luca-corpse - Tumblr blog

luca-corpse · 4 years ago

Text

Heyo! I decided to share some old writing of mine with all of you! It’s kind of an apocalyptic story with some weird fantasy elements! Please note that all things contained in this are mine, and this is technically still my story though infinitely delayed!

Chapter 1

The Travellers

I always questioned the eye on my foot. Whenever I looked at my bare feet it always creeped me out. I blankly stared at me, not blinking as it was simply in a hole in my foot.

Doctors always questioned it, it wasn’t exactly a common occurrence. My dad insisted my parents named me Iris instead of the planned Izabella as soon as he saw the deformity. My mother shot him down, but the name stuck as a nickname.

The eye never hurt, I couldn’t see out of it, it was just... there, staring, it’s bright sclera and bright cyan hue standing out against my dark skin. I occasionally picked at it, I was even able to pop it out of it’s spot in my foot, a thick fleshy sting connecting it to the hole it laid in. I always put it back in fear that, even though it never bled when I popped the eye out, the hole might get infected.

Though, over time the eye stressed me out. Doctors made a fuss about it every time they saw it, and I hated the way it stared at me and the way it never blinked. It was fun doing staring contests against it when I was little, but as a 16 year old it was just plain creepy.

One day I decided I was done, I grabbed my nail scissors from their drawer in the bathroom and sat down on top of the counter and put my nails around the eye. I closed my eyes and pulled at the orb, it never hurt, but it always made me wince, hearing the squishy pop.

I grabbed at the string of flesh connecting the eye and my foot. I dug my nail into the flesh, it hurt a little, but I was willing to deal to get this creepy thing gone. I had the scissors open around the string, and I was seconds away from cutting the thing off... but I hesitated.

Something felt wrong about cutting it off. This always happened when I got close to cutting the thing off. I felt like something would happen if I did so. But I was done.

I cut the fleshy thread in one slice.

Nothing happened, no pain, no blood, nothing. All that happened was the eye bounced across the floor with a series of squishy splats.

I got off the counter and grabbed the eye, I finally was able to compare it to my own. I looked into the mirror and held the eye a few inches besides my own. I was sure to be careful to keep it from touching my black and gold curly locks.

It was much brighter than my eyes, a bright, almost ghostly blue compared to my more natural dark green. It was kind of creepy.

I grabbed my old tooth box from my childhood. I always left it on my bathroom counter, it brought back good memories of running into my dad’s room yelling about ‘loofin a toof!’ and listening him laugh and ask about if I’d lost it at 2:30. I quickly dropped the eye inside and shut it, locking away the neon food coloring blue peeper.

The rest of the day passed without much hassle, a lazy Saturday of browsing my phone and wanting to take a nap. I kept the eye close by, for some reason I wanted to just have it to remind myself it wasn’t attached to my body. I stayed up late into the night, before finally passing out on the couch.

I woke up suddenly. I didn’t know why, but I was up. I never woke up late at night. I grabbed my phone and checked the time. 12:32 AM. I went to bed at 1 in the morning, the hell was going on?

I got up and grabbed the eye, holding it close to my chest, something in me told me I’d need it. I slowly walked around my house, looking for... something.

There was a keyhole on the bathroom door. My bathroom door never had a keyhole, but even if it did, this keyhole was... odd. It was round, like a....

I grabbed the eye from the box, I slowly placed it in the hole, it stared at me, and after an uncomfortably long moment I heard a click, and the door creaked open.

The door opened to a darkness, it was pure black, the only thing visible being a door in the distance. I yanked the eye from the keyhole and moved forward with curiosity.

I was never good at thinking ahead.

As I went through the door it slammed behind me. I turned and tried to open the door, it didn’t open, there was no eye keyhole (eyehole?) this time.

My only option was forward. I sprinted through the darkness, the ground seemed to splash beneath me. I stumbled and fell against the door. I stood straight and reached for the knob. There was no keyhole this time.

I opened the door and walked through, only to find a city. A deserted city with thick air and the appearance of being abandoned for centuries. The inhabitants shuffled around, heads pointed towards the ground. Some looked up just to hiss in pain, and pointed their heads back down.

I only had three questions.

1. What was happening?

2. What is that in the distance?

And the most worrying,

3. Is it getting closer?

I quickly ran behind a building, careful to avoid any of the husks aimlessly shuffling about. I stared at the thing that drew closer. As it drew closer, it was something I didn’t expect.

