Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle

”Please... get me out of here.”

The rat remained silent for a moment, as if considering his request.

Then it nodded.

”Of course. We will save you.”

Gerald heard, and the next events happened fast... He could barely understand what was happening.

The rat climbed onto the metal bed and carefully examined the restraints that had kept him trapped for so long. Its tiny paws moved over the mechanical locks before it turned toward the laboratory entrance and gave several sharp squeaks.

Before Gerald could ask what it wanted to do, movement suddenly appeared beyond the doorway.

More rats began crawling into the laboratory.

At first, Gerald thought there were only a few of them, but within seconds, dozens had gathered around the bed. Some looked like ordinary rats, while others were considerably larger, with unusually thick fur, strange markings, or faintly glowing eyes. They moved with an organization that was completely unnatural for ordinary animals.

Gerald could only stare.

He had been experimented on by machines that could alter human bodies, yet somehow, his rescuers were a group of rats.

Under different circumstances, he might have found that ridiculous.

Right now, however, he could not bring himself to care.

As long as they could get him out of this place, he would accept help from anything.

”Please...” he whispered. ”Hurry.”

”We will.”

Several of the larger rats immediately began working on the restraints. Some gnawed through the cables connected to the machines monitoring Gerald’s body, while others climbed beneath the bed and attacked the mechanical locks holding his arms and legs in place.

Gerald flinched whenever their movements disturbed the strange devices implanted beneath his skin, but the rats seemed surprisingly careful. They avoided the more delicate components and focused only on the mechanisms keeping him prisoner.

One cable snapped.

Then another.

Finally, the last restraint holding his wrist broke apart and fell against the metal bed with a loud clang.

Gerald stared at his hand.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he was able to move it freely.

He tried to sit up, but pain immediately spread through his body.

”Ah!”

His muscles had become weak from spending so long lying on the bed, and his legs barely responded when he tried to move them. Several rats quickly climbed onto the bed and supported him before he could fall.

”Don’t move too much,” the talking rat warned.

Gerald gritted his teeth.

”I... can’t feel my legs properly.”

”You’ve been lying there for too long.”

The rat turned toward the others and, without any more instructions, they moved...

Several larger rats immediately moved beneath Gerald’s body. With surprising strength, they carefully lifted him from the bed.

Gerald’s breathing became unsteady.

His back had finally left the cold metal surface.

He was free!

The thought was almost too difficult to comprehend.

He had spent so long staring at that ceiling that he had eventually stopped imagining what it would feel like to leave. He had convinced himself that the machines would continue experimenting on him until his body finally became something completely unrecognizable.

Yet now, somehow, he was being carried away from the bed.

The rats moved through the laboratory, carrying him into the corridors beyond.

Gerald slowly turned his head as they passed.

Only now did he realize how enormous the facility truly was.

There were countless rooms connected to the corridors, most of them filled with strange machinery. Some chambers were completely empty, while others had been damaged during whatever had happened to the facility. Several doors had been forced open, and broken machines were scattered across the floor.

”What happened here?” Gerald asked weakly.

”The robots stopped working,” the rat replied.

Gerald frowned.

”Why?”

”We don’t know yet. We’re investigating.”

The answer only confused him further.

The machines had controlled everything inside the facility. They had watched him constantly and had never stopped their experiments.

Now they had simply disappeared.

Whatever had happened, it had given these rats an opportunity to enter the facility.

Gerald could only hope that the same event had prevented the machines from returning.

They continued through the ruins until they eventually reached a massive corridor where part of the ceiling had been destroyed.

Gerald initially thought the structure had simply collapsed.

Then he looked upward.

His eyes widened... There was sky above him.

Actual sky.

Gerald stopped breathing for a moment.

The blue expanse stretched endlessly overhead, and bright sunlight poured through the opening.

He had spent so long underground that even the sight of clouds felt unreal.

”The sky...” he whispered.

The rats continued carrying him outside.

Gerald instinctively raised his head, wanting to see more.

Then he noticed something that made his expression change completely.

There was no ground beneath the facility.

Instead, enormous clouds stretched beneath them, with the distant landscape visible far below.

Mountains... Forests... Ruined cities... and on the other side were the seas.

Everything was impossibly far away.

Gerald’s face went pale.

”W-Where are we?”

The talking rat looked toward him.

”On a Floating Island.”

”A... Floating Island?”

Gerald stared at it.

His mind struggled to process the words.

He had assumed the facility was buried somewhere beneath the earth. He had never considered that the entire place might be located on an island floating in the sky.

”How...?”

His voice weakened.

”How long have I been here?”

The rat remained silent for a moment.

”I don’t know.”

Gerald closed his eyes... Perhaps it was better that way.

He didn’t want to know how much time had passed.

He didn’t want to calculate how many days his brother had been dead or how long his family might have thought he was gone.

For now, knowing that he was outside was enough.

Whoosh~

A cool breeze brushed against his face.

Gerald inhaled deeply.

The air was fresh and there was no smell of chemicals or disinfectant.

No metallic odor or blood, just wind.

His eyes slowly became wet.

He had forgotten what freedom smelled like.

Then, before he could say anything, the rats suddenly stopped.

Gerald looked ahead.

Several vehicles were approaching from the distance, and a group of people wearing medical uniforms quickly jumped out.

”Where is the survivor?”

”Over here!”

The medics immediately rushed toward him.

”Careful! He’s severely injured.”

”Get the stretcher.”

Gerald stared at them...

Humans. Actual humans.

For several seconds, he couldn’t move.

After spending so long surrounded by machines, seeing ordinary people again felt almost surreal.

One of the medics crouched beside him.

”Can you hear me?”

Gerald slowly nodded.

”Y-Yes.”

”Good. You’re safe now.”

Those three words nearly broke him.

Gerald’s lips trembled.

”I’m... safe?”

The medic smiled gently.

”Yes. You’re in Mist Shelter.”