Fade (Walker #74033 fanfiction) Book 1

Chapter 17

Jevden stood up and walked around. There weren't too many rooms in this structure, but everything looked unnatural to him. "What is this place?"

"It's a Ruin," #20 replied in a hushed voice. "The Faded Ruin. I heard the other Leaders talk about it, but I didn't think it was actually real."

Jevden ran his hand along the wall. The stone and concrete weren't completely smooth but were rather cold in the night air. Despite the darkness, he could tell that it had once been burnt.

"Someone set fire to this Ruin," #20 said, as if he read Jevden's thoughts. "I have a hunch that I know who."

Jevden's shoe stepped on an object lying on the floor, and he heard the cracking of glass. He jumped back, startled, and looked down, seeing a photo in an ornate frame. He picked it up and brought it over to the light of the drone. It depicted three Walkers against a gray background. Two of them he instantly recognized, those being #28300 and #0. The third, however, he'd never seen before, not even in the Archives. He had sharp dark eyes, thick brows, and a black hoodie and mask, which was the standard outfit for a Walker. Two light tan straps lay over his shoulders signifying that he was wearing a backpack.

Jevden looked up. "#20, have you seen this Walker before? The one on the right?"

#20 walked over to him and stared at the photo for a moment. "No, I haven't. All of this feels weird." He stepped carefully around the room searching for something Jevden could only guess at.

But something else caught his eye. Along the back wall was aqua blue paint showing various graphics of Walkers and the AW symbol. Someone intentionally painted it here, but why? Jevden walked over and studied it carefully, glancing at the different pictures. His eyes ran down to the floor where he noticed something peculiar. An indent just big enough to fit his hand through was cut into the intersection of the wall and floor, with a few objects poking out of it. Curious, Jevden slowly reached in the hole and retrieved the hidden items, and found a few sheets of paper, with a huge bulge near the end of the pile. He decided to go through each one at a time.

The first couple were blue schematics of the AVI-8 drone, showing various front and side views, as well as instructions on how to assemble one. Dumbfounded on why someone would conceal these in a wall, he flipped to the next piece of paper. This one was a note from Red Nexus:

Once again, we still haven't been able to get into contact with #28300, and we've become concerned about her activities since the discovery of the Walker artifacts two years ago.

Over the past couple of years, some of our employees have caught wind that she and her friends believe that Red Nexus is responsible for the events that happened after the natural disaster. As much as these accusations have been disputed, many are still suspicious, and we need a way to clear our reputation to continue to be of service to this world.

We've now turned our attention to you, being the only person, we trust to go and find her. You've helped us in the past and now we ask you to help us now. All we ask is that you talk to her and convince her to seek an audience with some of our representatives to work out a compromise with our views and discover the truth on both sides.

But know that #28300 may not be the person you think she is. With rumors of an online network running around, we stress that your haste is recommended before any more problems arise.

Jevden finished the letter in shock, finding that he had even more questions than answers. Who were they writing to? He now began to wonder whether Margrethe knew her as well as she seemed to. He shook his head in anger. No, that didn't seem right. Red Nexus had to be lying about everything, only trying to shield themselves from future conflict. Well, that seemed to have backfired terribly, considering that the Walker community was still around and flourishing.

He went through the rest of the papers, and many other things caught his interest. There were pictures from library books, a screenshot of Lily's work when she discovered the locations of specific architectural structures around the world, as well as a portrait of her standing with representatives of Red Nexus. It wasn't until he got to the final page that he found something even more disturbing. The bulge ended up being the same messaging device that every other Walker possessed, but this one was worn out with the screen being cracked. Jevden placed it on the ground and took a look at the paper. He was surprised to see that it was a message from Lily to Margrethe. He read it carefully, heart racing fast.

Hey #88888,

I'm sorry I haven't been in contact much. I know that where you're going the signal on my Messenger won't reach, so I decided to write to you instead. It'll probably be a long time before you see this, but I'll have one of the drones scan it and send it to you.

It's been pretty peaceful out here. The Ruin was a great place to stay, I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. My friends are helping me out as much as they can, but they don't have as much experience as I do. Maybe it'd be best to put my findings in my own Walker Excavations, but have it online. That should make it easier for anyone to understand these findings.

Have you seen Walker #22 recently? We meet up sparingly, but he always seems to be off on his own mission. I'm not sure what Walker #0 is going to do with him, but my guess is that it's important. I'm worried, though. The last time I talked to Walker #0, he looked tense. The terror that Red Nexus is bringing around the world is spreading faster than we anticipated, and we have to bring them down as soon as possible.

Let me know how you're doing.

Walker #28300

Jevden put the letter down with the rest of the papers and looked at the framed photograph that he'd found. He supposed that the Walker wearing the backpack was Walker #22. But where was he after all this time? He finally picked up the Messenger and held the power button to turn it on. To his surprise, the screen blazed to life, which meant that these devices probably ran on an unlimited energy supply. But what he saw on the Messenger was an unpublished post by #28300 that sent chills down his spine.

Hello? Is anyone reading this? Red Nexus found our hideout and just broke in to capture us. If anyone sees this, please come and save us! I don't have much time. I heard they're planning to take us to their prison camp in the nearest city. Walkers, you have to help us before it's too la

End