บท 243: Soylent Green is People!
Afton and Anja slowly make their way through the dilapidated hallways of the vault, a green hue infesting the place along with sporadic plantlife that seems to have erupted from the floor, walls, and other weaknesses in the Vault structure.
Obviously, there was more to meet the eye with these plants... Again there wasn't any sunlight to provide sustenance to them, but most importantly, the materials the Vault had been made out of should have made it impossible for roots, vines, and other organic material to break through it.
Vaults were designed to weather nuclear explosions, and yet the plants are easily able to tear it apart seemingly at their whim.
The duo come across another closed door and Afton protects his face with a rag as he opens it, sure enough, another wave of green miasma flows out from it... After thinking about it more closely, the green particles were likely being produced somewhere, Keely and the Dowager mercenary group had both been through here relatively recently.
It when then Afton figured it out, "Ah, that's what's happening... The plants don't act like actual plants, but instead like some sort of fungus... That'd explain their ability to grow without sunlight." he mutters to himself, his wariness rapidly increasing as that'd mean the green miasma were spores.
He'd seen more than a fair share of zombie movies involving fungus, but... If it was indeed infectious, then his earlier inhalation had doomed him already. Afton shakes his head, he'd complete the job, acquire the research for himself, save Keely and Dowager, before trying to fix this problem.
With renewed vigour Afton steps into the next room, finding it completely destroyed as if a hurricane had passed through here. Tables were overturned, machinery was infested with roots, and the lights occasionally flickered which meant something was likely wrong with its connection or the reactor itself.
The next few rooms looked to be observation areas, with windows peering into restricted sections of the Vault... Clearly their containment efforts had failed considering the plantlife had reached the outside of the Vault already.
Honestly, Afton was surprised to have not found any enemies yet... Perhaps he was wrong and the mantises were the only threat?... Pfft, yeah right!
He continued looking around the area, eventually finding a rucksack filled some grenades and other rations... Probably belonging to either Keely or Dowager, though why they would leave it here beats him.
Walking onwards, he and Anja find some sort of elevator system, of course it's broken and unlikely to be operable for some time... He could try to fix it but that'd probably take a couple of hours, something he was hesitant to attempt due to the likelihood that the fungus would try to infect him in some way.
Shaking his head he heads to the staircase leading to the lower floor called the Oxygen recycling floor. Once through the door, the duo were greeted by a dark hallway, one where the lights had apparently completely malfunctioned.
Using his Pipboy light as a torch, he illuminates the plantlife infested the path ahead, his eyes narrowing when he spots a figure amongst it. He readies That Gun which causes Anja to prepare for combat herself as he tries to speak to the figure, "Hey? I see you there, why're you hiding?" he asks in a clear, but calm tone.
...
Receiving no response he grabs some empty cartridges from his bag and tosses them at the creature, the metal loudly bouncing off of the Vaults metal floor. Both Afton and Anja are startled when a green arm shoots out from the foliage and slams onto the cartridge, slowly dragging the object into the plant life afterwards...
"What the fuck is that" Afton mutters dryly, "Anja, did we fall into a portal to the nightmare dimension or some shit? That's some silent hill, Lovecraft shit right there." he states, gesturing at the hidden monster with his pistol.
Anja doesn't answer, of course, her eyes not leaving the place where the arm had erupted. It seemed that while Afton had an idea about what was in there, Anja did not. She'd never seen the horror movies he had and had no inclination over what to expect. Not that Afton himself was in control of the situation mind you, he just had a vague idea over how this adventure was likely to go.
"Anja, relax, if you start spraying all of your bullets randomly then it won't be the monster we have to worry about." he says, trying to persuade her not to accidentally shot him in the back in a panic. At his words her breathing slows somewhat in the manner he had taught her.
"Alright, on my mark we'll blow the shit out of that thing hiding there, after that we'll keep an eye out in case the sound attracts anymore" he states before lining up his shot.
*BANG!* *Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!*
The sound of gunfire echoes throughout the metal hallway, most likely alerting any sentient creatures. During the attack, the hidden creature launches itself out of its hiding place and start rapidly crawling towards the duo on all fours.
It was humanoid but had no eye's, only a huge fang-filled mouth that snapped at them voraciously. That is, until their bullets rendered it nothing but a pile of green flesh.
It stopped moving after a bullet penetrated its skull, but the duo wasn't willing to risk being sneak attacked by it. Not to mention the fact that more could be coming at any moment. They just stayed at the end of the hallway, waiting for the rest to arrive...
...
After a couple minutes of waiting, it appeared that either the creature didn't care about the sound, or merely didn't hear it... There could be other reasons however, ones that Afton hoped weren't true... For example, the fungus being a hivemind organism like the Flood from Halo, or Necramorphs from Deadspace... Truly, if the fungus operated anything like those two 'fictional' plagues then he, as well as the rest of the world was truly fucked.
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Niggross Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
บท 244: Ruin
Once both are 'sure enough' that more of those green zombie things weren't going to start sprinting down the hallway, Afton took a closer look at the monster they had killed...
Its skin was green and bark-like, and spores seemed to constantly be created and emitted by the creature... Whether or not this was just it decomposing or a method of reproduction Afton couldn't tell.
