Floor 21- Dark Angel

by Jason Luthor

  That’s how the survivors started pushing back. Pretty unsuccessfully, I mean, it’s been centuries since the Creep took over everything and people still haven’t pushed much further past the island. Still, without the Green Zone, there wouldn’t be a Central Freedom, and without Central Freedom, there wouldn’t be anyone left alive in the surrounding city. Just to make that clear, Central Freedom is a city on an island, and that city’s surrounded by a much bigger city on the mainland that stretches for hundreds of miles. But nobody wants to live on the mainland because of the Creep, and it’s hard to survive out there. That’s why people started calling it the Deadlands.

  So, the Creep wasn’t able to infect the island as much as the rest of the city. Number one, there wasn’t any Tower on the island, and the Creep tends to gather the most near the Towers. From what we can tell. Number two, the island’s connected by bridges, which makes it easy to keep the island clean of infection. Three, the original survivors also had some Old World tech that made it easier to keep the Creep away. It’s like the tech Dr. Watson carries with him, just maybe not as good, which I’m not sure if I should be surprised about that or not. Watson’s just a whole other topic I can talk about later.

  Anyway, at first, the Green Zone became basically one big farm, so the survivors were able to feed themselves and push the Creep off the island. It still appears every once in a while, even though nobody can tell why. Still, for the most part, the island’s clear of it. It must be the only place for miles that doesn’t have to worry about any infection. But I’m getting to the point of the story, and the point is that it’s a good thing we ran into colonists out west, or we would have never known about Central. I mean, we probably would’ve never been able to get across the bridges. They’re locked down by soldiers around the clock. Central Freedom’s always starving for more weapons and ammunition, but what they have’s good enough to shoot down three or four people pretty easily.

  Fortunately, we were able to convince those colonists that we weren’t raiders or anything, but that’s partly because we helped save their skins not long after they found us. At first, they were more than happy to let us sit around in a prison cell, but that changed pretty fast after they got attacked. It was a raid that might’ve wiped the community out if we hadn’t started fighting on their side. They let us out so they wouldn’t have to worry about us during the fighting, and Tommy’s the one that made the call for us to stay and defend the place. So, obviously we all did our thing. We grabbed our gear, got down onto the street, and started picking off whoever came at us. Like I said, these survivors were barely getting by, and they really didn’t have a lot of firepower. They had the skills to sneak around Creepers, but they just couldn’t hold up to raiders on their own.

  Well, I guess that’s where it comes in handy to have three kind-of military people that actually know how to fire a gun. The raiders definitely weren’t expecting us to be sharpshooters, and we ended up taking out at least half a dozen of them pretty fast. That got their attention, and it wasn’t long before they were on the run. Good times. Of course, after that, we got a lot better treatment from the locals. Turns out they’d been wanting to send some of the younger colonists back to Central Freedom. People around our age. Well, since we’d proven we were good in a fight, I think they were betting on Tommy and the rest of us to protect them. So, it was more than a week’s worth of walking back the way we’d come, and then more than another week to reach the bridge. Some of the people that came with us had never traveled east, so it was a new experience for them, too.

  And then we saw it for the first time. I still remember just how awesome it was that first day we got to the river. For the first time ever, I got a chance to see a bridge in real life. I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be so . . . big. And long. It stretched across the whole river, and on the other side, I could make out these huge skyscrapers rising up into the sky. Not as big as the Tower, but still, looking at it from our side of the river, Central looked like a diamond shining on the horizon. So, it should be pretty obvious how excited I was when we finally started crossing the bridge. Turns out the colonists were actually members of the city. The older people had volunteered to head out to colonize the Deadlands and the younger ones were just going back to Central for safety. Anyway, they’re the only reason we were able to get across the bridges. I mean, everyone thought we were lying when we told them we’d come from the Tower. Nobody out here had ever even seen anyone leave a Tower.

  It must have been, what? Another week of them keeping an eye on us? I think they were making sure we weren’t going to blow their bridges or something. Anyway, what really got them to trust us was us doing drills with their militia people. This is going to be a little embarrassing to say, but I was about as good a shot as anyone on the island, and I was the worst shot out of any of the Scavengers that made the trip past Floor 21. I mean, I’ve gotten better, but I still don’t think that I’m great. Turns out the Tower just knew how to pick ‘em, because I turned out to be a great shot on the island. Sure, I sucked compared to guys like Jackie and Tommy, but that’s only because they were specifically selected for their physical talents. As it turned out, I only thought I was a horrible shot because I was comparing myself against gun gurus.

  Anyway, once they actually trusted us and felt we could contribute around the place, they gave us a place to stay. And no, I’m not talking about another prison cell. They actually put us up in one of the apartment towers around here. I got to sleep in a real bed again. An actual bed! Plus, they gave us a place to stay in the same building as the survivors we’d travelled with. It was actually super cool once we got to see them again. Cynthia almost jumped out of her window when she saw us moving in.

  Wait.

  Did I mention Cynthia?

  Mike’s Recording 01

  Heh. We’re really doing this again? Couldn’t believe it when Dodger told me her and Tommy’d started recording. Hadn’t done that since we said our goodbyes to Jackie, after her taking down Judge.

