ORPHEUS - A.I.

Chapter Twenty Eight: SIM-I ( Simulation One)

It was a rainy night once again. The rain fell heavily on the concrete roof of the bunker and the deafening noise of the thunder echoed through the black skies. The tall trees swayed in the strong winds and the thick grasslands danced frantically. Hex peered through the half open bunker door as he sat guarding the entrance with his comrades. He saw the lightning crackling down on the forests up ahead and the whole place lit up for a second- he had never seen such a storm in his life. He knew he had to be alert at all times for any moment the creatures would come looking for the survivors. According to Anthea, once they caught your scent, they never forget and they will keep looking for you until they find you. He had his hybrid shot gun at the ready and looked at the two old men guarding with him. They could barely lift the guns but this was all the help he could get for the rest were busy preparing weapons and armour for the final battle. For now the security of the central shaft was his responsibility and he could not afford any mistakes.

He kept close look at the treeline on the north although he could barely see anything in the dark. He knew that this waa the direction that the creatures would come from because an attack from the south or back of the bunker was nearly impossible due to the difficult terrain. As his tired eyes kept scanning the area he noticed a spark towards the east that seemed to come an go in an instant. He thought he was seeing things. But as soon as he looked the other way- he saw it again through the corner of his eye- a burst of lightning. He kept waiting and staring towards the eastern side and suddenly there it was again- a burst of bright light in the middle of the sky- almost like a short circuit in an electronic equipment. He took out his binoculars and looked again and again after a few seconds the sky lit up through the storm. He wasn't sure whether it was a lightning strike or something artificial but he knew that this place was full of surprises and so he waited until it striked again. There was a 5 second gap between the bursts and the sky was literally lighting up in the east every now and then.

"What on earth is that?", he wondered.

There was a knock at the door and Megan woke up immediately. She raised her head and looked around. She had completely forgotten that she was in the underground tunnels and not at Orwell's rooms. After all she had gotten used to the luxurious lifestyle in there. The old bed creaked as she got up. She noticed she still wearing the same dress, it had gotten dirty and worn out. Her shirt was torn a bit near the elbow and her pants were soiled at the knees. She wanted to wash herself as soon as possible and change her clothes, but she remembered she hadn't brought any belongings with her. Suddenly she recalled the happenings of the day before and a sudden chill ran down her heart. The knocking grew louder, Megan opened the door. There was a little girl.

"Aunty Anthea wants you to come with me to the hall...She wants to speak to you...", the girl said.

"Ok... let's go...", replied Megan smiling at the child. She walked across the long corridor and through the door into the main hall where Anthea was waiting for her.

Megan noticed men and women of different ages busy with their chores. Some were preparing food, others sharpening their tools, while some others were busy arguing over something. Hex and Andre were already sitting at their chairs having some hot water and a piece of bread. Anthea sat on a chair talking to them.

"Ah! there you are... had a good sleep?", asked Anthea turning towards Megan.

"Yes, thank you...", replied Megan and sat down on a chair besides her.

Hex nodded at her, she nodded and smiled back.

Megan noticed that there was little sunshine in the hall, but then she remembered that they were underground. She saw two little windows at the ceiling and wondered why they were build there.

"Here's some breakfast for you my dear...", said Anthea as she handed a piece of bread and a cup of warm water.

"We are a modest lot... we do what we can to survive here...I remember you having a lot of questions yesterday, I'll answer all of them... but first let me tell you about this place...", said Anthea.

Megan did have a lot of questions but she didn't know if she should trust them. Nevertheless she quietly sipped her water and listened to what Anthea had to say.

"This room- the tunnels were all built as a part of a project- the tunnels stretch in all directions from north to south, east to west and they open up in various parts of the jungle and swamps. This as you can see is the main hall... that door from which you entered leads to the corridor to which many rooms are attached... and it's not always this dark here... those windows let in sunlight every now and then, but its a cloudy day today...", Anthea said.

