Humanities Contingency_You Will Lose Yourself

by Matthew Birch

  As if on cue, the helmet, as if by magic, dematerialises, disappearing through a transparent moving wall of pixels. Merging with the suit, it latches onto it, creating an excess part of the suit at the back, coating his spine as an extra layer of shielding. New patterns are designed, moving, living, and breathing like a living being. The man inside, the person who is revealed, black ruffled hair, and his eyes, so vibrantly purple, although the transparency at the centre makes me wonder if he’s human... Ogling us down, he seems as confounded by us we are by him.

  “Hello?” Alice asks, hiccupping on her words shyly.

  Smiling, the man’s faint looks become more apparent as we get closer. My eyes trace his skull, where the dry blood that sticks to the left side of his head hides a nasty gash that is hidden underneath. Standing up, the man removes his legs from the water, gradually showing us how monstrous he really is. The strange suit coats him from head to toe, and when he stands at full height, we see someone who dwarves even the tank like Chris. This man has to be taller than seven feet, scary. Broad, muscular, but also thin in his physique, he is terrifyingly sweet. So, new, strange, but without knowing who he is, or what he is doing, we can’t just go ahead and call him a threat. This man smiles once more, giving us both a nod before walking past us; his pace is slowed so that we may walk side by side with him due to his height difference. Craning my neck upwards, I really have to put in the effort to look at his entrancing eyes-

  “Who are you?” Alice asks, doing the same thing as me before eventually giving up. He’s just too tall! Giving up to, I keep my eyes ahead instead.

  “I am Danvius the fourteenth, a defender and soldier of the Organisation” So, nonchalant, relaxed, his tone of voice is nice, not too deep nor high, like a perfect balance, no coarseness or that puberty like throat young guys gets. He’s a man, so outlandish and towering, exactly like a friendly giant. Alice and I stare at one another in confusion; I am just as baffled as she is!

  “Don’t worry, I am on your side, the Carnage is not” He speaks so clearly, but it’s what he says that has me and Alice worried. Walking soundly, Danvius strolls on without a problem, keeping pace with him; our legs straining themselves to keep up despite his slower pace. “I was enjoying the night while I rested my legs in the water... So cool and refreshing...” His voice becomes a whisper, his neck craned downwards at his feet where we see him wiggle his toes, his suit moving with his movements, adjusting itself and stretching to make room for the wiggle. It’s creepy to watch, like the suit is his skin, so life-like, but not real either.

  “Who are you? Why are you here?” Voice low, I do shy away, feeling embarrassed walking next to him. Alice smirks at me, and then softens. She knows how I feel. We’re walking next to some giant soldier, of course, we feel awkward. It had to be us of all the people who found him!

  “I was the last line of defence the Organisation had left before the world’s military’s refused to aid them in taking back the island from their own mistakes” Laughing deliberately, he pokes fun at something he calls the Organisation. What Organisation? Or, is that simply the name - The Organisation...

  “So, you’re Valbury’s last defender?” Alice asks, grinning at him. He stops, rubbing his chin before nodding casually, looking down; he reaches out and pats her head.

  Feeling jealous, I get a piece of the action. I won’t let her be the favourite. “Yeah, the title is so fitting, Last Defender of Valbury!”

  “Yes, I do indeed admire that title” Smiling as wide as we are, we continue to walk, having befriended the giant man. He still puzzles me though. All we do is follow him. I don’t know what his plan is. We try questioning; only he doesn’t tell us any more than he already has. Instead, as we near our camp, he suggests something else alternatively. “Instead of questioning me young human, listen to what I have to say. I intend to live long enough to give everyone here one final message. My time is coming to an end. It won’t be long before the Carnage returns” Speaking softly, his words become but a murmur as the crackling of the nearby fires overwrites his soulful voice.

  “Who is the Carnage?” I question, only for Alice to make a small grunting sound? Looking at her with my eyebrows raised, I wonder what is trying to mouth me. Oh, is it because I asked another question? What I can I say? My mind is being rattled considerably at the thought of everything we found!

  “The Carnage is not a monster, nor is it whatever names you have for the bastards who destroyed this resort. The Carnage is a living, breathing being, a person even! Smart, and sophisticated, he just wants to survive. The Carnage is the next step in human evolution and it terrifies you” Getting grim, he begins to scare us, his tone becomes more dreadful by the minute.

  “B-but why doesn’t it scare you then?” I ask through a stutter-

  “The difference between the Carnage and I is that the Carnage is made up of everything humanity fights against to survive. They created him with your own templates, the human genome, the DNA, now the Carnage seeks to better himself and us. I am just another Danvius, a soldier in a long line of people. I am nothing but a fighter who failed to defeat the Carnage. I failed my mandate, so I have been discarded, I am nothing, and soon you will be too”

  Chapter 23 - Last message

  Lola

  Arriving back to the group; the towering god-like entity with us has whoever was on guard duty startled. Seeing us is what made them recognize that Danvius was of no threat to anyone here. He greets the two people on guard: Holly and Matty, before raising his hands and proudly saying, “I request an audience with your entire group!” He beckons, and it doesn’t take much longer for the two to go running off without a word to notify Robert. I know that’s what they’re doing because they run in the exact direction his tent had been set up. The news spreads fast; the word of this god-like man has everyone eating up the sensational knowledge quicker than a fire does a forest. While the group comes to, Alice and I wait, letting Robert who approaches do the talking.

