LastOfTheSonics' Fan Series - The Life of Elliot

by LastOfTheSonics Thu 7 Sep 2017 - 20:46

I thought I might give this ago. Really depends on how people feel about this kind of thing, but I've always wanted to do some creative writing and people can see what I write. You're welcome to leave feedback with each release, even criticise and point out plot holes.

So this fan series is going to be called "The Life of Elliot", and the synopsis is:
"The Doctor's life is full of adventure; but eventually the imprint he leaves on the places he visits take their toll. People are always unknowingly getting caught up in his life. One teenager learns the life of the Doctor the hard way, caught up in the epicentre of crisis..."

Now I know that might sound either rubbish, or good, I'd love to hear what everyone thinks. Now so far I've planned 4 stories, but I am aiming to go for 7. This number could go up or down depending on how people feel about this idea. The first release will be put out tomorrow regardless, and should I receive overly positive feedback, the remaining releases will be put up every Friday until the series is finished.

Also each release will be added to this page rather than be given its own section.

by Admin-Emperor Dalek Thu 7 Sep 2017 - 22:21

Nowt wrong with that.... Smile

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 8 Sep 2017 - 16:36

The Life of Elliot #1 - East Side Story:

South East London, England
Elliot had a standard life. Pretty dull, and boring. Every single day coming home, doing homework, then exam revision, and then off to bed. That process seemed to repeat forever. Subconsciously Elliot had come to realise that. Although little did he know how greatly his life was about to change.

It was a long journey on the train to and from his school, Coal Hill Academy. It was very busy on the underground as well. He was a very cautious person. If someone he didn't know got within a few feet of him, he would usually be wary of that person. Watching their every move until they eventually got off at one of the stops or turned around a corner at his stop. Nothing had ever happened to him, other than that encounter with a drunk and crazy man on New Year's Day the year before last.

Everyone knows people go missing from Coal Hill. Students, parents, teachers, they all realise it. But no one bats an eyelid. Possibly out of fear, possibly out of carelessness. But either way, Elliot had always been the one people made of fun. He was quite the conspiracy theorist. If something didn't seem right to him, it came down to two categories: Aliens or the Government. In fact, he even suspected his Science teacher was an alien from the way she acted. Elliot had heard stories she'd even attacked an Inspector once. More than that, she one day came into school with a bulging scar over her eye. Then one day she suddenly resigned without giving any notice. Of course Elliot knew she hadn't "resigned" as such. She was either dead or detained.

His only two past-times were playing bass guitar and looking at old photographs from the 60s taken by some nameless woman. They claimed to be of "metal men" rising from the sewers. Anyone Elliot showed them to just blamed a low budget special effects team. For the 60s, it would be convincing, but decades later, no one would fall for it. Except Elliot. Ever since he first saw the photographs, he believed they were real. This to him was supported by the "testing" of several nuclear missiles around the same time, in fact, perhaps less than a day was between the two events occurring. Three missiles launched into space, at the exact same co-ordinates. Of course, no one cared, the only people who did were radar technicians, and they were informed they were just tests. Elliot's suspicions were that it was either a probe, a spaceship or a satellite; something connected to those metal men.

A similar report of metal men had been made a few years back, although all files regarding it had simply disappeared. If you tried searching for the reports online, you would get back 0 results. Things didn't add up. Elliot even tried to hack the government website, to see what private communications had been going on. Of course the triple encryption system had gotten the best of him, he was no genius, but computer science had taught him a thing or two about coding and decryption.

On one weekend, he was walking through central London. By himself, on his way to meet his best friend. She was the only person who even listened Elliot, despite the fact that she did not believe him either. And that's when it happened, all of a sudden manhole covers came flying off, and out of them arose metal men. Not the ones that Elliot had seen from the photographs though. These ones looked far more advance, although Elliot worked out what was going on in an instant. These were the metal men from the photographs.

Everyone was screaming and running, except one man. A slightly aged man. A brave man. His coat flowing with the wind. He approached one of the metal men, and pulling out some strange device, blew off the head of the metal man nearest to him. He turned to face Elliot. Elliot thought of him as a magic man. And waddling like a penguin with its arse on fire, the man came over to Elliot, "They're called Cybermen! And you, well you are standing there waiting to die! So, why don't you come with me, and how about we do something that matters?"

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 8 Sep 2017 - 16:36

Sorry if it was a bit too much to read, but I'd love to hear everyone's feedback!

by Dalek Fri 8 Sep 2017 - 19:26

This is great! Loving all the continuity references.

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 8 Sep 2017 - 19:41

Dalek wrote:This is great! Loving all the continuity references.

Thanks Dalek! Very Happy

by LastOfTheSonics Tue 12 Sep 2017 - 21:13

Glad to announce that the second release will be published this Friday, and the third and fourth chapters will follow in the coming Fridays too. Might unveil a few titles too.

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 15 Sep 2017 - 19:41

The Life of Elliot #2 - Worlds Collide:

Everyone was screaming and running, except one man. A slightly aged man. A brave man. His coat flowing with the wind. He approached one of the metal men, and pulling out some strange device, blew off the head of the metal man nearest to him. He turned to face Elliot. Elliot thought of him as a magic man. And waddling like a penguin with its arse on fire, the man came over to Elliot, "They're called Cybermen! And you, well you are standing there waiting to die! So, why don't you come with me, and how about we do something that matters?"

Running through the terrified crowds, Elliot hastily kept up with the Doctor. Part of him wondered what on earth was happening, and the other part was lost adrift his thoughts, so satisfied that he finally knew he wasn’t going mad and overanalyising that photograph. But a tiny spark deep down inside always knew something like this would happen. ‘Was it my fate?’ he wondered.

Eventually they made it to a backalley, Elliot catching his breath, the Doctor rambling on about some blue box. Elliot’s phone began to ring, so he pulled it out, and Lucy was calling him. “Lucy! Yeah, um, listen… Yeah I know … Yes but… No would you just-“ He couldn’t a get word in, “Just stay inside Lucy. I’m going to be a bit late, emphasis on the bit part.” Lucy thought he had changed his mind about meeting up, she hung up on him. Elliot made a low grunt. The Doctor turned to face him “There’s Cybermen out there killing everyone in London and you’re busy with girl troubles?” , Elliot still catching his breath responded with “You don’t know the half of it.” But the Doctor was prepared for that reply, “Actually, I soon will do. Could do with her advice actually.” Elliot looked sheepish and bewildered.

A Cyberman appeared at one end of the alleyway, shortly after another at the other end. Both raised their weapons, releasing their infamous war cry “DELETE!”. The Doctor grabbed Elliot, “Down!”. They both ducked, and the Cybermen shot at each other unknowingly. Both stood upright for four or five seconds before falling backwards with large holes in their chests. Unfazed, the Doctor brushed his jacket swiftly, and resumed sticking his hands out and searching for something that, from Elliot’s perspective, either didn’t exist or was invisible. It soon turned out the latter was true. The Doctor walked into what seemed like nothing, and covered his forehead, as though he’d just headbutted something. He pulled out a device from his pocket, to which Elliot hastily responded “No don’t!”. The Doctor didn’t understand. “You used that thing earlier, you blew up those Cybermen. What are you gonna do now, blow up Oxygen?” The Doctor let out a slight laugh, “I did that once. Officially the most failed Scientific experiment ever. In fact, I miss that planet.” Elliot looked panicked. “Oh come on I’m just joking Elliot,” and then the Doctor used his device to uncloak a blue box. “What do you think?” gloated the Doctor. But Elliot wasn’t bothered by what had just happened, he was focused on the fact that the Doctor somehow knew what he was called without Elliot having actually mentioned his name at any point since he encountered the Doctor; “You know me?” “Uh, hello? Blue box? Appeared out of nowhere? Called a TARDIS?”. Elliot still didn’t care about that. “You know my name, how?” Elliot was starting to sound cynical, but the Doctor tried his hardest to avoid the question. “This device, it’s called a sonic screwdriver, and it can really work wonders. I mean, it just made a police box appear out of nowhere am I right?”. But still, nothing gave from Elliot. “What do you know? You need to tell me everything. About the Cybermen, about yourself, and most importantly, what you know about me.” The Doctor finally gave in to Elliot’s inquisitive tone, “I think we’d better go inside…”

After some level of persuasian, Elliot finally entered the TARDIS. His reaction was perhaps the most original the Doctor had ever heard. “Oh that’s clever, so presumably the entrance to one of the buildings next to the alleyway is covered like the police box? Nice!” Elliot looked satisfied. “No, no, no. Wait, just, no. What?” the Doctor was stunned by such a wild reaction. “Well, what is it then?” the Doctor was even more stunned by the fact that he actually had to say the infamous words. “It’s bigger on the inside!” But Elliot wasn’t so sure the Doctor was being honest. “Right? Ok? Well…” Elliot was more confused than before. “Ok, let’s start over, so there’s Cybermen rising out from the sewers for the first time in 50 odd years, you have a ‘giant’ police box, and my best friend is now mad at me because of a madman?” Elliot just wanted to get things clear. “Yes, that’s about the right.” The Doctor, who really doesn’t have too many emotions, didn’t seem too fussed about Elliot’s current state, but one part of what he had just said did stick out, “Woah, for the first time in 50 odd years? You realise the Cybermen have been here since, right?”. Elliot thought hard, but no bells were ringing. “No? I mean I have a photograph from the 60s, but nothing else. Why aren’t you focusing on that? And you still haven’t answered how you know my name.” Elliot was sounded desparate now. The Doctor decided not to waste any more time, “Ok right, so, in summary. 1 – Yes, the Cybermen have been here before. Once around three or four years ago, another time around a decade ago, and then loads of times before you were even born. 2 – No one remembers because your leaders, your government, drug the water supply, and other resources too. No one on earth remembers anything from those days, if the amensia drug fails on some people, then they’re silenced which I’m not overly thrilled about, but sometimes I have to look away from your planet out of shame. 3 – I know you because I’ve been studying you, Elliot Mitchell. You’ve been researching metal men, and like several other humans, you seem to be quite curious about anything that seems supernatural. And you’re right too. Some people will just pass the thing in the corner of your eye off as superstition, but it isn’t, it’s there, and you’re the kind of person that realises that. 4 – I’m the Doctor, I save people, using this box, this screwdriver, and a companion. 5 – My last companion sort of became a biomechanical zombie, so I’m need of another one, and since you’ve already excelled in what I like to call ‘Cyberstudies’, I was wondering if perhaps-“ Elliot raised his hand.

“Enough, Doctor.” The Doctor looked eager for a response to his only question. Elliot sighed. “We need to stop the Cybermen first.” The Doctor nodded. And so, the newly formed dynamic duo exited the TARDIS. “Ready?” The Doctor asked. “I’ll die trying if I have to”. They both faced the devastated London, and marched right into the chaos…

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 22 Sep 2017 - 16:28

The Life of Elliot #3 - Tower of Death:
Elliot and the Doctor faced a devastated London, and marched right into the chaos…
The Doctor raised his screwdriver, popping off the heads of Cybermen left and right. Soldiers had moved in. They were opening fire on the Cybermen, although their bullets did little damage and left no scars. Every soldier was incinerated moments after engaging in combat with the Cybermen. A Cyberman pushed the Doctor to one side using a single arm, and lowered its head at Elliot. “You will not be harmed, you will be upgraded.” Elliot made a quirky response, “You think you’ve got fists of steel, take this!” And without thinking at all, he launched his fist at the Cyberman’s chest unit. He pulled it away slowly, slowly mumbling in pain. The Cybermen then picked him up, but as it did, Elliot had pulled out his phone, and smashed it directly into the Cyberman’s chest unit, causing it to shortcircuit. Elliot was dropped on his head, and had fallen unconscious.

“…I told you, I would come back for you. I promised.” Elliot was lying in a hospital bed, with a mysterious figure by his side. “Wait for me, don’t go. Stay there. I’ll be back with you soon.” Elliot slowly closed his eyes, and lay in the bed motionless. He was connected to life support, and he could hear his heart rate on the monitor. It was rapid and irregular, and then suddenly, it flatlined… The mysterious figure rose from Elliot’s bedside, and left the room without another word, leaving the deceased teen behind…

Elliot woke up. He was lying on the pavement still, with his head on a pillow. The Doctor and a soldier on either side of him. Once he had awoken, the Soldier had rushed back to his duties, giving the Doctor a syringe. Elliot couldn’t work out what they were saying. “You’re awake! Good! I’ve been looking forward to having you rejoin us.” The Doctor helped Elliot rise up. “Doctor… the Cybermen…” But the Doctor was gesturing him to slow down.

Once Elliot was ready, he jolted up. “What’s the plan?” Elliot was determined to finally complete his life’s goals. The Doctor briefed him on his plan. “Well thanks to you getting knocked out, I’ve had time to think. And I have a plan! We need to find a telephone mast. It has to be somewhere within London. Elliot thought, “Sorry, this is London, I doubt you’re just gonna find a mast randomly lying about here.” Elliot thought hope was lost, but the Doctor turned around and had a stoke of genius. “Oh, hello. I remember you.” The Doctor was looking at the BT tower. Elliot saw it too “The BT tower? That’s not exactly a telephone mast.” Elliot still felt hopeless. “No, it’s better! The signal covers a further distance. At the very least we should be able to disable the Cybermen within London, although that might not be too useful considering we don’t know the extent of their invasion. They could’ve taken every major city by now.” Elliot had regained some level of hope, “It’s a start isn’t it? It’s better to try and save one city than none.” Elliot began marching towards the tower. “Wait, Elliot.” The Doctor struggled to catch up with Elliot’s speedy pace. “Look, that tower is dangerous. The last time I was there, it was under control by a hypnotic machine, it possessed the scientists there, and it was powerful enough to make them manufacture war machines.” Elliot shrugged. “What’s wrong with dangerous? I already told you Doctor, I’ll die trying if I have to.” Elliot was unfazed by the Doctor’s confession, although even the Doctor felt slight remorse. Could he really carry the burden of another death on his conscience? He realised he couldn’t, he imagined the voices of Bill, Clara, Missy, River even, and realised it was time to fight. Time to do what a Doctor does best, save people. Without another thought, he copied Elliot’s march with his screwdriver in one hand, and made his way towards the BT tower, just slightly behind his new associate.

The Doctor and Elliot entered around the back. They wanted to keep incognito, they had no idea what would await them at the entrance. But as luck would have it, no one was present in the building, they strolled right up to the lifts without resistance. “That was a bit easy wasn’t it?” Elliot asked the Doctor, who already had a wary expression on his face, accompanied by a raised eyebrow. “Yes… perhaps a little too easy. Maybe we’re expected…”

Being cautious, they opted to take the stairs rather than the lift. They went to the top floor which had previously housed the WOTAN machine, but now it was just an old server room, with the exception of a single thick magnetic pole in the centre of the room with a control panel enclosing it. A high-pitched noise was emitting from it. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, but in an instant, it short-circuited. “No!” The Doctor genuinely sounded distressed. “I feel like I’ve just lost an old friend…”

Through the glass wall on the other side of the room, a Cyberman burst through, glass shards flung everywhere. One shard pierced the side of Elliot’s face and he threw himself on the ground to take cover. The Doctor on the other hand had motioned to use his screwdriver but then remembered it was destroyed. The Cyberman raised its arm at the Doctor. Bullets firing rapidly at the Cyberman startled Elliot, who had now gotten backup, and the Doctor; a soldier had followed them up the tower. The bullets from his rifle were completely futile towards the Cyberman, all they did was rebound off the metal man. The Cyberman moved its arm over and shot at the soldier, killing him and leaving his corpse with one white hot hole in his chest. The Doctor rushed to the rifle and picked it up, he had it aimed at the Cyberman, but then reaimed it at the control panel surrounding the pole. For a moment, the Doctor froze. Elliot saw the expression on his face, it was one of shame and shellshock, almost as though the Doctor had held a gun in a similar fashion before. The Cyberman cried “DELETE!”, bringing the Doctor out of his trance, and allowing him to open fire on the control panel. Sparks were spewing off it with each bullet until it exploded in flames. The Cyberman put its hands on its head, and it was making a mechanical screech. It blew up. Rushing towards the window, Elliot’s wound on his cheek had lines of blood trickling out from it. He saw Cybermen collapsing all over London, the crisis had passed. “Quicker than most.” The Doctor gloated…

Sitting outside a café, Elliot was enjoying a brownie. The Doctor was sat opposite him, with a hot chocolate. “So, have you considered it?” The Doctor eagerly asked him. “Doctor…” Elliot sounded remorseful, “I get it, you’re alone, and you’ve experienced loss. But we all have, some more than others. And do you know what I’ve learnt? No matter how hard you try, and no matter who you try, you can never fill in that gap. Once someone you love is gone, there will always be a pit of misery there, you can’t fill it in with the joy brought by someone else.” Elliot’s short monolouge had slightly tugged at the Doctor. “But that doesn’t mean you still can’t come. Everyone is different. And someone like you is already experienced, you’re not narrow-minded, I need you. Granted, weird and wonderful things will happen. In fact, something similar to that will shortly occur to me. And I need you to be there to oversee it, because your mind won’t deny your sights. You’ll be accepting of it. So, please, Elliot… Come aboard.” The Doctor’s eyes showed an expression similar to begging. Elliot leaned forward, “Doctor, it would be my honour, but…” Elliot knew what he was going to say, but didn’t want to offend the Doctor. “Back there, in the tower. You hesitated with the gun. At first I was bewildered as to why, but now I get it. You were a soldier, I can see that. You may not have taken lives, but you signed up to do so… and for that reason…” Elliot still struggled to tell the Doctor, “I just… I just wish you hadn’t of been a soldier…” And without another word, Elliot got up and walked off down the street. The Doctor was frozen, still with that same expression of “near-begging” on his face. He was at a loss, because the exact same reason that the Doctor had denied people in the past was the exact same reason why he himself had been denied. The Doctor’s greatest enemy, himself…

by Dalek Fri 22 Sep 2017 - 17:23

This is really great! Eagerly awaiting more.

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 22 Sep 2017 - 18:09

Dalek wrote:This is really great! Eagerly awaiting more.

Thanks Dalek! Glad you're enjoying them. I can also confirm for you there will be at least four more chapters!

by LastOfTheSonics Tue 26 Sep 2017 - 17:38

The Fourth chapter will be released this Friday.

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 29 Sep 2017 - 17:49

The Life of Elliot #4 - Detained:
Southern England
Despite it having been three weeks since the incident with the Doctor and the Cybermen, Elliot could still remember everything that happened. From what the Doctor had told him, he didn’t understand how that was possible, why wasn’t the amnesia drug affecting him? Perhaps the Doctor was wrong this time?

He was sitting in Lucy’s living room currently, except Lucy was still upstairs. Elliot had been eager to see her again after the incident with the Cybermen. He was getting more and more anxious by the second, she had been upstairs for at least twenty minutes by now. She was going out later, so she was smothering herself in makeup. Elliot was also confident he heard the shower run twice. He was on his phone right now, searching for “The Doctor” on the internet. Every search term he tried got back either 0 results or meaningless amateur websites.
At long last, Lucy had finally come down stairs. “Sorry that took a while, it’s sort of a big day for me. You know, what with the college open evening. Anyway, how’s you?” Lucy seemed relaxed, which was quite a contrast when compared to Elliot’s tension. “Lucy.” Elliot hadn’t prepared what to say, and looked solemn. He stood up. “Lucy, weird and wonderful things happen. And sometimes, you’ve just got to go along with it, regardless where you’re thrown in. For me, I was thrown in the deep end. I dug my way out of the epicentre of crisis. There are things I would love to tell you. Many things of many severities actually. But right now, I just needed to see you.” Elliot looked formal and serious. “Are you about to ask me out?” Lucy looked sheepish. “What? No, no, no, no.” Elliot had rushed that part out. Lucy looked away. “I came to give you something actually,” Elliot handed her a small jewellery box. Lucy opened it slowly. “Oh, oh wow.” Lucy reached in and carefully pulled out a bracelet. It had the engravings of a Moon symbol and a Star symbol on metal buckles which attached to each other. “It’s called ‘The Moon and the Star’, it represents harmony,” Elliot still looked serious. “I wanted you to have it because it sort of reflects me and you. We are like the Moon and the Star.” Elliot was trying to use a tone that didn’t sound romantic. Lucy applied the bracelet around her wrist. “Thanks Elliot. That’s really thoughtful.” She gestured for him to give her a hug, so they embraced. The look on Elliot’s face was still formal, but his eyes reflected sadness. As for Lucy, her face warm and filled with joy. Lucy observed her new bracelet carefully. She was smiling.

Her smile was disrupted when out of nowhere, a SWAT team busted into the house. Breaking down the front door, back door, and smashing in the windows. “Hands above your head! Get on the ground, now!” Dozens of men equipped with rifles, pistols, grenades and bulletproof armour came crashing in. A rifle was pointed at Lucy’s head momentarily, but once her face had been seen, she taken away from the room. “Elliot!” Lucy cried out. Elliot had a gun pointed at his head still, “Don’t panic! I’ll find you Lucy! I promise!” He reassured his best friend. Once she had disappeared from sight, Elliot’s sad eyes turned to outright depressed ones. He was raised up to his feet, as the only soldier in the room not wearing a helmet entered. “Well, well, well” His neutral voice began. “Elliot Borthwick, I am Captain Owen Bill Salatin. But you can refer to me as Captain Salatin.” Salatin had a tone of charm, but Elliot’s face countered Salatin’s tone with an expression of disgust. “Right, let’s change up the procedure a bit. Normally you’d have the right to remain silent, but this time, you don’t. You will speak whenever I address you, and if you don’t-“ Salatin paused to gain an expression of pure evil, “I’ll have to get nasty with it.” He pulled a tonfa from his waist belt and extended it to full length. “Clear?” He gloated. Elliot’s eyes thickened, he responded with a hostile expression. Without a word, Salatin whacked Elliot’s shins with his tonfa once, and then again a second time. Elliot dropped to the floor, clutching his shins. “You didn’t answer my question.” Salatin crouched down, “Are. We. Clear?” He became demanding. Elliot looked up at him, “Go further than hell Captain.” Elliot was still hostile-sounding. “Not the answer I wanted, but an answer nonetheless.” Salatin stood up again. “Elliot Borthwick, you’re under arrest for propaganda against the Government and its representive patriots. You don’t have any rights. This is not a formal arrest, this is a top secret Government procedure established to detain any human being who has come into contact with the extra-terrestrial being known as The Doctor.” Salatin took a deep breath, he had said the whole sentence without pausing. Elliot looked up at him, shocked. “The Doctor? I get it now. I get it. You’re scared I’m going to speak out. Well, guess what!-“ Elliot prepared to shout out the truth he knew, but before he could, his face was greeted with a whack from Salatin’s tonfa, and dropped to the ground again. Except now he was unconscious…

Elliot woke up slowly, struggling to open his eyes. The first thing he was greeted with was a single bright light on the ceiling. Gradually, he managed to wake himself up. He had a nasty bruise over his mouth, and two larger bruises on his shins. He was weak, and immediately fell back down after attempting to stand up again. He examined the room he was in; it was more of a cell rather. There were only three walls, it was shaped like the interior of a pyramid. Two of the walls were rusty and grey, and the third was more of a rusty white colour. On the white wall, there was a one-way window spanning nearly the whole length of the wall, accompanied by a door on the right side. There was also a camera in the corner. Elliot crawled over to the door, and pulled on the handle. It didn’t give. It was obvious what had happened. Elliot had been detained for his knowledge about the Doctor. As Elliot rested against the wall, the locks on the other side of the door began to jingle about, as if someone was opening the door. Elliot staggered to the other side of the room, feeling rather tense. But, much to his surprise, the door didn’t open, instead there was a small hatch in the centre of the door which opened up, like a letterbox. Through it, a small tray was mailed in. Elliot staggered back, and took the tray. On it was a small unopened bottle of water accompanied by, what Elliot thought was, the most repulsive soup ever. It was completely green, with bubbles across it. Elliot picked up the soup bowl, and poured the so-called soup out of it, and held the plate above his head, in a stance as though he was about to ambush. Whoever delivered him that tray was still by the door, he hadn’t the locks again. “Do you like that?” A light Welsh voice asked through the hatch. Elliot was wary. “It’s ok, I’m a prisoner to,” the mysterious voice attempted to reassure Elliot. “Come in…” Elliot responded, with a croaky voice. “If you’re a prisoner – come in,” Elliot repeated.

After a moment’s pause, a final lock slid back. The door began to slowly swing open, as Elliot had the plate ready to smash against this other ‘Prisoner’…

by Dalek Thu 5 Oct 2017 - 9:26

This is the best chapter yet! Honestly can't wait for Part 5.

by LastOfTheSonics Thu 5 Oct 2017 - 13:30

Much appreciated Dalek. And luckily enough, I'm putting out the fifth part today due to the writing schedule.

