Crossing the Ocean

Waking early in the morning, the trio proceeded to eat a light meal and prepare for the day. James and Chris were assigned to clear as many infected as possible and bring them back to be converted to energy. Matt was going around to different aircraft to deconstruct them to understand the way they functioned. This was the most recent addition to his abilities. It allowed him to understand how things functioned and to recreate them with energy.

With several planes down, he had an idea of how to alter the one he had chosen so that it would function off of his energy. When he made it back to their aircraft, he began to use what energy that he had to alter it and make more suitable to the distance that they had to travel.

After about an hour, James and Chris came pulling a cart full of dead infected. Seeing the state of the aircraft they were supposed to use to get to Japan. There were sections missing and in various states of disassembled. They found Matt sitting on the steps of the loading ramp covered in sweat. It was clear that he had exhausted his energy and in need of a resupply and a break. They helped him to reach the cart so that he could absorb the infected they had brought. It only took a few minutes for all of the infected and the cart to disappear. Looking at the amount of work that had to be done, Matt could only sigh as the amount of energy that he had currently still wouldn't be enough to finish his task.

Making their way to the interior of the airport, Matt went around deconstructing as many infected as he could. In the process they found several infected that had already reached level two so he deconstructed them to retrieve the powers they possessed. It seemed that there were only so many types in the area when it came to the level two infected.

Reaching the cap that his body could contain in energy, Matt decided to convert some of it into a solid form that would allow him to more easily make use of it during their journey. With that in mind, he compressed his energy into crystal spheres that could be easily absorbed again. With that done, he continued the process of absorbing to his limit and then making new spheres. When he felt that he had enough energy, they made their way back to aircraft and continued the reconstruction.

Outfitting the aircraft the way they needed it as well as making it a makeshift living space took six hours and a massive amount of energy. With that task completed, they cleared the runway and prepared for take off. Once they finally got off the ground, they could see the entire city scape as they headed towards the ocean. There were buildings that had collapsed due to catching fire. Without firefighters to put out the flames, whole city blocks had burned down leaving patches of the city covered in ashes.

The harshest scene they could see from the sky was a hospital that they flew over. The outside had turned red with what looked like blood oozing out of every window. It was clear that the large amount of infection contained within had turned the building into what could be called a nest. They could see infected coming out of the building. With a nest in place, the number of infected would not decrease over time and would only increase.

Matt made note of this from the cockpit of the plane and decided that this would be one of the first things that he would locate and destroy when he reached Japan. Deconstructing the whole building crossed his mind since just destroying the infection on the outside would do nothing to the interior. That made his first objective to reach a level of power that would allow him to deconstruct buildings.

Once they got out to sea was when Matt noticed that their journey might have some complications. He could see birds in the distance that looked to be far larger than they use to be. Matt called over the intercom and had James and Chris assume their positions. In the making of the aircraft, he had installed turrets so that any flying creatures they encountered could be dealt with. The turrets functioned off the energy that was powering the aircraft allowing any passenger to fire them.

Bobbing and weaving to avoid hitting the birds while also giving the other two a chance to shoot them down took some time. The flock of birds chased them for about two hours before their numbers were thinned enough for them to flee. Other than a few encounters with flocks of birds, the majority of their trip had been uneventful. That was, until the sun reached the middle of the sky. Matt was looking at the ocean when he noticed the shadows on the surface of the water. Most might not think much of it thinking it was the clouds until they looked up that is.

The sky was clear without a cloud in sight. With that thought, Matt began to increase his altitude drawing questions from James and Chris.

"Why are you going up higher? That will only increase your energy expenditure." James said.

"Look at the ocean and you'll understand why we are going up higher." Matt said

James was confused until Chris pointed out the issue.

"The shadows are not caused by clouds. Judging by their shape, they should be a school of mutated fish. What fish remains to be seen though." Chris said.

James was shocked as he realized this to be true. There were probably five or six dozen shadows grouped together. The only way to decide what they were was to get closer and that was out as they might get attacked by a twenty or thirty foot shark. Who knew if the mutations that had occurred in the sea would allow sharks to jump and glide to extreme heights like flying fish.