It was dark inside the shack; considering it was still four thirty in the morning according to many clocks nailed to the decaying wooden walls. The curtains were made of duct tape to make sure to cover the windows well so no rays of sun would invade the preferred dark and murky room. The room was also cluttered with peculiar toys and artifacts. The shelves were made of old pallets to hold up toys, trinkets and books he picks up in the junkyard or at the sewers. The bed was platformed with stacks of old books layered with sacks of duck feathers and cotton stuffing secured with tape and thread to provide support of the body that lay among it.
He slowly opened his eyes adjusting his eyes to the dark room feeling the adrenaline of life kick in. His body yearns to stretch and expand and to exhale the musky and thick air to give it a kick start. The fourteen-year-old sat up slouching over as he rubbed his eyes from the sand coated in his lashes. The dream he had was of him floating among stars watching gods in an endless battle, armors made of glass, crafted using the stars themselves. The gods assume humanoid forms with demonic characteristics and each acted like a feral animal; There were no sign of humanity left in them. This had been the one recurring dream he had and he cannot explain. He just chugged into the back of his mind to forget and begin his day.
He got out of bed and clapped his hands to activate the many neon lights and signs in his room to vanquish the darkness. He looked over his unfinished robot holding his alarm clock; Noticing he had thirty minutes to spare before he went to work, he took a book from a bird cage hanging from the ceiling and sat on his lounge chair lined with dirty holographic silver fabric and continued to read where he had left off the night before.
It had become a ritual ever since he learned to read a few years back. He didn’t have a particular taste but anything to help him learn beyond his comfort zone was a major advantage to the always working boy. This book he currently read was about a man infatuated with a clumsy good-for-nothing girl, and he indoctrinates her into his aggressive and hardcore lifestyle. He found it gross, sex scenes for him were an abomination for him. He knows it was natural, but the thought of it was stupid and gross. He finds the glorified nature of sex to be a priority in many books targeted to women and at times he had to wonder if women were nothing but perverts. This book was graphic, and he regrets reading it but once he starts a book, he had to finish it. He was a few pages away from finishing it and he was glad about it. He usually read a book every Wednesday or Friday. If he didn't have one, provided by his preferred listed places to find literature, he would visit the local terminal to rent a copy of a fiction he listed to read.
The clocks on his walls broke into music and chimes alerting him it was five in the morning. He placed his book back where he was currently reading and got up to get ready. He took his fresh and washed yellow jumpsuit and zipped it on. His friends adorned it with other plastic and metallic looking patches to give it personality. He wore his heavy, plastic, transparent socks over his black holographic socks to wear with his favorite clogged sandals. They were a horrible hazard when it came to working in the sewers but he didn’t really gave a flying pig about it. His friends hated his fashion sense, but he also didn’t give a flying pig about it, either. He worked hard to earn what he wanted.
He grabbed his utility belt to wrap it around his waist before switching off the breaker to avoid any fire accidents like last time. After eating his cereal he collected his garbage from his small kitchen, which was a simple stove with a mini fridge beside it, and tossed it in the dumpster next to his house. Something was off to the boy; the old man that lived in the dumpster was missing. “Aindrea!” the teen shouted looking for the hobo. He pulled out his yellow flashlight to find him in the dark corners of his home. He doesn’t remember exactly when the hobo arrived and stayed living with him but he got used to him and his rancid smell. It came with the job.
“Aindrea!” he called again. He sniffed the air following the scent and, surely enough, he found him sleeping on the grass clutching to a small box. He grinned and chuckled. He crouched down and shook him lightly. “Aindrea, you’re going to catch a cold,” he said softly. Aindrea quietly wheeze and held his hands over his dirty face dropping the box as well.
“Aindrea, come on.” Ulysses helped the old man stand on his weak legs and guided him on his makeshift fort. “Did you eat, Aindrea?” he asked to the poor and sick hobo as he helped him lay on the plush pillows and blankets. Aindrea whined and wheeze trying to get up but the boy pushed and pinned him back. “No, sit here. I’ll get your box, but you have to stay,” he demanded and ran back to get the box. It was made of cardboard and bended like if it was mistreated on its journey. He trotted back to find the old man trying to stand up. “Aindrea, stay still!” Something about the old man just hurt his chest, he acted like a child and he couldn’t even speak. He had tried to bathe him and feed him but the hobo refused any sort of help. Despite how he felt he didn't want any pity or charity.
