Story [Issue 34] Decay - Part 2

[S.C.Y.T.H.E 1,072]

Part Two

Read Part I Here

 

The boy's eyes fluttered open. Pitch darkness flooded his eyes. He attempted to stand up, he felt ropes around his body. Not ropes... it was simply a blanket, which he flung off. What happened? He stumbled forward in the darkness. His shoes knocked into something metallic... some kind of wall. Why were there no lights? Where was he?

He recalled the previous events. He had fallen from the helicopter.. then nothing. He felt entirely fine, in fact he felt better than he had the day before. At least, I hope it was yesterday.... He continued fumbling around his surroundings. Then, all of a sudden, blinding fluorescent light blared on. For a few seconds, the boy was nearly blinded. But his eyes adjusted, and he could make out the grimy interior of the room. It was built almost like the inside of a boat. Mildewed papers were strewn everywhere, plastic chairs lying on the floor. The cot he had been lying on was fractured in several places. The boy realized his clothes were damp. 

How had he gotten here?

The submarine-like door stood a crack open, and the boy swung it open. A hallway, dimly illuminated, ran both directions. But this is not what the boy noticed; he noticed the blaring alarm bells and panicked shouts. Still peering through the door, he could not see the source of the sound. He stepped out the hatch, and followed the hallway to the left. The hallway abruptly opened up, revealing the night sky. A strong breeze rushed through the air. The shouts were much louder, and flashlights illuminated his surrounding from a distance. The boy could smell the salt of the sea, and could here strong waves close by. Yet, it did not feel like he was on a boat. There was no rocking sensation. He walked towards the group of people bearing flashlights. He could make out a bit of the conversation.

"The government abandoned us? Just abandoned us?"

"Just like Rome and Brittany. We all knew this was coming anyway."

"How much time do we have?"

"An hour at most. You know how delicate the machinery is."

"The life boats seriously are gone?"

"Someone didn't fasten them down properly. They blew away."

"Wait, the entire rig will blow up in an hour?"

No one answered this last question. The boy now reached the group. An odd assortment, they were. About twenty people, mostly men, huddled together. The boy realized that he must be on some kind of off-shore Oil Rig. How did I get here? No one noticed the boy approach. But he was sick of questions, and he demanded,

"How did I get here?"

Everyone turned to face him. One man answered.

"You were a castaway. We found you floating half dead in the water, almost a day ago. We assumed you were dead by now."

'We assumed you were dead by now.' What? 

"What is happening?" The boy asked.

"The Oil Rig has no power. The pump is filling up with carbon and will probably explode within the hour. We are trying to evacuate. Through this tunnel. We are only a fourth of a mile away from land, we should be able to swim."

The man pointed at a narrow, dark shaft in the ground. 

How did I get to an oil rig.... 

None of this made any sense at all. First, he woke up with no memory with a strange, cryptic note. Then, he was attacked by random people, jumped into a helicopter, which exploded. And now I wake up on an Oil Rig. He continued pondering these questions for some time. 

He realized that the Oil-Rig workers were preparing to climb down the hole. Upon further inspection, he discovered that there was a steel ladder that descended into the darkness. The boy assumed that this would lead to the ocean below, to swim to land. One worker began climbing down the ladder. Then another. Not wanting to be last, the boy walked up to the hole. On a whim, the boy reached into his pockets. Sure enough, he found the piece of paper. But, the words on the paper were not the same. It read, Once more into the breach. Eerie, as he was about to climb down a dark hole into nothingness. The boy grasped the metal ladder, and went down, rung by rung.

Soon enough, it was impossible to see a thing. But below, far below, he could here the slosh of the Ocean. He continued shuffling, downward and downward.

After a couple minute of this, something went very, very wrong. With a cracking noise, the metal ladder fractured, five feet above where the boy clung. For several seconds, the ladder barely dangled together. Then, all was a dark rush.

For five harrowing seconds, the boy plummeted. He hit the water with a splash, but continued downward. He was tangled with the very heavy ladder. He sank, and sank the pressure building against his skull. Finally, slightly tearing his shirt, he broke free and surged upwards.

At least he thought it was upwards.

He swam hard, his lungs burning. The water was freezing cold and oddly familiar. He felt like his chest was going to burst, when his arms banged into something very solid. Metal. Frantically, he felt the surface for... anything. By some feat of luck, he found a pocket of air and surfaced. The boy realized it was a two foot groove in the metal surface. He gasped for air.

It was obvious. He was underneath the Oil Rig. But how would he get up? He decided to follow the groove. Hopefully, he would find a way out. But after tracing it for some time, it ended. The groove was more of an indented rectangle in the bottom of the Rig. 

Bewildered, he floated there for several minutes. Its a good thing I know how to swim... the boy thought. Then, everything came crashing apart. The shockwave hit him, along with a deafening sound. Orange-Red light instantly illuminated the icy abyss. The metallic surface tilted and began to sink. But, the boy saw a way out. He swam as fast as he could, the inferno lighting the sea. He broke out from under the plummeting Oil Rig, but realized he was still fifty feet under the Ocean's surface. However, something else drew is attention. A huge dark shape was gliding through the water. It was not a solid shape, more of a shadow. But there was nothing for this shadow to be reflected upon, and nothing that was creating the shadow. It was all very familiar. An eerie, voiceless voice entered his mind, yet he could not quite make out the words.

He couldn't make it. He was simply out of oxygen. But, he noticed a multitude of yellow objects floating up from the depths. Life jackets. He grabbed hold of one, and clung.

At some point, he realized he was still alive. He was floating in the surf, still grasping the bright yellow life jacket. He could feel sand beneath, and by the moonlight saw land ahead. He stood up, his legs two feet in the water.

But a throbbing, surging voice screeched through the air:

In the Beginning, the Earth was without form and was Void. My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works, ye mighty, and Despair!

 

The boy realized that he was the one uttering these words.

 

In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone, 

Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws 

The only shadow that the Desert knows: 

"I am great Ozymandias," saith the stone, 

"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows 

"The wonders of my hand." The City's gone, 

Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose 

The site of this forgotten Babylon. 

We wonder, and some Hunter may express 

Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness 

Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chase, 

He meets some fragments huge, and stops to guess 

What powerful but unrecorded race 

Once dwelt in that annihilated place.

 

To be continued...

Edited July 29, 2017 by Hexed

[jazz20 1,181]

:'( nice story.....

[genak138 950]

Is it just me, or are most of the stories in the newspaper a bit on the dark side now? :rolleyes:

Not saying it wasn't good, but maybe they should be different themes for those with different interests...

[liverpoolaum 811]

nice

[muaadh_the_dark 6]

i hate reading big topics but this was worth it

[Jboymark53 508]

Then what? we have to wait till June to find out?

[applications_tanki 129]

you should publish a book. :)