Out Alone Again

After we arrived back at the bunker, we entered the code and did not tell it to them. A person would have to know it to enter or exit and so they were effectively prisoners, but extremely comfortable ones at that. We allowed them both to take showers, eat, and we even treated Susan's wounds with suave to give her some relief. 

It was only about 1 PM, and so it was still the height of the day. I went to Zane to talk to him. "Zane, I am going to go back out there and see if I can find more survivors. The longer we wait, the less there will be. You can stay with our two new guests to make sure that they don't do something stupid, and I will go alone."

He shrugged. "Okay, just be careful. If something seems too sketchy or is too dangerous, leave immediately and don't take big risks."

"Alright."

I left and walked out to my car. I popped open my door and then slammed it behind me as I jumped up into my seat. The seat squealed in protest, but I ignored it and started the car. 'It's time to have some fun.'

As my engine started, I grabbed a disk from my glovebox and slipped it into the slit on the dash. Immigrant By Led Zeppelin started blasting out of my speakers at full volume.

I floored the gas and kept it down. My truck accelerated to about 70 miles per hour over the dirt road. It smashed up and down over potholes as well as in them. My truck hated me, but I loved life. 

There was the singer yelling, and then there was my car which was screeching. I decided to join along and I started to scream along. "Our only goal will be the western shore. AHHH - AHHHHH. AHHH - AHHHHH. We come from the land of the ice and snow from the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow!" 

I continued to blare out other songs all while flying over the dirt road at an unholy speed. Eventually, I came to a crossroads. The right path led to the house we had already gone to, so I went left. After traveling for another mile, I came to a gravel road. There were offshoots from the road all around. It was a neighborhood. 

'Why the fuck is there a neighborhood out here in who knows where?'

I stopped my truck and got out with my guns and camelback. There was a small house in front of me. There was a truck parked in front of the house, but it had been destroyed by something. I walked past the truck and to the house. 

Around the side of the house, I heard a strange smacking sound, so I went around to see what it was. There was a Zombie holding an ax. The green eyes made it look maniacal as it smacked the wall with its ax over and over without tiring.

I had been quiet enough as I approached the zombie, so it did not see me. I threw my AR-15 over my shoulder and I unsheathed my combat knife. As I did all of that, the zombie continued to try to knock the wall down with his completely dull ax.

'I wonder why they destroy things.'

I slowly approached it from behind and with one quick thrust, I brought my arm forward and stuck my knife through the back of the zombie's neck and into its head. It fell down limply to the ground and dropped its ax.

In fear that the zombie would explode in a green light, I ran back a few steps and covered my eyes with the joint between my forearm and bicep. Sure enough, there was a quick flash of green light and a small shockwave from it. ZZZZZTT.

After waiting a few seconds, I quickly drew my arm away from my face and turned around towards the zombie. Where the zombie's body once lay, there was only ash and one small green stone that shined brightly. I walked towards the stone. 

'It's so clear and bright!'

When I was a kid, I was a rock enthusiast. I had collected shelves of them. The glowing green rock was more perfect than the clearest diamond. I wanted to touch it. In the back of my brain, an alarm was blaring and it seemed to say: 'Don't touch it.'

'I will touch it.'

My hand hovered over the stone and then my pointer finger moved down and brushed upon the surface. The perfectly clear stone was marred by the grease on my hand. As if in anger, the stone sent a jolt of green electricity like energy up my arm. My arm went numb where the energy lanced through, but it did not stop there. The energy went to my heart, and as it did, everything turned black. 

There was darkness, but in the darkness, a light shone. It was a distant green light, but it grew closer. I heard a whisper in the darkness. That whisper was unintelligible, but as the light grew closer, the sound increased. 

The light was coming from the stone and strangely it spoke to me. "Release your anger. Let go of it. You don't need it."

It was a soft and seemingly pleading voice at first, but it grew louder every moment. "GIVE ME YOUR ANGER! IT WILL BE MINE!"

As the stone grew extremely large in front of me, I felt myself being attacked with horrible experiences. In those moments, I had flashbacks of my life. 

The 9-5 job flashed in front of my eyes. My co-workers were slumped over their desks with coffees next to them.

'Isn't the coffee supposed to keep them awake? They are so lazy.'

My boss opened his door and he saw me staring at my co-workers. He began to yell at me for staring off into space. 

"Isn't it so unfair? Aren't you angry? I can fix all of it. I can fulfill your dreams. I will act on your anger. I will make them slump over their desks eternally."

The dream changed. It showed me sliding a knife over the throat of each of my co-workers. It showed their blood spilling into and overflowing their coffee cups in an unholy mixture of fluids.

The vision changed again as I was posed over the horrified face of my boss. I plunged the knife down into his stomach. STAB. STAB. STAB. Over and over and over. "Remember the anger you felt? THIS IS HOW YOU RELEASE IT. NOT UPON YOUR CAR WHICH CAN FEEL NOTHING, BUT UPON THE ONE WHO MADE YOU ANGRY! I will do it for you, JUST LET GO!"

'It wants me to feel my anger.'

I changed the vision to one of my own memories. I stood in my house as my father pushed me against the wall. He screamed in my face. "You think you know what it means to be a man?"

He bunched up his fingers and slammed his fist against my jaw. I fell to the ground and stars crossed my vision like a beautiful waltz. I heard him amidst the static: "You have no idea what it means. Let me show you."

He started kicking me in the ribs. Something broke. In my mind, I thought. 'I want to kill him'

My mind flashed again hours later on the same day when I had picked up a pocket knife from my room. I had flipped my drunken father over so his face was upwards with his closed eyes. I opened the knife and then forced his eye open. For a second he tried to blink, but I did not let him. He slowly began to move his arm. At that moment, I drove the flimsy knife, made in china, through his eye and to his brain. He convulsed on the bed as blood and eye fluids spurted out, but he was dead.

'I remember that day. Anger did not help me. Anger ruined my life. Being calm is always necessary.'

I let the vision disappear as held upon another emotion. Brotherly love and reasoning. I remembered when I squeezed the trigger at Lauren's head. I remembered when I had dragged my brother away. 

There was no hate, only cold and hard reasoning. I will not let go of my reasoning to feel satisfaction. 'I AM BETTER THAN YOU, stone.'

The vision vanished and I appeared in the darkness in front of the stone. The stone was forming cracks upon its perfect surface. It shattered and all that was left was a glowing green mist. The mist flew towards me. It became me.

I opened my eyes. I was lying on the ground. I stood up quickly.

'I feel more energized. It is strange, I feel like I've lost something too, but I can't quite pin down what it is.'

In front of me, a green glowing window appeared with writing thoroughly covering it. 

___________________________

Congratulations, you have awakened!

Travis Scott: Level 1. Formation tier Awakener.

Vitality → 1 // Strength → 1 // Agility → 1 // Stamina → 1 // Mana → 1

___________________________

My jaw fell slack. 'What the fuck is this? A game?'