III. There’s No Place like Home
After several days of searching around for a potential place that wasn’t on the brink of collapse, Thomas spotted a large house hidden between tall trees, surrounded by walls covered in dense overgrowth. When they managed to find a place from which they could climb over in order to investigate more closely, they found that the inside garden of that closed-off residence was like a small forest, even more trees that could be seen from the outside were covering the high concrete fence, dense shrubs and vines hanging all over the front of the house. Strangely enough, there was a clearly cut wide patch of grass that covered the grounds from where they climbed in, to the stairs that seemed to let up into the house, on the side of the steps there was a large garage entrance sealed by a big seemingly well-preserved door.
Sparking doubts among everyone, Thomas suggests:
“Should we try going through the garage? I think it may be easier that way…”
“Doubt it. These sort of fancy houses were always rigged with alarms on their garage doors and back entrances. If we’re gonna risk triggering an alarm, we should go through the front door, that way we can get out in a pinch.” said Lindbergh, looking around the property as they walked up the stairs.
Walking toward the main entrance, they find themselves on a worn-out balcony that overlooked the garden, it was covered with withered vines that split the cracks in the cement even more, only to later die due to a lack of earth and sunlight that they required to grow in that thick homegrown forest. A large broken window had been covered by some black material that wouldn’t budge or let anyone see through it. As they tried turning the knob on the door only for it to open without effort.
Cornelia voices her doubts as they cautiously walked inside:
“Do you guys think anyone’s home?”
“As if that ever stopped you before, chicuela…” Lindbergh said in a snarky tone.
Cornelia puff up her cheeks in frustration as she replied:
“Pfft… Says the guy that followed me for weeks without saying a word…”
Stepping into the living room of that seemingly old house, they noticed that it was bigger on the inside, with no clear signs of looting or pillaging, except for strange marks on some of the deteriorated furniture, small spots of mold on the walls and the specks of compact dust that floated around the air.
Thomas looks around, disappointed at the large yet unkept living space exclaiming:
“Wow, this much more of a dump that I expected…”
“C’mon, don’t be like that, man… Look! It even has a couch!”
“It does look bigger on the inside, what I’m still wondering is: Why was the door left open?” Cornelia asked.
“I’m sure the owners left in a rush when everything was falling apart. A lot of people did the same thing.” Lindbergh explained.
“Well now that you mention it, it is a big-ass house! Can’t wait to see if there are any soft and comfy beds still around here.”
The entire first floor of the house was just as deteriorated as the exterior structure, almost everything was covered in patches of dirt and growing fungus of all kinds, the integrity of the house was still held in place despite the unsavory surroundings. As Lindbergh stepped in the kitchen he was startled to make quite an unexpected discovery: a hydrogen-powered stove and appliances. It worked with the same principle as the hydrogen engines, just pouring any kind of water into a feeding tube located on the side of the apparatus, it would start to function even without a connection to local power, gas, or water services.
“Wooee! This is one of them fancy kitchens that came out a few years back! To our luck, it only needs water in order to work. This house ain’t turning out so bad after all.”
“Finally we can have a decently cooked meal without having a fire indoors that can potentially burn everything down.” Cornelia stated with a small smile as she checked the storage closets and pantries.
All of a sudden, a terrifying scream could be heard from the living room where they left Thomas. Lindbergh and Cornelia run out to see what was happening, they see what exactly caused Thomas to react that way: a fully equipped bathroom, almost entirely clean from top to bottom. It had a thermal pump installed on the far end, only needing some sort of flame in order to start itself up and provide hot water for the entire house.
“A SHOWER! A REAL HOT WATER SHOWER!” yelled Cornelia enthusiastically.
“Well, between this and the kitchen, I think we’re set on our new temporary base people.” said Lindbergh as he walked back into the kitchen.
“I’ll say… It’s incredible.” Thomas murmured, his mouth still open from the discovery.
