by Tanya Lisle
After Destiny
By Tanya Lisle
Published by Scrap Paper Entertainment 2015
Chapter 1
That mountain wasn’t there yesterday. There was supposed to be nothing out there but the vague ruins of the city and maybe a few scavengers that tried to get close enough to slip into the Janus Complex, but this morning, visible clearly through the haze, there was a new dark shape on the horizon.
Even before the nuclear bombs wiped out the United States and left Canada crippled as collateral damage, the land around them was flat. The only thing out there was supposed to be the ruined city of Regina, but this was a giant thing looming over them in the distance. Within a few hours of spotting it, theories started to fly about just what it was.
Life in the Janus Complex was quiet enough that even the most minor things caused a stir. They were comfortable enough inside the complex — safe from the radiation poisoning and their population mostly unaffected by the raids on their supplies — that they were anxious for anything to happen. Survival, as it turned out, was a lot duller than previous generations anticipated.
Three of their people made the trek out across the barren wasteland and perpetual haze to see just what was going on while the rest of Janus continued to come up with theories about what it actually was. Some thought they were soon going to be under attack while others believed that the haze was just making the ruins of Regina cast a very large shadow.
“A shadow,” Kitty muttered, shouldering the gun and wiping the visor of her hazmat suit off as she looked around the wasteland. Her voice echoed into the helmets of the other two men with her. “How the hell does anything cast a shadow out here? We aren’t even casting a damn shadow.”
“Don’t remind me,” Clyde said, camera equipment and medical supplies on his back. He pointed the bulky handheld recording device straight ahead of them. “All of this footage always ends up completely overexposed. Even if someone wanted to use it-”
“For a movie?” Kitty asked, the smirk on her face reflected in her voice. “No one’s got time to make any new movies. And even if they did, who are you going to convince to act in it?”
“I could make you a star.”
“If you try to make me into some weepy little princess, I’ll make you holier than Jesus.”
Clyde didn’t even have to look at the gun before he put up his spare hand. “Retracted,” he said. “You’d make an awful heroine anyway. The old movies always had some sexy tomboy who realizes she needs a man to save her in the end. And you’d probably shoot any guy who tried to save you in the dick.”
“I’d save the guy and then shoot him in the dick,” Kitty said.
Clyde swung the camera around to Kitty. “See, this is why you’d be-”
“Keep focused on the mountain,” Kitty told him. “We’ve got to almost be there by now. Swear it looks like it’s getting closer.”
“It is,” David said.
Clyde swung the camera back around, whatever he was about to say dying on his lips as he looked up. The mountain was there already, looming over them with a clarity that shouldn’t be possible in the haze. It erupted out of the sand, all rock and soil. Above it, the haze cleared entirely, breaking into a bright blue ring of clear sky.
The sky. None of them had ever actually seen a blue sky before.
“So… I think we’re climbing it,” Kitty said after a very long moment. “We need to get as many samples as we can to figure out just what this thing is and how it’s doing that. Because if that’s real...”
She let the words hang in the air. Kitty had never in her thirty three years considered what she would do if they actually found a way to leave the complex. She, like many others, had grown up in there and knew nothing but the confines of those concrete walls, only venturing outside to deal with raiders or investigate something unusual in the wastelands. This was the farthest she had ever been from the complex and the idea of going so far that she couldn’t see it again unsettled her in a way that she couldn’t quite explain.
Still, the chances of this actually being anything other than some miracle was slim. It was possible that it was always here and the haze was only now starting to thin and let them see more. David would collect his samples and, when they got back, they would learn that it was nothing to be worried about.
“I’ll race you up!” Clyde said, his camera clipped to his chest as he went past both of them. He started to try and climb the wall. They walked slower behind him, watching as he tried to grab at the wall and haul himself up. He only ever made it a few feet before he fell back to the ground to try again.
“There’s a path,” David said, pointing to Clyde’s left. It was a small crack in the wall that looked like it led up. “Which is troublesome.”
“Because it’s going to be easier to get up?” Clyde asked, brushing himself off and joining them at the start of the path.
“Because it looks like people have been here before.”
David was probably right. She didn’t see any signs of people, but there was something odd about how they happened to find a path. There was something human about the crack in the wall and the way that it was just wide enough for one person to climb over and around the rocks while cliffs stretched upward on either side. Looking around, she could see several points where someone might be hiding, waiting for a couple suckers to walk right into their trap and cut off their escape.
“You,” Kitty said, turning to Clyde and handing him the gun she kept at her side. “Rear. Pay attention.”
“What? Why me?”
“Because David shoots like a fucking storm trooper,” Kitty said. “Something moves that ain’t supposed to, you kill it. Got that?”
“Yes sir.”
“We could just go back,” David said. “Get backup and-”
“We are not going back empty handed. Not now that we know this thing’s actually here.”
