'This is what it feels like to be dead?' Cloud opened his eyes in the body of dead. It was a woman's body, though it mattered little. The whole room was flooded with water and aura of grief, unwillingness and desire to survive, 'all dead...'
He slowly blinked, looking around the flooded room, items and equipment floated around, the broken shards from the tank, blood everywhere. He absorbed the lingering aura inside this body, using it to strengthen its body.
It's what allowed him to move. His head swayed around like a heavy bobbling doll, his mouth slightly open. He used his blood and aura to strengthen himself. Slowly, but surely, he gained mobility of limbs. He floated towards the door, landing in front of it. He grabbed the metal with his fingers, tearing it down, ripping the door in half, 'what I managed to do in months...this body achieved with only the aura of this room...Demons and their Strict Rules...without them everyone would be killing.'
His movement became jerky as he slowly walked down the hall. He passed through the bodies, absorbing the aura from around the bodies, searching where he was. He had seen the map to the place when Kaplan was planning to reach Red Queen. And from the slight left over memories he could access, he had an inclination as to where he was.
He planned on taking as much aura as possible to make his way to the Red Queen and shut it down. Not that it had anything to do with saving the lives of people here. For Artificial Intelligence to exist here, 'maybe she can figure out how to solve to this problem I have.'
He stopped in front of the gate, 'this leads to central area,' he started tearing the gate apart. This place had so much aura that he didn't need to worry about using it. It was there to fill him up. Once he destroyed the gate, his eyes slowly raised.
The water poured and filled the room from a level that reached his knees to the height of his waist, and the lights lit up a room that could easily be a stadium. With doors all around on four floors that towered overhead.
"Easy enough," his tone was hoarse and hushed, with water barely in his body, that's just how it'd sound, not to mention his vocal cords being shredded.
As he walked towards the middle. There was a platform in the middle of the room which wasn't working. He placed his hand on the door, sinking in his aura in, causing it to melt, 'Is this the nature of death? Because I am inside a Zombie body? Its aura is different...if these creatures have Aura...'
He peered inside, the other room was a lab, filled with water too, which started pouring from the crack he made by melting the metal. He melted more of the door from one side so he could pull it off the wall, using the pressure of water to make it easy to be pushed.
The door slammed into the water; he had to move aside to not get crushed. He scratched his head, 'Is my brain working slow in this body. I thought I could use the computer...of course I can't. They were submerged in water.'
He looked at the risen water level, if he opened the three gates then he would likely submerge again which would slow him down, 'Red Queen. How do I get to her. Oh right.'
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At the Entrance,
"Kaplan, show me the map of this place," Cloud walked over to the Technician, who was on his laptop.
"What do you want to look at?"
"Just show me," Cloud couldn't explain that he had supernatural powers which allowed him to control the zombies. He needed to find the path forward.
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An hour passed. He finally learned where he was and how to make it to Red Queen. He was right in predicting they would have died. He went through a white corridor and lasers came out, cutting the body he was in into two. He gained control of another body with his aura, and walked towards the corridor when blood, the zombies blood touched his foot. It submerged in this new body, growing, along with aura and power.
"That..." Cloud stared at the pool of blood under the zombie. He pushed the aura he collected inside the blood and it flew up, spreading across the walls, causing it to melt and drip like sand. It fell to the ground, melting it too. He stared at the redness on the white, burning white with its colour, consuming the whole ground, eating away the white paint like insects that consumed carcasses, turning it into liquid sand.
He went back to find other zombies, putting his blood inside them to strengthen his control over them and gain a network of eyes. When he went back to the white corridor, it had cooled enough for him to walk over it. He walked deeper in the lab, from Kaplan's blueprints, the core of Red Queen wasn't far from here.
He stopped at the door, trying to find any protective measures when the camera on the wall moved. It opened something inside the lens, projecting a red light that formed the hologram of a young girl, "what are you?"
"What happened here?" Cloud questioned the AI without hesitation. The Red Queen played the video of him holding others at gunpoint and question if a virus infected the others and that caused Red Queen to shut down the facility.
"You were right. Virus did spread through the air."
"I was right? You know what I am?"
"I do," Red Queen played the video of him putting blood through the water and infecting this zombie, "I analysed it. Your blood has powers beyond current human understanding. You gained controlled of this body and through it you infected the other bodies."
"Once you were far enough," she played another video. In this one, sometime after he left, the zombies infected the others. Though once he was far enough, it stopped moving, and then they started biting on each other, devouring the flesh and regenerating the aura, "What is going on?"
"From my analysis," Red Queen spoke, "you can control these infected bodies, but once you are far enough, they go berserk and start consuming any organic matter in sight, even if it means another Walking Dead."
"There are four of them who are standing out than the others and they are gaining rapid strength. It won't be long before my countermeasures won't be able to stop them. You also destroyed my last line of defence."
"The lasers," Cloud guessed correctly, "Do you have a hard drive?"
"Yes. You would need to bring Kaplan here to take it from here."
"Technician," Cloud narrowed his eyes, "What are the chances that they make out alive if I bring them?"
"0%"
"Why?"
"Those Four are stronger than you."
