Jacob sat on the deck of the ship holding the energy reader and muttering words under his breath and sat there staring blankly at the endless tower and gate that surrounded it. He turned to the door as heard groans leading to the barracks as the sleeping crew held their hands over their eyes as the bright sun blared down onto them. He watched as faces of pain turned into pure shock and astonishment as each crew members eyes finally adjusted and saw what laid before them.

He laughed and lightly said "right! That's what I'm saying". Jacob truly was a sufferable man. He turned back towards the tower and felt a rush of wind so strong that the ship began to shudder and rotate away from the island. Following the roar of wind, a loud bell rang, so loud that the wind seemed to be a side effect. Jacob cursed and stood up holding his ears. He noticed a moisture rolling down his hands and pulled his hands away from his ears finding his hands red with blood. What had done this? Was that damn bell that loud? Jacob panicked at the sudden blood loss and tried to run into the barracks to find the ship's doctor. Right as his body turned towards the door, he noticed a man lying on the ground convulsing, covered in what seemed to be at least a liter of blood dripping from his ears. It was the doctor.

He ran to the doctor, flipping his position over from his stomach and onto his back. He watched as the man's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he continued to flail and foam from the mouth. Blood continue to trickle down from his ears and onto the deck. He didn't have long. Jacob didn't know what to do. He looked around the ship to see if anyone else could help, but he found that everyone else was either passed out like the doctor or running around as blood slowly trickled from their ears like his. Jacob stumbled and lost his footing completely and collapsed onto the doctor. Something appeared on the prompt that had been clouding his vision but he ignored it, focusing on the doctor and his now almost nonexistent breathing. Suddenly hope filled his eyes as Jess and the captain appeared from the ships deck, holding their ears and stumbling towards Jacob and the doctor.

"Help! The doctor's not going to make it, and I'm not far behind without him!" Jacob softly slurred, truly only worried about what the doctor could do for him, but they didn't know that. His vision began to cloud and his head began to feel faint as darkness began to reign over the dwindling light that was now his vision. As the lights began to fade completely into nothing, he noticed the doctor and Jess weren't bleeding but their hair and clothes were covered in blood but were otherwise coherent and healthy. How are they okay? Why aren't they bleeding?

"How.....How are you okay?" He said mustering up the last bit of strength he had to get this final words to fall from his lips as his vision faded out of existence.

Was this it? He didn't really care truly, but he at least wanted to see his son one last time. Jacob lived a life of luxury. Being the head of Victrus, the governments only scientific research department tasked with finding and researching new energy resources to aid the government's military might(oh and help society of course}, left Jacob with all the money a man could want. Jacob could care less about that. Yes, he enjoyed the small things that luxury brought, but it didn't give him time. HIs son Gunner was 9 and he could count the amount of times he had seen him this year on one hand- it's almost June. He had promised Gunner after his journey to the anomaly that he would take a month off where it would just be the two of them. Months went by at the anomaly with him making no progress, but he felt that his research into the strange energy was at a breaking point. Then suddenly the energy dwindled and he was called home, he was upset at the lost discovery but he knew a failure here would only lead him to the place he wanted to be- with his son.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Thoughts of never seeing his son again tore Jacob apart. He needed to see him again. No, he would. He fought his all against the might strain that was leading him into the light. He fought as he felt millions of tiny hands try to guide him into the bowels of the afterlife. He grabbed at something in the distance and took ahold. Jacob pulled with all of his might until he felt like the light was receding. He pulled and pulled every fiber of his being was shaking in agony. he could now feel the nails of the millions hands begin to dig in to every part of his body. He cried as flesh was puled from bone and eyes were scraped to nothing, but just as soon as it all began, it stopped and the light receded and Jacob finally felt the wind and warmth of the light of being on the deck of the ship. Jacob's hand still held on to the object that was helping himself out of the void of the afterlife. He looked at his hand and what he saw made him wish he had just gone into the light. His hand was stuck around the throat of the doctor. Ringing the last bit of life that the man had left. The doctor's eyes bulged from his skull as Jacob finally realized to let his grip go of the man. The doctor's ears still bled but he wasn't convulsing anymore. Small victories right doc?

Jacob tried to assess the situation around him as he still layed on the deck beside the doctor. He grabbed at his ears and a blaring pain threw Jacob back to the ground. He wasn't healed, he was still on the verge of death. Panic began to set again as his vision darkened. This was it. Just as he was enjoying the flashbacks of his life, Jess kneeled down and screamed into his face. Her words were distorted from his annihilated ear drums. All Jacob could hear was what sounded like the muffle of aluminum foil against his eardrum. Jess realized her mistake almost immediately and began mouthing words and pointing up and out in front of her eye. Was she wanting him to look somewhere ... ? Just as the thought came in Jacob's mind, he began to search his vision and there he saw it- a yellow light flashed on the small prompt in his vision. He focused on the yellow light and suddenly a message appeared.

Message from Mark,

Oops! Sorry about that loud noise. It seems I don't know my own strength. I was just trying to open the gate softly..... Never mind that now. Even though a mass culling was imminent in the future.......sooner rather than later never hurt right?.... Any-who, if the brave few around the world are savvy enough to find this message during their suffering, I suppose a gift would work to get you chosen humans back into tip-top shape.

Yours truly,

Mark

Accept reward from Mark? yes/no

Jacob smashed yes as hard as one could with their vision. As soon as he did the message disappeared and a vial appeared. He quickly examined the vial and read the tiny description on the bottle.

-Heal yourself and your bloodline from any ailment currently affecting them.

That was odd he thought, but Jacob didn't care, he would be dead in seconds. He quickly pulled the cork off the vial and downed the green viscous liquid. Immediately warmth flooded through Jacob's veins and he felt his headache slowly dwindle. He slowly got up from his position next to the now seemingly dead doctor and felt his ears for blood. Nothing. Jacob lived. He could see his son. He would make it home.