Proud to be a Sheep
Act II: Chapter 1
As we finally reached the ground floor and headed for the truck, I figured it was the best opportunity to give Echo time to rest, as well as test out the magic mirror a bit.
He noticed the mess I'd made, and I tried acting innocent about it… Didn't work at all. Echo told me to grab one of the boxes, specifically one hidden underneath the table with the computer and radio on. I followed his orders and grabbed the box. It had a syringe on it; this time, however, it was red. Such a beautiful color, I thought, as I stared down the rose-colored syringe, giving off a light glow. My eyes were mesmerized... That is until Echo snapped me back into reality,
"Hey uhh, kid, I get that it's pretty and all… but I'm still bleeding here!" Ruining my moment, I gave him two syringes, one extra, just in case it was an anesthetic rather than some magic healing potion. He directly injected it into his lower spine and proceeded to lie down on the floor of the truck.
He must be exhausted.
I looked at him, observing his rapidly healing wounds while he rested. So it was a healing potion, after all, I thought.
He asked, "You wanna' say somethin', kid?" How he knew I was staring at him, I have no idea.
I thought about it and replied, "Well, to be honest, I have way too many questions right now, but I don't want to tire you out too much." Honestly, with everything that just happened, I don't want to think at all right now.
"Do you think it's safe to walk around the area?" I asked, hoping to take a short stroll.
"Not at all, don't do it. " Echo replied, stern. To be honest, that concerned tone caught me off guard.
I think he noticed my disappointment, not that I was that disappointed, but he changed his mind. This man might be kinder than I thought.
"Keep your distance at least within 1 kilometer of this truck. There's a Teleport artifact here that should be able to teleport you back to me. Bring a radio and the artifact with you. I need your updates every hour should you stay out that long." Now, that really surprised me. I never assume one's character by a few actions alone, but this definitely gave me a more positive light towards him. Though, he seemed to have forgotten I'm not a soldier… I don't count my steps… Not that it matters tho, I have an experiment.
"Copy that," I replied with a mischievous smile. I'm not particularly proud of myself for saving them, but getting acknowledged was very nice. When I walk through this empty city, it truly feels different, as if everything is well. This, too, almost felt like a reward.
Back to my experiment, I brought the magic mirror with me that I stole while getting the red healing syringe, trying to figure out how it defines 'home.' Is it the people? The place? Can it read my mind and see through my memories that it just knows what and where my home is? I gave it a shot and looked at my reflection through the mirror.
Nothing. That's fine, I expected that. Now, here comes the real experiment. As someone who has been through many, many disappointments, not only from work but from people as well, I've come to be able to somewhat manipulate my emotions. Not to the extent in the movies and shows, those people can convince themselves in a snap of a finger with minimal, sometimes zero, explanation as to how. Mine's… a bit different.
Whenever I can't help but love someone, I learned to hate them. Whenever I learned to hope, I crush it with despair. Whenever I learn to hate, however, it's difficult to love unless the other party does something to affect me. Which they easily can if I allow them to, or if I'm careless. And I hate that about myself, but it can be useful in this scenario. I tried imagining the truck as my home, but it proved to be difficult as, realistically, I have zero connection to the bus, none emotionally, spiritually, or physically. So then I tried Echo, the man who prevented me from acting stupid. The man who was happy for me when I got this pen. The man who went out of his way, exhausted and hurt, making sure I stayed safe as I strolled through these roads. Then, I looked in the mirror, teary.
This is how easy I am. The thought almost made me laugh.
I could only focus on myself, but I knew the surroundings were changing. I could feel these tiny pollen-like things enveloping me. Then, before I knew it, I was back at the truck. Echo's right in front of me, likely sleeping but still holding the walkie-talkie and a glowing yellow stone shard. I wouldn't mind keeping him as my home for now, I thought, as I sat down next to him, which woke him up and caught him by surprise.
"You're back already?"
"Yeah, the view was nice, but my fear overtook me." Reminds me of the first time I took a stroll.
"Heh, glad to see you're fine." I wonder how much of his kindness is true. How much of it is an act out of moral obligation rather than natural goodness? Well, even I ask myself the same question…
After trying not to walk the stairway to heaven for a while, Echo finally healed enough to be able to drive. The more time we spent together, the more open we both got to one another, except for the fact that he had never taken off his helmet. Yet. I asked him if I could question him about a couple of things, which he was thankfully open to. I was most curious about the Carmut Serum and the artifacts, and if I could obtain more, but before those, I asked:
"Since the pen chose me, does that mean it's mine now?"
"Well, as far as I know, yes. That pen is quite choosy, and once it's chosen its user, it won't allow itself to have another owner unless the previous one has passed already. So I don't think anyone would bother taking it away from you. Well, at least no one who knows of that information." Echo's response made me quite happy not gonna lie.
He could tell I was happy, and he teased me about it. I think we've gotten closer, that being said, I hope Chief Donald survived. If he did, I can easily get close to him as well. He's kind of easy to butter up. I was hesitant to ask Echo about his comrades, considering the fact that it didn't sound too great before I ran, so I proceeded to ask about Carmut Serum instead.
"Ahh... Well, how far back do you remember, kid?"
"I remember until before my 'death,' so around March of 2024 and before that." I don't even know if I could call that experience death, maybe just torture.
"Right… Let's see.. Well, around late April of 2024, a virus plagued the whole world… and there was no possible cure for it. People called it the Revelations Virus, 'cuz they correlated it to the Book of Revelations from the Bible. Some called it blasphemy. Some called it prophesy. The virus only gave its victims no more than five years to live, and it was spreading like wildfire. People had to think of a way; we had to survive… So, we created the Carmut Serum, which allowed humanity to become immortals."
