ALBA

by HL TRUSLOVE

  You can think of a list of reasons why as long as your arm, but you don’t feel like standing around and explaining them all to him.

  “Look, I’m going to leave. I think it’s best if…”

  Lux reaches out and grabs your arm. For such a frail-looking man, there’s a lot of strength in him. You can feel his bony fingers digging into you, even through your robes.

  “I think you should stay,” he tells you, and there’s a malice in his voice. It worries you slightly, but unfortunately it doesn’t surprise you. You knew he was too positive to be genuine.

  Shove him off and run – Turn to S.2.23.

  * * *

  Grab a box of radium and run – Turn to S.2.22.

  S.2.21

  “All right,” you say at length. Part of you is screaming that this is a horrible idea, but you push it deep down and try to drown it out with the loud reasoning that it could be helpful for you to have these people on your side, and this seems to be the only way to do it. You take the paint and brush from Lux as he sits with a gleeful smile on his face.

  “Here, use my arm as a canvas. Just paint whatever comes to you,” he instructs. You stick out your tongue and nervously wet it to a point, dipping it into the paint and beginning.

  You’re not the best artist, and your hands are shaking wildly, but you try to emulate what you saw the other people wearing. Flowing, swirling lines wrapping all around his forearm. You barely even notice the faint tang on your tongue as you keep touching it to your brush. By the time you’re done, you’ve definitely begun to feel sick and dizzy. You sit down heavily as Lux inspects your work with a nod.

  “Not bad for a beginner. Here, let me paint you as well. Lift up your shirt.”

  Too nauseous to argue, you take off your pack and hitch up the back of your coat and shirt. On your back, you feel Lux work the brush like a maestro across the plains of your skin, intricate and precise in his art. Part of you is disappointed you can’t see the end result, but you know as soon as you leave here you’re getting this paint off of you as soon as you can.

  It’s hard to tell how much time passes, but eventually Lux lets out a hum of appreciation and stands back.

  “Beautiful. Just beautiful. Welcome to our family, traveller. You’re now a part of Prie.”

  He walks around to your front as you stand up and rifles through his pocket before bringing out a tiny metal badge, affixing it to the front of your coat while you rearrange your clothes and possessions.

  “This will show you’re one of us to everybody out there. It’s an old military pin from my grandfather’s collection; we give them to all our important faithful. You have to go and spread the good word of our group, do you understand?”

  You nod and hold back your vomit. You feel like this was a terrible idea.

  Add Military Pin (O.26) to your inventory.

  Add Irradiated (P.3) to character sheet – plus 3 extra instability points next time you add Instability to your character sheet.

  * * *

  If you’ve met Dagger and failed to complete Chapter 15, Turn to S.2.24.

  * * *

  Otherwise, Turn to S.2.18.

  S.2.22

  You’re not going to stand around and wait to get attacked by this clearly unstable man.

  Opposite the shelf you just walked into is another lined with metal guard boxes, covered with fading radioactive symbols. Something like that will be valuable out in the Old World.

  It seems like you may as well kill two birds with one stone, as it were.

  You dive to the left, a move Lux wasn’t expecting, causing him to lose his grip on you. You reach out and wrap a hand around the box and heave.

  It’s lighter than you expected and comes off of its perch easily. The momentum of it swings your arm backwards, and you end up throwing it directly into Lux’s stomach. You hear an oof as the wind is physically knocked out of him.

  Turning, you bring the box down on his head while he’s doubled over. You hear a crack as he falls to the floor, landing in the spill of green paint. It begins to tinge with red where his head is resting. You watch for just long enough to make sure he’s still breathing, then run out of the room as fast as you can and up the underground stairwell, hugging the box tightly to you the whole time.

  If anybody thinks it’s odd that you’re running towards an exit clutching a box of radium, you don’t hang around long enough for them to question you. Instead, you put every ounce of energy you possess into getting out of the stadium, getting out of Prie. You fly through the streets and back through the luminous corridor. The guards standing at the entrance look surprised, but you shoulder through them, getting far away before they can realise what’s happening.

  Only when you feel you cannot walk another step without your legs breaking or lungs popping do you slow down. When you finally look over your shoulder, the stadium is just a dot in the distance. You haven’t felt such relief since you got to the Old World.

  END.

  Add Radium (O.27) to your inventory.

  S.2.23

  Fight or flight mode floods your body along with the adrenaline. This man is clearly not thinking correctly, and you don’t want to stick around for long enough to find out what happens if he’s pushed.

  You try to rip your arm away from Lux, but he holds on. Luckily for you, that means he’s tugged sharply towards you. Taking advantage, you use your forehead as a blunt weapon and smash his nose with a vicious headbutt.

  Lux lets out a shriek of pain and stumbles back, slipping in the luminous paint and falling on his back into it. It splashes up and coats his clothes in bright green. He looks furiously at you, too enraged to speak, and you seize the moment to turn on your heel and run out of the radioactive room as quickly as you can, heading up the underground staircase taking two steps at a time.