“Hey, Uno, are you sure this garden was a good idea? It so far from base! And why couldn’t we bring Nuke or Ancient?” I heard a voice yell. It was fairly feminine and had a raspiness to it.

“Well, our hope is the garden can grow us food so we don’t have to rely on Being! It’s far from base so it hopefully can’t so easily connect it to us! And we didn’t bring any of the others as to not make as much noise!” Another feminine voice responded, it had much more energy behind it. So much for them being quiet.

As they got closer I couldn’t help but wonder why they weren’t like all the other’s here that wandered around with their heads to the ground.

When they finally got close enough to see I took in their appearances. One wore glasses while the other wore goggles, both had messy black hair with a few silver streaks. The one in glasses wore it long in a ponytail, while the other had it in a simple bob. The one with a bob wore a hole infested army jacket that was clearly meant for someone much larger and more muscular. They also wore messy and ripped jeans, and sneakers. The one with a ponytail wore a poncho that fluttered in the wind. They wore tall combat boots, tights, and gloves as well.

They slowly came to a stop on their motorcycle, which was being driven by the one with a bob. They both quickly got off and scurried away. The both looked to be in their late teens, 17, maybe 18.

I slowly followed after them, being slow as for them to not see me. The sand and dirt on the ground squished under my feet. It was hot and dry, I could only wonder when the last time it rained was.

After following their trail, I found them. I saw the two walking through a rough dirt garden, checking on tiny little sprouts. They all were yellow and dry.

“God damnit!”

“We’ve been watering you every day! What more do you want?”

They both began yelling at the plants, one sounded legitimately mad, while the other just sounded tired.

“Well, I mean, we’ve been sending Nuke. Who knows how much she’s been actually been watering them.” The one in the ponytail murmured and scratched their head.

“Yeah, why did Ancient say we should’ve sent Nuke.”

“He’s stupid.”

“Indeedy.”

I slowly walked out from behind the building where I was hiding. I felt unbearably hot in my pajamas that I fell asleep in, I didn’t know how those two wore such heavy clothing without burning alive.

The two turned around and went wide eyed. They both had chocolate brown eyes.

“Who’re you?” The one with the bob yelled.

“Uh, I’m-“ I didn’t trust them just yet, something was so weird about all of this.

“Wait wait wait! Don’t- don’t tell us! We’ll call you- ah- Noon! Noon, Noon, Noon!” The one with the bob cut off the silence.

“I- alright?” The one with the ponytail slowly added.

The one with the bob was bouncing on their feet, “Get over here Noon!”

I slowly walked over to the two, they towered over me, at least 5’ 9” compared to my 5’ 6”. The one in the ponytail was trying to calm down the one with the bob, who was clearly exited towards my presence.

“I’m Uno! Well, I go by Uno among the Travellers! The Travellers is the name of our gang! Oh I’m so happy to meet someone new! Nuke, Ancient, and all the others are sooooooo boring!” The one with the bob yelled, a stupid grin on their face stretched from ear to ear.

The one with the ponytail placed a hand on Uno’s shoulder, hold them down, “Calm down, Uno. Anyways, Noon, I’m Dos, Uno’s twin sister.”

“And I’m Dos’ twin brother!” Uno chimed in.

“She could probably guess, Uno.”

I quietly added, “Uh- call me a they please?”

Uno seemed even more excited, “Yaaaaayyyy! And enby pal! My trans buddy!”

Uno quickly shedded his coat and held it out to me, “Here! You look hot! It has ice in it so it’s super cold and nice!”

As I took the coat Dos grabbed my arm, and I flinched.

“Ah, sorry, I’m just gonna bring you back to our motorcycle so we can bring you back to our base. Trust me, you don’t want to be stranded and alone in the Dunes for long…. By the way, question; do you know how to drive?”

I nodded.

“Hey, I can drive perfectly well!” Uno yelled.

“No you can’t. Anyway, c’mon, Noon.”

It wasn’t long before we were zooming down the road, dodging cars and debris as I got a better view of the city. Dos had her arms wrapped around my waist, with Uno behind her.

Dos also had her face buried into my back, but based on Uno’s screams I think he was just pushing her into that position. Also based on the fact I could hear Dos yelling and cussing at her brother as we rode.

