ORPHEUS - A.I.

Chapter Thirty Six : A new horizon

Hex couldn't see what was going on ahead, so he slowly moved ahead and settled down beside Chuck.

"What is it guys?", asked Hex and peeked through the thick bushes.

Hex went numb as he saw two huge wolf like animals munching on a dead carcass. Megan crawled up to Hex as well as Andre. The three of them looked at the strange looking animals - they had never seen such creatures before.

"What the hell are those ?", whispered Megan.

"Santa Maria!!", exclaimed Andre.

Hex couldn't believe his eyes. There were two wolf like creatures with bodies more than a metre long but without any tail. Their heads had barely any skin on them and they had black eyes. Their jaws had no skin covering with their sharp teeth protruding out of their mouths. They growled and munched on the carcass which looked like it had been there for more than a week. There was no way they could move ahead with those creatures on the way.

"Those are mutated wolves and judging by their sizes they are the alphas. They will hunt and eat anything, even their own kind but they rarely come out of the forest and that too during the day...", whispered Anthea as she explained to the new comers what those creatures were.

"We have to turn back Chuck... or find another way", whispered Anthea.

"The opening is just beyond those trees Anthea... we can't turn back after coming so close and you know any other way will take us days...this is the only way..", replied Chuck.

"But how do you plan on moving ahead lile this?" , asked Anthea.

"We wait and watch!", replied Chuck.

Anthea thought it better to trust Chuck. After all he knew a lot about the place and knew it better. He had been in such situations before and had fought an alpha and lived to tell the tale. His military background made him a valuable asset to the team.

Just a minute later, the creatures got distracted by something and ran off towards the east. Chuck and his team stood up and watched them disappear into the jungle.

"Let's go!!", said Chuck and everyone started to follow him towards the thick jungle ahead.

"You had wolves with you when you met us... how were they ...not like them?", asked Megan.

"Those were Cedric's pets... he used to be a vet back at the city and he found them while he came to the retreat with us...they were malnourished and Cedric fed them... they had been with him since ....", Anthea replied.

"The opening is just beyond those trees...", said Chuck pointing at the huge spruce trees ahead.

"What sort of opening are we talking about...", Megan asked.

"You guys were brought here through an opening- an entry point that connects the outside world with Purgatory ... my men have seen it...and it seemed that it had malfunctioned and it's still open...", replied Chuck looking tensed.

"C'mon guys...hurry up...those Alphas could be back any second...", he added.

Megan was so excited that they would be able to get out of this place so soon- just a few more minutes- she could see almost reach the tall trees with her hands.

Andre looked at the crossbow hanging behind Chuck's back. It looked like a normal crossbow but it was made of some kind of silver metal, he also had a bunch of black arrows with pointy steel tips in a bag strapped to his thighs.

"Such a strange place...does it ever end?", Megan sighed.

"It apparently doesn't...look at the sky, it looks normal but look at the horizon, it stretches on and on...we figured something was wrong with this place but we could never actually cross beyond the great divide...", Anthea replied.

"The great divide?", asked Andre.

"Yeah, its the place beyond the dark forests, where giant monsters roam, we lost many good men trying to cross it...we always assumed the exit was beyond the divide.", Anthea replied as she tried to keep up with the rest of the team.

"Why would Devonshire build such a place?", Hex remarked.

"Oh there are a lot of things that are unexplainable around here... in the past few months we have scoured through these jungles as far as we could, the entire place is about 50 kms from east to west and 65 kms from North to South...and that's the parts not including 'the divide'... we have no idea how far the area stretches but we know that the divide' surrounds the entire area like a huge impenetrable wall ...we are surrounded by monsters all around us ...", replied Anthea.

Megan, Hex and Andre listened carefully as they walked behind the team. Megan looked at the sky it was partly cloudy and there was a light breeze which messed up her hair.

"I can't believe it...it sounds so surreal... feels like an 'end of the world movie'... ", remarked Hex.

"The shafts that we came out of...", Anthea continued, "there are five of them and they open at different part of the jungle...the one we came through- we call it 'the central shaft'- because that leads to our bunker. During the days of our retreat, we would sleep in the bunkers at night and came out through the shafts in the morning ... we would build our camps over there - where you see those grasslands now..."

Anthea pointed to her left as she kept walking behind Chuck. The tall green grass swayed in the breeze silently and Megan kept looking in amazement at how far it stretched- there seemed to be no end to this place- it seemed beautiful and haunting at the same time.

"So this place is like a prison... and is guarded by giant robots?", asked Hex being sceptical.

"Hard to believe innit? Wait till you see one for yourself...", Chuck remarked from the front.

"There are thick forests to the east and west - and mountain ranges in the north and south, when you cross any of them - you reach 'the divide'... ", Anthea added.

Suddenly Chuck stopped and kneeled down on the ground, he was observing something. The rest of the group stood beside him.

"It's a drone- a soldier drone! We are close- keep moving! Pack that up after you've dismantled it !", Chuck ordered to one of his men.

