Authors: Louis Arthur-Brown
Back at John’s place,
the elite 4 and the two SAS troops watch in agony as the news channels interrupt every broadcast, on every frequency, alerting the world of the two nuclear explosions in Japan, only moments ago.
John knows
that there is no way Dave, the rest of the SAS guys or the Emperor could have survived that. His mood is melancholy as Alex cuddles him to comfort him. Paul and Cat look at each other as they do not know what to say, think or do at this point.
The News presenter then says “It seems that the first explosion was a lot bigger than the first, one can only assume it is in fact Russia’s
infamous ‘Tsar bomb’. The Tsar bomb had the destructive power of every combined explosive used in World War Two, multiplied by 10.”
The team then sit there contemplating the impending
full scale war, whilst the two SAS guys get straight on the phones to try to find out what happened.
“Right, let’s get that technology working. We’re going to break into FTR and storm the place. We are in control now” John orders.
“…but we can just storm in there and demand? Its crazy! We’ll get fired, and not to mention arrested…” Paul says.
John then retaliates with “There is a nuclear war going on. I doubt this country will even care, not to mention FTR will be closed today anyway!”. After a bit of persuasion, John managed to convince the others that it’s actually a good idea as that’s where everything the team needs is located.
As the team and the two SAS guys leave Johns house, they untie the 8 bodyguards and Will simply says “No hard feelings, but If we said there was going to be a nuclear fallout, you wouldn’t have believed us. Go home to your families”. The bodyguards do not hesitate and sprint off.
The team are in Pa
uls 4x4, and as they drive to FTR, the place is deserted. Food shops have been ransacked, cars are left in the middle of the road, doors wide open… it’s like a ghost town. Everyone is making end of the world plans and gathering resources to survive a nuclear winter, but the team do not bother. Jack then announces that the world leaders have united and are trying to attain a diplomatic solution. Also, a temporary cease fire has been called for fear of the end of the world.
The team are then graced with some good news for once “Guys! Those nukes never touc
hed the ground! Son of Starwars- the lasers that were on the US battleships on the North Pacific and the East China Sea- detonated them approximately a mile above the ground…” Will says as he takes his earpiece out.
John rejoices and says “That’s a
relief; it means Dave actually stands a chance of being alive. What are the effects of the high detonation?”
Will
and Jack both shrug but Cat, who has been quiet recently, with a disturbed tone in her voice says “It would scorch the earth- turn rock into ash over the area directly below the blast… the shockwave would still kill even though it’s a high detonation… not as many would die and there will certainly be no or little ‘nuclear winter’.”
“
So, that’s good news right?” John clarifies.
“Yes, it’s the best thing that would have happened- apart from the nuke not being launched in the first place that is” Alex says.
As they arrive at FTR, surprisingly, it is open. Why are most people at FTR still working? The company has offered them ‘Quadruple pay’. It doesn’t make much sense and a lot of the people who turned up actually believe the world is going to end in the next few days which would render money useless yet they still turn up for work. The team, then arrive at the lab, and it is just as they left it.
As they sit down, they feel different. They are in the place where they once used to strangely love coming to, a place where they were co
mfortable, a place where elite 4 met their current lovers. It is weird knowing that only a few days ago, they had no idea of what they were about to experience and find out. They all stop and gaze out the window. Fires are burning out of control as people aren’t taking much care; objects lay broken as people are putting their end of the world plans into action; it is destruction as far as the eye can see. It seems daft, that because of something that might happen, people have to be destructive and regress to being a mere animal in order to fulfil their current desires.
The team then set up base and cannot help but notice the current uncomfortable mood. It can be easily explained, and it is obvious why everyone is uncomfortable but strangely they feel that it is affecting their work a little.
“Music?” Alex says.
“Yeah and maybe a little TV?”
John says.
“No TV” Paul points out then Cat says “No radio, use an iPod or something”.
The team then play some music that they are used to and the moral increases, almost too much. John is wisecracking again, Paul and Cat are eying each other up again and John and Alex are flirting heavily again. Things appear to be normal- with the exception of two extra guys joining in the banter.
Will begins to banter John “Oh, so this is your desk? It’s a bit smaller than the others’ desks? I tak
e it you’re the office bitch?”
John replies “Ha-ha, funny.
At least I don’t have to have my life saved by an office bitch, eh Will?”
“Ha! Nice come back.
Bellend” Jack says in a joking tone as he joins in.
Things seem to be good, when suddenly Paul shouts out “FUCK YES! I’ve done it! If we add this circuit to
the teleporter, it’ll give us a function to stop the teleportation half way, therefore making it both a teleporter and a dimension changer, if our theory is indeed correct. All we need to get back are these” Paul then shows the team a collection of small matchbox sized metal containers. “These are what the new teleporter will lock onto to bring you guys back into this dimension. All we need to do, is to take it apart, make this PCB and test it”.
As the team get straight to work, Alex and John are fabricating the PCB whilst Paul and Cat are stripping the machine down.
“The weird thing is that this means time travel is actually possible… let’s not go into that however, that’s too much of a dangerous subject” Paul then adds as Cat agrees and shrugs it off.
A few hours pass and Cat suggests, from absolutely nowhere yet again, that a possible reason why the souls are lost is that there just is not enough power going through it. She says “Guys, it needs more power. John’s suggestion earlier was to increase the power to stop the side effects of the pressure fluctuation and the sheer racket it makes, which worked… but I think if we added a few more thousand volts by adding a couple more big capacitors, we could achieve this quite easily. What do you guys think?”
