Into the Derelict; Into the Ruin
The Derelict drew everyone’s eye. The Derelict was our open secret, a mess of metal and swamp that gathered people like moths to a candle. Many went in adventurers, conquerors, thrill-seekers, heroes, search parties. Few came out. Really, it was the final frontier, the site of humanity’s greatest tragedy. But once they were in, there would be no going back.
Stooping, I found myself on my hands and knees, scraping the floor with the tip of one hand while the other clutched a flashlight. I didn’t need to worry about it running out. Recently developed Zero-point energy could power our devices for nigh on one thousand years. Though I didn’t quite understand it, I couldn’t deny its benefits. The small black device in my pocket powered everything.
In any case, I kept crawling.
Eventually, we entered a small room with a low ceiling. But at least I’d be able to stand. There were two doors. One led out onto an old metal stairwell; the other branched off into several smaller rooms. We were in the last unexplored place in the world, a place where no one would ever see us again.
I felt someone touch my shoulder and gave a quick start. “It’s just me,” I said, in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Don’t do that.”
“Hey, this was your idea, Amy.” He, smiling, said as he gingerly ducked under a red wire hanging from the ceiling. “I’m usually the one who jumpy.”
I gave a small smile as this was about as angry/disgruntled as Flint got.
“Yeah, I know. I still think it was the best option. After all, we’re outlaws, criminals. They’d be hunting us. But there’s no point in searching here in the dense mess of metal and wire and swamp.”
“Because they’d assume us to be dead.”
“Eh, let’s just not let their assumptions be right.”
“We’ll sure try,” Flint said while eyeing some blinking red and blue lights on a panel.
Soon the metal flooring disappeared under filth and grime. Eventually, even the muck was cover in water, which soaked into our boots. While in the swamp, we move even more carefully. We knew that a falling wire could be the end of us.
So, we waded through the mud in silence, neither wanting to break the other’s concentration- neither wanting to ask the difficult questions. But, when we came across a floating metal platform and clambered up it, our silence grew noticeably uncomfortable.
To further delay our conversation, I looked up. Skyscrapers of twisted steel and reached out towards the heavens. Rust and broken beams stretched as far as the eye could see. In the air, where there wasn’t metal, there was grey. The pleasant light blues of the outside world were gone. Instead, there were the greys of smoke and sadness and memories.
“Hey, Amy? What are we going to do? We’re in the Derelict, pretty far in. What happens now?”
“I don’t know.” I turned my head, looking around at the jungle of steel. I couldn’t quite tell from which direction we came.
“Should we stay here?”
“Why not?” It wasn’t a terrible place to stay, at least for the time being. In any case, I was feeling a bit tired, and my boots were wet.
We took out a tarp from my shoulder pack and draped it over ourselves. “Mabey, one of us should stand watch. The Derelict is a dangerous place.” Mumbled Flint. But, before I could respond, the both of us were asleep.
I woke up on the ground, with large masses of steel still towering around us. I gave a loud yawn then noticed Flint. He was still as stone, clenched and quivering slightly. I looked at her face; she was staring at something. I followed her gaze and saw ripples in the water below us. Something was moving. There it was. A few more seconds later, we were looking down at it. Dirty green-gray scales rolled above the murky water. They looked surprisingly similar to the metal towers that surrounded us.
I, like Flint, sat petrified. The ripples – and scales and metal – were moving closer.
Suddenly, the thing had grabbed us by our ankles and dragged us down. We couldn’t see anything. It all happened so fast. The muck and the water and the suddenness of it all served to cloud our vision. I didn’t have enough time to pull out my blaster-gun.
Still, I struggled. I did everything I could escape for the creaturs vice-like grip. Really though, I just flailed. The Derelict was so foreign and alien to me. I was at my whits end. To be truthful, I hadn’t expected it to be dangerous; at least, not so dangerous that I couldn’t handle it.
The startling realization came to me as some large semi-mechanical beast had me in its jaws. My actions heightened by real fear, I flailed harder. By luck, by skill, or by fate, my hand collided with something large soft, and round – an eye. The monstrous thing that had grabbed me just moments before vanished, leaving me and Flint behind. We flopped back on top of the platform and breath heavy sighs of relief.
“Amy?”
“Yeah, Flint?”
“I want to turn back.”
“Yeah, me too.”