Megan kept wondering where they were going. What did Anthea mean when she said they've found a way out? It had been almost an hour now, how long will it take? But she quietly kept moving along knowing that time would reveal everything. She kept observing the people leading the way. There were six of them including Anthea. Chuck seemed to be the commander of his small army while Anthea acted as the leader of the entire team. All of them seemed a bit anxious and were being very cautious as they moved ahead. They had crossed the swamps by now and were walking through a huge field. Up ahead were a row of tall trees.

Suddenly a man appeared from beneath trees with a dog following him.

"Ah! There he is...", Chuck exclaimed and ran up to meet him.

Hex recognised the man. He was the same person who had saved his life earlier.

"Who's that?", asked Megan.

"That's Old man Nikolai...we call him 'Crazy Nikolai'.. and thats 'Hunter'- his dog...", replied Anthea.

Chuck met with Nikolai and asked him some questions. The old man didn't speak but simply signalled to follow him into the woods. Everyone followed Nikolai as he quickly rushed ahead murmuring gibberish.

"What's wrong with him?", Hex asked.

"Well, he's crazy, never speaks a word, we don't know where he came from but we found him creeping on us one day and he has been helping us survive since then. It seems that he knows a lot about this place...like he has been here since the beginning...only if he were sane we would have found a way outta here...", Anthea replied.

Chuck and the team followed Nikolai for a few minutes until he stopped and pointed towards a huge bush of wild plants.

"What's there old man?", asked Chuck as he walked towards the bush.

Nikolai simply kept pointing in excitement.

Chuck pushed apart the leaves of the bush and looked. Megan and Hex looked over his shoulder. Hex and Megan gasped at the sight of a wolf like creature lying half dead on the ground. It looked like a wolf but a lot bigger

with dark brown fur but without a tail. It's gut had been ripped open but instead of blood, some kind of purple ooze kept flowing out. It was barely alive and had a deep scar on its head. It was still growling as if it would jump

up any second and attack them. It looked like it didn't feel any pain and it only knew pure rage.

Megan was shocked to find that it had some kind of metallic wires popping out of its head. The three newcomers had never seen such a creature.

"What the hell is this thing?", asked Megan.

"A Ravager!", replied Chuck looking worried , "something has almost tore it in half..."

"I thought it was the most powerful of all the monster here... what could have attacked it?", Anthea remarked kneeling down on one knee and observing the beast carefully.

"Dunno... but whatever it is, its definitely deadlier than this one... I wonder if our weapons would even work on it...", Chuck replied.

"Well ... put it out of its misery... and let's keep moving...", ordered Anthea.

Chuck took out his bow and aimed it at the dying creature's head and pulled the trigger. The arrow pierced its skull and it stopped moving.

The team walked on with Nikolai leading the way. Everyone was silent for a minute. Hex was now a believer !

"How did you like your breakfast earlier?", asked Anthea trying to lighten up the mood.

"It looked different but it tasted good... it was wholesome...", replied Megan not trying to be rude.

She definitely didn't liked the way the piece of bread looked- old and mouldy but she was surprised that it actually tasted good.

"Yeah? Glad to hear you liked it...", replied Anthea with a smile.

"Where do you get this food?", asked Andre.

"Rations... they're leftovers from the time before this place shut down...we had a huge stock left after most of us were killed... nothing fancy just bread, dry cakes, packed soup,a few gallons of drinking water and we hunted small wild animals before they started to mutate...", Anthea replied

"But time's running out...we are almost out of food and fresh water is becoming harder to find ..the streams are being polluted ...we have to find a way outta here soon...", she added.

"I wonder why Alan abandoned this place...has nobody tried to look for you...does the outside world even know of this place?", Hex asked.

"I'm quite sure that after so many months people must have assumed that we're long dead...", replied Anthea.

"After that incident a few of us tried to find a way out of here... the monsters were chasing us... but then the military arrived and took as many of us as they could... there were choppers and tanks, they fought the monsters and rescued whoever they found ... but they never came back for the rest of us... we simply assumed that they thought we were dead..we saw the doors closed forever... Purgatory never opened again...", she added.

"That's really insane...I mean...I can't even imagine how you must have felt being left here to die...tch!!", Hex remarked.

"I wonder why you guys were brought here though...", said Anthea.

"We were kidnapped by Devonshire and brought here ...for some kind of sick experiment of his... we just built an A.I. for him...which he said was for building a better world...little did we know that he only wanted to take over the world and we just helped him do it...", replied Megan .

She was clearly frustrated but deep inside she was scared knowing that there was no way out of this place. She only hoped that Anthea and her team find out a way.

"Hmh! That old dog... he's upto his old tricks again...", replied Anthea.

By now it had been more than an hour of walking through the thick bushes and tall trees. Megan was growing tired. While Hex was still asking all sorts of questions to Anthea.

"What exactly are we looking for again?", asked Megan.

"A c***k in the wall! If it's still there you guys can get out of here and take some of us with you and tell the world about this place...", replied Anthea.

Megan's eyes lit up with hope. Could it be true?

Suddenly Chuck stopped and turned around. He signalled everyone to lay low and be quiet.

"What is it?", whispered Hex who was walking behind Anthea and the others.

Anthea didn't reply. She simply signalled the three of them to lay low. There was fear in her eyes.