1 [CHAPTER | 001]
The headlight sliced through the dark as the treads of the cargo tank clanked down on the hard concrete. She had grown used to the sound of the treads as the tank had crossed hundreds of thousands of miles. Looking up from the ground to stare at the black sky. As the blinding headlights faded and her eyes adjusted, the pitch-black escape to reveal the large metal pipes and ceiling panels that had long ceased to shed light. To her left was the red-haired sister named Kate. She was pretty smart, but sometimes a bit harsh. As the scraping of metal on rock went on, her eyelids fell, the black sky fading away.
The long hallway came to an end when it reached a T-intersection. Kate pulled the two control sticks back as the tank rolled to a halt. The gurgling engine began to purr as she pushed the shifter into neutral and pulled the break up. Turning to her right, she noticed her drooling sister, with a sigh she pulled herself up and out of the tank, dropping to the ground with a thump. Walking around the cargo hold, Kate pulled out a blanket. Returning to her seat, she threw one over Charl. Feeling quite sleepy, she turned the ignition off, the engine chuckling to a halt. The cargo tank got good mileage for it being a tank, but it was still a tank nonetheless. Soon the two would need to find another gas station. For now, though, it was time to sleep.
Soon Charl would stir, bumping her head on the hatch above her. Jolting upright, awake now she realized the engine was off. Charl's eyes were adjusted to the constant dark, but not to the point where she could see a far distance. With a sigh she got up, folding the blanket that was on her, "Kate must have put it on me last night."
Setting it aside, I climbed out and fell to the hard floor. The floor was made of rock and was littered with pebbles and loose metal. Almost all the floors were dirty like this. Looking past the floor I noticed an open doorway. Most were sealed shut, only the imprint of a doorway left, however, this one was open and inviting a visitor in. Stepping closer, the crunch of the floor echoed on the blank walls. Inside the room revealed a clean floor, the hard, dirty concrete replaced with worn wood. Kate had mentioned wood being a luxury, only available to the highest of residents, I wondered what a room this low was doing with wood. The next thing I noticed with a faint hum, looking around, the room was too dark to see in, despite there never being any light, the hallways always seemed to be brighter than the rooms. I blindly stumbled through the room finally reaching the back wall, here the faint hum was quite loud. Turning my head, I followed the hum, crawling along the wall. It wasn't until I bumped my head on a cabinet did I see the equally faint glow of green light. Upon further inspection, the green light was on a yellow, metal panel. On the right corner was a handle with two arrows pointing clockwise. Not thinking much of it I grabbed the handle and turned clockwise.
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