Season 1 Finale
Laid in her makeshift bed, Tessa feels her body lightly being jostled by a warm pair of hands, whispering her name to gently awaken her. Despite the room being mostly coated in the dark and her eyes struggling to stay open for more than a second at a time, Tessa recognizes Natalie’s voice and asks what’s going on. “Charlie’s missing” Natalie whispers, the words being enough for Tessa to stop stretching and begin trying to wake up as quickly as she can. “Missing in what way?” Tessa asks, hoisting herself to her feet and following Natalie to Charlie’s empty sleeping bag. “I woke up and realized he wasn’t in bed like everyone else” Natalie replies, “I have no idea where he is.” Thinking over her options, Tessa nods and walks over to Rick, waking him up as there is something urgent to get to. “Natalie, I need you to stay here and let the others know what’s going on when they wake up, alright?” “What is going on?” Natalie asks, the latter request falling short, “do you know where Charlie is?” Handing Rick his bag and a rifle, Tessa tells Natalie that she has an idea of where he could be. “He was pretty sick last night and he said he was making a trip to that platformed you guys climbed to for medicine” Tessa replies, “he’s probably still down there.” Her eyes shifting, Natalie cocks her head back and shakes it in disagreement. “There wasn’t any medicine in there” Natalie responds, “just an empty crawl space with a bunch of blankets and towels.” Concerned at this new revelation, Tessa chooses to look on the brightest side available, suggesting he just went up there and fell asleep. “He’s probably still in there” Tessa says, “we’ll go over and bring him back.” Throwing on their heaviest coats, Rick and Tessa make off for the tunnels and instruct Natalie to keep the group in the house. “So he was burning up with a fever and you just let him roam through this place alone?” Rick asks, Tessa replying that there wasn’t much else she could do. “He’s a stubborn bastard, he won’t listen to people when they tell him not to do something” Tessa admits, “even if I told him not to go, he wouldn’t have listen to me.” Knowing Charlie to be as stubborn as Tessa tells of him to be, Rick finds himself unable to side with Tessa, believing that she had some responsibility. “If it were me, I know I would have gone with him” Rick replies, “even if he wasn’t sick… I wouldn’t want anyone wandering down here alone with what we know is around here.” Hanging her head, already feeling bad enough for having allowed Charlie to travel alone, Tessa pushes her worry aside in favor of being hopeful that there can be a resolution found. “Just up ahead” Rick says, calling out the ladder and shouting Charlie’s name. “We’re gonna have to go up there” Tessa says, handing Rick her flashlight before beginning to climb up. Once at the top, Tessa catches her flashlight from Rick, who holds his in his teeth as he joins her above, looking through the cramped crawl space littered with everything from blankets to decade-old mattresses sprawled out with reckless abandon. Covering his nose, Rick struggles to keep from the wretched stench festering in the small spot whilst Tessa struggles to keep from throwing up. “There’s something seriously wrong if he chose to take a fuckin’ nap here” Rick says, continuing their journey to get this experience over as fast as he can. Using a ruler to knock away cobwebs or any other element standing between them and their destination, Rick peers around corners to find more of what he’d already been seeing. “This is disgusting” Tessa says, no longer able to hold her stomach at bay any longer, throwing up on a moldy, balled-up blue towel. “Head back down” Rick directs, telling Tessa to leave the rest to him whilst she takes a breather. Doing as directed, Tessa thanks Rick and heads for the exit, leaving the elder man to navigate the horribly degrading space on his lonesome, still finding no traces of Charlie. At the very last second, Rick spots something drawn on the walls at the very back of the narrow slot. Taking interest in what it has to offer, the man braces the smell and leans in, shining his flashlight over a weird pattern of sorts, almost like a map. Arrows pointing in two directions, an abundance of lines are paired with numbers seemingly drawn at random. Taking one final glance at the artwork, the man spots a circle with one large ‘Y’ in the middle, nodding at the sight of it. “Nothing” Rick says, climbing back into the tunnels and staring down either remaining direction. “Where could he be?” Tessa asks aloud, “it’s not like we found anything special down here.” Choosing not to gloss over the idea of other points of interest in the tunnels, Rick responds with the fact that Charlie may have found something that caught his eye. “We’re just gonna have to keep looking” Rick concludes, staring off into the darkest depths of the tunnel yet to be explored. = Neptune City is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = “I’m ready for this whole thing to be over” Rena says, the smile on Marlhy’s face as she packs her bag serving as the symbol of shared hope. “What’re you gonna do when you get back home?” Marlhy asks, setting up the ball for Rena to do as she pleases with it. “I don’t know” the girl replies, not having given the idea of returning home without the cash prize much thought. “I didn’t really get that far in my planning” Rena replies, admitting that she hopes to just be able to move on and start something new. “Maybe anchoring the news” Rena replies, the suggested course of action being vastly different from her previous life of dancing for tips. “Well I look forward to you telling me all about how shitty my little town is” Marlhy replies, zipping up her bag as Rena provides her best anchor impression. “Just don’t touch the weather report” Michael jokes from the back of the room, “the last thing we need is you guiding us into a thunderstorm because it was supposed to be a sunny day.” Rolling her eyes, Rena asks Michael if he’d truly prefer the Barrow weather to a thunderstorm, which forces him to wave the white flag. “I’ll give you that one” Michael responds, “but only on the grounds that it’s better than being shot at by cannibals.” “Speaking of which” Austin says, lacing up his rubber boots in preparation, “what happens if we run into those fuckers again?” Looking around the room, the group waits for the first suggestion, which ultimately comes from Rena. “We’ve got their guns and a swimming pool’s load of snow to bury ourselves in” Rena begins, the confidence not exactly shooting through the roof. “We survived once working with what we had” the girl confidently proclaims, “we’ll do it again if we have to.” “We got lucky the last time around” Austin counters, “we shouldn’t be confident that we’ll get away with some kind of plot-armor a second time because we lived through the first.” Tilting her head, Rena becomes consumed by an interest in what caused Austin to take such a turn personality wise. “You put Mike over your shoulder and carried him away from dying multiple times” Rena sets up, asking “why’re you so pessimistic all of a sudden?” Pulling his laces with force, Austin smirks at Rena, telling her that he is surrounded by a group of people that can’t appreciate how good they have it. “Tell me this isn’t about you not getting your way” Rena requests, Austin accepting it by responding with certainty that it is, indeed, deeper than that. “How can you not see what we’ve got right in front of us?” Austin asks, his voice growing harsher as the annoyance of abandoning what he perceives as a massive win continues to mount on him. “We’ve got a building, food, water, shelter and a fucking radio!” Austin shouts, his arms flying outwards in anger as nearly everything he mentions is guaranteed here in a way that it isn’t at the town. “All we need to get the hell out of here is electricity, which shouldn’t be that hard to figure out!” Austin proclaims, “but instead, you all wanna go hiking and leave this behind because you saw something pretty!” With that, Austin stands up and begins packing the little he chooses to carry with him on the venture. “We’re in the middle of the arctic tundra in the farthest place from civilization in the entire country, how is anything supposed to come easy for us?” Rena asks. Waving her off as another voice without value, Austin replies that they have something guaranteed here that isn’t guaranteed down there. “You may look at me like I’m pissed off at ‘not getting my way’, but there is nothing down there that we don’t have in here” Austin replies, the vitriol showing in his voice the longer it speaks. “The food may be stale, the water may not be endless, but it’s more than what’s down there.” Choosing that line to walk off on, Austin leaves the cabin and aims for the gate as the remainder of the group finish their packing. “Nothing?” Michael asks, looking towards Rena, catching her attention like a fly in a web. “What do you want me to say, Mike?” Rena asks, finishing up with her bag as Michael requests any counter argument to hopefully solidify their hope in this journey into the unknown. “Second guessing yourself?” Rena asks, beginning to grow annoyed with the aiming of concern or fault in her direction. “Not at all” Michael replies, “he’s just got a few good points.” Strapping her bag over her shoulder, Rena walks for the front door and passes by Michael replying, “everyone’s got a few good points.” Buttoning up his coat, Michael calls out to rena, asking “what’re our points then?” Stopping at the sound of the question as her hand is on the handle, Rena glances over her shoulder in Michael’s direction before pulling the door open and exiting the cabin. Looking across the room from him, Michael lifts his eyebrows at Marlhy, who stares at him with the same well-masked look of worry at what their decision will result in. Shrugging at him, Marlhy pulls her bag over her shoulder and walks for the front door, leaving Michael to an empty living room to finish up. | “And you just let him?” Warren asks, his aggravation at Tessa’s oversight showing it’s colors with every word. “Why the fuck would you do that?” Natalie asks, her curiosity taking a much less aggravated stance than Warren’s. “I wasn’t thinking!” Tessa replies, “I kept waking up, my mind wouldn’t stop running and Charlie even being sick caught me off guard. It all happened so quickly!” “Even then, you didn’t think about a sick guy going down into the tunnels in the middle of the night even once?” Warren asks, the answer of ‘no’ from Tessa only further driving him crazy. Choosing to stop while he’s ahead, Warren throws his hands up and takes himself out of the equation, his place being taken by a calmer, less finger-pointing Harper, who’s finally recovered enough to sit up and hold a conversation. “None of these questions solve the issue we’ve got on our hands” Harper says, “what we need to start doing is figuring out where he went so we can go get him.” Pointing out that they have yet to explore most of the tunnels, Rick suggests they split up in both directions and look for anything that stands out. “Perhaps he went up to the crawl space, saw no medicine, and went to wherever it was he thought he found it” Rick concludes, the group being less than convinced. “There was nothing more than whatever the fuck that smell was when we were up there” Natalie replies, curious as to why he thought there would be medicine there in the first place. “Maybe he dreamt it up?” Warren asks, adding himself back into the picture, “maybe he connected the dots between needing medicine and knowing of a weird place in the tunnel and drew a line to the other?” “That’s delusional” Rick replies, brushing it off before Harper questions whether or not that matters. “Sure, it’s delusional… But if he was sick, is it really so difficult to assume he was suffering from delusions?” With that question raised, Liz adds in the question of what specifically got him sick. “I mean, there are the obvious things… Especially in the arctic, but nothing that I can think of that would cause delusions.” “Either way, the question was raised so let’s not throw it off the table just yet” Rick states, “he was in the tunnels, so let’s figure out where he went in the tunnels.” Climbing to their feet, the group gets their gear ready and ventures back into the depths below the home, readying themselves for round two. “Natalie, Warren and I will take the tunnel southbound” Rick directs, “Tessa, Liz and Harper will head north.” Splitting in their separate directions, Tessa and Rick embrace and head off on their paths, being sure to split on good terms in case events take a horrible turn. With the lightbulbs continuously threatening to blow out at any moment, the eery feeling that elicits the response of nerves tingling in the hands surrounds the tunnel with each jolt of the flashlight, the cavernous limestone tunnel walls experiencing their first true splash of light in decades at the group’s hands. | Silently marching from their observation point into whatever rests behind the partially-submerged walls of the ghost town, Rena and her group plow through the snow as more falls onto them from the heavens above. Her concerns only raising the longer the group goes without speaking, Marlhy questions Michael and Austin what they’re planning to do when they get back home. “At this rate, invest in a fireplace” Michael replies, finally having enough strength to fight forward on his own as Austin tails just behind as a precautionary measure. “What about you Austin?” Marlhy asks, the first ten seconds of silence being enough to convince Marlhy to look behind her, watching Austin staring into the sky for an