  You put every ounce of energy you possess into getting out of the stadium, getting out of Prie. You fly through the streets and back through the luminous corridor. The guards standing at the entrance look surprised, but you shoulder through them, getting far away before they can realise what’s happening.

  Only when you feel you cannot walk another step without your legs breaking or lungs popping do you slow down. When you look over your shoulder, the stadium is just a dot in the distance. You haven’t felt such relief since you got to the Old World.

  END.

  Add Instability to your character sheet.

  S.2.24

  “If you want me to bring other people here, they’ll want to see proof of your grandeur. Can I take a small box of this with me?”

  You gesture to the lockboxes on the shelves. Lux considers this for a moment before nodding emphatically.

  “Yes, good idea. People don’t believe what they can’t see.”

  He hands you a box and you slide it into your pack. He doesn’t need to know that nobody innocent will ever see it under your watchful eye. That makes you feel slightly better, even if it’s offset by the vertigo you’re experiencing.

  Add Radium (O.27) to your inventory.

  * * *

  Turn to S.2.18.

  Chapter 30

  Ending One

  30.0

  Mari’s words ring round in your ears.

  What do we do now?

  You honestly don’t know how to answer that.

  Most of the time you were looking for your group, you weren’t even sure what you were going to do next. Now you have to make that decision for the entire vault? Maybe not even just the vault – maybe this will impact the way all other explorers interact with the Old World forever.

  You can’t make that choice. It isn’t fair to ask you to. Who are you, after all? You’re just a person who got swept up in a storm and had to find their own way home. Nothing about that means you should have the authority over an entire nation.

  You’re just… you.

  “I can’t.”

  Your words are croaky as they leave your mouth. Apprehensive, even. With good caus
e, too – as soon as you say them, Mari is scowling.

  “What do you mean, you can’t?” she snaps.

  “I mean that’s far too much pressure to put on one person. If I were a vault leader, or some sort of great explorer who’d been out here for years, maybe I’d understand. But I’m just someone who got stuck in a storm. I’ve seen a lot of things, yes, but that doesn’t mean I have the authority or the knowledge to make decisions about this.” You wave your hand to gesture to all of the world around you. Mari’s nostrils are flaring, making her look a bit like one of those fluffy orange animals you’ve seen around the old world.

  It’s a bit scary. You’ve seen her steely before, but you haven’t actually seen her angry.

  “The thing is, I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. This is a direct order from the vault itself. If you don’t cooperate—”

  “Then what?” The confidence is bubbling in your chest and makes you rise to your feet. You’re tired of being dictated to. Ever since you landed in this place, it feels like fate has thrown you around, like a battered ragdoll tossed between children.

  You won’t sit back any more. “They won’t let me back in? I can’t see that happening, can you? Not when I’m clearly such an expert about the Old World now.”

  “So they throw you in prison,” Mari continues, but she’s beginning to look unsure.

  “For what?”

  “Insubordination.”

  “Right, well, even if they could make that stick – which we both know they can’t – then what? What’s the future of exploration teams from there? Nobody’s going to volunteer to go out if they know that there’s a chance they’ll just be thrown in jail when they get back.”

  “But… but…” she’s spluttering. She knows she’s lost.

  For the first time since Mari came back in, Fanon speaks.

  “That’s enough.”

  You both pause to look to him, holding back the arguments on the tip of your respective, barbed tongues.

  Fanon gets to his feet. He looks tired but determined, his brow and mouth set in firm resolve. For the first time, you can see why he’s the leader here.

  “Mari, you can’t make them make this choice.”

  “But—”

  “No ‘buts’. It was foolish for the vault to send that decision down, anyway. Get on the radio and say it’s not an order for them to make. We’re backing this decision.”

  Mari doesn’t look happy, but doesn’t want to fight with her father. She leaves the tent with her hands balled into fists. You get the feeling if there were a door for her to slam, she would have. The two of you stand in silence and watch her go. After a long moment, Fanon turns to you.

  “I’m sorry,” he says. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” you say, but you’re shaking, still terrified of what might have happened had you not won the argument. Fanon puts a hand on your shoulder.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you don’t get into trouble. You haven’t done anything wrong, after all. It’s disgusting that they asked you to make such important choices all on your own.”

  You nod, but part of you understands why. They’re scared. Scared of what’s out here. That was always the feeling you got from everyone back at home. It’s easier for someone who’s been out here to make a decision than it is for them, in the safety of the vault. And if it goes wrong? They have a brilliant scapegoat to pin it on. We didn’t know this would go so badly. It was the intel we got from the lost explorer.

  “What now?” asks Fanon, dragging you out of your thoughts and back into cold reality.

  “I want to go back to the vault,” you confess. “I’ve had enough of this place for a lifetime.”