David didn’t protest any further, falling silent as Kitty took the lead and set the pace. She took it slow because the path demanded it, giving them all too many rocks to climb over, under, and between. Though there was no sign of movement, she still tried to keep herself ready to shoot at the first sign of an ambush.
A shot rang out behind her, followed by a thud. She swung around, gun at the ready and scanning the mountains above them. “What was that?”
“I…” Clyde started, sounding more shocked than anything. “I think that was a bird?”
“Don’t be a dumbass. Birds died out before your grandparents were born.”
“Tell that to them.”
Clyde pointed up and Kitty could see them. She’d been so focused on the path that she didn’t bother looking any higher than where someone could attack them. Up at the top of the mountain where it touched the blue sky, dark shapes flittered back onto the rocky mountainside and disappeared into the crevices.
“Can you get that for me?” David asked. “Even dead, it’s still a bird. Someone’s going to want to get a look at it.”
Clyde looked back at Kitty, who nodded. He went back down the path, returning a moment later with a carcass nestled in his hands. David took it and placed it into a waiting container, turning it around in his hands and inspecting it as closely as he could through the glass.
Kitty waited exactly long enough to screw the lid on before she started moving again. “Come on,” she said, her eyes still looking up and around them. “We can stop when I’m sure there’s nothing out there that wants to kill us.”
They continued moving, crawling over the rough terrain with Kitty in the lead. Now that she was looking, she saw many smaller things move. There were bugs here. Actual bugs. The birds continued to watch from higher, but she set her sight on more than a few small, furry creatures she had n
ever seen before as they fled from them. Behind her, she could hear Clyde moving to aim at things, but he held his fire now and left the small creatures skittering around them alone.
She’d only ever read about these things in books and seen them in movies. In person, these things were a liability distracting her, even though part of her wanted nothing more than to chase every single one down to get a better look. Insects still existed, but they were all Downstairs and she had never been down into the bowels of Janus to see them first hand. Here, though, it seemed they were under every piece of loose rock that shifted as they moved.
The plateau came just in time. They were winded from the climb and sweating in their suits. It was high and isolated enough that an ambush would be difficult.
David set down his pack as soon as he could, letting it land with a heavy thud and taking out several small jars to try and collect as many samples as he could. He caught one rather large insect that looked like a living stick, put it in a jar, and put it down at his side before looking around for more.
Kitty picked it up and got a better look. “You got stuff like this Downstairs?”
David shook his head. “Lot of worms. Spiders. This thing I’ve never seen before. Mom is going to love this stuff.”
“I thought your mom made apples that taste like bacon,” Clyde said. He sat back against the rock, taking the camera off his chest to point outward. Around them was a solid wall of haze too far away to touch from here. They could see the Janus Complex on the horizon, not that small yet, and the ruins of Regina off to the east.
Clyde banged on the camera. He shook it and brought it close to his face, pressing several buttons on it before shaking his head. “Camera died,” he said, putting it on the ground and taking the equipment off is back. He began to fidget with it, replacing the battery and checking what he could.
When he finally held the camera up to the sky to look at it, he stopped and lowered it, his eyes on a spot along the side of the mountain. “Hey?” he asked. “Was that always there?”
Kitty swung around, gun raised and eyes falling directly on what Clyde was looking at. Where the path once ended, there was now a small ledge that wasn’t there when they got here. It led across the cliff face to another outcropping. It was larger than theirs and, stranger still, it appeared to be green.
“Are those plants?” Kitty asked, peering past the barrel of her gun to get a better look.
“I don’t like this,” David said. “I know that wasn’t there a minute ago.”
“It must’ve been,” Kitty told him. “What, you think it popped out of nowhere without even a little tremor? Look at this thing.” She banged against the rock hard. “It’s solid. We must’ve just missed it before.”
“You mean you missed it,” Clyde said, adjusting one of the lenses from his pack to get a better look at the outcropping.
“Wrap your shit up,” Kitty snapped back at him. “We’re going to check it out.”
“You can’t be serious,” David said. “We’ve already-”
“I said pack it up!”
“Yes sir,” he said, gathering the samples he’d already collected and placing them in his large, lined backpack. Clyde had his things together in moments and helped David collect the vials. He had only a dozen so far, but it was still more than he’d ever taken back before and with a much wider range of samples. With how green it was over there, he wondered if he had collected too much too soon.
Kitty lead the way, gingerly testing the ledge every step. She had to leave her gun slung over her shoulder and grip the wall with both hands to keep herself balanced, going slowly enough for the other two to follow. David was in the middle and she was ready to reach out and grab him at the first sign he might fall, but the much larger man looked more comfortable than she was. He kept one hand free, ready to help Clyde regain his balance.
Clyde needed the help.
The closer they got, the more they could see the strangeness that was the outcropping. Vines crawled down the side of it and tall, soft grass grew on the surface along with moss on the rocks. There were small creatures crawling along the rock around it and it led into a dark cave carved into the side of the mountain.