answer. “I’d like to just make it home to start with” Austin responds, his continuously pessimistic attitude beginning to ware on the group. Despite being the source of it, Austin understands his role in the tense air and makes an attempt to lighten it. “I’m gonna invest in some fire wood for the fire place I already have” the bitter man replies, getting a brief chuckle out of Michael, which gives him the right of passage to openly laugh himself. Sharing humor, Michael and Austin ask what Marlhy plans on doing when home comes around. “At this rate, I’d just like to be able to sleep in my own bed” the girl replies, the thought of such an familiar commodity being in reach acting as a delight. “What I wouldn’t do for that” Austin responds, praising the thought with the hope that the town will actually have beds waiting for them. “Even if it has nothing else, I’d be content with having an actual mattress to sleep on for the first time in ages!” Austin exclaims, finally loosening up his depressing grip on the future. “What do we do when we get there?” Michael asks, ready for the town to serve as nothing more than their stepping stone to freedom. “I’m hoping we’ll be able to see something from the top of that clock tower” Rena replies, “but the best thing would be if we were able to settle in for a day or two if we need.” “We can’t just keep going from place to place on less than a day of rest, Rena” Marlhy replies, citing the callouses and blisters beginning to form beneath their feet. “The rubber may keep the snow out of our boots, but they don’t keep them from being cold” Michael adds in, suggesting they remain in the town for a few days whilst they regroup. “I’m fine with settling in for a few” Austin responds, “what? I don’t!” he furthers once noticing Rena glancing over her shoulder at him. “I may not be completely on board with this town, but I’m not shutting it out” Austin says, going as far as to suggest the town be a fair place for them to lay low and recoup. “I just thought we had a better chance making contact with someone back at the station than we do of walking our way to safety” Austin concludes, “I don’t think that’s unreasonable.” Every snow-fighting step brings the group closer to the vacant town, and the light snowfall above only increases their hope. “Just keep pushing” Rena says through gritted teeth, her feet aching from the walk, but her mind solely focused on the town as the end-all be-all for the moment. | “I fucking hate the things” Warren says, shining his light back and forth, allowing the limestone to reflect the light in a semi-entertaining way. “Can you keep the light forward?” Rick asks, the group using Warren’s flashlight as their lightsource to preserve their own. Before Rick an finish making his request, Warren directs the group to slow down and look off to the side, his flashlight having stumbled upon a hole in the wall leading into the unexplored. “That’s new” Natalie responds, a confident “you’re welcome” originating from Warren, who takes over the lead by flashing the light into what rests beyond. “It’s another tunnel!” Warren says, almost excitedly before Rick points out it being much more narrow than the one they’ve been navigating. “I don’t think he would-” Rick begins, cutting himself off when he notices something plastered on the wall beside the opening. “I’ve… I’ve seen this before!” Rick exclaims, Natalie recognizing it as well from the crawl space. Together, they clue Warren in on the circular symbol with the bold ‘Y’ in the middle as having been scrawled out at the end of the crawl space from earlier. “Why is that important?” Warren asks, Rick stating that there was a path drawn along with it, pointing them in the direction of something yet unclear. “Has this gone from a rescue mission to a treasure hunt?” Warren asks, “can we please focus on finding Charlie?” As his hopes are made clear, Warren finds his voice to be dulled beneath the actions of Rick climbing through the gap and into the hole. “Where the fuck are you going?” Warren asks, refusing to take Rick’s hand and join him in the hole. “I’m not going in there!” Warren replies, immediately left alone in the tunnels as Natalie jumps at the opportunity. “If there’s any place Charlie would have gone other than the crawl space, it would’ve been in here” Rick responds, watching Warren shake his head. “You don’t know that for a fact!” the man replies, his statement falling on deaf ears as Rick extends his arm towards Warren once again. “Come on, Warren!” Rick calls out, continuing to hold his hand as Warren aggravatedly bobs his head, refusing to listen to his better judgment. Now sharing the tiny space, Natalie takes the lead as the lack of space at her sides makes it nearly impossible to allow someone else ahead. Turning on her flashlight, Natalie leads the group further down the tunnel, both she and Rick going in blindly having forgotten the details of the crawl space’s map. Calling out each direction they take as a way of being able to retrace their steps, Natalie continues forward, making the call to head down which path she likes the most. “Wait up!” Rick shouts, pointing out the footprints barely visible in the dirt below. “Follow those!” Rick declares, feeling like they’re getting closer with each claustrophobic breath they take. As they venture further into the depths of Barrow barely explored, the sneaky feeling of something being off begins to set in for Warren, who grows adamant that they ease their pace. “We don’t even know if these are Charlie’s” Warren points out, “we could just be lurring ourselves into a fucking trap.” Scoffing, Natalie tells Warren to take it easy, knowing the worrying to be finding its way to him. “Just t-” Natalie stops, her advice to Warren being halted when she comes to an abrupt stop, stumbling across a sight she never expected to find. Before her, chowing down on human remains beside a dead flashlight is a singular gray wolf, blocking the path from venturing any further. “Stay still” Rick warns, pulling his rifle over his shoulder and sneaking the barrel past Natalie as the wolf takes notice of their presence. “Stay very, very still” Rick repeats, placing his eye towards the stock and placing his finger on the trigger lightly as the wolf adjusts its position. “Everyone relax” Rick says, the words intended to be his final piece of advice before action is taken. Leaning low to the ground, ready to pounce, the wolf growls at the sight of three fresh meals and begins slowly inching closer. With a deep breath, Rick sends whatever air he held in his lungs through his lips and slowly squeezes the trigger, following the wolf with every step. In the narrow, stone catacombs, Rick sends off one shot, the bullet ripping through the barrel and the sound ripping through the air. As if it were a bomb with a carefully-plotted aftermath, the gun lets off a devastating shockwave, ensuring the sound travels the entire course of the catacombs just as the wolf prepares to pounce. | Calm and still, the stairwell of the partially-submerged clock tower rings with the sound of shattering glass as Rena and her group throw their packs inside before climbing in themselves. The first to hop through, Rena stands beside the window helping her remaining group members inside before scaling the staircase to the very top. Hoping for a promising result, the group ascends the stairs as if the top of the tower were presents on Christmas morning like they were kids again. Catching her breath at the top, Marlhy becomes the first to complete the ascent as everyone else follows closely behind, in awe of the view they find greeting them at every angle. Amidst the expected gasps and simple wonders of the sights from so far above, Austin’s voice commands the most attention, his wonder at the level of their sights taking a backseat to the larger finding the group had been hoping for since they began their journey. “Can you see it?” Austin asks, pointing past the debris of snowfall as the remainder of the group huddles around him for both warmth and guidance. “Past the snow, a few miles out!” Austin says, his enthusiasm beginning to grow the more people stammer over their words, finally starting to point it out. In the distance, seemingly lively by the view of a few warm lights beneath the dark midday sky is a small city just next to the north point of the Pacific Ocean. “Is that Peard?” Marlhy asks, recalling the name of the nearest town from the initial flight into Barrow at the very start. “Yeah!” Austin excitedly shouts, “It is! It is!” The tension completely shriveling away to make room for the rush of excitement, the air becomes warm and welcoming once more, embraces and high fives being given across the room as the first true glance of hope appears. After a few hours, the group begins settling into an abandoned apartment complex by boarding up the windows and making themselves a small, tidy camp. “I’m gonna go see what I kind find in the rest of this place” Rena says, electing to do a little exploration now that camp had been set up. “I’m coming with you!” Austin exclaims, hopping up from his makeshift pillow mattress on the floor. “I’d like to know where I’m sleeping too” Austin mutters, giving Rena a fist bump before climbing down the stairs, leading Rena into the depths of the building. “We should start by seeing how far we can get before we hit snow” Austin suggests, hoping the interior remains untouched from the elements scaling its walls. Descending the stairs further and further, the pair eventually hit the bottom, Austin’s hopes of the interior being intact being answered in the intended way. “You take that side, and I’ll take this one” Austin exclaims, cautiously entering one section whilst Rena begins scouting through her own. At random, Rena selects a door to open and just goes with wherever the wind takes her, stumbling upon a living room filled with children’s toys just scattered across the floor, almost as if they weren’t intended to be left behind when they were. Looking down at the toys completely left to fall victim to the elements beneath her feet, Rena chooses to pick one up and inspect it. Taking a wooden box car into her hand, she notices the age on it from the worn down coat of paint and the overall era the toy would have been sold in. Turning it upside down, she reads off the manufacturer and the car’s model, only to find herself surprised to find the year ‘1985’ included in its tag. With nearly thirty-five years between it’s make and her inspection of it, the car is only one of the countless toys scattered around the room manufactured in at least 1988 or prior. Realizing herself to be in a room literally frozen in time, Rena glances up at the walls to find the building itself being just as frozen in time as the toys. Whilst her eyes shift from one side of the room to the next, a semi-folded piece of paper lying on a bookshelf catches her eye and pulls her in. Reaching for it, Rena reads the first line out loud, the way it is written giving it the appearance of a legal notice to the former resident of the space. Continuing to read the opening paragraph, her attention is stolen by Austin calling for her from outside the apartment. “What’s up?” Rena asks, meeting the man in the doorway as he insists that there’s something she needs to look at. Following the man into his ventured residency, Rena finds herself led into the back-most room, confronted with a heavily corroded metal hatch in the corner. “What is this?” Rena asks, looking towards Austin, who lacks an answer other than a ‘heavy metal door.’ “How do you know it’s a door?” Rena asks, the question sounding silly in nature without being aware of its simple, part-of-the-floor design. “It may look like just a weird spot, but there’s a lock in the corner right there” Austin replies, pointing out the generic, key-shape lock hidden well. “I don’t know where it leads, but it’s not in the other complexes I checked” the man exclaims, suggesting its intention to specifically serve this room. “Let’s see if we can find a key” Rena says, leaving Austin to check the office space whilst she enters the rest of the home. Rusting away and suffering the effects of being buried beneath the heavy, Barrow snow taking its toll on the metal contraption, the handle remains operable, leaving the missing key as the only thing between the pair and whatever rests inside, intentionally buried beneath hundreds of pounds of manufactured metal. | “We don’t wanna draw attention to ourselves” Tessa instructs, aiming the flashlight closer to the ground, aware of the direction they follow leading back into the force that attacked Rena’s group. Whispering to each other only when necessary and remaining close to the outermost wall to give themselves a slight advantage if the need to escape presents itself, Tessa and her fellow survivors pass by drawings plastered against each side of the tunnel. “Look for anything fresh” Tessa whispers, making it clear that some of the writings are newer than others, making sure to be cautious when darker, more legible depictions are found. “What about that?” Harper points out, spotting a set of numbers written in black marker assorted in a weirdly specific way. “That’s not all” Liz whispers, checking both directions before slowly walking up to the writing, pointing out a massive hole made in the ground. “That leads somewhere!” Harper whispers, her words sounding both worried and joyous at the same time, but her eagerness to leap into the hole making the joyous force seem more genuine. “You sure?” Tessa asks, watching Harper bite down on her flashlight and prepare to scale down into whatever rests below. “Come on!” Harper whispers, assisting the girls into the hole with her before