  “Who are you?” Shocked, Robert can’t even seem to fathom how marvellous this man is.

  “I won’t speak until every last survivor is present. They are my audience, and I’ll know when they are here” Danvius pats Robert’s head before directing him into the crowd. For the first time, we see our leader just as confused as we are. Easily man-handled, he joins the crowd, trying to regain the control he had after Danvius stripped it away in a single head pat - truly magnificent.

  Whilst the crowd, sleepy, but inquisitive, is mustered into place, every last person murmuring inaudibly amongst one another as they feast their tired orbs on the giant next to us. My own optics search for the man who is no doubt screaming about me, my father, not as intensely pissed as I was expecting, makes no effort to come up and pull me away from Danvius’s side. We aren’t even on a pedestal of sorts, no high ground, we stand equal with everyone else, except for Danvius, who’s ridiculously height overshadows us all. Staying in the disorderly crowd, my father remains there, too astonished by the man in the moving suit of armour, he doesn’t even acknowledge me, which for some reason, hurts...

  Does he love me, or is he obsessed?

  “I know need a few minutes of your time!” Danvius bellows, his voice like music to our ears, so perfect as if he was engineered by a computer and not the DNA we can’t control. The way he spoke to us has everyone silenced, as if like a King, he assumes his throne. A superior human or whatever he is for that matter. “Yes, the military’s last effort failed. The world governments have withdrawn. I am the Organisation’s last line of defence, I am Danvius the fourteenth, and I was the soldier created to defeat the Carnage. The Carnage is a living, breathing person. It’s made up of all the things human’s hated and fights against, but it is learning. Sophisticated, growing, it’s a species in itself. I am still learning personally. What I know, is that it yearns for life, it is dying, and quickly. Regardless, it bested me despite its draining life. Now, my last message to you is that the military has actually made a small
supply base in the north. It is still there now, I swear to you, as they only messaged me two hours ago. They intend to leave relatively soon. Go there, escape, live your life. The Organisation apologises for its failures, as I am one of them...”

  Foot crunching against the gravel, he stands out above the crowd as he is the first to question Danvius, watching him, I see Ed speak out, “Wait, so why did you lose when you look so god-like...”

  Danvius, rocking his head from side to side with a knowing, sly smile, says, “I have fulfilled my purpose, now, I can leave my torture...” Unveiling his true form, I have to step back from the sudden action. Detaching himself from his suit with ease, I see the naked man inside drop to the residue-covered ground-

  His body-

  Coating from his feet to his neck-

  Crimson, black patches-

  Grime, relocating, swelling-

  Pus-filled sacks-

  Infection...

  “He’s...” Robert whispers whilst walking up next to me to gently move Alice and me back.

  Chuckling casually, Danvius looks up at us all from his knelt position on the ground. “The suit kept me alive... I fled the Carnage, instead of winning so to speak...” His voice begins to drown, a horrible twisted voice beginning to take over as he throws himself back, his eyes bulging in awe as his faces the smoky, grey sky.

  “Why didn’t you?” I ask, kneeling down to his level, sympathy pouring out from my heart for our god-like man.

  “Ah, it is because, the Carnage intends to pass on the infection, making more of himself without the process of the creature, to a monster, to a beast, to him... He wants to be one of a kind; he consumed everyone, trying to sustain himself long enough that he can find a way to indefinitely live without the need to kill all life for biomass...” Danvius chokes, his hands subconsciously clawing at the infection that sprawls over his form, trying his best to pick at it as it eats him alive. “If the Carnage consumed me, he’d be unstoppable... My duty as a Danvius is to defeat the Carnage-” Danvius twists around, his crazed eyes watching me and me only? “I couldn’t. I would win, only to be taken as biomass, I only realised after the Carnage infected me, it doesn’t matter if I killed him, and I am him. He is passing himself off onto us. Not even my body could survive the infection. We’re fresh, he is not...” At last, Danvius stands on his two feet, his head swivelling as he does a full spin. The infection spreads up to his skull, moving like tentacles, stretching itself out, the infection takes him, the red grime is agile, rapidly climbing over his skull, going into his mouth and slithering inside his eyes and ears. His whole appearance resembles that of an advanced monster or a beast now, but still, he continues to talk without error, the only thing that is maintained from his previous self is the musical voice he was gifted.

  “Why are you so, normal?” Robert asks timidly...

  “My mind cannot be controlled. Only my body, so now, I am one and the same with the Carnage, which means I am nothing but extra biomass waiting to be consumed...” So placid, Danvius starts treading east? He won’t stop walking; it is like he has no control. But his mind is still with us at least?

  “Where is the Carnage?” Ed calls out, trying to keep up with the speedily walking Danvius.

