Brain Death 3000

I sat down by the side of the road and watched as the undulating mass of pus, bat's wings, and sharkskin mended itself with the sky, becoming an unending thing.  It became the sky, then disappeared.  It left the conquered sky a bright orange, and left the ground muddied with all manner of bodily fluids.  

 

Our ship, Amundsen's Tamundua, falls from the sky in pieces, picked apart by our bat-things. The bats scatter before it hits the ground with a thump, welling up in a cloud of flame.  From the ground come many worms and much slime, sizzling from the flames.  The initial burst fades into the sky, revealing beams of steel and plastic stretching into the sky like a yawning man's arms.  The heat dispersal "wings" of our ship are still intact, albeit still red-hot from hovering in the sky.

 

I hear Ed, my good friend and colleague, come up behind me from out of the dust and fog. His plate carrier had been torn in two, and his pistol was missing from his holster.  He's carrying a beat-up shotgun from the police station we raided not too long ago.  He raises the shotgun above his head and shouts my name, "Adi!".  

 

"God damn, that was one hell of a show!" he exclaims.  I meet him with an empty face, and stare into his eyes.

"Hey man, don't let this get you down.  We all knew it'd happen eventually."

 

I bring my gaze back to where the horror once was, and stare directly into the nothingness.  A color beyond red, blue, or yellow.  It hurts my eyes.  It's like staring into the sun.

 

Ed eventually sits down next to me, and looks at the ground below where the thing disappeared.  I do the same, the nothingness is beginning to burn my eyes.  I see what he sees, I assume.  I see faces rolling around in the dust, the occotillo grabbing at nothing, and the saguaro boiling in their own fluids.  He could be seeing something different, you never know nowadays.  I could just be losing it, or he could be losing it, I'll lose it for sure if I keep thinking about it.  All I know is I see what I see.  I see the end of this, or every world.

 

Out from the mists of the melting saguaro comes Austin, running as fast as he can, rifle in his one remaining hand.  The nub where his prosthetic was attached is covered in blood, probably not his.  Before I have time to make any further observations, he reaches us and asks frantically "Is that it?  Did we lose?".

 

"Yup." responds Ed, extending his arm to help Austin up the slight incline.  After making it up, he sits down next to us and stares at the field beyond in awe.

 

"Wow." he utters to himself.  "What now?" he asks, ever industrious.  

 

I respond eventually, my eyes staying on the field ahead.  "We wait to see if anyone is still here.  If Bright isn't buried under a building or lost he should be able to help.  Hope's not totally gone."

 

"Yes it is." croaks Ed.

 

"Shut the fuck up, Ed!" Austin chimes in, visibly angry.

 

"Yeah, you're probably right.  I don't have high hopes for the situation." I respond, ignoring Austin.

 

The low sky pours down on us, and upon mending with the horizon, blankets us in a black day beyond any night.  Terror sinks in as the bats frantically flap away and animate skeletons rise from the dirt.  Their skin flayed, flesh festering, bones jutting as they stagger towards us from every direction.  Austin fires at some of the figures, dropping them upon hitting their spines.  The halves crawl towards us, at the call of the demon in the distance.  The demon Candarian, stood on a distant mountain with his arms outstretched. The figure appears fifteen feet tall, with large bat's wings and straight horns jutting from its head.  

 

Out from the dust and fog comes Rodrick, riding down the road in his Galaxie 500.  The doors have been ripped off, and the fairings are mostly gone. Rod is covered in blood as always, and wordlessly he beckons us to the car.  We pile in, Austin in the back, Ed next to him, and me in the passenger's seat manning the 'A6.

 

The engine, brought to life by the sacrifice of our ancestors, pulls us forward and into the distance.  We haven't said anything but the last six hours left none of us guessing.  We must return to Bossanoga to to end this terror.