Huff, puff, huff, puff –
"MILAN!" An individual covered in red dirt dust shouts out whilst running towards a gate made of rubber wheels. "OPEN THE GATE, WE HAVE TROUBLE!". As his speed increases, the gate begins to slide open. "WHERE IS MILAN?!" he shouts.
"Calm down Providence. What is the problem?" an individual closing the sliding gate who is wearing a black heavy-duty vest with a white and black skull tattoo on his shoulder asks.
"An army is heading our way, I've never seen anything like this before! We all need to get out of here now!" Providence frantically states.
Gazing at Providence with disgust, the skull tattooed individual begins to walk away, "I know you have that foresight meraki or providence Meraki, whatever it is called, but no one knows where our camp is. Anyways, I will go inform Milan before you start going crazy. Just go clean yourself up, you smell like shit," he says
"I am serious Justin, I have seen them, and I can see blood and death beginning to creep inside our camp. Nothing good will come out of us staying here!" Providence yells out as his brown eye color begins to turn into milky white.
"Not this shit again. Oi, oi, don't let it take over," right as Justin says this, Providence begins to start convulsing and drops onto the ground, his clothing getting bathed in the rich red dust of the ground.
"Providence, stop this now! Someone go get Milan from that meeting. Now!" Justin screams out on the top of his lungs.
-
"It's been amazing getting to know you all. Now I want to introduce you to someone," Milan says while leaning forward and placing his hands on the wooden table. The dim light of the room sharply catches his two silver rings resting on his left index and middle finger. "This is a very dear friend of mine, treat him with care. Meumeu, come out buddy," he says softly, tilting his chin to look down at his left shoulder.
For a moment, nothing happens. Milan slightly shifts his body weight, the movement flexing a skull tattoo outlined in black and infilled with a dark red color on his shoulder. On his left forearm a black band tattoo causes the illusion of a cut. The ink is left entirely exposed by his worn-out black vest, its faded red accents almost blending in with his orangey-olive tanned skin. Below the table, his dark grey army cargo pants are tightly tucked into his heavy-duty black boots, firmly planted on the floor.
Suddenly, the fabric on his left shoulder begins to morph.
A patch of black and red accented vest ripples like a puddle of water. The colors seamlessly begin to bleed away, but instead of forming rough, reptilian scales, it smooths out into a vibrant green dough-like texture. A pair of large expressive eyes blink into existence, completely void of the creepy independent swivel of a true reptile. The little creature materializes, its body soft, rounded and plump, gripping Milan's vest with its tiny nubby little claws. Meumeu tilts its head and lets out a soft, and excited high-pitched squeak, "meu meu!"
As Milan turns his head to smile at the little creature, the two silver hoop earrings dangling from each of his ears gently glimmer. "He says he likes you all, apart from Dean," Milan says with a little giggle.
The room instantly reacts.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Alana says, her tough serious look instantly shattering into pieces as she walks closer toward Milan, her eyes lighting up. "A chameleon? So cute! It looks like a little squishy plush toy I had when I was little. Can I hold it?" she eagerly asks.
Chris squints, tilting his head in pure bewilderment. He cautiously extends his finger toward Meumeu. "What the hell is a chameleon? What even is that? It doesn't have any scales… Vince, it looks like the playdough they gave us in the EXP sector," he says, his finger still reaching out.
Before Chris can poke it, Meumeu playfully headbutts his finger, its texture feeling smooth and surprisingly warm, "meu!" it squeaks with its expression turning angry.
"He said don't touch him. Haha, I can tell you all will be great friends!" Milan loudly laughs.
Dean, standing near the back, blinks rapidly, still trying to process what he is looking at. "Um… what do you mean he likes everyone except me, what did I do? Also, I thought you meant a person. Milan, what is wrong with you, you've got a… a cartoon chameleon living on your damn shirt, and it's been here the whole time listening to us?!" Dean shouts out, his tone sounding offended.
Milan stepping closer to Dean whispers, "This attitude of yours… is exactly why he doesn't like you."
In the corner of the room, Vince remains entirely unamused. He crosses his arms over his chest, his intense gaze locking onto Meumeu. "Why…why is it looking at me like that?" he asks.
"Vince, no need to be hostile, you all are under my care now, so I need you to be familiar with everyone I love. Besides, he says he likes you the most," Milan says. "You all should know by now, anyone who touches the family I love, will wish they never existed," he says whilst walking towards Estrella and panning his gaze over to old man, Boz and Malik.
Estrella steps to Milan's left shoulder and begins to pet Meumeu. "Oh my dear Meumeu, how I have missed you," she says. Meumeu's eyes closes and a certain ecstasy flows on its entire face.
BANG!
The weight of the heavy metal scrap door of the meeting room gets violently kicked open, the sheer force of it rattling the walls and completely shattering the warm atmosphere.