The old man saw the box in his hands and he calmed down, laying back on the comfort of the fort. He checks the box with the flashlight seeing Greek letters across with a black marker barely legible. “Ulysses...” he read out loud softly a smile dancing on his lips. “What did you get for me this time, Aindrea?” He grabbed his multi tool and cut the box open to pull out multiple trinkets: a pack of nuts and bolts, a motherboard (probably from a computer), and a small box of jelly beans. Ulysses, smiling giddily at his gift, he looked at Aindrea, “it’s my birthday already?” He asked running his fingers through the tangles of Aindrea’s rats nest.
Aindrea kept a firm gaze at Ulysses, he wheezed and attempted to speak, “O-Oc … t… ber... twent- thr-… ee...”
“Ah, thank you Aindrea. It was real cool of you.” Ulysses opened the front door again and allowed the old man inside. He prepared him something simple to eat, reheated mushroom soup they ate last night. Maybe on such a special occasion the old man would finally comply and eat. Aindrea was a vegan and any sort of meat can make him sick. Oddly enough, he could drink battery acid and nothing happened.
“Why don't you want to sleep inside? You know you are welcome with open arms,” he spoke to the old man as he served him his soup. The old man only stared at Ulysses with a faint smile. It was amazing how he hasn't lost a single tooth, yet they are all stained beyond recovery. The old man carefully slurped his breakfast as Ulysses served him a lemonade drink. “Do you want to jam later today when I get home? I feel like I lost my muse and you tend to call her back.” Ulysses chuckled, leaning against the sink.
The old man had many disabilities, but he was a prodigy in music. He taught Ulysses how to sing from a very young age. Instead of learning his first word Ulysses learned his first key sound. Later on, as Ulysses grew, so did his instrument collection. He had to store them in his garage for safe keeping. His number one favorite instrument is the loud and obnoxious, drum kit. The kit took forever to build because of the lack in parts and pieces. The old man finishes his meal and dug his ear into Ulysses’ neck and purred softly. Ulysses giggled and hugged the old man tightly. “Thank you for your gift, Aindrea.” Ulysses gently pulled away and made his way to the door.
“If you are hungry, the kitchen is yours, and if you’re cold you can sleep on my bed,” Ulysses said turning towards the door, a hand grabbed his arm. He looked back at the old man in question. “Sa-… ngh… po-...” he grunted before letting go. Ulysses smirked and responded, “I love you, too. I’ll get you something nice when I get back.” He winked and walked off to work.
Ulysses walked through the Red-Light District on his way to the Pipes. The whole place crawled with low-lives, thieves, and of course, honest to god workers. The ages ranged from zero to thirty five, and all of them have the rap sheet the size of Babel’s Tower. The population counter is useless at this point, it will drop each day but it never reaches zero. Prism helps spike the population with refugees. The current state of the world is a constant entropic chaos between Earth and External Sources, or rather, Prism versus the entire universe. No one is entirely sure how and when did the war even start, but Ulysses is sure that this was started by Prism and he is waiting for them to blow up.
He noticed Prism soldiers walking about the streets while their robotic entities roam the skies in patrol. They had an elegant poise, “like sticks up their asses…” Ulysses uttered under his breath. He doesn’t like them too much considering how much damage they cause instead of mending a problem. There are conspiracies of Prism benefiting from the deaths but Ulysses personally doesn’t think so.
He heard the hand bell chimes rung but the nun outside the Church of the Knightess. She was asking donations again. Her name was Sister Mary Lazarus; she was one of the many nuns to reside in this waste land, and one of the sweetest. She wore a simple grayish almost dull purple habit with a vial, it looked more like armor than a simple habit. Her eyes were yellow and her face can tell you stories of terror and faith. She wasn’t afraid of anything, unlike many of the nuns who were afraid of demons, she was fine with the dark arts. She had encouraged him to continue learning from every book he finds and thus he is comfortable with her. She was, in a way, his mother. Ulysses walked over to her smiling. “Good morning, Sister Mary Lazarus. How are you doing?” he asked.
“Ulysses…” Her smile was broad and bright as she spoke. She crossed him with her scarred and small hand. “I am joyous today, grandiose of days. Wait here.” She left her post and ran back in the chapel. After a while she ran back holding a box with a translucent wrapping and a pink bow. “Happy birthday, Ulysses,” she said handing him the box.
Ulysses smiled as big as the box he was holding, “Oh sister Lazarus you shouldn’t have!” He ripped off the wrapper excited to open what was inside. He pulled out blue jeans with belts on the thigh area, a brown Hawaiian dress shirt, a pair of red clog sandals and holographic goggles. “Oh wow! Neat! I was looking for new clothes as of late!” He was excited to try the set on but he would have to wait till he had a day off. “But wait… Where did you get this…?” he asked now realizing the church is a Non-profit Organization.
