It's a huge deal in Dead Space 2, of course, but I don't believe it would be as meaningful in my telling. He already knows for certain that Nicole is "alive", so the hallucinations would not have nearly as much influence. More importantly, I already did the "Isaac goes nuts" story in Ordination, and I think it would be tiresome to tell that story again. For the most part, our favorite engineer will keep his head screwed on this time.
Secondly, I was conflicted on what to do with Ellie. She's a big player in the series, and I didn't want to completely disregard her, but I'm already juggling a lot of side characters. The question was whether to include her at all… and I eventually decided that I should. She has roles that I can't just hand off to other characters, and I do genuinely like her. I also made her less reluctant to go along with the group than in the game, since I've already hit those plot points with other characters, and, again, I don't want to be redundant. She'll be a bigger presence in my eventual Dead Space 3 adaptation, though.
Thanks to Accelerator7460, CelfwrDderwydd, Kaijucifer and GeorgeP for reviewing since last time. I always appreciate it when people drop me a line. Really hope I'm able to get at least one more update out by the time my next semester of teaching starts in August, but we'll see what happens.
4 Hours, 15 Minutes Post-Sprawl Outbreak
Curtis remembered dying. He thought about it sometimes, especially when working in the mines, away from Nicole.
On the Ishimura, when he was injured worse than ever before, he saw a light above him. He almost reached it, only for the blood transfusion he received from Isaac to snatch him back to the realm of the living. After all these years, he didn't know what it meant. Probably got tunnel vision from parts of his brain beginning to shut down.
Part of him, though, believed it was the gateway to whatever came next: Heaven, Hell, reincarnation. Though those terms originated in ancient faiths, they retained popularity among the final religion, with different Unitologists having different opinions on them. However, the Markers knew nothing of any spiritual afterlife. They were only concerned with matters of meat. Souls (if they existed) may have remained stuck inside, as in Nicole's case, but that was an unintentional side-effect. Flesh was their medium.
He pondered all this because he again brushed against death, only to come out the other side in one piece.
Curtis' eyes flew open, and he gasped for air. Thankfully, there was plenty of oxygen to go around. Gravity, too. He sat up, groaning as his spine cracked. His entire body ached. It would have burned if not for his RIG administering Somatic Gel to sites of trauma. He had about half of what he started with, and there was little point scrounging for more. It'd stop being effective once his tissues were saturated with the miracle drug. At that point, it was more likely to make his body grow tumors.
It only took a moment to realize that he was in the Concourse. Hundreds of different shops greeted him with their signs, though most of the neon and holographic ones had been snuffed out. That led to the only light coming from the transparent ceiling and walls.
How… He looked up at the glass roof. A hole had been punched straight through, though the leak was plugged by a sealant grid. The blue-tinged energy field prevented him from suffocating while unconscious. Through it, he saw a speck of metal burning like a candle. It could only be the wreckage of the gunship. The explosion from those chemicals propelled him straight down, sending him to where he started. Technology saved and nearly ended his life countless times. There may have been a philosophical point buried in that. It's probably not that deep, Curtis told himself. This wasn't a time for contemplation. Speaking of time, the RIG's clock told him a little more than five minutes had passed since he last checked, so it hadn't been long.
He stood up, noting that the welcome mat he landed on may have prevented the fall from being even worse. Specifically, it welcomed him to a store that sold real wood. That was the last place he wanted to be right now… especially because he thought he saw woody tendrils grasping at the grimy window.
His steps clanked ominously against the metal floor, yet he saw no Necromorphs. The ones in the area must have still been near the top of the Church. However, he avoided the Corruption – of which there was plenty. No reason to tempt fate, especially after how insanely lucky it had been for him to get pushed back to the Sprawl instead of into deep space.
His priority was to find more ammo for his Line Gun, which, though bludgeoned and practically held together with tape, still functioned. The Concourse was a great place to obtain it. He spotted a hardware store and stepped inside, finding it in shambles. Shelves were pushed over, burying the floor in junk. Some of the damage must have been from looting, while other parts were intentionally vandalized by the Necromorphs to prevent people from gaining weapons against them. If not for that, there would have been more power cells than he could carry!
He could only afford to spend a couple minutes scrounging, but he came out of it with a small number of compatible plasma cartridges that hadn't been taken or destroyed. Not much, but it'd be enough to take down a couple of smaller zombies. Against something like a Brute, though… not so much. Exited the store and got to his second, more important, order of business.
Are you there? He projected his mind past his body and tried to connect to another. At first, the answer was an unsettling silence. His stomach flipped end over end, and an unthinkable thought entered his brain. What if –
Curtis?! His terror immediately turned to dust. Her "voice" was faint, but he discerned palpable relief. I thought you might have…
I was knocked out for a few minutes, but I'm OK, he interrupted so she didn't need to finish. They remained quiet for a moment more, just appreciating each other's presence.
