: Stardust-DragonMaster :

SA: Specimen Artificiel
By Feitania

+ Summary

ALLEGATION

It has been 2 years since Henry disappeared; NiNa, lonely as ever, begun her 10th grade at her ordinary high school… Ordinary? Nothing has been ordinary ever since that day. The city has been corrupted (Half destroyed), and the society was suspicious; the police suspected her and her friends, and people shrank away from them as they passed. What were those things that once roamed around in the city? Even NiNa couldn’t answer. Is this Specimen Aritificiel that has been the cause of this? What is the apocalypse that Henry predicted before he left? NiNa’s aspiration is to gather more information about S.A, and find her friend, Henry.

ABSTRUSE

NiNa has been hacking through those hardships when she was told that with her classmates, she is to go on a field trip to the nearest city, la ville de Lumière, which was famous for its latest, effective technology and just-released high intelligence (The school concentrated mainly on artificial intelligence, computer programming, and newly created technology). On the way to the destination, the bus they were riding was attacked; it was pushed sideways being hit by a great force, the right side of it crushed. Nobody has been killed; there were several who were injured. Midst of the chaos, everybody inside witnessed an enormous thing scurrying hastily past.

Juncture

When the shock has been settled, while questioning each other, ‘What was that?’, they found themselves in center of horrifying, yet, acrimonious news of the city- the cities in the Northeastern of Lumiere was attacked by a troop of mystifying human-like creatures. To their nausea, the people of the cities have been annihilated recklessly. More to their repulsion, this troop was heading to the direction of crux of Lumiere, and the city was in turmoil in effort of people to evacuate away as far as they could. After debating whether to stay or flee, NiNa and her friends decides to stay… and try to block the coming tempest to find out more about S.A.

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Nothing has been the same ever since Henry disappeared. I remember everything– the memory of that day is lucid. The sky was crimson with sunset, while purple streaks crossed it. As screams were heard from places here and there, fire broke out everywhere- and all I could do was crouch on the ground, swept to and fro by the waves of bodies. They came nearer to the center of the city. They were distant from where I stood; yet, close enough to see their bold forms. One of them ripped out the face of a woman as her screams of anguish echoed, ringing in my ears. Clutching my twisted bowel, I stumbled forward along the crowd. I could see a dark figure running towards me through the droplets of water that filled my eyes.

“NiNa!”

I lost my balance and tripped, scraping my knee. I could make out that the dark figure was Henry. He pulled at my hand, dragging me away from the noise.

“Get up! We have to run!”

“I can’t, my stomach hurts-“

“Just get up- I think half of the city has been destroyed. They’re coming from southeastern part of Runacity; they must be planning to wipe out the entire city. Most residents are evacuating to la ville de Lumiere…” said Henry, panting hard, pulling my hand abrasively. He continued on, not regarding whether I was listening to him or not:

“According to the media, the government has already sent the military. They should be here, saving us… Why aren’t they here already?” he grinded his teeth- I saw his face livid with fury.

He kept pulling me towards him, leading the way while I, half-blindly, followed him. All I could sense was nothing but the darkness, Henry’s grip, and the screams of agony I was in the crux of. Since my muscles were paralyzed, I couldn’t resist Henry’s grip when I realized he had dragged me into a tunnel.

“Henry, what are you doing? We should be out in the open, where we have more chance of getting away!”

“…It’s the apocalypse, NiNa. We are facing an end. Those creatures will be swarming all over soon. There is no where we can be free from them; nevertheless, we will search for safety.”

I blinked.

“What the heck are you talking about? Apocalypse? There are freaking people dying out there! We’ve got to help them!” I tried to pull my hand free but he refused to let me go.

“There is nothing you can do- what were you just doing out there? You’ll get yourself killed even before you try to save the others!”

I stumbled on my own feet and fell down. It hurt quite badly when my bottom hit the hard ground. I stayed down, whining, wishing for a change. It was as if I had fallen into an abyss.

“How could this happen? Where did they come from? Oh, my…”

Henry tugged at my hand. I leaned on his left shoulder, hanging onto his arms. The tunnel was cold, and it was no ambience for comfort but I found some by his warmth. He held on to me.

“Henry, what are they? They weren’t humans.”

“…S.A. They are S.A.”

“What in the world is S.A?”

He hesitated, and then started to walk away. I starred at his back and the shadow cast behind him. It was as if he did not want to tell me, or he found it hard to explain. I had a feeling that he knew something about this. How could he know what they were? And also…

He interrupted my string of thoughts by saying,

“S.A stand for Specimen Artificiel. It was a series of project set by the government, then continued by a surreptitious organization unknown to the community.”

“What? Wait, wait… So the government is behind all this?”

“No… This is not what they planned a forehand; this is not what they planned at all. They thought they could create another biological weapon against other allies…”

“What the hell do you mean by ‘another’?”

“As far as I know, this isn’t the only result of their experiments- they must have others, such as viruses that inhabit inside bodies and… give a grotesque change to the container or plaguing the whole land…”

“Viruses?”

“I am just using it as an example. Not that I am sure they have created such.”

Echoes of our footsteps deepened as we went further inside the tunnel. The abrasion on my knee was still painful, and I was cold and exhausted, not to mention the hunger and fear. Not knowing what to do, I simply followed Henry’s feet until Henry stopped abruptly, making me step on the sole of his shoes.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry. Not done on purpose.”

“Listen, NiNa. Listen carefully. There are some people, some people I know, that are behind all this. They formed this organization that believes in this… prophecy and the messiah that would save the world from despair- except they believe they are the messiahs… To let the world know the existence of themselves, they needed something great… and something horrendous occurring. They came to the solution when they found out that a city faraway from their hiding was wrecked and demolished by a troop of living corpses. They-“

What the hell?

I’ve been watching his lips move, while his words flowed to a point they were meaningless to me until I heard “living corpses”. This man who stood in front of me, did he know what he was saying at that moment? That was what I wondered as I asked him for confirmation.

“Alive… corpses? What in the world do you mean-“

"Just as literally: corpses that are alive and moving about so.” Said he as he sighed, his weary face deep with anxiety.

“They thought they could use them upon their wish, controlling them to attack and ambush on their command. All was well, until few got out of their control, and the rest of them… as if they could communicate with each other, they turned away from the order soon afterwards. They… Argh.” He held his head in his hands as if resenting something. I stepped cautiously towards him.

“Henry, what’s wrong? Please tell me.” I put my hands around him gently, stroking him to pacify him.

“I just… I don’t deserve to live, that’s all. I am abashed that my own father and his brother is part of this ridiculous plan. I… I was never able to stand up to them even though I knew about it from the beginning. I can’t… I can’t….”

“You can’t die.”

He dropped his arms, leaving them hanging quite awkwardly. He slowly turned his head to look at me in the face. His eyes seemed as if… as if he truly wanted someone to absolve him…

“You can’t die. You have to put an end to this. Or at least try. Endeavoring won’t turn into nothing, we can-“

He bellowed, loosening my hold curtly.

“We? We? Who we? Who is there for me?” I saw his eyes becoming suddenly glistening. I grabbed his hands and held them tight in my own.

“Me. I am here for you. Even though there might not be anyone else, there always are ‘we’. You and I.” (...Continued)

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