As we drove Uno occasionally screamed incomprehensible and hypocritical instructions at me.

“Left! Nononononono- Right! Wait, nonononono- Just get out of the city!”

But Dos was actually yelling real instructions into my back, so I just listened to her.

It was weird looking at the environment. It was barren and sandy, the sun never seemed to move. Mindless people just shuffled around in the city and even in the barren and empty wastelands. Some even had their faces buried into the ground as their legs twitched.

It was honestly just creepy.

Dos instructed me to stop at a corner store that had the sign sloppily drawn over with a backpack. Dos told me to pull up in the driveway, and stop near the entrance. In the driveway there was also a pickup truck and a tiny Jeep. Each had a backpack and initials sloppily drawn on the side. Though, the motorcycle didn’t have any such marking.

Before we even fully stopped Uno jumped off the motorcycle and Dos did the same. I pulled the cycle to a stop and climbed off.

Uno turned to me with a grin and simply asked, “What do ya think?”

The building was rundown, and generally looked like it shouldn’t have been standing, yet with the power of sheer luck it stayed strong. I could see figures inside and shelves filled with anything ranging from knives to actual jars full of literal eyes.

I slowly nodded and gave Uno a thumbs up and he somehow seemed to grin even wider, “C’mon! The others are inside! We have Nuke here for once, too! Perfect timing!”

Both him and Dos scurried inside, leaving me to carefully follow. This all was so surreal. The landscape, the way I got here, everything. I honestly wondered if something I ate today was laced with something seriously impressive.

As I entered a broken bell weakly ringed, and I was immediately hit with the beautiful sound of distorted mid-2010’s pop. Carly Rae Jepson weakly blasted on the speakers singing how you should call her maybe.

Many people sat around the corner store that had been turned into an impromptu base. Some seemed to be as young as twelve, a few others in their mid twenties. They ranged immensely despite there only being 5 or so in the building. A small Latino person with a side shave and a puffy dress, a large and pale man who was stacking boxes on shelves, even a tanned person with long hair who simply wore a tank top and short shorts.

Uno and Dos were going around hyping people up about my arrival, telling them about someone new joining them, and telling them to “find the others”. Because of course they’re more people in these 17 year-olds’ gang.

Quickly people gathered around asking me about my “eyehole” or where I came from. Some were trying to get the others to shut up and I firmly kept my mouth shut myself. Some were giving their names and genders, others were just repeating hi and probably hoping for answers.

“Heyyyyyy, leave the newbie alone. Don’t want someone to join me, I imagine,” someone spoke in a calm voice that almost seemed like a purr. It was the person in the tank top. They held a quill in their hands as they wrote in a scorched and scraped up journal.

“No one will join you Nuke!” I heard the little Latino person yell as they blew a raspberry.

“Don’t be mean Void,” someone with faded lime green hair chimed in, “She is our guest after all.” They wore punkish clothes that covered up cutesy Hello Kitty clothes that barely fit them.

“Hi?” I quietly asked.

“She speaks! We didn’t need another Radi!” Void squealed. They patted their left upper arm, “She will be missed.”

I heard pats from the rest of the group. I had no clue what that meant. Another oddity in this place.

“Anyway! Travellers! We have someone who is a fellow captor of the Dunes! We have dubbed them Noon! As they came at noon!” Uno yelled over the group.

“Uh, Uno, it’s always noon here?” The green haired person added.

“Shush. Anyways! We welcome them with wide arms into the Travellers! Of course only if-!”

“If they pass the test,” the rest of the travelers continued.

“Just get them in already! We found a Capsule on the edge of Seabed Chasm, it’s some grocery store!” The man who was stacking boxes earlier yelled. He had grey hair and was coated in hair and faint oil stains.

“Okay, fine. Their test will be to venture into a Capsule and successfully loot it without getting caught by the timebug or it’s loop victims! Okay! I’m done! Happy?” Uno yelled, which got responded with everyone cheering things like “No horrible speech!” (I think that was Dos) or “YAY CAPSULE!”(I think that was the little kid, Void.)

After Uno and Dos settled everyone down, they announced that everyone has to introduce themselves to me. Of course, this was taken as ‘Everyone, yell your name at the new person all at once.’

“No! One at a time, people! Uh…. Nuke! You go first!” Uno yelled over the crowd.

