Restless - Chapter 6

AN: 1/4

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I don’t know how long we walked, but the path we took was confusing. And that's saying something considering I commonly ran packages down into the Undercity. The paths down there were something else.

 Clyde must’ve had a great memory to know the path so well. Countless intersecting paths were caved in, making it even harder to find the right direction. I almost immediately got turned around and lost.

The sewer system was rather tight, narrowing down to points where my shoulders scraped up against the walls unless I walked diagonally. The constantly shrinking and growing space made me incredibly uncomfortable.

I had to close my eyes several times just to get by, each time forcing myself to think as though I was somewhere else. Somewhere with space. Somewhere where the walls weren't literally closing in on me. Somewhere that wasn't freezing.

Several times I caught myself just as my breathing sped up. I had to force myself to go back through square breathing exercises just to keep from hyperventilating. And yet all the work at keeping myself calm did little to ease the constant anxiety worming into my heart. Or the shivers wracking my body.

Unlike above, we were silent in the sewer. Had been ever since Moll slushed through some rotting sewerage just after we dropped in. Her bad mood was infectious, silencing Clyde for once. Or it was the double combo of my anxiety and her irritation. I thought about the pros and cons of asking the two Omens a question, eventually deciding to just do it. The silence was killing me anyway.

”What’s with all the collapsed tunnels?” I kept my voice low even as I asked, adhering to the quiet atmosphere. It took quite a bit of effort to keep the shakiness I felt throughout my body from bleeding into my voice.

Clyde replied as Moll shot a look over her shoulder. “Back when the infection spread, the army blew them up as part of their defensive line. Made it easier to keep ‘em back if they couldn’ come up through the sewers.”

“Ah, right. Makes sense.” I nodded my head even as more unanswered questions stacked up. Funny how asking one question revealed three more.

For one, he said ‘army’. I definitely wasn’t in the Republic considering we had legions instead of armies. Same thing, I guess, but everyone used the word legion when referring to them. 

Where exactly am I? And what was this infection? It must’ve been quite something to force the army of this place to make a defensive line. 

Lastly, a question I was almost afraid to have answered, why the need for a defensive line and not a quarantine zone? The difference between the two was quite heavy; the implication even heavier.

“Did you check what was happenin’ on the other side?” Moll asked, snapping her fingers to generate fire once more. She sent a plume forward to an intersection, smoothly illuminating every part of it as if wary of an ambush. It felt so very warm.

Clyde shrugged. “And when would I have time to do that? Huh? Was busy diggin’ your sorry hide outta the ground.”

”Aw, c’mon. I know you better than that.” Moll glanced over her shoulder with a skeptical look in her eyes. I tried to read her expression to get a better grasp of the situation, but she quickly turned back to leading the way forward.

The man sighed dramatically, though the typical creases at his eyes gave his true feelings away. At least I could keep up with Clyde’s expressions, though I got the feeling he was intentionally making it easy. ”Fine, fine… yeah, I checked. Supposed to be a Death Walker stompin’ round. Gave the defensive line quite the thrashin’ before reatreatin’. A group of Heroes pushed it back.”

“Damn, already a Death Walker?” Moll created a ball of fire, running her hand through it as if to sanitize it before rubbing at her face. “Took a year for one to pop up in Minchest. Hope we don’ run into that thing. Or a Grave Knight for that matter. Fresh out of antidote.”

What the hell was a Death Walker? It sounded like something I definitely wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley… or anywhere really. Surely it was some kind of ferocious monstrosity to make the two Omens hesitant about approaching. And there was that word again: Minchest. What happened to not talking about that place?

”Think it's got Grave Knights runnin’ round?” Clyde asked. He sounded as though he already had an answer in mind though. An answer I probably wouldn’t want to hear. No clue what a Grave Knight was either.

”Depends. How long since they first discovered the Death Walker?” 

Clyde shrugged once more. “Dunno. Didn’t ask too deeply.”

”Then yeah, probably. Otherwise it wouldn’ have tried to push through the army without forces of its own.” Moll looked lost in thought for a few moments. “What Heroes? Anyone we know?”

”Your old friend, Lorrence Lith. A couple of other newer ones I didn’t bother learning about. Oh! And Chessa Brokk.” Heroes! Were they Heralds stranded in this strange place too? Or this place's version of Heralds? Too bad the chances of me slipping away from these two were astronomically low. Maybe I could get away after we get up on the surface?

“That old bastard is still alive?” Moll brought the conversation back. Probably referring to that Lorrence Lith guy. Not a Herald I’d ever heard of, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. Outside of the well-known Heralds, there were hundreds of thousands that stayed out of the public eye for one reason or another.

”Guess so.” Clyde paused for a moment before nodding his head up to one of the access chutes illuminated by Moll’s flames. A set of rusty rungs lead back up to the surface. “Our stop is just ahead.”

“Jasper, you’re up. Go on up and get the manhole cover for us ole’ folks.” Moll stepped out of the way, though not before sending a bolt of flame to hover just below the metal lid.

“Right.” I unwillingly marched forward, my heart slamming in my chest as I headed for the rusty rungs. I wanted to run far, far away from here, not push head-first into a place that required a defensive line to be set up around it.

