Seekers: Chapter Five: One Million
#2 of Seekers
Location: New Vega...
Location: New Vega, South-East Section, Abandoned Industrial Area.
Time: 12:50pm.
Year: 2180, March 7th.
I had reached the borders of the abandoned industrial area, by which time I had slowed down to a fast walk out of exhaustion. I felt like I had wasted too much time in wandering aimlessly around the South-East district. My cloak would be covered in dust if I hadn't stopped frequently to shake it all off of my body. My fur felt like it was on fire, even though I was sweating and trying to cool down.
The afternoon was just settling in, and the area had changed color from light brown, due to all the dust, to a light orange, with the sun glaring down to my right. Luckily, I wouldn't have to stay outside for long; I saw a small opening in the large metal fencing that separated the city from the abandoned area. I poked my baton through the gap and pried it further open so that I was just able to get through by squatting down; and once I was through, I was amazed at what I saw.
The whole area was abandoned, at no surprise; but there were so many pieces of unfinished buildings and equipment; from pieces of cranes and small wrenches, to bases of buildings, with the upper levels strewn around them. Though, these pieces of buildings had protected me from the dust storm quite a bit. I even took shelter behind one for a few minutes to catch a breather, and picked up a crowbar and a light tire cap no larger than my body along the way. At least then I'd have a substitute for my baton, and a kind of shield in case things came to the worst. Unfortunately, I had no idea of what I was walking into.
I had just passed around a couple dozen remains of buildings until I met a large but stubby building, still in-tact; though the concrete was a bit broken up and the metal support beams looked a little rusted, I had spotted a small sign on the side facing me.
It read out: Enforcer Rover Construction Site.
I sighed with relief and began a fast walk towards the entrance, which was barred shut by a few flimsy pieces of wood. The building looked like it was hexagonal, and after having a quick look around two more sides, I noticed that all of the entrances were blocked either by wood, metal or just had a few pieces of rubble blocking it; obviously someone had blocked this with everything - or anything - they could find. This simply told me that the people were desperate.
After evaluating that I had to tear down a door to get in, I sighed with anger and kicked one of the doors blocked by wood. I was exhausted, tired, and now I had to use what little energy I had left to tear down a door. By the time I would get in, I would be close to passing out. Never-the-less I pulled out my crowbar and began prying the wood from the wall, during which time my body felt too loose to put any strength into it. I had to just lean back and hope that my weight would help with pulling out the wood.
Luckily for me, that's just what happened. All of the planks had been torn off one by one until only the door was left. I ran my fingers across the material; it felt like metal, possibly an inch thick. I grabbed the handle and tried pulling the door open; it didn't move. I tried pushing it; nothing again. I moaned a curse under my breath and slumped to the floor, leaning against the wall and closing my eyes. This was where I met a dead end. I was totally exhausted and out of energy; I couldn't tear down any other doors, and nothing I had could break the lock or break down the door at all.
"I told you that baton wouldn't get you anywhere." I heard a familiar voice whisper into my ear. It had a dreamy hint to it, just like someone I had met, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
I looked up to meet a young female Wolf's face, with red fur and half closed eyes; she was wearing a red and black cloak, and no hood drawn; it was Elise, that girl from the train!
"Are you going to just sit there?" Elise asked rhetorically; "Or are you going to continue on?"
I was lost for words. I didn't know what to ask first; how did she know what I was planning? Is she helping me? If so, why? If not, what was she doing here anyway? I decided to just ignore all of the questions for now and ask once we were inside.
"The door's locked." I panted, bringing my head down. "I can't get through with my equipment. What about you?"
I heard one loud shot coming from Elise's direction, causing me to jump slightly in shock. I looked up to see Elise wielding a small handgun, which sounded like it had a lot of kick. The door's handle had been shot off, and the door itself was starting to lean inwards, signaling that it was open. Elise holstered the gun in her robe and leant down to pick me up. I let myself fall into her arms slightly, but try to put some effort in to getting up myself.
Elise had ended up holding up my right side whilst walking through the building. All of the lights had gone out, and we both had to pull out a pair of flashlights to see where we were going.
The building looked older on the inside than the outside. The concrete walls were worn down to brown-red, and all of the wallpaper and paint had been scraped off, littering the floor and making it uneven.
"So who are you, anyway?" I asked, starting to get my breath back. "How did you know where I was going?"
"As I said the last time we met." Elise replied; "I'm Elise Elorara Mayer. I didn't even expect you to come here, but it's hard to see why else you would come to the South-East area of the city."