I stared at him, eyes and ears wide open. Stories have always fascinated me, but to think a story this amazing is actually reality. My reality.
"Not everyone took the serum. Actually, majority preferred death over eternal life. Even its inventor, Professor Verne, didn't take the Serum, not that he died from the virus, he died through… other, more unfortunate means." I wanted to ask him about it, but in fear of changing the topic, I stayed silent. "Regardless, it was said he never planned to take it. Moving on, there the people were, immortal, and the Carmuts were created. For centuries, they remained like that, unaging. Unchanging. And powerful. Well, some of them, at least."
We took a short pause to eat lunch, but after a few minutes, I just couldn't help but nag him to continue his story. He seemed amused by my nagging and purposefully cut the story off to tease me.
"The Carmuts reproduced; they claimed the title of 'God' among the new humans, but that angered the 'real' Gods. The Gods got angry at humanity for not only defying them, disrespecting them, not giving them praise, and now, even trying to reach up to their 'Godliness.' The Gods created more monsters, trying to eradicate the rest of the remaining humans. People remained the same age they were when they took the medicine, physically, I mean. Those in their primes, 20s, 30s, even late teens, if they had the physique to show for it, were the most powerful, smartest, most agile. They were praised, followed, and some even worshipped. By who, you may ask. Well, who other than their children?"
"So they repopulated… Damn…" Wait, how long would that have taken..? What year is this even..? How old am I..?
"The ones who took the serum are not only ageless but also invulnerable. Invincible. Not only did they find and destroy the formula for the Carmut Serum. After claiming to be Gods themselves, they destroyed religions. The Carmuts changed history, manipulating their people into thinking they're the Gods. Any book that was correlated to any form of religion was burned and banished, which angered the Gods further, and summoned more, even stronger monsters to try and eradicate humanity. Leaving humanity's population to decimate, concerning them into one island."
"Wait… Are we talking like Gods that came from mythologies or theologies..?" I asked, scared and confused, as I have always been a Christian my whole life (I had never been tempted to convert until this moment)… What if the God I've been serving was the wrong one… I hated doubting, but…
"These Gods... I honestly don't know where they came from. I'd never heard of them until they made themselves known, and not just known, they literally showed themselves before humans." Like how Gabriel did to Mary, "The Gods who descended acted like messiahs, saving people from the monsters they created, claiming there's a divide among Gods: Those who want to eradicate humanity, and those who want to preserve it. They gave selected 'Apostles' to give 'blessings,' a fraction of the Gods' power. And each God set off into different parts of the world, reclaiming land that was once overrun by monsters. So now, we have jackass immortals who act like those Greek Gods even though they're cornered all together on one island. Insane foreign cultists who serve different Gods who claim to be good and are rewarded with power in exchange for their 'devotion.' And people like us, who just try to survive."
"I see.. How do you know all of this? And who do you serve?" I honestly don't see any of them as benevolent, but I gotta find a leader somehow. I need a shield I can hide behind.
"This is all written in Verne's journals. And as for who I serve… Well, no one, really. The Carmuts not only treat us like slaves, but also their fellow 'lower' Carmuts, ones who are either past their prime or are too young to reach it. The kids are smart, very smart, but they are susceptible to manipulation and are physically weak. As for the old…"
"They get looked down on…" I replied, expecting the answer to be what I had predicted. I wonder if this habit pissed people off… I gotta work on that.
"Worse, they get locked up and abused. The older ones stood up for us, tried protecting us. Sadly, it cost them more than we had to gain…" Torturing an immortal..? I thought I'd seen the worst of the worst in movies, but I still wonder how bad real tortures were.
If only the old were stronger, they'd be a potential leader I could've followed… But I don't think siding with them is a good idea. It might get me killed. "How about worshiping a God?"
"Well, I have been looking for one that's at least somewhat decent to serve, but no luck. Most of them are either insane or deceiving their people, asking for sacrifices to prove their devotion and grant them power. Sooner or later, they'd start a war with those serum bastards and maybe even fellow Gods! When that time comes, I need to make sure I'm on the right side. So, for now, I'm a merc."
A mercenary, huh, "So you're secular right now? Atheist? Or Agnostic?"
"What..?" Seems like he doesn't know what those words mean… I'll just change the question. There's something about these Gods that made me skeptical of their 'Godliness'...
"Say," I called to him, "these Gods can be killed, no?"
"Yeah, just like humans," Echo replied. Although wearing the helmet, I could tell he was smiling by the bright tone in his voice.
Interesting. I could tell Echo was also skeptical of these 'Gods' (or he just doesn't like looking up to them). Either way, there are many possibilities to the story he just told me, but for now, let's take it as the complete, indisputable truth.
Who are these Gods? What are their goals? Are they basically just humans with insanely strong powers? Greedy, Prideful, Envious, and full of other sins? Did the people accidentally make a deal with devils instead without their knowledge? Is there one true God, and this is His way of eradicating us? What if the 'Gods' He sent are actually just henchmen or angels? No, if that were the case, then these "angels" wouldn't have created religions for themselves… So, are they fallen angels? Actually, I never even got to question what powers these people held…
I thought of ideas on how to gain the Gods' powers, but then remembered Tago. Did Tago have powers? What if it wasn't just some 6th sense he developed out of insecurity? It's unlikely, but if it actually was a power, can I potentially use—
My thoughts were cut short by a group of armored vans honking.
They were clearly approaching us, but Echo didn't seem afraid. I noticed a hand waving from the windows of one of the vans. It was Chief Donald.