“By the way, before you run off… Thomas!” Lindbergh points at him. “Go to the river and get a bucket or two in order to make these futuristic contraptions work so that we can start living like humanity has always done! But fancier!”
Agreeing to the task, Thomas excitedly salutes him stammering:
“Y-yes, sir! R-right away! Will one bucket do?”
“Two! That way we can cook and if the heater somehow doesn’t work we don’t have to waste two trips outside! Now go!” he ordered. “In the meantime, Cornelia can explore the rest of the house, just to make sure there’s no one else invited for dinner tonight.”
Thomas grabbed two buckets and ran out the door without saying another word, while Cornelia glared at Lindbergh annoyed at his suggestion.
“Wait, so why do I have to go alone exploring the rest of the house?”
“Because I’m sick of dealing with the fact… THAT YOU REALLY STINK!” exclaimed Lindbergh as he pinched his nose.
Blushing and ashamed at his words, Cornelia replies:
“Hey! It’s not my fault… Besides, no one of us has properly bathed in a while, so don’t go judging me. You have to take a shower too, y’know? Geez…”
“Don’t sweat it, literally. I’m just looking out for you, I sent the little one out to get two buckets just in case you wanna take a shower before we get things up and running, if you want…”
“B-but you’re always bossing me around! On top of that, d’you think it’s really okay to send a girl out alone to explore a big house like this?! Have you not seen any horror movies at all?! That’s how they start!” Cornelia protested.
Lindbergh puts on an apron he found in one of the kitchen drawers, peacefully starting to prepare something to eat, after a few moments he notices Cornelia is still there and asks:
“Cornie, whatchu still doing here? Thomas’ll be back any moment now with the water, and I’ll have dinner ready. My, my, how times have changed, huh?”
Indescribably frustrated by that last statement, Cornelia stamped off without uttering a word. Thumping up the stairs towards the second floor of the house. Her anger washed away as soon as she saw what appeared to be a totally different house: a clean red carpet ran all the way across a lavishly decorated corridor with different sculptures, paintings and elegantly potted plants. The hallway had three closed polished wooden doors on one side, and what seemed to be a broken down door at the opposite end of the ward.
Cornelia nervously thought to herself:
“If horror movies have taught me anything, it’s to NOT go through the broken down door first.”
Closing in on the first door, she realizes it’s locked and won’t budge. A faint scratching sound seemed to trail across the walls leading into the other rooms, as Cornelia opened the second door, nervously clenching her knife. She realized that the room was empty, only filled with old memorabilia of people’s trinkets and hobbies. The scratching intensified as she approached the third door, sweat poured down her forehead, she gulped as she gripped the doorknob and burst open the door. She immediately covered her nose upon sensing the putrid smell of rotting flesh, what lie before her filled her with an unbearable sense of horror and disgust: an unnaturally opened-mouth man sat looking at the door, holding a revolver on his right hand, he had parts of his face and arms ripped off, exposing his muscle tissues, judging by how dry his skin and wounds were, he had been in that state for a very long time. Cornelia fell to her knees at the entrance of that unsettling room, not being able to hold it in anymore, she vomited on the carpet in the farthest corner of the hallway.
“Coño de la madre!” she exclaimed as she spat on the floor in disgust. “Wait, if that wasn’t making those noises then… What was?”
Fear gripped her as she heard the creaking floorboards that led up the broken down door’s dark passage. Loud thumps got closer and closer as she stared into the abyss with increasingly nervousness. Her face became even paler as she saw an even more gruesome sight: a huge dog that appeared to be a mix of Doberman and German Shepherd, almost as tall as a normal person, it snarled as something dripped onto the steps. When it saw Cornelia, it dropped a half-eaten, rotten arm onto the floor as he let out a furious bark.
Charging toward Cornelia as she already decided to run for her life, she screamed to the top of her lungs:
“Lindbergh! Run! Big! Dog!”
Calmly walking out of the kitchen sipping a glass of water, Lindbergh asks:
“You really need to work on your excuses… Whatchu mean a big dog?”