“The shirt and pants are handcrafted by me. The goggles and the shoes I restored them,” she explained with pride swelling in her chest.
“You are so sweet, Sister…” he threw his arms around her tightly. Mary Lazarus held him just as tight and whispered quietly, “Please join the Sabbath after your shift, sweet prince.” She pulled away smiling brightly. “Gee, I hope you baked me a cake,” he said in a sing song tone. He smirked at her playfully. “Perhaps,” she said chuckling. “Please, have a wonderful birthday.”
“Blessed be. Thank you again Lazarus.” He stored the clothes in the box and made a mad dash to the pipes since he was almost late for work.
The plant was abnormally big, it covered forty percent of the district and operated by one thousand men each shift. As soon as he clocked in, he hid his belonging in the lockers and proceeded to tie his hair and put on his goggles before jumping in the sewers. “Hey! Happy birthday, little dude!” another plumber shouted and slapped Ulysses’ back with joy and celebration. Ulysses looked back and laughed, “Thank you, PohWaters!” Nathaniel PohWaters is a twenty-year-old plumber with greasy brown hair and blue eyes. He is specializes in cleaning and detoxing the water supply tanks. His name was earned during a routine accident, he literally slipped and fell in the dirty waters of the sewers and came out the color brown. Many of the plumbers earned their last names in their work area and as they change carriers, they have to earn their new last names. Ulysses’ last name was earned being the best there is in his area. He is in charge of maintenance and repairs. He has other talents that work for his job, many even partitioned to change his last name to Handyman.
“Are we heading out to party!?”
“Nah, I’m going to church today and after that I am going home. I got a new motherboard to play with.”
“You? Going to church? That is very unlike you.”
“I study faith.”
“You don’t seem like the type to be a theist.”
“I believe in the power of Kiora,” Ulysses said as he adjusted his goggles so it won’t yank his hair. “We are his children.”
“Come on, Ulysses, let’s be real, if he exists then he would step into the cluster fuck we have of a war and fix it.”
“Well, first of all, Kiora died centuries ago, and second, he is still among us, just in the form of atoms.” PohWaters cringed at the statement. Ulysses that is the dumbest shit I have ever heard.”
“What is so farfetched about a god who just sings?”
“It is useless! No offence.”
“His gospels can move nations and lulls demons to sleep. A non-violent god is just what we need to have faith in.”
“That is fucking insane. Wait, no it is not. The weirdest thing out of your mouth is you hating that idol chick.”
“Fuck that underage cunt and her success…” Ulysses spat each syllable with poison. To emphasize his hatred for her, he slammed his locker close.
“Why do you hate her? She's really cute.”
“I just hate her guts. She is a miserable little twat engineered by perverts to compose mind numbing music.”
“But… you make mind numbing music…” The confused plumber stared at Ulysses as he walked past him. “Yeah well, I don’t get to profit from it. Besides, singing will get me nowhere but eternal hell.”
“Gee, Ulysses, you’re pretty boring.”
“I am a careful man. That's why my last name isn't PohWaters.” Ulysses laughed as he went down the pipes through the ladder.
“Very funny!” He heard him laugh.
----------------------------------------
Ulysses job was fairly simple: He has to walk back and forth finding any abnormalities in the sewers. He loved walking around the sewers, granted he had a reason to: everything cool that he finds he gets to keep. He has found toys, mechanical parts, drugs, food, bodies, and the works. He is more interested in toys and mechanical parts more than anything else. He once found a screw driver that was flushed down the toilet. He treasured it in his utility belt after disinfecting it thoroughly. Any screws or bolts he finds loose he tightens them up, any leaks he spots he fills in the cracks, and any secret door he would stare at it in confusion—Ulysses found an iron door a few weeks ago. It doesn’t open and his map indicates that this door doesn’t exist. Perhaps it was installed by the night crew but if that were the case there would be a word of it. He tried to rip open the hinges but nothing.
Ulysses banged the door with his rather large ratchet before sighing and giving up. He then heard something from behind the door, a whimper, followed by a groan. As Ulysses laid his ear against the door, he heard a scream which startled him sending him running far away from the door. He never heard something that violent before in his entire life nor did he want to ever hear it again. But he knows there are weird things lurking in those pipes. The number of coworkers has depleted, and he knows many newcomers never want to set foot inside the pipes. He was familiar with fighting a strange thing or two but he wasn't armed to battle.