On its back were spike-like protrusions that helped camouflage it while it was hiding in the foliage. They looked stiff, but Afton wasn't sure if they had any other functions.
What worried him the most was the fact that it had obviously BEEN human at one point. Meaning that the fungus could indeed infect humanity... Though he couldn't tell if that had been premortem or postmortem.
Other than its intimidating looking jagged teeth, the creature also had large sharp claws attached to each hand. It looked similar to a Deathclaws, but different.
Afton rubs his face and takes a couple samples from it, using some of the vials he'd received from Dr Hildern, and also acquired from Klaus's laboratory. With that done he takes a glance at his companion to see how she was doing, sure enough, Anja was sending him a look that meant, 'We should get out of here while we still can'...
"Thoughts on this Anja?" he asks.
She frowns, "Other than we should leave here immediately? I think this place is going to get worse and worse the closer we get to the bottom floor. How many residents do you think lived in this Vault?" she asks pointedly.
Afton shrugs, "Well, in order to prevent inbreeding over the course of two hundred years they'd need around a tho-sand... Ahh, shit..." he groans after realising what she was suggesting.
"And you want to fight a thousand of those things... Just for some caps?" she presses.
...
Afton sighs and shakes his head, "Unfortunately, I suspect leaving isn't really an option for me anymore..."
Anja raises a brow, "What do you mean?"
Afton simply points at the creature, "People don't just suddenly mutate into these things, there had to be a cause. The most likely suspect would be the spores in the air, spores that I accidentally breathed in at the entrance..."
"So both of us are fucked?" Anja asks, a scowl on her face.
Afton shakes his head, "Not completely, if I can my hands on this places research then I might be able to create a cure, or at least... Some sort of pesticide that targets the fungus. Either way, we are both already compromised." he states.
"I think I hate you... Sir."
Afton nods and reloads That Gun, "Funny, I'm starting to hate myself for coming here... Unless there's something else, we should get moving." he says, Anja nodding as he steps over the monster's corpse.
The duo continue onwards and almost immediately spots many places filled with thick foliage. No doubt there'd be more monsters hiding within them, so, as Anja gets ready Afton fires a warning shot into the plants.
The bullet whizzes through and connects with something fleshy, a spray of green blood coating the wall behind the plants as two of those humanoid creatures reveal their heads above the plants and turn in their direction.
Similarly to the last one the creatures move at almost inhuman speeds as they crawl up to the duo. Their movements are fluid, yet restricted in some way... As if their joints had been locked at certain angles for some reason. This caused the creatures to use their upper bodies to compensate for it, making aiming for their heads incredibly difficult.
As such, Anja sprays her 9mm Submachine gun at the right creature, stuffing as much lead into its chest and legs as possible. Unfortunately, they don't seem to feel pain, and Afton was somewhat sure their internal organs had been drastically altered by the fungus.
The only thing that stopped the creatures approach were the injuries Anja had caused to its legs, forcing it to use its front limbs to crawl.
Afton had used VATS to help predict the leftmost monster's movements, allowing him to eventually score a headshot, blowing most of its head clean off. He then turned his weapon to the monster that was almost upon Anja and finished it off as well.
[Challange progress, Abominable : kill 3/50 abominations]
He ignores the challenge notification that appears and double-taps the monsters' bodies just to make sure they wouldn't be getting up again. Thank you Zombieland survival rules.
Once done Afton peeks through the cloudy window on the left leading to the next room, squinting at a figure sitting inside? he wasn't sure to be honest...
Afton opens the door and backs up as a wave of spores wash through the area, he tries to ignore it and peeks inside the room, spotting the figure... Greasy black hair, stubble, and a thin build. They wore combat armour and had a plasma rifle propped up to the chair they were sitting in... "Mark Dowager?" he asks, not having expected the man to still be alive at this point.
Of course, even if he was alive, Mark probably wouldn't live for much longer. His skin had a green tint to it with black veins clearly visible on the surface, Afton could swear he saw that the veins were writhing in a rather disgusting manner under his skin.
"W-who is it? W-who's there?" the man gingerly asks.
Afton was confused, Mark's eyes were wide open and looking in his direction, yet he couldn't see him? "Mark it's me, Afton Parker... We met not long ago."
"Hhak! Hah! Haaak!" the man coughs loudly, a cloud of green spores being forced from his lungs, "Ah, the kid?... L-listen, you... You need to get out of here, it-it's too late for me already."
As much as Afton wanted to reassure the man, he was definitely infected. Even if Afton managed to create a cure, Mark would be long dead before its completion. "What happened to the rest of your group?"
Mark breaks into another coughing fit, it sounded incredibly painful but there was nothing Afton could really do about it. "The boys? Dead, all turned into monsters... We killed quite a lot of them, but hadn't realised we were getting infected. By the time we realised it was too late. I lost them on the lower floors... I tried to escape to the surface but, I don't have any strength left... Kid, you need to get out and warn everyone. The shit happening down here can't reach the surface!" he starts coughing again from overexerting himself.
Afton sighs, deciding not to answer the man, "Do you want to die a human, or a monster?" he asks simply, pressing the barrel of his weapon against the man's forehead.
"Human." Mark states, using the last of his strength to push against the cold metal.
Afton nods, "Very well."
*Bang!*
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