The Life of Elliot #5 - The Other Man:
After a moment’s pause, a final lock slid back. The door began to slowly swing open, as Elliot had the plate ready to smash against this other ‘Prisoner’…
As the man slowly entered the room, Elliot rapidly swung the plate down, but the man was prepared, and quickly ducked and rushed forward, and Elliot dropped to the ground after losing his balance. The man picked him up and dragged him to the other wall, applying cuffs around his wrists. “I didn’t want to have to do that, but you just showed hostility towards me.” The man sounded disappointed. “Who are you?” Elliot sounded exhausted. “Me? I’m Travis. I’m a prisoner just like you, except I got promoted to Service Personnel,” Travis faked a smile. Elliot returned that with a comedic tone, “Service Personnel? Ha! You’re a joke mate.” Travis sighed. “You can call me Travis, there’s no need to be a rude boy my friend.” Travis started to become more informal, and more colloquial to his new ‘acquaintance’. “You’re a prisoner just like me? Then how come you’re working with them?” Elliot pondered. “I was detained here for the same reason as you. I met the Doctor. And slowly these fellas gained my trust, and once you convince them you’re not a threat and you won’t start promoting propaganda against them, they promote you to service personnel. Then with time, they set you free. And that’s why I’m doing this,” Travis’ tone had slightly convinced Elliot. “Listen, I know what it’s like. You’re not the first one to end up in here for innocence.” Travis had lowered his voice. “All of this. This is all because of the Doctor?” Elliot sounded broken. “I’m afraid so. But from what I’ve seen, that man has worked wonders. He’s saved so many lives. Him in his TARDIS. They’ve done so much for every living being,” Travis knew Elliot was getting slightly angry. “But-“ Elliot didn’t know how to respond, “What about their amnesia drug? How come they don’t detain all those other people who’ve encountered a Cyberman or something to do with the Doctor?” Travis knew the answer, “The TARDIS messes with you. It has telepathic circuits which can be used for translating any language. The amnesia drug is sort of like a subliminal language used to trick your subconscious, but the effect of the TARDIS cancels it out, thus why people such as can remember all these events and invasions, and why we have to be detained. We’ve become very independent. In other words, it doesn’t matter how hard they try, the amnesia drug could never affect us.” Travis could hear footsteps behind him. “Time’s up. Back to your cell.” The guard on Elliot’s door had entered the room. “I’ll come back,” Travis rose to his feet and left the cell. Elliot had a look of awe on his face.

Three days had passed. Elliot was slowly but surely getting used to the routine. It was just like being in a prison, which is pretty much what it was. Every morning, Elliot woke up from the cold hard floor, took a sip or two of the water – but never the soup – and would lean against the wall. The guard had been generous enough to loan him an old MP3 and a pair of earbuds; the music was poor in taste however. After boring countless hours had passed each day, he would be given a protein bar. That was all he had eaten once every day, and he felt like he was going to die, but would that be better than being imprisoned any longer?
On the fourth day, much to Elliot’s fortune, he heard two gunshots outside, and the locks on the door jangling open. The door opened up, and in came Travis, wielding the pistol of the guard outside, and with a rifle slung behind his back. “Can you shoot?” Travis asked Elliot. “What?” Elliot was confused, “Can you shoot or not?!” Travis started to sound rushed and panicked. “Well I know how to fire an airgun?” Elliot inquired. “Good enough, take this,” Travis tossed the pistol over to Elliot, and equipped the rifle that was previously slung on his back. “Oh and, you must be starving,” from his pocket, Travis produced two small chocolate bars and passed them over to Elliot too, who was ravenous and tore straight into the first one. “Down here!” A distant voice echoed down the corridor. Travis darted into Elliot’s room and closed the door behind him, he observed out the hatch. The guard’s lifeless body remained on the ground outside, which gave away Travis’ hiding place, who sighed and rolled his eyes once he saw the guards moving towards the door. Travis aimed the rifle towards it, ready for the guards to enter. Elliot was terrified, he didn’t know what to do. He’d fired a gun before, but never a proper one, and never at another person. The guards knew that Travis was armed since the dead guard had no weapons left on him. The door was already unlocked, as a prison cell cannot be locked from the inside. The guards were now waiting for the moment to catch the inmates off guard, and Travis’ heart was starting to beat more fiercely and irreguarly every second, Elliot’s was just all over the place, but still he had a shaky grip aimed at the door.

After a minute or two, the door suddenly swung open, but the guards had held back, but this didn’t stop Travis from opening fire. He’d wasted half a clip on the door, and then the guards entered. Travis was quick on the trigger, and filled the first guard with three rounds. The second one was still holding back. “Get back man!” Travis shouted at Elliot, who was in clear sight of the door, but still in a petrified state. The second guard appeared, armed with a pistol, and shot once at Elliot, but Travis was quick enough to fill him with three rounds in return. Dreading what he would see, Travis turned to Elliot…

WRITER'S NOTE: Because of the current plans I have for the series and where the writing schedule currently is, this part is being put out today, and the sixth part will be published tomorrow. I'm releasing them on separate days so that there is enough time to read and review. Hope you enjoyed!

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 6 Oct 2017 - 17:28

The Life of Elliot #6 - 1952:
Llanfairpwll, Wales 1952
The chamber was rusty, and needed a lot of cleaning. But Dr. Shearman didn’t have time for that. He was on the verge of perhaps the greatest scientific breakthough in History. A gas which, when released into an atmosphere – a controlled atmosphere – it would, well, Shearman had kept that a secret, and he would do everything in his power to keep it like that. He was only thiry-two years old, despite creating such an abominable gas. It was kept in two cylinders; the first was the gas planned for use on the first controlled test, and the second cylinder contained gas for a ‘Black Project’ – In other words, a project which is not disclosed to many people, and only certain high-ranking individuals would know about. What Shearman was planning only six people knew, himself, his assisstant, and four of the top-ranking scientists in the United Kingdom at that time.

It was the big day that Shearman had been preparing for. The day which he would finally get to test his latest – and quite possibly most dangerous – invention ever. He examined the chamber in which the gas cylinder would be placed, making certain it was secure for his assistant. “Are you sure you want to do this? You’ve been my closest friend my entire life, and I’d be devastated if something happened you in there,” Sherman sounded warm. “Yes, of course I am. And I’ll be absolutely fine, just as long as you make sure those scientists approve of this gas,” the assistant smiled, and so did Shearman in return. “Leslie, that over, that’s the suit you’re going to be putting on,” Sherman pointed at an orange Hazmit suit hanging up on the opposite wall. The chamber was glass, so Leslie could see it on the other side. “I just need to check you fit and that it is completely sealed, can’t have any gaps now can we?” Sherman guided Leslie over to the suit. The chamber was completely see through, the only opaque parts were the poles which held the glass in place. In the middle of the chamber was a small stone monolith, with a circle indentation ready for the cylinder to be placed in it. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how exactly is this going to prove anything?” Leslie asked Shearman, “I mean, I barely understand the purpose of the gas as it is, but wouldn’t it require me getting seriously injured, or even worse, to die?” Leslie was concerned her friend had a sinister plan, “Oh no, we’re placing a mouse in there with you. The goal is to prove that the gas will only affect rodents, and thus sort out the country’s street-rodent problem. And you can refer to it as ‘SM-52’ by the way, not just ‘the gas’,” Robert sounded convincing to his friend. “Oh here we go, SM for Shearman by any chance?” They exchanged smiles. As Leslie walked away with the suit now on her, Shearman’s expression turned from a smile to an evil frown, almost as though he had an ulterior motive in mind…

Before the experiment could commence, the panel – consisting of the four other scientists who knew about the experiment – had to interview Shearman. “Alright then Dr. Shearman, all we need is for you to answer a set of questions for us, just to give us an idea of what to expect from the test,” said one of the scientist’s in his strong French accent. “Firstly, what exactly is the purpose of the SM-52 gas?” the same scientist asked. “Well, the purpose is to help with the rodent problem here in Wales, and with success, perhaps even the streets of London could be cleared.” Each scientist was writing down what Shearman had said. “And around how long would it take for this gas to completely resolve the rodent problem?” the same scientist asked again. “Well that figure can vary. It all depends on the severity of the problem in that particular area. We could be seeing the problem here in Wales clear up within two or three years. And then within five years, perhaps London could be clean as well,” Shearman sounded passionate about his invention. A second scientist with a strong English accent asked the next question, “How exactly does the gas work? How will it resolve the rodent problem?” Shearman had to think for a second, “As soon as it is released into the atmosphere, it becomes apart of the air. It becomes apart of the air’s contents. Just like Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide even. The rats breathe in the air, and the gas slowly destroys them from the inside.” The scientist wasn’t entirely convinced, “By that logic, surely the toxic content can also infect other animals? Namely, human beings?” Shearman had to think again for a second, “No, no, no not exactly. The anatomy of a rodent is very different to that of a human, the content of the gas is at the right concentration that, although humans will breath it in, it will not be strong enough to completely shut down the human systems,” Shearman breathed relievingly, but the English scientist still looked suspicious. The panel looked torn, the Welsh and English scientists looked concerned, however the other two silent scientists seemed neutral, but only Shearman could see this divide. “The anatomy between all animals is relatively similar, how could you possibly know what the correct concentration would be for it not to affect a human being?” The Welsh scientist asked. “I’ll have you know I’m a top-ranking scientist! I’m not entirely sure what bizzare thoughts you think I have, but I can assure you this is not my attempt to attack humanity. Why would that be logical given that I am, myself, a human being?” Shearman’s tone had become slightly sarcastic. “Not just human beings, Dr. Shearman,” the English scientist leant forward, “But all animals.” Shearman rolled his eyes, “Oh come on, look if this wasn’t safe, then wouldn’t my assistant have noticed so? Or wouldn’t someone else?” Shearman was seemingly caught out, “Who else would notice so? We are the only ones who know of this gas are we not?” the English scientist asked. “Yes, of course, but… Wouldn’t you have noticed, that’s what I mean.” Shearman was confused by the panel’s intentions, and the Welsh scientist felt it time to withdraw, “Thank you Dr. Shearman, that will be all for today, we’ll come back tomorrow to see this… grand test.” All four scientists rose and left the room without another word, although the two silent ones looked back at Shearman, and the three exchanged mischevious looks…

The following day, it was time for the demonstration of the gas. In the glass chamber, a cylinder was placed on a single stone monolith. A rat had been placed in a cage on another monolith. Leslie had the hazmat suit on, and entered the chamber. Shearman closed the door behind her. Leslie took a deep breath, and popped the lid off of the cylinder. Slowly, the gas began to emit from it. The rat began to make eerie squeeling noises, as the gas covered it. The four scientists were walking around the outside of the chamber, carefully observing. Shearman was stationary, staring at Leslie. After a minute’s exposure to the gas, Leslie began to choke. “Something… isn’t… r-r-“ Leslie struggled to finish her words and began drifting away. She dropped to her knees. Shearman began to smile evily, “I know what you did. A certain, three years ago. I know how you stole all that money from my bank, burgled my house, threatened my wife. Well guess what, she told me all about you. And I kept it a secret this whole time, eagerly waiting for this moment. I knew you were working against me behind my back, but I guess that kind of backfired for you, didn’t it?” Leslie was still choking, and was unable to respond to Shearman. The English and Welsh scientists marched over to Shearman in a hurry, “What do you think you’re doing? The woman is dying! This is madness! Open the chamber now!” But Shearman raised his hand at them, “If you open that door the gas gets released into an uncontrolled atmosphere and everyone in this room dies,” Shearman heartlessly told them, but was still staring at a dying Leslie. The other two silent scientists came around, and apprehended their Welsh and English comrades. Leslie finally stopped moving, except for the occasional twitch, but she was dead: to begin with.

Five or so minutes later, she slowly rose back up off of the ground. Her eyes were bloodshoot, but she turned to face the five men outside. She was making a low grunt, and crawled towards the glass wall where they all were standing. Shearman started clapping his hands and jumping up and down liked a mad scientist – which he now was. “But… she’s dead? How can she be alive still? She’s moving? What?” The Welsh scientist was confused, “You’ve broken nature. All those stories about zombies, now they’re going to be true? This is breaking the basic law of life!” Shearman turned to them and quickly pulled out a pistol, “That’s the point,” and without another word shot both scientists, as the silent scientists released them; their corpses slumped to the ground. “Excellent. Now we know the gas works. The second cylinder must be buried, and it must be buried exactly at these co-ordinates.” Shearman handed a folded piece of paper to the two scientists. “You shall not see me again, but all we’ve been doing over the past three years has finally come full circle. Be proud.” Without a single word, the two scientists left the room, and Shearman glanced one last time at the undead corpse of his so-called best friend…

by Dalek Sat 7 Oct 2017 - 8:35

Again, this is really, really good. Eagerly waiting for Part 7.

by LastOfTheSonics Sat 7 Oct 2017 - 8:45

Thank you Dalek.

by LastOfTheSonics Tue 10 Oct 2017 - 9:25

I won't say who, but I can confirm a classic series companion will be making an appearance in an upcoming chapter!

by Dalek Wed 11 Oct 2017 - 11:27

Ooh! Very excited now.

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 13 Oct 2017 - 20:39

The Life of Elliot #7 - The Revelation:
Elliot’s Cell, Unknown Location
After a minute or two, the door suddenly swung open, but the guards had held back, but this didn’t stop Travis from opening fire. He’d wasted half a clip on the door, and then the guards entered. Travis was quick on the trigger, and filled the first guard with three rounds. The second one was still holding back. “Get back man!” Travis shouted at Elliot, who was in clear sight of the door, but still in a petrified state. The second guard appeared, armed with a pistol, and shot once at Elliot, but Travis was quick enough to fill him with three rounds in return. Dreading what he would see, Travis turned to Elliot…

Before his eyes, Travis saw his new friend, standing on his knees, absolutely motionless. Luckily, the guard’s aim was rushed, and the bullet had left a single hole in the wall behind Elliot, although it had not actually hit him. Elliot was only motionless because of his state of terror. Travis breathed a sigh of relief, and helped Elliot on to his feet. Travis peered out of the cell, checking the coast was clear, and so it was. With Elliot’s arm around his shoulder, he helped his new friend with rushing down the corridor, before anymore guards could arrive.

Running down the corridor, Travis and Elliot were suddenly halted in their path by a familiar face; it was Salatin. At once, Travis raised his rifle with one arm, while Salatin raised his pistol, “Looks like we have ourselves a standoff.” Elliot looked at him with disgust. “Get out of the way Salatin,” Travis calmly began, “You know where I’m going, and you know why, and you know that I am more than hell bent on getting to what I want,” Travis looked cross now. “Oh yes, Travis,” Salatin began, “I know exactly where you’re going, and I understand how determined you are to get there, but isn’t this partially why the Doctor would never take you on board? Because of you’re family ties?” Elliot looked confused, while Travis’ expression was looking angrier by the second, “This is why,” he angrily began, “I need it. I need to get it to the Doctor. He needs to see it, he needs to be shown that I am so far removed from my family that I could never be as cruel or evil as the mad man who made it.” Elliot began to look even more confused, “Travis what are you talking about?” Salatin took this opportunity to get leverage, “Ohhhh. You haven’t told Elliot have you? I’m sure he would love to hear about how-“ before Salatin could finish, Travis cut of his words by shooting Salatin once directly in his left shin, and then a second time in his right shin, Salatin dropped instantly to the ground, “That’s payback. That’s for Elliot. Now you know how it feels,” Travis looked even more disgusted than at first. The two staggered their way down the corridor, as Salatin was curled up in a ball on the floor, waiting for help to arrive.

Eventually Elliot and Travis made it to their destination. Travis had bust down the door into the laboratory using his rifle, and at once he rushed over to a small glass box containing a single cylinder in it. In doing so, he forgot about Elliot and released him, unknowingly letting him drop to ground. Travis placed his hands against the glass box, and stared at the cylinder with awe, almost like a child observing a lion at the zoo. Elliot had gotten himself to his feet, and began limping over to Travis, “What is it? All that stuff with Salatin? Why are you so determined to get to this… thing? This cylinder? What is it?” Elliot was raising many questions, but they went straight through Travis’ ears, he was completely focused on the cylinder. “Hello? Travis?” Elliot broke his trance. “It’s called SM-52, but it’s more colloquially known as Shearman’s gas, named after the madman who invented in.” Travis turned to Elliot, “We need to get this to the Doctor, and this is why I liberated you, I read your file, you’re the only person detained here who rejected the Doctor, and not the other way around, perhaps you can bring him back, you can summon him!” Elliot looked flustered. “Travis, he travels around time and space… in a giant blue box! How am I supposed to get his attention? By waving a giant white flag that says ‘SOS’ on it?” Elliot felt pressured now. “Elliot, I saved you. You have GOT to do this. I can leave you here, and I can leave you to Salatin’s mercy. Or you can summon the Doctor, and we can stop this madness,” Travis had to be firm, but Elliot was dismissive. “What does it do then? This… Shearman’s gas? And who is this Shearman anyway?” Elliot was curious.

“Dr. Robert Shearman, born 1923 in London, after graduating from college, he moved to Llanfairpwll in 1938. He became a well-respected scientist, and he made a huge amount of creative and original inventions. He even proposed several genius concepts and theories; Some were proven, some weren’t, and some still need to be tested even now. This was his final invention, the SM-52 gas. It was developed between 1949 and 1952, over a three year period with limited and strict disclosure. The only problem is, this gas was only ever tested once, and the results were never recorded. Even creepier, out of all six people who were present at the test, zero of them were seen afterwards. Shearman’s record completely disappears, there is no trace of him after 1952, nor any of those other people present.” Elliot was still raising more questions than he was listening to answers though, “What does it do? I mean from what I understand, the Doctor rejected you because you’re connected to the man who invented, but why is it so bad?” Travis hesitated for a moment, “It can do terrible things. It can change the course of nature. We have to give it to the Doctor because he is the only power which can properly control it, it’s not safe in the hands of any other living being. As for why the Doctor rejected me, he thought I was part of the family business. Dr. Shearman was my grandfather… and after him my father continued his work, and then in my father’s will it was written that I was to succeed him in developing this gas and its ‘proper’ usage..."

It had made more sense to Elliot now why Travis was so keen to get the gas cylinder, the man who made it was his grandfather. “But hold on,” Elliot began, “When was your father born? Because surely if Shearman disappeared after 1952, then your dad must’ve been born before that year, so he would’ve been at least 65 years old now, but you look about twenty?” Elliot was confused. “Oh, yes, I forgot. I was being informal with you. I called him my grandfather because, well, my real grandfather died before I was born. Dr. Shearman was actually my great-grandfather, Travis put emphasis on the ‘great’, "I was too young to understand the family tree when my father told me all the stories about him, so he just told me he was my grandfather." “Oh, I see," Elliot responded. Then without another word, Salatin suddenly appeared behind them with crutches, and ordered his two men to whack Elliot and Travis over the head with their rifles, and they did so…

When they awoke, Elliot and Travis were tied to two chairs. The room was empty, it was a cell perhaps twice as large as Elliot’s one was. Salatin was stood in front of them, “Ever since that day in 1952, we’ve kept the result of the test. It’s been kept under complete secrecy, and until now, we’ve never done any further tests using the results. So this will be a first – Oh, and thank you for being a part of Science.” Salatin swung away on his crutches, while Elliot looked desparate and concerned at Travis. “What’s going on? What results?” Elliot was panicked, and so was Travis, for not even he knew what was about to happen. Then, the door in front of them was opened, and through came the least possible thing Elliot had expected to see. It was the undead Leslie from over 65 years ago…

Elliot looked distressed, and Travis was breathing quickly and irregularly. Leslie’s hazmat mask had been removed, but she was still in that very same suit, as she staggered over to the two terrified men...

by Dalek Sat 14 Oct 2017 - 9:22

This is still really good! Looking forward to the eighth part.

by LastOfTheSonics Sun 22 Oct 2017 - 20:38

The Life of Elliot #8 – Let Us Wonder:
“Do you ever wonder what life would’ve been like, if we hadn’t of failed?” Elliot was lying atop a grass hill gazing into the night sky, accompanied by Travis, Lucy and Lucy’s mother, Eileen. All four of them were lying down. “Sometimes,” Travis answered, “But there’s really no point in going down the road of ‘What If’ because what if my grandfather had never invented that gas in the first place?” Elliot breathed in deeply, which Lucy heard, “Elliot, it wasn’t your fault. Ever. Nor yours Travis. No one could’ve predicted an event of this magnitude would’ve happened.” Elliot turned his head to make eye contact with Lucy. Coming up the hill, a small blonde girl approached the group. “Maddison!” Lucy sounded jovial, and she got up to greet this Maddison. Travis looked confused, a fact which Elliot was aware of, “Maddison is Lucy’s sister. Well, half-sister.” Travis looked astounded, the two girls looked like twins. Maddison was two years younger than Elliot and Lucy, but she was far more advanced than most people her age.

For Elliot, this was a blissful moment. The feeling of togetherness, friendliness, peace, joy, but all these feelings in one place was just a beacon for disaster. Travis cried out a low grunt. Elliot’s face turned to dread, as he saw a Cyberman with its arm gun pointed at Travis’ chest, with a hole in his torso. “Travis!” Elliot cried out. But then from behind him, he heard a scream from Maddison, who had just been shot in the head by Salatin. “No!” Elliot and Lucy cried out in sync. Maddison’s corpse dropped and rolled down the hill. For the first time in his life, Elliot truly felt heartbroken, these people were family to him, especially after all they had seemingly been through. Years and years of surviving together. “This is the price you pay, Elliot!” Salatin shouted at him, and then shot at Eileen. Lucy dropped to her knees and burst into tears. “No! Stop! Stop!” Elliot cried out. But then suddenly, the figure of Salatin ‘morphed’ into the same undead Leslie that Elliot was trapped with mere moments ago. Mere moments ago?

Breaking his daydream, Elliot had snapped back into reality. All that had just happened over a course of seemingly several minutes in fact was a matter of seconds. He was still tied down to his chair, along with Travis parallel to him, and Leslie was still staggering towards them. Travis attempt to break free of his chains, but they were too tight. Salatin was observing the chaos through the window behind the two terrified men. Leslie toppled onto Travis and his chair fell backwards. He was limited to what he could resist with, and had to fight Leslie off using his feet only. Elliot rose to his feet, still tied to his chair, and shifted over to Leslie. He twisted himself rapidly, and his chair whacked Leslie off of Travis. Helping Travis up, whom was also still tied to his chair, the two men shifted towards the door, while Leslie struggled to get back up again. Travis wriggled his right arm free, and used it the pull the door open. Salatin had been too stubborn to lock it. Once his arm was free, the rest of the chains quickly unraveled and he was free. Once his chains were off, he launched himself at Salatin, causing him to lose balance of his crutches and to collapse to the ground. Travis had him pinned down.

Meanwhile, Elliot was still tied to his chair. Leslie had nearly risen to her feet again, and to buy himself some more time, Elliot swung his chair at her again, knocking her back down. By this point, Elliot had completely forgotten that Leslie was once a human being, all he saw now was a re-animated corpse. Copying what Travis had done, Elliot freed his right arm, and then in turn the other chains unraveled as well. From the other room, he heard a gunshot.

Rushing in, he saw Salatin leaning against one of his crutches, reaching to pick up the other one. Next to him, there was pistol with a shell not far from it, and next to that shell, there was Travis, lying on the ground, bleeding out; he had been shot in the shoulder, but he was still breathing. Elliot looked horrified. He turned back to face the undead Leslie, and back again to face Travis. He rushed over to his comrade, and pressured his hand over the gunshot wound. Travis quirkily responded, “No offense, b-but, do you have any m-m-medical experience?”, he had trouble with getting his words out due to the blood he was losing, and Elliot took leverage of this to use it as a way of pretending he hadn’t of heard Travis’ ungrateful remark. As Salatin finally got up, he restored his weight to his crutches. “You’ll never save him… with your hand,” Salatin was short of breath. Again, Elliot had chosen to ignore another unnecessary remark. Salatin had two options, he could attempt to bend down and recover his pistol, then kill Elliot; or he could flee while he had time, after all, Leslie wouldn’t distinguish between him and the other two. Salatin settled for the latter, and turned to exit the room. “Look we can’t stay here. That… thing in the other room will be back up any moment now, we have to find medical supplies, even a cloth will do,” Elliot sounded caring for once rather than distrustful. Travis nodded in submission, and Elliot helped him to his feet. Both men had difficulty walking now, and they staggered out of the room like two drunk men leaving a pub at midnight.

Everything had happened so quickly for Elliot, his whole world slowed down. He was back in his dream again…

Elliot was on his knees, in a graveyard. In front of him was a gravestone. It was old, perhaps ancient even. The engraving of the name had worn away with rust and dirt filling it in. Despite how unreadable the name was, Elliot knew who lie in the soil in front of him. “Well,” a deep Scottish voice began behind him, “You failed. But that doesn’t matter. It’s ok to lose… if no one ever lost, then there wouldn’t be such a thing as winning.” Elliot got up, and turned around. He saw the Doctor standing there in his long black trench coat, the gentle gale slightly revealed the red lining underneath. Elliot looked at the Doctor with disgust. The Doctor returned the exact same expression. Now, Elliot understood. “It’s hard to be a hero,” the Doctor remorsefully began, “Sometimes you don’t have the luxury of choosing whether or not to do the right thing. Now, Elliot. Now, you understand me…” The Doctor turned and slowly walked towards the moss-covered gates to exit the graveyard. Elliot’s face of disgust had now turned to one of shame; and that face of shame gazed upon the Doctor, observing him exiting the graveyard every step of the way…

WRITER’S NOTE: Sorry for my recent absence. My computer died, and along with it I lost all the upcoming chapters because stupid me didn’t back them up! Therefore, I’m having to rewrite them, however the story will remain relatively unchanged. The classic companion will still appear too! Apologies if this chapter is excessively long, however I wanted to make this one a bit longer for several reasons.

by LastOfTheSonics Tue 24 Oct 2017 - 20:40

At least four more chapters to come, very likely to be more.

by LastOfTheSonics Wed 25 Oct 2017 - 17:23

The Life of Elliot #9 – An Unearthly Man:
Staggering down the corridor, Elliot and Travis headed for the door with the ‘EMERGENCY EXIT’ sign above it. But this corridor became tediously long. Along their way, Travis and Elliot came across several cells, each with a window on the door. Elliot looked inside each one, but so far all were empty. But once he reached the fifth one, he saw a prisoner just like him. A man, dressed in the same blue jumpsuit as he and Travis. He was slightly older than Elliot, perhaps in his early twenties, he looked slightly older than Travis; who was nineteen years old. In the cell opposite, there was an elderly man; a very elderly man to Elliot’s eyes. He looked like he was in his eighties perhaps even his nineties. Elliot knew that he couldn’t do anything, but he wasn’t as selfish as to leave an innocent old man in a prison cell. Travis, who was barely conscious, turned to look. He instantly recognized the man inside the cell.
“Oh… Oh my…” Travis was beginning to collapse. “What? Who is it?” Elliot needed answers. “I-Ia- “before he could finish his words, Travis passed out and fell to the ground. “No! Travis, no! Wake up!” Elliot desperately searched Travis’ pockets for a cloth or a tissue or anything at all. “Travis stay with me. I need you to help me spread the truth! The warning about this thing, that woman!” Elliot vigorously shook him. Behind him, he heard the echoing of crutches against the floor, and further back he could hear the grunting Leslie…

Elliot turned around, and he witnessed Salatin stagger around the corner on his crutches. “I see you didn’t find supplies in enough time,” Salatin smiled, “What a shame,” he said sarcastically. Elliot’s classical face of disgust returned, and then morphed into anger. He stormed over to Salatin, “Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you…” From his pocket, Salatin produced a mobile, and tossed it over to Elliot, who barely caught it. His face turned into horror as he saw on the screen a live video of Lucy, tied up and gagged to a chair in a dark room by herself. “Y-you. I’ll kill you!” Elliot shouted and lobbed the phone at Salatin, but to no avail. “There’s a camera over there, if you come to close… well, need I say anything?” Salatin quirkily responded. Elliot turned around and saw a camera in the corner of the corridor with a bright red light confirming to him it was on. Elliot looked down over at Travis, who had bled out. But Elliot hadn’t lost hope yet, perhaps Travis was playing the long game to ambush Salatin?