He had collided into another co-worker, “Whoa! Ulysses what’s the rush?” It was Big Boy Benny, and he does not look happy. He was a really big buff man with dark skin and teal cornrows on his head. He was a very serious worker and one of the oldest members in the district: twenty nine. His tattoos were lime lights studded into his skin. His tongue was tattooed bright purple, almost luminescent and eyes were as blue as his hair. “Did you break a pipe down there?”
“Dude! What the hell is down there?!” He was panicking and hyperventilating. He felt a rush of adrenaline and an itch to pound the soles of his sandals against the slippery ground.
“Other than the shit people flush down their drains, nothing. Get yo’ shit together, dude!”
Ulysses stomped his sandal foot on the ground. “Argh! Dude! There is something down there!” He gestured the hole with his hand firmly.
“That’s the stupid Ratzilla mumbo jumbo you’re spewing sometimes to get a rise out of the other workers!”
“No it’s not!” Ulysses shouted firmly. “You know damn well there really is something down there!” He pointed at the dark entrance of the sewers.
“Don’t be a boi pussy! Get your ass down there or I will feed you to the crocodiles!”
“I will show you if you just come with me!”
“Are you nuts? I ain’t setting foot there! I got bigger things to deal with up here!”
“Are you fucking kidding me, dude?!”
“No! Get your ass back to work!”
“Are you really this big of an asshole!? At least send me some back up!”
Both Ulysses and Benny’s blood ran cold at the sound of a rush flow of water followed by a scream. Ulysses and Benny gave each other a look and then at the pitch black hole bellow.
“Flush it…” Benny said.
“B-but we have to go check— “
“I said flush it!”
“I have an idea, I go down there and check out what the hell is going on and you back me up?” Ulysses didn’t want to go down there alone, and not on his birthday.
“Fine,” he said with a gruff tone.
Ulysses went down the stairs and his heart accelerated when he heard Baby Boy Benny, speak, “Sorry, dude,” Ulysses looked up at him, ready to close the hinge. “if something is down there, I can’t risk the rest of the staff. I’ll open the hatch after I flush the pipes!”
“You mother fucking--!” The hinge was slammed shut. Now Ulysses was stuck in the sewers alone till his shift was over in the next six hours with god knows what was down there.
Ulysses was mostly afraid of the unknown. He walked down these sewers many times and knows them up and down, left and right and mirrored but this is the first time he found something creepy down there. He can’t help but hear a constant droning with a high pitch sound which frightened the living daylights out of him. He shined through with his flashlight, keeping quiet and retracing his steps. He felt nervous and every little thing made him jump, a rat rushing by, a drop of water landing on his shoulder, glowing eyes around the corner, “AH!” Ulysses screamed and the eyes vanished. The light in his hand shook because Ulysses could barely contain the rush of adrenaline. He didn’t know what it could be, but he knows it could be two possible options, Mega Ratzilla, or he was seeing things. He checked the map in his digital pad. The map never says anything about the door he found but he made haste to find it with his selective memory and there it was.
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The computer in his wrist displayed a hologram of a boy around his age with digital eyes and metal cat ears, Ghost. His hair was a lime green with neon light extensions hidden the layers.
Ghost is a teenage boy dedicated to computer science. His nickname was earned since most of the time they see him through holograms. He claims to have social anxiety disorder according to the internet but they will never know till he actually sets foot in a hospital. He is slowly transforming his body into a computer to be ready for the singularity, Ulysses doesn’t get it either but he has bigger issues than a talking brain.
“Ulysses. Happy birthday! Hey you don’t look so cool. Did you eat too much cake?”
“Ghost, shut up for a second, I am on the job and-”
“Ah! Did you find anything?”
“Yes,” Ulysses hissed, “Can you listen-”
“Come on! Show me! Oh, by the way, I got you a surprise. I got you the-”
“Dud-ah! Shut up!” Ulysses gripped his short hair, fantasizing about duct taping Ghost’s mouth for eternity.
“You don’t have to shout, dude, what happened?”
“I need you to tell me where I am standing.”
Ghost did a few clicks on his digital keyboard and sent a charted map of the sewers to the computer in Ulysses hands.
“You are currently standing near section nineteen.” Ulysses was staring at the door but he couldn't find it anywhere in the map.
“This is so weird…”
“What is it?’
“There is a door here, and it’s not showing in the map.”
“Really? Maybe it was installed not too long ago?”
“I thought the same, but this is something everyone in the business needs to know about before anything gets started.”
“That is strange, can you open it?”
Ulysses tried to open it again, but it was locked tight. “I did, and it’s like if it's glued shut.”