"I see," Cloud was thinking when the wall to the left of him broke and a dog-like creatureran in, crashing into the opposite wall, roaring, "ROAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!"
Its spine had grown longer than normal and there were exposed pieces of bones and muscles sticking out. Its muscles had grown and its mouth had a lot of teeth which were falling down from its gums like a waterfall. Blood dripped on the floor with flesh and other bits that made a disgusting noise when they landed. It looked at Cloud with a desire for blood.
Cloud tried to fight against it, but he had only raised his hand when he realised this thing's wide mouth was on his torso, biting through him and it had gone halfway. His head fell down when another wall broke. It was a gigantic creature, reaching the ceiling, an amalgamation of flesh with its upper body like that of a woman.
Its tentacle shot towards his head and the dog, bringing them both to the body, where a face formed in its shoulder and ate the dog. His eyes went towards Red Queen, who calmly spoke.
"Bomb the Hive. That is the only way to stop this."
CHOMP
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Cloud opened his eyes in the train, having been using the pole to keep standing. He held his head, 'that doesn't feel good...'
He was a little shaky. They were about to reach the Mansion and it was enough. He waited for them to step out, "Kaplan, come here for a second," he stopped the technician, glancing towards the side where others were leaving.
"You want something?"
"The bomb is with you?"
"It's in the bag," Kaplan pointed at the bag in the storage area of the compartment.
"Good," Cloud walked over to the controls, starting the train, much to Kaplan's surprise, who came running, "What are you doing?"
"I need you to do something," Cloud pushed Kaplan on the seat, going back to the controls.
"We are going back? You asked for the Bomb? What are you planning?" Kaplan narrowed his eyes.
"Shut up and wait there," Cloud held his head, 'I can't think straight...I need to think...think what...? Right...I am doing the right thing. I made a mistake. I used my blood, and it made the zombies mutate. All I have to do now destroy them before this gets worse.'
CLICK
"I have had enough of you. Why did you kidnap Kaplan? What are you thinking?"
Cloud looked over his shoulder. His eyes fell on Rain though he didn't react, "You'll see..."
"I'll see nothing. Turn the train back!"
"Okay," Cloud abruptly pulled the brakes that made Rain lose her balance and stumble forward, only to be caught by Cloud again, who twisted her arm to her back, taking the gun away.
"You bastard!!" She glared at him. He brushed the gun against her forehead, there was still a wound on it.
"Sorry," he looked away, starting the train, "Just...don't struggle..."
"Let me go," Rain tried to free herself, but he kept her in place. He pointed the gun at Kaplan who tried to move, before pointing it towards his leg, "I don't need your leg. Only your hands and brain."
"No, no...don't shoot."
"Then sit here," Cloud said with an unusually cold voice.
Rain glared, "why are you doing this?"
"Just doing something that needs to be done."
"What are we going back for?!"
"To bomb HIVE."
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Red Queen's Room,
"Reunion..."
"Reunion...Reunion...Jenova...Reunion..."
"Recording Codename Jenova," Red Queen spoke, analysing everything until now, recording the grotesque creature with a skeletal head and various tentacles, resembling a woman. The creatures tentacles shot into the ground, connecting with her systems.
Her hologram started glitching, "the creature can connect to digital systems. It has little intelligence but it can hack. I am transferring my memory into an external device and will shut down my power supply. Hope my creators can return..."
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"Transferring memory to an external device has failed."
"Current location: Unknown."
"Current Condition: Unknown."
Red Queen found herself in a void, in a body of a girl. She noticed the light in the distance walking to it. Though awkwardly, mechanically, since she had to calculate how humans walked. She calculated how far the light was, but it was close than she calculated.
"Current Condition...what human call warm...?"
She was an AI. She didn't have emotions, her thoughts were a calculation. But the heart in this body was beating faster, "this is a Human Body."
"Humanoid," she calculated it to be a Humanoid, an artificial robot, yet with a brain of an actual Human, capable of living as long as Humans. Her memories had been transferred to it, making her closest to True Human.
There was an ethereal being in the shape of human, warm, kind. She didn't have feeling, but she knew that, "Who?"
It spoke, its voice tickled her.
"Red Queen."
"Is it that time already?" he sat up, rubbing his eyes, "Did Jenova lose control?"
"It did."
"You are a curious little thing," he seemed genuinely happy, "His Majesty would love to meet you."
"Which Monarchy?"
He only smiled and Red Queen found herself looking through the camera again. The monster that had eaten everyone else became paralysed. White, glowing strings came out from its body, covering the upper body and lower body, forming the infinity sign over it. The strings contracted, and the creature became smaller, falling back into the hand of the man long golden brown hair.
He looked frail, his hair seemed to weight more than his body, a fragile, handsome young man with hazel eyes that shone with warmth and compassion. He wore a simple white kimono tied around his waist, his fingers gripping the white orb which had sealed the monster inside.
His warm eyes fell on Red Queen's hologram, who asked, "Who are you?"
He smiled at her question, "Aransae."
"Aransae Spindra..."
"Caelum."
CRAACCCCCCCCKKKK
"He bombed the Hive. Everything will be buried now."
"Not everything."