A technomancer’s journey in an apocalyptic world - Chapter 145:

Michalina ducked as a small infant-like body passed over her head before hitting the wall and having its head was blown apart by Ryan.

“The hell is these buggers, they are moving too fast for me to hit them.”

“Micha focus.”

Michalina spun as she stabbed another creature as it tried to jump from Ryan’s back as he spoke with a droll, “Same to you too, Ryan.”

Ryan shoved the muzzle of his handgun into the mouth of the creature that had tried to ambush him from above before pulling the trigger.

His actions earned him an impromptu shower of blood and guts, which made him gag.

Xuelong, on the other hand, did not use any of her weapons, as she crushed the skull of any creature with her bare hands, while Ylerias was using her daggers.

The reason for them using such weapons was that they were moving through narrow corridors, and as such, they did not wish to hit each other accidentally.

Ylerias gritted her teeth as she killed another one of the creatures as she spoke with a snarl, “Just how many of them are out there?”

Xuelong gritted her teeth as she spoke with a growl, “No idea, damn it, you missed that one it ran into the vents.”

Ylerias quickly dashed towards the vent opening, where she cast one of her fire spells which resulted in a muffled boom and a lot of smoke before she returned to slicing and dicing her enemies.

While Ryan and his group were busy exterminating the creatures on another part of the ship, Shakidra was busy studying the creature caught by Ryan while being guarded by Siora.

“Is something wrong, Shakidra?”

Shakidra bit her lips as she remarked with a nod, “They are ghouls, mini ghouls, I have never seen or heard about something like this.”

But before Shakidra could further contemplate on the matter, their radio crackled as Xuelong’s voice came from the other side.

“Shakidra Siora, both of you come down to the Power Generation Area fast.”

The duo shared a glance before they dashed out of the room that they had previously occupied.

It took them a few minutes to navigate through the long dark stairs and hallways before reaching the Power Generation Area, only to freeze at the scene in front of them.

The room was covered in some form of sticky substance, with a  dozen pulsating white cocoons leaning against the wall.

“What are those things?”

Ylerias shrugged at Shakidra’s question as she replied to her, “No idea what these pulsating creatures are, except they are gross.”

“Watch out.”

The timely warning from Michalina made them move from the nearest one as the lower part of the cocoon opened up with a shudder, and it pushed out a slime-covered mini ghoul.

Xuelong’s breath hitched as she spoke in a horrified whisper, “They are incubators that are spawning those mini ghouls, we have to destroy them.”

A horrified gasp from Siora drew their attention as she pointed up towards the top of one of the incubators as she spoke with a quavering voice.

“Michalina, at the top of the incubator there is a face,  does that face not seem familiar to you?”

Michalina narrowed her eyes as she looked in the direction Siora had pointed to before she let out a gasp as the look of recognition appeared on her face.

“That is the face of the Flight Deck officer we found her picture in one of the rooms.”

A horrified look passed through their listener’s faces as Ryan quickly pitched in, “Is it possible to save them? And if not I vote to euthanize them as fast as possible.”

Shakidra frowned as she spoke, “We should not be hasty, we do not know if that women is even alive or not, but more importantly I wish to take a closer look.”

Xuelong frowned hard as she spoke, “Is that wise decision?”

“Maybe not your Holiness, but we have to access the threat before it harms us.”

Xuelong groaned before she spoke with a soft sigh, “I will allow it.”

Shakidra gave a nod of gratitude while Ryan quickly created a ladder high enough for Shakidra to reach the face.

Shakidra could feel her heart hammering within her chest as she approached the face, with each step seeming heavier than the previous one.

Ryan bit his lips as he spoke, “I will keep an eye on her, and as long as she is within near the ladder I can somewhat protect her as such keep us protected from any attacks.”

Shakidra channelled her magic which gently caressed the cocoon as Shakidra began her study, only for the face to open her eyes wide and stare at Shakidra.

“Kyaa!!!!”

As the sound escaped her lips, a frightened Shakidra almost fell from the ladder if it were not for the ladder to morph that prevented her fall.

“Ki…. kilzz m… m… mi peaze Ki… ”

A hoarse voice akin to the scratching of a chalkboard came to their ears, drawing everyone’s attention.

Shakidra could not help but speak with disbelief in her voice, “She is still alive.”

Shakidra’s heart plummeted as she finished her checkup, and as such, she gave her verdict with barely concealed sorrow, “She cannot be saved.”

“Every second alive is an extreme agony to her, and hence I recommend to euthanize her.”

Michalina gained a look of sorrow before her eyes hardened as she spoke, “Shakidra move, it is time for them to get their well earned rest.”

Shakidra did not hesitate to move out of the way while Michalina shot the tortured woman’s head, thereby releasing her from her mortal coils as well as from her pain.

~pffbrt~

With that, the cocoon collapsed while releasing acidic fluid, which made them take a few steps back.

An hour later, the group had managed to finish dealing with the cocoons that had been present in the room.