“Huh… That is pretty spooky, there has to be a way to open it.”
“I left the C-four in the tool shed and I can't go back because I am locked down here.”
“Are you crazy?? You can blow up the entire thing!”
“That was the plan, I heard screaming and moaning.”
“Maybe it was a couple with a kink?”
“My God, Ghost, for someone who always has a conspiracy in mind you sure try to debunk everything…” Ulysses clenched his teeth and tightened his fists to hold in the fury.
“Well what do you want me to tell you? That yes there is something down there?”
“YES,” Ulysses was losing his patience. They suddenly hear a scream from the distance.
“What was that?” Ghost asked with a shaky voice.
“That is what I heard!” Ulysses shouted, unnerved about how loud it was.
“Stay put I will find another— wait a second… what is this…?”
“What did you find?”
“I found another map. One from in the early 2000s. When overlaying it on the current map… I can see you standing in front of a door.”
“What? How did you even find that? Wait- there is no security cameras right?” Ulysses looked around with his flashlight, finding any trace if recording tools.
“You’re not low key telling me you are going in, are you?”
“Ghost, just tell me so I can finish this quest faster…”
“Well… There are. These are installed years before the sewers were operational. They are hidden in the walls, one is near the door. It’s an eye scanner. This door needs to be open with an eye registered in the system.”
“So much for getting in…” Ulysses stared at the door and found an opening where the wall should be and sure enough the wall hiding the door was tucked in the opening on the floor. “I never knew we had secret passages, much less functional ones. How do these doors even work?”
“I thought it could be motion sensors but I think these open from the inside. Stand in front of the scope, Maybe I can hack through and open it.”
“Ghost, sometimes you freak me out but I am glad your fetish is of good use.” Ulysses chuckled and searched for what he assumed was whatever Ghost spoke of. He spotted a small camera lenses on a panel beside the door and he closed in. “Hold still,” Ghost said. He clicked his fingers through his glowing keys and he registered his eye in the mother computer that surprisingly is still operational. They both heard a static and a glitchy voice, “WELCOME— TO… 5, 3, 3, 1…” followed by a loud lock and a creek noise. The door slowly opened revealing a hallway with lights flickering in the dark revealing white and clean walls.
“What the hell is this…?” Ulysses asked.
“It… Looks like a facility… The last recorded data was fifteen years ago. Holy CRAP!”
“What? What??”
“Dude! They experiment on people here! I think the screaming you're hearing is someone begging to get out!”
“Shit…” Ulysses made a mad dash inside, whatever was there, it was begging to escape whatever they were doing to it.
“Ghost, can you trace any life in the area?”
“Are you insane?! You need to turn back!”
“Just do it already! Send whatever you find to my gear.”
“Ulysses, what if it’s a monster?”
“I’ll hit it with my wrench till it dies.”
“But what if it doesn’t work?”
“It is YOUR job to secure me a route to safely escape, I have an old man to take care of back home. I refuse to die.” Ulysses was determined to find out what were those screams. He got an update of the map with colored dots and tags of locations. His location was pinned with a yellow light, the rest of the map had hundreds of gray dots.
“What’s with the gray dots?”
“This is still under development, so don’t expect it to be one hundred percent accurate. I was able to create a tracer that way you can find your way back out.”
“Thanks, Ghost. Keep me updated if you find anything.”
“You got it.” Ghost signed off. Ulysses made it deeper into the facility finding nothing but debris and wreckage. He checked the map, and the tag said ‘Cleansing Unit 17’. He noticed evidence of this, there were pods and strange lockers attached to the walls. Ulysses approached one of the pods to see if they were fully functional but he didn’t know how they worked. He did noticed the shower head was leaking clean water. “Running water?”
This facility, by the looks of it, could be restored and used properly. Now that he thought about it, the dimensions were similar to the ones he worked in the sewers, which means the sewers were part of the facility.
“What the fuck is this place…?” Ulysses walked over to the next door to continue his investigation. The halls were stained with some type of black thick goop that glimmers and smelled repugnant. He thought he smelled every odor in the universe. “God that smells like shit…” He covered his nose, cringing at how badly he misses his gas mask. Ironically for his line of work he had forgotten such an important piece of equipment. He was unprepared for this task and he can’t wait for his shift to end because he will give Big Boy Ben an ear full and a wrench down his throat.
