As I waked through the large and dark hall I couldn't help but wonder about what I did... three years ago.
I was the captain of my submarine. Given responsibility to manage personnel and when the orders were given, decide whether to pull the trigger.
That war wasn't like the world wars. It was 6 seperate wars between 2 nations, 12 in total. Each pair had their own reasons for it.
My country, Eukrya the nation of wealth, was attacked over and over again by terrorists, all allegedly from Teratra, the nation of ocean.
Teratra was the only nation not connected by land to all other nations. It was seperated from the main continent by a shallow ocean called Etrata. During low tide you could walk accross.
I was given the order to use our best weapons to stop their attacks, if needed I was allowed to destroy the country.
I could have went with something less destructive, yet I chose the nucleur bomb.
It was 13 bombs, 1 from each nation, except Serotra, the military nation, which launched 2.
The war ended the same day it started: total anhilation of each participating country.
We still recieved footage from the surface for over an year after. Even after just a day, the surface looked unrecognisable, with craters where the 12 largest nations once stood. And the aftereffects spread for months.
The craters were filled with molten rocks. People were still dying from radiation, in the nations that bordered the blast zones.
We could already see animals mutating and wildlife twisting in real time.
And yet our comms stayed static, no new orders, no confirmation of the mission.
As the months went on, the footage went black, one feed at a time, until we were completely isolated.
We never tried to surface. We expected the land to be more hostile than the deep ocean.
The days after were like a blur.
I remember a few discussions. Our food reserves running low, some suggesting we throw out crew members to save supplies. I dismissed the idea everytime.
I could no longer rest. The shadows felt alive, judging me whenever I was alone.
Any moment I got to myself, I remembered the ball of light from that day. And if not that... the bloodied face of my... I sighed before recalling the memory fully.
Even then I couldn't help but feel that if I restrained my anger that day, things might have turned out better.
That day, I knew my bottle had been tampered with. Still, I drank the water. They'd mixed sleeping pills into it. While I slept, my own crew threw me out.
My crew had always been divided. I was an orphan, unlike the rest, yet my skills allowed me to be the captain.
Some admired, even idolized me for that. Others despised me for it.
A bump to the head brought me back to the hall. I was no longer looking forward, just down at the floor.
I looked around, disoriented for a moment. I was standing near the front gate. The hall was empty, but I could faintly hear Angelica moving in the garage.
A smile formed on my face as I made my way to the garage.
When I reached the gate I froze for a moment, the smile fadding. I closed my eyes and sighed, then I shook my head and said with a smile, "Ready or not, I'm coming."
I pushed the gate open and finally stepped the room.
With a slight smile looked around for her... for Angel.
The movement stopped.
With a smile I shouted, "Anyone here?"
No reaction, not even a sound. I went to the upper floor, and checked the dark hall of wires and the computer room, before coming back to the garage.
No sound or reaction came from that dark room.
I turned the lights on and looked at every corner she could possibly reach.
Afterwards I went through the stairs to the second floor. There was no way one can hide here, it was too open to hide here.
I went towards the dark hall before the computer room.
As I entered the dark hall I shouted again "Are you here?"
No reaction again. I still looked everywhere. I even checked the lockers though they were filled with wires.
I went back to the garage, but this time I heard a little sound and the lights were of. I thought I didn't turned the light off before leaving.
I looked everywhere cautiously as I walked slowly towards the electric board to turn the lights on.
After a moment I saw something moving at the corner of my eye sight, but when I looked that way there was nothing.
As I was going to turn the lights on something rushed towards me.
'What could this 'something' be?'