I guess we're going to GovSec now, she eventually added. Yeah, he supposed they were. Isaac was the last loose end to tie up. There was nothing left to do except travel across the gulf of space and put an end to the thing that threatened all life. Even if they failed, it would be a good way to die. We won't. He knew. But if they did. Anyway, you're in the Concourse. Isaac – whom I just told you're still alive – and I are in some kind of maintenance area; that was the only airlock we could find before Isaac's oxygen ran out. She showed him a grainy image of pipes and steam. There must have been hundreds of miles of such "underground" tunnels.
Let's try to meet at Cassini Towers, he suggested. He'd never been inside the fancy apartment complex, but it was a recognizable landmark close to their ultimate destination. Nicole and Isaac could surely find a map once they emerged. Then we can head to the Transport Hub. That was the nexus of Titan Station's tram systems, and a quick route to all three Crossover Tubes. He didn't know whether those routes were still open, but they needed to try! They might even get lucky and find a shuttle to take them across.
Sounds good. His wife paused. I love you, Curtis. Good luck.
He sighed as the voice in his head dimmed. All the biomass between them disrupted the psychic Bond they shared. Regular substances dampened it a little, and other telepaths weakened it even more. That didn't matter most of the time, when they remained close to each other. They'd better hurry, because Curtis would quickly lose his mind without that connection.
It faded completely after a few moments, with each going their separate ways. At least Nicole had Isaac to keep her company. Curtis, on the other hand, was alone.
NOT QUITE.
Technically, that was true. However, the Black Marker didn't make great conversation. Glad not to be completely abandoned, especially because the Golden Marker would worm its way into his psyche sooner than he'd like.
Curtis feared that already happened when Tiedemann's visage burst onto every screen in the vicinity. The noise startled him most, but he was too tired to physically react. Wait, this isn't a hallucination, Curtis realized. The Director of Operations appearing again was a completely rational thing to happen. More importantly, he hadn't lost his marbles after 15 seconds.
"This is Director Tiedemann," he began, looking far more tired than in the first vid he shot. "All surviving squads are ordered to fall back to the Government Sector. Operation Endgame is in effect. Contingencies are in place to deal with our lost assets. Best of luck to you all." The screens stuttered before looping back to the beginning.
A far more punctual address than his evacuation order. Curtis shrugged. This changed nothing about what he and Nicole needed to do – unless the soldiers got wise and tried to destroy the Marker by themselves. He walked away, this new ambient noise fresh in his mind.
Cassini Towers shouldn't be far, he thought, though he kept his Line Gun ready. Perhaps 30 minutes on foot. He only hoped his mind hadn't shattered by the time he arrived. He already heard voices by the time he exited the Concourse, so he held out little hope. The phantom Nicole scratched at the back of his head, telling him that he would never amount to anything, and a thousand other words laced with venom. The Shadow Man joined in before too long, giving him a massive headache and inordinate rage.
A couple minutes later, he spotted a misshapen Necromorph wielding a PFM-100 Hydrazine Torch Flamethrower.
Another Shambler? Well, he needed to take his frustrations out on something.
…
On ancient Earth, people used sharp blades to clear land for agriculture or other kinds of development. Not done so much anymore, except in the case of noxious weeds, though the practice may have persisted in the backwoods of the resort worlds.
Nicole felt like one of those people as she cleared the path. Two minor differences, though: she used her claws instead of a machete, and the obstructions were made of synthetic substances rather than vegetation. So it was actually completely different! Regardless, she wasn't going to waste the dregs of her precious ammunition on wires hanging from the ceiling.
She supposed she should have been glad none were live. Or covered in Corruption. Otherwise, they would have bit back. As it was, they dropped around her like dead vines. They needed to find some stairs to escape this veritable jungle.
"Maybe this isn't the best time, with Curtis on his own, but can we talk?" Isaac asked after a monotonous minute. Not like he had much to do besides watch her work.
"Of course." They had so much to discuss that she didn't know where to begin! There probably wouldn't be time to cover everything until they escaped… at least for her. It sounded like Isaac's last few years had been less eventful. "How are you holding up?"
"Pretty good, all things considered. I feel somewhat sane again." He gripped his head as he said that, yet whatever pain he may have been in seemed to quickly pass. "I was stark raving mad after the Ishimura, holed up on that shuttle. Couldn't have been more batshit when the military found me – and it's a small miracle I didn't accidentally or intentionally kill myself." Nicole shuddered, remembering the last message she received from him. He sounded so scared while huddled in that iron coffin.
"What happened next?" Another grove cropped up just when she thought she finished chopping through the underbrush.