Cornelia zooms by him, glaring at him as she angrily gasped:
“Run, dumbass! Big! Dog!”
“Big dog?”
Before he could finish his thoughts, a loud thump hits the middle of the stairs, he turns to see an unbelievably large mass of that canine abomination, making him instinctively begin the run for his life.
Leaving the house Lindbergh closed and tried to bar the door unsuccessfully, the creature’s thrust against its wooden frame made it crack right through the middle. Looking around to see that Thomas was not back yet, they both decided to make a run for the fence, Lindbergh lagging behind as he yelled out to her:
“Wait for me! Were you really gonna leave me to be that thing’s happy meal?”
“No, just hurry up and keep running you idiot!”
As soon as Cornelia finished her sentence, a loud crack signaled them that the door broke off. Loud barks resounded all around the garden and the nearby street where they got off to a head start, as they ran, they saw Thomas coming back with the buckets.
Thomas starts waving at them, only to see their horrified faces as they drew closer, wondering what happened he was about to ask what was going on, before he could utter a word, Lindbergh’s arms grab him and start carrying him on his shoulders.
“Hey! What’s the big idea, man? Why are you running?” Thomas annoyingly exclaimed as he dropped the buckets.
Both Lindbergh and Cornelia gasped out in unison:
“Dog! Big dog!”
Thomas looked back, trying to find the alleged dog to no avail, as soon as he was turning to ask which dog, a huge shadow hopped over the fence, charging towards them barking in a gut-clenching fury.
“HOLY SHIT THAT’S A BIG DOG!”
Turning the corner on their way to the river, Lindbergh thought of the idea of swimming across the river, it may not let them off the hook, but it could certainly slow the beast down. Before he could even suggest his plan, a bloodcurdling drowned scream seemed to envelop their entire existence, making them come to a halt.
Still shocked at whatever that was, they gulped in fear of the hungry beast on their trail, until Thomas spoke:
“Yo, guys… Whatever that thing was, it isn’t there anymore.”
Looking around to find out that the creature was nowhere to be seen, not being able to find signs of whatever made that horrible sound either.
“Hmm, I wonder what scared the pooch away?” Lindbergh pondered.
“Pooch? That thing was my size!”
“Whatever it was, he was a good samaritan today with us.” Lindbergh stated with a chuckle as he looked to the other side of the river.
“Good samaritan? Sometimes I think Thomas is right about you. Maybe you do have a couple of screws loose.” said Cornelia, still trying to catch her breath.
“And here I was thinking that we’d be able to sleep in plush, comfy beds tonight, take proper showers and even have Cornelia’s tastiness, I-I mean, tasty food.” Thomas sighed.
“Perv…” Cornelia angrily muttered.
“Well as much as I enjoyed our little exercise run, I think it’s best to clear out from here as soon as possible. We don’t know who or what else is waiting for an easy supper out there.”
“I’m still wondering what in the fuck was that thing? Both of them…” Cornelia asked.
Lindbergh gasped in shock at Cornelia’s words:
“Cornelia! Language! Did you kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“Who would have thought that such a sexy girl would have such a dirty mouth? I wonder what other dirty thing she might do when she gets all worked up like this?” said Thomas in a dreamy tone as he stared at Cornelia.
“I think you shouldn’t have said that…” Lindbergh whispered.
Cornelia’s expression turned into indifference as she approached Thomas with a decisive step, grabbing his shoulders she winds her leg up as far back as it could go, only to let it go in a furious kick straight into Thomas’s nethers. She then turned and started walking away without saying a word.
Lindbergh hastily follows her asking:
“Don’t you think you went a little overboard back there?”