leading the charge forward, following the straight passage forward. “Do you guys see the light underneath there?” Harper asks, pointing out a long strip of light along the ground just ahead. The hole being so naturally causes causes the depth perception of anyone walking through it without light to take a complete turn, therefor making the presence of the light both fortunate and forboding. “What is it?” Liz asks aloud, watching Harper become annoyed, throwing away any concerns in favor of quickly getting the answer. Pleading with her to slow down, Tessa forces herself to follow Harper, who now quickly walks towards the light, ready to confront whatever resides on the other end. “Harper, wait!” Tessa grunts, the sound of clattering on the lighter end only further fueling the headstrong girls’ need to know as the lightsource comes closer. “Harper!” Tessa whispers one final time, reaching for the girl’s shoulder as she reaches for a doorknob and pushes the door in, allowing the light to flood into the hole. Slightly blinded by the sudden brightness taking over their vision, the girls pull their arms over their faces before slowly lowering them, finding the answers to the questions they had been asking throughout their exploration, only for an entirely new set of questions to take effect. With her arms now lowered to her side, Tessa walks further ahead of Liz and past Harper, looking at what remains for her to see. “Ch-” Tessa begins, stumbling over what to say as the figure directly in front of her brings a massive rush of deja vu. “Chris?” Tessa finally asks, her face scrunching up in a loss for words as the host of the long-debunked game show stands with the same expression towards her. “How?” Tessa begins, “what?” she follows, the man she hasn’t seen since he supposedly left the region on the initial day standing before her, looking just as healthy as he did then. “What is this?” Harper asks, her questions only beginning to mount in her mind as she looks at the clean walls draped in electronics. Caught in the spurt of the moment, Chris looks at the girls in surprise, only able to respond with the first six words that come to mind. “You’re not supposed to be here…”
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“Guys!?” Rick calls out, following Tessa through the cavernous maze in hopes of stumbling across their lost group. After a few minutes of squeezing through cracks and climbing over fallen stones, the pair find the end of their pathway, discovering a railway system buried deep beneath the ground. With the faint glow of a flickering yellow light, Tessa and Rick follow the rail system south, the feeling of claustrophobia disappearing inside the spacious tunnel system.
“Why would they build a subway system in Barrow of all places?” Tessa asks herself, Rick answering her question by suggesting Barrow as the perfect place for such a need. “No roads in or out of the town, only way out above ground is through the sky, why not a way to leave under ground?” Rick replies, admitting that he’s confused as to why they would have sold the city if they were amidst a project of this size. “You’d think they would have held off on selling it if they were trying to up it’s value” Rick concludes, Tessa offering the possibility of having run out of the funds for it. “Maybe, but this wouldn’t be the first time the producers didn’t give us the full truth” Rick replies, leading Tessa down the left tunnel of a fork in the system. “Why this way?” Tessa asks, Rick telling her that if they keep taking the left-most tunnel, they just need to remember to follow the right on the way back. “That’s smart enough” Tessa replies, getting a laugh out of Rick, who spots the reflection of a warm light just ahead. “It’s probably another flickering lightbulb” Tessa replies, following Rick as the elder man picks up his pace, eventually overhearing footsteps in the near distance, only further fueling their hurry towards the light. After a few moments, Rick and Tessa catch their sights on their lost group, reuniting with the few familiar faces they have left. Having grown closer than just a group of random competitors from various parts of the world, the warmth they have in their hearts for each other triggers their instincts to immediately dish out hugs. “Now that we’re back together, let’s figure out if we can find where these tunnels lead” Charlie says, propping a small bag of necessities over his shoulder before continuing to lead the surge southbound. “Any chance there’s a train somewhere down here?” Natalie asks, surveying the glistening stones to each of their sides. “If there’s a train anywhere down here, they either finished the station at some point or were really careless with their investments” Rick replies, with Warren adding in that they’d get a pretty good answer if they did happen to find one. “The place has been vacant for a while” Liz says, “I saw some snow back a few yards. Probably a hole in the walls leading outside. “Think there are any more?” Warren asks, Natalie acknowledging that it is highly likely taking into account the decrepit nature of the tunnels as they currently stand. “Let’s not spend too much time looking for answers we haven’t asked the questions to just yet” Rick warns, “Especially when that army back there may have much more knowledge about these tunnels than we do.” “Hold up!” Natalie calls out, bringing the group to a sudden stop when she notices something out of the corner of her eye appear through the flicker of the overhead lightbulb. Questioning what she saw, the group watches her cautiously walk to the other side of the tracks and disappear into the dark unknown. Calling her name, the group watches her reappear briefly upon another flicker of the light, holding onto a ladder going into some unknown space above. “Anyone wanna check it out with me?” Natalie asks, the group hesitant to take her up on her offer other than Charlie, who excitedly joins her in the darkness and offers to head up first. “I don’t think we should be looking to go somewhere we shouldn’t be just yet” Warren calls out, his concerns muffled with charlie vowing to call for help in case he sees something he isn’t too fond of. Halfway up the decaying metal stepping post, Charlie grabs onto one of the bars and accidentally pulls it off, watching it drop back to earth and collide with the rail, making a horrific clanking sound that pulsates through the group’s ears. “Sorry!” Charlie shouts, continuing his ascent with much more caution. “Ah, fuck!” Charlie says, shaking rust off of his hand after cutting it on one of the bars. “I’m good” Charlie says, finishing his climb and pulling Natalie up soon thereafter. “You guys good up there while we check out the rest of the tunnel?” Rick asks, watching Charlie give him the thumbs up. “You know where to find me!” Charlie calls out, turning on his small, nearly pointless flashlight and ventures further into the crawl space. “Well that solves that” Rick mutters, continuing in place of the pair in leading at the front of the group. “We can’t just leave them up there” Tessa replies, “The talkies don’t work and they have no clue what they’ll find up there.” Looking back, Rick takes a second to think about their options, eventually questioning whether anyone would like to volunteer to stay back and wait for them. “We can’t just stand around without knowing where this place leads” Rick responds, with Warren adding in the fact that they’re unsure of whomever else has access to the tunnels. “If they want to split off, fine… Best of luck to them” Rick continues, “But we’re putting ourselves in danger if we don’t figure out what the hell this place means for us.” Looking around, Rick watches Tessa hang her head in disappointment, but without a logical counter to reply with. Neither Liz, nor Warren are excited about the idea, but they’re more than aware of the truth lingering behind Rick’s unpopular stance. “I’ll stay back” Liz says, telling the group to keep moving until they find something. “You’re sure?” Tessa replies, watching the brief second of assertion on Liz’s face, convincing the group to do whatever it is that they need to do. “If I see anything come from up north, I’ll head up to Nat and Charlie” Liz concludes, “You all just stay safe.” With a nod, the trio navigate tunnels, unable to argue against splitting up when the opposition is a possible advantage over the elements at play. After nearly ten more minutes of following the tracks, Warren notices a chill raining over him, different from the remainder of the tunnel they’ve traversed already. Before he can voice his findings, Tessa spots a splash of natural light plastered against the limestone walls just ahead. “Do you guys see it too?” Tessa asks, with Rick taking his hand and placing it against her shoulder, keeping her from continuing forward with his fingers pressed to his lips. “Wait, wait!” Rick whispers, watching the light of the dark night sky, as ironic as it is, stand out from the darkened shadows only briefly lit by weak, yet valiant lightbulbs. Upon voicing his concerns, Rick and the group notice something intruding on the light’s turf, stumbling closer into the tunnels and further shielding the tunnels from Barrow’s natural, chilly night sky. Taking the lead, Rick arms himself with the rifle over his shoulder and sneaks forward, keeping himself in the darkest parts of the tunnel in hopes of surprising the light itself. As Rick continues forward, he spots the light source, which presents itself as a massive rip in the side of the tunnel. The stone that formerly made up a sturdy tunnel support being weathered down by the cold nature of Barrow, now appearing as a rip-like entrance into the tunnels interior. Marching onwards, the rip grows more noticeable, and the light of the night sky comes into view, that view being obstructed by the shadowy figure that stands in its way. “Stop!” Rick shouts, immediately putting a halt on the figures movement, it’s face and any other descriptive features hidden. “Who are you?” Rick asks, watching the figure struggle to remain perfectly still, instead shaking from side to side and moving its feet a few inches to keep itself supported. “Do I need to ask you again?” Rick calls out, watching the legs of the figure begin to tremble with greater force with each second until they finally give out. Dropping to its knee before falling completely forward, the figure slides down the dirt slope and is unloaded onto the tracks. “Don’t fire!” Tessa shouts towards Rick upon the figures initial collapse, running towards its body upon its collision with the ground. “Who is it?” Rick calls out, watching Warren turn the body onto its back as Tessa removes its hood, revealing it to be a blue-lipped, bloody-nosed Harper struggling to speak. “Rick, we need to go back now!” Tessa shouts, directing Warren to help her carry the wounded woman back to the cabin. Taking over for Tessa, Rick takes Harpers arm over his shoulder and tells her to run back to the group and get them to help speed up the process. = Neptune City is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = “Come on, it’s just up ahead!” Rena shouts, her lips quivering as the falling snowflakes gently drop from the heavens and melt on her lips. Within the next thirty minutes, the group finally reaches the locked gates of the long-abandoned radio tower, tasked with yet another goal. “How do we get in?” Rena calls out, watching Austin toss his bag to the ground and begin climbing up the freezing metal fence. Upon reaching the top, Austin scales down and eventually gives in, his strength depleting to the point where he relinquishes his grip, plummeting to the ground. “You good?” Marlhy shouts, Austin, clearing the snow from his boot and giving himself a much needed chance to stretch, insisting that he’s never been better. Up to his feet, Austin walks up to the front door and reaches for the handle, unsurprised to find it still locked by its prior inhabitants. “Grab a rock or something” Marlhy instructs, watching Austin extend his arms and admit that the idea would be perfectly sound if only there weren’t ten feet of snow between his feet and the ground. Performing a quick glance for anything of use, Austin shouts “fuck it!” and returns to the door, taking his lightly gloved hand and giving the window a right jab. “Motherfucker!” Austin shouts, his hand feeling the effects as the glass remains perfectly intact. “The glove is too much padding!” Rena shouts, promoting Austin to turn towards her and shouting “No shit!” before unwrapping his hand and dropping the glove to his feet. With a quick breath, Austin lays in a second right jab, shattering the glass and splitting his hand open on all four of his knuckles. “Son of a cunt!” Austin shouts, clutching his hand to his chest as his opposite reaches for the inner handle. Finally gaining entrance, Austin vanishes into the building, scanning the immediate entry for anything of use. Reaching into abandoned coat pockets and shuffling through whatever remains from the last time it hosted human life, Austin finds nothing of value and opts to look further within the building. Eventually, whilst walking into the main living quarters, Austin spots something shocking directly outside the large set of windows. Hurriedly rushing for the end of the front room, Austin presses both hands on the glass, his excitement leaving him uncaring of his blood running down the window. His sights scream of something completely unexpected, that being a completely abandoned town just under a mile away, the roof of each building blanketed in enough snow to hide it from anyone viewing it from directly above. With this newfound burst of hope, Austin scatters throughout