  Miss you, Jacko.

  But you might be happy to know I’ve been doing alright. Least for me. I know last time we saw each other I was kind of a mess. The doc’s been good though, you know? Really helped me out with those meds of his. Helped me get my head together. Don’t know, I just feel a lot more like the old me. Guess part of that’s getting out of the Tower, too. With everything that happened there, maybe just getting outside was what I needed.

  Life outside the Tower wasn’t exactly peaches, but it was different. Different enough, anyway, especially after we met the survivors. Jackie, you should’ve seen the look on my face. I think my jaw swung right off. You know, you’d always felt there had to be someone out here. ‘Course I agreed, but at the same time, it was so wild to think about. Survivors, out here? I wanted to believe, but once I saw it with my own eyes . . . It was actually still hard to believe, honestly.

  Turns out the people we met were just as shocked to hear we’d come from the Tower. We’re the first, I think. Nobody’s ever seen someone step out of the Towers, so we were just as surprised to see them as they were to see us. Everyone out here thinks everyone who stepped into the Towers died. Their history’s better out here, Jackie. They kept better records, so they know a lot more than what we did. A whole war exploded out here, but you mentioned that. You called it the August War. They call it the same thing. Those two companies, Carthage and Apeiron, fighting it out. Turns out nobody was able to beat back the Creep, though.

  Fortunately, we got the chance to prove ourselves and help fight off some raiders. After that, they liked us a little more. It was nice, getting to know them. Especially, and I don’t know if I should mention this . . . but there was this girl, you know? Well, is this girl. Cynthia. Cynthia Silvera. She’s, you know, about our age. And she’s got a little sister. A real little sister, ‘bout twelve years old. Real cool girl. Their parents died a while back, and Cynthia’d lived her whole life out in a colony. Outside Central is what they call the D
eadlands. Makes sense. Lots of small groups of people everywhere, but almost everything’s infected with the Creep. Makes it real hard to get by, and it’d be impossible without the farms at Central Freedom making food to feed the colonies out there.

  Cynthia’d never seen it though, you know? And she didn’t want her sister growing up her whole life out in the Deadlands. So, you know, they came with us. She’s a cook. Doesn’t have a ring to it like Scavenger does, but she takes food and makes it, well, delicious. Everyone needs to eat, and I’d never had food that tasted like what she served me in my life. Plus, she’s a medic. If it needs to be wrapped or set, she’s your girl. Honestly, she wants to go back out into the Deadlands at some point, to help. She’s that’s sort of person. She just never stops giving. Always the first one to see how she can give back. Guess that’s why we all liked her as much as we did. Tommy. Dodger. Me.

  Didn’t think much of it at first, but we got along. Got along real well, actually. Once we got to Central Freedom, I didn’t think I’d ever see her again. Turns out, I actually ended up getting housed in the same building as her. Don’t know. Just lucky, I guess. She told me what happened to her family. I told her what happened to me. Told her about you. How couldn’t I? Anyway, that was the start of things. Must’ve been a few weeks later, after living in Central Freedom for a while, that I thought, I dunno, thought that maybe she’d like to hang out or something.

  Life’s pretty decent in Central. You can stop for a second and breathe. I do my time with the militia, every day. Go out there, train with them. After a while, they put me in charge of a few guys. Not just me, but Mike and Dodger. Guess all that fighting in the Tower paid off somehow. Anyway, one day I get back to the apartments, and Cynthia asks me if I’m hungry. Cooks me some food. Says she’s going to be doing med work with some of the militia, taking care of anyone that gets hurt. So, I tell her that if she works with the militia, that’ll give me more time to see her. I don’t know, Jackie. I just said it. And she gives me this smile that just gets to me, like it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen, and she asks if spending time with her’s something I’d want.

  Guess that was four months ago. Now, it’s been eight months since we got here. Almost eight months since we settled here in Central Freedom. Least nine months since we got out of the Tower. I don’t know. I’ve got a life here now, Jackie. I keep my troops in line. Do my time patrolling out on the bridges or hitting the streets. Always looking for Creep. Actually, in Central, raiders are a bigger threat than the Creep, so we’re always watching out for them. Still, every day, I get to come back to something. Got my friends. I’ve got Cynthia. I think . . . Nah, I know I’m happy, Jackie. Only thing I wish was that you were here. You’d like Cynthia. And, I think you’d like how I turned out. Got something I’m fighting for out here, and I’m pretty proud of that.

  Anyway, I should wrap this up. I’ll record later, obviously. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. For now, I’ve got to meet with everyone else. Head of Central’s this guy named Gabriel Branagh. Real good guy, but he’s balancing a lot of things on his plate. You’d know something about having to do that. Anyway, raiders’ve been getting pretty aggressive lately, and there’s a lot of them out there. Some real weirdos, you know? You’ve got these guys who wear masks that look like skulls and other guys that wear too much leather. A lot of guys claiming to be warlords or whatever. Bunch of clans fighting with each other or fighting with us. Far as I can tell, not all of them are bad, but a lot of them cause problems is what I think I’m saying.

