Deadman

I moved over to the Undertaker’s corpse. Their yellow eyes were open and afraid, I took a moment to close them, then searched through their belongings. I found a data-square, a necklace with a pendant of a Bloodmane carved out of stone, and a rifle with a fair amount of ammo. I looked around until I saw a soft patch of ground, and dug it up with my hands, tearing through roots and ground until I had a good sized hole. I then rolled the body into the hole, and buried it. I didn’t need to, but I didn’t like the idea of something else coming along and eating her. My stomach grumbled at the scent of death, but I cut a slab of meat from the Ursan I killed to satiate it, enjoying the strong taste as the fresh blood of it ran down my throat.

I made my way into the bunker. I couldn’t be sure whether or not the Undertaker had yet been inside herself, and so had no idea if the data-square had been filled with the information she’d been sent to retrieve. It wasn’t as if the data made it heavier, at least not in any way I could detect. I made my way into the cave that the bunker was housed in, then into the bunker itself. Things were much as I left them, I saw no reason to do another search for loot since I’d already done so the first time I’d been there. I instead went directly to the main terminal, downloaded all the information onto both the square I’d brought, and the one the undertaker had with her as a backup, then left. I wasn’t sure of what Julian would do with the data. Perhaps create a vaccine against the one the Remnants were developing? Or perhaps he had bigger plans. I hadn’t had the time to ask him about its exact purpose, but I was certain it would be for the good of Pott’s either way.

I shook my head to return my focus to the task at hand. The lack of sleep was starting to affect my attention. I made my way further into the black woods. Deeper into it than I’d been before. The other Undertaker that was missing was at a bunker nearly twenty miles deeper in, and I didn’t have high hopes that they’d survived based on the state in which I’d found his compatriot.

I walked through the brush quickly, but carefully. Unlike the area around the rEvolutionary Virus bunker, I was unfamiliar with this territory, and while I had maps that depicted the region, I couldn’t be certain that things hadn’t shifted since the bombs fell. I used my newly enhanced sense of smell to avoid several Ursans, and to catch an injured mutant turkey that I tore into while moving. There was a part of me that wanted to stalk the Ursans for a while, confront them, and eat them. The time and risk involved was, of course, too high though.

It took me well into the night to make it to my destination. When I was near it, I took a particularly deep inhale, and was gratified not to smell a deadman corpse. That meant that either they’d already left, or had died in the bunker. Either way I’d need to find out for myself.

I made it to the entrance shortly after. It was a trapdoor, with the brush recently cleared from it, and the lock blown off with some type of explosive. I lifted the door, and found a familiar set of steps leading downward. The bunker’s layouts were fairly standard, and this one reminded me of the entrance to the Ozymandias project bunker. I made my way to the bottom, and found the massive main door to be already opened. The circuitry controlling the door control had been tampered with and rewired. Whoever this Undertaker was, they seemed to have impressive technical abilities.

I could smell the traces of a deadman in the bunker, but no direct scent. It was possible he or she had made their way to an airtight room. There could be all kinds of things interfering with my ability to find them considering the strangeness that went on in bunkers. I passed through the main security checkpoint and saw a sign above the main hallway that read, ‘Edison Project’. I moved deeper inside and found the layout to be slightly different from what I’d expected. There was the usual living facility first, which I decided to save exploring until after I determined the other deadman’s fate, and beyond that was a long hallway that branched off into multiple smaller labs, rather than one or two larger ones. The first one was labeled, “Havana’. I walked inside and saw three or four computers arrayed around an open space, with a strange dish-like device pointed at a far wall that was heavily padded.

With no sign of the Undertaker, I moved onto the next lab. The door above this one was labeled ‘Doorway’. I went inside where I found a similar setup to the first lab, but instead of a dish, there were two circular devices facing one another with a wall between them. There was a skeletal foot protruding from the wall on one side, and nothing else.

The third lab was labeled, ‘Excalibur’, and I found my interest piqued in spite of myself. Inside were the usual sets of computers, but there were also a number of mannequins that appeared to have been sliced perfectly in half. There were also chunks of wood, metal, and all other manner of materials that had been similarly cut, leaving perfectly smooth halves. On a table in the center of the room was a sword. It was nearly a foot longer than the one the Ren’s had provided to me, that I’d broken in my fight with The First. It had a thick black handle, and a simple crossguard. The sword was sheathed, and I took a moment to draw it. The blade was a perfect unblemished silver, except for the edge, which was black. I squeezed the handle, testing the grip, and felt a vibration begin. The edge turned a bright red, and I could smell the air burning around it. I gently pressed the blade against the table it was on, and it sliced through it as if it were butter. I slackened my grip, and the edge turned back to black. I slid the blade back into the sheathe, and placed it on my back. I’d missed the sword I’d gotten from the Rens, and was certain they wouldn’t forge me another one, but it seemed I’d found a worthy replacement. I looped the Ursan tooth charm I’d kept through the small hoop on the bottom of the sword's grip.

Having the weight of a sword on my back felt right. The absence of the one I’d received from the Ren’s had bothered me, and while I still had my knife at my hip, it wasn’t the same. I broke myself from that line of thought, my mind was still drifting too much. I moved out of the room, and further down the hall, there was a final lab to my left, and then the hall went forward to some double doors. The final lab was labeled, ‘Nirvana’. I opened the door, and found a slightly different lab from the others. There was still an array of computers, but half of this lab was sealed away with glass. Through that glass I could see a number of speakers, as well as some kind of padding on the wall. I also saw, sitting in the corner, leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, an Undertaker. I moved to the door, quickly, and swung it open concerned he was in trouble.

Once the door was cracked, I wondered why I had been so worried? Everything was fine. There was nothing to worry about, nothing to be afraid of. A kind of warm contentment permeated every inch of me, and I started to walk through the door, looking for someplace comfortable to sit down.

Why was nothing wrong? Came an alternative train of thought. You could die at any moment. Don’t let your guard down. How many rounds do you have for your rifle? Don’t stay still, you need to keep moving. What will happen while you’re away from the war? The moment you stop moving, the whip is going to hit your back. The warmth is a lie, it will kill you.

I slammed the door and stepped backward. My heartrate had slowed to a crawl, but now it was rapidly speeding back up. I took a moment to calm myself and think through what happened. It had felt familiar, that sense of contentment. I sometimes felt it when I’d been on my boat for more than a day or so. When it happened I would almost immediately start to feel an intense sense of unease, as if that kind of contentment wasn’t something I could handle. I’d just experienced the same thing, but at a much faster pace.

I looked back through the glass. The Undertaker was breathing steadily, and seemed to be okay. I just needed to find a way to shut off whatever was active in that room.