Seekers: Chapter Seven: Hitch-Hikers
#5 of Seekers
Location: New Vega...
Location: New Vega, South-East Section, Abandoned Industrial Area
Time: 17:50pm.
Year: 2180, March 7th.
I woke up in a small bed, almost unable to move. My right shoulder was killing me, and when I reached over to touch it, I noticed that it was covered in bandages. I also noticed that I was almost completely naked; the only clothes I was wearing were my briefs. I was going to rub my eyes with my hands, but I stopped once I noticed that they were stained with blood. I looked over at my right shoulder; the bandages were stained with blood as well.
I struggled to get up, throwing the thin sheets off of my body and backing up to lean against the wall. I almost immediately shot forwards; the walls were cold and looked like they were made of dark grey metal. I eventually eased back and tried to ignore how cold the walls were. I stared up at the ceiling and at the small bulb that hung overhead on a thick strand of wire.
The room was very small, and merely composed of a small bed, a footlocker that looked like it could only hold two pairs of clothes and some necessary traveling equipment, and a small mirror, possibly for shaving. Even the door was a little short; I would have to lean down to fit through; but what caught my attention was that the door was open, revealing a Red Wolf, wearing a red and black cloak, with a small smile on her face.
"How do you feel?" Elise asked, entering the room and patting my legs. "You're not dead, are you?"
"It felt like it." I groaned, rubbing my face with my hands, forgetting about the blood. "So what happened? Where are we?"
"I think you were shot." Elise replied, sitting down on the bed. "You bled out quite a bit; so I took you back here. This is kind of where I live."
"It's a little small." I said, getting out of bed and stepping out into a tight corridor which could barely fit two people. "I don't suppose you have a shower, do you?"
"It's just down the hall." Elise replied, walking over to me and tugging on my briefs. "But I'd suggest that you bring a fresh pair of clothes with you; unless, of course, you like walking around like this."
I started to blush; I wasn't sure if Elise was making a move on me or just trying to make me blush. I decided to ignore her comment and walk down the hall, into a shower room even smaller than the bedroom.
It was basically one whole shower; it even had a pressure door to keep water from leaking out. I saw a few shower products sitting on a small metal shelf. From what I saw, the shower was actually just a large tap; there was no removable shower arm, and it basically looked like it was cheaply made; but a shower was a shower.
It didn't take as long as I thought; after a few minutes of searching for the right things, it didn't take long to clean my fur; even my bullet wound, which I had removed the bandages from to take a good look. The bullet was removed, but I saw that it had hit the flesh, and didn't make any contact with the bone at all. I cleaned all the blood off, making the wound barely visible. It still hurt, though.
After the shower, I stepped out in just a towel to see Elise in front of me. She handed me a small bundle of clothes.
"Here are your clothes." Elise sighed. "You'll find a hairdryer in the room opposite to yours, and just hang up the towels on the rack in there when you're done."
Elise walked past me and walked up what looked like a very small step-ladder, and out slid the door open, exiting upwards. I thought for a moment; it seemed like an odd home. It was small, cramped, and all of the doors slide open to save room. I even noticed a small trap door at the dead-end of the corridor. I ignored it and walked on, sliding a door open and stepping into a slightly larger room than the rest; it looked like it could hold at least a small family.
The room had a few furnishings, such as a few small seats, a small wardrobe, even a dining table that could hold at least three people. I saw a small hairdryer on the dining table. I picked it up and took it back to what was my room. I looked at the hairdryer with a puzzled look; it had no wires or cables. Instead, it had a few small solar panels covering it.
I ignored it and began drying my fur, which didn't take long; the hairdryer was quite hot, so it only took a few minutes to get me completely dry. Before putting on my clothes, I slid the door shut and sat back in bed. My whole body felt really tense; I was too used to traveling on top of buildings, jumping; everything to do with being active. What was weirder was that my lower body felt tenser than my upper body. I stared down at my sheath, which was starting to ache quite a bit.
It took a while before I figured it out. I was too used to getting some action almost every day; it was like a drug, and I was starting to feel some withdrawal symptoms. It sounded completely ridiculous; the only way to get even close to this situation was to get hooked on aphrodisiacs, and I never used them; I didn't need them. I instantly got up and began putting on my clothes before I did something that I'd partly regret. I tried my best to keep control over my body; I was too strong willed for something like that to get to me.
I ignored the situation and decided to follow Elise in the direction that I saw her last. I stepped up the short ladder, and slid the door at the top open, stepping into the setting sun. I walked out onto what looked like a semi-circular balcony. Unfortunately for me, I was far from right. I turned around and looked back at the door, which was planted into a long, dull grey metal rectangle. Planted on top of the rectangle was a tall pole with some kind of sail attached to it. I just realized that the whole thing looked just like a boat; or at least made from the parts. It looked like a boat, and I was on what looked like the stern...