He heard a hard bang on metal and a sharp scream, he looked back and ran towards the noise and continued till he made it to a room where a boy around his age with light teal hair stood in the room watching a screen. Ulysses was scared to death by what he saw in the screen. It was inhuman, a man was being subjected to injections and strapped down on a slab. He had black long hair and his skin was so damaged it was patched with different skins diseases and erosions. He had wings on his head, both dangle helplessly as if they were broken. He was crying and screaming for help, the irony of this is his voice was so beautiful and alluring. He found himself purring lightly in desperation. He feels as though he could understand his screams but it was just babbling screams.
He could hear the voices in the screen, “… his age is approximately sixty years old. He has tan skin, green eyes and black long hair. He measures around 6”5’ and he has a medium build, weighing 190 Lb.…”
“Ulysses, I got information for you.” Ghost popped out through the screen. Ulysses panicked and hid behind the door. The boy watching the film turned his target black and white eyes to the source of the noise. Ulysses only had a glimpse of this strange boy but it was more than enough to create a carbon copy image to etch into his mind. The diamond peeking out of his forehead like a clean cut jewel was the most bizarre thing he noticed of the boy. His lower lashes were too long, and he had long pointed ears. He turned back at the screen to feed from the information provided. Ghost understood the signal and switched to his ear piece.
“What did you find?” Ghost asked. Ulysses was scared to speak and the noises he heard didn’t help him at all. He looked at Ghost and mouthed the words: “I am not alone in this place and I think it is still operational.” Ghost couldn't read lips but his software could do it for him creating subtitles for him to read. “That is fucked up dude…” Ghost attacked his keyboard and updated the map, converting the old labels into the digital map. Ulysses was currently in the data collection room. “From what I gathered,” Ghost narrated as he hacked through the computer’s servers, “this wasn’t the only facility to stand. This is directly linked to Prism.”
“Prism…?” Ulysses mouthed a bit louder above a whisper. Noticing his mistake, he covered his lips with his hand but it seems the boy was too entranced to the video. He looked back at his own screen showing an overview of the entire map. “Holy shit,” Ulysses whispered, “this is like a fucking onion with all these layers.” He muted his voice, “how deep does this even go?”
“Dude, this is small compared to the base on Jupiter; Rose Gold.”
“...? Why was it called that?”
“I don’t know, I have to verify it. But this database is so dense with texts and other files it will take a while for my brain to sort out. I am just here to update the map for you.”
“Good thing… I think we might have a Prism soldier in the same room with me…” Ulysses, dare sneak a peak to confirm his suspicions but what he didn’t expect was the boy to stand on his knees holding his chest as the very man was ripped apart. The boy screamed, “Make it stop! I had enough!” His voice cracked the glass and screen. Ulysses covered his ears from the painful pitch. The connection of the call was breaking because of the sound wave. “What the actual fuck…?” Ulysses cringed at the agonizing pitch.
“ARE YOU SCARED?” a younger female synthesizer voice played through the speakers. “P-please…! Forgive me!” the boy pleated, and he forced himself away from the images.
“NO AMOUNT OF FORGIVENESS CAN HELP YOU NOW,” the computer said cynically.
“I WARNED YOU,” it said. “A MISTAKE LIKE YOU IS TOO USELESS AND PATHETIC TO UNDERSTAND ANY OF THE SUBJECTS,” it added. “YOUR KIND IS NOT WELCOMED HERE, AND SHALL BE ERADICATED AND DISPOSE OFF.” A monster broke through the glass and tackled the young boy to the metal ground. Sirens wailed in every direction, this queued Ulysses to run the other way with his heart about to burst through his throat.
“Ulysses what is happening?! What are you doing??!”
“What I should have done this morning, STAYED HOME!” This was indeed a facility, and it is still being used. “Just what the hell is the government thinking?!” Ulysses shouted.
“Ulysses, look out!!” Ghost shouted.
Ulysses stopped dead in his tracts. The exit was wide open and there it stood, a humanoid spider with two heads and no eyes standing on the ceiling on its eight legs. It was crawling through and escaping through the darkness screeching. Ulysses could hear the beeping in his ears when he feels tension. “What is that!?” Ghost was freaking out, too. It turned over and launched itself at Ulysses and Ulysses slapped him with his oversized wrench knocking it unconscious. Ulysses was hyperventilating, the stress of the morning was too much for his teen heart. “Ulysses, Make a run for it! Now is your chance!” Ghost shouted.
The boy from before rushed over staring at the limp monster on the ground. “A civilian apprehended a hunter…” His tone was very soft and neutral. He sounded like he was hesitating. What frightened him was his uniform, it confirmed his worries once he saw the Prism badge over his breast pocket along with other badges. Prism soldiers aren’t necessarily bad, but the neighboring cities claim that Prism was responsible for what had led them to their disordered and chaotic world.