They waste no time in testing on another hamster. A few hours later, after adding two more capacitors the result is astounding. The second test hamster went through and not one gram was lost. As the team celebrate at their triumph they can’t help but get on with the second task that is in hand. Adding the ‘Pause’ button.
Two
hours later, it is complete. “Right, so who is going to volunteer to test?” Paul asks.
The elite 4 look at each other and stops each other from going because of their newly found love.
Will then steps in, “oh I see what’s going on. I’m game!” then Jack says, “I’m coming with ya buddy, in case you need help”
“Not to worry, it is safe now anyway. Let us weigh you first… just in case” Paul adds.
“Oh that’s really going to fill them with confidence!” John says sarcastically.
“
It is just for analysis purposes!” Paul then defends himself.
As the machine spools up, they leave their equipment
behind, all they take is breathing apparatus, a pressurised suit and a hand gun each in case the environment is hostile and unable to sustain human life.
3..2..1.. FLASH
. The teleporter is even smoother. There is next to no noise emitted, but the light is still a bright electric blue colour.
The two are gone. Paul has pressed the new button, so nothing appears on the receiver pad.
“And now we wait” Cat adds.
The team then monitor the signals of the two return fobs as they fluctuate with some sort of interference. “So how exactly does the return process work?” Alex asks.
Paul replies “It has merely paused the teleportation process- pressing the button on the fob only resumes the process”
“Very clever, simple, but very clever” John says.
15 minutes later, the teleporter begins spooling up, then another flash lights the room. Will and Jack appear and fall straight over whilst screaming and sweating. They are hysterical. The disturbing thing is, they are not alone.
Towering above them, stands a tall and thin silhouette which is as black as the night. It appears to be armed with some type of sword and is slowly moving towards Jack.
It smells like a boggy wasteland riddled with death. It then emits a high pitched sound which is so horrible, it shatters the glass windows of the lab and forces everyone to cover their ears. The girls don’t seem to be affected by the sound much, for whatever reason, and this draws the attention of the black creature. As it comes into focus and the smoke clears, Alex and Cat are staring in shock into its black soulless eyes which are as black as the deepest realm of hell. Its muscular yet skinny frame is both weird and disgusting; it is almost like its bones are too big for its skin. It approaches them very cautiously in a slow and controlled manner. As Will sits there on the floor, eyes fixated on this horrid creature, he realises he needs to act now. He breaks his trance to reach for his handgun and stands up to run over to this demon and blast its head clean off its shoulders at point blank. As its head shatters into tiny pieces, what is left of the creature then falls to the ground before every part of it then evaporates into smoke and rushes out of the window very slowly.
“What the fuck was that?” John asks in a disturbed tone.
Will and Jack quickly regain composure and whilst out of breath Jack says “I have never seen a place so horrible in all my life… There is nothing there, except these ‘things’… We killed about 10 of them before we hit the button…. but we… but we didn’t take into account that there was a 3 or 4 second delay… so that’s why it almost got us”
“
Oh my! What is the environment like?” Alex asks
“
It’s desolate, nothing but forests as far as the eye can see. The skies are blood red and the ground is boggy and muddy. There appeared to be ghosts whizzing around in the sky, they seemed lost. These black creatures you saw just patrolled the forest- they were hostile from the word go” Jack explains.
“That’s them!
The Ghosts! That’s the lost souls, looking for a way out!” Paul claims.
Alex and John look at each other as they realise that they were the ones who had to convince him, and now he is making the most suggestions and theories!
“How many ‘ghosts’ are we talking? An estimate?” John asks. “Hundreds, if not thousands” Jack and Will agree. “Impossible. We stopped them in good time- there shouldn’t be that many!” Paul says.
“Remember there is a Sixth one out there somewhere” Alex reminds the team.
“We need to track that one down with god speed.”
“I have another idea” Paul tells. “We will go back…”
“…Fuck that mate, I’m not going back there again” Jack interrupts.
Paul then continues “We will go back, and take the tranquilised bodies with us- then the souls may return to the bodies, then we can teleport back and save the people…
Feasible?”
“You know what? That seems viable. Let’s do it
; but after we do something about our world?” John says.
Just then, this pale figure, covered in blood appears at the lab door. He appears to just be standing there, staring at the team.
“Can I help you?” Alex says.
All it does is make a low pit
ched groan in reply.
As it shuffles closer, John then recognises him. “Hey, that
’s the CEO- Are you alright sir? You look like shit?”
The CEO then notices that Will is injured, and he focuses on his bloody arm as he walks slowly over to it, almost like he is very drunk.
The CEO then turns, his expression is now furious, his eyes are blood red, as he screams in a deep voice and makes an inhumanly athletic bee line straight for Will.
The CEO, jumps onto Pauls desk and with a single movement jumps towards the wall and kicks off the wall onto Cat’s workstation, then in another smooth single move jumps towards Will, with his teeth out, frothing at the mouth. It is at this point when Jack draws his M9 handgun and places one round in the side of the CEO’s head in mid-air. The body then misses Will by inches as Will sidesteps with little effort and the CEO’s body then smashes into the ground.
“Good shot” Will says.
“Don’t tell me-
I’ve seen this film; now we have zombies?” Jack replies.
“This is too much to handle. First a nuclear war, then some weird creature from another dimension, and now zombies? What next, vampires
, dragons and Aliens? It’s like we’ve opened Pandora’s fucking box” John rants.