"Do you like it?" I heard someone ask from behind me. I turned around and saw Elise with a small grin on her face. "I call it The Cradle. It's my ship; well, a ship of sorts."
I looked at her, puzzled. It did look like a boat, but I couldn't hear any running water, and I didn't feel anything moving. I decided to look over the edge; I just saw dirt. I had a look around; we were still in the abandoned industrial area!
"What kind of ship is this?" I asked, turning to Elise. "We're on solid ground. How come we aren't near any water source or anything?"
"As I said; it's a ship of sorts." Elise replied, leaning on the balcony. "The Cradle is one of the early type transport units from way back in the year twenty-fifty. They're completely environmentally 'friendly'. It runs on wind, solar and hydro power generators. Overall, each day, enough electricity is generated to last that day."
"But how does it move?" I asked, leaning next to her. "I don't see any wheels or anything like that."
"It floats." Elise said bluntly; "I'm not sure how it works, but it has something to do with the ship repelling itself from the ground to make it look like it floats. The ship even has a water purifier; so you can drink and wash almost whenever you want."
"What do you mean by purifying?" I asked, expecting the answer I was thinking. Elise must have read my mind; she simply turned to me and nodded. I was a little uncomfortable with washing in...
"So how do we control what way the ship moves?" I asked, pushing the thought out of my head. "Is there a galleon or something?"
Elise didn't answer, but instead walked over to the centre of the stern, removing a small tile of metal from the floor and sliding a large, cylindrical pillar out. Attached to it was a thinner, stick-like beam which folded out to form some kind of steering device.
"This is the helm." Elise introduced. "When you turn it clockwise, the ship turns to the right, and vice-versa. This ship is a little odd, since when it travels forwards; the interior of the ship is always in the way."
"Well I'm just thankful that I won't be doing the actual driving." I said, looking at Elise. She gave me a strange look; the kind of look that told me that I would end up driving this thing anyway.
"Let's go inside." Elise said, getting up and walking inside the ship. I followed behind her and slid the door shut behind us.
I followed her into the large room that I had been in. Elise walked up to a black section of wall and turned to face me. I knew by instinct that she was going to talk about the treasure hunt, and what we were going to do next.
"Listen up." Elise ordered, putting on a serious tone. "This hunt for money is going to get ugly. Now everyone is allowed to kill each other for the keys. If you're going to survive this, you'll need some weapons."
Elise gripped the blank metal wall and slid it aside, revealing a hollowed out space, filled with guns and weapons. The Red Wolf pulled out a small, stubby, silver handgun and tossed it to me. I grabbed it and held it with my left hand. The grip rested closer to my wrist than the base of my fingers, and the nozzle barely went past the tip of my hand. It felt oddly comfortable; it looked well hidden in my hands, and was easy enough to use.
"Where do we start?" I asked, laying the pistol down on the small table. "Do you have any idea where the other treasure hunters might be?"
"I have a few ideas." Elise replied, pulling a small, leather strapped rifle out of the compartment and sliding the metal tile over. "I heard that Rosie lives in the ruins of Old Arpeggio, not too far from the city. The other hunters mustn't have gone too far; it's only been a few hours since the shootout. We could try hunting those two Red Foxes down, if you want."
I thought for a moment. I wasn't sure why, though; Rosie seemed like the worst option to pick at the moment. We would be much better off hunting down the two Red Foxes. I let out a long sigh and sat down on one of the small seats littered across the room.
"Let's go after the Foxes." I replied, grabbing my gun and running my fingers along it. "I reckon I should give that bullet back."
Elise let out a short and quiet laugh, and slung the rifle over her right shoulder. I started to laugh with her. The whole situation was crazy; we were going after two Foxes that I thought were dead, and we had no plan on how to kill them. Next was Rosie; we were terrified of him, but we had to kill him. The whole situation was Hell, but we were too deep in to get out. We had no choice but to go along for the ride; and we may as well have a laugh while we're at it.
"Let's set sail, then." Elise shouted valiantly, pulling me up. "Welcome aboard The Cradle; what was your name again?"
"I didn't say." I confessed. "I'm Kobalt; Kobalt Monday."
"Well, Kobalt." Elise continued; "Welcome aboard The Cradle; now let's teach you how to drive a flying boat."
I grinned, and almost laughed again. The way she said 'flying boat' was insane; but then, maybe Elise was insane. I can say one thing about her, though.
She was the most fun that I had ever had in my entire life. She was a young, gun wielding treasure hunter.
Just Perfect...