As they got closer, Kitty started to rethink this. The grass was thigh high and easily tall enough for someone to hide in, untouched though it looked, and there could definitely be people hiding in the cave. How she managed to miss seeing this earlier was a mystery, since she knew this would be the perfect spot for someone to stay. Especially with the clear blue sky above them giving them ample light out of the haze.
She couldn’t get used to the blue sky. It wasn’t something that was supposed to actually exist anymore. It was a relic of the old days, well before even her great grandparents were born. The sky was hazy and yellow now and it had been for as long as she’d been alive. Clear and blue just left her uncomfortable.
She set foot on the outcropping first and left just enough space for Clyde and David to do the same when she raised the gun once more. She felt safer with it in her hands as she swept it around, looking more closely at the cave and through the grass. Nothing moved, though she moved forward slowly anyway.
“Hey!” David snapped, Kitty spinning around to see Clyde snatch something off his waist. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Air’s clear,” Clyde said. He hit a few more buttons on the device before handing it back. “Like, it says there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Bullshit,” Kitty said, looking back at David. It was clear. There was no sign of anyone here and, if anyone were to ambush them, they would have already.
“It might not be working properly,” David said, shaking his head and putting down his pack and looking over the device. “It defaults to these numbers. That doesn’t mean – Clyde, don’t!”
Clyde was already taking the helmet of his suit off, the helmet coming free and Clyde shaking out his light brown hair. Sweat drenched his freckled face. He took in a deep breath and his expression soured, starting to cough a moment later.
“Leave him,” Kitty said. “He’s had his shots. He’ll be fine for an hour. You gonna survive over there?”
Clyde gave a thumbs up as he tried to catch his breath.
“See, he’s fine.”
Kitty walked around the edge of the outcropping, careful not to let her feet get caught under the vines that crawled over the edges. Small creatures skittered away from under her feet as she walked, but they never went too far away. Below them, she could only see more mountain and the wall of haze stretching up into that cylinder above them. It was so blue up there, and it felt like it was so far away. There shouldn’t be that much above her.
When Clyde looked back up, his eyes were wide and a strange look crossed his face. He stuck his tongue out, trying to wipe the taste of something out of it as he turned to David. “It tastes weird,” he said. “It’s like… I don’t know, it’s not normal.”
“That’s because it’s probably heavily irradiated,” David said. “Put the helmet back on.”
“No, that tastes kind of sour,” Clyde told him. “This is… it’s like it’s dirty or something. But not dirty. And it smells like something. Take yours off. Is this what Downstairs smells like with all the plants?”
“I’m not-”
“Just do it,” Kitty told him. “He’s just going to keep asking all week. You know it. I know it. You’ll survive a minute.”
“It could be poisonous.”
“Do your sensors say it’s poisonous?” Clyde asked.
“They aren’t saying anything!” David snapped back at her. “They haven’t been working since we got on this damn mountain. This mountain which, might I remind you, shouldn’t exist. That led us to this ridge which wasn’t here a minute ago. This place is — what are you doing?”
Kitty removed her helmet and dropped it to the ground. The look of confusion spread across her face as well. “You’re right, it does taste funny. But not like poison.”
&
nbsp; David lowered his helmeted head into his hand. “You’re both insane.”
“Look, there’s only air or irradiated air out here,” Kitty told him. “And this is definitely not irradiated. It tastes kind of like it smells, though.”
“And what does it smell like?”
“I have no idea. Not food?”
David could see he was outnumbered on this one. Shaking his head, he let out a sigh and put down his jars. He’d get back to the samples soon enough. Carefully, he unhooked the helmet and removed it, taking in a tentative breath of air.
“So?” Clyde asked.
“It’s kind of like Downstairs,” David said, immediately going through the jars to find a different vial. He opened it and shook it around in the air before closing it again. “It’s a bit different, but it’s… it’s clean air. That’s what green plants like this smell like, I think.”
David went back to collecting his samples with greater vigor, removing the bulky gloves and setting them into the pile with his helmet. If he was poisoned, he was probably already screwed. Even if he wasn’t poisoned himself, he doubted he’d be able to make it without the two of them returning with him.
While Kitty continued walking the perimeter, gun in one hand and helmet under the other arm, Clyde went through the middle of the tall grass, unclipping his camera and trying to see what was wrong with it. The battery was charged enough to last for days and there were three sets of storage in case he ran out. Still, the view screen showed nothing but static — which wasn’t something the camera should be able to do in the first place.
Clyde let out a yelp as he fell forward. He managed to catch himself on something soft lying in the middle of the grass. He looked down, seeing the distinct shape of pale legs and let out a second yelp, pulling his hands back fast as he threw himself backward and to the ground.
“Clyde!” Kitty called. “Report!”
“I’m okay!” he said. “I just — there’s someone here. I think.”
“You think?” Kitty found him seconds later, reaching down into the grass and hauling him back to his feet. “The hell do you mean you think?”