Kinson's head turned as a soft noise echoed at his left, from around the bend. He crept towards it, flat against the wall. Another door was cracked open, just around the bend. As Kinson approached, a woman suddenly appeared, walking out of the room. They made eye contact, and both she and Kinson froze mid-stride. All sorts of emotions, ranging from shock to anger, flashed across her face, which he was sure was a mirror of his own.
"Who are you!" she called out loudly. "How did you get in here?"
He blinked, although the question was expected, given the situation. Obviously, he wasn't part of her group, although he could feel she was the protagonist. That was different.
"I'm here to save you!" he cried, dramatically raising his arms in front of him.
"?" the woman's mouth dropped open in shock.
"It's true," he said hurriedly. "although I can't reveal much more, your life is in imminent danger!"
"Well… yeah," she said, confusion rampant on her face.
"Look, I know it's hard to believe, but… what?" this some, it was his turn to be confused.
"How did you know?" she asked curiously. Then, her face hardened. "Are you here for the blueprints?"
"Blueprints?" Kinson repeated dumbly. "No, I'm… wait, what's going on?"
"You're asking me? You're here in the underground refuge, yet you claim ignorance? I don't believe you don't have any plans for me, " she said with disdain. Then, she muttered, "But why send a class 3? It's not like they can bluff or threaten me at this point."
"You really do have it wrong. I'm not here for any blueprints. But sometime else might be. I came to warn you, through the tunnel in the old lighthouse."
"The old lighthouse?" she raised an eyebrow. "but not even I know where that door is."
"But don't you live here?" Kinson asked. The more this conversation went on, the less sense it was making. This was nothing like a story should go!
"Ha, as if. You know, I don't know what you're doing here, but you certainly can't be with them. They only recruit competent people, after all." she smirked derisively.
Kinson friend. "Actually, I was with them the whole time. Give me the blueprints!"
The woman laughed, then went inside the room. "Come on then. Tell me about these mysterious attackers."
"No, I'm here for the blueprints," Kinson said seriously.
"Right. But they're in here, right? So come on," she beckoned.
"Oh, right." Kinson ducked his head in embarrassment and quickly followed.
The room was large and spacious. An extremely large computer occupied a large percentage of it, and small blue text and symbols scrolled across the screen at unreadable speeds. Ruffled blue shirts covered a bed in the corner, complete with some dresses and a small kitchen. Various charts, calculations, and notes covered the walls and several narrow partitions throughout the room, giving a messy, cluttered sort of feeling.
"Sorry about the mess. I haven't had long to live here, and I wasn't expecting guests." she apologized, then added, "By the way, the name's Ruth."
"Kinson."
He looked around the room, unable to understand anything going on. "What are you even working on?"
"Not just me. Or, at least, it wasn't. Most of them have been… relocated. Or so they say," she murmured darkly.
"Oh, I'm sorry." he didn't understand, but obviously nothing good had happened.
"It's not your fault. Probably," she eyed him. "Anyway, we've been working on some of the Mars research. Nothing I can tell you, unfortunately."
Kinson straightened. "Mars research? Wait, what year is it?"
Ruth laughed hollowly. "Year? Are you some sort of time traveler?"
"Kind of," Kinson said seriously, which took the smile off her face. "That's why I know you're going to die."
"But everyone knows that. Not exactly compelling evidence," she said, a shadow on her face.
"So you say. Why exactly are you dying?" Kinson asked.
A slight smirk returned to Ruth's face. "Aren't you the time traveler? You tell me."
Kinson shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know. I just know you die soon, within the next few minutes. Not peacefully, either," he added.
"Oh. I guess that means they'll be here," she said, taking a seat on the scruffy couch nearby.
"You keep mentioning a 'they.' Who are you talking about?" Kinson asked, feeling slightly exasperated.
"The death cult, known as the Shadow Eaters. They seem to worship some dark god. Supposedly, this being lives in a foreign dimension, adjacent to our own. It's pretty much gibberish, as we've proved that the psionic dim…" She snapped her mouth shut. "Forgive me, I've said too much. Uh, are you okay?"
