Cole continues working on the switches.
One in front of him is not giving any pull at all.
He leans on it with all of his dying strength, putting all of his weight towards pushing it to the ground.
"A little help?!" Cole yells over to Orion.
"You got it," Orion says, preoccupied with his bombs and guns and ammo.
"Thanks a lot."
Orion grabs as much ammo and guns and gear bags as he can, while also setting aside small explosives in some sort of order that looks like he knows what he is doing.
As he is doing that, something catches his eye, across from the pods.
Orion pulls his gun and slowly walks towards what he saw.
A exit door is before him, albeit upside down in the wall.
Orion goes to the door and heaves it open above him, and points his gun.
A hallway is exposed, with sunlight breaking in somewhere.
Orion's eyes lean into the beautiful sun, after being stuck in the rotting and wet corridors of a metal death for the last day.
He smells the sea air, out there somewhere.
Everywhere has that smell. But still.
"We got an exit!"
"Nice!" Cole says, as he gets closer with the large shape inching closer to the ground. "Where are you going to plant those explosives?"
"In here. Should split the ship in half. Or collapse on itself."
"You got an answer for everything."
"Whatever. It should kill the fallen," Orion admits, his own cockiness being checked. "You done doing that yet?"
"I could use your help!"
"Fine."
Orion walks over to Cole and begins to push with all of their might on the shape.
Inch after inch.
More cranks and pops.
The final piece of the puzzle fitting in and hopefully starting a reaction.
Each of the canisters and pods seem to start to warm up and glow, and cranks and pops start coming not from the walls, but the pods themselves.
"A little loud." Orion says, as the lever is getting tougher to push the closer it gets to the floor.
"What do you want me to do about it?!" Cole snaps back.
Inch after inch.
"I'm just saying," Orion says between his teeth, "you have literal hell right underneath us."
"I'm well aware!"
The thought was eating Cole alive.
The excitement of possibly getting some answers and finding life, with the possibility that the hounds of hell were about to break forth, while he was actually dying, was a bit much.
Die trying.
Cole and Orion push harder, and the lever is submerged completely.
A final massive click, like a bell tower, is heard and felt, as a final crank is placed.
All the noises stop.
Cole and Orion have sweat pouring from their brows as they stare at each other, and then the room around them.
Nothing.
The emergency lights flicker, briefly.
Suddenly, one of the pods unseals and pops.
The egg like shape is separated and the inside can be viewed with a lift of the canister.
Orion looks at him.
Cole looks back. Orion nods. Get to it.
Cole slowly goes up to it.
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Cole clears his menu, but it keeps all popping up.
Whatever is in his eyes and head is malfunctioning.
Like it is stuck in a startup.
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Cole somehow clears everything.
He slowly approaches the one pod that hissed open.
He opens it.
A dead, skeleton like body with clothes on emerges. Cole covers his nose in shock and almost gags.
Other ones start to pop and hiss open.
Orion looks from afar and shakes his head, as the other ones continue to pop open.
"That one was dead a while," Cole says, shaking his head.
He feels guilty about it, even though they had probably died while he was still in his own pod.
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"If they're all like this," Cole starts.
"It's not your fault. This thing was completely submerged until a week ago. What do you expect?" Orion says, trying to help his friend.
Cole shrugs and goes to the next pod that has hissed open.
The smell of fresh death and rotting flesh hits his nose and then his eyes.
Another dead body, but still with its rotting flesh, as bacteria starts swelling and ballooning the corpse.
It had only been a few days.
Cole slams that pod closed, and keeps his hands on it, like trying to keep the death from getting all of them.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
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Cole's wish for death is coming.
He wishes it was sooner.
Cole turns away and looks at the pod immediately next to him.
They're all dead. Rotting.
Did they feel it? Were they awake? Was it an endless dream?
Forever sleep? Did they meet God? Did they have the secrets we all were looking for?
Cole opens the next pod, overwhelmed. Peeks.
There, lays a man.
An old man.
Long hair and beard.
But alive.
And now awake.
The Old Man tries to focus and looks around.
He looks at Cole, then around his canister.
Cole can hardly believe it.
Orion sees it and stays back, but watches in amazement.
"Hey."
That is all Cole can say.
The Old Man looks at his hands and his feet and around.
He then stares at Cole, almost offended he said 'hey'.
The Old Man then smiles a beautiful smile and laughs.
Cole laughs back.
But then The Old Man frowns.
"So it happened?" Proper, British accent.
"As in everything bad?" Cole asks back, not believing he is having this conversation.
"Yes."
"Yup."
"Yup, you say?"
Cole nods.
"Figures," The Old Man says, shaking his head. "And this is real? Yes? Or are we in hell?"
"We are in hell," Orion says from the corner, and The Old Man looks over to him, "but heaven is right outside."