  Danvius cracks his neck, looking straight back at Ed who cringes, freezing in place from the disturbing movement. “He’s coming”

  Seconds later, the suit Danvius was initially in turns into millions of tiny sharp spears that float gracefully through the air until they are hovering directly behind his body. Fastening himself in place, Danvius battles the infection one last time, stopping its path to the Carnage so he can’t be consumed to give the dying Carnage more life. He spreads his arms, letting his motionless body be pierced in a million different places as the tip of each white, glowing spike enters his skin. In a few moments, with so much as a loud grunt, his body’s crawling, grimy form stops all life, and he sinks down onto the ground - dead.

  His suit is the last thing he leaves behind, only for it to disappear into the wind without the life of its host...

  Chapter 24 - Leave me Alone

  Panicking, rushing, and trying to find a way out-

  Everyone is in chaos-

  Lola, alone, is grabbed brutally by her father. Seizing her upper right arm, his cinch of a grip leaves her arms red and raw, his tough hold dragging her backwards. She struggles, calling out, begging him to stop as he literally tugs her towards their tent. Now, she sees him for who he really is. He’s insane, completely lost it, broken without a fault-

  His mind has long since past fragile, now, he is blank-

  “We need to run away!” He screams into his flinching daughter’s ears. Tears flood her eyes from the unbelievable harsh treatment. She just wants to be free. She just wants to leave!

  “Let me go!” She yells, clawing at his grip until he releases her. Growling, he squares up to her, being twice her height, he grabs her skull, slithering his hands through her long locks until he can sustain another deadly grip.

  “Never speak back to me again” He whispers, his hot mouth pressed to her ear. His hand moves, forcing her head back, cracking the roots, and causing the shallow, noiseless squeak that echoes past her poorly chapped lips to barely reach anyone else’s ears.

  “Fath-” She tries, to no avail, he has full control now...

  “We will go on the boat, we will escape-” He speaks, his voice creepy, so menacing, so hot and wet-

  The whole group begins to split as a divide is formed. “We can use the boat, it works, and Chris and Ian just need time!” Robert’s side has everyone except the southern and northern group who gather on the opposing side.

  “I am not wasting time arguing, we travel north!” Maya shouts, raising her gun high in the air against the other group. Ian shifts from Robert’s side, rejoining Zack. Glaring, Robert loses one of his trusted engineers...

  ‘I am not staying with him-’ Lola thinks, acting quick, she latches her teeth onto her father’s lower arm, sinking her teeth in deep and drawing blood as her jaw wobbles against the might of her father-

  Breaking away, Lola is able to shift away long enough that she can sprint into the middle of the two groups where the divide is formed, an open space in full view of every last person as her crazed father bellows in a rage, sprinting at full speed like a bull in a frenzy after her-

  “I WANT TO STAY WITH-” Lola can barely get the words out before Callum is right on top of her! Confused, angry, misunderstood, Callum roars like a madman.

  “THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED!”

  To which a powerful fist is slammed into her cheek, harsh, stinging, deadly...

  Lola, dazed, unsure of what is happening, spirals to the ground in agony as her cheek throbs, a headache rattling through her skull.

  She hears voices. Blurred, muffled, she cannot hear. Her vision is clear though despite the gentle static blur that occurs without a predictable frequency. Looking up, she stares up high, focused on the burnt sky before her gaze is turned ever so carefully to Ed who throws himself into Callum. They fight fiercely, the two men going at one another, Ed gaining the upper hand as he withdraws his knife, his blade merely inches away from ending the other man’s miserable life-

  Lola, overtaken with shock, freezes up as Chris barely stops the dagger from piercing Callum’s heart-

  In that split second-

  She almost watched her father die-

  And the worst part is-

  That she didn’t care.

  “WE CAN’T BE KILLING EACH OTHER IN OUR FINAL MOMENTS. GO SEPARATE WAYS NOW, WE NEED TO ESCAPE WHILE WE HAVE THE CHANCE!” Robert screams, firing several deafening shots into the air from his handgun.

  Ed is unquestionably pissed, but nods, moving on instantly. Lola regains her senses now, her smooth hand wrapped around her swollen cheek, Chloe and Maya lifting her up and off the ground.

  “LIVE A GOOD LIFE, BEST OF LUCK!” Ed screams, middle finger raised at every last survivor who isn’t on his side
. No one spares a second glance at the adrenaline-filled Ed, who spares no such look for them either. Robert nods, bored of this shitty group he created, grabbing the injured Callum, he picks him up and directs him towards the military vessel.

  “No, please, my daughter-” Callum, saddened, turns, trying to run back to Lola who shelters herself in Maya’s chest...

  “I want to stay with them...” Lola meekly says, her head shrouded in Maya’s top.

  Softening, Maya looks up, grimly saying, “She stays with us now. Got it?”

  Feeling, safe, Lola smiles, hugging Maya closely to escape the man she once called father... Openly crying out, Callum shouts and shouts all the promises he’d never keep. Words of how he can do better, but it is already too late, Lola is gone, retreating to Ed now who promises that he, can keep her safe.

  Chapter 25 - King of the Jungle

  Lola