Everyone went quiet as Nuke stepped forward. They were the one in the tank top. They had sandy blonde hair and tanned skin. They held out a hand.

“Hello, Noon, I am called Nuke by these idiots. Pleasure to meet you.” They purred. From their voice and way of speaking she was clearly a woman.

From the way I’ve been hearing about her, she’s merely an outsider or guest who simply tags along. I lightly shook her hand and she simply walked away with a sway to her hips. Great, that kind of girl.

The little Latino person came up to me, pushing everyone else aside. Bouncing on the balls of their feet they waved with a ton of enthusiasm. They wore an oversized jacket and puffy dress, they looked no older than 13. “Hi! I’m Void! By the way, I’m not a girl! Call me they! Or it! I dunno, but I’m so happy to have someone new! Everyone tells me I’m annoying, so maybe you won’t think that, but in the end I guess that’s up to you. Anyway-!”

The person with the green hair rested a hand on their shoulder and cut them off, “They probably could guess, Void. Oh, and I’m Nucleic. Xe/Xem,” Xe held out a hand, which I took and shook. Xe definitely looked the most laid back of everyone, which was nice with how crazy everyone else seemed. Xe had the greenest hair I had ever seen on anyone. It had clearly faded from xem being here a while, but it still was bright. I couldn’t help but fight back a giggle at xyr bright shirt that read Friends Forever! in glittery yet faded bubble text.

Suddenly, someone else butted in, standing over everyone else, “Well! I’m Sandstorm. Not a pleasure to meet you, I honestly couldn’t care less.” It was the buff man who said it, he gave me a glare as he did so. I couldn’t help but notice the gaping hole on the back of his left hand, similar to my own where I removed the eye.

The eye! I quickly grabbed and lightly shook my box, hearing quiet squishy bouncing from inside. Good, something tells me I’m gonna need it,

An older person approached and tapped my shoulder. I turned around to get a better look at them. They were about 30, maybe even 40. They slowly began speaking. “I’m Ancient. Please excuse my younger companions. Void has hyperactivity issues, Sandstorm doesn’t understand being nice… and Nucleic does whatever xe does. No one knows what xe’s thinking, not even xem, I’m willing to bet,” Ancient laughed and continued, “Anyway, call me a he. Pleasure to meet you, Noon.”

Others came up to me and introduced themselves as well. There was Sclera who had platinum blond hair and an overkill attitude, beside her was Ruin who seemed to be very fatherly and kind. There was Drei who seemed incredibly tired, yet I could still tell she was trying her best. Finally there were Time and Bug, two lovers who basically hung off of each other, with Time refusing to let go of Bug’s arm, and Bug refusing to detach himself from his datemate’s side.

After everything was said and done with Uno and Dos basically dragged me to the back of the store and into a broom closet turned makeshift bedroom. It had two piles of blankets and pillows on top of a mattress that covered the whole floor. In one corner hung a sheet that covered the corner, and in the other was a large trunk that was filled to the brim with clothes and other necessities. Uno immediately ran to the chest and began sorting through everything making spare piles of pants, shirts, and boots, meanwhile Dos sat down and gestured for me to join her.

“So, welcome to the base of the Travellers. It’s kinda messy and thrown together, but it’s the best we could manage,” She laughed a little and pointed to Uno, “My brother over there insisted we settle in a corner store or something. So blame him for the mess.”

I decided now was the best time to ask questions, so I thought for a moment before stating one thing that should get me all the answers I need.

“Okay, what is going on here?”

“Oh, now you’re talking, but, yeah, we haven’t explained anything yet, have we? Well, it’s a long story….” Dos trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.

“Well, I’d rather get a lengthy explanation than no explanation at all,” I retorted.

“Well, in summary, you’re in a place me and Uno call the Dunes. It’s an alternate dimension from ours that can be accessed with special eyes. This place was hit with a bomb a long time ago and was devastated and many things got taken over by horribly mutated and even supernatural creatures. Anyone who enters here without their eye is trapped until they find theirs or a replacement,” Dos sighed, “That’s a good chunk of it.”

“Okay… that is still incredibly confusing?” I quietly added.

“Alternate dimension, disaster, giant time spiders, poisonous air, eyes. Does that make more sense?”

“Could you possibly reiterate on the third and fourth one?” I squeaked out.