Elliot was thrown back in his cell by a guard. Salatin entered as well, still on his crutches. He passed the phone over to Elliot, and gestured for the guard to drag Travis in. “Don’t count on it…” Salatin said, and then left the cell, closing the door behind him. Elliot checked the phone, it was on silent, but he could see that Lucy was awake and crying heavily. At once, Elliot looked away and put the phone down, rushing over to Travis. He placed two fingers on his neck, checking for a pulse. There was nothing. He tried the same on his wrist. There was still nothing. Now, Elliot had lost hope – Travis was dead…

Elliot had readjusted to his former daily routine. Waking up, eating the disgusting substances he was fed, being walked around the prison (now with other detainees) and returning to his cell again. Every day seemed to get shorter and shorter.
After what felt like a week, Salatin approached him in his cell. “You know. I’m surprised by you,” enough time had passed that he was now off his crutches, “Really, I’m astounded. You are actually strong enough to contain your hatred for me. Honestly, I respect that, I do.” Every day, the phone was taken out of Elliot’s cell to be recharged, and then the guard would return it again, always fixated on Lucy’s room. This time however, it was Salatin who gave Elliot the phone. “You see? Hard work pays off Elliot!” Elliot was silent and looked passive-aggressive, however Lucy was no longer bound to a chair and being force-fed, her room was luxurious. It had a bed, a table, a coffee-maker, and even a TV. “Now until I’m finished with you, she will remain here to ensure you co-operate,” Salatin added, “Which brings me back to you,” he smiled, “I can trust you now, and since we’re obviously now one person short of service personnel,” Salatin thought whether or not he should rub in the fact that Travis was dead still, but opted against it, “I could use another one. You’ll have an upgraded cell, upgraded food, and you’ll actually have something to do with yourself!” Salatin sounded jovial, but Elliot’s expression juxtaposed Salatin’s tone. “Again, you don’t really have a choice. You’d be bone-dead stupid to deny the offer anyway, but just remember, I can still revert Lucy’s cell back to the way it was and chain he-” Elliot didn’t need to hear the rest of Salatin’s blackmail, “Ok.” Elliot responded bluntly. “Great! You’ll be transferred tomorrow,” Salatin left the room smiling at Elliot, which was returned with a blank expression.

The following day, Elliot was finally being transferred. He was escorted by two guards down several corridors, and he tried to catch a glimpse of each cell as he passed; many of them were filled. Every time, Elliot blamed the Doctor. Finally, Elliot reached his new cell. A third guard was ready at the door and opened it for him. The two escorting Elliot had pushed him in. The door slammed and locked behind him. Elliot’s cell looked similar to Lucy’s, it had a TV in it and a bed, but much to his demise, no coffee-maker or sink. It took Elliot a while to readjust to luxuries. The TV was old, and it only had around four or five channels on it. But still, it was better than nothing. Elliot was only in the cell for a minute or two before Salatin showed up, demanding for him to start work immediately.

There were two men either side of Elliot, only slightly older than him. “So, err…” he scratched his head, “What exactly do we do?” Neither man responded. “Um, guys? Hello?” Both were cleaning the floor with mops, and focused on that chore rather than turn to Elliot. “Communication would be nice,” he quirkily added, then the guard came over, “Hope I’m not interrupting your social life,” he said to Elliot. “All due respect, I don’t exactly understand what I’m supposed to do. If those two are cleaning the floor, don’t I have something else to do?” The guard laughed, “What are you laughing at?” he asked. “You’re literally just cleaning the place, stupid child,” the guard handed him a wash bucket, “Get some water from that tap over there, make sure it’s hot, get a mop, and start cleaning the corridor over there,” the guard pointed to his right. Elliot rolled his eyes and got to the task. His mind was filled entirely with Lucy now, everything he was doing now was to keep her from harm; except for one part of his mind, that one part was begging for the Doctor to show up. Where was he? After all, this entire place was his fault indirectly, why would he not even attempt to rectify his mistake? Elliot knew though, he knew that the Doctor was too ashamed to face the reality of what his adventures do to those who are unexpectedly caught up in them. But this was a fact he was unwilling to accept.

Elliot was cleaning the corridor which, what seemed like a lifetime ago, he and Travis had attempted to escape through. It was also sadly the same corridor which Travis had succumb to his injury. Checking to see if anyone was around, Elliot mopped the floor in the direction of the cell of the prisoner where Travis’ final words were spoken. As he reached the door, he peered into the window, the old man was still there, except he was sitting up now and looking down at his closed hands. “Hello?” the man looked up at Elliot, and rose to his feet. “Hello there,” Elliot tried again, “I’m a friend of a friend,” he added, “You know Travis I presume? He tried to tell me your name,” the man went right to the window, but didn’t say a word. Elliot thought quickly, “The Doctor. I know him. I presume, you do as well?” he asked. The man still didn’t show any reaction, instead he turned around and slowly walked back to his bed. “Hey! Wait! I want to help you. I can’t leave you in here! Hey!” Elliot started banging against the door, the man turned back around, “Ian.” Elliot looked confused, “What?” he asked. “Ian Chesterton…”

WRITER'S NOTE: Feel like publishing more often than once a week. So these will just be released whenever rather than a weekly basis. Watch this space regularly.

by LastOfTheSonics Sat 28 Oct 2017 - 14:39

The Life of Elliot #10 – Endgame:
“Your name? Is Ian?” Elliot wanted to be sure. “Ian Chesterton,” the man reiterated. “So, err…” Elliot was bewildered, this man looked older than the Doctor himself, “You travelled with the Doctor?” Elliot asked. “Ohhhh, the Doctor. Such a mysterious and unusual man. Yes, yes I travelled with him. I was one of the first to embark on such a… magnificent, adventure.” Ian didn’t know what words to use. “Adventure? How far did you go?” Elliot had so many more questions in his mind at the moment, “To the stars. To beyond the stars. So, so far. So very far away from here.” To Elliot it seems as though the nostalgia had overcome Ian. “But it wasn’t just… places. It was people, races. Such a diverse and inclusive journey I went on. There were… anomalies as well. Daleks, Sensorites, Zarbi… even Marco Polo. Things that you would never expect to see in your ordinary day to day life. But our lives… they weren’t ordinary. Oh no, dearie me know. Our lives were… whatever word is beyond extraordinary. All of time, all of space. Anywhere, everywhere. Two years of my life, two years spent with friends. Goodbye Doctor, thank you for everything.” Now it was clear to Elliot that the feeling of nostalgia had gotten Ian caught up in his final farewell to the Doctor.

“Ian, if I can call you that, the thing about the Doctor… he’s not,” Elliot struggled to break the truth to Ian, “He’s not really, the Doctor… anymore. You see-” before Elliot could finish, the guard had caught on to the social interaction taking place. “Your job is to clean, not to engage in social conversations. Now jump to it!” The guard demanded at once. Elliot didn’t respond socially, but glanced back at Ian, and then resumed his chores. However, there was another man behind the guard. Another prisoner, just like Elliot, also cleaning the floor. This other man waited for the guard to leave, before cleaning in Elliot’s direction. “Hey!” he whispered. “Hello,” Elliot greeted this other man reluctantly, he didn’t really care what he was about to say. “So, you got caught up with the Doctor as well?” he asked. “Doesn’t matter,” Elliot still didn’t care, nor did he care to hear the man’s story. “I’ll tell you something,” regardless, the man still wanted to make small talk, “Twenty-seven years I’ve been alive on this Earth, one of those years I skipped altogether! The reason we’re all here, the Doctor. To cut a long story short, I didn’t believe in time travel, I thought he was a lunatic, but he showed me his blue box, and he took me 365 days into the future. I simply couldn’t believe it! 12 months of my life, July 2006 to July 2007. It was a matter of seconds for me, but for my step-parents, they were worried sick. Thought I’d gone forev-” the man could tell Elliot didn’t care.

“My name’s Steven by the way. Yours?” He offered his hand to Elliot. “It’s Elliot,” he still didn’t shake Steven’s hand however. “Listen, I can get us both out of here.” Elliot still didn’t care. “I can get Lucy out of here…” Now, Elliot was interested. He pinned Steven against the wall, “How do you know her? Answer!” he toned himself down when he saw Ian approach his cell window. “I was cleaning yesterday, and I heard Salatin speaking to one of his guards about a girl detained here called Lucy. They mentioned your name, Elliot. Since you just told me your name, I put two and two together.” Elliot released Steven from the wall. “So, you say you can get me out of here?” he reiterated, “Correct.” Elliot rolled his eyes and pointed behind him. “There’s an emergency exit right there, how stupid do you think I am?” Steven shook his head, “That exit is guarded 24/7. They have orders to kill on sight anyone who goes through that door when the alarm is not sounded. Believe me, I’ve been here long enough to know this.” Elliot reluctantly believed him, “So you can safely get me and Lucy out of here you say? But at what cost?” He asked. “A small price. You help me get my sister Olivia back. That’s all. You help me save her, I’ll help you save Lucy and yourself. Do we have a deal?” Steven put his hand out again. This time, Elliot shook it.

The following day, Elliot and Steven were cleaning the floors again, except this time they were in a different corridor. “Ready?” Steven whispered to Elliot; who responded with a nod. A guard appeared from around the corner and began walking down the corridor. Steven mimed the word ‘Now’ at Elliot, who then pushed Steven up against the wall. “Get off me!” Steven exclaimed. “Hey break it up!” The guard trotted over and tried to physically separate the two. Steven rapidly equipped the pistol from the guard’s holster and pointed it against his head, “Give me my sister,” he quietly asked. The guard didn’t respond, prompting Steven to shoot him in the foot. “Steven!” Elliot exclaimed, “Are you crazy? More guards will be coming now!” The guard on the ground reached to the radio on his utility belt, and Elliot noticing this took the radio away from the guard which revealed a chain of cell keys underneath. Steven swiped the keys off the belt, but still had the gun pointed down the corridor in case of another guard’s arrival. “Which cell is she in?” He firmly asked the guard. “Don’t play dumb. You know who I am, you know who my sister is. Where is she?” Steven pressed the gun against the guard’s temple again, forcing him to answer. “She’s w-w-with... the other h-hostages,” the guard’s injury made it harder for him to talk. “Where?!” Steven exclaimed. “C-C-C Block,” the guard finished. “C-Block! That’s where Lucy is, Elliot. That’s obviously where they keep everyone they’re using to bargain with,” Steven informed him. “Well let’s go then!” Elliot and Steven rushed off, leaving the guard behind.

After avoiding several guards and security cameras, Elliot and Steven made it to C-Block. There were three cells. “Which one is it?” Elliot asked. “It’s either the left or the right one,” Steven responded. “How can you be sure?”, “Because Lucy’s cell is the one in the middle.” Upon hearing this, Elliot ran over to the middle cell, but the window was blacked-out. “Steven, over here!” But Steven ignored him and instead tried several keys to unlock the cell on the right. “Steven, Lucy’s in here!” But still, he didn’t respond, “Steven, come on!” Now finally he did respond, “Listen, I don’t know your friend, but I do know my sister. She comes first, alright?” Steven was firm, and for the sake of freedom, he submitted.

After several keys, the door was unlocked. The cell was luxurious, but still it was empty. Upon this sight, Steven rushed over to the left cell and tried several keys again. Eventually, the cell door opened, and Steven saw his sister sitting on her bed. “Olivia!” a girl, around 15 or 16 years old like Elliot, looked up at her brother, “Steven!” she rushed over to embrace him. “I’m so glad you’re ok,” he told her, not breaking their hug. Elliot looked anxious, “Steven! Lucy’s still in there!” Steven turned around, “Olivia this is my… colleague. His information about the guard’s shifts was invaluable to me. He’d gathered all that data, and it looks like it paid off!” Steven was jovial, and Olivia looked grateful. Elliot however was still anxious, “And if you’re grateful for my help, can you please release Lucy now?” He anxiously asked. “Of course!” Steven jumped right to it, and as previously, tried several keys on the cell before finding the right one and unlocking it. Now Elliot shared Steven’s jovial expression, Lucy was sitting on her bed like Olivia. “Lucy!” she looked up, and similar to the siblings behind them just now, they embraced. Lucy pulled away from him after a moment, “What’s going on? Those people… those men, who were they?” Elliot shook his head, “It doesn’t matter. Did they hurt you? Lucy are you ok?” He slurred his words. “No, no. I’m fine. They just locked me up here. For a time, I was tied to a chair… but they entrusted me eventually!” Elliot pulled her closer to him.

“A touching reunion indeed…” from behind Steven and Olivia, Salatin appeared. “You!” Elliot stormed over to him, but Steven restrained him. Salatin laughed. “You know I admire you, I really do. Figuring out the guard timetable and sneaking around. I knew what you were planning from the moment Steven first spoke to you. I let it happen… for one reason. For this moment. To put you through the ultimate pain.” Elliot shook his head, “Why are you doing this? Why do you hate us so much?” Elliot shouted. “Too long a story,” he bluntly responded. From under his trench coat, he pulled out a pistol and primed it. “But this is the endgame I’ve been playing for,” he raised the pistol, but at who...?

by LastOfTheSonics Tue 31 Oct 2017 - 16:44

The Life of Elliot #11 – Escape:
Salatin raised his pistol at Elliot, but Steven had been thinking ahead; he smacked the gun out of Salatin’s hand and tackled him against the wall. Lucy went to hold Elliot, but his wrath got the better of him, and he rushed over to assist Steven. Steven had Salatin pinned to the ground, and Elliot looked him in the eyes, “Everything that’s happened over the past… week, or however long it has been, is what has brought this upon you. Just remember, this is what the Doctor does. Steven, get the girls out of here.” Steven released Salatin, and obeyed Elliot’s request. “What’s happening? Elliot?” Lucy was confused, and although Steven knew what was about to happen, he didn’t try stop Elliot, and closed the door behind him, leaving the two men inside.

“Right we have to find a way to break all these prisoners out, any ideas?” Steven asked the two blank-faced girls. “Why did you leave Elliot in there?” Olivia asked her brother. “I believe in karma,” Steven bluntly responded, but Olivia and Lucy still looked blankly at him. “He’ll be alright, Lucy. We have to focus on releasing these prisoners before more guards come along, ok?” Lucy looked at him in denial. “You can stay here if you really want,” Steven began to sound aggressive, “Or, you can come with us and do something that will matter!” Lucy looked to Olivia who gently nodded in confirmation. “Fine.” Steven sighed in relief.

After several encounters with guards, Steven had acquired perhaps half a dozen sets of keys. Between himself, Olivia and Lucy, they had unlocked the cells in an entire corridor, but perhaps only a quarter of them had prisoners in them. In total, four prisoners had been released so far, so they then proceeded to the next corridor, and released several more prisoners. Soon the crowd was large enough that the guards were overrun, and the prisoners scattered out in a desperate attempt to find freedom. Steven reached the final corridor. There were two cells. One was empty, the other was not; for the other cell imprisoned Ian. Steven unlocked the cell, and assisted Ian out of it. “What’s happening my dear boy?” Ian looked scared and confused, “It’s alright, we’re getting out of here. We’re going back to the outside world!” Steven reassured him.

Surprisingly, none of the Prisoners were killed, nor were any guards, however the majority of them were rendered either unconscious or too weak to get to up. Steven wasn’t sure how many prisoners there were, but he knew there were many. “Over here!” One voice cried out; one of the prisoners thought they had found an exit, however Steven had been here long enough to know which exits were decoys and which were not. “No don’t open that door!” But it was too late, the prisoners opened the door, and suddenly an explosion flooded through the doorway, knocking all the prisoners to the ground…

There was a lot of coughing, and a lot of groaning. Steven was the furthest away from the fallout; he was unaffected. “Ian!” he turned to the man was escorting, “Ian are you ok?” he vigorously shook him, and fortunately Ian wasn’t affected either. “I’m alright my dear boy, dearie me what about the others!” Steven got up, “Olivia!” he cried out. “I’m here!” she coughed her words, but she too was relatively unaffected. Steven helped his sister up. “Where’s Lucy?” from around the corner, Elliot appeared. “What on earth happened? Is Lucy ok?” He wasn’t asking anyone directly, just throwing his questions around hoping someone would answer. “Elliot?” Steven looked confused, “Where’s Salatin?” Elliot turned to Steven and gave him a neutral expression but didn’t verbally respond. “Elliot!” Lucy was alright, but she was very close to the explosion and was very weak. “Lucy!” Elliot rushed over and helped her up. Still, no one had died surprisingly. The man who had opened the door had severe burns and was unconscious, but he was still alive. “We have to find another way out!” Steven said, and Elliot as well as the other prisoners nodded in unison.

“Not so fast!” Before they could leave the corridor, Salatin appeared; he was covered in cuts and bruises, and he was limping too. “Why can’t you just give up already?” Elliot sounded furious now. Salatin raised his gun; again. “Enough, Salatin. Why can’t you just let us go? It’s over!” but Salatin wasn’t allowing this, “It’s not over. As long as I hold a weapon, we will play on!” Elliot and Steven shared their expressions of anger, in fact all the prisoners did. “So, now. Everyone go back to your cells, now!” No one obeyed his demands, “Ok, fine.” He marched over to Olivia and snatched her from Steven’s arms, “If you don’t go back, all of you, then this poor girl…” Salatin had the gun pressed against her. “Go on, now! Go!” Everyone was angry, but they had no choice other than to submit. Everyone began walking away in shame. As soon as Steven was behind Salatin, he made a brave attempt and grabbed Salatin, knocking the gun out of his hand. He threw him against the wall, “Steven stop!” Olivia didn’t want to witness her brother’s wrath. The other prisoners had all run off, trying to find a real exit.
The fire from the exploded door was starting to spread through the cables in the ceiling, and there was a fuse box in the corridor as well. “Steven stop this!” Olivia begged her brother, who still had Salatin pinned against the wall. He was mad, but he respected his sister as well, so fortunately he found the middle ground. Steven pushed Salatin towards the fire, and threw him against the floor. He took Salatin’s handcuffs from his utility belt, and wrapped one cuff around Salatin’s wrist, and the other against a thin pole running up the wall. “You know we’re still playing?” Salatin was not at all concerned about his upcoming demise. “Oh yeah, I know. We’re playing my endgame now.” Steven turned around and left, accompanying his sister, leaving Salatin chained the pole as the fire gained ever closer to the fuse box…

“Steven! Olivia” Elliot called out to them, “We found the real exit! Come on!” they rushed over. The double metal doors were locked, and the prisoners were shoulder-charging against them in attempt to bust them down. “Listen, Elliot. The cables, the fire. It’s spreading! In a few minutes, this whole place is going to blow!” he rushed his words, similar to the rushed situation they were in. The doors were light metal, so at long last the prisoners busted down the left door. “Let’s go!” Everyone ran out throw the makeshift exit. There were several flights of stairs to climb, but no one was deterred from freedom.

Steven and Olivia were among the last prisoners to escape, as they climbed that final flight of stairs, the sun blinded them, but they didn’t care. They could feel the wind blowing down on them, and they could smell salt; which was odd. Finally, they reached freedom, all the prisoners escaped… or so it seemed. Steven’s expression of joy quickly faded to one of confusion and disappointment. They hadn’t escaped after all; they were actually stranded on a small island. The prison was completely underground. Everyone desperately looked as far as they could, but there were no ships, no other islands, no helicopters, nothing. It was just them, trapped alone on an island with a facility that was about to blow. In the distance however, at the far end of the island, there was a large building with a satellite on the top. Elliot immediately pondered about what it could be, ‘A Research Lab? A Military Base?’ he thought to himself. Everyone felt a rumble beneath their feet, like an earthquake, causing them to lose balance. The prison beneath them had just exploded. Which was a blessing and a curse; the prison was gone forever, but there was no conclusive evidence that Salatin perished with it…

WRITER'S NOTE: Happy Halloween everyone!

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 3 Nov 2017 - 18:51

The Life of Elliot #12 – Massacre:
“Great! This is just what we needed! Escaping from some psychopath’s makeshift prison only to find out we are on said psychopath’s island!” Steven was seriously panicking. “Steven! Listen to me, calm down,” Olivia was trying to communicate with her brother, and to Elliot it seemed as though this was something she had done before. “Does this happen regularly?” he had to ask, “Oh yes. He will have panic attacks over minor and major things alike.” Olivia wasn’t secretive about her brother at all, which surprised Elliot.

Several of the prisoners were already running towards the ominous building at the far end of the island, but the majority of them were fixated on the ocean in front of them. “Hey! Everyone stop!” a prisoner in his early thirties shouted to those running towards the building, “It could be dangerous! The evil people probably own that place as well!” He tried to recall them, but none of them listened to his warnings. “Well, well, someone with intelligence,” Elliot approached the man, “And you are?” “I’m Elliot. Probably the last person here to have seen the Doctor.” The man looked confused, “Who?” he asked. “You know, the reason why we’re all here anyway, the Doctor.” The man still looked blank, and this in turn made Elliot look blank as well, “I’m Daniel,” he tried to break the awkward situation. They shook hands. “So,” Elliot began, “Daniel. Have you ever heard of the Doctor?” Daniel thought, “Nope. Should I have?” Elliot looked surprised, “Um, yes. Why else would you be here?” Daniel turned away, “I killed seven people, and I’ve done… other things, on top of that.” Elliot stepped away from him, and moved slowly back to Steven, Olivia and Lucy. Daniel looked remorseful.

“Steven, can I have a word with you in private?” Elliot asked. “Err, sure?” Steven looked confused, but his panic attack was over. “Stay here,” Steven told his sister. “What’s wrong?” Steven asked, “Whatever that place was down there, it wasn’t just for people who knew the Doctor.” Steven didn’t understand, “That man over there,” Elliot pointed at Daniel, “He’s never heard of the Doctor before. I mean, how can that be?” Steven glanced at Daniel carefully, “Maybe he has, but he just didn’t know it was him?” Steven theorized. “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think he’s ever encountered him. I mean, why isn’t he in a normal prison? And who else here doesn’t know about the Doctor?” Elliot questioned. “But what else would the purpose of this place be?” Steven added, “Well, come to think of it. I made a new friend while I was down there, before you. His great-grandfather was a mad scientist, he made a gas that could bring the dead back to life! And the destruction of the prison beneath us has buried that secret, but why would it be down there if it had nothing to do with the Doctor?” Steven had an idea, “Where is he? Where is your friend?” Steven looked around, but Elliot looked to the ground. It took him a minute or two to work it out, “Oh I see.” Steven understood now. “Salatin indirectly killed him. Long story short he bled from a gunshot wound. But the worst part is, now that he isn’t here I don’t have anyone else to back up my story. Travis had been there longer any of us; he would’ve known so much more that we could’ve exposed!” Elliot’s short monologue gave Steven another idea, “Not all of us necessarily,” Steven pointed at Ian. “We don’t know how long he’s been here. If anyone on this island knows its secrets, it’s him. In fact, I wouldn’t put it past him to know what that building over there is.” Elliot shook his head, “He was one of the Doctor’s first companions sure, but I don’t think that he’s been down there for that long. He seems very intelligent and quite ‘modern’. But it could be worth asking him I suppose.” Elliot and Steven agreed, and went over to Ian.

“Ian,” Elliot began, but he was hypnotised by the waves curling onto the sand. “Ian?” Elliot tried again, “Ian?” the third time he turned to them. “What is it my dear boy? Something to tell me, have you?” he asked. “Not tell you, ask you.” Ian was still on his knees, “What is it? What do you want?” Elliot crouched down, “How long were you down there for?” Ian looked back to the ocean, “Not long my dear fellow. Only a few weeks. The chaps down there, they adored me. They allowed me to come up to the surface. Dearie me, how I shall miss those evenings.” Elliot looked to Steven, who crouched down as well. “So then, do you know what that building over there is?” Steven asked. “Of course my dear chap. Why I’ve been inside of it!” Steven gestured for him to tell them what it is, “It is a top-secret research facility, dearie me how those words stick inside my mind. I would always ask them every evening, to see if those chaps were lying. And thus! They were not.” Ian was waving his finger around as he spoke. “Are… are they bad people, in there?” Elliot asked. “The chaps in there were… obnoxious. But they had no harmful intents my boy. Yes, no harmful intents, at all.” Steven and Elliot rose, and left Ian to watch the sea.