"I only remember bits and pieces, but they pumped me full of enough drugs to take down a rhino. There were several interviews to see what I knew about the Marker… and I sometimes woke up with massive headaches; I guess 'sleeping' under stasis isn't the most restful." He tried to rub his eyes through his helmet, making them share a brief chuckle. Still, his story was harrowing. Nicole felt grateful that he couldn't remember most of it. "Years of that and digging around my head… it should have made me even more nuts, but I think I started so crazy that I looped back around into sanity!" He cleared his throat. "I'm not sure if that makes sense."
Nicole wasn't a psychologist, yet that sounded odd. Still, everything about the last couple years had been strange, so she couldn't dismiss it. The Marker influenced the physical structure of his brain, so it wasn't implausible that outside intervention altered it again.
Neuroplasticity, which allowed the brain to adapt to trauma, was a well-documented phenomenon. Though it didn't always happen, there were reports dating back centuries about people surviving massive head trauma. Hell, she had once been lucky enough to visit a medical museum in the United States Sector where the primary curiosity was the skull of a man from the 1800s who had half of his brain blown out in an industrial accident! If someone could survive that – and this man allegedly did for decades – then it wasn't impossible for Isaac's brain to bounce back. Whether he'd stay sane or if the Marker would make him again lapse into insanity was a different question.
"I've heard of stranger," was all Nicole said. Regardless of the reason, Isaac was the man he used to be. Strong, devoted, fearless. He'd gotten away with losing those qualities on the Ishimura, but they'd need all those virtues to make it through this time around. "As for me and Curtis, we've done all right." She described in broad strokes that Curtis obtained a job in the mines while she became an artist, with both remaining anonymous with fake IDs – or so they believed until a few hours ago.
"Really? An artist?" Isaac was incredulous. "I thought you couldn't have cared less about art?"
"People change," she replied with a shrug. Nicole knew that better than most.
"Fair enough." Perhaps wanting to change the subject, he mumbled, "What made this mess?" Ran his hand across the torn-up wall, probing the cracks. Nicole paid little attention to the specific damage until Isaac brought it up.
"I… think the alien did." Now that she looked more closely, she noticed that the patterns of destruction resembled claw marks, and there was a dried-out puddle of its saliva. In fact, it looked like most of the wires had been torn out with teeth! She snipped one with her claws and tried to perceive it on a microscopic level.
"It might eat metal." Probably not exclusively, since there were clearly organic parts within the almost artificial patterns. However, she hypothesized that it supplemented its biology with metals. Some animals, primarily mollusks, did the same when they produced inorganic calcium carbonate shells around their bodies. It seemed particularly fond of copper, since that was the semiconductor most often found in wires.
Nicole felt her eyes widen as she dropped the cable. That may have explained why its blood was green! Humans used iron-based hemoglobin to transport oxygen in their blood, but some invertebrates used copper compounds, instead! While normally more blue than green, differences in biochemistry could make the difference… such as the acid component. She created a text log on her RIG and furiously clacked away at the holographic interface.
"Can't believe we've met an actual alien. I guess the Markers count, but they can't move or directly interact with the world." Yeah. Even when the Black Marker spoke to them, it seemed different. The only way for the obelisks to directly kill someone was if they tipped over.
"Oh, it's weirder than you think." Explained as quickly as she could that it had been captured by Weyland-Yutani, and it was because of their incompetence that so many died. Isaac gasped, but he said nothing else. She hoped they'd have a chance to learn more about the creature at some point. None of this mattered anymore, though, except for her rampant scientific curiosity.
It was dead. Unless Wey-Yu has more of them that didn't break out.
Nicole wouldn't indulge that nightmare until she found proof it happened, though. They traveled for a couple more minutes, not finding any obvious way out. Her concern for Curtis grew by the second. She imagined hundreds of ways he might have died in the last five minutes. Almost ready to create her own exit, but they caught a break.
"Hey!" Isaac exclaimed, though he immediately realized to be quiet. "I think this might be a way out." He pulled aside another butchered bundle of wires to reveal a ladder that led to a hatch in the ceiling. Why here, in an area that seemed no different from the rest of these maintenance tunnels? No idea. The Sprawl had been modified countless times over the decades. That applied to all cities. Nobody could remember the purpose behind it all, so she decided to be grateful that something went right.
Couldn't psychically detect how many Necromorphs were in the area thanks to the Corruption above. She popped the lid off and peeked her top set of eyes through the crack… seeing that maybe she shouldn't have been pleased, after all.
She stared into a courtyard, which was ringed with business and small stores on multiple levels. There were also fake trees and play equipment nearby, so that parents could shop while setting their children in a pale imitation of what a terrestrial park looked like. Impossible to tell what quality of neighborhood this used to be with Corruption hanging down in thick curtains. None of that mattered, though. Not with the lumbering monster several feet away.
Nicole quieted her thoughts and absorbed every detail about it. Even if she'd rather not, it was important to know every new enemy.