the room, looking anywhere he can immediately see for a set of keys. Ultimately, when taking a moment to catch his breath, the still-wounded survivor spots a set of keys resting on a small table beside a bland gray chair. Taking them into his possession, Austin runs out of the building and up to the gates, trying a few keys before finding the correct piece of metal, allowing him to pull the gate open. “Inside, inside!” Austin calls out, closing the gate behind the group and locking it up once more, following them into the structure. | “What the hell happened?” Natalie asks, placing a warm cloth over Harper’s lips in hopes of the blue in them fading off. “We just found her there” Rick replies, his arms folded as he watches over the resting woman, “We didn’t know who she was until she dropped.” Sat in a chair beside Harper, Tessa suggests that the bigger question that should be asked is why Len wasn’t with her. “They went out together?” Warren asks as he, much like most of the group, had forgotten about Harper and Len being tasked with returning to the cape before it burned down. “I mean, I mentioned it before we went into the tunnels… I don’t know how we could have just completely missed that over the course of a few hours” Natalie replies, rubbing Harper’s arms in hopes of the friction serving as a worthy amount of warmth. “So Len is still out in the tundra for all that we know, and we still have no fuckin’ clue where the rest of those tunnels lead?” Warren asks, admitting that this is all becoming so clustered. “This isn’t a game anymore” Liz says, “people are getting hurt.” Her hands on her thighs, Tessa suggests that this has never been a game. “The producers lie to us, set up this hut, feed us all this bullshit and we’re supposed to believe this isn’t some fucked up joke?” Truly committed to the idea that the game has been over for a long time, Tessa admits that she’s under the belief that it’s time to take another approach to what this is. “The cameras were fake, the mics were fake, it was all fake” Tessa says, her voice growing louder with every point. “They’re not watching us!” Tessa continues, now leaning forward in her chair, “The cape burned to the fucking ground and they have clue! We’ve been on our own since the beginning!” Angered, Tessa gets up from her chair and paces around the center of the room, every eye in the group other than Harper’s firmly focused on her. “They’re not coming down unless someone pushes the button, and clearly by the fact that we haven’t heard from them since the start, that hasn’t happened!” Leaning against the wall beside the tunnel entrance, Rick admits that he’s completely on the same page as Tessa. “I’d like to think I’m gonna walk out of here with a million bucks, but I’m starting to think we’d all be lucky enough to walk out of here at all” Rick says, his stance speaking volumes. Stunned at the one man originally suggested as the least ‘group-first’ competitor of the bunch admits defeat, the group begins to suggest that there really has been a ridiculous war between the survivors for absolutely nothing but further suffering. “Len’s dead” Harper mutters, her confession acting like a meteor crashing into an ocean, sending a forceful shock traveling throughout the group like a tsunami. Shocked at the statement, most remain in denial, suggesting Harper get some rest as if her confession was made from exhaustion. “I’m not tired” Harper says, struggling to get the words out without fighting through the great pain in her jaw. “He- d-died in- in the shack” Harper says, the struggle in her efforts doing more than enough for the group to understand her clearly, even if they wish not to. “Get some rest, Harper” Natalie says, “We’ll figure this out later” as she tucks her in. “If Len’s dead, that means this really isn’t a game” Warren says, Rick’s inclusion that it at least isn’t a legal game doing all the convincing necessary to finalize the group’s turn of focus. “So this really is a fight for survival now” Tessa says, looking at the group as they stare at her, worry renting space in their eyes just as much as a determination to survive does. “I say we figure out how to get the fuck out of Barrow now” Tessa says, the heads of each competitor lifting, their spirits held high now that the unknown is acknowledged, and the goal of finding their exit strategy becomes the center focus. | “How the fuck could we have missed that?” Michael asks, looking out at the abandoned city as if it were a gift on Christmas morning. “It was covered in snow, how do you think we could have spotted it?” Austin asks, still mystified at the now proven ability to completely miss a city in the snow-covered Arctic. “Is that the new goal now?” Marlhy asks, burying herself beneath a pile of coats and blankets whilst the rest of the group huddles around the fire place. “There’s no electricity in here, which means there’s no radio” Rena says, “at least there’s a chance of finding help down there.” Looking at Rena as if she had three heads, Austin directs her to look out at the city again. “The place is covered in snow” Austin says, “the fifteen story-tall building down there might be thirty stories tall under fifteen stories of snow. No one’s living there.” “Just because no one’s living down there, that doesn’t mean no one is out there at all” Marlhy replies, suggesting the possibility of researchers using the town as a place to camp out. “It could be where the producers are” Michael adds in, his alternative theory reminding the group of the reason their blood was boiling for an entire day. “Either way, it’s worth a shot” Rena says, “the only food in here is expired packages of noodles and really stale cereal.” Looking to each other as if hoping someone would speak up and suggest they hold off for at least a day before venturing out into the tundra again, the group silently remains seated in their respective spots. “Fine, I’ll say it” Austin says, “I think we’ve got a better shot at getting help in here than we do down there.” Disappointed at having to say it because of how intriguing the town below is, Austin forces himself to look towards the most beneficial route, which the radio remains as. “I’m not saying we don’t go into town if we can’t get the radio to work, I just think we need to start with where we are right now” Austin concludes. Looking around the room, Austin notices a more hesitant look on Rena’s face than the others, opting to single her out and suggest she voice her concerns. “I think we’ve got what we need to survive for right now, but not much longer than that. We can’t live on expired canned foods and other processed shit forever.” “Why would the town be a better solution?” Austin asks, wanting to clear out any future discussions right now whilst they still have the choice. “I’m not saying the town is better or worse, but there’s not much we can get out of this place at this moment” Rena replies, “I’d rather fight to get into town while we’re strong enough than wait for whatever fuel we have left to completely run out.” “We don’t have the strength right now, Rena” Austin replies, “We’re exhausted, cold, hungry and we can’t forget that we’ve got a stubborn, headstrong dickhead with a concussion.” Sitting up from his rest on the couch, Michael tells the group not to let his ‘boo boo head’ get in the way of making the right decision. “Dumb jokes aside, we only have two choices and we’re gonna need to choose between them sooner or later” Michael begins, leaning forward with his hands folded. “We either take a shot at getting help through the radio waves in a station that we already know doesn’t offer much, or we take a risk heading ut for a town in hopes of finding who the fuck knows what?” Upon making the two sides clear, Michael throws his hat in the ring of staying at the tower for the night and heading into town when the morning comes around. “I second that choice” Rena joyfully replies, looking towards Marlhy with Austin’s answer already being obvious. “You know I’m right, Marlhy” Austin says, watching her squint her eyes with her thumb to her lips. “I don’t even know what you’re looking to do, Austin” Marlhy replies, reminding him that no one had any clue where to go once the button was pressed. “We haven’t known what we’re doing in ages… We’ve just been coasting off of whatever happens to pop up since that cannibal town bullshit” Marlhy concludes, sitting back into her seat, knowing the gravity of her decision. Upon thinking it over, taking a few looks at both the station and the town from her seat, Marlhy chooses to side with Rena and Michael, thinking of the town as a safe haven. Hanging his head, Austin gets up from his spot on the floor and heads for one of the back rooms to call it a night. “We’ll all head out when we wake up” Michael says, laying out the groundwork for what they do next, grateful to simply have some direction in where to go next. | Sleeping on the floor of the cabin, Tessa hears groaning coming from the bathroom, keeping her from falling asleep whilst the rest of the group is out like a light. Assuming it to be nothing, Tessa turns over and puts her shoulder over her free ear until the sound of someone placing their hands onto ceramic catches her attention. Recalling what shrugging something off did for her last time, Tessa climbs to her feet and starts walking towards the bathroom. Knocking on the door quietly, Tessa asks the occupant if everything is alright. Without a verbal response from inside, Tessa knocks once more, this time a little louder than the last. Again without anything from the other side, Tessa prepares to knock for a third time until she hears the locks turning in the door, unlocking it. Taking this as an invitation inside, Tessa slowly opens the door to find Charlie leaning over the sink with the look of sickness on his face. “Are you alright?” Tessa asks, wondering if it’s a simple spurt-of-the-moment sickness or a bug that he’s beginning to feel the effects of. “I think so” Charlie replies, taking a seat on the lid of the toilet whilst admitting that he’s getting nauseous and feels like he’s burning up. Reaching into the medicine cabinet, Tessa pulls out a small cup and fills it with water, handing it to Charlie and watching him struggle to swallow the small bit he takes in. Asking what happened, Tessa listens to Charlie describe how it felt like sand paper was going down his throat. “I don’t know what else to do” Tessa replies, moving aside as Charlie waves her away, telling her that he found some medicine in that nook he and Natalie investigated earlier. “I’ll head down there and see what I can find” Charlie says, refusing Tessa’s offer to go down instead. “If it’s a bug, I need to stay active to keep any effects away Charlie replies, “just get me a flashlight and I’ll be back in, like, twenty minutes.” Pulling one from the coffee table, Tessa hands it to the man and watches him shake his head a bit before descending into the tunnels. Without anything else to do, Tessa returns to her spot on the floor and looks to get some rest before returning to the tunnels the following day. Walking through the tunnels, Charlie feels the illness begin to make an attempt at overtaking his strength, forcing him to stop for a second and lean against the limestone wall. Taking a few breaths before unbuttoning the first few buttons on his shirt, Charlie mutters to himself that he’s almost halfway there, and that he just needs to suck it up and keep moving. As he rests, he begins to feel his balance throw itself off, with his heart pumping faster, as if it were ready to burst out of his chest. After what feels like the matter of only a few seconds, Charlie finds himself standing in place, no longer leaning against anything, clouded by darkness. “Where the-” Charlie begins, his flashlight having been switched off. Noticing this, he flips it back on to find himself stood in a small, catacomb-like chamber as if he were just transported there. Looking at both ends, Charlie feels himself growing dizzy, unable to collect his balance, falling against the walls as a result. Unlike the tunnels, the catacomb walls are very narrow, close together in proximity with enough room to just barely walk through whilst standing up, all made from the natural rock as if the pathways were just dug into and forgotten. “Hello?” Charlie calls out, his voice echoing back to him, bouncing off the walls with no answer. Calling the names of his group, Charlie wanders deeper into the catacombs, his flashlight beginning to dim as it slowly loses its power. With his strength depleting, Charlie falls into one of the walls and drops to the ground, unable to feel much from the impact, instead being surprised at his need to catch his breath amidst the sickness. Now beginning to panic, Charlie calls for his group once again, this time with a frantic tone, wanting desperately for help to arrive. “I need you!” Charlie shouts, the will to let out the shout for assistance forcing him to throw up where he lays, head pressed against the sandy, stone floor below him. “Please!” Charlie says, his words bouncing back and forth again as his light finally dies out, burying him beneath the total darkness beside his own throwup. Realizing that he’s as good as dead if there’s no one there to hear his pleas, Charlie fights through the desire to cry in hopes of clinging to life. “Help me!” Charlie screams, his voice reverberating throughout the corridors to such an extent that he can hear it travel for what sounds like miles. “Anyone?” Charlie mutters to himself, his hands pressed against the ground as the remaining moisture on his lips collects sand from beside his face. “Please” Charlie whispers, closing his eyes as he tries to cover his whimpers, the tears beginning to squeeze through his eyelids. Just inside the cabin, Tessa sleeps soundly on the floor just below Harper, completely oblivious to Charlie’s suffering in the bowels of the Barrow tunnels. Whilst doing so, Natalie wakes up from her slumber, hours having passed since Charlie’s initial groans had awoken her. As Natalie’s natural wakeup call marks the start of another day, it serves as a grim marker for the true span of time Charlie unknowingly spent blindly navigating the endless chambers. Stretching as if she spent the night at a wondrous resort, Natalie quietly walks over to the coffee maker and begins preparing a pot whilst staring out at the Barrow landscape. Upon completely brewing, the coffee pot lifts into the air and pours Natalie a cup of one of Barrow’s last remaining gifts, allowing her to break a smile at the peaceful-looking sight of Barrow, completely unaware of the realizations that have yet to come. “Stop groaning” Michael says, telling the three wanderers behind him to brace the cold for a little longer, noting all the progress they’ve made to get back to camp. Dropping to the ground, freezing cold and ready to give up, Rena feels the snow grace her face and notices an almost warm feeling to it. “Come on, Rena!” Marlhy calls out, lifting the woman up and noticing her lips to be turned a faint dark blue.