After a long debate, the escapees had reluctantly agreed that the only option open to them was to head to the research facility. However, Elliot and Daniel were completely opposed to the idea and never gave their agreement at any point; however, they did agree that there was strength in numbers, therefore they too had to go along with the others. “Look, I know you don’t like this,” Steven began talking to Elliot, “But what other choice do we have?” Elliot remained silent. Daniel approached him, “I don’t think this is a good idea either, but we don’t have a choice. At least we have a chance of getting off this island, even if it is extremely low.” Again, Elliot was silent.
When they got within a twenty-meter radius of the building, two guards appeared from the first floor. In total, the building was four stories high. “Hold it there!” One of the guards yelled down. The two guards had a quiet conversation with each other, occasionally pointing at a few of the escapees. “What do you think they’re talking about?” Steven whispered to Elliot, who now finally spoke, “I warned you about coming over here…” It was almost as if Elliot knew what was going to happen next.

The guards finished their conversation at last, and took aim at the prisoners with their rifles. “Run!” Elliot shouted as he turned back and ran in the other direction. The guards opened fire on the prisoners, gunning them down one or two at a time. After running far enough, the remaining escapees made it to a safe distance. Elliot turned around, and to his delight, Lucy was fine; Steven and Olivia as well. Between them and the building was a scatter of bodies all riddled with gunshot wounds. “Who’s that?” Steven faced the other way, “Ian. I left him there for this exact reason. He’s elderly, he wouldn’t be able to outrun the bullets,” Elliot responded, and so it was; Ian was still facing the ocean, hypnotized by it. Lucy was beginning to get teary-eyed, “I can’t… I can’t.” Elliot embraced her. The only other survivor was a woman the same age as Steven. “Charlie! Are you injured?” Steven went over to her. “No, I’m ok… Just short of breath,” she replied. “Right well you stay here and… well, just wait here.” She had taken shelter under a large tree. Elliot was watching Steven, curious about who that woman was.

As Steven came back over, Elliot was still embracing Lucy, but asked, “Who’s she?” “One of the prisoners. I helped her out when they first brought her in,” he responded. “How is she connected to the Doctor?” Elliot asked. “Well… actually, I don’t know,” Steven responded. “Is she even connected to him anyway?” Elliot followed up, “What if she’s like Daniel? As in, she’s actually here for committing a crime?” As Steven prepared to answer, he heard a shout from the research facility. “You want to help me out or not?” It was Daniel, calling to them from the balcony where the guards were. It appeared as though Daniel had climbed the stairwell on the outside of the building and ambushed the two guards from behind, as both their bodies had fallen to the ground below. “I’ve got two rifles and two pistols. First come, first served!” Lucy wanted to avenge the deceased escapees, so she was the first to run over. Elliot, having a duty of care, had no choice other than to follow her. Olivia was in the same situation as Lucy, but hid her emotions better. However, she too went with Elliot. “Olivia!” Steven cried out, but she didn’t respond or look back. Steven looked over to Charlie, and back at Olivia. He didn’t know who to go with…

“Sir…” A man in his late thirties sporting a black velvet trench coat approached an older man sitting at his desk, “Salatin has… failed. The prison has been destroyed.” The older man did not look impressed, “Hmmmm.” He waited a moment, “Well then,” he began, “Lieutenant Matthew. Since my Captain has failed me, perhaps you can complete the task which he did not.” Lt. Matthew smiled, “Gladly, sir…”

by Admin-Emperor Dalek Sat 4 Nov 2017 - 17:13

If you could only get this published into a book.

by LastOfTheSonics Sat 4 Nov 2017 - 17:32

Thanks Admin. One day perhaps I'll adapt it to avoid any potential copyright issues. Razz

by Admin-Emperor Dalek Sat 4 Nov 2017 - 17:42

Shame you couldn't print off your work, bind it like a book and illustrate it like they used to in the old Target novel.

by LastOfTheSonics Mon 6 Nov 2017 - 19:56

The Life of Elliot #13 – Infiltration:

Lucy’s House, South England
Lucy’s mother and sister, Eileen and Maddison, were sat down in their living room. Opposite them, Elliot’s other best friend, Ryan, was anxiously pacing the room. “Why haven’t we heard anything yet?” He suddenly burst out. “Look, the police have a lot to deal with every second of every day,” Maddison began, “And I’m sure that two missing kids isn’t at the top of their list.” Ryan turned to her, “Kids? You’re younger than them!” Eileen stepped in, “Alright Ryan, we get it, you’re mad, but don’t take your anger out on my daughter.” Ryan looked remorseful, “I’m sorry, it’s just, not knowing about Elliot… I’m really on edge.” Eileen was slightly frustrated by this remark, “And you think we’re not? My daughter is missing as well!” Ryan didn’t really care about Lucy as much however, as despite both of them being Elliot’s best friends, the two of them had never crossed paths, but with Elliot and Lucy both being missing, it had banded him together with her family.

The Island, Unknown Location
“Use these, we don’t want to draw excess attention,” Daniel handed out suppressors from the guard’s belts to everyone. Lucy and Olivia suppressed their pistols, while Daniel and Elliot suppressed their rifles. “How do I use it?” Olivia asked, and Daniel quickly taught her. “How do I use this?” Elliot emphasized as if his rifle was harder to use, which it was. Daniel quickly taught him as well. “Ok, are we ready yet?” Daniel asked, sounding fed up. “After what they did to us? Yea, I’m ready alright.” Lucy looked certain. “Let’s move!” Daniel entered carefully, followed by Lucy and Olivia. Elliot looked back, and saw Steven comforting Charlie under the large tree.

“Are you sure you’re just short of breath? You seem to be hurting a lot more than that.” Steven was getting worried now. “I… promise, I’m… fine,” Charlie struggled with her words. Her hand subconsciously moved over to her thigh and she clenched it with her hand. Steven saw this, and looked curious. He moved her hand away and noticed that she had been shot. A look of horror had overcome Steven’s face. “Charlie…” she looked up at him, “No, Steven… No. G-go… Help your sister. Y-you must...” she was dying. “She has Elliot and Lucy; she will be ok. But you, I’m not letting you die.” Steven looked around desperately, and he noticed that part of Charlie’s clothing was partially ripped. In a hurry, he ripped the whole thing off and tied it around her thigh. “This might hurt, but I know that pressure can help stop the bleeding.” He tightened it and she screamed lowly.

“Ok, thank you officer…” Eileen put down the phone in disbelief. “No word, nothing. They followed all their leads, and nothing was found. Nothing at all.” Eileen sounded truly heartbroken; Maddison moved over to comfort her. Ryan on the other hand was leaning on the table, even more anxious than before. “There’s nothing more we can do, mum. All we can do is sit tight. “No… we can’t,” Ryan was unwilling to do nothing. “What do you suggest we do then Ryan?!” Maddison rose to her feet in a fit of rage, “We’re all on edge right now! It’s not just you! So either shut up, or get out!” Ryan shook his head and took the alternative, he marched out of the house. “Ryan!” Eileen tried to recall him, but to no avail.

Elliot’s group had snuck through several corridors, so far unnoticed. They had made it down the stairwell too. “This place makes no sense,” Elliot gave his views, “Why is this place so far away from humanity when there’s nothing and no one here?” Daniel answered, “Well there’s definitely something here, why else would there be security guards and why would they massacre all those poor prisoners if they’d nothing to hide?” Elliot was still convinced that whatever was happening up here had something to do with Salatin’s prison. Olivia and Lucy were both getting anxious now; Olivia because of Steven’s absence, and Lucy because of her need for vengeance. “Hey, stop there!” A scientist appeared from behind them, everyone froze, but Lucy was ready. She shot him in the head. “Lucy!” Elliot rushed to lower her pistol. “What?” she didn’t understand what she had done wrong, “They didn’t know we were here!” But a dead scientist, kind of a dead giveaway!” Elliot was whispering.

Charlie was still in pain, but it wasn’t as strong now. However, neither her nor Steven were convinced of her survival chances. “Steven,” she began, and he instantly acknowledged her. “You know what I need right now?” she asked. He wasn’t sure if this was going to be a serious question or a joke. “A Doctor,” they both laughed gently. But sure enough, that dreadful sound, the one that indirectly got them in this situation began whirring behind them. Steven’s hair was blowing upwards from the draft. A blue police box was materializing out of nowhere. Steven got up, and he couldn’t believe what he saw…

They had reached what appeared to be the main room in the Research Facility. Through the windows, Elliot and his comrades could see several scientists and several armed security guards. The scientists appeared to be carrying out chemistry experiments. “Ok, so, what’s the plan?” Elliot asked. Daniel smiled cunningly, and without consulting the others beforehand, he stormed into the room and shot at one of the security guards. The other one was prepared and shot him multiple times, riddling his chest with five or six bullet holes. He stood for a few seconds before dropping to his knees and then folding onto the ground. The remaining security guard was then himself killed; by Lucy, who shot him in the head. Elliot and Olivia looked startled. “All of you against the wall!” Lucy waved her pistol around. “Woah! Lucy, stop! Be careful with that thing!” Elliot was concerned about how far she was going, but his interest faded away when he looked down to his right and saw Daniel. Despite the fact that he should have felt grief, he actually didn’t care as much as he did with Travis. The reason being that Daniel was a murderer, and in Elliot’s eyes had gotten his just desserts; not to mention Elliot had only known him for about an hour.

The TARDIS door swung open. Out of it, came the Doctor. “You called?” He quirkily said. Neither Steven nor Charlie could believe what they were seeing. “You…” Steven was at a loss for words. “All this time…” he swallowed hard, “And you choose now to appear out of nowhere?” The Doctor walked towards him, “Well, she asked,” he pointed at Charlie. Steven looked cross, and this lead to him punching the Doctor in the face. “How dare you…” he said. Steven looked back at Charlie, and knew he had to hold back his anger for her well-being.

All the scientists were cowered against the walls. There was a radio connected up to a transmitter. Elliot had worked out that his had something to do with the satellite dish on top of the facility, but what? Were they scanning for something in the sky? Perhaps further, like something in space? Elliot was slightly jovial about the ambiguity; he always loved a great mystery. Olivia was frozen, and Lucy was threatening all the scientists; this gave Elliot an opportunity to test the radio. “Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? Over.” He abided by standard protocol. The only reply he received however was static. Nothing more. “Hello?” He was persistent. “Is anyone the-” his words were cut off, as behind him a huge draft entered. All the papers flew off the table, and much to Elliot’s surprise, the TARDIS was materializing. “No…” he was shocked. Out the door, Steven came out and leant against the door. All the scientists looked flustered; as did Lucy and Olivia. “Coming?” he asked. Everyone in that room looked bewildered; except for Elliot who looked furious, and Daniel who… well, was dead.

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 10 Nov 2017 - 21:06

The Life of Elliot #14 – An Old Friend:

Inside the TARDIS…
On board the TARDIS were Lucy, Olivia – the only two who were bewildered rather than angry – and Elliot, Steven and Charlie – who descended from most to least angry in that order. The Doctor was silent, and the atmosphere was awkward; but Elliot’s fury broke through. “Doctor!” he faced him with a look of shame, and couldn’t make eye contact. “Why? Why Doctor? Why now? Why not when we were all trapped back down there? Why not when Travis was bleeding out? Why?” Elliot began to get aggressive. “She asked…” the Doctor said submissively as he pointed to Charlie. Elliot shook his head with disgust. “How dare-” but before he could finish his sentence, his eyes were presented with the most unexpected surprise yet. From the other side of the console room, a heavily bruised and banged up Salatin walked around…

A Police Station, South England
“How are you holding up?” Ryan was comforting Maddison, who looked extremely vulnerable. She didn’t respond. “Look,” Ryan sighed, “I’m sorry I laid into you the other day, and I’m sorry that I stormed off. I’m here for Elliot… and Lucy…” he wasn’t sure if he was lying or not, “And most importantly, to comfort you and your mum.” Maddison smiled, but not very brightly. “Here we are,” Eileen came over to them with two cups of water, she gave one to Maddison and kept one for herself. Ryan looked shameful, and got up to get one for himself.

“You…” Elliot looked vicious and launched himself towards Salatin. “Elliot, don’t!” Steven restrained him. “Listen to him, just listen.” Salatin looked over to Elliot, “I’m sorry,” he said bluntly. “What…” Elliot was enraged by this comment. “Enough!” The Doctor intervened, “The reason why he is here, is because he regrets what he did. He has had a fair enough punishment, a near death experience. In turn, I forgave him.” Elliot was still angry, “Fair? How can you say that’s fair? I’d love to see you tell that to one of the poor souls who died down there. Like Travis!” The Doctor was angry as well now, “And do you know what caused that? You! And do you know why you were there? Because you declined my offer for something which happened before you were even born. So how dare you tell me what is right and wrong!” Elliot had become infuriated, “I didn’t know you were a god as much as you were a time traveler…” There was silence. “How many other people’s lives have you played with? How many other deaths have you caused? Because let me tell you, everyone who ever died in that prison, that’s down to you! You caused Salatin to build that place. Why? I will never know and nor do I care anymore, but you Doctor, you most certainly have a guilty conscience. I can see it on your face right now…” Salatin walked forward, “Elliot, please…” He retorted with, “Don’t you dare take one step closer to me or I swear Salatin… I swear…” Steven tapped him, “Look what you’re doing!” He pointed to Lucy, who looked fearful of what Elliot had become, “Lucy…” he moved over to her, but she ran off to the other side of the console. As Elliot went to go after her, Steven halted him, “Just think for a moment. I’m just as angry as you are, but I can actually contain it when there’s someone I love in the room. Can you?” Elliot wasn’t sure if he could, but he knew he had to for Lucy just as Steven did for his sister.

Elliot didn’t take kindly to what the Doctor had caused. For this reason, he pulled out his trump card, “Ok then, Doctor. You want to play a game of surprises? Well, I’ve got one for you.” The Doctor turned at him, albeit looking disinterested. “Your first companion is back there. On that Island.” The Doctor looked confused, “As if you would know.” Elliot was ready to bring the Doctor down, “Ian Chesterton. You forgot about him. How does that make you feel, Doctor? Perhaps now you understand what it was like being in that prison for so long!” The Doctor began to looked shocked, but angry at the same time. In an instant, he messed with the console in a desperate attempt to return to the island…

Ian had waited many years for the Doctor to visit him again. But it never happened, not once. Until now. From behind him, the TARDIS began materializing, and as heard that nostalgic whirring sound, he slowly turned around in disbelief. “No… It is not so! This is but an illusion! A mere illusion, I say!” But it was not. The TARDIS materialized, and the Doctor opened the door, walking out, also in disbelief. The two men looked at each other, both equally doubtful.

Elsewhere in the console room, Olivia was comforting Lucy, while Steven was lecturing Elliot on how to behave appropriately. Charlie had disappeared somewhere. Salatin was sitting on one of the side units. Elliot noticed him looking over, “What are you looking at?” He intensely shouted at him. Immediately, Salatin turned away. “Why are you here?” he followed up. Steven was attempting to stop him both verbally and physically, but Elliot still went over there. “Why Salatin? Why? Why couldn’t you have just died?” He looked back at Elliot, “The Doctor save me. He lectured me in forgiveness. For you it may only have been a matter of hours since you last saw me, however it has been days since I last saw you. The Doctor changed me into a better person, Elliot. Please. You have to understand that in spite of everything that happened-” Elliot interrupted him with anger, “I forgive you… is what I would be saying if you hadn’t of imprisoned Lucy just to taunt me, or caused Travis’ death, or created a zombie! I mean are you insane?” Salatin looked remorseful, “I understand, you’re angry. But remember, that Zombie gas was not my invention. I only kept it from reaching anyone else, so to that degree I did one good deed at least.” Elliot still wasn’t satisfied, “But does that justify the other things I just mentioned?” Salatin shook his head in agreement, “Of course not. But… perhaps now, we can try. Perhaps we can try to work together for the greater good. There are things I can tell you, things you need to know.” Elliot didn’t care about his attempt, but he still had several questions…

The Doctor welcomed Ian, who was completely flustered, back onto the TARDIS. Olivia and Lucy were the only ones paying attention to this. Steven, Salatin and Elliot were all still bickering. “What happened to that zombie woman? Was she destroyed in the explosion?” Salatin shook his head, “There were… others. Others like me. I was just the Captain, the one in charge. I had subordinates: five or six lieutenants, and a superior as well. One of them will have extracted the zombie prior to the explosion. The experiment is too valuable.” Elliot looked fed up, “Great, so there’s more lunatics like you out there who believe the same thing about the Doctor?” Salatin shook his head, albeit reluctantly. “I want to help bring them down. But for that, we all have to work together. Can we do that?” Elliot was at a crossroad; could he put the near-past behind him? Or would he keep to his vengeful beliefs?

In the police station, Maddison and Ryan were still waiting. Eileen had gone for a quick run to the shops. Through the doors of the station entered Lieutenant Matthew; however, Ryan and Maddison had no idea this man was connected to Elliot and Lucy’s disappearance. “Understood, sir.” Lt. Matthew ended his phone call and put his phone away. He looked towards Maddison and Ryan, then began walking towards them…

by LastOfTheSonics Mon 13 Nov 2017 - 16:26

The Life of Elliot #15 – Reunion of the Damned:
Elliot was in that same hospital room. The one he was in when he was unconscious after that encounter with the Cybermen. Of course, the whole thing was a dream; but it felt so real; so real in fact, Elliot wondered if this time he was actually there. That same hooded figure was there as well, glaring at him from behind the window. Elliot was hardly awake, but was fixated on the ceiling. Yet somehow he knew he was being watched. What he didn’t notice was the man sitting on the chair next to his bedside. His vision was blurred, meaning when he turned to face him, he couldn’t work out who it was, but he knew what he was saying. “You failed,” he began, “You failed me, Elliot. You failed once, and you will keep failing until you fail yourself… to death.” Elliot recognized the man’s voice, and slowly his eyes began to make out the distinct image of Travis; who still had that same gunshot wound he died of on his shoulder. “You messed up, Elliot. You messed up big time. Your own best friend is terrified of you. Not to mention, your insolence caused the death of… others.” Travis looked firm. “W-why…” Elliot struggled to speak. “Shhh,” Travis gestured for him not to attempt talking. “I’m not here to gloat or make you feel bad, I’m here to warn you. Think of me as… the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. I see a future; I see the future. One will die, Elliot. One will die…”

“Elliot?” Steven shook Elliot awake; he had fallen asleep in the waiting room at the police station. “You with us? It’s time to reunite with your folks.” Steven smiled and returned to his sister; the police were taking their details. Elliot wasn’t concerned about seeing Ryan or Lucy’s family again, the words Travis had spoken to him in his dream were haunting him. Was it really just a dream? Or was that a warning from the grave?

“You ready?” Elliot had to reassure Lucy before they went to reunite with the ones waiting for them. Lucy nodded her head, but she didn’t come across as confident to Elliot. Regardless, they made their way down the corridor into the front of the police station. “Lucy!” Eileen and Maddison screamed out in unison as they ran over to her; they shared a family embrace. Elliot looked warmer than he had recently. “Elliot?” Ryan called his name; although this was much to his surprise. “Ryan? What are you doing here?” Despite his confusion, he still looked jovial. “What do you mean why am I here? You’ve been missing for well over a week…” The friends performed their handshake, and Elliot was happy that someone had come for him. After all, who else would care? Certainly not his parents.

But amongst all the joy, Elliot turned to face Steven comforting his sister; who was crying. Elliot too was saddened by this, and despite not wanting to break his rare moment of joy, he went over there out of curiosity. “Steven?” he said gently. “Don’t…” he responded. Steven didn’t make eye contact, but Elliot could still tell from the expression on Steven’s face that their parents weren’t around anymore. “I’m sorry,” he quietly offered his condolences before returning to Ryan.

In one of the back rooms, Salatin and Charlie were being interviewed by a detective. “So you claim that there was a secret prison kept beneath an island run by a psychopath accompanied by a research facility over ground?” The detective partially wanted to get things straight, but also partially didn’t believe they were telling the whole truth. “That’s right detective,” Salatin was the one doing most of the talking; purely because Charlie didn’t want to accidentally reveal that the very psychopath they were talking about was in the room with them. “The island hasn’t been mapped. I checked it myself,” he leant closer to the detective, “Something weird was happening there. An experiment of some kind. Whether you believe me or not, I can assure you an abomination was on that island, and we have to promote this to expose the lies the public are being fed.” The Detective began to think Salatin was slightly crazy. “Two teenagers disappeared last week, and then suddenly they show up and so do you two. Now either that’s a coincidence, or you’ve got a lot of explaining to do…” Salatin shook his head, “Ok, I know that sounds bad, but trust me, we didn’t take them. If anything, they were the ones who saved us in the end. The people who did this were far worse.” Salatin tried telling the truth, but at the same time was cautious not to give himself away. Charlie was sickened by his lies.

“Look Elliot,” Ryan was being straightforward, “You know that I’ll always be the most likely to believe the bizarre things you come out with, but I simply cannot fall for this one. Zombies? I mean really, this isn’t The Walking Dead.” Regardless, Elliot kept trying to get his point across, “No, this is real life. And zombies do exist in real life. Ryan please you have to believe me! People died for this!” Ryan was concerned that whatever had happened to Elliot, the people who did it had drugged him so that his memories would be altered. “Elliot, I need you to think, really hard. Did they inject you or make you ingest any… tablets? Capsules?” Elliot kept shaking his head, “Ryan I promise I wasn’t drugged! I’m being serious!” Ryan was examining his eyes, “Amnesia Drug? MK Ultra?” Elliot kept insisting, “No! Ryan! Please! Won’t you please listen to me?”

In the interview room, the detective was struggling to reach a conclusion with Salatin and Charlie. “Right, I need to-” before he could finish, the door opened, and instantly Salatin recognized the man, it was Lieutenant Matthew. “Excuse me this is an ongoing interview thank you very much!” The Lieutenant brought out a pistol, “I think not.” The Detective had been trained for this kind of situation, and launched himself at the Lieutenant, throwing him against the wall. “What are you doing here?” Salatin jumped up, surprised, “Answer me Lieutenant!” He only smiled in response, “You failed… my role is to complete what you did not.” Pushing the detective off of him, the Lieutenant pulled out two syringes. He injected Charlie and Salatin with them, he had been trained to skillfully apprehend them. “No…” Charlie said light-headedly, as they both became nauseated and fell to the ground. “As for you,” he turned to the Detective and shot him in the head.

In the front of the police station, the quiet-happy atmosphere went to one of terror as masked and armed gunmen stormed the building. Two armed police officers brought out their pistols, but they were shot down instantly. “Everyone down!” They yelled through their masks. Elliot and Ryan dropped to the ground, “I’m not dying now! Not after everything!” Elliot said to himself. The gunmen examined all the people in the station. When they found Steven and Olivia, they took them. “Hey where are you going with-” Elliot received the butt of a pistol on the back of his head. “Elliot!” Lucy called out, but this drew attention to herself, causing her to be taken away. “No! Stop!” Maddison was refusing to lose her sister again, but she herself was taken, and in turn was her mother. Elliot’s entire group were swarmed from the station and packed tightly into the back of massive black army trucks; although these men were not army at all…

After a short journey, perhaps only ten minutes, Elliot and his group arrived in a deserted field. No trees, no football pitches, no people. There were only four helicopters. All were standard, however there were gunmen next to each helicopter sporting light machine guns. Elliot’s group were loaded out of each truck; Elliot was conscious now, however Charlie and Salatin were not. “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Lt. Matthew began, “You are going to be divided into small groups and placed on these helicopters. The journey will be two or three hours long. Our destination… well, let’s just say if you thought that previous island was weird, you don’t know what’s about to hit you…” The armed men came over from the helicopters. Elliot, Steven and Ryan were loaded onto the first helicopter; Olivia, Lucy and Charlie were loaded onto the second helicopter; Salatin, Maddison and Eileen on the third; and Lt. Matthew boarded the fourth helicopter, his personal one as shown by the thick yellow painted around it unlike the rest.

One by one, the helicopters took off. If any of the prisoners attempted anything sudden, the armed men had orders to shoot them. Steven was sat at the edge of his helicopter, and he saw his sister in the one next to him. “You’ll be ok,” he mimed to her. She smiled back, but was slightly crying as well. The helicopter she was on took to the air, and Steven watched it take off while he waited for his own to become airborne…

by LastOfTheSonics Thu 16 Nov 2017 - 17:17

The Life of Elliot #16 – The Danger Zone:
“What’s all this about then? What have you done this time Elliot?” Ryan was firing so many questions. It was hard for them to communicate due to the roaring sound of the helicopter’s engine. Ryan asked a great many questions, but Elliot used the disruptive sounds to his leverage and decided to act as though he hadn’t heard what Ryan was saying.

Salatin couldn’t stand to face Maddison or Eileen; he was disappointed with himself, truly, for what he had done to Elliot and Lucy. Of course, neither of them had any idea who Salatin really was. Part of him wanted to tell the truth, after all he knew everything about what was going to happen. He knew where they were all going, he knew why they were all going there, and above all, he knew he would have to betray Elliot at some point.

Charlie’s wound had been bandaged up, although she was supposed to change it soon. Olivia was teary-eyed, distraught and confused about where she was going. Lucy had a look of vengeance on her face, and she aimed it at the armed man in front of her. She was determined to get revenge, whatever the cost may be.

To Steven and Elliot, it seemed like an hour had passed. Ryan didn’t really care, for by this point he had fallen asleep. But Steven was kept awake from his concerns about his sister. Elliot was in two minds; one was confused about why he had been taken again, and the other was scared for Lucy’s safety. “All units copy!” Elliot could hear Lt. Matthew’s voice over the radio system. He was contacting the pilots. “We are nearing the destination, repeat, we are nearing the destination, over.” Now Elliot felt a mix of awe and adrenaline. They were nearly there, but was that really a good thing?