Without stopping, Cornelia coldly answered:
“I warned that asshole…”
Walking further upstream, the dusty road began to turn from asphalt to gravel, then to a barren dirt path between the broken down suburban homes sitting in front of vast expanses of land with the occasional barn or granary nearby. After a while walking without saying a word to each other, Lindbergh’s thoughtful gaze turns up to Cornelia as he asked her:
“Don’t you think we should at least check up on the kid? I’m not trying to stand up for him or anything, but maybe we can patch things up handling it another way--”
As Lindbergh’s words fell into silence, Cornelia sneaked a glance at him saying:
“What’s wrong?”
“Look over there…”
When she looked at where Lindbergh was pointing to, she saw a large cloud of smoke coming from a large farmhouse on the horizon. Wondering what might have happened, they agree to investigate the mysterious fire.
Standing in front of the already incinerated house, Cornelia whispers in shock of the massive heat that they were feeling:
“Do you really think anyone could’ve survived something like this?”
“Maybe so, c’mon, let’s see if there’s anyone in need of a helping hand like a certain little lady did not so long ago…” Lindbergh snickered.
“What do you mean by that, estúpido?”
After scouring the burning farm grounds not being able to find any signs of survivors, they stand in front of the only remaining, albeit burning structure left: the barn.
Before they could go in a tall shapely shadow starts revealing itself to them, with what appeared to be some sort of furry creature on her shoulder.
Unbelieving of the sight they were being witness to, Cornelia and Lindbergh try approaching the strange figure, as they tried asking it if it needed help or something it spoke in a magnanimous tone:
“Dios has guided me here to you so that I may show you the path to reach His Glory!”
The delicate voice and appearance of the figure was revealed to be an incredibly beautiful, tall, blonde girl with blue eyes. Her hair was tied into a knotted into a long ponytail, she wore a long sleeve turtleneck sweater with a small heart shape cut out between the beginning of her chest and the edge of her cleavage. The bouncing of her curvy backside combined with her voluptiousness made both of them stare blankly at her unharmed state in disbelief, ignoring her religious preaches.
She happily carried on:
“This is not the end, friends… There’s still hope for all of us… We can’t lose faith in Him.”
Not being able to fully understand the situation, Cornelia leaned into Lindbergh whispering:
“You gotta be kidding me… Don’t tell me she’s one of those.”
Pointing at the sky as if she was handing out blessings, the girl continued her dogmatic trance:
“We only have to follow His Word… Dios has blessed us with a New Beginning! If we gather those that are faithful to Him we can make this New World even better than before!”
Lindbergh sighs heavily as he whispered back to Cornelia:
“I definitely think she is…”
Before they could stop her religious onslaught, a squeaky voice fills their ears, making them recoil in surprise.
“You gotta excuse her… Sometimes she forgets how to just talk normally to people… That’s neither here or there though, I’m Titus, nice to meet ya. This illuminated lass next to me is Adriana, don’t worry, she’s harmless.”
Baffled by the fact that the voice seemed to come from the furry creature on the girl’s shoulders, Lindbergh exclaimed in startled tone:
“Holy pretzels! A talking cotton ball!” he said as he stared at the almost white fur of the critter.
Adriana intervened before anyone else could speak.
“You guys, the fact that we’ve been united this way has already been determined by The Lord, and we have to help each other so that each day we may grow closer to His Glory.”
Ignoring her, Titus resumes his explanation:
“Excuse us guys. You gotta understand that you’re the first ones we’ve seen in a long time that haven’t tried to eat us or worse. Seeing such a lively pair makes it seem almost like a miracle!”
Still processing the fact that they were speaking to some sort of talking rodent, Lindbergh replies:
“Well then, pleasure’s all mine, my furry friend. I’m Lindbergh, I was the one who sniffed you guys out and came over to see if things were alright. This stinky little fireball next to me is Cornelia.”
Flustered by his words, Cornelia protested:
“Hey! I’m not that stinky…”
“By the way, was it you that roared so fearsomely that I always crapped my pants a little while ago?” Lindbergh asked with a chuckle.