The thing was about the size of a Brute – a little taller, but also spindlier, so the mass remained similar. Its girth was supported by three appendages as big around as Isaac, which she wasn't sure whether to call arms or legs. All ended in claws the length of one of her limbs. The "elbow" joint of each was made from an intact rib cage, in which sat a glowing sac of flammable pus. Long, sharp bones, perhaps femurs, jutted at random from the horror, perhaps to impale anyone stupid enough to get close.
The torso seemed to be a glob of meat, and an upside-down head crowned it. Unlike other Necromorphs composed of multiple people, the constituents had not been melded very well. She saw different skin tones, as well as individual body parts. It was like a patchwork quilt of flesh. Taken together, it was a lumbering siege tower of a Necromorph. Naming these phenotypes was usually Curtis' job, but she knew just what to call it: Tripod.
Nicole doubted she and Isaac would be able to take it down by themselves.
The good news was that they didn't need to! It had no idea they were present, instead sniffing the foul air and growling in a low rumble. Probing deeper than the surface of its mind would be ill-advised, but she sensed this brother was… annoyed. Which made sense, for it looked unable to fit through any of the atrium's doors! It could widen them under its own power, yet it seemed to prefer looking for its own way out. Speaking of ways out, Nicole saw an exit about 50 feet away. No idea where it went, but beggars couldn't be choosers. It was the closest escape route, so that's the way they'd go.
She ducked down and told Isaac about the predicament. Though she couldn't see his face, he was obviously intimidated by the description of a composite revenant the size of a bathroom. Still, he agreed to ascend and try to sneak past. Not like they had many other options. She sighed, thinking of all the things which might have been. May have been foolish, but she wished their first meeting in so long was under better circumstances.
Nicole went up the ladder first, with the logic that she was faster. More likely to escape the Tripod's wrath if he saw her, she figured. Poked through the grate, only to find that the object of her fear was gone. Craned her head as much as she dared, seeing no sign of it. Must have wandered off to some other region of the courtyard. Good enough. Turned around and gestured at Isaac with a long claw for him to follow her up. He did, and the two shared the top rung as they gazed into the unknown.
Most of the floor between them and the door was covered in a roiling mass of Corruption, which flooded more and more of the room. In a couple of hours, it'd resemble the Ishimura as a wasteland (or paradise, depending on one's perspective) of meat, a collagen jungle that served their needs while being utterly hostile to those of the living. That took nearly a day, but not even a quarter of that length passed during this outbreak. Still, the floor hadn't grown eyes and tongues. It could still feel their footsteps, though, and she doubted they'd have enough time to get through before the Tripod swooped in and… well, she didn't know how it'd kill them.
That was where the playground came in.
The equipment remained meat-free, unlike the rest of the surroundings. They could reach the first piece upon emerging from the undercroft, and their exit sat a few feet from the other edge. They'd slip out, and that'd be… well, not the end, for there was more ground to cover. But at least they would no longer deal with a foe larger than both put together.
Nicole started, being the lighter and more limber of the two. She could let Isaac know if any route seemed particularly dangerous. His RIG made him strong, but it also weighed a couple hundred pounds on its own. She hoped this equipment designed for children was strong enough to bear 350 pounds for a couple seconds.
Leapt from the sewer and onto a jungle gym, easily pulling herself up to stand atop it. From this higher vantage point, she thought she saw the Tripod digging in a far corner. This place seemed like a lot of fun, though she wondered how many kids played here; not to sound like old, but most people spent the vast majority of their time on the Transnet. Or drugs. Or other fleeting distractions. She was guilty of falling into addictions at times. No human could escape them. In medical school, she thought these epidemics of loneliness and despair were solvable problems.
She realized only fairly recently that EarthGov wanted them to persist. More time spent absorbed in illusory pleasures meant less time to think about the chains holding one down.
But she digressed. No kids would play here ever again. She and Isaac were the last visitors before the final closing time.
She dropped onto her stomach and extended a hand. Isaac took it, and she hoisted him up. The jungle gym shuddered under their combined weight, but the metal held for a moment. The swings and see-saws probably would not.
Nicole knew of a game called "the floor is lava"; children on her floor of Titan Heights played it in the hall (so clearly some kids still knew how to have fun). The idea was that you "died" upon touching the floor. This'd be like that, with the caveat that they might perish.
From there, they resumed their epic quest across the volcano. Some close calls, which included a nail-biter where she accidentally kicked a toy into the mire. Every piece of equipment they mounted also jiggled under their weight, but nothing happened. The Corruption seemed not to notice or care about such movements, since they weren't directly caused by humans the way footsteps were. A smarter entity could have figured out that the motions were continuous, not happening everywhere else, and moving in a continuous direction.
It took only a few minutes to close the gap, yet it felt like hours. Somehow both frightening and tedious at the same time. They perched upon the edge of a crumbling castle replica, which was an interesting prop for kids to play on. The faux medieval architecture clashed wildly with the sleek space station, though she supposed that was part of the fun. Somehow, the former was in better shape. Probably a more appropriate locale for zombies to run around, too.
