Acid Reign : Genesis
Chapter 5: A Dream

Three cloaked figures quickly approached the long forgotten cabin. Their amber lanterns burned through the darkness of the night, disappearing and reappearing from behind the sharp, obsidian rocks that perforated the landscape.

Inside the cabin, an old woman struggled to catch her breath as she frantically searched for a place to hide the child she was carrying. Scattered throughout the rubble on the dirt floor, were white, luminous flowers that cut through the darkness like stars in a moonless night sky. She bent down and carefully held the child closely as she picked one of the flowers.

In the last room, there was a hole in the mostly rotted wall that looked wide and deep enough for the child to fit in. She gently tucked the child into the space. As she checked the cloth around the child to make sure there was nothing sharp, a small, soft hand reached up and grabbed the flower. The woman lovingly touched the child’s face, and quickly covered the hole with wood that had fallen from the ceiling. Heavy footfalls slowed and became silent as three dark figures entered the room.

Behind the wall, the child stared at the glowing flower as yellow light burst through the cracks and holes. Underneath the sounds of heavy breathing from the three figures, a faint hum vibrated through the air.

“Where’s the child?”

Dirt and small pebbles pelted Lilly’s motionless body as a gust of wind pushed its way through the broken city. The dirt began to hide her body. It was as if the Fringe had already begun to consume her. Sensing the jaws of the landscape closing on her, she jumped up, disoriented, and reached for her gun.

Gun’s still there.

She frantically aimed it in every direction, but there was no one, just the two dead Fringers and the transport.

I’m alive.

She saw that her bag was gone, which was expected, and realized her arm felt much lighter as well. Ripp’s Pigeon was gone too.

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Lilly looked at the sky and figured she had been unconscious for less than an hour. She was grateful for there being plenty of daylight left, but more so for being alive. The crack in her visor worried her. She could feel the cool Fringe air coming through the crack when she inhaled. She checked her pockets for an anti-rad syringe and found one. Exposure to the Theonium radiation didn’t mean immediate effects, but she didn’t want to start losing her mind at such a young age.

Lilly turned towards the transport and bent over in pain. Her entire body felt like it had been run over. Nausea hit her hard nearly causing her to fill her mask with vomit. The thought of what that would be like for the next few hours was enough to suppress the urge. She managed to get to the transport and grabbed the side rail. After taking a few long breaths, she hit the side plate with both her fists and screamed at the sky. How could she let someone sneak up on her? This was supposed to be her decisive moment. She painfully hopped in the transport and sat there with her eyes closed, waiting for a little relief. She knew there was no way to get out of this one.

The transport jerked forward as she entered the ignition code.

Thank goodness for ignition codes.

Luckily, the wind hadn’t had enough time to erase her tracks completely, so she would be able to follow them back to Nucrea without needing Ripp’s Pigeon.

Yeah, he’s gonna kill me!

After a mile, she spotted a second set of tracks that veered off into a slightly different direction. Excitement, but more importantly vengeance, filled every cell in her body as she changed her course. She had the painkiller she needed.

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