The sound of the grass being crushed and the mud being smeared under the moving wheels of the car could be heard throughout the sprawling field until it was the only thing I heard, trying to direct my path while Rosalina directed where to travel most safely, by the great wall that had been spread out. The feeling of this whole experience feels like I've been thrown into a simulation. While I'm holding the steering wheel, the visual map started showing more points on the road, close to the airport terminal building, but there is no change in the direction of the route:

"Why don't we go somewhere else"

"There is no other route in particular to what you see, especially following the new addition" she replied

"Then I'll need to drive even faster"

I pressed the gas pedal and the car responded at a galloping speed traveling straight toward the large building. The map started to behave strangely every time the dots moved, but as soon as I got close to them, I was already able to see what I was facing: animals with large horns and striped bodies, at least from a distance. I drove quickly as they moved, gathering the grasses that were standing. On the horizon, the large terminal began to cover my field of vision and I noticed something flat without any grass, one that rises above the hand of the building upwards and into the building. From this glance, I knew immediately that this was the direction I needed to go - the exit. All that separates me from their son is the lack.

With the motivation to get out of the place, I pushed hard on the gas pedal, but the speed of the car did not increase. I don't understand why but I ignored it. The herd started looking at me and began to move strangely. I started to take my foot off the pedal as they started lining up more and more in front of me. Rosalina is still unable to respond to what is happening there, I still think the scanner is too far for her to be able to decipher what is happening in front of me, but I understand that they are not friendly.

The vehicle continued to move and slow down on the lawn surface and they continued to line up in front of me, face in front of me, which looks a bit like a big bird with the horns of a bull. The distance between me and they began to decrease and I pressed the brake pedal, the car began to slide rapidly following the accumulated mud and they all at once began to spread something similar to large wings with the shape of eyes on it, all in front of me. I squeeze hard in a panic I'm going to crash into them while they hold their position with all their wings facing me, panicked. I'm trying to figure out what to do while Rosalina started directing me:

"Turn the steering wheel quickly" she chirped and I immediately started to turn and the car began to turn quickly while the mud began to splash wherever the wheels veered. They continued to stand without letting me go and I hold the wheel tightly the car started to veer away from them and I almost lose my grip on the wheel, throwing me sideways the car managed to get away from them, but they even moved despite everything that happened in front of them and I was inside the car, moving away from them before I came to a complete stop. They started approaching in the same line towards the car, and in the same way, they started looking at me.

"Physiological activity of deterrence was detected, but not of aggression" Rosalina noted, just as they came closer and closer with their spread wings with the shape of large eyes, began to wrap around the car, preventing me from finding a way out without running them over.

"What to do? They are blocking my passage!" I feared her back.

"Thought... looks like we'll have to wait until they get tired"

"That's not the answer I wanted to hear, but I don't think there's a choice"

I turned off the engine and lay down on the seats, hoping they would give up soon. The sun had already set and it was getting dark and they continued to stand their ground. I try to catch a glimpse of her at first, but later on, I already relied on Rosalina's visual map. I didn't know what to do anymore and fatigue began to quickly overtake me until I closed my eyes.

In the morning Rosalina woke me up:

"Good morning Colin. They gave up and left a few hours ago, but you were asleep at the time"

I opened my eyes and back pain moved throughout my body as I stood up. I looked around and the whole herd was gone. I took the opportunity to get up, but hunger caught me off, guard. I completely forgot about the fact that I no longer have a working printer, now I have to find another way to eat, again. I had to think of a solution to this, but right now I think I have a priority right now. I started the engine of the car and started driving towards the terminal.

All the ground dried up until I had to spend another day hiding from animals, but it made my ride much smoother until I was already in front of the building, where the grass no longer grew, revealing the bright white color of the pavement and I drove the car on it. When the wheel traveled on this pavement, it left a trail of dirty dirt on it. It felt a little strange to me, but I didn't pay attention to it as I started the engines and started moving on the way up. The pavement started to get steeper and steeper every distance I went, and I had to push hard on the gas just to manage to get up onto what looked like an expressway into the terminal.

Only when I got there, I thought why don't we visit the name for a moment, maybe I'll be able to find something else. On the dirty white-gray track I turned the car and drove into the terminal and with it, pitch darkness quickly, and what lit the way were the headlights of the car and the suit. After a while, I already arrived at the entrance of the place. The doors were broken and thrown aside while the glass was filled with black ash. I got out of the car not before I turned it off and if the equipment, I advanced further into the building. When I entered the place, I saw in a particularly large space a lot of glass scattered everywhere on the floor, which came from the roof, and with it, it seemed that a lot of birds are nesting there, I think. Noises were everywhere, but I ignored them as I moved forward along with the vegetation that grew in every bright spot the place offered. I navigated the place with the suit flashlights on and ready in any area where there was no light. I don't know how much time has passed inside the huge space that once carried hundreds of thousands of passengers a day, and now is as still as death itself that even signs of human activity were almost non-existent especially the space itself.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I walked around the place hoping there might be something and came across something that looked like a restaurant, with lots of chairs scattered everywhere. I moved forward and entered something that resembled an old track full of plants and dust. I followed the track until it led me to a large pavilion. I looked for a way to get into it but there wasn't any, so I decided to make one. Using this plasma knife I cut one of the walls like paper and it came apart easily. Out of fear, something resembling bats began to fly out of them everywhere. I couldn't see anything while they started screaming and wailing everywhere and ran away. I closed my eyes at the time it happened, but thanks to the suit, I was not injured by this unexpected encounter, which even Rosalina could not absorb.