The first rusty rung felt particularly heavy in my hand as I gripped it. I sent a glance back over my shoulder but only met the rather impatient face of Moll and the always-smiling eyes of Clyde. “A-anything I should worry about?”

“Ah, peek slowly before takin’ it off all the way. Some of those Shiev bastards might be movin’ ‘bout.” Clyde helpfully informed me, driving up my unwillingness to go first even more than I thought possible. 

Would it break character too much to go running and screaming? I forced back the words in my throat with a harsh swallow. One hand at a time, I hollowly moved my awkward limbs, reaching the topmost rung far before I wanted to. In mere moments, my hands pressed up against the cold metal of the manhole cover. 

The sewers were tight, but this access shaft put it to shame as even the slightest twist of my shoulders brushed both walls. I repeated the square breathing technique, supplementing the failing technique with constant prayers.

Lifting it wasn’t an issue. This body was incredibly strong to the point I could lift it with a bit of effort. The fireball that Moll sent with me surged out from the smallest of gaps as I pushed up, illuminating the entire surface area.

The sewer exited out into an alley much like the one we originally descended through. Only, it was much, much filthier. Rats scurried around as soon as the fire flared up into the alley, causing far too much information to pour into my mind. That, combined with the tight passage up, threw me into overload as my brain struggled to process what it was seeing.

Fibrous strings of… raw meats? Maybe. Regardless of what it was, sinewy strands of something red stretched out around the alley like cobwebs, casting deep shadows on the surroundings. Certain points of the strands were particularly bulbous and twitchy like cancerous growths, each about the shape of a rat.

”Clear?” Clyde whisper-shouted from below. 

I heaved the manhole cover up and slid it off to the side. The metal screeched far too loudly against the ground, causing my entire body to freeze up as I sent erratic looks around at my surroundings. No reaction, though the sinewy strands crisscrossing around seemed to tremble with the noise.

I forced my way up, taking a deep breath as fresh-ish air once more rushed into my lungs. Gone was the stale and wretched sewer air. Now it just smelled slightly like… rotting meat? And a weird sickeningly sweet scent I couldn’t quite place. I took several deep breaths, feeling significantly better after escaping the pressing walls of the narrow sewer system.

“Clear,” I whispered down the shaft. A moment later a duffel bag flew up behind me and hit the ground. Clyde popped up right after, revolver drawn as he scanned our surroundings with eagle eyes. Literally. The guy's eyes had shifted to eagle eyes at some point.

Moll took her time coming up, practically sanitizing her entire body with fire as if to clean off the sewage we’d sludged through. From the look of distaste on her face, I didn't think it was working.

Then she popped up, looking past us. She walked to one of the alley’s walls, prodding at one of the meat strands with a sick expression. “Right, ‘cause this is so much better than down there. ”

”Could be worse. Coulda popped up into a Shiev Nest.” Clyde ever so helpfully called out.

Not sure what a Shiev was, or why getting into one of their nests was so bad, but from the expression on Moll’s face I got a feeling it wasn’t anything I wanted to stumble across. I weighed the odds of Jasper, Moll’s Nephew, actually knowing what a Shiev Nest was. Considering two Omens were against going into one, there was little chance Jasper had been in one.

That being the case, it freed up a question I could ask without seeming out of character. “What’s a Shiev Nest?”

”Ah, right… the Shiev Infection hasn't spread that far north yet. Uh, they’re like… hmm…” Moll scratched at her head. “A little help, Clyde?”

”Basically walkin’ corpses with a hunger for human flesh.” Clyde pulled down his bandanna, revealing an entirely rotten look on his face. His nose had disappeared, rotted off along with the majority of his skin. It just left purple muscles and sinewy strands of rotting meat held together by a crisscross of black veins. “Grr.”

“Gah!” I startled back, my hands… going for something as I instinctively put up some distance between us.

Clyde flipped his bandana back up, chuckling to himself as my mind spiked with useless adrenaline. Right, he could shapeshift… 

Moll joined in his laughter as she snapped her fingers, causing a wall of fire to rise and burn away the meat fiber net blocking our way out of the alley. As it caught fire, an awful porky stench filled the entire space. “They’re not that bad. Just shoot for the head, and you’ll be fine. We’re close to our destination too, so we shouldn’t run into many of them.”

I rubbed at my head, squeezing my eyes shut to burn away the image of Clyde’s rotten face. Zombies. We were running into a place contaminated with zombies. They were a favorite of the various radio stations. It put a whole new vibe on Death Walkers and Grave Knights. They must be a more powerful variant of the normal zomb- Shiev.

Just what had I gotten into? No, before that, how had I even gotten into this- this cursed situation? I wasn't supposed to be here! I was supposed to be safe running packages back on Voth Prime. Not- not this!

A stringy sound, as though a wound band popped loose, snapped through the air. It overpowered the crackling fire. With a wave of Moll’s hand, the fire went out, leaving an exit back out onto city streets. “Let’s go.”

The two Omens started walking, and for once I didn’t lag behind. I’d heard enough radio shows to know how this works. Whoever lags behind first is almost guaranteed to get caught by whatever horrifying monsters lurk in the dark. By the pyre, that wouldn’t be me.