Megan choked a little on the dry tasteless bread. How did Anthea know that she was thinking about the darkness in the room?

Anthea continued -

"My name's Anthea, that's Chuck over there and that mean looking lady over there is Nina..."

"The forests and the grasslands that you have seen are a part of Purgatory- there's no exit out of this place and it seems that the forest stretches on for infinity...No matter how far you go - it doesn't end - it never ends!"

"Hmm but how did you get here in the first place? Did they kidnap you too? ", asked Hex interrupting Anthea.

" Unlike you we chose to come here...", said Anthea.

" What? But that was two years ago you said?", asked Megan.

"Yes, things were a little different back then, this whole place was used to be a retreat filled with natural beauty. Beautiful landscapes, exotic plants and wild animals... but one day it all suddenly went downhill...there used to be more than hundred of us here, but only fifteen remain...", Anthea replied.

"Huh? What happened to the rest?", asked Andre.

"Purgatory took them!" she replied with a sigh.

"I don't understand...what do you mean Purgatory took them?", asked Megan.

"Alan Devonshire created this place so that people can take some time off from their busy lives and spend a few days in peace. Many people were excited to come here and I too signed up. Back in the city I used to be an accountant, working 10 hours a day and leading a busy life. I thought coming here would give me some rest. So I signed up alongwith my colleague Linda and we both came here. At first everything was peaceful...we spent a few days in peace, enjoying the natural beauty. But things started to happen...", Anthea replied and paused for a moment- recalling those days brought back those ugly memories she had buried inside her long ago.

"What kind of things?", asked Hex

"Ah... bad things. As far as I know, Devonshire left command and control of this place with an artificial intelligence. It was somehow connected to every living, organism in purgatory except the humans and it could control them...I don't know how... Thr animals in here were peaceful and calm and never hurt any human beings. So some of us took advantage of them. They started hunting them for fun, a few of them started to poach. Of course most of us were against all of this, but we couldn't do anything to stop this. You see we had subscribed to be alone in this place for a month and we weren't supposed to be contacted from the outside world and we had also given up our cellphones and laptops away. Hence we had no way to contact the authorities about this miscreants, instead we thought it best to ignore it...", Anthea said.

"Wait! How did they hunt those animals?They brought guns in here?", Megan asked.

"Unfortunately everyone was picked up from their homes and brought here and their belongings were not thoroughly checked. After all who thought someone would bring a gun to a peaceful nature retreat...but I think those guys had planned ahead...", Anthea continued-

"We had only three days left in our retreat- and then it happened. One of the poachers was attacked by a wild animal and killed in the middle of the night. We were shocked. The next morning three other hunters were attacked in broad daylight by a strange looking wild animal - it had six legs and a huge head with razor sharp teeth- it looked something like a dog but it had the body of a tiger. None of us had seen such a creature in our lives. The following night more creatures attacked our camps- all of them looked like monsters- they were not the animals we had seen before. We were scared and we wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible but the following morning we knew it was impossible to get out of here alive- we were all gonna die!!",

Anthea paused a bit and looked towards the people who were busy with their chores. Megan was staring at her, age had definitely caught up to her but she was still pretty- her worn out jacket was the proof that she had been through a lot in this place, there was sadness in her eyes but she hadn't given up hope.

"Aah!", Anthea drew a long breath and continued, " I wish I could turn back time... I wish I could unsee what I saw...for what happened the next morning was horrifying.We were woken up by the screams of people as they were being slaughtered by strange wild animals. They ravaged and tore through the camp destroying everything in their path. They were killing people like they were nothing but sacks of meat and bones. Those animals... they weren't natural...they were monsters.... something changed them-mutated them...Me and my friend Lily were lucky that we weren't in the camp and all we could do was watch with horror..."

"I don't understand... mutation? Animals turned into monsters? How's that even possible?", asked Hex.