Shakidra bowed towards Xuelong as she spoke, “Your Holiness, if there is nothing else may I be excused, I had been working on a theory about the creatures before I was called here, and I learned much here, and now I wish to study more before I could give my conclusion.”

“You may, but take Siora along with you.”

As the duo left, Ryan spoke with a sigh, “Beyond that door is the reactor core, I would try and see if I can get some protective clothes as well as see if I can make a dosimeter.”

Michalina frowned as she spoke, “Is there anything that you need brother?”

“I think if you can find Hazmat suit, even if it is in pieces it would be great.”

It would be another hour later that Ryan would be ready to venture into the reactor room with a dosimeter in hand, but unfortunately, they had managed to scavenge enough material for one hazmat suit.

“Is the air tank properly working?”

Ryan nodded towards Ylerias question as he spoke, “Yes, it is.”

“Bro, if the dosimeter starts moving towards danger level then leave immediately.”

“Do not worry Micha I will be fine.”

Xuelong smiled encouragingly at Ryan, which he returned with a nod before he ventured into the reactor room.

Ryan vanished the heavy door that stood between him and the reactor before blocking the path as soon as he stepped inside.

It had been a few months since the reactor room had any visitor, and under the effect of his flashlight, Ryan could easily spot the reactors that had been silent for months.

‘The radiation level in this room is lower than daily radiation we receive from the sun.’

A snarl came from his side as Ryan spotted a single Tier 1 zombie who was still wearing the tattered remains of a technician’s dress.

‘Poor fellow must be stuck here since that day and had starved to death and then suffered zombification.’

The zombie died in a blink of an eye as Ryan lowered his handgun, as he watched at the Nuclear Reactors with awe in his eyes.

‘I never thought I would stand so close to not one by two Nuclear reactors so lucky.’

Like many of his age group, things like Nuclear had always carried a sense of mysteriousness, and him being so close to a reactor made Ryan feel giddy.

‘The closest to a reactor that I have ever been prior to today were the pictures in my physics book, and if only my classmates could see me now, they would be so jealous.’

Ryan skipped towards the twin reactors as he began to scan them, to learn more about them, and as he did so, his eyes sparkled with glee.

‘No way, they are using a fourth gen SFR reactors, so cool.’

‘I did not think I would see a fourth gen so close.’

As he scanned the reactors and the various pipe system supporting them, Ryan’s happiness disappeared as a sense of dread appeared within him.

The feeling of dread shot through the roof as a familiar voice and chime signified that he had just received a quest, a quest that made him groan.

Meanwhile, back with Michalina and others, Michalina was sitting silently with her eyes trained towards Ryan’s direction, while the other two were chatting amongst themselves.

Ylerias looked towards Michalina as she spoke with a frown, “Michalina, is something wrong?”

Michalina shook her head as she replied to Ylerias, “No nothing is wrong.”

“Please, Michalina, do not lie to me, since the moment we found that woman, you have been acting weird.”

Michalina sighed as she spoke with a look of sorrow on her face, “Those women deserved better.”

A sombre looked appeared on both the Apostles’ faces, as Xuelong spoke with a tired sigh, “When I think that I have finally seen everything horrible, something new appears completely surpassing my expectations.”

“Since the day our world merged, so many new things have appeared and each weirder than the next,

Michalina nodded in agreement before she continued, “Can you two do me a favor.”

The duo gained a confused look on their faces before they both nodded Michalina to continue.

“If something similar happens to me, then please kill me as I do not wish to be a monster baby maker.”

“If only you promise to do the same to us.”

Ylerias nodded in agreement with Xuelong’s words as she further added to it, “A fate worse than death, I would prefer to die than be reduced to such a state.”

“Your Holiness.”

The twin greeting from Siora and Shakidra drew their attention as Ylerias spoke with a smile, “I hope your work was fruitful.”

Shakidra nodded as she began to speak, “Yes, your Holiness, may I share my findings?”

As Xuelong gave her permission with a wave of her hand, Shakidra took a deep breath and began her report.

“We know that the Ghouls are asexual beings, and when a human becomes a ghoul, they lose their reproductive system, ghoul has no way to reproduce.”

“The evolved stages of a Ghoul has a similar problem, but today, we saw something bizarre, today we found child ghouls, which are born without such defects, not to mention they are way better than their parents.”

“They have a perfectly functional male reproductive system, not to mention they are stronger, faster.”

“The women we saw were morphed into such hideous form by cause unknown, but they served the purpose of spawning more and more ghouls, and from my research I can conclude that they lack female ghouls, hence they require female from other species to procreate.”

Michalina growled as she spoke, “And the result is that they kidnap and rape them while turning them into breeders.”

Shakidra nodded with distaste on her face as she spoke, “Yes, and to prolong their life as an effective and fast breeder, they were morphed into those hideous form.”

A silence descended amongst them as various emotions passed through their face when all of a sudden, their radio crackled, and Ryan’s voice came from the other side.

“We have a problem.”