"I'm going to get off," whispered Isaac. The man wanted to forge ahead for once, which was fine with her; this may have been the one obstacle where she couldn't be much help. There was a small patch of ground unmarred by Corruption around the exit. She'd join him there when he descended. He put a foot on the railing and looked down.
Slowly lowered himself, which caused the framework to creak. Regardless of weight, the thing wasn't designed to be used like this! His toes touched the ground a second later, though, which took pressure off the whining plastic. She could only imagine the thoughts racing through his head. Curtis would have pondered the consequences of failure. Isaac probably walked himself through each step, as any good engineer did.
He gave a tentative thumbs up. They were now close enough to the door to escape, even if she fumbled at the last second. A fleeting thought crossed her mind.
Why not have a little fun when there's no risk?
Nicole mounted the railing and stood tall, which made Isaac cock his head. What did she think she was doing? A backflip, that was what. Actually, make it double! The wind rushed past her scalp as she completed a 720-degree arc, landing an inch from the Corruption. The rush happened so quickly that it was impossible to put into words, or even thoughts. One needed to experience it personally.
Never showed off while fighting Necromorphs, yet the lack of immediate danger gave her a brief chance to indulge. The gymnastics skills drilled into her during childhood remained intact. Working out for a couple hours every day kept her fit – how ironic that she had more time to get healthy as a zombie than a normal human!
She bowed to her audience of one. Isaac gave a polite golf clap inaudible to her. For a moment, she dared to feel happy. They did everything right.
The ground shook beneath them, as if a tree fell nearby. That was what she assumed it felt like, at least. Anger flooding her being gave her a better idea of what really went on. Nicole slammed her hand onto the door, which slowly worked to determine whether she was human or if a broom knocked against it.
Even though they played their parts perfectly, the monster still found them.
The Tripod didn't run at them when he spotted the pair from across the room. He jumped. Leapers already owned that move, but the fact something not much smaller than a gunship dive-bombed them might've made her pass out if that were physiologically possible. Now the three legs made more sense!
She and Isaac rolled out of the way right before he landed, which made a small crater in the spot they stood a second before. They'd have been pulverized into paste. Her brother reared back on two appendages while the third whipped around to rectify that error. Thought they were done for… until he turned blue.
Stasis came to the rescue again.
She and Isaac hauled themselves from the morass, which now called to every Necromorph for a mile in all directions. It clung to her legs and tried to make her part of it. She'd resist to the end.
The door decided she had enough human in her to deign to open, and they charged through, nearly tripping over each other. Half-expected to see a whole army of her kith on the other side, but there was no such thing. Unless the Necromorphs figured out how to turn invisible. Yeah, she didn't worry much about that… though maybe she should have.
The stasis wore off right as they passed through, though Nicole thought nothing of it as her Tripod cousin snapped back to reality. Too far away to seize them now. Still, she'd been surprised enough times to glance back. Curtis would have cursed if he saw what she did.
The mouth of his upside-down head opened impossibly wide. His jaw must have turned into cartilage to accomplish that without snapping off. For a moment, she stared into an abyss with a tiny flicker of light at the back of the throat. That was when the "tongue" flew out. She tackled Isaac to the side; the pointed lance pierced the floor instead of impaling her former fiancé. They stumbled into a wall, getting a brief look at the appendage before continuing to dash away.
It must have been 40 or 50 feet, which was longer than the Tripod's entire body. Curled up inside the torso, likely composed of the victims' intestines, waiting to strike prey out of its impressive reach. Reminded her of some species of frogs, which used the same evolutionary feature to catch insects. The glowing joint perhaps made angler fish a more apt comparison. She'd only seen those in visions of the Black Marker.
Though the tongue emerged only for a moment before it shot back down the Tripod's throat. She could have sworn she saw a baby fused into the tissue near the glowing bit. And it blinked at her.
She hoped she never saw it again as she and Isaac kept running from all the monsters that now knew their location.
4 Hours, 30 Minutes Post-Sprawl Outbreak
Curtis burned through the little ammunition he found earlier while fighting this Necromorph. His aim must have gone sour, which didn't bode well for him if… once he beat this monster.
It wasn't easy. Despite being a "standard" Necromorph, it put up quite a fight. It matched each bullet with a gout of flame; his RIG was covered in sticky fuel and scorch marks. The heat penetrated the temperature shielding, which made him roast in the armor. Felt like he stood outside in the desert. A couple more blasts, and he'd be cooked alive. Then again, he had it on the ropes, too. One of its arms had been blackened by a burst of plasma. That would've been the end of the matter if it hadn't been wearing an industrial RIG when it reanimated.