Lt. Matthew was the pilot of his own helicopter, and he noticed something odd in the distance. There was a lone island, with a single lighthouse. “Pilot,” Lt. Matthew began through the headset to his co-pilot, “Get the binoculars. What’s that over there?” He had noticed a small matter on the horizon, it appeared to be the shape of a person. The co-pilot made a quick maneuver and examined the island through a set of binoculars. “It appears to be a rocketeer, sir.” And so it was, it was a man with a rocket launcher, almost as if he was preparing to fire down the helicopters. Lt. Matthew put in a call of urgency.

“This is Eagle One to all units, divert around the islands. There is a yellow-level hazard. Repeat, divert around the islands. There is a yellow-level hazard.” Each of the helicopters in turn strafed to the left or the right to divert away from the range of the rocketeer. Elliot was aware something was happening, although he wasn’t entirely sure what. As he was sitting in the middle seat, he had a clear view on the windshield and caught a glimpse of the danger. The rocketeer appeared to be aiming for his helicopter. “Steven…” he began, but Steven didn’t respond. As the helicopter slowly leaned to one side in an attempt to curve round quicker, Elliot caught another glimpse of the rocketeer, enough to see that the rocket launcher was aimed at the helicopter he was on board, followed shortly afterwards by a rocket spiraling towards him. “Everyone get down!” Ryan jolted awake, but it was too late. The rocket propelled directly into the tail of the helicopter, and it was sent spiraling out of control…

Salatin had seen this, although he was the only one who had. He had wondered whether or not he was supposed to draw Maddison and Eileen’s attention to it, although he ultimately opted against it. None the less, he continued to watch the helicopter rapidly spin around and slowly lose altitude.

Everything on the control panel had lit up red, and a loud bleeping alarm was ringing through the helicopter as the altitude level began to drop increasingly quicker. “This is Eagle Four. We’re losing control! Urgent assistance required! Repeat-” The second wave of attack consisted of a rapid spray of bullets penetrating the side of the helicopter. One of them shot the pilot dead instantly, and the co-pilot struggled to regain control of the helicopter. More bullets sprayed, and one scratched the door latch on Steven’s side. The door slid open and Steven was being dragged out, although his seatbelt was barely holding him back. “Steven!” Elliot instantly leant out to try and grab him, but Ryan was frozen in shock.

Lt. Matthew could see below that there was a gunner on the lighthouse. He was using an M249 light machine gun. The worse part was that Salatin now knew who these two men were, and that the helicopter had been shot down by accident. “Oh no! Contact Lieutenant Gordon immediately! He’s wrongly attacking us as a threat! Get a yacht out here instantly!” He was panicking now, he looked down at the man with machine gun, “Heavy…” he said to himself, for this was the given name of the man spraying bullets at the choppers.

Charlie, Olivia and Lucy were completely oblivious to the chaos unravelling around them. Until it hit them, quite literally. Suddenly, they were under fire by countless bullets piercing through the metal of the helicopter. This chopper too rapidly began losing altitude, and curved out of control. The girls were screaming; except for Charlie, who had accepted she may be about to die. The pilots struggled to control the helicopter, however they were doing a decent job at preventing an increased loss of altitude despite all the bullets smacking at their vehicle.

Again, Lt. Matthew saw this chopper under heavy fire, and also the rocketeer beginning to take aim at that helicopter too. “Hurry up man! Make him answer! Make him!” Lt. Matthew was sweating now. But was he concerned about losing everyone else so soon? Or was he concerned that his helicopter may be the next to get shot down?
After struggling furiously, Elliot eventually managed to grip Steven’s arm. Although he had him secured, he too was now at risk of being flung out. “Ryan!” Elliot called out in desperation, but the helicopter was now louder than ever with the door open. Elliot repeatedly shouted out his name, but Ryan couldn’t hear him. Steven’s seatbelt came loose, and he was flung out of the helicopter, pulling Elliot out of his seat and away with him. The two men were plummeting down to the sea beneath them…
“I warned you, another would die,” Elliot had passed out when he hit water level. “It’s too late now to change the future. Fate is inevitable. You failed, Elliot. You. You, failed…” Travis’ warning was now just him berating Elliot, but why?

Steven pulled Elliot up from the sea. He was gasping for breath desperately. Neither of them knew what to do now, however they both witnessed another rocket fire off to an untouched helicopter. It flew directly towards the one carrying Salatin, Maddison and Eileen. It hit them unexpectedly as the prisoners on board had no idea of the chaos happening around them. This time the rocket narrowly missed it, and the helicopter curved its way out of range.

Lucy and Olivia were still in a state of mass panic; in contrast to Charlie. However, Lucy’s screaming was ultimately ceased when a bullet tore through her chest. She stopped crying and screaming, and slowly looked down at the wound which had appeared over her heart; as well as the blood seeping out of it. Olivia turned, and saw her. “Lucy! Lucy, no!” Olivia didn’t know how to help her. Lucy gazed over to Olivia; who looked horrified, “Look… after… them…” she slowly closed her eyes, and let out a final long breath – she had died…

Hope appeared on the horizon for Elliot and Steven, as they saw a large yacht travelling towards them. But would the occupants be friend or foe? Elliot turned back, and observed the two remaining helicopters fly away into the thick fog in the distance. Elliot gave a final glance to the helicopter spiraling through the air, terrified whether or not Lucy was still alive; but something told him he wouldn’t want to find out. He turned in the other direction, and noticed Ryan too had escaped the helicopter, he was paddling towards them and coughing rapidly at the same time.

Volume 1 ends here!

by LastOfTheSonics Sun 19 Nov 2017 - 10:08

Volume 2 begins here!

The Life of Elliot #17 – Ouroboros:
A Super Yacht, Middle of the Ocean
“Come on, just think about it,” Derrick pulled his fiancée closer to him, “Derrick, stop it,” she flirted. “Can’t we just ditch all this nonsense with these men and just run? Just us, run forever? I mean what actually are we doing?” Derrick was determined to take Yvonne away somewhere special. “Look, Derrick, they obviously need us, otherwise we wouldn’t be getting paid a six figure sum for this job. Nonetheless, once it’s done, we’ll put half the money towards our honeymoon. How about that?” Derrick smiled in response, and they shared a brief kiss. Unbeknownst to them, Steven was awake and watching from the cushiony sofa placed next to the door. He was cuffed, with one cuff on his wrist and other on a railing next to the door. He was eavesdropping on Yvonne and Derrick’s conversation, realizing that they weren’t actually a part of Lt. Matthew’s group, and so he wondered if perhaps he could get through to them and negotiate freedom…

In the main part of the yacht, Elliot and Ryan were cuffed to a cabinet. Although Ryan had passed out, Elliot was still wide awake, and paying attention to what was happening in front of him. “You could have killed all of us! You know that really would’ve blown the tests! Not to mention, your existence would be put on the line by him!” Elliot was intrigued by the ambiguity of that pronoun. “Him”. Who were they referring to? “Lieutenant, I understand, and you know how sorry I am. But I was just doing my job and-” Lt. Matthew slapped him. “Your job? You killed one of them! You’ve caused disruption to our experiments…” Lt. Matthew turned around and began walking away in anger, followed by another man, “Lt. Gordon,” he addressed the man falling in line behind him, “You need to control your men better!” Lt. Gordon didn’t respond, but showed acceptance of his responsibility. “As for you, Heavy. If you make a mistake like that again, it may very well cost you your life!” Having witnessed this whole conversation, Elliot had more questions than answers. Who had died? Was it seriously who he thought it was?

Olivia and Charlie had survived their crash too. They had made it onto the island which Heavy ambushed them from. It was extremely small for an island, although it had a lighthouse and a wooden cabin too; both of which seemed odd for the middle of nowhere. “Which do you reckon is better?” Olivia asked her. Although she didn’t respond verbally, she pointed towards the cabin, and Olivia agreed. As they lugged over to it, Olivia looked back to the open sea, “I will…” she responded to Lucy’s final words…

As Yvonne and Derrick continued their casual conversation, they were unaware of Steven eavesdropping on them. He was taking note of everything being said, feeling it could become useful information later on. But then, Derrick mentioned something that caught Steven out, “Did you hear about that girl he killed?” From what Steven had previously heard, he knew Derrick was referring to the ambush. “Yes. It’s absolutely tragic! And as wrong as this sounds, I only care about getting paid. Whoever gets caught up is nothing to do with us, Derrick. We just need the money; we don’t want to get ourselves killed. But nonetheless, once we’re discharged, perhaps we should tell the police. That girl deserves justice. Can you imagine her parents never knowing what happened to their daughter?” Despite the ambiguity, Steven had narrowed it down to two people: Olivia and Lucy. At this point, Steven couldn’t remain silent anymore, “Who was it? Look please, please just tell me.” Although Derrick and Yvonne were both surprised, Steven didn’t have time for that emotion, “Just tell me already! Please!” Derrick stuttered, “The blonde one. Straight hair? Um… I don’t know how to describe her really.” Steven didn’t need anything else, “Blonde?” Derrick nodded. Although he was slightly relieved that it wasn’t Olivia, he felt sorrow for Elliot. His expression reflected his condolences.

After some time, Lt. Matthew finally returned to the main room. Elliot looked up at him instantly, and he crouched down. “Listen, um… I’m sorry, truly I am…” he looked down and then back at him again, “She wasn’t supposed to die… yet.” Elliot looked angry, yet heartbroken at the same time. He shook his head in denial, “No…” Despite how evil Lt. Matthew was, he still showed some signs of humanity, and handed Elliot the Moon and Star bracelet which he had gifted her before all this began. He stared at it, deeply upset; because now he had to accept, he had to accept the reality that Lucy was dead, and it wasn’t just a hallucination in his mind anymore, it was real now. Elliot cautiously took the bracelet, and gently slid it on his own wrist. “You…” Lt. Matthew rose, “I’ll kill you!” Elliot cried out in anger, as he vigorously lunged; his handcuffs held him to the bookshelf however, but this didn’t stop him from continuously launching himself. “I’ll kill all of you! I will!” His anger slowly began to fade, as he slowly started crying in acceptance of the truth.

The cabin was empty. Charlie had theorized that it had belonged to the man that gunned them down; as she was unaware of everything happening on the yacht. Whoever the cabin belonged to, they definitely lived here still as there was food stored in the cupboards. Out of respect, Olivia and Charlie didn’t raid the cupboards, however they did pour themselves a hot drink from a thermos flask. “We need to get out a distress signal, or at least find some way of calling for help,” Olivia was determined to prevent anything dangerous from happening again. Charlie, still not communicating verbally, shook her head. “Charlie we have to. Even if no one will believe our story, we have to at the very least save ourselves from getting caught up in it again. This you understand, surely?” But still no verbal response was made. “If we get help, the others will be found. It’s our duty to do that. Our duty to Lucy, to do that. We can’t just let her fade away!” Passion was shown in Olivia’s voice, but nonetheless the expression on Charlie’s face begged to differ.

“Listen… just uncuff me, please. You know I’m not going to hurt you.” Steven pleaded for freedom. “Oh no, we’re getting paid to make sure that EVERY single detail is perfect. That includes keeping you cuffed,” Derrick responded. “Oh come on, what will I do? Attempt to take control of the wheel? Your fiancée – congratulations by the way – seems to be efficient at maintaining course.” Derrick made eye contact, “Watch it.” Steven then replied, “Oh no, I didn’t mean that in a flirty way. I’m just saying, you two are human beings, as am I. So why don’t you just uncuff me? I’m not going to hurt you for goodness sake!” Steven’s mental issues had gotten him agitated, and without Olivia around to keep him in control, it would be hard for him to keep a hold of himself. He clenched his fists and breathed deeply in and out. “That’s why! You may say you’re not going to hurt us, but that is just like me saying that we are going to the moon! Which, by the way, we’re not unfortunately. The point is, saying and doing are two very different things, and sometimes you can’t control the difference.” Steven rested his head back, “I can. I just… I just need my sister. Please.” Derrick approached him, “Your sister?” Steven nodded, “She has long brown hair. She’s fifteen years old, looks slightly like me. You must have rescued her surely?” Derrick looked sheepish. “Only one girl was recovered, and that was the dead one. Two of them went missing after the crash. One of them matches your sister’s description. Wherever she is, she got away, so don’t worry about her.” Derrick returned to Yvonne. “No! Not until I see her!” Steven began yanking at his cuffs. “You tell me where she is! You tell me right now!” Derrick sighed, “I didn’t want to have to do this.” Derrick produced a syringe from his pocket and injected Steven’s arm, causing him to pass out. “Soon be there…” Derrick told him as he fell asleep. Through the windshield, Yvonne could now see the outline of the large island among the thick foggy horizon…

by LastOfTheSonics Wed 22 Nov 2017 - 16:13

The Life of Elliot #18 – Home Truths:
“This is Eagle Three. Come in Eagle One. Repeat, come in Eagle One,” the pilot was short of breath after avoiding Heavy’s ambush. “Ok, seriously, what just happened?!” Maddison was freaking out. “Mum? Are you ok? Mum?” She shook her mother; who was frozen in shock. Salatin was too ashamed to look at either of them, for he knew indirectly this was his fault. “Eagle Two, come in please!” The pilots were trying all three of the other helicopters, however none of the other pilots responded. “Jax!” Salatin knew the pilot, for they were once comrades. “Jax, how much further until we arrive on the island?” This drew Maddison’s attention, “Island? What? How do you know about this? What do you mean?” She was bewildered, and as much as Salatin wanted to answer, he simply couldn’t do it. “We’re about an hour out, that’s presuming we don’t get ambushed again. If the wind is on our side for the majority of it, we could arrive much sooner.” Salatin was in two minds. One sided with Maddison and Eileen, the other with Jax.

Day had slowly turned to night, and the whole time, Salatin had been staring out the window watching the sun set over the sea. They edged nearer and nearer to the island. “Eagle Three,” a voice broadcast over the intercom. Although Maddison and Eileen didn’t recognize the voice, Salatin instantly matched it to that of Lt. Gordon’s. “Corporal Jax, are you receiving me? Over.” Jax responded, “Acknowledged sir. What is your current status?” Salatin was listening carefully over his headset. “We are currently on board the S.S. Shearman, majority of victims survived, an estimate of only four losses in total. Three friendlies, one hostile.” Salatin knew by the term “hostile” they were referring to one of Elliot’s group, but he didn’t know who. “Copy that, sir. Island in view on the horizon now, we will be arriving shortly. ETA twenty-two hundred hours. Over.” Lt. Gordon was silent for a moment, “Our ETA is twenty-three hundred hours. We will not be arriving shortly, ensure to inform command. Over and Out.” The radio cut off. Salatin’s two minds were now torn between who had died, and whether or not he could bring Jax onto his side.

The helicopter slowly descended onto the helipad, with an aircraft marshal waving two handheld beacons to help guide Jax down. As soon as the door was opened, Salatin leapt off, and it took him a while to adjust to the ground again. Maddison and Eileen were assisted off the aircraft, and after all the commotion which had happened, Eileen threw up. “Welcome sir. You’ve landed on the South side of the Island,” the marshal greeted Jax. “Are there any breaches or outbreaks?” Salatin listened carefully now, hoping nothing sinister had escaped from the research facility. “No sir. However, for the sake of time, I would still recommend taking one of the trucks to the village.” Salatin was concerned now. The people who lived in the village knew him, and therefore Maddison and Eileen would discover the truth about what he had done. “Did… did they make it?” Eileen asked Maddison, still short of breath. “I don’t know, mum… But… You know our Lucy, of course she’ll be ok. She has Elliot too remember!” Although Maddison herself wasn’t so convinced, she had to reassure her mother anyway. It broke Salatin to watch this conversation, did he owe it to them to tell them the truth about Lucy?

After a short journey, the camo truck arrived at a small village consisting of five or six houses at the most. Salatin, Maddison and Eileen were loaded off. “Gather your strength for the morning, you’re really going to need it,” Jax tossed a set of keys to Salatin, “The shorter one is for your house, the longer one is for those two. Sleep tight, don’t let the Pentademons bite…” He drove off, leaving them to rest for the night.

“Which house is it?” Maddison asked, while comforting her mother. “It’s not any over there,” he had tried four houses already. “It must be one of these then.” Eventually, one of the doors gave, and Salatin gave that house to Maddison and Eileen as if trying to make up for what he’d already done. Maddison turned on a light inside the house, it was brighter than most due to the fact that it was night and around them were the shadows of the tall looming mountains surrounding them. In the house opposite, a woman leant out the window, “Oi! Turn that light off! Some of us trying to sleep!” she yelled down. “My apologies,” Salatin tried to play it cool, but the woman knew him.

“You!” she slammed the window down, and now Salatin rushed to unlock his house. “Get over here!” she angrily marched over to him, he dropped his keys in a panic. “No! Come on!” He fiddled with the keys desperately. She grabbed him and threw him to the ground. “What the hell are you doing here now?!” She raised her fist. “Eleanor!” An African-British man sporting a tracksuit appeared from the house, “Eleanor stop!” Maddison and Eileen appeared from their house too. “What’s going on?” Eleanor looked towards them, “This man, he is pure evil! He experiments on us! You can’t trust a word he says!” Maddison was confused, “What are you talking about? He’s tried nothing other than to help us!” Eleanor retorted with, “That’s what we thought! Me and Nate,” she pointed to the man who appeared from their house, “He played nice with us as well. But if I showed you these scars…” Nate had his hands out, trying to calm her down.

Eleanor had dragged Salatin into her living room and tied him to an armchair. Maddison and Eileen were spectating in confusion. “Why have you come back now?” Eleanor was interrogating him. “I’ve come to help…” Eleanor looked furious, “If you lie, Nate will give you a few bruises…” Salatin interrupted, “I’ve already got enough, thanks,” he referred to the ones on his face he had received from Elliot and Steven. “Then if you don’t want anymore, start telling the truth. Why are you here?” She asked him one more time. “I came here as a prisoner, just like you. You can even ask those two,” he nodded towards Maddison and Eileen. “We were ambushed, three quarters of our party were brought down. There were… losses, as well.” Maddison looked upset, “So they’re telling the truth? You really are the bad guy here? How else would you know that people died?” Salatin looked guilty now. “You have to understand, I never wanted this… Please, just know th-” Maddison snapped and slammed her fist on the table, “Just tell me!” Salatin paused, “Your sister… I’m so sorry, she… she died…” Both Eileen and Maddison froze, their expressions dropped into shock and their eyes drooped…

Maddison sat atop the roof of her new house. Looking out through the mountains to the broad open sea, feeling the salty sea air blow her hair back. From the window which she had climbed through to get up there, Eleanor now peered through, struggling to get up. “Here,” Eleanor gave her a cup of tea, but Maddison completely dismissed it out of shock. “Look,” she put the cup down, “I know how you feel, I do. I lost my mother years ago. And I know maybe you don’t want to hear that, but I want you to understand that you’re not alone. I’m here for you, and despite everything that has happened, there are still reasons to have faith in this world…” Still Maddison had not acknowledged anything, and was frozen. “I… keep thinking,” at last she spoke, “That maybe… I didn’t hear that. Or maybe… maybe he’s wrong… or… or, maybe this is just… not happening… maybe…” Maddison had lost faith in contrary to what Eleanor had told her. “I just…” she began to cry, “Why! Why her…” she completely broke down as Eleanor embraced her. They both looked out tearfully across a dark gloomy horizon…

by LastOfTheSonics Wed 22 Nov 2017 - 19:21

Some clarification: this series is set in an Alternate Universe (like The Age of Steel, Inferno, Turn Left).

Because of this, I like to consider the series canon as it is set in one of the countless alternate universes. This also avoids ruining any continuity established in the main show.

by LastOfTheSonics Sat 25 Nov 2017 - 8:42

The Life of Elliot #19 – TBA:
The Yacht slowly approached the Island, lining itself up with the large boardwalk. “Easy, easy, gently!” Lt. Gordon was instructing Yvonne on how to park her own ship. “Excellent.”

Elliot was still in a complete mess, tears dominating his face. Ryan looked remorsefully at him. Lt. Matthew was watching them from a distance. “We’ve arrived on the North side of the Island Matthew,” Lt. Gordon peered his head down from the stairs, “We should make it to the village by tomorrow afternoon. Corporal Jax informed me that the others have arrived already.” Lt. Matthew nodded in acceptance, “Prepare to disembark then.”

The guards lifted the prisoners off, still holding them at gunpoint. Ryan and Elliot were off first, along with Lt. Matthew and Lt. Gordon. Shortly after, off came Heavy and the rest of the armed men. Derrick and Yvonne, being the ship’s owners, were last off, accompanied by Steven. “Elliot,” Steven looked sorrowful towards him, “I’m so sorry, I am really, truly, very, extremely sorry…” He exaggerated to show he meant it. Elliot didn’t respond, but Steven noticed the bracelet on Elliot’s wrist, and understood how much shock he was in. “Alright, let’s move out then,” Lt. Matthew instructed. The guards nudged the prisoners as a gesture to get them to move.

In the cabin on the remote eroded island, Charlie and Olivia had found comfort on the beds. Despite the level of comfort, neither of them could sleep, both were equally worried for the others. Olivia moved over to look out the window. As she looked out over the sea, part of her had hoped to see Lucy swimming ashore, but no matter how hard she forced the vision upon herself, she saw nothing. “He’s alright,” Charlie appeared at the door, startling Olivia. “Steven… He’ll be alright. I give you my word…” Charlie approached Olivia, and embraced what she considered to be her new step-sister.

“Sir, one of them breached…” a guard from the island informed Lt. Matthew, who looked away in annoyance. “Right…” Elliot was in too much shock to care about the ambiguity, but Steven was listening in for him, “Don’t say it was one of them.” The man shook his head frantically, “No sir, it wasn’t a Pentademon. It was one of those Weevil creatures…” Steven’s eyes lit up, for now he knew there were far worse things than people on this island…

Two army jeeps – which appeared to be authentic from one of the World Wars – carried the party. On the first were Elliot and Ryan with an armed guard, as well as Heavy and the driver. On the second were Steven, two armed guards, Lt. Matthew and Lt. Gordon who was driving the jeep. They were driving carefully through wooded areas, open grassy areas, and even on roads which weaved through the mountains. “How much further?” Elliot called out to Heavy, “Shut up,” he responded. Elliot turned back to Ryan, disgusted by Heavy’s attitude. “Incoming!” One the guards shouted and pointed at a small forest area where a weevil had appeared. Both of the jeeps stopped to a halt, “Careful, careful! It’s just the one, we can recontain it. No need to kill. Get out the tranquilizer gun.” Lt. Matthew ordered. The guard opened an elongated silver box, and equipped the tranquilizer rifle, loading it with one round. He aimed it towards the Weevil, which cried out and charged at them. “Hurry man, hurry!” Lt. Matthew rushed him.

The Weevil gained closer and closer, and the guard was struggling to get a steady shot, “I can’t scope it for long enough sir!” Lt. Matthew was fed up, “Fool!” he knocked the back of the tranq-rifle upwards, the butt of it knocking the guard back. Lt. Matthew took it himself, and aimed it towards the Weevil. “Grah!” He cried out and took the shot riskily, completely missing the creature. He rushed to load in a second dart. He loaded it and rearmed it, but it was too late. The weevil jumped at him and knocked him back. He used the rifle to keep it from mauling into him. Lt. Gordon grabbed the Weevil and pulled it off of him, tackling it to the ground; although it was far stronger than any man. The weevil launched Lt. Gordon off with one arm, throwing him down.

The guard from the other jeep equipped his tranquilizer gun, “Get back!” he pushed Elliot over to Ryan, who caught him from falling off. The guard tried to line up his shot, but a second one jumped him from behind, knocking him forwards. The weevil mauled into his shoulder, “Run!” Elliot turned around as he and Ryan jumped off the jeep in terror. “Look out there’s another one!” Elliot pointed at the forest area again, spotting a third Weevil, followed by a fourth, then a fifth. “This way!” He tugged Ryan and they ran towards the other jeep.

Lt. Matthew was ducking behind the side of his jeep, equipping his pistol. “Four, five, that’s way too many! Right, permission to terminate granted!” The armed guards equipped their lethal rifles, and shot rapidly at the Weevils. After some spraying of bullets, they finally got one down, but from behind more had appeared, and they launched themselves at the guards, mauling into them as well. Salatin cried out in anger and annoyance, before rushing to the other side of the jeep. He saw Lt. Gordon trying to keep a Weevil off of him, and assisted by shooting it with his pistol, killing it. “Come on!” he gestured for him to come over. Lt. Gordon made a dash for it over to his comrade. Elliot and Ryan were opposite them, resting against the other jeep.

Heavy jumped up from the passenger seat with an SMG, and sprayed down the weevils. He managed to take two of them down, but the remaining Weevil jumped at him, forcing the door open causing Heavy to fall to the ground. Lt. Matthew lined up his pistol, and shot the Weevil off of Heavy. The Driver of the other jeep had been taken and torn up by the Weevils. “Everyone over here!” They all piled into Lt. Matthew’s jeep, and it quickly jumpstarted off, being chased by several Weevils. “All of them? How? We only have thirteen of them, how can they all be out?” Lt. Gordon was bewildered by how every Weevil had breached. “What… what were those… things?” Elliot was out of breath.

The lone jeep continued travelling across rocky terrain. Elliot had been checking his phone, and he informed Ryan when the time turned to exactly ’00:00’. “New dawn, new day,” he told his friend. Steven had been admiring the scenery around them. The island was large and daunting, but nonetheless the views were stunning. “ETA 10 minutes, assuming there aren’t any more breaches,” Heavy informed Lt. Matthew, who was driving. As they gained closer, Elliot, Ryan and Steven all noticed a large building. It appeared to be a supersized research facility, with several balconies and walkways on the outside. But Elliot noticed something dreadful, there was a missile silo on the far side between two mountains, and even worse, there was a missile loaded in it. Around the exterior was printed “SM-52”, and immediately Elliot knew what was loaded in it. “Shearman’s gas…” He quietly said to himself. Having witnessed firsthand the effects of it, he knew that the devastation it could cause would be near enough an extinction-level event.