“Ulysses--” Ulysses shut the computer off for now to get a grip on the situation. “Who are you? What are you doing to these people?!”
“I didn’t do it… This was a hazard residue from a mistake.”
“Liar! What the hell is a Prism junkie even doing around these parts besides causing terror.”
The boy sighed, holding his left arm avoiding eye contact. “I can't blame you if you do not believe me… To be honest… I came here to understand where I came from…” He stood to face Ulysses, his skin was so pale and, weirdly, it was tainted with a soft blue hue. “What the hell are you…? Wait, are you a monster too?!” Ulysses stood back and held his hammer in a defensive stance. “Stand back! I have another tool in my belt and I am a skilled marksman!”
“...I really don’t know what I am but I don’t expect you of all people to understand my situation… My name is Sodium Chloride…”
“...Your name… is Table Salt?” Ulysses didn’t really understand the new age of names but this was just ridiculous. The individual was blushing, to his understanding. His cheeks turned a darker blue. He looked away and spoke, “Y-yes that is my name…”
“Okay, Salt, can you tell me what the hell is going on? My Intel tells me about a testing facility. What the fuck?”
“He is correct. They were testing humans and souls to explain the phenomena of the afterlife. As you can see, it was an utter failure… The horrors of this place… Somehow… I feel as if I too were a result of that.”
“You speak pretty normal considering…”
“You must go…” the Prism soldier advised. “I rather not risk a civilian to this.”
“And what are you gonna do?”
“I will get rid of this before it re-spawns…”
“That thing can come back to life!?”
“Yes, it is an undead and unholy. I will make sure it is properly disposed of.”
“Then let me help. The reason why I came down was to dispose of… whatever that is.”
“If you insist.” Salt closed the door and Ulysses dragged the beast with Salt across the facility where Salt instructed where the furnace would be. “Do they always get rid of the beast this way…?” Ulysses asked.
“Sometimes they die slowly with mercury and sulfuric acid infusions,” Salt explained and Ulysses cringed. He remembered the scene he witnessed, the man being poked at with needles, “was he being infused with it too?” Ulysses wondered.
“I never got your name…” Salt said as he prepared the furnace.
“Ulysses, Ulysses Iron Pipes.”
“Under better circumstances, I would have had the pleasure to be acquainted with you.” He forced a tiny little smile and pushed his hair behind his left ear.
“A tube junkie, happy to see me, yeah that’s original.” Ulysses crossed his arms staring at Salt judgingly. The boy in question felt in his intimidation and struggled under his gaze. The boy looked away clutching his sleeves for grounding and security. “I am sorry… if they did anything to you…” he whispered hesitantly.
Ulysses felt guilty and toned down his aggressive approach. Salt grabbed the body and tossed it into the furnace. “I was looking for my parents,” the boy said after a long silence. “The only thing proving their existence is the documentation of their ghastly torcher and sadistic production.” Ulysses wasn’t surprised he was an orphan, more than half the young population was left without a parent and were taken care of in a survival camp. Ulysses mostly remembers the brutal exercises, the training, teaching him to cook, clean and straight up kill if he had to. He mostly played with Aindrea when he was healthy back in the day.
“Wouldn’t Prism treat you like a priority and give you any sort of foster parent?” He asked the pitiful soldier. “No--”
Ghost popped through the personal computer screaming at Ulysses, “Ulysses we got a major problem!”
“We got several of those, what is it now?” He was used to peril by now, nothing phased him. The connection died and the lights of the facility flickered. The boys both felt a heavy rumbling soon after. Dread filled the pit of Ulysses' heart once they heard the distant sirens from above ground alerting that there were to be a mass disaster, “Earthquake…!” Ulysses grabbed Sodium’s hand and ran out of the building but the exit collapsed.
“Goddamnit! We need to find another way out!” Ulysses shouted at Salt. “There is another exit but there is an off chance there are monsters blocking the way.”
“Fuck it!” Ulysses pulled Salt again by his thin, almost frail as paper wrist and ran. The heavy magnitude was too much for them to walk straight so they leaned on the walls for support but being fairly careful of their surroundings. They heard the synthesizer again, “WARNING, WARNING: AN EARTHQUAKE OF MAGNITUDE 8.8 HAS BEEN DETECTED AND IS THREATENING TO DESTROY US ALL. PLEASE, PROCEED WITH CAUTION.” Ulysses checked his map, but it projected empty halls devoid of any information. “Goddamnit! The map Ghost was feeding me was live! The internet is disconnected.”