“Michael, we need to hurry” Marlhy says, noticing the snow to begin feeling warmer than the wind threatening death upon them. Perhaps warmer than the air hitting them in the face every five seconds, the snow only further melts inside the group’s boots, soaking because of the warmth of their feet and leaving every step to hold an unpleasant squishing noise. “Oh, motherf-” Michael begins, stopping midway through his remark before using the strength he has left to start sprinting for the cape. “Oh, no fucking way!” Michael shouts, nearly every cabin on the cape being rendered charred and uninhabitable. “What the hell happened!?” Austin shouts, hurrying into the cabins left standing to find them as vacated as the day they arrived in the tundra just over a month ago. “What the fuck happened!?” Austin shouts again, the lack of anyone able to answer his question sending shockwaves of blistering anger coursing through his veins. Catching up to the men, Marlhy and Rena survey the cape, noticing every one of their homes having burned to the ground they were built atop. “Who could’ve done this?” Marlhy asks, baffled at the question of whether or not the cannibals could have caught up to them that quickly. “No” Michael says, “there’s no way!” as he rummages through the cabins still left standing. “Get inside!” Michael shouts, directing the group into Rick’s old cabin and slamming the door shut behind them. Wrapping whatever blankets they can get their hands on around them, the foursome look through the window at the damage left behind by the group, now missing in action as far as they’re concerned. “Did the fire do this?” Rena asks, beginning to irk Austin, who tells everyone to stop asking questions they clearly don’t have the answer to. Across the lake, Michael notices a light on in the cabin, realizing that at least part of the group is still around. “Okay, so we rest here for a little while and then we go meet them over there, right?” Marlhy asks, discouraged once Michael shuts down that idea the second it’s made. “The cape is different, at least we had twelve cabins for twelve people. They get to us over there and we’re completely cornered” Michael replies, his point not serving as a popular one, but a fair point nonetheless. “If we stay here, we’re all be cornered anyway!” Marlhy argues, her counterpoint serving as a fair rebuttal. Not having any of the possible arguments, Austin tells the cabin to hush down and figure out what to do that doesn’t put anyone in jeopardy. “When we were flying into Barrow on that first day, I remembered spotting a radio tower out near the edge of town. Maybe we can follow into the next town over?” His suggestion leaving little to be desired, Austin’s only main oversight is the lack of ability to travel miles beneath the bone-chilling temperatures. “We won’t make it half a day out there, Austin” Rena says, warming her lips by breathing warm air into her cupped hands. “We don’t have to go directly from here to the next town” Austin suggests, “We’ll catch some rest in the building like a waypoint.” Feeling stupid for having missed it on the first time it was suggested, Michael makes one further suggestion that interjects the group with a newfound hope as if the lightbulb went off in his head at the drop of a pin. “If it was a radio tower, why don’t we just radio for help?” the leader by committee at the start of the competition suggests, his proposal splitting the journey nearly in half. “If there’s a road from the next town over, we’ll call them for help and explain what’s going on!” Marlhy says, finishing the proposition on Michael’s behalf. “So it’s settled! We’ll get some rest, warm up and start heading out in the morning!” Michael’s declaration of intent serving as enough fuel to keep the group fighting through the night, the remainder of their immediate future hangs in limbo, waiting to be uncovered like the snowy tundra beneath the supports of their cabin. Off in the distance, lacking any electricity or sign of life, the radio tower waits for its presumed visitors to stumble across what it has to offer, which the group goes to sleep dreaming includes a lifeline offering a return home. = Neptune City is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = “Come on, Len! Keep fighting!” Harper says, clutching her internally wounded fellow survivor towards an almost completely submerged ice fishing shack beneath the surface. Gently placing Len down on the snow, Harper hurries towards the shack door and begins digging the puffy white clouds away from the entrance to their only source of hope for surviving this cold front. Pulling Len up to the shack, Harper drops inside and pulls Len in after her, leaning him against the wall, leaving him to groan in pain as he hits the floor. Apologizing, Harper looks around the shack for anything that could be of use, only to find very little food or protection from the cold other than the shelter itself. “Come on, there’s gotta be fucking something!” Harper shouts, her anger becoming more visible as she punches the shelter wall. Drained of energy, Harper drops against the wall and slowly slips down, taking a seat directly beside Len. “Bad day?” Len jokes, his breath growing fainter, made even more obvious than his struggles to breath by the lack of strong white gusts of air coming from his mouth and nose. Worried for his well being, Harper lifts up his shirt as he struggles to cough due to the immense pain, joking through it by suggesting Harper take him on a date before rounding for second base. Giving Len a brief chuckle, Harper’s light hearted smile is wiped off when she notices deep purple bruising around Len’s ribcage. “Is it bad?” Len asks, his voice growing weaker as Harper struggles to contain her worry, the cold still flirting with her skin making it difficult to do so even if she tried. “It’s… It’s not good” Harper replies, watching Len turn his lips into a smile as he tilts his head back, looking towards the shack ceiling. “This is where I’m gonna die” Len says,, making peace with his imminent demise as Harper assures him that she’ll get him out of there one way or another. “You can’t promise that” Len replies, doing whatever he can with the little strength he has left to make sure Harper doesn’t hold herself responsible. Working up tears as she tries to convince Len that he’ll make it out of here alive, Harper is stopped when Len places his hand to her cheek and tells her not to worry. “Look at me” Len requests, watching the salty tears run down Harper’s face as the man fighting for his life amidst the tundra demands she not blame herself. “I couldn’t stop it!” Harper says, reminding herself that she just stood back in fear while he fell. “If you went down with me, we would’ve both died” Len replies, assuring Harper that he’d much rather Harper keep her life than die in an empty attempt to save his. “You jumped off a cliff to save me. Whether I die here or not, I wouldn’t have made it here if it wasn’t for you” Len says, telling her that everything’s going to be alright. “Why are you so calm right now?” Harper asks, shaking her head from one side to the other as she reminds him of how badly he’s hurting. “We all die someday, Harper… I’m not scared of it knowing I get to figure out what comes next” Len replies, his valiant refusal to fear death only bringing more tears. | “We’d be out there for almost a full day, there’s no way we can do that until this wind stops” Warren replies, shooting down the suggestion that they head out on a search and rescue mission right now. “The longer they’re out there, the more likely it is that they won’t come back” Natalie replies, her concerns falling on deaf ears when Rick points out that sending anyone out in this weather would result in even more lost souls. “So we’re supposed to just let them freeze out there?” Natalie asks, growing annoyed at being outnumbered with lives at stake. “I don’t like it anymore than you do, Nat... But our hands are tied here” Tessa states, sinking into the couch as defeated as anyone else would be. “This is bullshit” Natalie says, knowing how much of a risk it is to send anyone out during the cold front, but angered at the fact that they have no say in the matter. “So let’s figure out what we do when the cold front lifts” Charlie suggests, offering to go out with someone to look for Harper and Len. “I’ll head out with you” Rick offers, Natalie and Warren having previously declared their intentions to search for Michael’s group. “Tessa and Liz can stay here and figure out how to get that stupid fucking door open in the meantime” Charlie says, making the claim as a joke until those unfamiliar with it start asking questions. “What’s the mystery behind this door again?” Liz asks, only having heard about it by Natalie in passing hours prior. “Not a door, but a wall” Charlie replies, his humorous correction falling on deaf ears. “Wrong time, buddy” Warren whispers, patting him on the leg and nodding as the question is repeated. “Whatever it is, it’s big enough to hear your own echo” Charlie replies, not knowing much other than what he can overhear from the other side. “This fucking tundra” Natalie mutters, getting up and walking to the bathroom, dissuaded by nearly every result today. Without Natalie, Rick does his best to keep the needs of the group in check, “Let’s try to get this door open before the cold front slows down, and then we can switch courses” the newly group-centric man suggests, waiting to make anything official before he gets assurance from those around him. “Any idea what it’s made out of?” Warren asks, the suggestion of wood, unclear if for comedic purposes or if it was meant as a genuine answer, coming from Liz. “Any idea what kind of wood?” Warren follows, smiling towards Liz in an almost sarcastic way. No further responses incoming, Warren takes a few steps back and starts letting the faucet in the sink run, getting the water piping hot as he looks for a bowl. “We dampen the wood and take a hammer to it, we’ll have this son of a bitch open in no time” Warren says, lugging a color of hot water across the living room, having been unable to find a bowl of all things in the pantry. Handing sponges to the group and telling them to focus on the center, Warren walks deeper into the home in search of a hammer as the floor beneath the feet of the remaining group becomes soaked. | “This is not how I thought this game would go” Len says, trying to laugh despite the pain not letting him do so without repercussions. Looking beside himself, Len notices Harper staring forward blankly, not speaking, almost as if she were having a silent battle with herself. “If I’m gonna die here, can you atleast-” Len begins, halted by Harper, insisting that she’ll die before she lets Len die in the corner of a tucked away ice fishing shack. