Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle

Gerald didn’t recognize the name, but he immediately decided that he liked the sound of it.

Mist Shelter.

It sounded like a place where people could actually live.

The medical team carefully transferred him onto a stretcher before carrying him toward one of the vehicles.

Gerald suddenly looked back.

The rats were already leaving... They had no intention of staying.

They had rescued him, made sure the humans had found him, and were now returning toward the ancient facility.

”Wait...”

Gerald weakly raised his head.

”What about them?”

The medic glanced toward the retreating rats.

”The rats?”

Gerald nodded.

”They... rescued me.”

The medic smiled.

”They’re probably going back to search for more survivors.”

Gerald stared at them... More survivors.

Even now, those strange creatures were still searching the facility.

They had already found him, yet they hadn’t stopped. It would be great if they could really find more people like him.

Gerald felt grateful to hear that and watched as the rats gradually disappeared into the distance.

He didn’t know who controlled them or what had happened to the machines or what kind of world he had awakened into... But he knew one thing.

Someone had come looking for him.

And thanks to that, Gerald no longer felt completely forgotten.

Vrooom~

The vehicle began moving through the settlement, and Gerald slowly turned his head toward the window.

What he saw left him speechless.

Buildings stood on both sides of the road, surrounded by streets filled with survivors carrying supplies, repairing structures, or simply going about their daily lives. Children walked beside their parents while armed soldiers patrolled the streets, keeping watch over the settlement.

There were hundreds of people.

Perhaps even thousands.

And every single one of them was human.

Gerald stared through the window, unable to take his eyes away from the scene.

”There are... so many people.”

The medic sitting beside him smiled.

”Mist Shelter is one of the human settlements on this Floating Island.”

Gerald continued staring outside.

A few months ago, he had believed humanity was slowly disappearing. Then the machines had appeared, his brother had been killed in front of him, and he had been taken away to that terrible facility.

He had been imprisoned, dissected, modified, and repeatedly rebuilt.

Eventually, Gerald had stopped believing that anyone would ever find him.

Yet now, he was sitting inside a vehicle surrounded by humans.

People were talking in the streets. Children were laughing. Workers were carrying materials from one building to another. It was almost like the world before the Apocalypse, except for the weapons, the fortified structures, and the occasional traces of the strange abilities people now possessed.

Gerald’s eyes slowly filled with tears.

”I thought...” His voice cracked as he struggled to continue. ”I thought there weren’t any humans left.”

The medic shook his head.

”There are plenty of us.”

Gerald lowered his head and closed his eyes.

A quiet sob escaped his lips.

He didn’t know what the future held. He didn’t know whether his body could ever become normal again, nor did he understand what the machines had done to him. The strange tongues growing from his mouth and the tail extending from his spine were constant reminders that whatever life he had before was already gone.

But those questions could wait.

For now, he was alive... and he was no longer alone.

***

Meanwhile, Fiona opened her eyes.

She was still inside the Mist Shelter, within a quiet chamber.

Her rats were still moving within the Floating Island and through their shared senses, she could still see the corridors, laboratories, and abandoned chambers scattered throughout the enormous facility...

”Continue searching.”

Her command traveled through the rats.

Just like that, the animals crawled through ventilation shafts, slipped beneath damaged doors, squeezed through cracks in the walls, and descended into areas where sections of the floor had collapsed. Fiona closed her eyes again as hundreds of different perspectives flooded her mind.

One rat crawled into a laboratory filled with broken glass containers. Another carefully crossed a room where several mechanical arms had been left frozen in place. A third squeezed through a narrow opening and discovered an entire row of metal beds.

They were all empty.

Fiona frowned.

”Keep looking.”

The rats continued deeper into the facility.

The farther they went, the more Fiona realized how enormous the ancient structure actually was. There were entire sections that appeared to have been abandoned long before the robots had stopped functioning. Some corridors were covered in dust, while others looked as though they had been used until very recently.

Then one of the rats suddenly stopped.

Its tiny nose twitched.

Fiona immediately focused on it.

”What is that?”

The rat cautiously approached a partially opened metal door. A faint sound was coming from inside.

Breathing....

Someone was alive!

Fiona immediately sent several more rats toward the location. The first one slipped through the gap and entered a small chamber filled with broken machinery.

At the center of the room stood a large glass container.

A human figure was lying inside!

Fiona’s expression changed.

”Another survivor.”

The rats climbed over the surrounding equipment and examined the container. The person inside was a young woman who appeared unconscious.

Several thin tubes were still connected to her body, and a number of unfamiliar devices had been attached around her arms and neck.

Unlike Gerald, she didn’t appear to have undergone the same extensive modifications.

At least, not yet.

Fiona immediately sent one of the rats back toward the entrance to notify the rescue team.

”Find the medics.”

The rat immediately scurried away...

***

Meanwhile, several other rats began examining the cables connected to the container. Fiona didn’t know whether disconnecting them would be dangerous, so she quickly searched the surrounding area through another group of rats.

A control panel was located beside the container.

Unfortunately, it was completely inactive.

”Forget the controls. Let’s break the glass.”

The rats immediately began attacking the container.

Crack!

A small fracture appeared across the glass.

Then another... The cracks rapidly spread across the surface until the entire container shattered.

The woman inside fell forward.

Several rats immediately rushed beneath her and cushioned her fall.

She didn’t wake up...

Fiona watched through the rats as the woman remained motionless on the floor. After confirming that she was still breathing, Fiona ordered the rats to move her away from the broken machinery.

”She’s alive. Keep her safe until the medics arrive.”