Estrella immediately pulls her hand back as Meumeu lets out a sharp and distraught squeak - "meu!"- and instantly bleeds its vibrant green color back into the black and red vest, camouflaging itself entirely against Milan's shoulder until it is completely invisible.
Busting into the meeting room, his chest heaving and his heavy-duty vest covered in rich red dust, is Justin stands at the doorway.
"Milan! I am so sorry, but you need to get outside right now!" Justin screams, his voice cracking with pure panic.
The playful smile suddenly drops from Milan's face instantly, replaced by a cold, hardened glare. The energy in the room begins to feel suffocating. 'Justin, what is the meaning of this buddy? You know better than to barge your way in here," he chillingly says.
"It's Providence!" Justin shouts, whilst gripping the door frame. "His eyes went completely white again and he is convulsing on the ground like last time. Milan, he said he saw something… he's been adamant about a massive army heading straight for our camp!"
Vince's arms drop from his chest; his posture quickly shifts into a rigid stance. Chris and Alana exchange a rapid tense look, all their amusement over Meumeu completely fading away. Dean instinctively takes a step back.
"He said blood and death are heading our way, Milan what do we do?!" Justin asks in a begging tone, the fear in his eyes crippling his entire face. "I've never seen his Meraki take over him like this!"
Milan's jaw clenches and sharpens. He utters no words. He just turns his gaze towards the door, the silver rings on his fingers glinting as his fist begins to slowly tighten. He begins to take steps towards Justin, "Take me to him," he says.
As Justin frantically turns around and shows Milan the way to Providence, Esmeralda, Boz, Malik, Dean, Alana, Chris and Vince follow close behind.
"Chris…Chris!" Alana whispers sharply
Chris swivels his head and gazes at Alana, "What do you want?" he asks.
"As soon as we get the chance, we are leaving. Vince, Dean, you and I need to vanish," Alana whispers.
Dean who is right behind them begins to strain his voice speaking, "We ain't going nowhere. Where are we going to go? Because I am not going back home, they don't care about us, they just gave us up like pairs of coins," he says.
"He..he is right Chris, we can't go back, I would rather stay here. I can tell they care about the people here," Vince says whilst stuttering.
"They will use you too, they keep saying you are a special package. Do you know what that means?" Chris retorts.
As they converse behind Milan, a few inches ahead of them lies Providence, murmuring and convulsing simultaneously. "Get everyone out of here. Children, parents, pets. Get everyone out of here!" he mumbles continuously.
"I have never seen it this bad before, his meraki is taking over him." Milan whispers. "Keep an eye on him. Boz, Malik, come with me, let's go scout outside," he says whilst he starts walking towards the gate made of metal scrap and rubber wheels.
As the gate begins to slide open, a trumpet begins to sound. Children, adults and seniors step out of their dens which is made out of the same material of the gate. Stepping out one by one, they all begin to lock their gaze onto Milan who is stepping outside the camp with Malik and Boz.
"My children, please don't be alarmed, but a war might be heading our way," Milan states out loud.
Rowdiness in the crowd begins, frantic conversations begin to flood the entire camp.
"Silence please!" Milan shouts. "In moments like these, I want you to have faith in me. Things have been set in place so that no harm comes your way. You are of utmost priority to me, so please…get your things ready," he says as steps out of the camp.
Milan takes an extra step into the dirt, the heavy scrap-metal gate almost sliding shut behind them. "Keep your senses sharp," he starts to say to Boz and Malik.
BOOM.
The surroundings erupt. A deafening and concussive wave of heat with an iron ton of force detonates directly in front of them. The ground violently shudders, and in a fraction of a second, Malik and Boz are blasted backwards, violently thrown off their feet into the red dust. Milan gets thrown about and fiercely smashes into the sliding gate causing Meumeu to conform back into its pillowy shape. Its big eyes slowly closing shut. "me…u," it whispers as it falls and rolls from Milan's shoulder onto his thighs.
Pure chaos breaks out. Inside the camp, the rowdiness instantly shifts into a frenzy of terrified screams and frantic shouting.
Milan's vision turns completely hazy, the world spinning in a blur of kicked-up earth and thick, dark smoke. A piercing, high pitched ringing drowns out the screams of those inside the camp. He attempts to use the gate as support and quickly falls back onto the ground causing the red dust to sift upwards coating his lungs followed by a deep wheeze.
Through the ringing, a sound cuts through the haze – a fierce, protective barking. A brown dog from within the camp squeezes through the damaged sliding gate, sprinting bravely out into the settling smoke toward the source of the blast.
"Mummy, Jackie is going!" a kid screams out.
The kids mother quickly grabs his hands, "Forget about Jackie baby, we have to get out of here!" she whispers.
The kid drops onto his knees; tears begin to drift down his face followed by intense sobbing.
"Maggie!" Estrella yells out. "Get your boy out of here!"