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t” Len replies, watching Harper insist that she’s not letting him drop dead alone in the middle of a game show that shouldn’t even be happening. “Harper, I want you to listen to me” Len says, taking the woman’s hand and holding it in his own, almost at peace with the inevitable. “None of us get a say in when we die. I just want to decide how I go, and I’d rather it not be in silence” Len says, his words slowly shattering Harper’s heart. “You can’t die” Harper replies, the hopes she says aloud in hopes that they’ll miraculously come true being continuously pushed away by a man already knowing his fate to have been sealed. “I’m certainly not making it out of here” Len replies, watching his counterpart silently nodding, almost as if she thought she was speaking in that moment. “How’re you gonna get out of here? This box?” Len asks, changing the conversation so Harper doesn’t have to. Thinking about it for a few seconds, her cold hand slowly being warmed by the palm of the increasingly weak friend beside her. “I’m gonna carry you to someplace warm, and we’re gonna fix you up” Harper replies, watching the intention to correct her train of thought fade away as Len simply displays his smile. “Somewhere warm sounds really nice right about now” Len replies, his intended laughter being noticeable enough for him not to have t extend too much effort. Naming off things that give off warmth like hot chocolate and a campfire, the man’s voice grows weaker than it was fifteen minutes prior, though his faint exuberance brightening up the walls of the dark shack. “I remember when I was a kid” Len begins, looking at the walls opposite him as he reflects on his childhood. “My grandparents always made me these little hot chocolate mugs in the winter, and we’d drink them while we watched the snow on our back patio.” “Those were simpler times” Len says, fighting through the pain well enough to adjust his position. His face flushed with the onslaught of hills to climb and only highlighted by his skin’s red reaction to the bite of the cold air, Len’s smile lights up the shack, and momentarily takes the pair away from the nearest events. “I miss those times” Len says, tilting his head and using the back wall of the shack to recall the memories of his childhood. “I’m sure they weren’t without their faults, but I miss when times were simpler” Len says, “I wish we had a way of knowing how nice they were before we lost them. Had a way to become numb to what we know now.” Looking at the man, nodding in agreeance, Harper tells Len that everyone is in the simpler times without ever knowing it. “I guess it sometimes just feels like a lot because we turn it into a lot, y’know?” Looking at her, Len nods and responds with a faint “yeah” and a smile. Cupping his hands together in his lap, the whipping snaps of the wind just outside do nothing to keep Len from thinking of warmer times. Daring the pair to remember the troubles of the world within fingers reach from them, the wind continues to snap and crack at them, it’s efforts falling shorter than it’s fear-inducing cliff dive hours prior. | Awoken from her desperately needed slumber beneath her mountain of blankets, Rena hops out of bed and walks through the front door, taking a few glances in each direction at the camp. The distance being hidden behind thick white blankets of falling snow and a heavy fog, the well-masked glimmer of a flame just close enough to visible appears nearly a mile away. Within moments, the sound that broke through the heavy winds, waking her up ring directly in Rena’s view, signalling the onstart of war. Eyes open as if they were being held back from closing, Rena hurries through the door and wakes up her group, telling them that they need to leave right now. “They’re here?” Michael says, the lingering effects of his concussion still keeping him from quickly putting two and two together. “We’ve gotta go, come on!” Rena shouts, throwing on her puffy jacket and tossing her backpack over her shoulder as she leads the group out of the door. Rested enough to pick up the pace, which has become necessary to keep up with the windspeed, the group starts running off to the radio tower, trying to pull one over on mother nature. Little does the group know, one of mother nature’s many jokes is showing new residents how well the natives have acclamated to the violent change in weather. As if they were pulling a car stuck in park, the group desperately marches forward, only for a jumble of arrows to embed themselves in the snow just feet ahead of them, acting as a warning shot. “Surrender now or we’ll force you down!” the group storming after the foursome shouts, sending off another round of arrows, all being pushed in the opposite direction in which they were fired, yet managing to come within inches of the competitors every time. “Surrender now and make this easy on yourselves!” the hunters call out, sending off a final round of warning shots to no success. “W’re done asking!” the hunters shout, watching the group scatter away from unpredictable arrow storms hurling themselves with reckless abandon. Splitting from the group, Rena and Marlhy dive into piles of snow strewn about on the ground as the evade falling death, whilst Michael and Austin limp towards safety. “Now!” the burly man in charge shouts, having his community heave molotov cocktails forward, looking like the heir apparent to Tom Brady as the wind takes them ninety yards. As some bottles explode on contact with hard enough snow to shatter glass, others simply drop into the snow and slowly empty as time goes by. “Down here!” Austin shouts, shoving Michael to the ground behind the cover of a massive rock as Austin covers him in snow. “Stay hidden!” Austin says, brushing off Michael’s demands to keep moving by telling him to trust what he’s doing. With Michael hidden, Austin emerges from the rock staring at Michael as if he were killed before continuing to scurry away. Running up to the middle of the cape, Rena and Marlhy take cover behind the recently malfunctioned Neptune Box and catch their breath, watching arrows fall from the sky as if they were a Greek god’s tears. “Get ‘em!” the harsh-toned leader shouts, sending his troops after the girls whilst he focuses on puncturing every orifice of the escaping Austin. Reaching into the broken insert of the Neptune Box, Marlhy looks for whatever can pull them out of this corner they’ve taken cover in as time begins running out. Just off to their side, the blood of one of the community members splatters upon the snow at their feet, as the hunter drops dead just behind the box. From across the lake, Tessa uses the rifle displayed on the wall to buy the girls extra time after overhearing the roaring horns. After another two hunters drop dead, the raging community begins to take notice, ordering their hunters to fire at the house. “We’d appreciate getting that wall down right about now!” Tessa shouts, listening to Warren rain down blows upon the splintering wood. Sending off further shots, Tessa spots Rena and Marlhy through the scope as they retrieve a cloth bag of small guns from deep within the Neptune Box’s chambers. Despite the fall of Neptune City around them, Marlhy and Rena fight on behalf of it, outmanning the hunters and dodging their arrows, with their bows being no match for a modern war zone’s best friend. Running from the middle of the cape, Marlhy and Rena dodge more raining arrows and continue matching fire. Keeping up with the overwhelming soldiers, Marlhy and Rena take further cover beneath and behind the fallen cabins. Continuing to fire shots from the other side of the lake, Tessa hears the work of the core behind her begin paying off, with the sound of damp wood bouncing off laid concrete. “We’re in!” Warren shouts, leading the remaining competitors into the depths of the home below. Calling for Tessa, still solely focused on evening the odds at the cape, Rick swallows his pride and tells the group below not to go far. Running into the bedroom of the home, Rick takes his prior experience with firearms and knows exactly where to look for them. Ripping the frame off the closet door, Rick pulls a hidden rifle from within, opting to join Tessa in bringing the fight to whatever threatens the men and women they were forced to leave behind. “You’ve gotta go, Rick!” Tessa says, comforted in the man’s guarantee that he is not going to leave her out to dry. Pulling off a few shots of his own, nearly every one of them hitting their mark, Rick takes aim for the figure in charge and pulls the trigger, only able to graze the top of his head. “Charge forward!” the leader shouts, using his fellow community members as shields in a refusal to take any further gunfire himself. “I don’t wanna waste ammo” Tessa says, firing off the savages threatening Marlhy and Rena as the girls pick out enough time to advance onwards. Sliding down a hill, Austin covers his head, bracing for impact as arrows fall into the snow just ahead, forcing him to slide away in order to dodge them. Looking up, Austin spots a singular molotov ripping through the skies just over him, directly in his line of sight. Digging his hands into the snow and pushing forwards, Austin keeps the pace of his descent increasing until the molotov shatters directly behind him, leaving a spray of flames in its wake. Sliding to the bottom of the hill and taking a few rolls in order to do so, Austin climbs to his feet and keeps running, the wind decreasing in speed and allowing him to stand a fighting chance. Hidden beneath the puffy white snow, Michael watches through the small hole in his covering as the hunters hurry past him, almost completely forgetting he was still there. As he watches, one of the horde of hunters drops to the ground beside him at the behest of a bullet from across the lake. Placing his finger to his lips and hushing down the hunter, barely clinging to life as her face meets his, Michael prys from her hand two molotov cocktail bottles and a lighter. The lone man completely behind the community, Michael climbs from his snowy white cover and lights the two bottles up. “‘Sup fuckers!” Michael shouts, launching the bottles at large pacts of the group, setting them alight and forcing them to the ground. “Retreat!” the leader shouts, running away from the battle and leading whomever remains alive back into the abyss, intending t live to fight another day. Following after Austin, the remaining three in the group begin their descent, reuniting with the man mostly responsible for getting them out alive amidst an arrow gravesite. “Come on!” Marlhy shouts, spreading the wealth of firearms to the members of the group still in need of it, their ammunition-short rifles no longer needing to be their only lifeline with an alternative coming into play. Across the lake, Tessa and Rick fire off a few final shots before returning to their group and descending into the echo chamber that rests below the home. “What is this place?” Tessa asks, listening to the sound of water droplets colliding with the stone below. “It’s not a basement, I’ll tell you that” Rick replies, walking into the dark cavern only illuminated by the light in the living room of the cozy home above. | “It’s almost like it’s not fair sometimes, y’know?” Harper says, going on about how many turns life can have that are only done to make the lives of people that go through it worse. “I laugh at it sometimes, because no one ever really cares about what happens, it’s a joke to them” Harper admits, referring to the world as one selfish whirlpool of self-aggrandizement. “I’m tired of people calling for change and saying they care, and then being convinced by the same lies we’ve always been fed!” The wind outside beginning to wind down, Harper barely notices it, continuing to rant about the state of the world and the people within it. “It makes you question yourself sometimes. Like we begin to wonder if we’re the only ones seeing these things happen.” Looking above at the sight of the darkened sky, watching the snowflakes violently fall off to the side and out of sight. “Maybe I’m just looking too far into things… Maybe it’s not as complex as I make it out to be” the girl admits, waiting for the wind to stop snapping so she can pull Len to safety. Breathing a sigh of relief and laughing at the heavens, Harper tumbles out of her train of thought to lean over and tell Len that the winds are finally calming down. Staring at her with a glassy look, Len sits there silently, waiting for the final touches to be put on controlling the actions of the heavens. Playfully elbowing him in the arm, Harper waits for a smile, only to find his head drop down, staring at the floor with the same glassy gaze. Calling for the man and lightly shoving him, Harper begs for a response to no use. “Len, we’re almost out of here!” Harper says, the tears beginning to run down her face, this time without being stopped. The instant shock wearing off, Harper breaks down with her head on Len’s chest, apologizing for not making good on her promise. The wind having finally stopped, though having taken its sweet time in doing so, Harper climbs out and sits in the snow, looking to the cliff that caused this. Alone, without food, water, or protection from the elements, Harper just lays onto her back and hopes she’ll wake up, and everything will have been returned to normal. Occasionally accompanied by the sound of rippling winds, Harper rests there with her eyes closed until she decides that waiting to die isn’t good enough. With her bare hands, Harper covers the shack beneath snow, effectively turning the shack into Len’s coffin and burying him. Once sealed, Harper ventures out into the tundra and awaits the sweet release of death to claim her as its own. Bracing herself against the frigid temperatures, Harper walks for a few minutes before spotting a space hidden behind a small amount of snow a few hundred feet away from her. With her frozen hands, Harper digs the snow away from the spot and notices the entry to an a space located deep underground. Stumbling inside, Harper steps on a pile of loose rocks and falls to the ground, sliding down a path of dirt before dropping a few more feet to sturdier ground. Groaning in pain as the numbing sensation of her fingers stiffening guides the bruising of her back being ran into the ground throughout her body. Climbing to her feet, Harper begins following the dark and empty tunnel system until she spots a light just around a corner not far ahead. With whatever strength she has, Harper waits for whomever controls the light to put her down, only to bring herself to a stop, her eyes widening as she sees it turn the corner. Her eyebrows raising as the warm light graces her face, Harper drops to the ground, staring at the wall beside her as hurried footsteps inch closer to her. Having remained awake throughout the night, sitting at a small table in the corner of her quarters, watching for Marlhy and Rena’s return with her replacements, Tessa grows antsy. “When the fuck is the sun gonna come up?” Tessa mutters to herself, fighting the urge to fall asleep as her head rests against the palm of her hand for support. Throughout the sleepless night, she can hear the sounds of dragging in the snow, writing it off as the other competitors cleaning up the campfire.