As they curved around one of the mountains, Elliot noticed a small animal enclosure. A loud screeching noise resonated from it, and everyone turned to face it over the roaring of the jeep’s engine. There was a five-legged mammal – it’s fifth leg at its’ rear side – with no face, just a large mouth, inside the enclosure, and it was being prodded with a cattle-prod. Elliot looked at it in awe, as did Steven and Ryan. Of course, Lt. Gordon, Lt. Matthew and Heavy were all familiar with what this creature was. “That’s a Pentademon,” Lt. Gordon began, “We call it that because… Well, it has five legs, and it’s pretty much a demon.” Steven’s mind was opened even further, but only terror flooded in...

by LastOfTheSonics Mon 27 Nov 2017 - 19:55

The Life of Elliot #20 – Survivors:
“He was my brother,” Nate began, “His name was Lamar. I haven’t seen him for… well, years. When our father left us all those years ago, and my mother was too ill to look after us, Lamar took care of me. He was the best big brother I could ever ask for. I wouldn’t change a single day I had with him for the world. Ever.” Maddison could now obviously relate to him, “But you see the thing is,” he put the photo frame down, “I know he’s out there somewhere… still kicking. I know he is. I can just… feel it. Sometimes I think… he can sense me too,” he sounded passionate. “I’d love to think that about my sister. I keep thinking that… because I didn’t see it… Maybe there’s something more to it. But I know deep down that there isn’t. I know sooner or later, I’ll have to let go…” Nate nodded, and embraced her, “She’s better now…” he told her.

Unbeknownst to them, a camera had been hidden in one of the bookshelves, through it, Nate’s brother was indeed watching them. He was inside what appeared to be a control room, likely within the research facility. His torso and his head were human, but his limbs had been replaced by metal, and his eye had been enhanced, he was a cyborg…

Olivia was still asleep. It was the morning now, but Olivia had finally gotten to sleep after worrying all night about Steven. However, the sound of a helicopter hovering over the cabin woke her up and grabbed her attention. “Olivia!” Charlie called out from downstairs. Quickly, she put on her jumper and rushed down. “Look!” she pointed out the window, only to see a helicopter was landing outside. “What do we do?” Olivia asked, as she moved back. Charlie stopped her, “Get back upstairs. Whatever this is, I’ll deal with it,” she faced her, “Go!” Olivia quickly darted back up. Charlie opened the door, only to see Lt. Matthew was piloting the helicopter, and out of the main section came two armed guards. Charlie sighed, and exited the cabin. She thought to herself whether it would be better if she left Olivia behind, or brought her to see Steven. She settled for the latter, and summoned her back down by gesturing to the window she was watching out of. As the two girls reluctantly boarded, accompanied by two armed guards, the helicopter took off, headed back on route towards the Island.

The Island had been on ‘Danger Level: Red’ the entire night, therefore Elliot, Ryan and Steven had all been taken to the research facility in order to rest for the night. However, Lt. Gordon wouldn’t let so much as a spare second pass. As soon as the time hit 06:00, he burst into their chamber, and woke all of them up.

As they were toured around the facility, they were held at gunpoint by armed guards. “Why are you showing us around?” Elliot asked, tiredly. “You escaped Salatin’s Island already. You know some truths. But we’re not ready to share them with the world yet. Therefore, we found a place for you in this new political age.” Elliot looked absolutely bewildered, “New political age? What on earth are you talking about?” “Mock me all you want, but when we come to power, you’ll regret your words.” “Whatever it is you’re planning; you took the life of someone I care deeply about. I hope you understand how dead you are. I showed mercy to ‘Captain’ Salatin, but I guarantee you I’ll not make the same mistake twice.” But Lt. Gordon didn’t care for what Elliot had to say. “Look Elliot, maybe you should just leave it,” Ryan suggested, “He’s right,” Steven added, “You’re only going to make things worse for yourself.” He followed their advice; albeit reluctantly.

Eventually, they made it to a door labelled as ‘C-2206’. “Here we are,” Lt. Gordon informed them. As the door slid open, they entered one at a time. Inside was a small room with windows on all sides. There was a scientist sitting at a table, admiring something behind the glass. All that Elliot could see was an empty storage room around them. “Dr. Aidan, these are the people I was telling you about.” The scientist got up, revealing he was perhaps fifty or sixty, and inspected each of them. “So… these are the infamous friends of the Doctor.” “Hardly,” Elliot responded. “How so my child?” He queried, “Look, I don’t know why you’re dragging us around here. Quite frankly I’m bored of it, so why don’t you just take your psychotic act, knock it on the head, and return us to civilisation?” There was a moment’s pause. “This one certainly has a spark of loyalty. I’ll grant him that. The reason why you are here being simply to be given a place in the new world. Your role will make an example of what force will be required to secure justice.” Elliot had no idea what Aidan was talking about, and passed him off as crazy. “I’m sure you’re familiar with my friend here,” he banged on the window, as a familiar face jolted up. Elliot instantly recognised the undead face of Leslie. “No… Is that… A zombie?” Ryan was terrified, “How can that be? How?” At the far end, Elliot noticed a video camera had been set up. “It’s an experiment… and we’re the test subjects…”

Eileen had sat in the armchair for the entire night, she hadn’t got up once. She’d hardly even moved. “How are you doing?” Nate walked over to her with a water bottle in his hand. “You need to hydrate,” he waved it in front of her, but she didn’t react. He took her hand, and placed the bottle in it, making sure she was grasping it tightly. “Maddison is ok. I’ve spoken to her… But you, you aren’t. I just want you to know… That I feel the same way, I do. I lost my brother. Years ago. The point is, I know you feel dead inside now, but one day, you’re going to move on. You’ll always remember her, but you can’t just-” His sorrowful soliloquy was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter touching down nearby. “…I’ll be back…” he told her.

“I’m absolutely sick of helicopters,” Olivia said as she and Charlie were offloaded. The helicopter had landed relatively close to the village rather than using an actual helipad. “Careful!” Charlie said to Olivia as she tripped. From the village, Nate was watching them. Also, from his house – which he had locked himself in out of fear – Salatin watched out of the window, instantly recognising the two girls. Lamar was watching through the security cameras. Salatin knew this would make things even worse for him. As they reached the village, Maddison had come outside too, “Olivia? It’s Olivia, right? You were at the station. They took you away, you were on the same one as Lucy correct?” She rapidly fired off her questions. “Maddison…” Olivia began. “Look… You obviously know there was an… incident, in the air. The thing is…” Maddison interrupted her, “I know. She’s… not with you. Anymore.” Olivia nodded remorsefully, “She asked for me to take care of you. Like a stepsister. That’s what us three are,” her, Charlie and Maddison all brought themselves closer. “We’re sisters now… That’s all that matters.” They embraced each other like a family.

Lt. Gordon and Aidan had been conferring for some time now. With Elliot, Ryan and Steven being forced to wait outside the room. Elliot thought a plan to himself, ‘There’s only two guards watching us. There’s three of us though. I wonder.’ “Guard,” he began, “Come really close, I have something to show you.” The guard didn’t care, “If you knew what it was you’d pay attention…” Still no response. “Fine then, it’s a micro bomb!” This caught everyone’s attention, both the guards turned their weapons towards him. Steven seized this opportunity, and jumped up at one of them, pinning him to the ground. The other guard was distracted by this, giving Elliot the opportunity to take the rifle and slam the side of his head with it. Being slightly heavy, Elliot dropped it, and instead took the pistol.

“Hands Up!” Elliot demanded as he burst in, raising the handgun at Lt. Gordon. Ryan remained outside, slightly concerned at what Elliot was doing. Steven took one of the rifles, and entered, aiming it at the Scientist. “A brave attempt. But foolish nonetheless.” Elliot didn’t care about his judgement. “Get out. Now! Don’t try anything either.” As Lt. Gordon began to walk around, he grabbed Elliot and threw him against the wall, pinning him to it. Steven was tempted to shoot him, but was afraid the bullet would hit Elliot as well. Dr. Aidan attempted to disarm Steven, but with Steven being stronger, he regained control of the rifle, and shot at the window, causing it to shatter. He dropped the rifle, grabbed Dr. Aidan and threw him through the window. Terrified, he crawled desperately to the back of the chamber, as Leslie staggered over to him…

WRITER'S NOTE: There are still more chapters to come, I have enough story planned out that should last until the end of Volume 4. Hopefully I can go beyond that! Also, another character from the TV Series will be making an appearance in one of the upcoming chapters.

by LastOfTheSonics Thu 30 Nov 2017 - 16:16

The Life of Elliot #21 – The Anti-Villain:
Now, Steven could refocus his efforts on saving Elliot. As Lt. Gordon wrestled to get his pistol out, Elliot was outmatched. Steven grabbed Lt. Gordon by his shoulders, and pressured him onto his knees. He threw him against the remaining window. This grabbed Leslie’s attention away from the scrambling Dr. Aidan. She started bashing against the window. Elliot watching this remembered everything that had happened to him over the past month. He settled for his unforgiving conscience, and picked up the handgun on the floor. “No more!” He shouted, and shot Lt. Gordon in the head. Since it didn’t shatter the window, the bullet must’ve ricocheted. “Elliot!” Steven was confused, “What are you doing? Are you crazy?” Both men were caught off guard when red lights began flashing out in the corridor, followed by a repeating buzzer sound. Ryan shoved open the door, “We have to leave, Now!”

Although Ryan was too afraid to use a firearm, Elliot had a pistol still, and Steven still had a rifle. “Stop!” Two guards yelled out and began firing at them. Steven shot back, as did Elliot; albeit only once, he was partly shocked and slightly deafened by the amount of gunfire. One the guards shot Steven’s knee, he yelled out painfully as he dropped to the ground. As guards caved in on both sides, hope seemed lost. Until suddenly, all the guards were sprayed down with bullets, the sound of metal running came closer and closer. It was Lamar. “Listen, we don’t have much time. But I can get you back to the village,” his appearance was shocking, due to him being a cyborg. He had a minigun built into his right arm, with a belt of bullets unravelling from it. “What village?” Elliot asked, while trying to examine Steven. “There’s a village. Your friends, they’re all there,” Lamar added. Several more guards came along, and with his arm he shot them all down as well. “Now come on! Get your friend around your shoulders, let’s move!” Elliot and Ryan picked Steven up, and wrapped his arms around their shoulders. Because of this, their firearms were left behind.

Lamar sprayed down all the guards that got in their way. Eventually, they reached the exit. “Alright this is it, go! Now!” Elliot turned back, “Aren’t you coming with us?” Lamar shook his head. “Why?”, “There’s a… micro-chip, in my head. Since I’m a cyborg or superhuman or whatever you want to call me, I’m just an experiment. If I try to leave, the suppression field surrounding the facility will fry it, and my brain will burn up. I’m not ready to die just yet.” Elliot refused to leave him behind. “Ryan, get Steven out of here.” He shook his head desperately, “No! I’m not leaving without you for two reasons, the first being you have to come, and the second being I can’t carry this man by myself!”, “It’s alright…” Steven began croakily, “I can walk,” he cleared his throat, and clenched his wound. “Go. I’ll catch up,” Elliot gave a parting look at Ryan, as he and Steven rushed off into the early morning outside.

“Why did you stay behind anyway?” Lamar and Elliot were hiding in a closet. “There’s an armoury here, surely?” Lamar nodded, albeit confused, “Yes but, why?” Elliot smiled cunningly, “Are there explosives and a big red button?” Lamar thought to himself, “Possibly. Why?” Elliot’s smiled intensified, “Take me to it…”

Ryan and Steven were out of breath, staggering through the darkness. They heard an eerie screeching in the distance, similar to the one the Pentademon had made previously. “That doesn’t sound good…” Ryan said. “We need to get to the village, we need safety. Now!” Steven tugged at Ryan as they increased their pace. “Look!” Ryan noticed several houses with lights between two mountains. “Do you reckon we can make it there without that thing catching us?” Steven shrugged, “Possibly. I mean it might be in outdoor captivity for all we know. Judging by the position of the sun and how much time lapsed back in there, it must be about 6:15 by now. We’ll have a lot more daylight within a matter of minutes, although we might lose track of the village, considering we have to travel down there,” Steven pointed to a large dip ahead of them. The land curved downwards several metres, meaning their view of the village would be hindered. Ryan look for a way around, but couldn’t find one. “We could go over the mountains, but it would be risky.” Steven looked up, and then forwards again. “Judging by how many trees are down there, it’s like a forest, meaning anything could be lurking down there. Either way is risky. But given my condition, I’ll risk going forwards. We might find some dock leaves to wrap around this wound.” Ryan nodded in agreement, and they travelled onward. The screeching happened again, although it was definitely to the left of them this time.

“Here we are,” Lamar had busted down the armoury door. “Whatever you’re getting, get it quick, I’ll keep watch out here.” Elliot nodded, and dashed in. He dug through piles of cable, ammo crates, pistol crates, and moved several rifle stacks around too. Eventually he found a small cabinet containing four C4 bombs. None of them were primed, however they were hooked up to a detonator. As Lamar fired at guards outside with the alarm still blaring, Elliot raided the room, and eventually found a detonator inside an explosives crate along with another C4 bomb. “Perfect…” His cunning smile returned. “Lamar!” He turned around. “What?” He responded while still defending them. “Take these,” Elliot tossed two of the bombs over to him, and he unexpectedly caught them. “Um, what? Why?” He enquired. “Look. I’ve got a score to settle with these guys, and you need your freedom back. So, if we plant explosives around this facility…” Lamar saw where he was going with this, “No. I get what you’re saying. But we can’t. Yes, the suppression field would be shut off, and yes your score would be settled, but you would perish with everyone here! And besides, you don’t understand how collapsing this place would have consequences.” Elliot didn’t understand nor care, “The new world order they’re planning on. This isn’t the only facility like this. All over the world, people are believers in this new political goal. You take this place down, it’ll only lead to more patriot force elsewhere in the world.” Elliot paused for a moment, “Everything you just said was a waste of your robotic breath. Take those bombs, and place them somewhere. I don’t care about the chain of events that could begin, I don’t care about this new world order, political goal, or whatever. I only care about vengeance. You might think I’m vindictive, and maybe I am. But I’ll tell you what I’m not, Lamar. I’m most certainly not a man of second chances…”

“This way,” Ryan and Steven guided each other through the forest area. The sun had risen slightly higher, given them more light. It was still cold for two reasons: the ocean surrounding the island, and the time of day. The screeching came a third time, it was far closer this time, and it was now behind them. “Steven, I think it’s following us…” Ryan panicked. “Hush,” Steven said gently as he listened out. He heard a stick snap in the distance, as well as slimy footsteps echo quietly. “Ryan…” He was still. “Run. As fast as you can,” he whispered as he slowly lowered to the ground and picked up a sharp stick. “Go!” He turned around and shouted. Ryan panicked and made a dash for it, causing whatever the screeching had been previously to turn into a deafening roar. The slimy footsteps intensified and became more solid. Finally, Steven came face to face with a Pentademon. It halted itself, examining him despite having no face. With it having five legs, it could run a lot faster than any human or even any four-legged animal for that matter. “What are you?” Steven examined it back. They circled around a tree, as if preparing to fight each other. The Pentademon looked at Steven’s gunshot wound, and edged closer to him. Once it was within a close proximity of his knee, it sniffed it. Then, the Pentademon looked up and screeched, throwing itself up at his face…

by LastOfTheSonics Sat 2 Dec 2017 - 16:25

The Life of Elliot #22 – Vengeance:
Ryan slipped up, but eventually made it out of the crater. He turned back to the forest, and desperately watched out for Steven. After half a minute had passed and he couldn’t see him, he gave up searching remorsefully. “I’m sorry…” he said, with his assumptions. He turned around, and now he was close enough to the village that he could see Maddison leaning out of her window. “Maddison!” He cried out twice. She turned around, noticing him. “Ryan!” she retreated from her window. Ryan presumed that she had gone to inform the others.
“Guys! They’re here! Olivia!” she vigorously shook the tired Olivia and Charlie. “Ryan’s here! And I think he’s with Steven and Elliot!” They jolted awake, and rushed outside. “They’re here!” Maddison called out to everyone else. Salatin had been awake all night, and finally decided to exit his house. “Is Elliot here?” he said quietly out of fear. Maddison turned around, but looked disgusted, refusing to respond. Nate had been woken up too. He exited his house. Immediately, Salatin retracted back inside.

“Ryan!” Maddison was overjoyed to see another familiar face. Although they hardly knew each other, it was a slight breather to encounter someone she knew before all hell broke loose. “Where’s Steven?” Olivia wasted no time, and cut straight to her question. “He’s… somewhere. Somewhere back there, I don’t know.” Olivia wanted to go and run for him, but Maddison held her back, “Don’t. We should just wait”. “Why Maddison? What for? Since when were you in charge?” She began rampaging. “Whoa, calm down Olivia. I’m just saying, you’re safer here. You heard the screeching, it’s not safe out there”. “That’s even more reason to go and find Steven!” As the two girls continued to bicker, Charlie and Ryan tried to intervene, but this didn’t stop them. “I won’t take advice about siblings from you!” Olivia angrily began, “I mean, look where your sister ended up!” Everyone froze for a moment. “Maddison, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-” Maddison slapped her, “How dare you!” The slap was forceful, and it left a mark on the side of Olivia’s face. “How dare you,” She used Maddison’s own words and against her, and tackled her to the ground…

Steven had closed his eyes, and was flailing about. However, he slowly realised that the creature had stopped attacking him. Then he slowly opened his eyes, and saw it. It was stationery; as the creature had jumped up at him, Steven’s reflexes had unknowingly shot his hand holding the stick up at the Pentademon, impaling it through the chest, directly into where its heart should be – of course assuming it had one. Steven pulled himself up, and laid the creature on the ground. Curiously, he removed the stick, and began dissecting it.

“Olivia stop!” Charlie pulled her off of Maddison. Both girls looked scruffy now. “What on earth is going on?” Nate and Eleanor rushed over. “Stop it! We are united together in this village. We can fight against the hell around us, but how can we do that when we’re bickering in here? Grief isn’t a luxury we can afford here. So make your peace right now, no questions asked!” The two girls exchanged daring looks at each other. Eleanor guided Olivia into her and Nate’s house. “Where’s Elliot?” Maddison asked Ryan while still challengingly looking at Olivia. “He’s still in the facility with some strange… well you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But I know Elliot, I’m sure he’s about to do something vengeful,” he placed his hand on her shoulder, “I trust him. He’ll avenge Lucy.”

Unknown to them, Salatin had his window open, and was eavesdropping on their entire conversation. “Lieutenant Matthew,” he picked up a radio which had been smuggled to him by Lt. Matthew after landing nearby, “You gave me a chance to be a part of the new world order again. I think I can fulfil my end of the bargain now. I’ve just heard something you’ll be most interested in…”

Elliot found the firearms he and Steven had left behind in a hurry. The alarms had switched off now, and Elliot was armed with a rifle, but had a pistol holstered on his side too. He marched up several flights of stairs, checking the markings on the wall as he passed ‘01’, ‘02’, ‘03’ and ‘04’. When he made it to the fifth and top floor, he held back. He could hear Lt. Matthew in the corridor, conferring with someone over a radio, “Acknowledged. Good to see you’re on the right side of things again. Over and out,” he put the radio on his side again. Elliot was unaware of who he was talking with, and therefore was curious. As Lt. Matthew walked off, he began to follow him. However, ahead of him he noticed a large mesh balcony with a control panel, and also the SM-52 missile perhaps a hundred yards from it. As he rushed over to it, he realised the potential he had. He could target the missile wherever he wanted: The Island, Salatin’s Island, Outer space even; maybe he’d hit the TARDIS. The rifle was getting heavy for him, so put it down. He reached into his rear pocket, and pulled out the detonator carefully. He pondered about what he should do: Use the missile, or blow up the entire facility. Of course, he opted for neither and withdrew back to the hallway.

Several hours later, it was the evening. Ryan and Charlie had been comforting Maddison in her house; while Eleanor and Nate had been comforting Olivia and Eileen – who was still frozen in shock – in theirs. A knock came at the door to Maddison’s house, “Do we answer it?” Ryan conferred with Charlie, “Well, I think you and I both know who it will be.” Regardless, Ryan got up and answered up, but was surprised when he was greeted by Derrick and Yvonne with a bunch of flowers. Neither of them could make eye contact with Ryan, but he remembered who they were. “We came to… offer, our condolences…” Ryan was slightly warmed by this, but he was struck with an idea too. “Thank you,” he took the flowers, but didn’t close the door. “Stand with us,” he requested to them. “I know that you aren’t with these sick people, you’re just like us, civilians. You’re innocent.” They both looked remorseful, “We would… but, we can’t. We need the money…” Ryan shook his head, “Are you serious? Putting your greed over the lives of others?” Derrick looked up, “You don’t understand,” he began, “They’re paying us a large number. We need it for the wedding, the honeymoon, and above all… we need it for the baby…” Ryan slightly understood their sentiment now. “Unborn? Right?” Ryan asked, “Only two months in,” Yvonne finally spoke, but she still looked downwards. “I understand…” Ryan said plainly and gently closed the door on them. “This is wrong,” Derrick debated to his wife on the porch, “These people have done absolutely nothing wrong. Can we really let them all suffer? Can we really stand to see these creatures get to them? Or even worse, see them become the creatures?” Yvonne snapped, “That’s enough Derrick,” she looked at him, “Listen, I feel the same way as you, I really do. But we need to put ourselves first, otherwise we’ll become just like these people,” Derrick wasn’t having any of this, “We already are just like these people. We’re trapped here, except rather than by men with guns and creatures, we’re trapped here by our greed. This isn’t right, and you know it isn’t.” There was a short silence, “If you love me Derrick, if you’re going to love our baby, then you’ll stay with me.” Reluctantly, he nodded.

by LastOfTheSonics Tue 5 Dec 2017 - 18:16

The Life of Elliot #23 – The Ambassador:

Elliot had hidden in a nearby closet, and he could hear voices in the hallway; albeit muffled. He opened the door ajar, just enough to hear the conversation. It was an exchange between Lt. Matthew and another Lieutenant he had not seen before. “No, we do it now. They’ll see it from the village, then they’ll understand why they can’t resist against us. Elliot especially will understand what it means,” he heard Lt. Matthew say, “Are you sure he’s even at the village? We don’t even know if he got caught!” Lt. Matthew put his hand on the woman’s shoulder, “Colonel Shepard, listen to me. Elliot went back to that village. I know that boy’s personality. He’s too hearty to leave his friends defenceless, especially with Salatin among them.” Elliot smiled, knowing how narrow-minded Lt. Matthew truly was now. “So, let’s begin this launch. You can witness it,” he pointed his hand out, directly Shepard out onto the balcony. “By the way,” she said before she stepped out, “How do you plan on dealing with the Lieutenant Gordon situation?” she questioned quirkily, “I’ll find a way. Now let’s just get this launch done with.” They both stepped out, and an armed guard followed them.

Everyone was keeping to themselves in the village, which gave Salatin a chance to escape. He had run away from the village, and was dashing towards the facility. Breathing heavily, he was abruptly stopped when he ran into Steven, who tackled him to the ground. “Where do you think you’re going? Hey? Answer!” He asked him. “I… was…” He struggled to answer partly because he was thinking of how to lie, but also partly because Steven was slightly strangling him, “The facility… Elliot… Needs saving!” Steven tightened his grip on him, “How do you know Elliot’s even in there?” Caught out, Salatin continued to turn red as Steven strangled him more and more tightly. Noticing Steven’s gunshot wound on his knee, Salatin pulled in his leg, and quickly kicked Steven’s wound, causing him to drop in agony. “Don’t get involved, or that wound will be the least of your worries,” Salatin caught his breath, and continued onward to the facility.

“So, any words of valour before we launch our way into a new world?” Salatin asked Shepard. “Words only prolong it,” she abruptly replied. “Yes actually, I do,” everyone on the balcony turned around, witnessing Elliot at the doorway, with a detonator raised in his hand. “How quaint and naïve of you to drop by Elliot,” Lt. Matthew cunningly said, “It’s fitting that you should be our witness of the new world’s creation.” Elliot snapped, “What new world or political era or whatever are you going on about? You’re so deluded! You honestly believe you can control the world?”. “No, not the world. Not at first. We take over one major population centre, and the rest soon bow down when given our ultimatum.” Elliot raised the detonator higher, “I think not.” Both of them laughed, “Really,” Shepard began, “You really think that you can stop us with a useless box?” She laughed harder. “You want me to put it to the test and find out?” He encouraged himself. “Tactical error. You wouldn’t destroy everything here and risk their lives,” he pointed towards the village, “They’ll be stuck here with no way out, because of you.” Now Elliot was the one smiling cunningly, “They’ll find a way. But my job is to make sure they have a chance to find whatever that way may be. You took a loved-one from me, so I failed. But now I’m going to even the score,” he placed his thumb over the red button, “One squeeze. That’s all it takes. One squeeze.” Lt. Matthew rolled his eyes, “Fine. I’m bored. Do it.” Elliot nodded and called his bluff, “Goodnight.” He pressed the button…

For a moment, he was still. Then, Elliot slowly opened his eyes, only to reveal that nothing had happened. “You see? It’s not that you aren’t strong enough to do it, it’s that you were outwitted. In fact, you were outwitted by someone playing on your side.” Elliot was shocked and worried at the same time, “What? Who?”. “That would be me,” Elliot turned to the doorway to see Salatin pointing a handgun at him. Elliot nodded sarcastically, “Of course. Who else? Who else could betray me like that? Someone from the enemy side of course!” Salatin stared him down, “I’m sorry Elliot. Really I am. But your friends, they’re just experiments for this place. Tests; if you like. They will be the final test to ensure that our work here has been successful,” Elliot looked disgusted, “You mean the abominations you’ve created and stolen from nature. Weevils, Pentademons, Lamar, and the list goes on I presume.” Salatin reiterated the offer to Elliot, “You on the other hand. You are supposed to play a larger part of this new world. You are our ambassador to the people. Your face will be on every large screen raised up in the city, you will broadcast daily messages to keep the people on our side.” Elliot laughed, “Why? Because you know that the public have the numbers and the strength to rally up a resistance against you. And they will do. And that is my place in your hypothetical new world. Part of an anti-patriot group.” Lt. Matthew laughed now, “It’s not hypothetical anymore,” Without any hesitation, he smashed his fist against the launch button, propelling the rocket upwards. The fallout pushing everyone back inside.

