This is the next day, day 8 in the tumor for the Glitch Wipeout Crew.
Faint sunlight shot into the underground car park through the tiny gaps of the boulders at the surface and holes of the floors. Though they serve no use as they were very, very faint.
Albur opened his eyes, his vision is blurry, his mind is hazy. They became clear after a while. He had a full-night rest, he felt a little more replenished. He slowly sat up, he reached for his watch which is sitting next to him at the left. He had had enough of still subconsciously trying to move his right arm which had perished.
Why do you keep remembering?
Albur froze, he heard a voice in his head. He looked around, but forgot he is someone that wears glasses. He used his hand and touched the ground nearby, and found his glasses. He put them on, then look at his surroundings.
Nothing.
He thought that he might be hearing things, so he shrugged that off. His throat had recovered pretty well, his voice is no longer hoarse and shaky. He slowly stood up with one hand supporting, then looked around, Mysty isn't around though.
He was confused, wondering where could they have went, he decide to go look for her. He took his rifle with him for safety purposes, but when he opened the third slot's hatch on his rifle, he found out that Havoc is gone too. He looked around in confusion, then walked forwards.
"Mysty? Havoc? Are you guys here?"
Albur called out their names, no response, the surroundings was dead silent.
Loneliness is terrible isn't it?
"Who's that?!"
The voice in Albur's head spoke again. Albur raised his rifle and aimed around, there's no one here.
Holding a rifle with one arm, isn't that absurd?
Albur heard the voice again, he begun to pant, he started heading back to where he was resting previously. But while doing so, he stepped onto a puddle. He looked down, to his horror, it's a pile of blood, not purple virus lifeform blood, pure, crimson, blood.
Do you trust your AI buddy?
Albur rose his head, he rose his rifle again, and looked around.
"Who is that?! Come out! Show yourself!"
Albur aimed at his surroundings, then, he stepped onto another puddle of blood. He was confused about it. Then, more and more puddles of blood begun to appear near him.
That AI is the same species like Commander Glitch, just so you know.
Albur knocked his head hard, he pressed the rifle to his shoulder, activating slot 2.
"Come out! Come fight like a man!"
Albur backed off, then, he stepped onto something, and tripped. He groaned as he sat up, he turned around to look at it, his heart sank when he lies his eyes upon it.
It was Mysty, with blood all over her body, her face was stretched into a distorted smile, and her limbs twisted at wrong angles. Albur shrieked and backed off, then realized he was covered in blood.
Then, he heard heavy footsteps and deep breathing sounds from behind him. He turned around while shaking, and he saw a giant 3 meter tall creature on all fours. Its body constructed of Havoc's rainbow color virus particles. Blood dripped from its jaws and claws.
"I'm sorry.....I'm hungry..." it was Havoc's voice.
Albur screamed in horror, he aimed his rifle at that creature and fired a Hyper Blast. The creature barely reacted.
"I'm just too strong....you're too weak!"
Don't trust him.
The voice sounded again.
The creature opened its jaws and walked towards Albur. Albur screamed in terror.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!"
Albur suddenly sat up,
He jumped out of his sleep bag, and panted heavily.
"Woah! Woah! Chill, man! What happened to you?"
Albur froze, he turned to his left, Havoc the AI in the flash drive is sitting next to him, with his head hologram shown. Albur backed away in horror, and begun to murmur things in his mouth.
"Wh-...stay...stay away from me!"
Havoc made a raise eyebrow expression.
"Uh....Mr. Filix? You good?"
Albur panted, he ltluched the floor around him and found his glasses. He put them on while remaining eye contact with Havoc as he reached for his rifle and point at Havoc, Havoc yelped.
"Hey! Hey! What's the big idea?"
Albur continued to pant, then, it slowly became heavy breathing.
"Where's....where's Mysty?"
"She's right there!" Havoc said as he looked towards a direction. Albur looked towards it, he saw Mysty, snoozing in her sleeping bag. Albur slowly lowered his rifle when he saw Mysty is safely there.
"What's wrong? You had a nightmare?" Havoc asked.
Albur blinked, he slowly touched his head, he felt a mild headache.
"Maybe...."
Havoc smirked as he turned to the water bottles.
"What kind of nightmares did you had? Analog horror, perhaps?"
Albur slowly looked down, Havoc grabbed a water bottle and handed it to Albur.
"I....don't wanna say it." Albur took the water bottle.
Just then, his pupils glowed a faint pinkish purple light, which caught Havoc's attention.
"Yo, you sure you are fine? No wait, you aren't."
Albur raised his eyebrow, and took a sip of water.
"What?"
"Never mind."
Albur slowly swallowed the water, he then pushed himself up with his shaking hand. He walked to the telescopic bag and took out some of the nutrient capsules in it. When he walked past Mysty, he noticed that this time her snores are pretty loud. Normally her snores are very very silent or she not snore at all. It seems that she was very tired yesterday.
He sat down next to his sleeping bag, and swallowed the nutrient capsule.
"Plain and boring taste....."
"You've had it for breakfast lunch and dinner for more than a week."
Albur nodded, but then, Havoc noticed he is smiling, but it wasn't normal smile, it's like a psychopathic smile.
"You know, Havoc? I had.....already forgotten how the sky looks like....I forgotten how fresh air breathes like, how normal are.....people like, how the clouds are white.....I'm actually freaking out here....I even had these random ass nightmares..."
"That is normal under pressure, you are..."
"Can you stop speaking like a machinery Wikipedia?"
Albur interrupted, Havoc stopped.
"I am, a machine."
"Well didn't you have emotion energy? Speak like a normal human..."
