Chapter 260: Boulder Creek.
Sunshine was about to stand and leave when Sister Anna said something that made her stop and look at the woman again.
"You may silence me, but you cannot silence us all." She said. "The divine miracle was witnessed by many people. Will you stuff clothes in all of our mouths?"
Sunshine scoffed. "Yes, but I am sure that I only need to shut yours. Father Nicodemus surprisingly understood his new reality quickly. You are the only lunatic I am worried about.
Even if this was a divine miracle, it is not yours. The wings are on the priest’s back, not yours. You have no idea how rough the world is out there so do not provoke me into sending you out as a lesson."
"The snake would gulp her down in one second." Carson said.
Sister Anna shuddered.
"Do we have an understanding?" Sunshine asked her.
"Yes we do." Carson replied.
Sunshine’s eyes remained focused on Sister Anna. "I want to hear it from her."
"Mmmm..." Dwayne made a sound, dangling the bright orange small towel that had been stuffed in Sister Anna’s mouth before."
Sister Anna looked reviled and she drew her head back. "Just keep him and that dirty rug away from me."
Sunshine smiled. "Then we understand each other. One wrong word out of you and I will move you into Dwayne’s house."
As sister Anna gasped again, Sunshine laughed and walked out of the house. It seemed like the problem had been handled for now. And hopefully, for five years. After the apocalypse ended, Sister Anna would be free to make whatever claim she wanted.
Sunshine hurried home to meet the rest of her family for breakfast. The table was noisy with Castiel sharing his dream and White deliberately suckling milk loudly.
"Mom, White is being a jerk." Earl complained.
Sunshine sighed.
Hades took the milk bottle from White. The bear cub climbed onto Sunshine’s lap and complained.
"Never a dull day around here." Sunshine declared as she gave White his bottle.
"And then the spider ate my head." Castiel said.
Sunshine and everyone turned their heads at the same time. They had stopped listening for a short moment. How had the story gone from harmless to head eating?
"Start over." Sunshine told him.
After breakfast, she dropped the children off at Rori’s place.
Her mother-in-law invited her inside while clutching her jacket around her body. Cold air was biting through the walls of the fortress and residents were advised to stay indoors especially the children.
"How are people without thermaline seeds and wood surviving?" Rori asked her.
"By staying indoors, barricading every window and door, wearing dozens of clothes and hugging each other." Sunshine replied.
Rori hugged Sunshine suddenly. "Thank God we have you. How would we have survived if you did not put all this together with Hades?"
Sunshine gently pushed the woman away. "Thank God indeed."
"Is it true that Father Nicodemus has wings?" She asked curiously. "There was no mass this morning. Everyone is saying he grew wings and cut off Maisy Gibson’s fingers. Some people are calling him a fallen angel."
Sunshine rolled her eyes. "That’s a new one. Please remind Lisha to announce that it is an awakening like any other."
Rori laughed. "Before they try to burn him at the stake."
Sunshine lingered for a moment at Rori’s door, making sure the children and White were settled. "Exactly. That or they start worshiping him. Pastor Salem’s base has enough such crazies. I will not have them here." She waved at the boys, including Leo. "Alright boys, I will see you soon."
"Bye mom." They said in unison.
She returned to her vehicle asked Day to drive to the medic bay. Sunshine planned to check on Sheldon. Phillip reported that the man had turned into a nightmare for the nurses.
He was demanding, stubborn, restless. She intended to give him a proper reality check, something to remind him that he was not a resident of the base_only a guest.
But as the car was about to branch of the main road, the familiar low hum began to chime at the back of her skull.
[Door to another world opens in thirty minutes, host are you interested.]
Oh. Right. That was today! She thought.
"Yes system, I am very interested." She wondered if she was going back to Veldek. Would she encounter the black bear? Her heart gave a small eager kick, she could not wait to smack it’s head if she went back there. "Day, drive me back home." She told the driver.
"Yes ma’am." The corporal turned the car around.
As soon as she was inside the house, she shed off the coat and headed to the bedroom. She dressed in appropriate travel attire; reinforced pants, high boots, bullet proof vest. Then she tied her tool belt around her waist and tucked some guns into the belt.
[00:50]
Sunshine exhaled slowly, steadying her breath when she heard the countdown.
"Alright, I am ready." She said mostly to herself.
If she returned to Veldek, she planned to hunt the creature. Then she remembered that she didn’t have to go alone she had two passes to take anyone of her choice.
"System wait....."
She said it too late for her body was being pulled by a force towards the portal. When she blinked again, Sunshine realized that she was in a different world_very different from Veldek.
"System where am I?"
[Planet: Boulder Creek
Classification: Post apocalyptic world
Estimated danger: Low]
The smile on Sunshine’s face vanished, she was not happy to be here. "Post apocalyptic? Like there was an apocalypse here too?"
[Yes host]
"Dammit." she muttered. The air was different, still and heavier even, it smelled like metal and burnt dust.
As she pulled on a mask over her face she observed her surroundings. She was standing in what looked like the remains of a city_or what was left of one after the world decided that it didn’t need people anymore. The sky hang low, painted in the color of old smoke. It looked like there was a sunlight, but it was filtered through a sickly brown haze.
"System scan this world for danger or opportunities."
[Scanning please wait...]
Sunshine took a chocolate out of her pocket, lowered her mask and put in her mouth. She looked around while waiting and all she could see were broken towers, collapsed bridges, and old machines buried in grey soil. The silence was enough to hear her breathing.
[Scanning complete]
The system displayed the results.
[Air quality: unsafe for long exposure, I recommend that you wear a portable breathing mask all the time.]
"System, what happened here?"
[Boulder Creek was once a technologically moderately advanced world. A new technology they developed caused a planetary shift. It came with dangerous effects. Mass tremors, rising fault lines, wild volcanic eruptions. It also caused chemical power plants to explode, leading to the death of the beings on this world. Those that survived did not last long because the air became toxic.]
"So there is no human life?"
[I would be surprised if there was but I cannot be certain there isn’t.]
Sunshine began to walk. The ground crunched beneath her boots. It wasn’t dirt. It was metal fragments, glass shards and ash that were infused together.
Everywhere she looked, the world was wounded_broken engines split forward like carcasses.
[Broken generator ahead.]
"Can it be repaired."
[Yes.]
Sunshine moved it into her space. All she saw were the points that she could earn from repairing the things she saw. Also a generator from a world whose technology had been more advanced than earth was a great find.
As she moved forward, she became more uneasy. The system had not detected danger or life. Why did it feel like she was being watched?