Staring out into the polar night, Tessa feels the need to sleep constantly trying to pull her in, only for the necessity to greet Rena and Marlhy back to keep her going. Fluttering her eyes just to have something to focus on, Tessa gives up on the observation she’d spent roughly two hours devoting her time to in favor of grabbing a quick cup of coffee. Pressing the button to start the machine, Tessa walks over to a tiny set of drawers and picks out a blank white mug. The barebones lack of a message or design mirrors the look in the woman’s eyes, continuing to stare out of the window from afar, hoping to catch the sight of four competitors appearing over the horizon. Before long, a few minutes pass without Tessa even realizing, prompting her to turn around and begin the process of hoping coffee will make the task easier. Much to her surprise, the coffee machine has yet to warm up, and furthermore, had not even powered on in the first place. Assuming that, in her daze, she had simply not pressed the correct button, she corrects her presumed mistake to no avail. Pulling the machine forward to check the cord, still plugged in much as it was the day prior, Tessa begins to wonder whether or not the power for the cape had gone out. Wiping her eyes in an attempt to fight off the tunnel vision, Tessa braces against the cold through her front door and behind her cabin home. The wind bringing more of a bite than it usually tends to, Tessa wraps the puffy sweater tightly around her body as the generator appears around the corner of her cabin. Untouched, Tessa finds nothing unusual about the machine, baffled by the true reason for the electricity being completely out. Turning around to return to her home, accepting that coffee will not be an option tonight, she notices something more off about the cape than she originally thought it to be. Despite all the questions surrounding the fake cameras and microphones, Tessa wonders why this terrible feeling, one worse than the uncertainty of their current predicament, looms over her like a dark cloud on a sunny day. Marching back to the front of her house and continuing her march into the center of the cape, Tessa notices the campfire still raging, having yet to be put out. Having assumed one of the three would have taken care of it earlier, Tessa marches to one of the cabins, Liz’s to be specific. As soon as she sets her sights on the wooden cabin, Tessa notices a thick black smoke rising into the air behind the locked door. Hurrying forward, Tessa begins pounding on Liz’s door, shouting her name loudly in hopes that the woman inside will hear her. “Tessa, what’s wrong?” Liz asks, wiping her eyes and emerging from Warren’s cabin with him right behind. “What’s going on?” Rick shouts, walking through his front door before noticing the same thick smoke that caught Tessa’s attention, immediately realizing what the issue is. “Fire!” Rick shouts, hurrying to the cabin and kicking the door in, sending the loose wood flying into the structure as the raging inferno inside becomes clear. “Oh shit!” Tessa shouts, looking to Warren and Liz, instructing them to get buckets from the lake and start dumping it on the fire. Doing as told, Warren and Liz fight off the timid temperatures in their scurry to the edge of the cape, whilst Tessa and Rick do what they can to lower the flames. Picking up snow from the ground and chucking it into the cabin, Tessa and Rick fight off the horrifying heat, wiping off sweat as they desperately try to persevere. “Holy shit!” Warren shouts, he and Liz returning with two buckets just in time to look directly at the opposite side of the cape. Turning around to confront the pair’s sights, Tessa and Rick find their hopes depleted as they realize that every vacant cabin from the night prior had been set ablaze in an attempt to burn the cape down. “Gather your shit” Rick shouts, repeating the order even louder when Warren asks for clarification. “Grab what you need, we need to get moving now!” Rick repeats for a third time, the conclusion of his instruction just barely beating the Neptune Box, which goes off for no reason, blaring off into the dark night sky, and acting as a beacon centralized on the home of every visiting competitor. “Come on, let’s go!” Rick shouts for a fourth and final time, finally spitting enough motivation to the trio to start packing up their belongings and begin hitting the road. Grabbing a few changes of clothes, a few basic survival necessities and a few other minor emergency tools, Tessa returns to the center of the cape with the three and aim for the cabin across the lake. Kicking up snow in the direction they aim to take, the four group members take a moment to look back at the cape, watching it slowly burn to the ground beneath the dark, starry sky. “Wait! What about Rena and all of them?” Tessa shouts, looking towards Rick, trusting him to know what he’s doing marching them out of the cape. Without missing a beat, Rick tells Tessa that the four can handle themselves, and they’ll know where to find them when they get back. Returning to the fight against the elements, Tessa and the rest march onwards with the raging fire behind them serving as the perfect backdrop to their daring escape. Leaving the cape behind, moving on to fending for themselves in the rugged, frost-bite inducing environment officially turns what was once a game into a fight for survival, with the only lifeline to the outside world resting in the hopeless hands of people that sat back and let it happen. = Neptune City is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards = “What the fuck is that!?” Harper says, forced out of her sleep by the sudden, shocking and pulsating sounds of the Neptune Box going off a few miles out. “Do you hear that?” Harper asks, watching Len’s eyes dash open, realizing exactly what it is and where. “For the second time tonight?” Harper asks, watching Len tilt his head and make for the exit to the tent. Standing out in the open, looking towards the cape before gazing at the sky, Len asks Harper how long they had been asleep. “I don’t have a watch, I don’t know” Harper replies, watching Len stare out at the completely dark night, looking at it as if it shouldn’t exist. “What’s your problem with the sky, Len?” Harper asks, letting out a stretch as she joins her counterpart outside of the tent, beginning to notice something feeling off. “It’s been dark for a really long time” Len mutters, scanning the sky for any signs of light, with a sunrise being due for any moment, only to show no signs of arriving. “What does that mean?” Harper asks, her breath leaving a thick white cloud in her sights as Len begins voicing his worried concern. “I think we’re starting to get that eternal darkness thing the producers were talking about” Len declares, realizing the sunrise that is due to come, almost certainly won’t. “So we’re just in the dark for the next however fucking long?” Harper asks, watching Len’s sights refuse to leave the sky. “It’s two months. And the answer you’re looking for is ‘yes’” Len replies, placing his hands to his hips as the realization of being at the start of a sun-less two months becomes a nuisance. Before long, Len’s sights remove themselves from the sky and return to the direction of the cape, hearing the Neptune Box continue to sound off. Suddenly, the blaring alarms of the cape’s namesake raises a few decibels in pitch, becoming less of an alarm and more of a squealing, nails-on-chalkboard. Making his dumbfounded confusion audible, Len climbs to the top of a snow bank, trying to get a better look at what is causing the god awful screech. Doing his best to look, the issue of what’s going on with the cape becomes secondary, as a new issue solely of Len’s concern takes priority. Falling to his hands and knees, Len notices the reverberating sounds of the Neptune Box beginning to shift the snow currently supporting his weight. “Stand back!” Len shouts, spotting out Harper ready to climb atop the snowbank and putting an end to it immediately. Turning around to question what he could be falling into if the snow bank collapses, Len’s calm demeanor takes a shift when his horrifying discovery comes to life. Speechless with his mouth agape, Len carefully turns back to face Harper once he notices the steep, snow-covered cliff sixty feet below serving as anything other than his safety net. “Harper, move away from the slope very carefully” Len instructs, asking the woman not to ask questions, and instead just do as told. Carefully moving back, Harper watches the snow at the bottom of the slope begin to ruffle, the support beneath Len becoming less supportive by the second. Slowly crawling forward, Len attempts to get himself in position to slowly slide down the sled-like formation of snow to safety, only for the massive chunk of ice supporting the slope to begin shaking rapidly. “Watch out!” Len shouts, realizing the shaking of the slope only grows in pace the longer it goes on, watching the slope give way as Harper disappears over the edge of the cliff. Screaming out the man’s name, Harper is helpless to do anything more than watch Len sink below the lip of the cliff, dropping near-seventy feet below with the chunk of ice he stood on seconds prior, disappearing beneath the all-encompassing soft blanket of white. Carefully crawling over to the new beginning of the cliff, Harper looks down to notice Len having completely vanished, with the only remnants of the glacier-like support being a small chunk unsubmerged. Looking around for a way to reach Len, Harper quickly realizes that the only method of reaching Len is by taking the hard way down. Looking back to the lake, the direction of the cabin and the direction of the cape, Harper screams for help for the obvious lack of response. Feeling the cold winds dashing across her face with no remorse, Harper acts on her instincts alone, standing to her feet and taking in a deep, heavy breath. Glancing down at the sea of puffy white below, Harper closes her eyes, refusing to let any fear of heights dissuade her. The exhilarating sensation of the cold, bitter wind scratching away at her skin, Harper feels the warmth of her blood circulating, taking her mind off of the fear of what rests far below in the underbelly of Barrow. Ready to accept whatever comes next, Harper lunges forward and says a quick prayer on her way down, plummeting to the soft tundra below. Her hair flying uncontrollably with wherever the wind elects to take it, Harper watches the lip of the cliff quickly overtake her as seconds turn into minutes. Finally, Harper crashes into the thick coating of white, disappearing beneath the surface and coming to a stop entrenched in darkness. The hardest part out of the way, Harper gathers her bearings, the impact having taken some of her breath away, and begins crawling her way out of her frozen grave. Finally back to being able to see the starry night, Harper smiles and catches her breath before remembering why she took the journey down. Shoveling out whatever snow she can find, the frightened girl, desperate to ensure her fellow competitor doesn’t freeze to death, digs for ages where she thinks Len to have landed. Stopping for a second to compose herself, Harper overhears the largely muffled sounds of someone desperate to grab her attention. Burying her hands into the snow, doing whatever she can to unearth the man clinging to hope to live another day, Harper finally begins to her the cries for help become clearer. “Keep shouting, Len!” Harper calls out, refueling Len with the hope he needs to keep expending his energy until he feels her gloved hand scrape the snow away from his skin. Mostly uncovered, Len claws his way out with his pins-and-needles feeling fingers with assistance from his hero. “Can you walk?” Harper asks, swiping the rest of the snow off of him as he struggles to find the strength to even sit up. “Ah shit, it hurts. It hurts” Len calls out, his back having been royally screwed up from the fall. Whilst the wounded man tends to his injuries, Harper desperately looks around in hopes of uncovering anywhere worthy of settling into. “Come on, Len!” Harper calls out, putting the man’s arm around her shoulder and helping him to his feet, taking into the groans of pain as he puts even more pressure on his already battered body. “You can do this, Len. I believe in you, you can do this” Harper assures, partially walking on behalf of the man as they near a formation in the rocks offering them enough shelter from the freezing winds for at least the night. | Refusing to waste any time to stop, Michael pauses the midst of their escape to unload his latest meal into the snow, staining it a mixture of red and brown. “I’m fine, let’s keep moving” Michael replies to Rena’s verbal concern, looking towards Marlhy, who follows the group whilst walking backwards, keeping her rifle pointed straight in case the sight of a massive angry butcher appears over the horizon. “We can’t go back to camp” Austin says, “I’m not gonna put everyone else at risk like that.” Looking towards Rena, Austin notices a pain-ridden glimmer in her eyes, telling her that he knows something’s wrong. “I’m pressing the button” Rena replies, the words bringing Austin and Michael to a stop, whilst being the first things said to get Marlhy to turn away from the ghost town behind them. “You can’t leave!” Michael says, forcing his words out despite the awful effects of the concussion making him want to simply pass out. “Can we not forget that you almost got butchered and eaten? Like… literally butchered and eaten…” Rena says, looking to Marlhy, and making sure to remind everyone that