Changed: Outbreak

Chapter 25: Returning ships

[John's pov]

I sat on the floor as I watch the sun rise, and I held one of my steel crucifixes with both of my paws close to me. The world is coming to an end. Food supplies have been extremely scarce for the past few days, and this has lead to the locals to revolt. Eyes filled with hunger, and they did every way they could just to get their paws on food. This has started the fortification of the military laws governing the small nation of the planet. Many lives were lost, and many more waiting to perish with an empty stomach.

As if things couldn't get any worse, a crisis has arisen inside the New Order Alliance, and their thirst for power and knowledge has resulted in a situation that none of us could have predicted. From the distance, I can see the infrastructure of the New Order Alliance collapse and ooze out with this black goo. It is dawn, and I see two injured Protogen limp towards me. One is unconscious, while the other is badly damaged. When the two approached and fell in front of me, I gently rose up. I lifted the critically injured Protogen without hesitation.

"Are you alright? You look like you have suffered quite an injury from that military base. Can you get up?" I asked and the Protogen slowly nodded his head. It took a couple of seconds before the Protogen is able to let go from me and stand on his two hind legs. "Scott... Can you carry L-Lui for me?" Scott requested, and I nodded before standing next to the unconscious body of Lui and carrying the Protogen on my arms. Scott then runs for one of the ships nearby, and I followed him from behind while I carry Lui.

I saw Lui's visor transmitting a message about a planet that was about to be destroyed. I remained silent throughout the running, and Scott boarded one of the ships. I hopped in after him, and I noticed him sitting on the pilot seat. I gently placed the unconscious Lui on the floor of the ship before approaching Scott who's on the pilot seat. "Before I forget," I dug into my pocket and pulled out a walkie-talkie, which I handed to Scott. "Ghost wanted to give this back to you; I'll give you more specifics once I figure out what's going on." I said, as Scott grabbed the radio from my paw.

"This planet is about to... become uninhabitable. Related to some Eldritch sorcery, someone is ch-chanting a spell that... will somehow destroy this planet to contain a bioweapon. Can you also search for a... medical supply in the ship? Military grade adrenaline shot." Scott asks and I turned around to open the first aid box mounted on the wall of the ship before taking one one adrenaline syringe and giving it to Scott. "Thank you... This should keep me going for a few more hours into the voyage; after all, I need to launch this ship."

Scott then groans as he injects the adrenaline syringe into his left leg.

[Ghost's pov]

The dawn is a sight to behold. I opted to stare at the rising light during my final moments. Something about it is pleasant and comforting, despite the fact that I am getting closer and closer to death with each passing second. I've recently noticed that the earth tremors. Is this an indication that the world is coming to an end? I'm sure Lui and Scott are well now, as well as John, whom the person behind the radio labeled as insane, a lunatic.

The shaking quickly intensifies, and the trees tremble along with it. An earthquake now is not what I would anticipate. As the sun climbs higher, so does the shaking. Then, out of nowhere, I observed a spacecraft flying towards the horizon. Cracks developed in the blue sky, followed by a loud crack. The sky, like the land, split in two. The world is coming to an end, and so am I.

[Lui's pov]

"Lui, wake up. We made it out alive." The voices echoed into my head as I slowly opened my eyes. The metal ceiling greets me first on my wake, and I can hear the buzzing of the lights that illuminates of what appears to be a room. I gently sat up right to look around and examine my surroundings, and the first living being I see is Scott sitting beside me. Scott then immediately embraced me into his arms. "It's good to finally have you back, brother. I thought I lost you to that Malware that hijacked and manipulated your systems. I thought I won't be seeing you again. I don't want to lose a brother ever again." I patted his back as he hugs me tighter.

"What happened? All I remember is grasping the artifact, then the dream state; what happened after that? Where's Ghost? Who's this Protogen?" I said as I gently let go of Scott's grip. "The Malware took full control over you after you received the artifact. Ghost was ordered by someone over the radio, presumably Doctor K, to fetch this priest named John. Unfortunately, he was killed by a Black Latex amalgamation while defending John. After the dream state, you collapsed once more and your visor began to display a series of statements about a Protogen on our home planet gaining complete access to the black artifact of Doctor K, followed by a broadcast of a warning about the planet being destroyed."

I instantly rose up and walked towards a window of the spaceship we're currently in. I stood next to John by the window, and we both looked out at the vast space through the glass. I observed the planet I was going to call my new home was ripped and broken in two. Along with the fractured planet, chunks of rock drift in space. "The end of days, or at least for my home planet. I didn't know space would be this beautiful. A glimmer of hope in the worst of times. You are what you believe in, but someone refuses to acknowledge. Someone refuses to let you go. Someone refuses to let go of what you have. You need to fix what he started to— I'm sorry about that. That is why everyone calls me a lunatic, but I wonder what my purpose is now that someone needs me elsewhere." Following that, John remained silent, reluctant to say anything.

Then I turned around to face Scott. Scott is still seated on the floor, apparently inspecting his bandaged stab wound. His blood has already saturated the bandage that has been put around the wound. "Are you okay, Scott?" I inquired, as Scott raised his right paw to give me a thumbs up. At that moment, I suddenly understood something vital that might hold the key to answering the chain of events that are gradually unfolding. "I recall having a phone call with Doctor K in the chapel at the time. He said something about making the perfect Protogen. I know it seems far-fetched, but do you think Doctor K tampered with the black artifact's deeper knowledge in order to develop a Protogen capable of utilising the black artifact to its full potential? Do you think the Protogen who appeared via my visor is the exact same Protogen that Doctor K created and is now brandishing the black artifact?"