Glanced over a table that he took cover behind, sizing up the monster. Tendrils sprouted like weeds from cracks in the armor. Its disgusting mouth flapped at him, though the only thing that came out were garbled roars. Dead eyes stared back, betraying no emotion. If Nicole were present, however, he'd feel its pure hatred. He needed to kill it before it called for backup. Hell, it probably did already.
Fuck this. He wanted to be done, and his chance came when the zombie popped off the current tank of hydrazine and screwed on a new one. It reloaded much quicker than the last Shambler, which added to his fears that the Marker learned about the power of guns and industrial tools. Might've taken a page from him.
He vaulted over the table, taking one of his final shots at the abomination. It looked up, and he saw fear in its body language. Curtis took little pleasure in killing these things. Though it felt good to free the people trapped within from their fleshy prisons, he still felt echoes of their fear and pain, such that it was, through Nicole. One of the few positives of her being gone was that he wouldn't experience that for a while.
Another bolt struck it in the arm, making it wail as it fell back. Scrambled for cover in a fashion that surprised him. He stalked to where it hid, only to witness something unexpected.
He saw it crouched over another Necromorph that hid behind a wall?! That made no sense. They hunched in a position that almost resembled fear. Voices in his head whispered for him to pull the trigger. Part of him wanted to comply.
Oh. The scales began to fall from his eyes.
"Wait… you're human!" he exclaimed, not quite believing it. They still looked like monsters, though they took on wavier visages as the lie crumbled. The Golden Marker yelled at him to hurry up and kill them, apparently dense enough to think its pleas would convince him. They did quite the opposite, making him force the Line Gun away.
"So are you," the "Shambler" wheezed. It dropped its flamethrower, unable to hold it anymore.
Suddenly, the veil was torn away. He no longer saw a Necromorph, but a human being. One almost as beat-up as him. The Marker could make him see things he knew to be fake, though a sense of illusion hung over them once he realized the deception. That didn't remove the pain these deceptions caused.
Speaking of pain, the person retracted their helmet to see what kind of damage they'd taken, also allowing Curtis to observe the person he'd nearly killed.
She was a woman with brown skin, though too much of it had been turned blue from the multitude of bruises covering her. Her dry, cracked lips were contrasted with the sweat pouring down her, which soaked her dirty, brown pigtails. Overall, she was the perfect example of the end of the world: tired, desperate, and beaten… but not yet broken.
Curtis followed suit by removing his mask, too; only right that they see face-to-face. Had to show her that he wasn't the monster she may have believed.
"I'm really sorry." He coughed, suddenly overcome by the reeking air now that his nose had been directly exposed to it. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah. Your aim is piss-poor, sorry to say," she sneered. "I'm surprised you've held out so long." Not the best introduction, yet he got the frustration. He just tried to kill her. Curtis shot first! Why should she be polite?
At least she's not being influenced by the Marker right now. "My name's Curtis," he said, extending a hand. The woman's eyes sparkled when she saw he held a tube of Somatic Gel. While Curtis wasn't happy about giving away this precious resource, it was the right thing to do.
Kindness elevated humans above Necromorphs. The undead may have helped each other, but only to strengthen the whole hive. They had little regard for each other as individuals, as their eternal hatred for Nicole proved. There was no room for anyone different. Admittedly, altruism was rare in modern society.
"Ellie. Charmed." She shook his hand like he was dead. Supposed he was until a moment ago from her perspective. Regardless, she appreciated the salve, which she generously applied to her wounded shoulder. Another shot to the same area would've blown her arm clean off. "Oh, that's the good stuff," she moaned as the drug knitted her flesh back together. She shoved the rest of the canister into the RIG's receptacle so it could be routed to the rest of her body. From the looks of her, she hadn't been lucky enough to use any before now.
Curtis heard whispers from behind Ellie. That normally meant the Marker tried to worm deeper into his brain. In this case, though, it was real. He glanced behind the woman to find the other "Necromorph", who rocked back and forth. In actuality, the figure was an emaciated man wearing a light industrial RIG. Looked like it'd enable him to survive in a vacuum, but the material would crumple under a single strong blow.
"Who's your friend?"
"That's Nolan," Ellie replied, looking behind her. "I couldn't pry anything out of him but his first name." Curtis felt his brows furrow.
"You teamed up with someone you don't know?" Obviously, that wasn't an issue; that was how he met almost everyone he called a friend! It was more that Curtis didn't want to be rude to a person who was, to put it mildly, off his rocker.
"More like he's following me. I ran into him about an hour ago, outside Titan Memorial, I think." Probably a patient there, considering how sallow and sickly he looked, combined with obvious mental issues. He looked more through Curtis than at him. "Still, I'm not evil. He has nowhere else to go, and he's not bothering me. May as well let him stick around as long as he's not a menace." Yeah, this guy wouldn't have survived a minute by himself. He might eventually snap and attack Ellie, though that was a danger anyone – including the most seasoned survivors – could succumb to.