she had to kill two people. “Thank you for using the proper reason” Marlhy replies, showing her gratitude for Rena not outright calling her a heartless murderer. “You did what you had to do, Mar” Rena replies, “And I think we all need to get the fuck out of here before something else goes wrong.” Looking at the three competitors surrounding her, Rena hopes for the thought of winning one million dollars to not have already consumed them. “We can’t stay here. This is not what we signed up for, and one way or another, we’ll all most likely be killed if we don’t leave” Rena says, watching the trio hang their heads. “I know it’s a big deal, but look around you. Just fucking look!” Rena shouts, watching everyone look at the effects the game has already had on each other. Austin carrying a near-helpless Michael sporting a white shirt stained with his vomit, and Marlhy aiming a gun at nothing in case she needs to take another life. “Okay” Michael says, the first to relent and accept that the game is no longer worth competing in. One down, Rena looks to Austin and waits for his response, hurt when his depressed nod of compliance is the only thing he can muster to respond with. Finally, her gun aimed to the ground, Marlhy puckers her lips and tilts her head, keeping eye contact with Rena as she inconspicuously pushes her head forward, giving Rena the confirmation she needed to get on the way. Nearing the landing strip, Rena pauses for a second and turns towards the trio, taking in a deep breath and flashing them a smile. Within moments, Rena looks to the group and places her hand over the button, watching the three follow her lead. “In it together until the end” Rena says aloud, pushing her hand down with her departing brothers and sister and officially taking herself out of the equation. “That’s it” Marlhy says, the pain she expected to resonate through her words being replaced with a sense of fulfillment, knowing that the trials and tribulations have finally been put to rest. “And now we wait” Rena says, unsure of what to do next other than take a seat in the soft snow, setting the tone for the other to follow suit, sitting in a small circle, waiting to be plucked out of the game like any other defeated chess piece. | Woken up by the thunderous sounds of someone pounding away at the front door, Natalie jolts in her chair whilst Charlie drops to the floor. Hushing him down, Natalie leaps over his prone body laid out on the floor and hurries to the door, staring at the face of Tessa through the peephole. “What are you guys doing out here?” Natalie asks, watching Tessa and co. rush into the living room and make a break for ay source of warmth they can find. “The cape burned down!” Tessa replies through her struggle to rip off her puffy coat. “What are you talking about?” Charlie asks, looking across the lake at the black smoke rising into the sky, splashing the cape like a smoke signal for all to see. “What the fuck happened?” Natalie asks, walking away from the window as Charlie remains looking out, watching Tessa hastily explain that they all went up when they were asleep. “That’s what happened, but I’m asking you how it happened” Natalie repeats, watching Tessa throw her arms out as she collapses onto the couch, unable to give her the answer she was looking for. “This is ridiculous” Charlie says, walking up the four and almost losing his composure whilst he stares them down. “You’re telling me all of our shit went up in flames and burned to the ground, and you’ve got no fucking clue how it happened?” Charlie calls, Natalie holding his arm to calm him down. “I don’t know what you want me to say” Tessa admits, “I’d been waiting for Rena and Marlhy to get back and noticed the power was out. That’s when I realized something was off.” Ready to flip out knowing everything he owned was set alight across the lake, Charlie gives up on the frustration and sinks into a chair, wallowing in the knowledge that his belongings were one with the embers now. “Where’s Harper and Len?” Warren asks, using a towel to wipe away the hot water from his face as Tessa, Rick and Liz realize they had never returned to the cape. “You never passed them?” Charlie asks, Natalie adding in the possibility of having possibly seen them on their journey over. “No, we haven’t seen them since they left” Rick says, his worry mirroring the worry of the rest of the group, knowing Harper and Len to still be out in the tundra with no way of knowing what had happened. “What do we do now?” Warren asks, his exhaustion turning itself into anger as he notes that Rena and Marlhy didn’t return with Michael and Austin either. “Hold up, Michael and Austin didn’t come back?” Natalie asks, further throwing fuel onto the flames of confusion as yet another problem slowly uncovers itself. “So our home burned to the ground, we’re missing half our group, and the sun ain’t coming back for two months?” Charlie asks, sadly unsurprised at how much had gone wrong. Hitting the hammer on the head with his first two concerns, Tessa finds herself unable to get past the final note. “Are you talking about the darkness thing the producers were saying?” the woman asks, her eyes taking the trip to the other end of the home as Charlie points to it, pointing out the lack of sun despite it currently being fifteen minutes until noon. “I thought the long night wasn’t for another month?” Warren says, leaping from his seat and running at the clock. “Guys, it’s February 5th” Charlie says, noting how much their bodies have been thrown off. The wind only gaining in speed as it slams against the window like a baseball, the creepy feeling that this is starting to turn sour quickly is only aided by the missing half of the game. “So what now?” Rick asks, standing in the doorway of the bathroom as everyone else bows their heads, unable to conjure up a worthy response. “Oh you fucking bastards” Rick says, turning to walk through the door as Liz starts to tell Rick to ease on the name calling, only for the eldest man of the group to lose it. “Shut up, Liz. You know damn well Michael and Austin wouldn’t out there if it wasn’t for you crying wolf!” Rick shouts, watching Liz burst from her seat. “I wasn’t lying you fucking jerk!” Liz retorts, walking up to the man and getting in his face. “At least I’m not a selfish asshole trying to sabotage the game for the rest of us!” Liz concludes, ultimately crossing the lines of what is an isn’t acceptable, stumbling upon ground she is perhaps better off leaving untouched. “Hell, how do we know you didn’t start the fire, huh?” Liz asks, pointing the wrong finger, realizing such almost immediately. In a way he has yet to react with, Rick stares at her with disgust, mouth slightly hung as he shakes his head at her and storms through the front door. Not one to agree with, or even necessarily like Rick, Tessa notices the hurt expression of being betrayed to be nothing shy of genuine, ultimately choosing to quickly throw her boots back on and rush through the door after him. “Rick! Stop!” Tessa shouts, running after an angered man heading back into the direction of the cape. “Fuck off Tessa, go back inside!” Rick shouts, having suffered experiencing the straw that broke the camel's back, and no longer in the mood to talk as a result. Reaching out for his arm, Tessa pulls back when the man quickly turns around and tells her to leave him alone and go back to the kids. “I don’t give a fuck whether or not you entitled pieces of shit like me or not, but to think I’d burn down the cape to win a stupid fucking game is where I draw the line.” Ready to turn around and walk away, Rick can’t help but be drawn back into Tessa, who stands there silently, unmoving and waiting for Rick to continue, willing to listen. “I don’t know what your generation has, but mine has values. I hesitate to believe you all, but I would never take the cheap road to win anything!” In most cases, the people of Rick’s age that Tessa would have met outside of Barrow would have said much the same, but their declarations of what they value in life never appeared as sincere as Rick’s did right now. A man that doesn’t care to be liked or appreciated, but instead, caring about the way he is viewed as an individual. He may not be the most compassionate, but the value he holds higher than the rest is his dignity, and purposefully setting the cape alight goes against all of that. “Now seriously, fuck off!” Rick shouts, knowing the cabin is the only feasible source of warmth, but unwilling to share it with individuals suspecting him of such a disgraceful act. Continuing to walk off as the remaining competitors stare at the pair through the window, Rick watches Tessa run in front of him, cutting him off from the rest of the wasteland before wrapping her arms around him and catching him off guard. Surprised by this action, Rick stands there, just staring at Tessa as she hugs him, hoping for her actions to serve as the apology on Liz’s behalf. “I’m sorry for what Liz said” Tessa says, throwing a verbal apology in for good measure, “You didn’t deserve that.” Knowing most people would have just let him walk off and deal with his pain alone, Rick finds the sincerity in Tessa’s apology in the same way she found sincerity in his declaration of innocence. Finally taking the hint, Rick returns the favor, hugging Tessa back and thanking her for the apology. After a few seconds, the pair break the hug, and Tessa asks Rick to rejoin the group in an effort to get the other half back safely. Starting to feel the effects of the cold only growing harsher as time passes, Rick nods and tucks his arms together, returning to the cabin beside Tessa, ready to find a solution. | “Where the fuck are they?” Marlhy shouts, hushing herself down when she recalls the cannibals possibly hunting them down. “It’s been like an hour!” Marlhy continues, looking towards Rena as she feels the bite of the cold traveling down her shirt whilst she paces for warmth. “Guys, if they don’t come soon, I’m gonna take Michael back to the cape” Austin says, watching Michael refuse the plan, assuring everyone that he’s still well enough to wait for the producers. “Well if they don’t get here soon, we’re all gonna freeze to death” Marlhy says, standing to her feet and readying her rifle in case anyone happens to appear over the horizon. “I’m getting pissed off” Rena says, trying to persevere through the cold that had managed to turn her entire face numb within the first fifteen minutes of waiting. Her legs trembling with anger, Marlhy grits her teeth, continuing to stare off at the sky in hopes of spotting the lights of a plane nearing close. “Where the fuck are they!?” Marlhy shouts again, kicking the metal pole the red button sits atop in frustration, quickly becoming shocked when the post easily topples over to the ground. “Fuck, did I break it?” Marlhy shouts, the desire to leave now that their fates have been sealed driving her to wanting nothing more than to get out of the tundra. Without responding, Rena reaches down and picks up the post, immediately noticing something horribly off about it. “What?” Marlhy asks, “Is it broken?” Turning the post upside down to reveal an empty end attached to nothing, Rena replies in the most despairaging way. “It’s not plugged into anything” Rena replies, watching the sour expressions on everyone’s faces turn into ones of immediately grief as the woman easily pops the red button off the top, revealing it to have been nothing more than a prop. “The button doesn’t work?” Austin asks, immediately one-upped by Rena, insisting that not only does the button not work, but that it was never real in the first place. “Wait, so they’re not coming?” Marlhy asks, watching Rena depressingly shake her head. “So you’re saying we’re still stuck here?” Michael asks, watching Rena look at him, holding the pole in one hand and the button in the other. “I’m saying we can’t get out!” Rena replies, watching the dread come over the faces of Austin and Marlhy, whilst Michael retires to the notion that there truly is no escape from Barrow. Dropping to her knees, Marlhy watches Rena take a seat in the snow once more, ready to give up. Fighting his way to his feet with the will to live still very much intact, Michael begins brushing Austin off, heading for the cape. “Michael, you need to rest” Rena says, watching the man turn around and bark at her that she needs to get off her ass and keep fighting. “If these asshole aren’t coming for us, then you need to choose whether you lay down and die or fight to live!” Michael shouts, throwing up almost immediately thereafter. “Michael, we need to get you some help” Austin says, watching the man he’s trying to look out for turn around and snap back at him. “Didn’t you fucking hear me?” Michael asks, “It’s OVER! They’re not coming!” Staring at the distraught trio he’s just about ready to leave behind to freeze, Michael fights through his injuries and tells the group the way it’s going to be from now on. “We’ve got uncivilized cannibals hunting us like wolves, and we’re just sitting on our asses. So either get up and let’s go home, or sit here and die… Either way, I know what I’m doing!” Pushing Austin away, Michael begins walking back to the cape, leaving behind the rest of the group to decide for themselves. Shrugging his shoulders towards the girls, Austin hurries over to Michael and helps support him on his journey back to the cape. Looking to each other to make the decision for them, Rena and Marlhy both decide to keep the fight going, standing to their feet and catching up the men, returning to camp as the stakes get raised even further. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2022
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