  Plus, there’s this other problem. Been hearing about . . . Well, nobody has a name for this thing. I think it’s got be a Creep creature of some kind, just maybe one we’ve never seen before. Least, that’s what everyone else keeps saying. We’re getting some people coming to Central just terrified of this . . . I dunno, Jackie. This thing. It’s like a horror story you’d tell your kids. This thing that comes out of nowhere, like, out of the shadows. Stronger than ten people put together and so fast it’d outrun a car. Reports are all over the place. The one thing they all say though, is this creature flies on wings of fire. That’s the one thing we keep hearing. I don’t know whether to believe it, but Branagh wants to run a patrol out into the Deadlands to hunt this thing down. So, that’s one problem we’ve got.

  Not like it’s the only one. I don’t know whatever the hell that creature is, but I know we’ve got another issue to deal with. This one, I do believe in. This one’s no monster, but she’s organizing a lot of the raiders south of the island. Now, a couple of raiders, or even a lot of raiders, we can handle. Thing is, they say this woman’s organizing a ton of them, and we’re hearing that she’s packing a lot of firepower. Don’t know where she’s getting it from, but we have to take it seriously. So, that means we’re going to have find out how big a threat she is. If the raiders are telling the truth though, then she’s trying to unite every clan there is south of Central Freedom.

  They call her the Tank.

  THE DARKNESS

  Personal Recording of the President, Gabriel Branagh 01

  Some might say I don’t have the experience for this job. They’re probably right. It was just two years ago that I was working as part of Civil Development, helping restore some of the towers out on the riverside and making sure the bridges were still intact. Now, I’m president. When I meet with the Advisory Council, or sit with the War Council, I feel like they’re all waiting for me to screw up. Watching. I’m the guy they brought in to clean up their mess. The fact that I’d spent part of my career full-time in the militia is why they picked me. I think they thought it would be best if they had a guy working for them who’d spent time on both the civil and military side. Plus, I was young enough that maybe they thought I’d be a push over.

  I suppose the job’s not exactly easy, not with the former president, Nikola Dravic, still serving as a representative for one of the sixteen districts in Central Freedom. You can tell he likes pushing my buttons in front of everyone else, but that comes with the territory. He likes reminding everyone that he thinks he should still be in charge. What’s worse is that I know the War Council still has his back. Most of them, anyway. Old Nikola was a soldier for a long time, a real headstrong guy who served a lot of time in the Deadlands. I guess they respect that more than the time I served defending the bridges, even though I’m the one who . . . Well, I’m not going to brag about my accomplishments as a part of the militia. They know I earned my place on the front lines.

  But I’m not going to brag about those accomplishments because they don’t seem to matter to the people who make decisions in this city. A lot of the old timers, the ones who served with him and control most of the militia, really have a soft spot for guys like Nikola. The younger guys? Not so much. The only problem is, there aren’t a lot of young guys on the War Council. They’re mostly in the middle or lower ranks.

  Now, the Advisory Council . . . A lot of them were pretty close with Nikola too, but they couldn’t put up with him and the losses the island was taking. Too many complaints from the citizens about people going missing. Even a guy like Nikola can’t hold on to power with that many people protesting, not in a democracy like ours. During the protests, I was just another representative on the council, but it helped that I represented one of the largest districts on the island. Guess that’s another reason why the Advisory Council decided to roll the dice on me.

  If I’m sounding a little frustrated, it’s because I am. Today, I had a shout out with most of both councils, arguing that we had to focus on building up our own forces instead of looking for help elsewhere. It’s been almost two years to the day since I ended our alliance with Fort Silence, and the councils have never been happy about that. The people were fine with it. I know that. Your average Janes and Joes never really liked the way Fort Silence handled their business. Anti-democratic. Authoritarian. It isn’t that the higher ups at the fort necessarily did anything wrong, but they kept pressuring us more and more to have a say in how
we run things. Central Freedom’s survived because it puts the people first. That’s why we’re so generous with the food from the Green Zone. General Yousef, who’s running everything up there at the fort, would like us to be a lot more restrictive. Prioritize the military forces. I get where he’s coming from, but there’s no use in having an army if there are no people to defend. Our people, including our colonies out in the Deadlands, need to eat.

  Anyway, both councils are worried, which is understandable. It’s not like I don’t see why. We’ve been having more and more trouble with the raiders south of the island. We actually had to abandon a couple of the blocks we were holding down after some recent run-ins, just a whole colony abandoned. The militia wants to take it back, and we will, but we need a plan. We don’t have the firepower to just go toe to toe with that many raiders. Sometimes I think the only things keeping Central from an all-out invasion are the bridges. They’re what keep invaders away from us. If they ever got here . . . Well, God help us. We have the manpower but not the amount of heavy weaponry to survive an intense fight in the streets, which is, of course, why the War Council keeps insisting we go to Fort Silence for help. I’m not completely opposed to it, but I need Yousef to show that he respects our republic first. I know it doesn’t seem like much to some people, but freedom is a slippery thing, the same way power is. Take away a little freedom and soon you might lose all of it. It’s the same with power. Give a man a little power, and he’ll want even more.