“You see?” Watching safely inside, Lt. Matthew taunted Elliot. “Look at the missile,” it was far up in the sky, “That will hit… an undisclosed location. Then, it begins. So, Elliot. The score is now 2-0 to us.” He was silent. Salatin then added, “The offer still stands. You can be our ambassador. Final chance, though.” Elliot turned to face him, and looked at the detonator again. “Metal…” He said. “What?” Salatin didn’t understand. Elliot gave him one final look, as he raised the detonator and bludgeoned it down over Salatin’s head. He dropped to his knees, and looked up at Elliot blankly. Elliot looked aggressive as he struck him with the metal box a second time, a third time, a fourth time, and a final fifth time. He checked his pulse, at last Salatin had received his comeuppance and was gone for good. “Finished?” Lt. Matthew taunted. Elliot dropped the detonator, and turned around, breathing rapidly.

by LastOfTheSonics Fri 8 Dec 2017 - 16:23

The Life of Elliot #24 – Thank You:

“Nope! His house is completely empty!” Eleanor exited Salatin’s house after searching desperately for him. “Ok we need to keep ourselves calm everyone,” Nate began, “Elliot and Steven are both out there somewhere, one of them will have to encounter him at some point wherever he is.” Ryan watched the conversation outside the window. Maddison was still trying to relieve her mother of her shock. “We should probably go and find Steven, even after what’s happened here,” Charlie suggested. “To be honest I have to disagree; we don’t know where he is. He could be dead for all we know and on top of that, there are other dangers on this Island,” Nate rebutted. “I don’t care what your opinion is,” she pointed her finger in his face aggressively, “I’m going out there to find Steven, with or without you… any of you!” She made her position clear with everyone around her. “Wait,” Derrick had appeared from nowhere and was walking towards Charlie. “Derrick? What do you want?” Nate asked him while everyone else watched. “This is wrong… I care about my fiancée, but I care about other people too. Now listen, I’ll do you a favour. I will help you get off this Island, but no more than that. I need the money for the future of my marriage.” Charlie nodded, “Can you get us to transport? Helicopters? Boats?” Derrick thought to himself for a moment, and then reluctantly said, “You can take my super yacht. Once you’ve rallied up your group, you can get yourselves out here. The keys are in the ignition.” Charlie nodded thankfully, “Right, well I’m going to retrieve Steven. Get everyone ready Nate, you and Eleanor are finally going home.”

“Mum? Can you hear me?” Maddison had continually been pleading to her mother to break her trance of shock. Naturally, the loss of her daughter would always leave a scar mentally on her mind. Maddison looked away in upset, “Hey,” Ryan leant over to her, and comforted her. “Listen, you need to give her more time. She’s just lost her daughter.” Maddison knew this to be true, but didn’t want to wait any longer for her mother to come back. “How is it… that I’m not like her?” Ryan didn’t understand Maddison’s question. “How is it that… I’m not in a trance? Or even in shock? How am I coping this well?” Ryan shrugged, “You’re strong. That’s why.” Maddison smiled, “I wish.” Ryan comforted her more, “You know… on my sixteenth birthday I cried as well. I lost one of my pets.” Maddison turned to him, “This isn’t really the same… This is my sister we’re talking about. A human being.” Ryan continued nonetheless, “It doesn’t matter what species the loved-one was. It’s what they meant to you which counts.” Maddison nodded apologetically, “I know. I know. I’m sorry,” she paused briefly, “Didn’t you only turn sixteen last month?” He nodded. “It’s my fourteenth in December. And I know that’s only next month but… being here… makes everything feel like an eternity…” Ryan agreed with her spiritually.

Steven was running as fast he could, he stumbled several times due to the absolute agony he was in. He cried out in pain several times; especially when he tripped up. As he gained closer and closer to the village, he heard deep grunting noises more frequently. Tripping up yet again, he looked up to see a male zombie lumbering towards him. It was acting just as brainlessly as Leslie had. “N-no!” He cried out in agony as he narrowly avoided, continuing onward to the village. However, it wasn’t the only one. From inside the curves of the mountains, several more appeared. Steven had his route completely cut off, all hope was lost… or so he thought. From behind the zombies, Yvonne had appeared with an AR15 rifle. Although she wasn’t amazing with firearms, she was still accurate enough to take down some of the zombies. “Switch it to full-auto!” Steven yelled, “What?” Yvonne didn’t know the difference between semi and full-auto. “Look out!” she shot down a Zombie which edged closer to Steven. She caught her breath, “Now then. Where’s my husband-to-be run off to?”

Charlie and Nate were on the back of a military jeep being driven by Derrick. The plan was to take the yacht and swing back around to the village and pick everyone up at once; since the coast was perhaps a 5-minute walk away from the village.” However, Derrick suddenly stopped the vehicle upon noticing an anomaly in the sky. “What’s the hold up?” Charlie asked. Nate too was fixated on the sky, but Charlie had her back to it. “What? -” She turned around, and noticed a missile flying overhead. They all watched as it went over. “So where is that headed then?” Nate wondered. “We’re running out of time. Derrick step on it!” Putting the vehicle into gear again, Derrick accelerated the car at an extremely fast speed.

“Easy!” Yvonne and Steven had nearly made it to the village, but Steven was losing blood fast, and he was beginning to fall unconscious. “Hey, no! Stop that! Focus! Look at me!” she gently slapped him several times, “You’re not dying on me this close to safety!” They were only a few metres from the village now, but surprisingly no one had noticed them. “Help us!” Yvonne called out. Immediately, the plea had grabbed Eleanor’s attention. “Oh my!” she rushed over to them. “I’m not sure how much blood he’s lost, but it’s draining fast. We need to bandage it up!” Eleanor had a level of medical training, and took Steven into her house. “Help me carry him. One, two, three!” They picked him up in a stretcher-position, and lifted him onto the sofa in Eleanor’s house. “Steven!” Olivia had wrapped herself up in a blanket, but immediately rose at the sight of her brother. “W-what?” she was scared that she was about to lose him. “Olivia listen to me, I need you to go to the other house, your brother needs space,” Eleanor calmed her. “But! -” she tried to hesitate, but reluctantly agreed for Steven’s sake. “What do you need?” Yvonne asked her. “Everything medical that you can get me. Hydrogen peroxide, bandages, preferably some latex gloves too.” Yvonne obeyed, “Wait,” Eleanor stopped her, “Why are you helping me?” she paused for a moment, “Because Derrick is right. People come before money. And if it means sacrificing my future… perhaps I’ll be more satisfied remembering I did the right thing…” To this response, Eleanor smiled, “Thank you.” Yvonne left to retrieve the medical equipment.

Derrick rushed Charlie and Nate on board the yacht, while he kept a look out from within the vehicle. “Derrick,” Charlie loudly whispered, “Thank you.” Derrick acknowledged her gratitude, but knew they hadn’t one yet, he continued to look out. “How does this thing work?” Nate was having difficulty getting the boat to start. “Let me try,” Charlie twisted the key which was already in the ignition. She twisted it several times to jump start it. “Come on, come on, please!” she desperately tried, but the motor kept failing on her. She counted to three, and twisted it as hard as she could. After enough attempts, the engine finally remained on. “Finally,” she caught her breath as she turned to Nate.

Suddenly, a barrage of bullets rained down the ship, “Take cover!” Nate jumped down the stairs, shortly followed by Charlie. “Where’s that coming from?” They searched the mountains, but couldn’t see anyone. A second barrage scattered across the ship. “I don’t see anything!” Charlie darted her eyes across the horizon, but there was still nothing. “Derrick!” Nate called out, noticing him cowered behind the vehicle with his revolver out. Nate gestured for him to make a break onto the ship. He took a deep breath, and counted to five. He darted away from the cover of the vehicle and dived onto the boat, being hauled inside by Nate. A third barrage of bullets followed his narrow escape. “You ok?” Nate asked him. “Yeah.” All three of them were crouched. “Ok, the engine’s on. Let’s get this thing moving.” Derrick agreed with Charlie, and made a break towards the front of the ship. There were two places which it could be driven from: the open-air deck at the top, or the inside are at the front. Successfully making it to the ship’s cockpit, Derrick sped the ship away at full throttle, but it took some time to reach maximum speed. “Come on hurry up!” He yelled at his ship. A fourth barrage of bullets pierced through the side of the ship as it began to increase its speed down the coastline…

by LastOfTheSonics Sun 10 Dec 2017 - 19:44

The Life of Elliot #25 – Captive:

“We’re only a few more clicks out,” Shepard passed the binoculars over to Lt. Matthew. Elliot was trying to work out where they were looking, although he could only a see a small offshore island with a mansion on it. “So, where are we going?” Elliot asked, albeit uninterested. “Shut it!” bellowed Heavy, who they had picked up on their way up the mountain. Despite how dark the situation was; Elliot couldn’t help but enjoy the bliss of being at the summit of a mounting. “Oh what fresh hell is this…” Lt. Matthew noticed that two people had boarded the yacht; they were of course Nate and Charlie. “Heavy…” he pointed towards the yacht. “My pleasure,” Heavy laughed evilly and aimed his M249 over to the yacht, and began rapidly firing. It had a suppressor on the end, therefore it did not roar and deafen everyone around it. While everyone was distracted by the yacht, Elliot used sleight of hand to steal Lt. Matthew’s pistol, and quickly made a dash across the mountain, quickly sliding down it out of view…

Once he had made it to the base of the mountain, although he was still very much aware the yacht was under siege, he was desperate to escape from Lt. Matthew’s grasp. He was running as fast as he could towards it, waving his arms around in the air. But the group on board clearly hadn’t noticed him, and the yacht sped off steadily down the coastline. “No! Come back!” Elliot shouted out. “Stop!” Lt. Matthew called down to him, but Elliot was fed up of being controlled, so he began running and shooting at them with his handgun. Immediately all three ducked to avoid gunfire, and as Heavy aimed his minigun, Lt. Matthew put his hand to lower it again. “We need him alive! No headshots or chest shots. Aim for the legs!” Lt. Matthew and Shepard charged down the mountain side, while Heavy refocused his firepower on the yacht.
“Come on put your foot down!” Charlie was commanding Derrick. “This is full throttle!” Derrick responded; albeit panicked. “Out the way!” Nate shoved Derrick, and attempted to increase the boat’s speed. “All due respect pal, this is my ship. Back off!” Derrick shoved him back. “I’m stronger!” The two men bickered, leading Charlie to doubt their survival odds. As more bullets wrecked the ship, the engine began to make a malevolent revving noise. “The bullets have breached the engine!” Derrick cried out as he decreased the ship’s speed, “What are you doing man?!” Nate was confused. “If we continue at a rapid speed, the engine will overheat and BOOM! The entire boat will blow up. Is that what you want?” Derrick countered. “If we move any slower, we’re more easy to pick off!” Nate rebutted, pointing towards the mountains. “Then you’d best get down!” Reluctantly, Nate agreed and went back into the main section. “You trust him?” Nate asked Charlie, who was standing on the outside section facing away from the mountain. “We don’t have the luxury not to,” she responded.

Elliot raced along the coast, desperately trying to attract the attention of whoever was on the yacht. From a distance, Shepard and Lt. Matthew were catching up. As Lt. Matthew went to pull out his pistol, he realised Elliot had taken it. “Get him!” He commanded Shepard. She aimed her carbine at Elliot’s legs, and took steady shots one at a time. Elliot was rapidly darting in an irregular pattern at the same time, making it harder for Shepard to predict his movements. “Give it here woman!” Lt. Matthew was fed up, so snatched the carbine from her. His desperation however blinded him, and his accuracy was even worse than Shepard’s. “I’ve always been a better shot than you!” She took the rifle back off of him, and steadied her aim. But by the time she had, Elliot had simply disappeared from view. “What? Where did he go?” Shepard was confused. “We wasted too much time! Call it in, let’s get a search party out here. Choppers, quadbikes, everything. I want him found by day’s end. If we don’t, give him an ultimatum, destroy the village.” Shepard smiled cunningly, and spoke into her radio.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER
Due to the damage done to the yacht’s engine, it had been forcefully deterred away from the island gradually. Derrick had tried desperately to get on course back to the village, but to no avail. “What are we going to do?” Charlie asked. All three were curled up at separate corners of the main/living room. “Don’t know,” Nate shrugged, sounding careless. Derrick had his head rested in his palms. He too had given up, and pondered if perhaps Yvonne was right after all. “Look I know what you’re thinking,” Charlie said to him, as if she could read his mind, “But you did the right thing. You helped innocent and helpless people. I know it was hard for you to sacrifice your future, but in the long run, you will have created a better one for us all.” Despite this, Derrick didn’t pay any attention. “We’re going to lose daylight soon, and we’re currently drifting out into the ocean,” Nate reiterated. “The engine’s bust, there’s not much more we can do,” Derrick finally spoke, “We just have to sit here and die one of the many ways possible.” His pessimism didn’t help the situation, but Nate still agreed with him. Charlie on the other hand was determined to go back, “My family are back there. This journey, despite how dark it’s been, I’ve found some light in it. New sisters, new brothers,” She was of course referring to Maddison & Olivia and Elliot & Ryan, “a new love interest too…” she was most likely referring to Steven with this remark. “I’m not giving up on them, therefore neither are you.” Charlie got up, and walked towards the stairs to the engine room. “Good luck fixing it,” Derrick still sounded negative and tired.

Helicopters had been patrolling the island for hours now. Elliot had taken shelter in a large mountain crevice, hindering him from view. He had been thinking of what his next move would be. Was it to make a dash for the village, get caught or freeze to death? Signalling to the yacht was no longer an option, as it had drifted too far away now. “Search this area!” Not too far away, Elliot heard Lt. Matthew ordering a squadron. Soldiers with flashlights began searching the area while Elliot kept hidden. He readied his handgun just in case…

“Well…” Charlie didn’t need to properly examine the engine to clearly notice bullets had pierced the fuel tanks. “This is a problem.” Fuel was leaking and sticking all over the place. “Derrick!” she called up, “You’re right… this is beyond fixable…” He didn’t get up purely because he had already told her it was pointless. “You got a lifeboat on board? Or anything to get us back to the island?” she asked. Nate then relayed the question, prompting an answer for Derrick. “Answer to your first question is Yes, the answer to the second half is No.” Nate and Charlie were both confused. “I have a lifeboat, but the moment we got back to the Island we will be massacred. There’s no point.” Charlie came back up, “Then what do YOU suggest we do?” she sounded annoyed. “We take the lifeboat, venture to the nearest inhabited location, and make a distress signal. We let the authorities deal with this.” Charlie shook her head, “Do you have any idea what’s happening back there? All those screeches we hear, those creatures that the men were talking about… the amount of men that kidnapped my group from the police station! They have enough resources to start a revolution if they wanted. I doubt the entire United Nations could bring them down.” Derrick finally stood up, “Then what chance do you think we have?” he snapped, but Nate stood taller to show dominance. “Seriously? We’re just civilians with a couple of volatile teenagers. There’s a higher chance of people surviving if we call in a proper team trained to deal in these extremes!” Then Charlie rebutted, “That’s just it! There are no teams trained to deal with something like that! What are the chances of a secret Island being the spark of sinister science experiments anyway?” Derrick stormed off. “Where are you going?” Nate asked. “The lifeboat. You can come with me, or you can stay here. Either way, you’re not going back to the island.” He continued walking off. “Well?” Charlie conferred with Nate, “We get on the lifeboat, and we make him take us back to the Island. If he refuses, we switch to our last resort. We throw him overboard…”

by LastOfTheSonics Thu 14 Dec 2017 - 16:38

The Life of Elliot #26 – Conflict:

As the search party edged nearer and nearer to his location, Elliot had the gun sturdy in his hand, ready to fire. “Found him!” A guard caught him off guard from behind, shining a light into the crevice. Elliot quickly twisted around, and shot the guard. Several of the men called out multiple commands. “No! He’s mine!” Lt. Matthew approached the crevice, and Elliot was beyond ready to shoot him. The only problem was that he couldn’t tell which side he was going to be caught out from. “Hey!” Shepard called out from one end of the crevice, attracting Elliot’s attention. Immediately, Elliot felt a burning pain on the side of his leg just after a gun was fired. He looked down in agony, noticing his leg had been shot. He looked up, and noticed Lt. Matthew at the other end of the crevice. Shepard was merely a distraction. “He’s down! Get him to the medical bay instantly! Do not let him die!” Lt. Matthew ordered two men to collect Elliot from inside the crevice, as he slowly slipped out of consciousness.

“There we go!” Nate had tried several times to start the engine of the emergency speedboat. At last, it had worked. “Well, away we go then!” Derrick increased the speedboat’s throttle, directing it out onto the sea away from the island. Nate looked over at Charlie, awaiting an instruction. “Derrick…” Charlie began “Turn around,” she solemnly said. Noticing how serious she was, he looked back to Nate. “What?” he asked him, “What you gonna throw me over? Seriously? For saving your lives?” Charlie looked away, “You’re saving our lives, not theirs’.” Derrick seemed disgusted by their ungratefulness, “I never said we won’t save them. We’re going to find a way of sending out a distress signal. But the three of us? What realistically can we do to save them? Say please? You should count your blessings. After all, who’s the one that offered you a way out of here in the first place?” Charlie didn’t argue with that point, but inside still felt the same way about her point.
“How is he?” Yvonne asked Eleanor. “He should come around soon, thanks to your medical supplies.” Both women watched Steven, as he twitched around. “He’ll be alright. But he lost a lot of blood. If we were a few minutes later he would’ve bled out.” Yvonne’s radio began making static sounds, “Hello?” she pulled it up and spoke into it. “Yvonne,” the familiar voice of Lt. Matthew began over the radio, “We need you at the medical bay right now. This is urgent. You won’t like who it is, but we have to save him. Come quickly! Over and out.” She was at a loss for words, “I’ll come back, I promise,” she reassured Eleanor, and then quickly began making her way back towards the facility.

Elliot had been laid out on a medical bed. His leg had been turned to the side in order to access the wound. It was a simple yet painful procedure. He was deliberately kept awake the whole time, he could feel the intensiveness of the hydrogen peroxide cleansing the wound. Tissues were being used to apply pressure onto the wound, although Elliot was unaware why they weren’t using bandages. “Alright I’m here,” Yvonne hung her coat up and rushed over to Elliot. She looked shocked. “What happened?” she asked, “He was shot, now I need you to examine him. Did the bullet travel or ricochet or whatever?” she got the proper equipment and examined the wound. “This’ll take some time, I need space,” she prompted for Lt. Matthew and his men to exit the bay.

“Look!” Derrick directed their attention towards a lighthouse, although it seemed empty. “There’s got to be something or someone there. Some way of contacting mainland.” Neither Nate nor Charlie were paying attention to him. Nonetheless, Derrick continued speeding toward it.
Elliot slowly began to come to his senses. Although he had been awake the entire time, he felt half-dead. “Elliot? Can you hear me?” Yvonne was prompting him, “Elliot, look at me.” Although he was squinting and having difficulty hearing, he could work out this simple instruction and looked up at her. He tried to speak, but Yvonne deterred him, “Don’t speak, it’ll only hurt you. Now listen, have you any idea where my husband is? If so, write it on this for me,” Yvonne gave him a notepad and a pen, she assisted him with grasping it. He wrote whatever he was writing slowly, although it didn’t take him too long to write it. When he was done, Yvonne took the notepad, and she had an expression that said ‘Oh thanks for that’ as what was written on the notepad was simple, ‘NO’. “How is he?” Lt. Matthew entered the room, startling Yvonne. “He’s… alright.” Lt. Matthew examined him, “Can I take him yet?” Yvonne looked confused, “Why? He needs time to recover. Why do you need to take him away from here?” She insisted. “That’s none of your business. You do your job and get paid handsomely, end of. Now can I take him or not?” He asked one more time. “No,” she bluntly answered, “Not until you tell me why.” Lt. Matthew started to clench his fists, as if trying to regain control of himself. “Don’t… push… me…” He was getting angry. “Why? What’re you going to do? Hit me? All I’ve done is carry out everything you’ve asked me to do, and all I’ve got in return so far is an engagement fraying at the edges. Not even any upfront payment!” Lt. Matthew’s fists began shaking angrily, he was about to go ballistic. “I see your anger. If you hit me, your revolution will be over before it’s even started.” Now, Lt. Matthew could no longer contain himself, “I WARNED YOU!” He burst out, pinning her against the wall, “I warned you…” he lowered his voice, “I warned you NOT to test me. My revolution is not lost, only my patience. If you EVER try me like that again, it will cost you your own life…” Elliot was shocked by hearing this fact put out so up front. He released her from the wall, as she breathed in and out rapidly. Lt. Matthew excited, sighing and shaking his head.

Steven was beginning to come around too. He made low grunting noises, and Eleanor rushed over to his side. “Shhh. Don’t say anything. Rest. You’ll feel much better in the morning.” Steven was desperate to see Olivia. “Your sister’s gone elsewhere, for her own good. I don’t think it would be fair on her to see you like this, especially after all that your group have been through.” Although Steven agreed, he tried to get up, “No, you have to stay down.” He eventually gave up, and continued his rest. “That’s it. Just stay there. I will tell your sister that you have come around, but I’m afraid I cannot permit any visits until I’ve done the routine checks.” Eleanor began to examine him to check for any other signs of fracturing or wounds, just in case the bullet had ricocheted.

“Listen, my husband was right. Your group are innocent. And you can’t put a price on human life. For this reason, I’m helping you to escape, as I’m sure my husband has been doing too. Now come on, we have to hurry!” She raised him out of the bed, and wrapped his arm over her shoulder, as she lugged him out of the medical bay, destined to return to the village…

by LastOfTheSonics Sun 17 Dec 2017 - 10:21

The Life of Elliot #27 – The Pendulum:

THE FOLLOWING MORNING
After a perilous journey, Yvonne and Elliot had made it to the village, and reunited with the rest of the group: Ryan, Olivia, Maddison, Eileen, Eleanor, and Steven. However, Nate and Charlie were missing still, and no one was aware of their situation. Everyone was now gathered around Eleanor’s dining table; they were having a meeting about what their next move should be…

“I say we mount a recon mission, just a few of us. We find out what happened, and we bring them back if they’re still out there. As for our means of escape, we’ll get to that another time,” Yvonne suggested, but then Ryan rebutted this, “You didn’t hear the things that Matthew had been saying, and Gordon. We’re only housed here as a means of a place to be kept. They’re still going to use us for experiments. Something which Eleanor and Nate are very much aware of. The more time we waste debating, the closer we edge to that ‘zero hour’.” Many around the table agreed. Although Eileen was guided there, she was still in her trance of shock. “Where’s Salatin?” Steven had looked around the table, and outside too, but had not seen him. Everyone turned to face Elliot, realising he knew the answer. “Well… about that…” he didn’t know how to answer it and sound justified at the same time, “I killed him…” Everyone was surprised, but many were actually happy he had done so. Ryan however was concerned that he was losing his best friend to grief and darkness. “Why?” he asked, “Why did you kill him? Was it self-defence?” Steven put his hand on his arm, “Leave it out Ryan,” but he simply brushed it off. “You can’t just go around killing people! Even if they are evil, don’t you see what this is doing? You’re becoming corrupt, Elliot. These places, these people, they’re destroying you. What happened to the innocent boy that you were four or five years ago, when I met you? Did you kill him too?” Steven stood up, “Enough Ryan,” he calmly asserted dominance, and made Ryan back down. “What? You all seriously think that Elliot was right to just go and kill someone? The things Salatin did were wrong, sure, but can’t any of you see how if Elliot can bring himself to do that, isn’t he a threat to others, including us?” No one dared to challenge what Ryan was saying, except Elliot himself. “Yes…” he bluntly answered, “I am…”

“What?” Ryan didn’t understand. “You’re right Ryan. Murder can change a person’s life so fast in one way or the other. But I didn’t commit murder. I committed rebellion. Don’t you see? Salatin was playing on both sides the whole time! He played us all to keep himself alive, but the whole time he was still working with Matthew. People don’t change! Especially not people like that!” Elliot said his piece, and returned to being quiet now. Ryan too had ceased to make his point.

“I know times are tense right now,” Steven began, “But we’ve all got to remember we’re on the same side. If we lose sight of that, we’ll start turning against each other. We can’t have that. Not now, not after everything we’ve been through.” Elliot snapped again, “After what we’ve been through? No offense, but none of you have lost half as much as I have in the past month!” Elliot looked over to Maddison, “Including you! You lost your sister, I get it. That’s tragic, but have you any idea how much more I’ve lost than that? Because I’ll tell you! In the past month, I’ve lost direction of my life, I’ve met a time-travelling alien – who not to mention caused all this in the first place, I’ve met murdering futuristic metal men, I’ve had my best friend die on me, I’ve had two other people die before my own eyes, actually make that three, the third one being one ended by my hands!” Everyone in the room was silent. “And if we look even further back, let’s see what other things I can dig out. Oh yeah, my own parents gave up on me. My own parents!” Ryan stood up, “Elliot… please don’t… I know what you’re going to say next, I don’t think anyone deserves to hear this.” He ignored Ryan’s advice, and continued rambling, “Literally, my parents didn’t want to acknowledge me anymore. They only care for my super-successful non-disappointment waste of lip gloss & eye liner of a sister. In fact, she’s my half-sister. Why? Because my mother can’t-” Ryan slammed the table, “Elliot enough! Get out!”