Right after all the chaos calmed down, I went deep into the pavilion, which began to smell strongly of decay. I was immediately disgusted and retreated, away from all the stench that came out of the place. I aimed headlights to see if there was anything there and there they started to dazzle. I waited a few minutes before I gathered the courage and entered the place. There it turned out that the source of the glare was a metal vessel that was almost covered in dust and something else. I started running my hands over the covered dishes. Some were concave and others were flat. After I finished cleaning them, out of curiosity, I guessed correctly what was in front of me - kitchen utensils! On all the ones I moved, there were several pots, one wok, and several plates with a stack of forks and a small charcoal grill stand. The rest were too much for me to clean or want to touch.

"Contamination has been detected on these kitchen utensils. Suggest washing and heating" Rosalina advised me about the dishes

"Of course, I'll wash them, especially with what's going on here!"

I looked around to see if there was anything else, but the stench was too much for me, so I quickly ran away with the kitchen utensils I found elsewhere. I started to organize some of the things, and while the plates and forks I managed to fit in the storage compartments, the rest were too big. Following this, I had to carry them around on my own while I continued to check and tour more places. In the end, with bare hands except for what I had been holding the whole time, I passed through what looked like a waiting hall full of vegetation, I found a large window that looked out into the delay that had once been a runway, and now a savannah in the distance around abandoned skyscrapers. I decided to stop and observe there, to think about what I had come so far: about the tall facility that stood almost at the edge of the gentle horizon overlooking the whole place, about the small and broken building that was right at the end and the marks on the grass from the car I found and of course about myself with the marks of powders. I always try to remind myself that there is still hope until I get there and I keep reminding myself until I succeed. I was always told to stay optimistic about the future and everything will be fine. Not something to think about especially with everything I've been through, but at least I know I'll be out of the place soon.

With this mindset in front of the horizon, I made my way back to the car with everything I could find. On the way I followed a different path in the hope that I might still find something, and I came across a row of large nests of twigs and white material, each of which contained a group of eggs, seemingly abandoned and very similar to the ones I saw as soon as I entered the compound on the way to the communications facility. The hunger came back to me when I saw them and I decided to buy some of them. Rosalina of course confirmed that they were safe to eat, and as a result, I started collecting as many hard-to-touch eggs as possible, which were a little bigger than my hand, kind of reminded me of a chicken egg, but big. Suddenly I heard tweets that were getting closer and closer to me. Rosalina started showing red dots on the map of what looked like another herd, but they were furious that I took their eggs from them, so I decided with all the equipment and the eggs in the wok, to run for my life.

On the map, they ran at a faster speed than me and I was pressed while running and trying to hold on to everything I have towards the car. Luckily, Rosalina directed me to the place, but it seemed to be too late, so I decided to quickly find a place to hide and in front of a position, I advanced and hid there. All the chirps approached at great speed and I saw what they were: a small herd of feathered animals, with a long tails and 6 eyes, running in the direction I was supposed to run if I continued. They moved straight ahead with great agility and moved away as quickly as they appeared, all but one who stayed and looked at me. A red screen popped up on my screen. And I left my things and he started running towards me and jumped on my chest, with teeth removed and collar spread in front of me, he started trying to bite me. With one hand I held the knife and with the other, I pushed the eggs and the kitchen utensils that held them and grabbed him by the throat before he could react. He started trying to free himself and shake his neck off me but I realized that if I didn't kill him, he would call the rest. So I stuck the hot plasma knife right at his throat and killed him. His whole body stopped twisting and resisting. Looking closely, its entire body was covered in feathers and it had a mouth reminiscent of an overgrown lizard with many very sharp teeth and a large leather collar.

"It reminds me very much of some story I liked to read. About a mythical creature with the body of a rooster and the tail of a snake, although it looks more like a dinosaur than a snake, especially with its six eyes, mmm: Basilisk"

"Is that what you want to call the new animal you discovered?" Rosalina replied, but I ignored her as she began to display information about him from the scan she had made, she already knew my answer.

I stayed there for a short time until I got confirmation from her that everything was clean. I released the body of the Basilisk and collected the things, I thought to myself that it would be a shame to leave him there so I took him along with the eggs and proceeded to the car that remained in the same place I left. But this feeling of the place being empty of a person who was just recently here makes me feel uncomfortable, what happened to everyone who didn't manage to escape in time? Again another question that I won't be able to answer now, but just as my stomach is rumbling like the basilisks, I think I will try to organize and inaugurate these dishes in a meal that I will try to cook.