章節 9: Superhuman Comrade? (2) Fixed

"What do you mean by that?"

"Ah, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself."

She turned towards me and put her hand out for a handshake.

"My name's Ava. Let's become good friends."

-Is this some kind of trick? She's not going to kill me, right?-

After a few seconds of contemplation, I shook her hand. It seemed like she was going to speak, but the ground under me started to tremble. Looking down, the pebbles were moving around continuously.

"Strange."

"What?"

I let go of her hand and jumped onto the front of the car, climbing up onto the top. In the distance, I shielded my face from the glaring sun as a massive dust storm moved in from the west.

"What are you doing?"

"There's a dust storm coming from where I came from."

"I don't see anything."

She looks in the same direction, seeing the dust storm coming.

"Oh, there it is. It doesn't look that bad."

"You're wrong about that. Something more dangerous is in that dust storm. There are creatures inside of the dust storm that could crush and pierce you at any time. They can't be seen, but as they stampede through the area, the ground trembles. Another hint would be the eerie darkness that's coming from it.

"That makes sense. Don't you feel afraid? I'm beginning to feel uneasy about it."

"It has happened before. I've already experienced a circumstance like this. So it doesn't bother me."

I jump off the car and head towards the van.

"Follow me, we'll need shelter if we're ever going to survive the dust storm."

I walked around the van and opened the door while avoiding the area where the corpse was. A squish could be heard when I walked in. Turning around, Ava had stepped on the body's head.

"Gross. What was that?"

Ava lifts her leg up to see what is under her shoe.

"There was a corpse there. You just stepped on what was left of the remaining body.

As I approached the driver's seat, I could hear Ava attempting to rub the brain matter off on the ground.

"Ugh."

Going into the driver's seat, I pressed the crescent moon button. It activated, pulling down the shutters covering the windows. The door shuts itself while the top of the camper van lights up with artificial stars.

"It feels like it's night."

Amazed, she goes further in and sits down. Examining the room, she didn't seem to be certain that this vehicle would protect her.

"Are you sure this'll save us?"

"There's a fifty-fifty percent chance we'd survive. The whole body of the vehicle is made out of titanium, so at least we won't be crushed under its body.

"Fair enough."

At this point, she didn't feel much of a danger to me, so I sat down on the bed, setting the rifle down.

As we waited for the dust storm, she started up a conversation with me after some minutes had passed.

"It looks like we have enough time. You don't seem as defensive as before a few minutes ago."

"I've met a lot of people. Either they attack right away or are too cowardly to do anything."

"Are you saying that I'm a coward?"

"That's not what I meant. You're jus-"

Hoping to calm her, I changed the subject before she could take the lead in the conversation.

"Why did you say you were late to stop the apocalypse?"

"I'm sure you already know this, but there was going to be a nuclear war. Everything would be in chaos later when the apocalypse happens."

"Nuclear war? It never happened."

Ava looks at me puzzled.

As a former government employee, I had access to information that most people did not, and Ava was no exception because she was born with superhuman abilities.

~I didn't expect to find a superhuman in a truck.~

While I was explaining to her what had happened, she wasn't too shocked at what I was telling her.

"So it wasn't a nuclear apocalypse at all, but some gas apocalypse that mutated people?"

"Yes, this apocalypse started because of…"

Before I finish my sentence, the whole camper van shakes aggressively. In just seconds, everything went into chaos as it flipped over and over as the black dust storm finally came. Unprepared for this, I was sent flying, hitting my head on the roof and blacking out.

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Coming out of my unconscious state, everything was dark as the pain from my head was still there. Everything became blurry after a few blinks. When my eyes cleared, I recognized Ava's body on me and the blood streaming from her mouth.

I tried to push her away, but she pinned me down. Leaning to the right, I noticed that something had punctured the roof of the van, but Ava's back did not appear to have been damaged. A fractured blue shield was blocking the creature's leg just a few inches behind her back.

As screeches were heard the pointed leg protruded, displaying the pitch-black night sky filled with bright stars. It lit the inside of the van easily. As I pushed her off once more, I became aware that Ava was still breathing, writhing, and coughing up blood very near to my neck.

This time, pushing her off completely, I knelt down next to her and looked over her body. I found no issues.

~Is she bleeding internally?~

She fixed her attention on me while blood trickled from her mouth, clearly sensing what I was thinking.

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt a single bit. Protecting you for hours was easy peasy for a strong body like mine. There is even a backstory to it."

Sensing that a flashback was going to appear I had summarized what she was going to tell me since I already knew her background from working with the government.

"You were given a blue fluid injection when you were a baby, transforming into a superhuman with no parents and being compelled to live a military lifestyle set up by the government. Before the nuclear war, the individuals in charge of all the superhumans gave you the training you needed to survive the post-apocalypse, sending you and others to the bunker."

"..."

Remaining silent Ava seems to have a sudden thought.

"Oh! Do you belong to the family? You must be someone from Area 45 since I've never seen you before, right?

Area 45. It was a place to create soldiers. The area where Ava was from was to keep check the soldiers' growth as they grow.

"No, but I've heard stories of what the government was planning.."

"Oh…"

She ceased speaking once more, this time displaying a disappointed expression. When I noticed how dejected she appeared, I felt compelled to tell her my life story in short.

"I grew up with siblings. Ellie was just nine years old, and Luca was two years older than me. Since my mother gave birth to Ellie, our father had been the only one remaining. At first, we had very little money, but as we grew older and took on jobs as adults, our income increased. It cleared off our debts from taxes, medical expenses, food, and shelter…"

"I bet your life after that was wonderful."

"No, that didn't last very long. When our father fell into a wood chipper, he was fatally injured. They insisted that it was his drinking, but because he has never even tasted alcohol in his life, I never believed them. It subsequently got worse. Luca was employed by the underworld, but he disappeared. While Ellie...was taken somewhere else, all I could do was work for the government as a high-end hacker.

Ava hugs me sympathetically. Because of the current circumstances, receiving a hug didn't feel quite as warm, but it still felt good. Nothing but the wind's whirling inside and the utter silence.

She backed off and wiped the blood off of her mouth.

"By the way, is it fine to stay here?"

Looking at the whole in the van, it was pure silence.

"We'll be alright. It's generally quiet after a black dust storm of that magnitude."

With that one sentence, Ava fell asleep immediately.

~I feel bad. She kept me safe till nightfall.~

Wanting to find a cozier place to sleep, I pushed myself up and fell onto the turned bed behind me.

~Looks like I won't be sleeping much tonight.~

Date: 7/27/2302 11:37pm