“Okay, there are giant time bugs that make time loops, we call these timeloops Capsules, we usually raid them since they have food. And in some places there is poisonous air, we have collected masks for that. Don’t worry, it’s safe here,” she simply said. I was still confused and a little freaked out but I decided to just act like I knew what she meant.

As I nodded Uno sat down beside us with a large pile of clothes, “Well Noon! Time to dress you for the Dunes, we can’t have you in pajamas here!” He began holding up clothes asking for a yay or nay. We ended up going through the whole pile of clothes over the course of what felt like at least an hour. Dos and I made small talk while her brother dug through the clothes.

She ended up filling me in on more about this alternate reality. The longer she droned on the more I found myself actually believing this all could be real, no matter how surreal it sounded. She talked about the sun, how time never changed, how eyes worked, but what interested me most was one thing: Being.

“Oh? Being. It’s a creature that inhabits this place. It sells food and other things. It even steals eyes and sells them back. But for eyes it usually charges… human flesh,” She trailed off before continuing with a sorrowful look, “That’s how Bug lost his leg, he was trying to get an eye for Time.”

“Did it not work?” I simply asked. Time was still obviously here, so I was confused on why they hadn’t left.

“No it did, just many of us have a deal that if one of us leaves those closest to us are going to come with us. Since Bug didn’t have an eye, Time refused to leave,” She simply stated, “Uno and I have a similar deal.”

“Indeed we do!” Uno chimed in, “Even so, neither of us have an eye, so we couldn’t leave even if we wanted to! Right, Dos?”

Dos responded with a simple nod, before speaking, “No sibling left behind is what we said, so we’re not gonna leave each other behind, no matter how many fights and squabbles we get into.”

It was kind of sweet, they definitely were very strong to get along after being here for who knows how long.

Once we got through all the clothes we settled on a dirt stained button-up with ripped sleeves, some ripped and faded jeans, and a pair of tall and worn combat boots. It was simple, but practical for the rough environment.

As I grabbed the clothes, got up from my sitting position to go find a bathroom and change, Dos came up to me and handed me a belt covered in loops and pockets.

“It’s always good to have extra space to put and hide things, trust me.”

The bathroom was clearly not in a safe condition. Though, it was gender neutral, which I appreciated. The tiles were worn and some even cracked and filled with dirt. The mirrors were stained and fogged up by the humid weather, the air conditioning was bad in this building, but in the bathroom it was even worse.

I quickly got changed and rushed out of the dusty room, slightly relieved to not have to breathe in any more of whatever had collected in that bathroom. I liked the look of the outfit, simple and surprisingly cool, which I attributed to the ice which was inside bags in my jacket.

As soon as I peeked back into Uno and Dos’ room they both looked happy with my look. Uno basically squealed with joy and Dos gave a smile and thumbs up of approval.

They took me out to see everyone else and most of them seeming happy with their new member (Because at that point I could be counted as a member, right?). The only exceptions being Nuke, Sandstorm, and Drei, who looked bored, slightly angry, and tired respectively. From what I knew of them, I wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

The next while was honestly a blur, getting my stuff together for the night (Well, it’s never really night, but everyone was getting tired), and picking me out a room. Though, of course, there wasn’t enough room for everyone, so I got stuck in the same room as Void and Nucleic. It was better than it could be, but I felt like Void wasn’t going to let me sleep for a good while.

Void was really helpful in setting up my section of the area. We were stuck in a freezer that was clearly broken a long time ago. Nucleic even encouraged me to check that the door wasn’t locked and feel how warm the walls were to see it was safe. Apparently xe had the same worries when xe got here, I was a little surprised based on xyr calm attitude.

Before I knew it everything was ready, a pile of blankets and a couple ripped pillows that made for a semi comfortable place to rest. It was better than nothing, I guess.

It wasn’t long before the blasting pop music on the store’s speakers abruptly turned off, and Uno came over the mic, mumbling in a lazy voice, “Sleep.”

I looked to Nucleic and Void and they both gave similar looks that read ‘Yeah, he does that’. So I decided to take the hint and try to sleep.

It was surprisingly a good sleep despite the sun shining bright outside and the hard floor beneath me. But, eventually I was rudely awakened by Void who was yelling in my face.

“Hey! Let’s go fight some man eating spiders!”

0 notes