"So you planned to come here to begin with." I accused; "What for? Are we both after the same thing?"
"Most likely." Elise sighed; "But so are a lot of people. I'm hunting down some fabled treasure. Word is it contains one million of something. Hopefully it isn't pre-war money; stuff like that isn't worth the materials they're made from."
"I got the same thing." I said; "Yesterday, in fact. How long have you been hunting this 'treasure' for?"
"Around a year." Elise replied bluntly. "The legend goes that there's a chest with ten locks; all of them need a different type of key though. I already have one, so the other nine must be with you and another eight people."
"...I don't have a key." I admitted, partly embarrassed. "Besides, how do you know if people are working independently? It could just be a group hunting you down for all you know."
"No one is that good-hearted." Elise replied, stopping and leaning against one wall; I leant against the opposite. "Everyone is too selfish when it comes down to these matters. That's how these things go."
"So why are you helping me out?" I asked, pointing my flashlight at her. "I don't have a key or anything. All I'm doing is slowing you down."
"I only need fifty grand." Elise said, pointing her flashlight at me. "That is, if there is that ton of money at the end of the hunt. I don't see any point of carrying that extra money around, so I guess I'll just leave it with you."
I was about to object when Elise put her hand up to silence me. I knew by instinct that she wanted me to listen to something. I eventually heard a dull and rhythmic thudding on the ground. It sounded far away from where we were; probably on the other side of the factory. After a long minute of listening, we started to hear a few voices as well. We waited one more minute and sped off in the direction of the noise, wasting no time at all.
We turned a few corners and had to retrace a few steps to reach the source of the noise. We had both came out and looked over what looked like a large warehouse. The only thing that confused me was that we entered on the ground floor, and were now standing on what seemed like the first or second floor. Elise put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me down so that we were both crouching.
"Keep quiet." Elise whispered, pointing down to the bottom floor. "Look there. Can you see that alright?"
I nodded quickly. I stared down at the ground floor, where the whole place was illuminated by a large tile of lights overhead. I also saw a few figures on the ground floor; four of them were grouped together, chatting amongst themselves and occasionally looking at the fatter, but stubbier figure on the other side of the room. The single figure looked like a full diving suit, equipped with some kind of large drill and a huge rifle about the size of my entire body.
"Who are they?" I asked, keeping my voice low. "Do they have the other keys?"
"Yeah. We're all after the same prize." Elise whispered back. "That group of four are all Foxes, known as Blood, Bane, Fang and Claw."
I picked up at that. They were the very same Foxes that had been rumored to be dead. They must've faked their deaths to get out of the business and right into hunting down this treasure.
"What about that guy over there." I asked, indicating the person in the diving suit.
"That's Rosie." Elise replied bluntly. "Don't mistake the name. That drill can pierce anything; even Dragon scales. No one knows what it is, and anyone who knows isn't alive anymore."
Elise ended suddenly and got up, walking across the balcony and across to a ladder propped up next to it. I followed her cautiously and stepped down the ladder once she was down on the ground floor.
By the time that we both reached the bottom, everyone was staring at us, watching our every move. I was about to draw my crowbar and baton, but Elise knew what I was going to do and put her hand in front of me.
"Don't try it." Elise said in a threatening voice. "We're all held back by a single rule; we can't kill each other until it is authorized."
"By who?" I asked, staring at Rosie. I saw Elise just shrug in the corner of my eye. I sighed; "That's comforting then."
We both just waited there with the other five people for what seemed like forever; during which time another person entered the room. This time it was a Male Dragon who had barely fit through the door, and had red scales that were so dark that it almost looked like blood. He was carrying a bundle of large knives, and wore a set of loose grey clothing.
"Looks like everyone's here." Elise evaluated. "So I guess we can begin."
I was about to ask how she knew, and what was starting; but before I could say anything, the centre of the room had begun to glimmer and shine until it looked like a tall pillar of light reaching up to the ceiling. The pillar looked absolutely solid; and just when I was about to reach up and touch it, and image flickered onto the screen. It looked like two Dragons; both wearing nothing at all, but not showing anything lower than their chests.
The first was a Black Dragon with eyes that looked like pearls. The other was radiant white, and looked older than the last; his hair was white and untamed. They both opened their mouths and spoke at once.
"Welcome." They both said. "My name is Epitaph, and my name is The Director. Let's chat, shall we?"