The cynical side of Curtis thought she may have kept him as a distraction or a human shield, but he quickly chided himself on even having such a notion. She clearly did a lot to protect this guy, solely based on the fact that he wasn't dead.
A distant roar rang out from behind him. He wasn't sure whether the Necromorphs caught onto them, though they had no reason to stick around and find out.
"We should move."
"We?" Ellie replied.
"I'm not evil." He repeated what she said to try and connect with her. "There's no way I'm going to leave you guys alone." She still looked at him with suspicion as her helmet reformed around her head. "As long as you trust me… and I completely understand if you don't." Regardless of him attacking (though she must have understood that was out of control, since she experienced the same hallucination), her most recent experiences with humans hadn't been positive. She must have seen people die. Friends, family, coworkers. Being one of the final people alive meant everyone she cared about was gone.
"Don't think I have much of a choice."
Though there was little to say, they ended up talking about themselves. Curtis told her that he worked as a CEC miner, and that his wife and a mutual friend also survived, but that they'd been separated and planned to meet at Cassini Towers. Didn't bother with other details, since she'd (rightfully) think he went crazy again. Ellie would believe whatever he said after she saw Nicole with her own eyes, though.
Assuming she lived that long. He cringed. Daina taunted him about his inability to save anyone but the people he really cared about, as if he was content to let strangers perish. He wasn't. It broke his heart every time the monsters struck a person down and twisted their body to inflict more violence. The only people who deserved such a fate were those who ushered in this apocalypse to begin with. Maybe this time, he could protect people he didn't know.
Anyway, Ellie told him she also used to work for the CEC as a heavy equipment pilot! Specifically, she operated a P-5000 Powered Work Loader in the CEC's construction and industrial facility. Unlike the rest of their Titan Station assets, it was part of the Sprawl instead of GovSec. In fact, the CEC museum he passed in the Transport Hub on his way to work was part of the sprawling complex. However, she currently worked for their rival. After being humiliated and downsized, the company sold the place to Weyland-Yutani for a pittance about a year ago, which Curtis remembered well, both from the news and people at work talking about the deal. That was where the Atmospheric Processing Plant neared completion; it had been intended to launch in just a few weeks.
Most of the staff kept their positions, since they were already trained in megastructure engineering. Now, instead of building planet crackers and support ships, they put the finishing touches on a machine of comparable size. Curtis had plenty of disdain for both corporations, but he couldn't decide which one of those was more impressive.
It was interesting to hear about, and it took his mind off the pressing dangers. Maybe venting to a fellow CEC comrade was cathartic… but more likely, she wanted to distract herself as much as he did. In that sense, it seemed like they shared many experiences. However, he had an important question that he hoped wasn't putting his foot in his mouth.
He got the chance to ask when they paused at egress to an alley, looking back and forth for signs of death. Plenty of Corruption, some of which they'd accidentally stumbled into, but they'd avoided the worst of it. Brought the Necromorphs down on their heads by the dozens, though. He was lucky that Ellie had plenty of plasma cells that she let him have, since the Flamethrower ran on a completely different fuel source. Otherwise, they probably would've been fucked. Certainly would have been if either tried this alone.
"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you evacuate when you had the chance?" Half-expected her to grow spiteful upon being asked such a personal query. She only reacted with a wistful sigh, and Curtis imagined she thought of better times.
"I was looking for a friend of mine. Kaleb. Maybe I could've found him earlier if the comms weren't down." He knew the pain that brought, now more than ever. "He was dead by the time I did, and I couldn't reach an evac point quickly enough – saw the last shuttle cast off right before I got there." She raised her head, and Curtis saw Nolan twitching behind her. He'd kept following them, not saying a single word. Curtis forgot he was present a couple times, leading to him jumping when he turned around and saw the guy a foot away! "You?"
"Pretty similar," he said with a shrug. Again, he'd explain the rest when his wife was around. Honestly, Curtis was happy he retained enough social skills and common sense to know telling Ellie about his zombie wife was a bad idea. Not like he talked to many people. Speaking of which, Nicole wasn't entirely gone…
"You think this woman will keep traveling with you when she meets me?" The illusion snarled in his ear. "She'll flee on the spot, knowing you're the monster for keeping someone like me in your life."
It took all his mental fortitude to beat back the phantom. The hallucinations were so insidious because they preyed on his fears and doubts. He was worried that Ellie would run away because of Nicole. He feared that she'd die because of that. The worries almost overwhelmed him and seized control of his mind, yet he continued to fight through a nosebleed. He just needed to endure a couple more minutes. Then everything would be all right.
Suddenly, the Bond between him and Nicole sparked back to life! She was in his head, and the Marker's words were exorcized.
They didn't need words to exchange what happened to them in a moment. Nicole expressed surprise that he found other people alive. Still, it sounded like she and Isaac had an equally shocking journey, with finding the alien's "nest" and encountering a new, gigantic Necromorph. Curtis hoped it was a one-off freak, like the Graverobber or Spider.