"I think you know very clearly that I, am not a human."
Albur froze, he lowered his head, and sighed.
"What am I talking about?"
"Though I guess, it's my fault if I speak to you with a 'machine' vibe. I actually enjoy that, it's funny." Havoc said as he chuckles.
"It's not funny."
Havoc paused, he slowly turned to look at Albur.
'Something's wrong with him.' Havoc thought.
"Ok, why not, you tell me about the nightmare you just had? Maybe I can see what is wrong with you."
"That is so robotic."
"Oh, uh, sorry, I was used to it. Hehe."
Albur just looked very unusual, Havoc stopped laughing and realized that something is seriously wrong with him. Albur placed his hands on his knees, and clicked his tongue.
"How am I gonna say that?"
"I you're struggling with anything, tell us, you're...."
"I know I said that, stop using it on me."
"Ok, then say it."
Albur leaned on the concrete wall on his left. He sighed heavily, his mouth opened, but it looks like he is struggling to squeeze the words out.
"Like.....there was this....place.....I see a lot of blood puddles. And there was this voice, it kept ringing inside my freaking head! What did it say? It's pathetic that I only have one arm. Loneliness? Fe- ugh. And then, I saw Mysty, covered in blood, her face is stretched to like.....I don't know! And, there's you! Looking like a monster, with that disgusting.....ugh...."
Havoc stared at Albur as if he was staring at a monkey dancing.
"Mmkay, mmkay. So what you're saying is this.....that....those....ye?"
"Havoc!"
"I-I- personally think letting Mysty know it would be a good idea. She had more ways to deal with people like you than i do. I think."
"Huh, the voice.....says....I ... can't....."
"Can't what?"
Albur rose his head and stared at Havoc, dead in the eyes.
'I can't trust an AI.'
"Uh? Good sir?"
Albur looked down, he backed away from Havoc, then curled up into a ball and stayed silent.
Havoc have no idea on how to deal with this. Despite being a T.H.I.N.K.E Artificial Intelligence and capable of instantly making hundreds of solution, he feel like it's better to let Mysty handle this.
After a while, the dead silence was broken by Mysty's movements. She groaned as she rubbed her eyes. She sat up, and opened her eyes. Havoc looked at her as if he was looking at an angel descending from the sky.
"Mysty! You're awake!"
Mysty looked at Havoc, she rubbed her eyes again.
"Morning, Havoc."
"Morning, man, you're finally awake."
Mysty raised her eyebrow, she slowly climbed out of her sleep bag.
"Why? You're waiting for me to wake up? Oh, we're moving on already?"
"No. I need your help."
"My help?"
Havoc turned to Albur, who was still curled up into a ball, and murmuring stuff to himself. Mysty looked at him, and smiled.
"Morning, Albur."
Albur doesn't seem to notice her, he just remained the same. Mysty blinked, then turned to Havoc.
"What's going.....on?" She whispered.
"He had a nightmare, now he's like this."
"A nightmare this bad?"
"I don't know."
Mysty turned her head to Albur again. She slowly approached him, then crouched next to him.
"Hey, you alright?"
Albur's eyes widened, he turned his head to look at Mysty. But, he moved away from her, he slowly pushed himself further to the right. Mysty stopped crouching, and instead sat next to him.
"You had a bad dream?" Her voice is soft and gentle.
Then came silence, Mysty noticed Albur kept looking at Havoc, with a face filled with horror. Mysty turned to Havoc, Havoc noticed she is looking at him.
"Hey uh, Havoc? Can you....." Mysty made hand gestures of going away.
Havoc stayed silent for a second. Then he shut down the head hologram and wiggled away.
"Most certainly?"
"Thank you."
Mysty turned back to looking at Albur. It took a long time, but he still squeezed the words out.
"Yeah....." whispered Albur.
"What have you dreamt about?"
Albur hesitated, but still spilled it out.
"I dreamt about.....a voice, a man's voice. He keep.....insulting me....Then, you are dead.... you died very brutally. Your face is stretched to a smile....you're ...bloody, twisted limbs...ugh...."
Mysty swallowed some saliva.
"That's...bizarre."
"Then there's Havoc.....looking like a virus lifeform....blood.....all over his body....The voice.....cannot trust AI..."
Mysty felt like she heard nothing, but she managed to piece together the messy things Albur is saying.
"So.....you dreamt about a voice stuck in your head. It keeps saying mean things in your head. You see that I'm dead, and Havoc is the cause? The voice tells you that you can't trust him?"
"..."
"Or is it....."
"Yes."
Mysty froze, she stood up, and walked away. But then, Albur suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist. Mysty turned around, and stared at him in confusion.
"The can't trust AI thing...don't tell Havoc."
Mysty looked at him, and then smiled.
"I won't. "
Albur blinked, then let go of her. Mysty walked away, and found Havoc sitting next to a small pile of debris.
"What did he say?"
"I can't tell you. He doesn't want me to."
"Cuh, bro said if someone was struggling with anything just tell. And he is now the one that isn't telling."
Mysty sighed and turned back to looking at Albur.
"I don't know what's wrong with this man."
But then, Havoc paused for a moment.
"Oh and, by the way, just now when I look at Albur, I saw his eyes glow a faint purple light."
"What? C-come again?"
"Purple, his eyes glowed a purple light for a brief second."
Mysty clenched her fist tight. She don't think that the purple glow was caused by the virus environment, or even, the dream isn't a dream Albur naturally has.
Mental torture, purple.
These 2 things. If you are to link them together.
They only lead to one bastard.
Mysty slowly reached for her twin pistols.
"We're moving on."