“Elliot,” Steven stood up, and spoke calmly, attempting to be the voice of reason. “All you’re doing right now is proving Ryan’s point. You’re turning on us. He’s your own best friend, and you’ve just shouted your point across, thus proving his. Now do yourself a favour, knock this act on the head, go and get some fresh air, and tell us if you see Derrick or Charlie or Nate. Ok?” Things were still momentarily, but Elliot ultimately agreed reluctantly, and headed towards the door. “Just remember,” he said as he opened it, “The pendulum of life swings one way and then the other. Watch your back, because you never know which way it’s about to swing…” he closed the door gently on his way out.

“Well that was…” Maddison couldn’t think of the right word, but upon realising how tense the situation was, she stopped her thinking anyway. “What did he mean by that?” Olivia asked, “The pendulum of life? Swinging one way and then the other?” Although no one else in the room was aware of what he meant, Ryan knew exactly what his friend was talking about, and he knew it was directed at him, after all he had heard him use this phrase before…

2 months earlier (9^th September 2017)
“Well naturally, I got you a card. I mean, cards are useless, sure, but for your present…” Elliot overdramatised it. “I’ve got a life moral for you, and I know how much you detest it when I give you these, but this one I think you might actually like. So just bear with me one moment,” he unfolded a piece of paper from his pocket. Ryan rolled his eyeballs; after all, Elliot’s life morals were usually pretty boring and he had turned off his hearing at all of them. “I wrote this for you, here we go,” he cleared his throat, “Ryan, my friend. Ever since we first came to High School, we’ve always been close friends. There are things I would tell you that I wouldn’t tell anyone else. This is one of them. Some advice, which I know to be true from personal experience. Things in life, can often disguise themselves. When you catch something good, it can sometimes turn out to be bad, or ten times worse than something that visually is bad from the get-go. But this is a two-sided coin. In some circumstances, things which appear to be bad can sometimes actually be good underneath their nasty disguises. Think of it like Newton’s Cradle or a pendulum. The pendulum of life, let’s run with that. A pendulum swings one way and then the other. That’s how life works. Something good happens, and then the pendulum swings the other way, and boom: either something bad happens, or that good thing you had gets ruined. This, although you may not want to hear it, is true, and subconsciously you know it to be so. So my gift to you on your birthday Ryan, is this message. Always remember, keep your eyes on the pendulum, prepare yourself when it swings in the opposite direction…” Elliot had finally finished his dull monologue. “And to help you remember this speech,” Elliot pulled out a box from under the table. It contained a newton’s cradle inside…

“Ryan? Hello?” In the present day, Steven was trying to grab his attention, but he was transfixed in a daydream. “Huh? Yes?” he asked. “Do you know what Elliot meant?” He paused for a moment, “Uh… No. No, I’m afraid not.” Although at the time Ryan had brushed off Elliot’s message as ridiculous, he now had taken it to heart, feeling it to be true after all…

by LastOfTheSonics Tue 19 Dec 2017 - 17:08

The Life of Elliot #28 – The Way It Has to Be:

After arriving at the lighthouse, Derrick, Charlie and Nate had found nothing. It was deserted, and the lighthouse wasn’t even functional. “There’s got to be something here!” Derrick protested. “Look around you!” Nate began, “There’s nothing here! No cabin, no people, no boats, nothing! No way of contacting home. Therefore, we resort to our original plan.” Derrick sighed and reluctantly agreed. “Fine. But just be aware, this could have some disastrous consequences.” This was a fact they were all very much aware of, but nonetheless took the risk, and sped off back towards the island.

In the village, tensions were high. Everyone was on edge after the meeting earlier that morning. As if things were not stressful enough, now a convoy of trucks and jeeps were rushing towards the village at high speed. “What fresh hell…” Elliot began whilst observing the dust-filled horizon.

“Look!” Nate pointed out the convoy, realising they were heading towards the village. “What do we do?” Derrick panicked. “I’ve got this,” Charlie stepped up, and redirected the speedboat to be slightly further behind the convoy. “Follow my lead…”

The first truck was painted with yellow stripes, Heavy and Lt. Matthew hopped off of it. The four other vehicles formed a blockade behind their leader. “What’s the point in bringing that many?” Maddison asked Ryan. From the other side of the village, another blockade of four trucks was formed. The ‘villagers’ were now fenced in. Two men were in each truck, one got out of each, while the others remained at the driver seat in case of emergency. From one of the trucks, Colonel Shepard appeared as well. “Well then…” Elliot stood in front of his group and elected himself as their speaker. “Here we are at last,” Lt. Matthew approached him. “Now I won’t waste any of your time, I’ll just cut right to the chase. The missile that we launched, it hit. Luckily for you it was just a decoy, it caused a minute explosion, nothing more. There were casualties, but no fatalities. It was merely a demonstration of our weaponry. So to that extent, we begin our invasion tomorrow. Which means we need to commit our final experiments. Take them!” Lt. Matthew ordered as the armed men raided the houses and took hold of everyone. “Stop this! Stop it right now!” Elliot put his hand out. “I’m warning you!” Lt. Matthew laughed at this, “What’re you gonna do? Take them all on?” Elliot looked at him, “I don’t need to,” he pulled out a handgun on Lt. Matthew…

“Be careful not to make any echoic sounds. We need to observe for now, we’ll rush when our group has leverage.” The three of them hid behind a rock formation, peering over it. “We could steal one of those trucks and just cause havoc?” Nate suggested. “Not while my fiancée is there…” Derrick pointed out, noticing she had just exited one of the houses.

“Lieutenant. First you assault me, and now you’re raiding me. What’s next?” Yvonne approached him. “Things are getting a little intense I think,” he referenced the fact that Elliot was pointing a gun at him, and all the armed men had guns pointed at members of Elliot’s group. “Why don’t we all just put the guns down?” Lt. Matthew suggested. “Nah. I’m not falling for that,” he kept the handgun steadily aimed at his head. “You realise that… you and your boyfriend Yvonne, you’ve just made things ten times worse for everyone.” She didn’t care, “You plan on loving your baby right?” he asked her, and she turned around in disgust at him, “Why are you helping these people then? Did they really fool you into believing their innocence?” he provoked an answer. “They are innocent. None of them here have pinned me against a wall, or bribed me into using my private yacht. No, it wasn’t bribe, it was blackmail. Get paid in cash or get paid in death. That was your ultimatum when you first visited us, right?” Lt. Matthew shook his head, “Without conflict there would not be peace. You can’t have one without the other.” Everyone was still for a moment. “Yvonne, dear… I think I ought to show you the way it has to be. It’s quite simple, really. I take all of these “innocent” people and then I achieve greatness by completing my experiments. Some of these people won’t even die, some will even evolve to the next stage of human evolution!” He looked up in pride of his achievements. “At the cost of innocent lives? You’re worse than I thought,” she calmly put her point across. “Oh I see, so by that logic I’m as bad as any Grade-A scientist. Murder for science is a concept that has always been around. It was here before us, and it will be here after us. You just have to accept it, that’s all,” he shrugged.

“What are they talking about?” Nate asked. “I have no idea whatsoever,” Charlie answered. For Nate, the game was completely changed. From behind the nearest blockade, he witnessed his brother Lamar appear and approach the village. “No…” his eyes widened upon seeing how enhanced his brother had become. “Nate? What is it?” Derrick saw the man, and he already knew who it was, “Nate, listen to me…” he turned around in fury, “Did you know about this?? Did you know he was alive?? And as a cyborg? And here?!” Derrick backed away slowly, “You did!” Nate was cross, and grabbed Derrick by his collar, “For years, every single night, I’ve wondered where he was. Dead or alive. And the whole time we were here, you didn’t think to tell me once?” Derrick felt ashamed, “Look at him! Look at all that metal on him! You clearly didn’t show mercy then, so why should I show mercy now?” Nate threw him down onto the road. “Every single night! Thinking of the exact same person! All the time I’ve been here, you didn’t tell me, never!” he started brutally hitting him. “Nate!” Charlie desperately attempted to pull him away, but he didn’t deter.

Lamar turned around, “Nate?” he quietly asked himself, “Nate!” he yelled out this time, grabbing everyone’s attention. Whilst Elliot was distracted, Lt. Matthew whacked the gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground. Steven assaulted the guard who had hold of him, and took his AK47. He checked that it was loaded, and began spraying down the confused gunmen. He backed away down an opening between two of the houses. Several of the guards returned fire down the opening, but Steven had made it behind the houses. One guard tried to cut him off, but got himself killed. Peering into the opening, Steven and the two guards at the other end were exchanging fire. “Nate!” Lamar pulled his brother away from Derrick. “L-Lamar...?” Nate felt awe. “Look at you…” he examined all the technology that his brother had been enhanced with. Yvonne had picked up the handgun, and she too had hidden in an opening, taking shots at the guards. Eleanor had armed herself with an AK47 as well, although she was attacking from the top floor of her house. Most of the guards didn’t she where she was firing at them from.

“Fall-back!” Lt. Matthew snatched a rifle from one of his men, and began shooting at Eleanor’s house rapidly. Shepard followed his lead with her Five-seveN pistol. As all the men backed away towards the trucks, they proved a flank for their leader. With everyone distracted by Eleanor, Steven moved up through the opening, and aimed his rifle at the guard flanking right, killing him. Lt. Matthew ran out of ammo, so he threw the rifle at the ground, and hopped on his truck. Heavy reversed it quickly through the opening in the blockade. “Don’t let them get away!” Elliot commanded, as he picked up the forgotten pistol, and started firing at the truck. “Come on everyone!” he gestured for everyone to follow him, so they did. Steven, Yvonne, Eleanor, Elliot and Lamar all sprayed bullets at the escaping convoy. “We’re not gonna stop until they’re dead!” Elliot called out, and started running after the convoy. Steven switched out his AK47 with a UMP submachine gun which had been used by one of the now-dead guards. Four of them continued charging onwards, firing at the convoy…

by LastOfTheSonics Thu 21 Dec 2017 - 17:19

The Life of Elliot #29 – Sacrifice:

Charlie watched as Elliot rallied his band and fired off towards the convoy. Meanwhile, Lamar was still explaining to his brother why he’d been unable to see him all this time. “So you see, that ‘chip’ stopped me from leaving the facility. If it wasn’t for Derrick, I truly would have died. You should be grateful for him, and I don’t think that beating him savagely is quite a way to show gratitude…” Nate looked apologetic, but at the same time felt Derrick still deserved it for not speaking out sooner. “I know what you’re thinking,” Derrick said to Nate, “I didn’t tell you for the sake of myself and Yvonne. Either one of us could have been hurt or even killed. You must understand, we all have loved ones…” Nate nodded, and although on the outside he appeared to understand, on the inside he still felt slightly justified.

They refused to give up: Steven, Yvonne, Elliot and Eleanor continued charging after the convoy. Although it could easily outmatch their speed, the bullets were agile enough to pierce the vehicles. After some time, returning fire began. Assault rifles peered out of windows and fired in irregular patterns at the pursuers. “Wait for us!” Lamar caught up with them, holding his minigun-amputated arm steadily. Charlie had taken one of the AK47s. In the distance, Steven noticed Nate taking Derrick into the village, with Ryan and Maddison rushing to assist. “Remarkable,” Eleanor began, “The two people who have just been shot are up and running around here, I must say that’s determination at its finest”, she was of course referring to Elliot and Steven who examined their bandages again. “Look they’re getting away now!” Steven sounded frustrated. “It doesn’t matter; you did as I asked Lamar?” Elliot asked. “Yes, and I must say, it’s quite an ingenious plan. Fooling the enemy, a second time using the same tactic,” they exchanged a smile of smartness. “What plan? What happened?” Steven asked, confused. “Are we in range for it to work?” Elliot ignored Steven’s queries, and returned to Lamar. “Well, that’s the down side. I’m afraid we still have to be within the radius for it to work.” The ambiguity had everyone on edge. “Dammit. Do you have it?” Now people began to think they were deliberately being ambiguous. “Yes, here.” Now it made sense, Lamar produced a detonator from his high tech suit and handed it to Elliot. “Fabulous, now get everyone off this island. Leave the rest to me. Just one more thing, I need a rifle.” Everyone looked confused, was on earth was Elliot holding a detonator? “Here, I guess?” Although she was confused, Charlie still gave him her AK47. “Thanks. My first time using this, probably the last as well. But hey, I’m a fast learner.” Elliot began sprinting off, but turned back again, “Stay safe. Goodnight.” He said, as he continued rushing towards the facility.

Everyone returned to the village, and Lamar gathered them all. “Listen, we have to get out of here,” he began his announcement, Ryan and Maddison were wary of him since they hadn’t seen him before. “We have to leave this island right now. I get that some of us are badly beaten,” he glanced over to Derrick, “But if we don’t go now, we will meet our fate, and it’s not a happy ending.” Everyone wondered the same thing, but it took Ryan to actually voice the question, “Where’s Elliot? Why are we leaving without him?” Lamar looked towards the facility, “He’ll be ok. But we just have to focus on ourselves for now.” Ryan shrugged, “I’m not leaving without him. No offense, but I don’t know anything about you. You could be walking us into a trap for all we know.” Lamar understood his concerns, but didn’t have time for them. “Right whoever does trust me, start loading people onto the speedboat, and get them back to the yacht. With a bit of luck, we can find a way to patch up the engine and get out of here.” Derrick had noticed an error with this, “How did you even know the yacht was out there? And that it was damaged? And that we used a speedboat?” But Derrick’s suspicions were shot down instantly, “It’s not that hard to notice an abandoned yacht in the distance on the sea, nor a speedboat that is literally a few metres away. As for the engine, well I can see the bullet holes on the ship, besides why else would you abandon it?” Derrick didn’t have time to rebut this argument.

“Alright, we’ll need to go in groups. The speedboat can only hold three or four people at max. Therefore, I recommend that the teens get out of here first. Ryan, Maddison and Olivia, go with my lovely fiancée, she’ll take you to the speedboat. In case of ambush, several of us have rifles, we’ll defend you. Now come on, get moving!” Olivia and Maddison wasted no time, and fell in line behind Yvonne. Ryan however stood behind, “I’m waiting for Elliot to come back. We’re not leaving without him!” Lamar had no choice now other than the tell him the truth, “Elliot has gone to save you. To save all of us. This is ridiculous, this whole thing. He’s putting an end to it. Now go!” But Ryan still didn’t shift, “Then he’ll come back and we’ll leave with him, surely?” Lamar took a deep breath, “He’s not coming back…”

The convoy had been ditched outside the facility, the vehicles just left scattered. The party had rushed inside, and two guards patrolled the front. Since Elliot was inexperienced with a large rifle, he switched out to the Glock firstly, and aimed it steadily taking shots at the two guards. The bullets scraped both of them, but he wasn’t accurate enough to kill. Instead, he moved in for the kill, and showed no mercy when doing so.

Since Ryan refused to leave, his slot was instead given to Eileen. The speedboat had successfully made it to the yacht. “Stay here, stay down. If anything happens, there’s three emergency flares in a box next to the stairs.” They acknowledged this, and rushed her back in the boat to save the others.

Elliot rushed his way through the facility. He could use the rifle at close-range as there would be less recoil. He took down multiple guards, before finally making his way to the meeting room. All the lieutenants were gathered inside. Colonel Shepard jumped out of her seat and raised her Five-seveN, but Elliot shot first with his rifle, killing her. “No one tries anything. If you so much as scratch yourself, I’ll kill you.” There were five lieutenants seated around the table now that Shepard was dead. “I must say, you are bold to make a move like this,” Lt. Matthew complimented him. Heavy began to stand up slowly, but Elliot immediately pointed the rifle at him. “Stand down,” Lt. Matthew ordered his comrade. “What do you want?” he asked Elliot, “For this to end,” he bluntly answered. “And by your definition, what is the “end”?” He smiled cunningly and dropped the rifle, switching it out for the detonator. “You remember this box? Right? The box that I used to kill Salatin with?” Lt. Matthew interrupted him, “A box that didn’t work might I add.” Elliot’s cunning smile returned, “Yeah, didn’t. But does now.” Lt. Matthew stood up with his hands raised, “Can you imagine, Elliot. Imagine what the Doctor would think if he could see you now.” Elliot looked angrier, “Reverse the question. Imagine what I would think if I could see the Doctor now? After all, he indirectly caused this. Everyone who died from your actions, it ultimately roots back to him. Every single one of them.” Elliot positioned his thumb over the button again, but started to sweat and shiver. “You can’t do it, can you?” Lt. Matthew taunted him, and laughed, “You’re a joke. Trying to be a hero, all your friends out there are going to die. Just like your girlfriend did. Why? Because of you and your failed heroics!” Elliot was mentally being told to press it, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. “Eventually Elliot, you’ll have to surrender, or die. Your choice. You can’t just stand there all day and-” He squinted and pressed the button, there was a second interval before the entire facility detonated. All of it, the entire thing blew up, and turned into flames…

Everyone was on the yacht now, even Ryan after some level of persuading. Everyone had heard and could see the explosion, they looked back in confusion and fear. “Elliot…” Ryan turned away, comforted by Maddison. Despite the intensity of this explosion, it hadn’t captured Eileen’s attention, she was still in shock.

The complete facility was in ruins; the explosion had released the horrible creatures on the island. The Pentademons were attracted by the flames, all the zombies had escaped, although several gas containers were still intact, including the SM-52 capsule. Other horrific creatures had escaped too. One such example was a giant mosquito which took to the sky, followed by several others of its species. Another example was the last remaining Weevil on the island. There were also giant fish-like creatures with legs, which headed straight towards the ocean, diving into the water. From the yacht, everyone watched in terror as hell was unleashed from the Island. But from the rubble, there were still survivors. Elliot used his remaining strength to lift a metal plank off of himself. He coughed as he positioned his head upwards. However, he realised he had done more harm than good upon seeing the amount of terrible things which he had released. He was too weak to talk, and no help was coming for him. After all, everyone would now assume he was dead…

“Finally!” Derrick cheered as he had assistance from Lamar with fixing the engine. “Let’s get that motor started!” As the yacht began revving, there was another issue. “Yvonne?” Lamar noticed she was staring oddly out the window. As she turned around, her skin had completely glazed over and her eyes were bloodshot. She unbuttoned her jacket, revealing a bite mark on her abdomen. Lamar, having been here for enough time, knew exactly how the bite worked. If a zombie bit you, you would reanimate anywhere within a few minutes to a few days. For Yvonne, the case had appeared to be the latter. “Derrick!” Lamar called out, as he rushed towards his calling. “Yvonne? No, no, no!” He broke down as she fell into his arms.

After the yacht had gotten far enough into the sea, a makeshift funeral had been held. Yvonne’s body was stretched out on a small table. “Be free, my beautiful,” Derrick broke down in tears as he said goodbye to her, “Be free…” he tilted up the table, sending her corpse into the sea, to free her – and the unborn child’s – spirit forever…

End of Volume 2!

by LastOfTheSonics Sun 24 Dec 2017 - 9:57

Volume 3 begins here!

The Life of Elliot #30 – The New World:

ONE YEAR LATER – 15^th November 2018
The streets of London were nothing like they used to be. Men in black-clad armour patrolled the streets, sporting helmets, balaclavas and orange visors. They were equipped with assault rifles and pistols, smoke grenades too. The biggest change was the new giant screens that had been established in every major part of the city. Occasionally, a broadcast would play. Although it was the same message every day: “Citizens of London. Fear us not. For we are the new world order. I am your new Prime Minister, Declan Brown,” Declan was a slightly above middle-aged man, and had been the mastermind behind the entire operation in the first place, “Allow me to inform you of changes to our British political system. The most pressing factor is that there will no longer be an Opposition, or a Shadow Cabinet as some of you may know it better as. Instead, it has been reformed into what we call ‘The Extension’. They have been established to deal with important issues which our primary government are unable to deal with for one reason or another. A new ruler has been elected for this party, Chancellor Aidan,” he was of course referring to Dr. Aidan who had somehow survived his encounter with Leslie, “Finally, you will have noticed our soldiers dispatched all over the streets. These are the Justices of Peace, fear them not for they are here to secure a civil and safe England. Co-operate with them, and life will be easier for all of us.”

The screen started to flicker between Declan and Elliot, eventually Elliot’s broadcast took its place. “People of Great Britain!” Only a year had passed, and Elliot was 16 now, but he looked sophisticatedly older than before; although this could be due to the fact that his beard was clearly growing along the sides of his face, and his voice was now a lot deeper too. “Take a look around you. Take a look at these soldiers! Oh sorry, I mean JPs. I must say, I’ve never heard of guns being used to secure peace in a neutral area. This is London! Not a warzone!” The civilians on the streets began examining the armed men. “This ‘New World’ is not good for any of us! Do you know how many people DIED for these people to get into power? I’ll tell you: too many! My best friend, an associate of mine, a pregnant woman and her child!” Elliot deliberately emphasised the “child” part to win emotional support. “How can you trust them? Join us! Join our Resistance! We shall fight back against Minister Brown! We can reform this country into the People’s Republic of Great Britain! Overthrow these people! It’s our duty!” The broadcast ended.

“And we’re off!” A woman cut the camera focused on Elliot. As he turned around, a large parade of civilians started applauding him, some familiar faces among them too; Steven, Ryan, Eleanor, and a few others who were elsewhere. “Thank you, thank you,” Elliot quietened them. “Today is the beginning. The beginning of something far larger than this political revolution. Today is the beginning of the Uprising. Every day, more and more people join our cause. Some of you may have faith in me due to what I’ve created at such a young age. A sixteen-year-old spawning an entire Resistance? Unprecedented! Some of you on the other hand may not. But that doesn’t matter. Because we WILL win. We shall reform this country into a Republic! A new era! An era not ruled by fear or tyranny, but by peace, and above all, fair justice and order; two traits which our current government seems to lack. Yesterday morning, a man named Paul joined our group. This is Paul here,” Elliot gestured for him to join him, “Paul was counted as the 1000^th person to join our Resistance!” Everyone applauded, cheered and whistled. “And I can assure you, the more time that passes, the less time needed to get to 2,000! There are people all over the country who are with us all the way! But for one reason or another, they cannot put themselves forward for our group. Perhaps to protect their family, perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of range of our base. It matters not. We will rally this country; we will overthrow the evil powers. If I can survive an entire building collapsing on top of me, then this country can survive these parasites!” Elliot raised his fist, as a symbol of everlasting peace. Everyone applauded and cheered once again, joining him in raising their fists.

The underground base was huge, and part of it even expanded into a ghost station. There were many different types of facilities: Sleeping quarters, toilets, armouries, even gaming rooms. Everything the Resistance needed to survive was under here. They had members on the surface too who gave them access to fresh water and food. Of course, the Resistance could try to live on the surface, but with their names & faces marked, and CCTV on every street corner now, as well as those new ‘security’ men, they would be slain instantly. The alarm lights on the walls began flashing red, blaring out an ‘incoming’ siren. “Incoming!” Nate, Eleanor and – a new face – Gabriel, had just finished a reconnaissance patrol through the underground stations. In the year that had passed, the new government had re-established relics from the past. One of these ‘relics’ were robotic Yeti. Formerly used by the Great Intelligence, they had now been modified to kill any living being, hence why the locomotive industry had been disposed of in South England; removing the train network made people believe it was the Resistance’s fault due to their underground super-base. Two of these robotic Yeti had been spotted by the recon group. “Elliot!” Eleanor called him over, “General Elliot, you mean?” He taunted, “Whatever, even if you’re the leader of this group, I’m still more experienced. So follow my plan carefully…”

The two Yeti lumbered through the underground tunnel, roaring out occasionally. They turned a corner and reached the ghost station which allowed entry into the Resistance base. This entrance was heavily fortified and guarded 24/7. The Yeti were strong however, and with one soft blow they knocked the defences to the entrance right out. One of the Yeti had a gun, this weapon had been modified to shoot laser bolts rather than webs/fungi now. “Open fire!” Gabriel called out as he and the five others guarding the entrance unleashed their rifle clips on it. The bullets were ineffective, and the armed Yeti took down two of the fighters right away. Gabriel’s carbine ran out of ammunition, and he pulled out his radio, “You better have that thing loaded! They’re already here!” He sounded panicked, and retreated up the stairs. The two other fighters backed away slowly too, but the Yeti killed one of them. The surviving one had run out of ammunition, and sprinted to take the rifle off of his deceased comrade, but this action got him killed himself. The two Yeti roared, and chased Gabriel up the narrow stairway.

“Elliot they’re right behind me! Hurry up and do it already!” Gabriel darted into the nearest emergency shelter, where most other fighters had been ordered to go. However, some were standing in a defensive formation with firearms. As Elliot noticed the first Yeti’s shadow, he raised the grenade launcher and shot the first grenade. It could be heard rolling down the stairs, and then exploding. “Did it hit?” Eleanor asked. “I’m not sure”. Just in case, Elliot primed the grenade launcher again, the barrel revolving to have the next grenade ready. He edged forward slowly, with two fighters flanking him. He made it to the corner, and quickly peered around. One of the Yeti had been taken down by the grenade, and the entire ghost station had been slightly damaged too. “Gabriel said there were two. So where’s the other one…?”

WRITER’S NOTE: Merry Christmas everyone!

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