fanfiction Ultimus Chapter Ten: The Search for Sanctuary

[OverRannus]

Andrew ran as fast as he could down the path with Reuben running by his side. He didn’t care about the dangers that lurked around or above him. All he wanted was to get to the entrance and hope that there was a vehicle there for him to use. He drove the ATVs before and knew how they worked. So that was the easy part down and all he had left was to get to the entrance and hope there was a vehicle.

He continued running through the dark forest path, yet the trees kept getting thinner and further between. Andrew soon noticed that he could see outside of the forest and see a building on the edge of the forest. He had finally made it!!! But instead of excitement, he became filled with fear at the sight he beheld. Reuben ran to his side and gave a whine of fear too.

A wasteland of death and destruction. The ground beyond the forest was pale and discolored. The landscape was unearthly compared to even what Andrew remembered. It had been so long since he last saw the outside world in this forest or the school at Arat. He forgot how bad it looked, but it didn’t look quite like this. And why hasn’t the Forest taken over more of the wasteland?

“What Happened?” Andrew said out loud, he took a step forward and heard a metallic sound. He looked down and noticed a large metal barrier on the ground. He looked to his left and it continued around the forest in that direction, looked to his right and it did the same thing. He also noticed to his right was the visitor center for the park on the edge of the forest. Andrew ran over and noticed the vehicles that were parked next to the buildings. Four old ATVs, one of them looked like his parents. He went and looked over at the vehicle. Keys were still in the ignition. He looked in the glove compartment and found the owner registration, Hunter and Kim Lang. Andrew couldn’t believe it. Why did they leave their ATV? The closest airport was over a hundred miles away. Andrew then noticed a weird pedestal, it stood behind the building and was all by itself.

“This doesn’t make sense. Why would Mom and Dad leave the ATV here?” Andrew said out loud again, Reuben looked at Andrew as he said this.

Andrew and Reuben walked over to the old, strange pedestal. As he got closer to it, he could feel something pulsing through him. It was a strange feeling, yet felt powerful and energizing. He walked closer to the pedestal and noticed various names of cities on it from Arat Prime to Sanctuary with the dial last being set to Arat Prime. The button glowed red and sat there as if waiting for someone to press it. Andrew messed with the dial and noticed when he set the dial on specific points like Sanctuary, the button would go grey and seem to deactivate. He messed around with the dial some more and set it to a setting called “S.S 4, near Sanctuary”. Andrew hovered his hand over the button. He didn’t know what any of this did or meant. He took a step back and looked at the visitor center.

‘Maybe I should grab a couple more things before pressing this button.’ Andrew thought and noticed to himself.

He walked away from the pedestal and walked towards the entrance. Andrew went to open the door, but he noticed the glass of the door was shattered and seemed to be safely accessible to just go through the frame.

“Reuben, stay here.” Andrew said, Reuben sat down and watched as Andrew went inside the building.

All the lights were off and very little light came through the windows and doors. Andrew looked around in the low-visibility building and saw a camping shop in the corner. Andrew walked into the shop and saw cooking supplies, flashlights, and other camping and survival equipment. Immediately Andrew went over and grabbed a first aid kit and a flashlight. Andrew looked over at the hunting knives and a backpack and grabbed one of each of those.

Andrew tried to grab everything and anything he could think of that he needed before leaving the visitor center with Reuben following and placing all the items in his parent’s ATV. He then went through all the items he had grabbed and thought of what he might need currently. He immediately grabbed the backpack, first aid kit, and flashlight. As these items were important. He looked at the knife, was that needed? He packed it just in case.

Andrew and Reuben ran back to the pedestal and Andrew checked if he had everything he needed again. After he was sure he had everything, he raised his hand over the button. He took a deep breath and looked at Reuben.

“Here we go!!” Andrew said as he pressed the button. The pedestal made a sound and light flashed. The next thing Andrew knew, he was in the dark.

 

~

 

Andrew heard Reuben whine as they stood in the dark, not knowing where they were. He assumed that the pedestal was the small terminal to a large teleportation pad. He took off his backpack and reached in for his flashlight. He grabbed it and turned it on. He found himself in a damp, cavelike room. Inside the room, by the back wall were several items including a small teleportation pad. The room connected to a tunnel that seemed to be uneven with the room he was in. Andrew looked down to the bottom of the tunnel and saw rail tracks. He was in a subway station. He jumped down and looked to his left and then to his right. To both sides, the tunnel continued with an access ladder back to the room on the right. Andrew stood there for a moment unsure of what to do next. He didn’t know which way to go. He wasn’t sure what direction would take him to where he wanted to go. He took a chance and decided to go the left.

“Reuben, Come.” Andrew said aiming the flashlight at him.

Reuben immediately jumped down into Andrew’s arms. Andrew dropped the flashlight and quickly caught him, falling to the ground afterward. Reuben got up and walked off Andrew and started licking his face. Andrew giggled and started shielding himself from the tongue ticking him. After a moment of struggling with Reuben and his uncontrollable tongue. He got up, grabbed the flashlight, and started walking into the left tunnel with Reuben close behind.

 

~

Andrew walked for what felt like only an hour before noticing that the tunnel began to get brighter and brighter. And as he walked further down the tunnel. He saw bright white light cracking through the dark tunnel. Andrew could barely see with all the light blinding him. He knew he was nearing the end of the tunnel.

He continued walking forward and walked straight into a wall. He fell back and his eyes began to adjust finally. The subway tunnel at some point collapsed at the entrance to the tunnel, leaving only a tight gap to walk through. Andrew hated tight spaces. But he felt this was the only way to the outside world, to Sanctuary, and to hopefully others. He looked back at Reuben and whistled him to follow as Andrew squeezed through the crevices and to the outside world.