“No… We didn’t even hear any sort of roar recently. We were locked up in the basement of that infernal place.” Titus pointed at the burning barn. “Honestly, if it weren’t for me, we wouldn’t have gotten outta there. Adriana would probably still be praying that someone would come and save us after those bandits left us to burn.”
“The Lord helps his faithful during their darkest hour. Faith can move mountains, y’know.”
“Well now you can see why they didn’t even try to do anything to her, she scared them off with her religious ramblings.”
“I wonder why Thomas has been all quiet up until now. I bet he’s dying to comment about Adriana’s body.” Cornelia highlighted as she watched the dynamic movement of her boobs bopping around.
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The little one back there is Thomas.” Lindbergh said with a faint chuckle.
Looking around not being able to find anyone else, Titus asks:
“Who’s Thomas?”
“He’s just a small kid, he’s 12 or something. I thought he’d been following us all this time… Even after--” Cornelia said in a lowered voice.
“You kicked him in the nuts.” Lindbergh added.
“Kicked him in the nuts? Why would she do that to a kid?” Titus asked.
“Long story short: the kid took a shine to chicuela here. He spoke his mind without holding back, blurting out some mildly inappropriate comments. She didn’t like ‘em, so she kicked him so hard in the balls I thought she’d sent them to the stratosphere or something, then she left him laying out there.”
Cornelia’s face turned red with shame as she tried to hide the fact that she felt bad about the situation, she finally explained:
“It’s just that sometimes I lose control when I feel I’m being disrespected or something… I may have hit him a bit too hard.”
“You don’t say…” Lindbergh said in a sarcastic tone. “I thought he’d be up following us in no time. I honestly didn’t think he’d stay laying down there that long.”
“Was that long ago?” Adriana asked with a worried expression.
“I think it’s been about an hour or so since we walked up here …” Lindbergh explained.
“We can help you look for him if you want. Describe the kid for me maybe that will help me pick up his scent better.” Titus said.
“And how do you plan to track and pick up his scent, my little rodent friend?”
“Actually, I’m not a rodent, I’m a ferret. We have a keen sense of smell that helps us track down stuff for miles without much of an effort.”
“Oh, so you mean to say you’re like one of those detective type dogs that help out solving problems by searching for evidence and stuff? Awesome.”
They began describing Thomas to Titus, each of them had specific albeit different perspectives on what was characteristic of him.
“Well he’s a small kid, he wears a used black beanie, torn blue jeans with a black shirt. He’s a bit insufferable and pervy and has a strange fascination for weird rotten apocalyptic food. I guess he’s a good kid all in all, he tries I guess… Oh! He has a bandage on his left cheek too!” Cornelia stated.
Thinking for a minute, Titus contemplates the description carefully before Lindbergh starts to explain his impression of Thomas.
“He’s a small easily frightened squirt. He’s a good lad though, a bit odd here and there, but aren’t we all? What else… Oh! He’s blonde and a bit scruffy looking. Hope it helps!” he said with a smile.
“To my understanding, he’s a small smelly kid with an eating disorder, a bit odd and scruffy looking. Sounds like a hippie to me.” Titus concluded.
As he sniffed around trying to pick up Thomas’s scent, Lindbergh followed him nearby until curiosity got the better of him:
“So I was wondering… How come you can talk? And how do you know so much?”
Titus stops as he turned around to hesitantly ask:
“Funny story… Do you know OptoGenica?”
“The company that supposedly helped improve humanity by doing experiments on plants and animals and stuff?”
“Precisely, though those experiments included people too… It wasn’t common at all to find talking animals like me before the war. I was one of the first of my litter to receive the neural chip. The idea behind the project was purely commercial: trying to make more human pets giving us increased intelligence and rational thought. It backfired and was later shut down when they realized they couldn’t control us, we were discarded one by one. As far as I know, I was the only one that managed to survive.”
Her eyes widening by the horrors described in his explanation, Cornelia mentions:
“OptoGenica was responsible all those cruel things? My mom used to work for them, before I was born…”
“Your mom was a geneticist?” Titus asked.