  It sounds pathetic, but it’s true. You want to go back to the vault. Where you’re safe. Where you know what’s going to happen day to day. Where you don’t have to wake up each morning and worry that you’re going to be attacked or killed.

  You want to go home.

  Fanon nods, understanding.

  “Well, I’ll start organising a way to get you home. Your boat was lost in the storm so I’ll have to get the vault to send over another. Can you make it that long?”

  In the camp, with your friends and allies? You probably can, yes.

  You set up your tent right in the middle of the others that night. You want to be surrounded by noise and know people are right there, if anything happens. You fall asleep easily and sleep the best you have… maybe since you left the vault.

  The next morning, Fanon seeks you out in the breakfast hall. You’re halfway through a bowl of porridge and have to awkwardly nod your way through most of the conversation while you try to swallow the sticky, thick mouthful.

  “There’s another supply ship on its way. It’ll be about a week and a half before it reaches us, but we’ve got to get back to the site of our old base. I’ll be making an announcement a bit later to everyone.”

  You nod, thankful, and gratefully go back to eating your breakfast.

  When Fanon announces the group is moving back, people seem to have a mixed reaction at best. The idea of a long trek doesn’t sound particularly thrilling to them, but nonetheless they dutifully go and start packing up their tents and the other buildings.

  You’re working at dismantling the camp yourself when you hear a voice call out to you.

  Turn to 30.A, Needs Gaia in Tow OR Gaia’s Badge

  * * *

  Turn to 30.B, Cannot have Gaia in Tow OR Gaia’s Badge

  30.A

  “Hey.”

  You turn and smile as Gaia approaches you. She has her hands stuffed in her pockets and seems to be shivering; she really has lost quite a bit of weight. You imagine she probably feels the cold more than she used to. Nevertheless, she helps you bring down your tent when she gets close enough.

  “So, you’re going back?” she says. You let out a dry chuckle.

  “Word makes it round that quickly?”

  “No. Well, I mean, Fanon told me in case I wanted to join you.”

  “And are you?”

  “Yeah. Yes. I want to go back home.” Her hands tremble for a moment and you know it isn’t because of the cold. Dropping your work, you pull her into a hug which she returns tightly.

  “It’s all right,” you say, but it isn’t. You’re not sure if things will be all right for either of you again. The best you can do is try to mend yourselves as you move on.

  At least you have each other.

  “Come on,” you say, pulling back and wiping her eyes with one of your gloved hands. You can feel her tears seep through the material and gently touch your finger. “Less than two weeks, Fanon said. We can do that.”

  “Okay,” she says with a tight smile. It seems that actually worked, because her attitude remains surprisingly upbeat for the rest of the day, even when the camp begins its journey.

  It only takes about three days of walking to get back to your original spot. You’re on the move from sunup to sundown, but that doesn’t seem particularly taxing after all the travelling you’ve done. You pass Mari a couple of times, but whenever you lock eyes she looks away with a scowl.

  You can recognise the place the camp first left. Not because of the actual camp, but because of what’s left of your boat. A couple of wooden boards float on the surface of the ocean, bobbing about but constricted to the wreck by a piece of sail that’s stuck on jagged rocks. You feel a little sad that this is all that’s left of your journey here.

  And then, for the most part, you’re left alone. You mostly talk to Gaia, about things that don’t have anything to do with the Old World, desperately trying to distract yourselves until you’re picked up. A couple of times, people come over to ask you about your journey but leave disappointed when you give short, uninteresting answers. You don’t want to discuss these things any more than you absolutely have to.

  You see the ship on the horizon the morning of your twelfth day back with camp. You stand on the hill, next to where the makeshift po
rt was, and watch it come closer and closer, excitement building in your chest for when it docks. The sailors see you waiting and wave.

  You wave back.

  They’re met by Fanon when they weigh anchor and start unloading the supplies from the ship. It takes an excruciatingly long time, and by the time they’re done it’s early evening and the crew has to stay the night. You barely sleep in your tent, anxious to be off as soon as daylight breaks.

  The crew find you waiting next to the ship the next morning. Gaia is beside you, fiddling with the ragged bottom of her coat.

  You were going to ask Viktor if he wanted to come too. You’d seen him around a couple of times in the camp, but he seems happy here now. Settled. He was never a big talker, so apart from a couple of friendly nods, you left each other well enough alone. You’re not sure what you’d say to him anyway.

  The ship is loaded with a few empty crates and sets sail with you and Gaia on it. Fanon and a couple of others wave you goodbye. You watch them until they’re out of sight, until the coast is just a strip of grey and brown on the vast ocean, until it’s nothing at all.

  From beside you, Gaia takes your hand.

  It’s the last you ever see of Alba.

  THE END.

  30.B

  “Hello.”

  You turn and raise your eyebrows in surprise. It’s Viktor. Viktor, who you made the journey over with. He looks about the same as when you last saw him, beardy and unaffected, but seeing him still makes you smile.