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XXVII - Beauty and destruction of fire

XXVII - Beauty and destruction of fire

From the huge bushes that stood in front of me, rustlings and noises emanated from them. Right at their sound, I started away from the edge of the puddle, and in the distance, where the strange birds were standing, advanced a large familiar creature, but different from last time. With his big steps, I was able to feel his steps even through the suit and the birds jumped and flew swiftly away from the place. With his reddish armor and short hands, I still remember well from my last bend with him. He advanced into the pool and his big, black eyes already seemed to make contact with me, but instead of chasing me, he lowered his head and mouth tentacles into the puddle and began to drink from them. I took the opportunity to look around quickly.

I advanced to the equipment, gathered my words, and walked away while he continued to dip his head in the water until I could no longer see the puddle. I started to focus on continuing to reach the place. The map that was sent by message and was not useful while I was passing through the desert, came back to show my way to the elevator a second time The space that was still on the horizon stood firm in front of all the rotten skyscrapers, guiding me and all I observe is just how quietly the place has integrated into the wildness of the vegetation and the creatures that inhabit it. Trying to distract myself from what the Rex was drinking from the puddle. At the moment there is no sign on the map and the scanners and sensors of his appearance, but I am not sure about them because the last time I relied, I fell into his trap.

Between the streets as empty as ever of my life, and full of vegetation, I recently passed the avenue where the toxic fall of the pink-red petals and trees was abundant and I stood in front of a large field of blooming yellow flowers covering my entire field of vision as in a small dream. Of these, much movement detected on the map is visible everywhere, but the flowers hide them well and only depressions in the field reveal their place. My stomach is rumbling and I feel like I'm hungry but I don't know if I want to hunt them down. I don't even know what they look like. I just want to keep moving forward and maybe find something else.

"Colin, I suggest you hunt them down" Rosalina suggested:

"I do not locate any food source suitable for consumption by a close person other than them. The level of nutrients are in a dangerously negative balance"

There were whole days where I didn't eat or only consumed one type of food from what I could find. Most of the plants I saw were inedible and those that were, like the delicious fruits before I ascended to the desert, are sparse. I realized that I had no choice and I took out the rifle and armed him. I turned it on and started aiming my gun at one of the holes in the field where a little chirp came from and I turned it on. The light of the plasma rifle began to glow with a gentle light and in an instant, I took a deep breath. I pulled the trigger and a bolt of plasma shot straight into one of the dimples where I aimed my weapons.

In one moment I heard a sound of impact and a particularly loud chirp echoed through the fields and the other holes in the field began to move away and quickly from me. After they were gone, I made my way to the hollow in the field among the yellow flowers that look messy but are each shaped like drops. When I finally got to the place, I saw who I shot - something similar to a combination of a rabbit and a crab, and a mouse? He had flat armor and big ears and a weird jaw, I can't tell anymore, but where I hit him was right in the middle and pierced him. I collected the body and the stomach rumbled.

I try to check every corner of his flat body and his many scaly legs to understand where the meat is.

"You'll need to cook it over a fire before you can extract its properties to eat," Rosalina sneered.

"I know" I replied as I used the plasma knife to cut the grass and flowers, preparing them for a small fire. With the heat of the knife, I started a fire, and black, smelly smoke came out of them. I moved away from the smoke and threw the whole body of the animal into the fire. The smell of the smoke was replaced by the smell of a cooking fragment as time passed until I finally used the barrel of the rifle to remove the meat from the fire. With the help of the knife I cracked the armor that had turned black and from it revealed a beautiful pink flesh reminiscent of that of fish. I took off my helmet and started biting him. The texture of the meat that came out was soft and easy to bite and it was filled with a taste that reminds me of the first time I ate Jazel.

I continued to eat the meat until I finished it, and I felt full. While the fire continued to stand, I got up and stretched, put on my helmet, and put my things in order. I used the time to make a new order between all the compartments when suddenly a strong and suffocating smell began to reach my nose and immediately the ventilation openings were closed and an oxygen filter was activated in an automatic response of the suit and I turned back. The flowers that were standing near the fire began to catch fire from the fire I left burning, and the fire spread with unusual speed among the vegetation.

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"I have to get out of here!" I caught my words and started running away from the place while the fire just grew and swelled and raged, turning the place into a big thorn fire. All the holes that were around also beginning to escape and I entered one of the buildings through a hole and advanced deeper into the floor and saw how the fire was eating into all the flowers in his heart rabbit crabs escaped from the fire that soon in every corner I look in the floor, a raging fire. I was trapped.