“N-no… She worked in the robotics division that assisted Crystal Creation’s synthetic enhancement department. My dad was in charge of the security part with them around here.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about, your parents aren’t responsible for the things that happened in those labs.” Titus reassured her with a cheerful tone.
Picking up on a trail, it sends Titus running off into the distance, beyond some shrubs and broken branches. There, laying on the open field next to the river was Thomas, still unconscious.
“Is this him?” Titus asked.
Observing his feverish breathing, Cornelia notices he has some white spots that seemed to be spreading all around an open wound on his arm. Trying to approach him to help, Titus jumps at her hands yelling:
“Don’t touch him!”
“W-why? What’s that on his arm?”
“I’m not entirely sure what it is… It appears to be some sort of fungus that’s highly contagious, anyone who touches it ends up like UthisU… Though the spread in his case seems to have accelerated like I’ve never seen before. Did he ever mention anything?”
“He never told us a thing…” said Cornelia as tears started to build up in her eyes.
“I honestly just thought he was wearing that bandage as a fashion statement or something.” Lindbergh sheepishly confessed.
“B-but… No! It can’t be! There has to be something we can do!”
“We’d have to find a way to contain and disinfect the wound without touching it… And be quick about it.” Titus explained.
“We could cauterize it to kill the fungus and close the wound… If all else fails, we’ll just have to amputate his arm. Poor little guy…” Lindbergh suggested as he looked at him. “Why didn’t you tell us anything, kid?”
“There has to be another way!” Adriana complained with a mortified expression after hearing the plan.
“I have another idea… We’ll have to move him though. Carefully. We need to find a place to camp out for the night, far enough from those houses and roads so we avoid all unexpected surprises. We need to head further in the fields.” Lindbergh proposed as he cautiously wrapped his coat around Thomas in order to carry him on his back.
The girls looked at each other, not understanding where he was going with that. Ultimately they nodded in agreement to the idea, starting their walk far off the beaten path.
As the night creeped in from the horizon, the noises from the dark grew louder. Their trek through the countryside led them to a point where they couldn’t see anything but a seemingly endless sea of dried up plains that rustled against the cold winter breeze. While they approached suitable ground where they would set up camp, out of the blue Thomas starts twisting and turning in an uncontrollable convulsion, while Lindbergh managed to keep his hold on him, a deafening screech came from his distressed state, making Lindbergh involuntarily drop him on his head as he tried to escape the tortuous sound.
Everyone surrounds Thomas to check if he was okay, his faint breathing patterns, he appeared to be alive despite falling back into unconsciousness.
Later that night, Lindbergh decides to take first watch, stealing occasional glances over to where Thomas was, feeling a bit guilty despite having disinfected and closed his wounds. His thoughts are interrupted by Cornelia’s voice:
“Hey, Lin… Can ya hear me?”
“Wha--? Oh, yeah… My bad, I was lost in thought for a moment there. What’s up?”
“I shake the thought that all of this is my fault… I shouldn’t have gotten so angry over nothing…” she said as she turned to face him as she laid in sleeping bag.
“Hey… Look at me, it’s not your fault. Whatever the kid has, we were gonna find out about it sooner or later.”
“But it is my fault… I should’ve controlled myself… I should’ve understood that we’re all going through hard times. He lost people he loved too, I never wanted to hurt him. I hope he can forgive me someday…” she confessed as she started to break into tears.
“I know he will. Despite it all, he’s pretty fond of you, I’m sure he’ll forgive you in no time.” Lindbergh said as he looked up at the night sky whilst the embers of the campfire rose up disappearing in the cold wind. “The best thing you can do is to help those closest to you as best as you can. So chill out, you’re not alone in this anymore.”
With tears still falling from her eyes, Cornelia turns her back to him as she says:
“I really appreciate you hearing me out, Lin… I’m gonna try and sleep now, I hope everything gets better tomorrow…”
“Goodnight, chicuela.” Lindbe