Why doesn't the Marker make more of those ultra-powerful types? he wondered. Maybe it was that they could only be created under specific circumstances with particular kinds of people. That was his best guess.
The interference was stronger than he hoped with all the flesh around. They were only a few blocks from Cassini Towers, so they should have become connected much earlier. Still, he hoped that they wouldn't be separated for too long again.
A cloud of smoke parted, revealing two figures at the entrance to the apartment building. Curtis inhaled deeply and hoped introductions went all right.
4 Hours, 45 Minutes Post-Sprawl Outbreak
It took less time than Nicole expected to bring this woman up to speed on what she was. Despite screaming at first, Ellie rolled with the punches, which were strong and numerous. Still, fighting zombies for the past several hours primed her to believe whatever nonsense the universe threw at her. Explaining everything would have taken hours, so she and Curtis hit the biggest bullet points. It was the same list her husband used with Karrie: Ishimura, cover-up, Markers, monsters, bringing it all down, etc.
Most importantly, they needed to get to the Government Sector to destroy this Golden Marker before its madness spread across the universe (though she left out the fact that more Markers were in various stages of development, for that'd bring down the mood). That was why they kept moving, inching closer to their distant goal. The Transport Hub was near, so they didn't need to limp halfway across the station. Whether any of the trams worked was a different matter.
Nicole didn't know what it said about her that she could be so blasé in rattling off the weirdest story in history as if it were a shopping list.
They were in an elevator – one of the few that retained power – when she finished her tale. Ellie said nothing. Nolan, whom she didn't believe would survive long because of his mental state, also remained silent… though he may not have paid attention. An eerie stillness settled over the group, packed in like sardines. They found a rare moment of safety as they descended.
"You probably don't remember me. I barely remember you," Nolan rasped from his spot in the corner. He looked at Isaac, though she wasn't sure if the words were meant for him.
"What?"
"In the cells," he elaborated, voice dry and raspy. "We were the only two people there, but they tried to keep us far apart."
The truth came to Curtis and her at the same time. Six people were enrolled in EarthGov's schemes: Lexine, Gabe, her, Curtis, Isaac, and one other person they didn't know. Well, they found him. She told Isaac so he had context. Meanwhile, Ellie probably wondered who Lexine and Gabe were, since they hadn't the time to bring up those two during the synopsis.
"I was part of a ship: the USG O'Bannon. We were at Aegis VII right before it blew up, and a piece of the Marker was on the planet. It… changed me." He didn't move, yet his eyes darted wildly, as if waiting for a Necromorph to burst through a wall. Nicole had no idea anyone visited the planet before it blew itself apart, but it made sense. It took two weeks for the world to disintegrate once an entire continental plate slammed into it.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I know what that's like." Isaac empathized. He understood, perhaps better than any human – even Curtis – what it meant for the insidious force to burrow in. Nicole pondered if she judged him too early. Maybe Nolan was made of sterner stuff than he appeared.
Ellie, again, had nothing to say about any of this. The world became a profoundly irrational place, so there was nothing to do but help the inmates run the asylum. The options were that or leave, and she'd rather hang around people who had experience.
The elevator opened and spat them out into a hallway. The first things she noticed were blooms of Corruption extruding from the vents. The tendrils within pulsed with energy as the simple cells tirelessly toiled to make the Sprawl a better place for its new inhabitants. The good news was that Titan Station (probably) couldn't have all its oxygen remolded into toxic gasses because it was so much bigger than the Ishimura. That didn't mean it wouldn't try.
The left wall became a series of windows, through which she witnessed more of the dying city. Another silent explosion happened in the distance, perhaps from a gas main blowing. The body of a dead man floated outside, his frozen corpse seeming to smile. She looked at the opposite wall to find… a toy store and a candy shop.
Their location dawned on her. She wasn't shocked so much as she was nervous. While staring at the corridor's end, she asked, "Is there any way around?"
Ellie had a map of the station downloaded on her RIG and graciously shared it with them – couldn't believe they forgot that basic thing! That made it a rhetorical question; unless they invested twice the time and distance or took a chance with more tunnels, cutting through Titan Elementary was the way. This was a rear entrance, but the front opened into the Transport Hub.
Which was logical; parents from across the station needed to drop their kids off, so it was at a central location that most of the workforce passed through every day. The middle and high schools were farther away, since those kids could supervise themselves.
I'm sorry, Curtis whispered in her mind, equally afraid by what they'd see inside. Nicole shuddered as she looked at the colorful cartoon characters painted on the exterior, some of them marred with Corruption or bullet holes. The gore here made her think the school's security officers put up an admirable fight to protect the kids.
Kids. They got lucky by never seeing Necromorph children, but such fortune ran out.
After all, class was in session that day.