Chapter 1

Sirens. Muffled Sirens. They are the first sound that I woke up to before I notice that I am laying down on a pool of sweat. As my blurry vision slowly cleared, I try to move my head, only to find the limited space for me to move.

Am i. in a boxeth? I think to myself. Through the glass on top of the box, I can see black smoke covering the entire ceiling. My numb mind slowly connects everything together.

Smoke and sirens….

Oh god! a fireth hast did start!

Panicking, I struggle inside the box, trying to fine a switch or ANYTHING that can help me open it. I find a small hook right below my left thumb and pull it as hard as I can. With a hiss, the box finally opens but instead of fresh air, I was greeted with a nasty burning sensation in my nose and eyes. My instinct kicks in and my body drops itself toward the ground. I groan and cough as I let my body recover. My mind races to every question that I have. Wh’re is the fireth from? wh’re am i? wherefore wast i lock’d in this ‘thing’?

Waiteth. Who is’t am i?

As I desperately look around, my mind is filled with three of new information. One, the fire has started from a small capsule in the room. I don’t want to know what happened to the person inside it. Two, there are a lot of capsule inside this room, with mine in the center of the room. And three, there is a glowing line on the floor. It sprouts from the box I emerge from, which is labelled “Capsule 13”, and goes straight out the room.

This must be the path to safety!

I quickly crawl along the line, covering my mouth and trying to squint my eyes as tight as possible while still allowing me to see bits of the pathway.

As I am near the end of the room, I hear a small thud. I freeze and turn around. Nobody in sight. Was it just my imagination?

Another thud. This time, I see where it comes from. Capsule 15, another capsule just like the one I was stuck in. I peeked inside it and I see someone, a woman. She was a beautiful…with her short hair and dark-chocolate skin. Another kicks from inside the capsule snaps me out of my daydream. She points toward the handle with her hand and imitate a pulling gesture. I place both of my hand on it and pulled hard. The capsule hisses and opens. The woman quickly jumps out of the capsule and hugs me. Her hair smells sweet. Cinnamon. My mind connects the familiar smell. Smells liketh cinnamon…

“Oh God! I thought I’m gonna die in there! My self-release button malfunctioned and I couldn’t get out of there! I thought I’m gonna die! Thank you!” She tearfully says, hugging me even tighter.

My face grow hotter the longer she hugs me. It took a few minutes until we are both violently reminded of the fire with another burst of irritation in our throat. I drop down to the floor again, pulling her arm to follow me. After another coughing fit, I finally regain enough strength to speak.

“Ma’am, i bethink we shouldst headeth immediately to a safe area. Let us depart!” My own voice surprised me. Have I always speaks in this manner?

The woman nods. “Understood! Let’s go!” I look at her puzzled. How could she understand me? Even I have a hard time understanding myself. Ignoring all the questions in my mind, I grab her hand and we move along.

The two of us slowly crawl out of the room. I give the room one last look. Fire has reached my capsule and soon will consume the whole room. I don’t know about the other people still stuck inside their ‘capsules’, but I hope at least some of them escaped before me. I quickly shut the door and, along with the woman, we run along the glowing line toward the exit door.

As we were running, I was scared. What if we were the only survivor? I’m glad to have at least someone to chat with, but the thought of everyone dying but me and this lady is frightening.

When I arrive at the safe zone, I get mixed feelings. At first, my mind is relieved to hear other voices. I turn my head to the lady and smiles, which she returns with her own. Someone else is alive!

But that relief turns to horror when we find them shooting at each other. There were three man: one of them is laying behind some corner, with visible wounds covering his body. He writhes in pain and is trying to slow his blood loss. Another man, crouching beside him, is sitting biting his fingers and visibly shaking. The third man is blocking the way to the safe zone, shouting “No one can pass! No one!”. The crouching man turns and sees us, and signaling us to quickly lay down and come closer. We do so carefully, not to attract the third man’s attention.

“Oh god…oh god…We’re gonna die!” The man says. His eyes are filled with terror.

I place my hand on his shoulder and grip it. “Calmth down and bid us what hath happened!“

He points at the man behind the cover, still shooting at us. “That guy snapped and is blocking our way to the safety pods. When Officer Kennell tried to detain him, he got shot several times! I had to drag him back here.“

I turn my head toward the officer, who is breathing heavily. His eyes met with mine and he hands me a..pipe? It has an open end on one side, but I can’t find the other end of the pipe anywhere. “Use this…I don’t even have strength left to lift the gun.“

Puzzled, I ask him. “What is this…thing?“

He looks at me weird, as if I just barfed on his clothes. Sighing, he muttered something, which my ear catches as “one of those people“. He waves at the pointy-thing near one of the end. “Just point the pipe part toward the man and pull that trigger to shoot him.”

Gripping the gu-hn, I quickly position myself at the corner and glance at the crazed person. He is still standing there with a revolver in his hand, waving it around. “I know you’re still there! You can never pass! It’s mine! All mi-“

I point toward him and pull the trig-guh. In a few seconds, light shot out from the pipe and straight into the man’s body.

But it doesn’t stop there. The pipe keep spewing out the lights until my finger numbs and I release it, my whole body is shaking from the recoil.

This gu-hn is…dangerous…In mere minutes, the man is now filled with the same holes in the officer’s body. He falls face first and stops moving.

“Beginner’s luck, heh, but it does the work.” The officer chuckles and points his thumb toward the exit. “We have to go now. The ship have a risk of exploding with all this fire. Let’s get to the pods. Lift me up, Farell.” The boy obediently stood beside him and help him to his feet.

We follows the duo into one of the “safety pods”. As I pass the doorway to the pod, I hear a hint of groan from behind me. It comes from the body of the crazy man. I turn to the officer and points at the man. He shakes his head.

“He’ll be trouble for us if we take him along. Who knows what will happen if he snaps while we are in the pod? I ain’t risking it.“

I shrug and enter the pod with them. It was shaped like a ball, with four seats facing each other. I strap myself across the lady, who smiles and wave at me.

“Strap yourself tightly.” The officer ordered. “Don’t want any of you floating around in this tight pod.“

We barely managed to strap everyone to their ship before the officer hits the lauch button,throwing us into the empty space. All of us leans back in our seat, finally calming down our nerves.

And then the ship explodes.

The cruiser, which we were launched from, emits a bright light. Even with the empty space between the pod and the ship, I can still audibly hear the sound of metals being ripped apart. If the crazed man didn’t die of blood loss before, he surely is now.

As the light dies down, I thought it was over. I unlocked my belt and try to move closer to the window to see the ship’s remains but all I see is the shock wave of the explosion zooming close and, the moment it struck our pod, it threw me across the pod. My head hits something, knocking me out…

The last thing I hear is the shout of my fellow passengers.

To Be Continued

Title Picture: source