Eternal Winter
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Lance fell onto the bunker door, leaning against the metal, tears streaking down his cheeks. He hit the screen next to the door, which flickered to life to show a keyboard. He punched in a code, failing to put it in correctly not once, but twice, and the door hissed. He stumbled inside, quickly slamming the door closed. He roughly hit the cycle button, then collapsed on the bench. Lance pulled his knees up to his chest.

“Sir?” Hyrum’s voice came through the speakers. “Where is-”

“No.” Lance’s voice scratched. “Hyrum… I… I left them.”

“...Sir?” Lance’s body shook. He stumbled back up, pushing against the bench and opening the inner door. He slipped inside and distractedly walked up the stairs, where he tripped and fell, catching himself and collapsing onto a chair. He sat there, head in his hands, gently crying.

He finally let it all out.

He didn’t know what to do.

It was so much simpler to just stay there.

“What- what do I do? How do I- I- I left them to die.”

“Sir, what would you like me to do? Lance didn’t respond but just sat there. “Lance, there is something you should see.”

“W-what?” Lance finally responded.

“An audio log. I can’t explain where it came from though, Sir.” Hyrum said. “It was just in the system.”

“Ok? Just play it then?” Lance said. A screen on the table turned on, showing an audio visualizer. Lance heard Angela’s voice.

“Lance. You rascal. You had to do that, didn’t you?” Lance inhaled sharply. Her voice floated around her as he listened. “And I know you lost yourself, so I tried to be there. Always there for you.” Lance sobbed softly.

“What… what is… this?” He said, mesmerizingly listening to her voice as tears leaked from his eyes.

“Please don’t worry about me, Lance. I’ll be fine. You didn’t lose your self-control. I love that. I loved all of it.

I loved you, Lance.

And now that’s gone.”

Lance could hear her crying her heart out.

“And now you’re gone.

Please don’t go.

I can’t take that- please just don’t-

Lance-

I’m so sorry.

Goodbye, Lance.”

“No!” Lance yelled. “No… what- what happened here?

“That was the end of the audio log,, Sir,” Hyrum said.

“Is there- is there anything else?” Lance wept.

“It appears that there is another large file. It looks like Kalden uploaded his memories before leaving.” Hyrum said.

“Can you play them?” Lance asked. The screen showed static, then darkness. The screen turned to static as Hyrum skipped through it. It showed Kalden’s first moments, seeing Lance. Getting comforted by him. Static came again as Hyrum fast-forwarded it. An ocean-blue light appeared on the screen, and Hyrum’s voice came from it.

“Hello?”

“Who are you?” Asked Kalden.

“Hello, I am Hyrum, the AI assistant for Mr. Lance.”

“Where are we?” Kalden’s voice came as if nails were on a chalkboard.

“Hyrum? What is this?” Lance asked, looking at the speakers.

“This is when Kalden tried to delete me,” Hyrum responded.

“Why?” Lance deftly said.

“Shortly after he came online he panicked,” Hyrum said over the recording, still playing in the background. “He attempted to delete me, saying that it was all wrong.” Lance looked back down at the screen as Kalden woke up in the real world and was panicking. Lance gazed at Angela on the screen, who was also trying to calm down Kalden. They jumped through Kalden’s memories. He saw Kalden standing in the doorway watching Lance and Angela eat dinner together. He saw himself sitting at the table alone, then Angela approached him that morning. He saw Kalden trying to understand their relationship. He saw, through a crack in the door, himself. Lying on his bed, crying. Kalden reached for the doorknob, then pulled back. He saw Lance walking ahead in the snow side by side with Angela, their hands brushing.

Lance looked down at the ground, a tear dripping between his feet.

“What do I do?” He asked miserably.

“You could go get them,” Hyrum said. Lance just stared at his feet.

“But how? Anubis has everything covered!” Lance cried. “I’m scared that if Anubis sees me coming, he’ll kill her!”

“You have to save them,” Hyrum said calmly.

“What do you want me to do?! Just walk right up and save them somehow?! Yeah, sure, ’cus that’ll work,” Lance scoffed.

“You can’t sit here and do nothing,” Hyrum said plainly.

“But even if I do figure something out, he’ll be expecting it! He’s always one step ahead of me.” Lance huffed miserably.

“Then take a chance,” Hyrum said. “Take a gamble that love exists, and do an act for that love!” Lance stared at his feet. He raised a hand and whipped away his face. He stared down at his hands, and his eyebrows furrowed. His heart, which had heated from despair, cooled into something different, something… harder. Cooled with an idea. He looked up with a face of pure determination.

“Fine. We’ve got work to do.”

Angela yelped as Anubis pushed her to the ground, the snow cushioning her fall. Her head snapped back, looking up at the enormous blast door towering over them. She looked back down at Anubis, who held a pistol in his hand as he glanced right towards three raiders trying to tow Kalden closer. He kept thrashing, the slippery metal pulling out of their grasp. The crude patch job glistened on his shoulder and side. Angela didn’t know if she trusted the work of the burly raider that had done it.

“Oi! If ya can’t keep him under control, then you aren’t gettin’ your rations!” One of the raiders said, who was obviously Australian, pointed at them and earned a chuckle from Anubis. A woman that was holding onto Kalden looked around desperately, grabbing a thick metal chain and wrapping it around Kalden’s forearm, and hooking it onto the wall. She nabbed a second one and did the same to his other arm.

“Kalden, you- you good?” Angela called out.

“Quiet!” Anubis said sharply, slapping the side of her helmet. They all fell quiet, only the sound of the snow softly falling and the occasional clinks of the chains on Kalden. Anubis looked up from Angela as a grinding noise came from his right. He slowly turned his head. A screech was coming from Kalden’s arm, where a blade was struggling to extend out. He pulled at the chains, trying to get free. Anubis tilted his head, then let out an amused chuckle. He leveled his pistol at Angela’s head, who stilled. Kalden’s head raised slightly in shock, and the blade ceased to move.

“That’s it,” Anubis tsked. “Be a good little dog.” The snow that was slowly collecting on Angela’s head slid off as she gazed up into the barrel at Anubis, who looked back down at her and lowered the gun. He flicked his head towards the door. She stared at him blankly.

“Open up the door! C’mon, woman! Do it!” A skinny man said, waving his gun around. Angela paused, looking to Kalden, who stared back, his gears shifting and grinding. She cautiously rose to her feet, feeling like a cornered animal, she shuffled through the snow past Kalden. All eyes were on her hand as it touched the door, sliding along it toward the console.

“ANUBIS!” A voice roared. Angela’s head snapped toward the so familiar voice. She couldn’t help but grin at the ragged form of an orange suit approaching them, but she frowned, her mouth open in shock. Lance had his hands up in the air.

“Anubis!” He cried again, “I surrender!”

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