Milan begins to slowly turn his head to gaze into the camp. "Estrella stay inside," he thinks to himself. Milan blinks hard, his eyes watering as he tries to clear his blurry vision. Turning his gaze forward once again, the smoke slowly begins to part.
To his left is Boz and to his right is Malik; they both lie unconscious on the red dust, and standing perfectly still in the shifting dust is a fleshless, white skeletal horse, positioned in a side-on stance. Strapped to its bone face is a masquerade mask – a crimson red base with gold swirling patterns.
As Milan's vision finally snaps into focus, the ring in his ears begins to fade, replaced by horrifying silence. The presence of a single obsidian cavalry rider hovers over Milan and in his hands, he holds a long, razor-thin sword with a brilliant gold handle. Extended outward, the pristine blade drips with fresh blood and Impaled through the center of the razor-thin sword, hangs the brown dog, completely lifeless and soundless.
-
Through the settling red dust and far off in the distance, shadows begin to bleed out from the tree line.
One by one, the Core army emerges surrounding the red dirt camp. Leading the massive sea of soldiers are the four remaining obsidian cavalry riders atop their skeletal horses and at the pinnacle of the entire army stands Sven, flanked by Shinra and Kira.
Just a few steps behind are the navy blue tight nyloned clothed Silas and Esmeralda. Their eyes are cold, void of a soul. The vibrant green patches on their skin begin to rapidly flicker like glowing remnants. With a sickening, bone-crunching sound, two small, pitch-black horns begin to protrude and grow from both of their foreheads, Silas's being slightly thicker and longer.
Sven stops. He then raises his right arm high into the air, his fist tightly balled. The deafening stomps of the entire army halts in an instant.
"Find him!" Sven commands, his voice echoing across the wasteland.
Without a single shred of hesitation, Silas and Esmeralda detach from the group and begin a slow, synchronized walk straight toward the camp's sliding gate.
Sven then sweeps his gaze over the scrap-metal walls. "Tear this disgusting sight apart," he orders. "Kill everything."
A tinge of hesitation visibly washes over the back lines of the Core soldiers. They exchange rapid nervous glances, but the army begins to march forward.
At the sliding gate, Milan groans heavily, forcing himself up off the ground. He reaches down and pets a dazed Meumeu before scooping it up. Meumeu's large eyes slowly blink open. Milan gently places the little chameleon onto his left shoulder.
"Milan!" Estrella bursts out screaming through the sliding gate. "Are you and Meumeu okay?!" she screams.
"I am okay, that rider that just killed Jackie disappeared," Milan says
"They brought their calvary riders? Milan if we don't get everyone out of the camp, it won't be good," Estrella states.
Milan doesn't say anything back. His intense gaze is entirely fixated on the two horned figures walking towards the camp. To his left and right, Boz and Malik slowly groan as they push themselves up from the dirt, dusting off their heavy-duty vests and moving back to form a line at the gate.
"Are you okay?" Estrella frantically asks, rapidly changing gazes between them.
"Malik, listen to me," Milan says, his voice dead serious whilst still locking his gaze onto the approaching figures. "Get back inside right now, Protect Alana, Dean and Chris, but above all, protect Vince with all your might, he is the reason why this entire army is here. Make sure the crew gets our people through the escape route. Also get Providence and Oldman to safety. Don't look back, you hear me? Estrella, Boz and I will try hold them off."
Malik gives a firm nod and fiercely sprints back into the camp.
The two horned figures continue to inch closer, the green light on their skin still violently flickering.
Suddenly, Milan's jaw drops. Beside him, Boz's eyes widen in absolute disbelief. On Milan's shoulder, Meumeu tilts its head, its expressive eyes wide with utter confusion.
"Milan…" Boz mutters, a tinge of trembling in his tone. "There is no way that's Silas… is it?"
Estrella freezes. Her breath hitches in her throat.
Tears instantly flood her eyes and spills down her cheeks as she begins to blindly walk forward toward the two figures. All sources of sound get muffled as she stumbles in her heavy-duty boots, her dark cargo pants scraping against the dirt as she drops hard onto her hands and knees. Her black vest, painted with a stark white skull on the front, heaves as she begins to violently sob. The red poncho with yellow lines that she wears wrapped like a scarf trailing in the dust beside her.
"Little… sis…" Estrella stammers, her voice getting held back by a certain heaviness. "Little sister…" she whispers as she stares straight at the soulless horned face of Esmeralda.
END OF CHAPTER
THEORIES MERAKI – THE SKULLDEM ARE TRAPPED IN A CORNER THAT IT SEEMS IMPOSIBLE TO ESCAPE OUT OF, HOW CAN IT GET ANY WORSE? - AND WITH ESTRELLA AND ESMERALDA BEING RELATED, WHO IS SILAS TO THE SKULLDEM?
NEXT CHAPTER – TBD