Having no choice, I am forced to see how everything decays and hits the structure, which is resistant to fire, and turn every wall it touches black as ash. Helplessly I look at everything and have to wait until it's over. But one question occurred to me - why Rosalina did not warn me.

When I looked at the screen of the helmet, I saw the systems working as usual and I started asking her:

"Rosalina?"

She didn't reply. But everything works as it should. On one side of the screen, a caption is visible. I understood that Rosalina did respond, and I began to read:

"The information capacity of the suit that can hold has passed the maximum threshold, so I am reducing function to essential only"

That means she can't last much longer either. I remember her saying that her priority role was to collect information and keep me safe, but since the whole place contained a lot of 'information' according to the protocol line she was programmed, and without a connection or link to an external source of storage and information, she has no way to make room. What did she collect to reach this level?

The fire continued to rage throughout the night and I found a quiet corner and closed my eyes, not noticing how far the fire continued and spread. When I woke up and went outside the shelter, I saw how the flower field turned into black and dead ground. Everyone who was there was burned to death if they didn't have time to escape. I got out of the hole of the building and started moving forward. The map on the screen directed me to move forward. Nothing stood in my way and the walk was smooth. The more I advanced, the more I saw how much the fire consumed everything that stood in the way and nothing remained.

When the sun was high in the sky and I started to get tired of walking, I came to a skyscraper that collapsed from the storm that was a few days ago and blocked the road that the map marked, but the route did not change. I looked around to try to see if there was a way around it. I entered one of the buildings that stood on the side through its entrance and looked around the place, but I did not find an opening that could take me to the other side and when I found the exit on the other side, it was also blocked. I eventually got out of it and started trying to climb it. When I stepped on the fragments, they seemed to hold but as I began to put my weight on them, they began to move and I jumped back down to the ground before the fragments began to slide in my direction. So climbing the cracks is dangerous

"Rosalina? Is there another way to go around?"

I asked her, but she was silent. There wasn't even a caption on the screen. I focused on the map that was on the side of the screen and tried to figure out for myself how to get around it. The map showed me that there is a street that bypasses this checkpoint and I started moving forward according to the map. Eventually, as the sun began to set, I managed to pass the obstacle and returned to the track. When I reached a wide boulevard that the route shows, there was a row of large skyscrapers on the sides that began to cast a shadow on it, and in front of it, I see in front of me a long black line that descends from the sky to a flat and wide building that spreads across the entire field of vision in front of me. My face lit up with excitement, I reached my goal! He is not far away, according to what I observed!

I remember the words of Gabriel who says that I am probably the last person, but if other people are waiting for me there who are waiting like me to get out of the place, maybe to get on the elevator and get to the station, to take me from this place, I can laugh in my heart and tell him that he is wrong. I started running on all the equipment and on the avenue away from the fire that was I causing.

I passed through trunks that burned and turned to charcoal, to charred stones, and the rotten skyscrapers that held the vegetation that stood in the sky, far from the fire, safe and between them, something similar to birds, flying between them. I ran and ran until finally, breathing deeply and heavily, I saw the wide building in front of me in all its glory I took another step towards it, and I saw something moving between the buildings. I looked at the map, but points that show according to Rosalina's sensors are not visible at all, as if she turned them off completely.

I armed the rifle and advanced towards the building, if they are hostile, I will shoot them and I will not risk it. If they are human, who knows? With every step I took, I was attentive to any noise that might tell me, worst case scenario, I would need to be as alert as I could be without Rosalina's help. When I got close to the wall of the station building, from one end of my field of vision to the other, there was only a wall. I moved gently towards the entrance and saw a shadow cast on the wall by the setting sun. I glanced in that direction and saw what was standing there - an animal that resembled a gorilla with scales and a jaw that resembled that of a fish, advancing towards me. I aimed my weapons, ready to see and as soon as he came close to me, I put my fingers on the trigger but suddenly he changed direction and started to run away. I felt safe for a moment, but then the wall next to me broke and broke open with such force that I jumped away from it in the direction the strange gorilla was walking and I saw who came out of it - the strange Khasilon rex broke through the wall and looked at me with one of its big eyes. I froze with fear and everything I was thinking inside and started screaming:

"Not again!"