Kinson stood rigidly in place, face white. "What?" he asked slowly, yet intensely.
"No, seriously. Are you okay?"
"You are working on the psionic dimension? For psionic tech?" he asked again, a tremor in his voice.
She nodded slowly, studying his face. "What happens?" she asked, finally.
Before he could respond, the ground shook, throwing him into the wall. Ruth was shaken off the bed and crashed onto the ground, Papers flew around the room, accompanied by the myriad of objects that were previously lying around.
"Explosion," Kinson spat.
He stood and wiped the blood from his lips. His insides were churning, disturbed by the shockwave that had swept the room. Ruth's face was pale, her body curled up in pain.
"Ruth, are you alright?" he asked, bending down beside her.
She coughed but nodded, face still contorted. "What's happening?" she whispered in broken tones.
"They're here. Do you have a weapon?" he asked somberly.
"What kind of time traveler doesn't bring a weapon?" she asked, but gestured towards one of the dressers.
Kinson ran over and began to rifle through the drawers. Miscellaneous items flew in a storm of snapping wood, but his fingers eventually closed on the grip of a pistol. Surprisingly, it was loaded, so he flicked the safety off.
"Let's see if you can survive, this time," Kinson muttered.
Smoke roiled through the doorway, carrying from somewhere farther up the underground refuge. He heard shouts carrying through the smoke, the echoes sounding as metallic as the walls they bounced off of.
"We need cover," Kinson looked around for anything to hide behind.
Unfortunately, the room was barren of any suitable shield, so he pressed up against the doorway. Bullets shouldn't go through the walls, or so he hoped.
"She's over here," a woman cried loudly.
"Laura?" Ruth whispered, the hurt in her voice apparent.
Kinson glanced at her but didn't have time to inquire. A squad of darkly dressed and heavily armed men crashed down the corridor, blowing apart the smoke in their wake. Kinson poked his gun around the corner and opened fire, drawing surprised shouts from the invaders. He managed to hit one in the chest, but the bullet barely seemed to penetrate some sort of body armor. Still, the man screamed and collapsed. His fall distracted the rest, and they stopped in a confused jumble.
"Why does she have a gun? She was AHHHHH!" one of the men cried, before suffering a bullet in the arm.
"It's a kid! Why is there a kid here?" someone in the back called out.
Kinson frowned. There was no way anyone could make him out behind the door unless they were a psionic. Hopefully, there weren't any powerful ones there.
"Who cares who it is? Kill him!" an arrogant voice commanded.
Kinson ignored the chatter, sending bullets down at the exposed group until his chamber was empty. The trigger clicked a few times before he swiftly hit the release, dropping the magazine. His hand reached for his belt, where he kept spare bullets while practicing, but came up empty. Suddenly, a cold metal stick was placed in his open hand. He glanced over and saw Ruth holding an extra magazine, expression firm.
"Please, I have a few more. Just don't hurt Laura," she said, eyes watering.
"I'll do my best. Now get back," he said, peeking around the corner.
His delay had given the assailants time to organize though, and he was met with a hail of bullets. Fortunately, the bunker was well-built, so most of the bullets sparked harmlessly against the walls. Others shot through the open doorway but struck the far side of the room. Kinson barely risked a few shots before he had to pull back. Of the ten attackers, he had managed to down four, killing at least two of them.
After a deep breath, Kinson crouched and stuck his gun around the corner once more. The different altitude of attack was a classic, but still effective, and he took another one down with a shot in the gut before he retreated. That made five.
"What's happening?" Ruth hissed.
"There are still five left. I don't know if I can get them. One seems to be able to make a forcefield around them, although it's small. If they slowly advance behind that, we'll be helpless.
"Can't you use your power? Even though your class 3, you ought to be able to do something!" she said desperately.
Kinson hesitated. "Mine's not exactly a combat ability. What about you?"
She shook her head. I'm able to manipulate auras, so I could hide or project them, but that's about it."
"Can you create new ones?" he asked suddenly,
"You mean to make it seem like there is a psionic here that doesn't exist? Kind of, but I can't create any sort of visual illusion."