“At the rate this is going we will die under a collapsed wall, or be eaten by anything in the dark--” The lights shut down as the earthquake calmed down. Both boys held each other's hands as they heard the computer warning again. “WARNING, WARNING: SYSTEM CONTROL ARE DAMAGED. DUE TO EXTREME TECTONIC SHIFTS THE POWER GENERATORS AND EVERY OTHER UTILITY IS SHUTTING DOWN FOR SAFETY PURPOSES. SISTEM RESTORATION IN: T -5.”
All they could hear was each other breath. “How could I have been so foolish…?” the boy whimpered. Ulysses turned finding the red emergency light unflattering to his palette. “What are you talking about?” Ulysses asked.
“Because of my foolish and useless feelings I am surely going to die…”
“Come on, dude, don’t start accepting doom just yet. We will get out just as long as you follow my lead.” The boy nodded after catching his breath. Ulysses checked his map again and activated the emergency GHOST NETWORK. A private WIFI created by the master hacker, Ghost.
(ACCESS GRANTED.)
While he waited for the map to reload they heard the computerized voice once more, “WARNING, WARNING: ALL SUBJECTS HAVE ESCAPED.”
The map on his display had a burst of many red dots slowly approaching the area. “Oh my god…” Ulysses now started to confirm Salt’s fears, “THEY ARE DANGEROUS. PLEASE, PROCEED TO DIE.” Ulysses set a course with the safest route out of the facility. Smaller earthquakes shook their path, it was a dreadful aftermath of the last quake they felt. As they ran, they found monsters drowning in puddles of slimy and ghastly tar, a depiction straight from the fiery pits of hell.
The past heavy magnitude and the smaller shakes caused the building to cave in. Ulysses used his hammer to nail the monsters in his way to the walls and floors to clear his path. Their unusually thick and colorful blood resembled slime rather than red iron. “I see a door!” Ulysses shouted. They made it out but they manage to be in a deeper part of the sewers as they were collapsing internally. “Come on!” Ulysses urged Salt to comply as he navigated through the sewers, here he didn’t need a map. “Are you sure you know where you are going?” Salt questioned his competence. “I am supposed to know this place better than I know myself! Trust me!”
“Don’t tell me you work in this disgusting place!”
“Hell yeah I do!” Ulysses made a dash to the exit, but it was still sealed shut. “Damn it! We need to find another way out!!” Ulysses was panicking, he needed to make sure this boy was safe. “Are you certain you know this place well…”
“I got it! We can escape through the waste pipes!” Ulysses instructed and Salt followed suit.
The rumbling never ceased, and it leads him to believe this will be the end. Finally, they reached the end of the waste pipe but they were too far up and the surface tension will surely kill them.
“Damn it!” They both heard a screech and when they turn back, they saw another one of those monsters. This one was different, it was a pile of torsos and legs, like a centipede. Ulysses tossed his hammer at it but it just swallowed it through its skin. Ulysses’ color drained from his skin as he had no weapon to draw. He glanced back over the edge of the waste pipe and then looked at Salt. “We need to jump!” Ulysses said and Salt nodded. “Take my hand!” Salt compiled and Ulysses held him as they jumped a hundred feet in the air. They were free falling with the monster in suit, Ulysses wrapped his arms around Salt to dear life and closed his eyes and waited for his end.
Ulysses heard a splash when he opens his eyes he found himself floating in midair surrounded by a glowing warm light. Salt had glowing bright eyes and his aura was pure and white. Salt struggled to form words, he was stuttering, but it sounded too intentional, almost as if he sung. Ulysses was baffled because he was singing a gospel of his faith Ulysses sung with him:
"Nujm, leima, kamnjai rei,
Seik akj, sunei, narei naumkee.
Sakumnlau uhmnaai, Merxill, tongenei."
The boy faltered when Ulysses continued his song, the surrounding aura was stable and they were securely pinned in place in the fabric of gravity. The noise of the crumbling sewers overpowering Ulysses’ hearing snapped him back to reality, and he ceased singing.
After some time they landed on the ground, Ulysses didn’t know what to ask first. Salt stared at Ulysses unable to understand himself what he heard or felt, “I must go, I thank you for your heroism…” he said before he rushed out of the scene and disappearing before his very eyes.
“Wait!” Ulysses didn’t know what was happening but perhaps he was delirious due to high exposure of toxic waste but he is sure as hell this was all too real. Now he completely understands why his name was NaCL, though, his lips were coated in grains and it tastes of salt.