"It might be enough to confuse them if they think there are more of us. There don't seem to be any powerful psionics out there," Kinson said.
"Yeah, just a class 4 and class 3. The 3 generates the forcefield, and I think the class 4 is an elemental manipulator specializing in fire."
"Fire. Perfect," Kinson flashed a smile. Some good news, finally.
"What?" Ruth sounded confused, but he ignored her and took a few more shots. Unfortunately, they clashed against the glimmering purple force field and ricocheted off.
"Ruth, I know you're in there! Come out, and everyone will be okay. No one else has to die!" the feminine voice called once more.
Ruth squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. Kinson nodded.
"Surrender? Why? We've got you outnumbered!" Kinson shouted back, filling his voice with ridicule.
Kinson gave Ruth a thumbs up as the arrogant man shouted back. "Outnumbered? Hah, There's only two of you, otherwise our…" he stopped and Kinson heard some whispering.
He glanced back and saw Ruth sitting cross-legged, eyes closed. A faint red shimmer around her body told him she was working hard.
Silence filled both sides, so Kinson took the opportunity to lean out of the doorway. The five sat huddled in discussion almost twenty feet from the door. For some reason, the forcefield psionic was in the middle of the debate and had lapsed his protection. Kinson smiled grimly, then unleashed a rain of death upon them. Each shot fell upon the vulnerable infiltrators, bringing pain and blood in their wake. His first target was the force field psionic, whose position was revealed by the purple energy glowing in his eyes. When it was over, the five lay slumped on the ground, breathing their last. Kinson panted and lowered the gun. Exhaustion overtook him as the adrenaline surge faded, and he leaned against the doorway.
"Are they…" Ruth asked in a small voice.
He nodded, unable to respond.
"What about Laura?" she asked hesitantly.
He shook his head. There hadn't been time to determine who that even was. Now, however, he could see it was likely the red-headed woman in the back, wearing a stylish dress and carrying no weapon. She didn't appear to be a fighter, at all. The stench of burning flesh suddenly assaulted his nose, and the entire pile of dying corpses combusted into flame.
Kinson jumped back and slammed the door, standing in front of it.
Seeing his confusion, Ruth sighed, then explained: "Sometimes, elemental psionics are unable to control the power they amass, and it ends up conflagrating. In this case, he was probably about to attack when you shot him, and he lost control."
"Oh," Kinson released his breath. "I thought it might be some last attack."
"No, they're dead," Ruth said blankly. "I can't feel them anymore."
Kinson's hands fell to his side and the gun clattered from his grip. He held a hand in front of him and watched as it shook uncontrollably.
"I did it…" he said listlessly.
"You should have let them take me!" Ruth suddenly exclaimed. "I'm going to die anyway! Why did you have to kill them all? Even Laura?"
Kinson flinched. How was he supposed to say it was a death dream? But even if it wasn't he felt his actions were justified in self-defense.
"How could you? She was like a sister to me!" Laura nearly screamed, tears leaking from her eyes in endless streams.
"She led them right to you! I know for a fact they killed you! How could I be here otherwise?" Kinson shot back.
"How do I know?" Ruth asked. "You just appeared, and now she's dead!"
"It's not that simple. You'll see in a second so I won't bother explaining. Do you know why Laura would betray you?"
"Explain what? Laura wouldn't. She couldn't," Ruth broke into sobs.
"But she did. You heard it yourself. The scorn, the derision. I'd guess Laura was a plant," Kinson said callously.
"She couldn't be. Not Laura. Oh, anyone but Laura," Ruth collapsed onto her knees, defeated.
Kinson didn't' really know what to do. He wanted to comfort her, but he had no idea where to start. There was more to the story, but there wasn't time to ask. The deathdream was already beginning to fade.
"I'm sorry, Ruth. May we meet again shortly," said, then stood.
The death dream broke apart, and Kinson found himself in the now familiar timeless suspension. He inwardly grinned. The soul space!
Sure enough, the soul of Ruth materialized before him, glowing dimly.
"Ruth," Kinson greeted.